dterrick

...and you think that a 2 page scan is legible? TWO pages of names? That's nuts. Of course it's less nuts than the last Quebec sovreignty referendum where the question was so ambigiously worded and peppered with negative modifiers that practically nobody knew what the question really was! I would that your change in govenor makes a difference. I fear it won't (at this time) as the damage has been done. Might make you feel better though

What'sd even more fun than a straight ferris wheel is the 'gyroscope'. It's a "tumblefuq" (we're tumbling... FUQ!) where one of the grips gets dropped during the first rotataion off the step. Can you say disorientation? I knew you could. And the longer you hold it the greater the tension and forces become. I'm sure you blow all over the sky but fun exits always take into account proper exit separation for the failure modes? Right? -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

HAH! I still have a Commodore VIC 20 with it's tape drive. I had a Coleco Adam, too, which was replaced by my "first" real computer - an Intel 8088 "IBM-PC clone" with 2 5 1/4" floppy drives, no hard drive, an orange monitor and a dot matrix printer. All in? Just less than three grand in 1986 (I found the bill in a pile of junk). -Dave PS: I'm not even gonna start on the rest of that list except to mention "Disco will never die" ... right Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

Oh send it to Niger already ...so is that your share of the 'overpriced CD's' lawsuit??? Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

You ARE freaky Hallow'een engagement and a skydiving wedding? Good on ya mate... congratulations. Dave PS: What IS the correct conjugation of "skydive" in the simple past? Shouldn't that, like, be on the A exam or something? The skydiving terminilogy for Whoffos handbook? Should we really care? Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

I think Formula 1 waterskiing would be FAR more fun than Sumo tandm

studies are complete last sports car race of the year I'll go to Gimli DZ is right there Adjoins the sports car race track I get to do both Weather will be crap tent could be a cold wet place My car has good heat Sunny Summertime Now a distant memory Fall in Canada -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

studies are complete last sports car race of the year I'll go to Gimli DZ is right there Adjoins the sports car race track I get to do both Weather will be crap tent could be a cold wet place My car has good heat Sunny Summertime Now a distant memory Fall in Canada -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

Pages and pages of gobbldeygook the patent document was. Most of it seemed to be baseline maps as to what it would use by default until you entered freefall. Think of your basic Protrack - it can calculate all your speeds and it's still based on barometric pressure - methinks the vigil is a very very sophisticated Protrack that can estimate - through sheer computing power - when you're due to arrive at SAVE ME time ... and then save you. The regenerative sampling principle is much like modern fuel injection on cars - it samples pressure/temperature/speed many many times a second and adjusts your fuel delivery so that it 'always' runs perfectly. Think of the stae of the computer industry when the Cypres was designed - never mind introduced. I'm not in the market for an AAD right now ($'s), but by the time I am, the Vigil will have been out for a while and will be more than astested as the Cypres was when IT gained acceptance. It seems smart enough to have earned a patent -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

Duck Dogers evil plan had worked Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

I thought it sounded like a dubbya remark - the planets part anyway... - who's Ex Gov Brown?? -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

...sent to me by my brother in law. Ford has a new 'sports' car called the SportKa in the UK. One commercial has animal rights groups up in arms. Buttttttt, if you've ever gotten tired of cleaning bird crap off your car, check it out follow the link, click on "View Highlights" and then choose "Clip 1". Don't say you weren't warned http://www.the-eviltwin.co.uk/ Dave ...not so evil... Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

So long as we're at the top of the list, Ketih, got an questions? In the last 50 or so jumps I've learned to 180 riser my Raven ... I have more than enough jumps sinking it in to a 'thud' ... Many demos on 170 class semi's (my likely progression as i've passed the BillVon tests on them "just like that")... nobody around to do CReW ... I'm learning to run fast now that I know how to PLF with the best of them . Swooping a Raven?!? Oh, to have a new canopy budget... -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

J'en a rien a faire avec les saucisses!! Muffons-nous

I wear contacts. I've lost 3 in 165 jumps +/-. Lack of blinking is a potential issue. Extra-high speed is an issue (what lens mfr. certifies 120 mph lenses?). Close your eyes in as much as possible. Few or no vents (tape them over if necessary). Bring spares and eye drops. I wear 'cool' snowborad gogles. Landing w/ one missing contact is not the end of the world. It can be a bit rough but it's not horrible (my Rx -3.25 L -1.75R). I think your key is to keep blinkning unless you have big vents on your gogles. Skip sunglasses entirely IMHO. -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

It's an acronym, yes. Not quite as 'out there' but E=eat and S=skydive. Fill in the balnk. (baise) -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

Uh - oh, time for some algrbra.. does E=F/S? If E= 0, then no F and no S follow logically. you die. If E>0 and f>=1, then S >=1 also. Life is good If F=0, nothing matters -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

How's Atlanta treatin' ya Meg? Hope all is well and to see your smiling face again! 'member this Zoo dive??? got the video? -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

