Will_Evo

In reply to this discussion that has been going whether global warming is real or not etc.. I just have a small thing to add. If you look at those studies, and more importantly look at the assumptions, or factors held at a constant rate or not even included at all, you will start to see a trend, and you will start to see why one scientist's data doesn't match another. The fact is, we don't know what the earth is doing. Find me one scientific report for global warming that included all of these variables: varying solar activity, oceanic patterns, forest fires, plant generation of green house gasses, animal contribution of green house gasses, the flux of the earths magnetic field varying etc.. We just don't know, and everyone of those reports are samplings of the big picture. Do I think we are having a negative affect on the earth, no doubt, do I think it is dangerous, I have no idea. One thing is clear though, none of us know how detrimental our contribution to the naturally occurring green house gasses is. -Evo Zoo Crew

1. 96 2.1 3. Knotted Toggle, causing spin. Zoo Crew

About the stem cell research, good I am glad you are for it, doesn't change the fact that your faith is against it. So following your same logic, faith does bring good, but also the atrocities of religion with it,like killing millions of people in the name of a god, or flying planes into buildings, or halting medical research, or opposing condom use in the #1 Aids infected capital of the world, would you agree? And where exactly did you find this in your religious text? To me this sounds just like any other man-made religious law, like the ones the catholic religion love to promote so freely. Why can't curiosity just be a by-product of a self aware being? I know I am here, therefore I question why I am here. makes sense to me, alot more sense than saying god is wonder...where the hell did you get that from? To the first bolded section. You do not "know" god is real, and I know this because I do not know he is real, and you do not contain any mental capacity I do not. You speculate he is real at best, hope he is real, but if you "knew" he was real, you would be able to supply physical evidence to prove yourself. People had no idea what gravity was, they did not know it existed, until someone could prove it. Same applies for your god, or any god. I can argue that I know the flying spaghetti monster is real, but of course I cannot back this up, and you would instantly refute my reasoning...same here. To the second bolded section. If I got physical proof of a god, heard one talk, or witnessed a sea get split in two, etc..I would have the proof I needed, I am a being that functions on cold hard evidence, I even have a hard time taking someones word for it in general conversation, I find myself always researching the truth of the topic in private. You on the other hand, seem to take words as truth, without an ounce of research or evidence....thankfully today's scientists don't adopt this behavior. The more I read your posts, the more I realize half of what you say is made up. Explain to me where you get this exponentially rising result? Last time I checked, religion, on all fronts is losing momentum, and atheism is a rising trend in society. People who claim to be atheist, agnostic, or no religion by birth year- Date of birth

Yes. Its like a fish talking trash to the water. No, I dont believe that is true, but you do, so we'll just disagree. I dont believe that is true either. Its our ability to question and reason that makes us different from animals, but not different from nature. And it is interesting that a being of nature is "fit for questioning our existance" as you put it. edited to add: BTW I support stem cell research as long as it is used in the right way. If man did not question his surroundings, technology as we know it would not exist. We not have a grasp on electricity, we would not know what it is that holds us firm on the ground etc...it was the curiosity of man, and his ability to reason and investigate that made us who we are. Your mind frame is one in which "it works, leave it alone" which is faulty at best. man has questioned his existence since we first began to think, this is why cultures, everyone of them created some sort of god, to explain the unexplainable at the time, and your god is no different. thankfully in this day and age we have the technology to debunk some of the myths of religion and hopefully soon completely disprove them. -Evo Zoo Crew

If humans were not created faulty, explain eve eating from the tree when instructed not to? Not a mistake? Not a fault? Problem being, according to the bible god does and has meddled with the physical world, aka the flood, creating the earth, creating humans etc...this with time could be proven, we could potentially find evidence of creation, or the contrary, but either way it is a different universe all together and is fact a scientific concern. An update on that as well...science is leaning away from creation...things just aren't adding up the more we investigate. The bolded part of your reply, is absolutely hypocritical. You say you will plead ignorance to the big picture, but in the same breath claim you know without a doubt where everything came form, and know without a doubt what will happen in the future. You can't plead ignorance and believe in a bible that promotes an absolute truth. It does not take being a god, nor a brain surgeon to see that the process we are living through if god is real is absolutely unnecessary. it is evident in the story of the bible, like I said before, a god would not require a "playing out" of a situation, he knows what will become of it. What a lie, if god is real, he has made no physical effort to prove his existence. I have never heard a god speak, witnessed water turn into wine, frogs rain from the sky, or an angel float around talking to people. Maybe if this kind of physical interaction occurred, I would be more prone to believe, but as is evident, god is either dead, or does not care. How else can you explain him not reaching out to people who do not even know about a book called the bible, just allowing people to end up in an eternal hell he created...not very loving if you ask me. No doubt good things come from people who contain a faith, but to say that those good things would not happen without faith is a dangerous assumption. Are you kidding? Who are we to question? I suppose if we all kept that train of thought, we would still be using stone clubs, and living in caves. it IS our ability to question and reason that makes us different from nature, and it is only fitting for us to question our existence as well. This is exactly the thing that is SO DANGEROUS about religion, it allows normal, everyday people to believe they have the answers, and without a doubt know the end result. Of course you support this idea, but I can't get over the fact that the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, believes someone is talking to him and telling him what to do. How ridiculous does that sound. I am sure if you asked GW Bush he would tell you "god told me to halt stem cell research"....only a religious mentality could give someone the balls to oppose the most relevant and promising medical research known today, because they believe 50 cells have a soul...only religion gives someone the mentality to overlook the millions of people living in pain everyday that could benefit from the research, and only because of their faith and belief. Religion is dangerous and counterproductive to modern society. -Evo Zoo Crew

