Ugali

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I'm not 100% certain you understand how the media works in the US.

If the Department of Homeland Security were to say virtually anything about terrorists; good, bad or whatever, then the media, pretty much would have to report on it. Not out of some government mandate, but out of fear that the other guy would report on it and they had not. This is why so much of the news in the US is so homogenized; many media outlets all pretty much obligated to report on stuff they "think" the other guy is going to report on.

During the 43rd Administration, they played the media like a harp from hell. The DHS raised and lowered the threat level is a strange synchronicity every time the Administration had some issue they needed to bury behind it.

Since the 44th Administration has come in, the DHS hasn't changed the status a single time. If they don't say anything, there's less to really report.

Besides which, we have our heads up our asses with this whole economy thing.

thanks. i forgot about retaining credibilty/ratings. as you mentioned about burying issues, I sort of had the impression that the reason behind such wild reports was, on one hand, to try and scare the shit out of john Q so whatever new proposal was in the works would gain support.

To those in the United States: has the media driven paranoia about terrorists changed in the US since Obama was elected?
From what i could tell from the world news during the bush era seems that the media was detemined to milk every single posible terrorist related activity, no matter how minor or far fetched the incident.

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It's like drag racing with Death.

Perfect!

there is a theory that the population of the earth will decrease when the baby boomer generation 1946-1965(the largest generation on earth) will die.
dont know about the validity of it though considering the amount of people born since then.
could make sir david happy

just to keep this going , it is by far the best thread on the site in my opinion
i wasnt jumping in the old days but if heard a few while at the dz bar
the scariest one started off " no shit there i was spining around like an astronaut in a g- force machine after my cheapo decided to f--k up...."

i agree with you guys. i just shut the hell up and point to whoevers in charge. kinda puts me off wanting to get a TM rating when i hear that stuff though.

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you have to be careful with grey / charcoal. They have the tendency to fade toward that dirty pinkish beige.

...................... yeah

i work as a packer at a tandem company and get on the loads if there is a free slot avalible. recently ive noticed an increasing number of passengers asking questions like "so how many people die doing this?" and "those parachutes dont work all the time do they?" etc. winding them selves up into a tiz and freaking out the other customers. what do you say to them to calm down?

be carefull man, i tried dying my rig about a month ago. was grey now some sort of f**ked up pink colour.

1) $1000 AUD
2) spectre 150/ PD
3) 3/2002
4)300-350
5)300-350
6)1 (but...just about to replace the lines. on order and heading my way)
7) pulled some stiching out from the top skin during a tree landing a while back but apart from that all good, no damage :)

really either good my not grammer's.
yeah, its an alright place, the weather can get on your nerves sometimes. go to taupo if you want to jump your arse off.

Cool. i did my aff down in Mombasa and have done a few jumps as a student at wilson in Nairobi. How'd you end up there?

theres a DZ called Mercer near by. go have a chat with them im sure that they'll point you in the right direction.

my spectre takes on average 1000 ft to open. a bit scary at first but i've become used to it.

with a tandem there arn't that many things you can do.

wow hats off to the guy that thought of that

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I'll admit, though, the older Javs didn't stay closed worth a crap. Neither did Vector2s and other rigs of that era.

I have jumped both an old style javelin (which i currently have) and a Vector II (my old rig)
I agree Vector II's are suicidal when it comes to freeflying but I have never had a problem with my javelin (DOM 94), the bridal fits in tight and secure, no exposure, so does the pilot chute and both closing flaps are solid and have never flipped open.

well, it depends what is happening. i was taught big loads out first, freefliers out last (running into the wind.) next time grab ahold of them before they get on the plane and ask through hand signals what they are doing, safety is paramount.

tom

i agree with Gawain. You can not stand there with a smile and laugh and joke around. its a dangerous hobby this skydiving, and idiots can not be tolerated. to put it simply: THEIR MISTAKE CAN COST YOU YOUR LIFE

Give 'em Hell

First impressions count.........

go down to the DZ before you start jumping. Look around, have a chat to the people, the instructors.
You'll learn more there than here.
oh, and congrats on deciding to becone a skydiver

do the New Zealand skydiving diploma course
170 jumps

Jumped ramps, speed bumps on my bike. my feet came off the pedals in mid air and crunched my nuts on landing tiwce.

*I burned a shit load of stuff when I was young and ended up burning myself on several occasions. I still have visible scars on my hands.

*When I was ten i had a facination with knives and cutting things up. I was out in the backyard trying to slice one of my toys up and the blade slipped and went right into my thigh. Bled everywhere and hurt, I threw my bloody shorts away and held the wound closed untill the wound congealed some time later. to this day i thank God that it didn't cut the femeral artery. Never went near anything sharp again.

(ed) When I was fifteen i used have races down the dirt tracks outside town. Went around a corner too fast, (waaaaay too fast) skidded, fishtailed, jumped a ditch and ended up crashing my car into a barrier. If the barrier wasn't there i would have gone down a 100m bank and screwed myself up royaly.

Thanks. My goal is to be an instructor one day..
I have a dream