Newbie

I absolutely guarantee you there are more "indiginous", non immigrants in the UK, falsely claiming benefits than the "hordes" of asylum seekers that are "streaming" into the country. The benefits system was being exploited well before the Daily Mail was reporting on how our borders were being over run with illegals claiming benefits. Legal immigrants coming into this country have actually helped keep the country's economy propped up for longer than would otherwise have been the case, and they certainly are illegible for claiming benefit. Although a double edged sword of keeping wage inflation down, it does mean that work gets done to a high standard and for less money than otherwise would have been the case. All these people are legal immigrants and will have to be paid at least the minimum wage. If they can do the same job to a higher standard for less money, or a job that someone from this country refuses to do because it's "below them", then why not? I guarantee you, if you were the owner of said business establishment, you would not hesitate in hiring them yourself - welcome to capitalism, money talks and everything else goes out the window. Most Poles here are not here for the long term either - research shows alot of them work hard, live in rented accomodation (this has helped our housing market continue to stay propped up, which in turn has helped prop the economy up as consumer spending is directly related to perceived value in housing stock) and share housing with way more people than you and i would be comfortable with, just so they can get by on the bare minimum and send money back to their families. I don't know about you, but i would find it extremely difficult emotionally to travel a couple of thousand miles to live in a strange place and not be able to see my wife and kids for maybe a year or more because i couldn't afford to go back and forth to visit. That's what these people are doing - largely they wish to move back to their homeland after working here for a while. There are more combined Australians, New Zealander's and South Africans in England than Eastern Europeans taking jobs that pay far more, doing far more skilled work, yet when was the last time you heard someone say "I wish all these Antipodeans would stay in their own damn country - they are taking all the best jobs here!". Why do you care more about the Poles who will be working in a cafe or a car mechanic on £5.05 or so an hour, than an IT specialist from South Africa who will be on £50,000/year when a "Brit could be doing that job"? This is what happens when you become part of the EU - and it also means you can travel, live and work freely in any other EU nation, like many 100,000's of Brits choose to, be that France, Spain or elsewhere. I don't want to generalise, but it sounds to me like you have spent far too much time with your nose buried in the Daily Mail. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I heard good thing about this place, but i'm wary of the price tag that goes along with it. You been for lunch/dinner? Lunch is a cheaper and more likely option if we hit it. Any recommends on particular dishes? I hear the kobe is particularly good. Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

YEAH! 2 votes for Angelo's! Yeah i've put that one on the list of places to check in to... "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Ask Godzilla. I think he's the only one ever to actually eat a NY restaurant. Is that the guys username, just did a search and couldn't find him on here. PS "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks, Sparks is on the menu for the trip as i haven't been there yet and i hear good stuff about it. Les Halles is good for hanger steaks too, that's one of our fav's. No expense accounts here, all comes out of our own pockets, but if it's really good food (i don't care much for the "in" place or ambience per se, but if the food is good....that's another thing) then we'll stretch our budget when we can. Thanks all for the recommends - keep 'em coming! "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

List em and why you love em. Going back to see relatives for thanksgiving and want to hit up all our old fav's along with some new ones. Anyone had breakfast at Norma's, at the Parker Meridien? OMFG i have been dreaming of that place since i was last out there. Anyhoo, hit me up with suggestions if you have any. Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm thinking about selling all my gear to a newly graduated A license holder. I want to downsize so that i get more forward speed, not really on landing (i will get into swooping but not right now, and it will be done over time) but more while flying around. I see my friends flying with a nice amount of forward speed, and i'd like to do that too. I think if i was going to get a 150 main, i'd like to have a larger reserve. I hear Wings are nice containers and can accomodate a larger reserve than main (i wouldn't be happy about downsizing to a 150 and having a sub 150 reserve given the hypothetical you outlined). Do you not think doing 300 jumps on a 170 is excessive though, in so much as the need to safely downsize to a 150? Surely if i can fly the 170 safely and do all the things on the USPA downsize checklist in 50 jumps, that would make me more or less safe to then begin flying a 150? It's this whole "do x amount of jumps on this canopy to be safe" thing that i'm not getting. It just seems very arbitary, doesn't it? Not being antagonistic, just trying to understand the reasoning.