I agree it is a bit far fecthed to understand what it would mean to be all knowing and all powerful, but I can guess. Don't use the complexity of your god to explain why we can't understand what he is doing. If that was the case, then I would tell you not to worry about gravity, it is much to complex an idea for us to investigate. using as much perception as humanly possible, we are able to imagine what it would be like to "know everything". I can tell you, I would not make another mistake in my entire life, I would never trip and fall again, I wouldn't jump on the one I knew I would die, wouldn't drive on a day I knew I would crash, I would not invest my time into a relationship I knew would fail anyways etc... So now why can I not apply this logic to god. If I was a god, I would not create humans who I know, will let me down, and put me through all this trouble, just to get where I am going anyways, I would create the end result. It makes perfect and logical sense, to say it is not is hiding behind complexity. This brings me to another point that Richard Dawkins brings up in his book "The God Delusion". Why if the question of life is so complex, and science can't answer it, is religion automatically given the trump card? Just because a question is so complex, does not mena it cannot be answered by science. "And whatever else they may say, those scientists who subscribe to the 'separate magisteria' school of thought should concede that a universe with a supernaturally intelligent creator is a very different kind of universe from one without. The difference between the two hypothetical universes could hardly be more fundamental in principle, even if it is not easy to test in practice. And it undermines the complacently seductive dictum that science must be completely silent about religions central existence claim. The presence or absence of a creative super-intelligence is unequivocally a scientific question, even if it not in practice- or not yet- a decided one." -Evo Zoo Crew

I took no offense to the post, but when you say things like "The ones who give it up, give it up because they grew bitter towards God for showing them their sin in the first place", it makes it seem you were talking about everyone else, and not you. I did, how else can you explain an all knowing and supposedly loving being, not only allowing, but creating a hell, and again, not only allowing but creating a creation he knew would screw up? This reminds me of a quote I absolutely love. ""We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes." -- Gene Roddenberry No I agree faith is a very powerful thing, and a very very dangerous thing. What do you think causes Muslim extremists to kill themselves and others? It was very well put by Sam Harris who said, hope is a intellectual idea, and nothing more, hope rarely prompts a emotional response, but belief, now that is whole different beast. When a person believes something, their emotions become involved, and this is the exact thing that allows for the mentality to run planes into buildings. Correct me if I am wrong, but I do believe the end result is listed int he bible, god is suppose to come down, gather his people, and then destroy the Earth. Now I go back to a logical means of reasoning, If I was an omniscient being, and knew who what when where and why I want to create a new heaven, I would skip all the extra and just create the end result, an omniscient being would not require a "playing out" of his creation. I didn't touch on everything, so if you would like a reply on some other points, let me know. -Evo Zoo Crew

So you would base your trust on someones religious beliefs? Since when did religion, or to make you happy, a "relationship with Jesus"(even though the two are the same) make you a good person, or a trustworthy one? Like someone has said before, it is things like this that make religion, at its core, absolutely evil in nature. Good intentions do not come from faith, but more often than you would like to admit, faith leads to some of the most violent crimes this world has ever seen. And all of this is good and all, but until you can explain your side of the story for my previous argument, none of it matters. -Evo Zoo Crew

You basically stated my opening sentence in alot more words, aka "I thought" was placed there. Zoo Crew

So I gave it up in rebellion? I thought I was a Christian for 16 years of my life and did not give it up out of rebellion, or because I was addicted to the sin(considering at that time I lived as you would expect a good christian would). I gave it up because I took a long look at the bible, the idea of god, and the theology behind the bible and realized the whole thing does not make sense or follow and type of logical reasoning. Now back to my post, how exactly did your reply, have anything to do with the point I brought up? How do you explain a god who creates a defaulted eternity of pain for humans in hell, and then decides he needs a way to fix his mistake, and sends himself down to kill himself? A god does not make mistakes, nor would an omniscient being, go through all of this trouble to get to the end product, it follows no logical means of reasoning, if you know what will become of what you do, then most certainly you will choose the best possible route to the end conclusion...meaning, sin, killing himself, creating Satan, a hell and a heaven...none of that would even be a factor. -Evo Zoo Crew

