dweeb

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I'm going to South Korea for work. Does anyone know of any DZs near Seoul? Thanks!

thanks!

I drive out of my way to jump there. There's something to say about a small DZ. You don't feel like a piece of meat being pushed through.

Don't worry! I failed my AFF-2 as well. But I graduated this morning! Remember that this is something completely new for your mind to digest. Jumping out of an airplane and falling at 120 mph takes a little getting used to. The poster that said if you can jump more than once in a day to do it is spot on. My first jump of the day has never been the most relaxed jump. I know it's really disappointing to fail an AFF and have to pay that money all over again. But stick with it. Soon you'll be certified, and you won't have to worry about an instructor judging your jump. At least not until you get a coach.

Got in two solo jumps before calling it a day. To Andy, Chris, Kim, Ivan & everyone at SD Imperial, thanks for the great day!!

I drive a Mini Cooper S Convertible. My license plate is DWEEB. I see people laugh all the time from it.

There's another DZ out in Imperial, which is east of San Diego about 2 hours. Andy Whitcomb (from SDSD) is the DZO. He's worked very hard to get his place up to snuff. If you find that the weather conditions in San Diego, Perris or Elsinore aren't good, give Andy a call out in the desert. There's a good chance they'll be flying.

It's too bad the righties want to grasp at straws. The latest Reid hit piece he AP's John Solomon, the go-to guy at the Associated Press for any anti-Democratic efforts, and this piece is absolute crap. The crux of the claim: Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show. Actually, he did own that land. It just so happened that three years ago, he transfered the property from his own personal name to that of an LLC. It'd be kind of like me selling Daily Kos, and someone claiming I reaped a windfall from it because I "sold it three years ago". I didn't. Daily Kos became an LLC. As did Reid's piece of land. And btw, this was all disclosed to the ethics committee. The place were things got sloppy is that Reid continued to disclose ownership of the land as a personal asset rather than ownership in the LLC which owned the land. But that's it. Fact is, the LLC had no other assets other than this piece of land, and Reid disclosed ownership of the piece of land. Solomon is either being dishonest or an idiot. But watch the wingers and GOP try to gain traction off this story to divert from their coddling of a sexual predator. Update: Note that there is no charge or evidence or anything that would suggest that Reid used his position of authority to boost the value of the land. That would be troublesome. As it is in NC-11 where Rep. Charles Taylor (R) used earmarks to line his pockets: New Report Shows Taylor's Earmarks Benefit Land he Owns. According to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, Charles Taylor, a wealthy businessman and banker, was able to get millions of dollars in earmarks for his district to improve land where Taylor owns thousands of acres and where he has even developed. The report shows that Taylor owns at least 14,000 acres of prime land in his district, some of which is near the main highway in Maggie Valley which, last year, received $11.4 million in federal dollars. Taylor's companies own thousands of acres near the highway and had already developed a subdivision called Maggie Valley Leisure Estates. Another earmark last year sent $4.8 million to widen a highway through timber tracts that Taylor's companies own. He also got millions for a loan for long-time contributors and millions more for improvements to a park that sits directly in front of his flagship bank in the district. Or, let's shoot even higher: House Speaker Dennis Hastert denied Thursday that he pushed for federal funding for a proposed highway in northeastern Illinois so he and his wife could reap about $1.8 million from land deals near their home in Kendall County. The Sunlight Foundation, a newly created group whose declared aim is to inform the public about what members of Congress do, has accused Hastert of not divulging connections between the $207 million earmark he won for a highway, the Prairie Parkway, and an investment he and his wife made in nearby land. There are others -- Reps. Jerry Lewis, Richard Pombo, and Gary Miller for starters. This isn't a case of "everyone does it". It's a case of projection -- accusing Reid of doing something Republicans have made a habit of doing. That they got the gullible or ideologically compromised Solomon to bite on the non-story was a nice touch, but has no bearing on the reality of the matter. Update II: To refresh your memories, Solomon is this guy: Associated Press writer John Solomon reported that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (NV) had attended three Las Vegas boxing matches as the guest of the Nevada Athletic Commission while the agency "was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing." But Solomon failed to inform readers that, rather than taking any actions favorable to the NAC, Reid allowed the specific legislation that the agency had opposed to pass.* Subsequent info made Solomon's story even more ridiculous: The Las Vegas Journal-Review and TPM Muckraker reported several facts that appear to undermine the thrust of John Solomon's Associated Press article suggesting that Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) acted improperly by accepting free tickets from the Nevada Athletic Commission to, as Solomon claimed, three boxing matches at a time when the agency "was trying to influence him on federal regulation of boxing." Some of those facts? The fact that state law prohibited Reid from reimbursing the commission for those fight tickets. And that's not all. There's much more. Update III: A tax lawyer reader writes: FYI, I am a tax attorney. A single member LLC (i.e. an LLC owned 100% by a single person) is treated by the IRS as non-existent for tax purposes. The LLC owner continues to treat himself as the direct owner of the property for tax purposes as if the property were never transferred to the LLC. That could explain why someone might continue to consider himself the owner of property which he has transferred to a single member LLC. A multiple member LLC is treated as a partnership for tax purposes. Again, if an existing partnership transfers property to an LLC owned by the same partners in the same percentages, the LLC will usually be treated as the same entity as the orignal partnership, and again an individual might reasonably believe that no transfer has taken place. The latter paragraph is relevant to this discussion. Reid owned a 75 percent interest in two plots of land, his partner 25 percent. They created the LLC in the same exact percentages. Ultimately, there might be a technical violation of Senate rules -- Reid has asked for clarification from the ethics committee. But bottom line is that Reid followed the spirit of the law. He disclosed his ownership of the land -- down to the exact plots -- which would allow for watchdogs to monitor any potential conflicts of interest. That is better than disclosing ownership in a shadowy private LLC, with no public access to its assets. (Which is, btw, essentially what Hastert did.)