Yeah i think i'll step it down one at a time after what you, Peej and others have said. Thanks all. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Thanks for the advice, sounds like a few on the 170 would be advisable, regardless of anty downtime over winter. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Nah no swooping. I'm trying to build in an element of future proofing...basically if i get a 150 i could fly the 170 for a bit next season, get onto my 150 then use that for several years/several hundred jumps as per my 190, then maybe stuff a 135 or whatever in the same container rather than having to buy a new rig. Thoughts? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yeah i know some people with spare 170s kicking about. Thats basically the other option - get a rig built for a 150 and stuff a 170 in there for a while. Thoughts on that as an option? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Yeah i normally have a lay off of several months, but if i ended the season on a 150, i'd prob jump a 170 from a friends rig at the start of next season to warm myself up into it. I wouldn't want to downsize right after a few months lay off. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I do a lot of that sort of stuff just on regular jumps. I'm happy i could do them all, but i still don't know if that means i'm ready for a downsize to this wingloading level. Has anyone downsized to this level in one go and did you notice it being quite severe? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Advice needed please... Might be selling my first set of gear soon - Hornet 190 loaded at 1.1 (currently 210lbs on exit). Almost 300 jumps on this gear, stand up every landing, can land where i want to, completed all of Bill V's checklist for downsizing etc, enjoy straight in approaches, not looking to get into my swoops for now. Thinking if i sell up, will look at getting a new set of gear designed around a 150 main, perhaps same size or larger (170?) reserve. Is this too much of a step down? I flew a 170 the other weekend, and it was noticeably a fair bit faster, but felt fine. Thoughts and advice appreciated. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Without wanting to skew this thread off topic, since when was the shooting of an innocent person justified?! He didn't run into the station, that was just one of the accusations made against him by the police when they tried to cover up what had happened, which is now very much common knowledge. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

The intelligence services here might not always work (Jean Charles de Menezes, Forest Gate raid etc), but when they get it right, thank god they nail it on the head. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Made this 10 min vid with a couple of mates this month. Would like some feedback if you guys get a chance. Made a few vids but always looking for feedback on stuff to improve for next time. It's 100+ meg but we tried to keep the quality higher. Enjoy and thanks. http://www.skydivingmovies.com/ver2/pafiledb.php?action=file&id=4347 "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

thanks for the hints. Unfortunately i buy from a local grocer who gets em direct from Greece and i can't really ask him to cut em open for me as they are sold whole. He has some he cuts into halves/quarters but i always go for a whole melon as i figure i will eat more than just the quarter and halves he has out and also they might have been sat out for a day or whatever and might not be as fresh? These greek melons are about 15+ lbs each and tend to be the longer, wider, oval shaped melons. Man i hate the fluffy stuff inside melons with a vengeance. What is the result of that? Over ripening? Not freshly picked? I figure it's a loss of the water content from the inside, heading out to the edges right? Thanks again "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

So in the last 3 weeks i have gone through about 60 lbs of watermelon but my selection of good ones is going from good to bad to terrible. They have all been sweet, but the last one was really really "powdery" and "fluffy" in the middle, almost inedible in parts. The very first one i got was super crisp and crunchy, just the way it should be, from the white near the skin, right through to the centre. Does anyone know why some of them are powdery, especially closer to the core? Anyway i was at the National Watermelon Organisation and it said to pick them based on the weight (they should feel heavy for their weight, but that's always a hard one - 15lbs of watermelon always feels quite weighty to me) and they also suggest to look for a yellow spot on one side, where it's been lying, ripening in the sun. Other than that it says to buy them based on little or no defects to the skin, where it may have been bruised etc, but it gives no advice on how to avoid powdery melons. Anyway if you got any tips, please share, i love watermelons but there is nothing quite so disappointing as cutting in to one only to take a chunk out and slice through it, feeling the lack of crunchy bite to the knife etc "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

My PC9 and Royal Lens keeps getting tiny condensation droplets randomly, and in particualr when i fall through a small piece of cloud. Has anyone used Cat Crap? What's it like? Is it easy to apply and does it work? I live in the UK and we can't seem to get it here for some reason so my option is to pick some up in November when i'm back in NYC or, if there is any kindly soul out in the US who would be bothered to purchase and send me a small tub, i will paypal you the full cost, or buy you something online of equal value. Thanks for any reviews "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Bill how was it going from a 190 to a 150 like that? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Ever weekend after doing a few jumps and lots of pack jobs, it seems that the bungees and pulling on the pull up cord totally mess up my fingers. They are really sore and sometimes will even bleed from around the cuticle. Anyone else get this and know how to stop them hurting so much? Using my fingertips to "open" the bungees is i think the main issue. Any ideas short of packing in gloves to help me out would be much appreciated. Anything i can put on my fingers after a hard days packing to help protect/heal them? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I'm having this weird IE 6 issue. Haven't changed anything/updated anything but all of a sudden, it's like cookies keep being deleted every few mins. If i log into dz.com, or anywhere else where my details are held until i come back, i can leave for a few mins, come back and none of my info is there. Installed firefox to see what it was like, and it's fine - all details being held as usual. Firefox is actually quite nice so i might stick with it, but it seems to be a little slower for some reason. Anyway - does any tech head out there know what might be causing this weird IE issue? I can't understand it because i haven't changed any settings on Privacy/cookies etc. Thanks "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

I mean, to actually try to work out how to do, and decide to try and do it and then begin to practice it jump after jump. I'm just curious as to know how head down flight developed, and what the original reasoning was behind it. Was it Olav? Thanks if anyone can help me out. "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts

Is it possible to sneeze in freefall? Does anyone know if anyone has done it? "Skydiving is a door" Happythoughts