Starting off with a cool quote. " A clock made by hand is an amazing machine, but one made by putting all the pieces in a box, and shaking it up, is down right beautiful" You speak of "the hope that Jesus offers" but so easily forget it is Jesus(who is god) who allowed for the defaulted hell humans belong to, to exist. So the hope you say he offers, saves you from the hell he created in the first place. Compare this to, say an identity thief, who steals your identity, and then after ruining your name and credit score, calls you with advice and financial planning services for a price. Quite the scam artist is he not, creating an inescapable scenario, and then offering you a way out too. We call those criminals these days, not gods. -Evo Zoo Crew

Got mine about 15 jumps ago, no complaints so far. It is really nice that you pretty much never have to turn it off, it goes into a type of hibernation to save battery life, basically, you'll never have to turn it on or off ever until the battery dies. Zoo Crew

Whoa, it wasn't that serious, I was simply posting to let them know how I felt, some constructive criticism if you will. I don't need or want an explanation...I think you are taking things a bit to the extreme Jkralovec.... -Evo Zoo Crew

Was a fun couple days...but not at all what was advertised...might as well of been a normal day of jumping...not a boogie. Bads: -No beer on the airport -No camping -No Casa resulting in no high altitude jumps or high speed passes(the whole reason we drove 5 hours) -Night jumps were 25 dollars more than a normal jump, IMHO, the dropzone should furnish the strobes...and maybe charge a bit more for the glow sticks...but not 45$ for a jump...if you advertise it...be ready to do it, we were going to 13,500...not like it cost the DZ anymore money to put a load up at night then during the day. -First loads of the days were NOT 19$ as advertised, seeing as I was on two of them. 24 a pop -Lastly a minor thing, but there were 4-5 packing weights to be shared among 40-50 people Goods: -Cool people and a nice small dropzone feel with a big plane -Good outs and consciousness of off landing jumpers -Stocked fridge In all it was a fun weekend, and got to do 6 jumps, but nothing I did there, I couldnt have at my home dropzone 4 hours closer. id say, if you cant do what you advertise, let people know, and try to do something extra to make up for it, its a boogie, people are traveling for it, make it worth the time. Sorry if that seems rude, but its just how I felt about it. -Evo Zoo Crew

Congrats on your Tandem :) It is your TI's job to pull, I promise, you did not surprise him/her at all, they were expecting you not to pull. When the time comes, and you decide you enjoy the sport enough, people start looking at buying gear at their A license or a bit before, and it ranges between 2-6 g's. You will learn to pack a canopy after AFF, it is a requirement for the A license for you to pack your own canopy, AND jump it. After your AFF jumps, you will be on solo status, meaning you can jump on your own, and depending on what DZ, you may or may not be required to jump the DZ's rental gear, ranging from 15-25$ a jump plus the jump ticket. Hope that helps. -Evo Zoo Crew

FUCK KIRKOFFS LAWS! And the BRANCH, MESH, AND NODE ANALYSIS METHODS! GARRR Zoo Crew

Been playing it non stop since I got it! Good game so far, takes a while to get used to all the new stuff, but other than that, big thumbs up. Oh and I wasn't to impressed with the campaign...was very boring compared the the first modern warfare game. -Evo Zoo Crew

Your absolutely ridiculous. I came in here, with hard and definitive words because you ARE in this sport, what I didn't want to believe existed. I see on these forums a ton of times things I do no necessarily agree with, and sometimes dont understand why are even a issue, and I never understood why the micromanaging happens so much in this sport. But now I do. Its people with big attitudes, and big heads that think they know what they don't and end up doing something stupid. I attacked you, because neither you nor me, know how to fly a canopy proficiently, and this includes being able to say so blatantly that one sucks. In order to say a canopy sucks, you gotta know what your doing under it, and I gotta say, at 49 and 90 jumps we have no clue. Basically, your making the rest of us new guys with a head on our shoulders, look bad, and add to the micromanaging that already exists in the sport. You got attacked, because you made some bold statements that implied you think your the shit. I recommend taking a canopy course, I enjoyed mine. Good luck -Evo Zoo Crew