I must be one of the few souls left that jumps a Raven as a main. The raven is TSO'd as a reserve but they put packing tabs and a p/c attachement on it to make it 'main-able'. Before I oversized the slider by 10% and had a slider pocket put on it, 300 ft would have been a nice opening. Even now, with well over 100 jumps on that tired main and with all the mods, I am only just learning how to pack it to make it snivel a bit (I get the occasional closed end cell!). A RESERVE HAS LETTILE OR NO 'SNIVEL' STAGE. The snivel is, of course, that part after the snatch force and before the full inflation. If you've ever had an opening where you look up as soon as you feel the 'tug to upright' and there's already a full canopy there - THAT's a "reserve-style" openeing. It's actually not that horrible... or maybe I'm just "tough"

Ooh ooh ooh, me me me me me! Waitaminute... youze guys are still in California, right? Damn. Sounds like a typical Hollister party. Have fun. Kill a 'beverage' for me and make sure there are pix posted to dropzone.com. -Dave (Winnipeg) Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)

My Dad's was yesterday. I took him to the Gliderport and he went soaring. As adventurous as a 64 year old can be, skydiving was simply not an option. -Dave PS: Mine's June 3rd. Methinks I was concieved at Expo 67 in Montreal...THAT would explain the bilingualism

I'm a Gemini and show Schizophrenic tendencies... I never know in what position I will find myself awaking

good exapmles are GREAT. However, a client of mine (engineer by trade and gar-guy in general) had soooo many things go wrong with his A4 he un-leased it early and got into a BMW "ix". Says it doesn't handle as well, and the 4wd is primitive by contrast. I drove it and it feels like a modernized version of my Dad's 635csi ... which felt like a modernized version of my grey market 2500 saloon (1970 - a classic even now). Dad also has a Legacy outback Limited. If you can deal with the Japanese-ism of these cars I'd agree with PhillyKev that the WRX is the class of the lot! The STi?? Corvette-killer and 4 seasons usable

Aahhhhh, THANKYOU Josh. Here's my 'in' on the thread for what it's worth.... I've read the thread and all its dissenting opinions and I'm about to introduce 'think for themselves' cars into the fray: "Technology" is allowing people to get away with a lower standard of care in the automobile world. For example: ABS was originally developped to keep airplanes from skidding on icy runways by the British in the late 50's. Not a bad safety feature in that application. However the modern driver now only needs HAMMER on the brakes as hard as you can to stop in a straight line. Under MOST circumstances this is also the shortest stopping distance. You even manage to maintain directional control, as opposed to losing it with wheels locked. "Mama SUV driver" (please allow the stereotype for a moment) who is yakking on the cell phone or distracted by the kids in the back will now have the capability of plowing into the back of the car ahead WITOHOUT the brakes locked ... becasue she was not in proper care and control of her vehicle and failed to maintain adequate following distance. "Testosterone Joe", on the other hand, will likely plow in because he was speeding and, ABS or not, was gonna get it no matter what. The police no longer have skid marks as evidence since ABS doesn't leave them. Distraction from the circumstance(s) is the key in so many accidents - it's not a whole lot different than losing altitude awareness (distrction) or speeding (head-down, too late breakoff) - except in that the consequence in skydiving is almost certain death. *** Traction control, likewise, keeps people from unintnetional directional changes during acceleration. It also prevents INTENTIONAL directional changes via traction modification. Imagine an 'anti-sideslide' button in RW. What if you need to perform one and can perform it flawlessly? What if you couldn't turn this 'feature' off? You no longer have the needed control and are as helpless as the person who never had the control. The answer is in TRAINING and PRACTISE. Maybe this traction control on/off button is like the switch on your Cypres? If I'm driving on a gravel road and I aproach a corner too fast the correct technique to bleed speed is called a 'reverse slide'. It's a rally technique and allows a far faster speed through a corner under thee circumstances. You first PITCH the car in the opposite direction you want to go and then pendulum it back in the originally intended direction. So let's say that I turned the traction control off and the ABS off, then I blew the manouver and wound up in the trees with a bent car anyway. Am I better or worse off than "Mama SUV driver" who would have just gone stright off the end of the road? IS there any difference? Methinks this is similar to the options of go low - decide-act versus go low - pitch main- have 2 out. One requires a conscious effort and action, the other only a reaction. When I got off student status my very next jump was on my BEER rig - an old Racer with a Raven main and Stellar reserve ... NO RSL, NO AAD. I'm still jumping it and it's much like my old sports cars with no ABS, traction control, or air bags. My instruction on the conversion? ... "It's ALL up to you now Dave ... don't forget to pull" I'll own a Cypres when I have the money to step up to a new FF friendly container at the same time. I don't expect that to be real soon but I plan to continue to jump, ever mindful of the consequences of my actions. Each weekend I take my life in my own hands and that makes me feel so alive ... yet I never think anything of the lack of an AAD. -Dave Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend (Lennon/McCartney)