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TTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian troops fighting Taliban militants in Afghanistan have stumbled across an unexpected and potent enemy -- almost impenetrable forests of 10-feet (three metre) high marijuana plants. ADVERTISEMENT General Rick Hillier, chief of the Canadian defence staff, said on Thursday that Taliban fighters were using the forests as cover. In response, the crew of at least one armored car had camouflaged their vehicle with marijuana. "The challenge is that marijuana plants absorb energy, heat very readily. It's very difficult to penetrate with thermal devices ... and as a result you really have to be careful that the Taliban don't dodge in and out of those marijuana forests," he said in a speech in Ottawa. "We tried burning them with white phosphorous -- it didn't work. We tried burning them with diesel -- it didn't work. The plants are so full of water right now ... that we simply couldn't burn them," he said. Even successful incineration had its drawbacks. "A couple of brown plants on the edges of some of those (forests) did catch on fire. But a section of soldiers that was downwind from that had some ill effects and decided that was probably not the right course of action," Hillier said dryly. One soldier told him later: "Sir, three years ago before I joined the army, I never thought I'd say 'That damn marijuana'."

Kathleen, I get my braces off in 4 weeks. There's a product called Brush Picks from The Doctors. You can usually find them in the toothcare aisle. They're thin plastic toothpics with a little brush on the end. The brush is flexible and is perfect for getting under wires and around brackets. I, for one, cannot wait to get these off just so I don't fear eating a salad when I'm with other people.

Thanks! :thumbup:

What is it, how do you calculate it, and what are the affects of going to a higher wing load? Thanks!

The way my instructor defined it to me was this: Several years ago he was going up to do a 4-way. The guy with the camera went out on the wing, and the other 3 were getting ready to jump. They appeared to be going out, but when the 'Go' call came, only the cameraman jumped. The other 3 stayed in plane and laughed their asses off. He said that they mudsuckered the camera guy by making him jump without them.

thanks everyone for your help. :thumbup:

At what point do your jump counts start? Is it with your first AFF or first tandem or after you've become qualified? Thanks

Sorry, I meant that if he could pass me on AFF-7 based upon my AFF-6 jump he would have.

Heh. Yeah, he even wrote it in my logbook that way.

I didn't mean to. I was on AFF 6, doing a dive exit out of a C182. Good prep, thought it was a good launch, but when I pushed out, the wind caught me and slammed me into the doorway. The look on my instructor's face was priceless. I recovered and dove out, then went head-down to catch up to him. Pulled off the back flip and forward movement flawlessly. Landing was within 20 yards of the target, slid in a little, but stood it up at the end. He came over to me and told me that if he could graduate me on that jump he would. Holy crap, this sport is way too addicting.

Until now, that is. We're now fighting an ideology. We're fighting terrorism, not a war. Interesting times we live in.

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http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=k&q=Germany&ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=48.857699,10.205451&spn=0.002404,0.006738&om=1 The horror!!!

Where does this place lie politically? Do you think that Dubya is the worst president ever or do you think he's been sent here by god to save the world from evil-doers?

NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!