So you admit to not being good, bus somehow can formulate such a strong opinion on a canopy to say it sucks? Like I said before, you, me, god if hes real, the entire dropzone population know you are full of it, and for once, I agree "You don't know what you don't know". Like I said before, you have 49 jumps, and supposedly 40 of them were used to experiment on a spectre and or sabre2, this also means that in two jumps(if you started experimenting at jump 8), you sold yourself on the safire2. I mean, listen to yourself, Jump 9!? Youve got to be kidding?! Id be willing to bet you were on student gear still, still learning how to flare and properly enter a landing pattern, not experimenting on a new smaller canopy, and getting finicky about its openings. Like I said before, I had a problem with very off heading openings on my Spectre when I first bought it(jump 30), and even asked the local instructors what the problem could be, I got the "Body position and packing" speech from every one of them, I am going to go with they must all have telepathy, or they just know what they are talking about. Well here I am 60 jumps later, and an off heading opening is a rare occurrence. Coincidence? Hell no. I learned how to pack, practiced, and figured out where in the packing process, off heading opening can be avoided. Also i did two solos in the beginning, flyinf in the pull position the entire jump, perfecting the pull position, and man am I glad, those 4 way jump withs a break off of 4 grand, dont give you much time to end your track and get stable before pull. Lastly, your opinion on the Sabre2 means nothing if you never packed it. How can you blame the canopy if you have never tried to fix the problem yourself? packers usually do a tremendous job packing canopies, but they do it fast, and if the canopy is a bit to big for the bag, or container, or is new and slippery, or has worn out lines, etc..(tons of things) off heading openings can happen. Did you even think to have the trim checked? How many jumps were on the canopy? Were your leg straps the same length when you landed every jump? Are you sure you were stable in the air? To many questions that cannot be answered by a 49 jump wonder. Im not to far ahead of you in jump numbers, but for some reason, I can bet way ahead in the common sense department. -Evo Zoo Crew

I bet your loved at the DZ Congrats! Zoo Crew

So let me get this straight, you've done 40 jumps roughly on a spectre and or Sabre 2 collectively....so this must mean on jump 9, two jumps after AFF) you started experimenting with new canopies? And not only experimenting, but downsizing twice? Give me a break kid, lets be serious, you didn't start experimenting with different canopies until your A, and even then that only gives you 24 jumps to form an opinion on two canopies and compare them and rule one completely out. Something isn't adding up, so go over your numbers again, and come back with some realistic data. Also, you claim to be able to tell the difference between the flare? Not to beat my own drum, but I am catching on to this sport rather quickly, and have some canopy camps and some CReW jumps under my belt and STILL havn't mastered landing in all conditions, that, just takes time...and I am jumping a Spectre. Once again, something isn't adding up. -Evo Edit to Add: I am talking about EXPERIMENTING not just flying the canopy light and soft to the ground...which undoubtedly, for your first 20 or so jumps, you did, both because of fear, and inexperience. Experimenting involves working the risers, the toggles, taking it to stall point, practice flares, packing the parachute(which obviously you did not and have nothing to compare with) etc... Zoo Crew

You have 50 jumps, and you seem to know for sure its not the pack job? Youve only jumped the damn thing 20 times. I had and still have some off heading openings, and when I first started jumping my Spectre, was not happy with it...but after a while, on heading openings are coming more frequently, and I attribute that to the experience I have gained through packing over and over. Controlling the nose while packing, and putting the canopy in the D bag symmetrically, will play a huge role in an on or off heading opening. Haha, oops... whatever. Sabre2, Spectre, Safire2... I'll keep all their spellings straight one of these days. but I like how at first it was my packing, now it's the dz packers, we have about 15 by the way. It is not the packer, how finicky can the Sabre2 be? Like I said, not the same degree of issues with the Spectre openings. If the packing needs to be so maticulous, again... I don't want one, but I'm glad you like yours. Zoo Crew

That is a good question, and although someone who says they don't get a MAC because of price and may not be able to afford it legitimately, the old saying stands on top of the mountain shining bright and it says "You get what you pay for" When you buy a Mac, you don't just get a reliable computer, you get an aesthetically, ergonomically pleasing machine with tons of support to back it up. When is the last time you went back to a Sony store with your laptop and had it fixed on the spot? -Evo Zoo Crew

If anyone is in that area, last I heard they need blood donors at the Temple Hospital badly. Awesome way to contribute some good to this tragedy Zoo Crew

Well in this situation, a soldier who said his reason for not wanting to shower with another soldier because of race, would more than likely receive some sort of correction whether it be by the UCMJ, or kept at a company level. Right, but they would take steps to change the situation, aka give pvt miller and the other soldier specific shower times, to avoid any concern, I have actually seen this happen before, not because they were sexually uncomfortable, but because the two soldiers just did not get along. So maybe they wouldn't build new showers then, maybe there would be different shower times, regardless, is it worth it? I am playing the devils advocate here obviously. Zoo Crew