wzettler

The prohibition against the US flag touching the ground IS LAW: not sure that is a Law, but a regulation (where is lawyer familiar with CFR's when ya need one) break the law get arrested, break a regulation get shunned I'm familiar with the CFR (though not a lawyer). The reg with the flag stated above (if indeed it is a regulation) is non-mandatory (voluntary). The key word that makes it voluntary is "should". If it was a mandatory regulation the word used would be "shall" or "must." So the way its written means its kind of a recommendation for best/suggested practices and is indeed voluntary. I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

I hope a lot of the newer jumpers (who won't have the benefit of the List) have an extra large bucket of luck, because their knowledge bucket just got a whole lot smaller... -Will

Please list your experience with BASE jumping and modern BASE gear so we can get a better feel of your expertise. You didn't say exactly what it was that you had a problem with. BASE rig out of an aircraft, BASE rig is unsafe out of an aircraft or BASE rig is just unsafe? You did say it was not just illegal but stupid in the title of the thread. Please explain your opinion further as to why. Is this just left over BASE prejudice from the 80s from an old guy? I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

At about 6:30 pm yesterday (eastern standard time in the US) the tower (1000 footer) in lower Georgia that was hit by the army helicopter was scheduled to be dropped by controlled demolition. It was successfully dropped, but unfortunately it took the undamaged (equally tall) tower right next to it with it. Anyway, if you're interested in the video go to the the below webpage and click on the first video in the "Featured Videos" section at about the middle of the page and you can see it. http://www.walb.com/ Rest in pieces... -Will I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Has anyone heard anything about the incident mentioned on the below page? Scroll down to the small "Deadly Plunge" article. The page is dated Tuesday, May 30th. Anyone know anything?? I hope we haven't hit 100... http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100026_30/05/2006_70303 -Will I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

So a few days ago I got the new issue (June) of Skydiving Magazine and it mentions in the "Maybe You've Heard" section a new wingsuit that Tony Suits is about to release but I don't see anything on their website. Has anyone seen or flown the suit? Whats the deal?

Just read the review in the new (Feb) issue of Skydiving magazine and all I have to say is... DAMN!!!!!!! The article was entertaining, to say the least. I haven't seen or read the book yet, but does anyone have any comment on the article who has read the book? I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Yeah Tom, You're in there doing the roll-over from the Tram car. Its a series of 3 pics... -Will Edited to say: At least it looks like your Gargoyle container in the pictures... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Not exactly. While Skydive Hawaii and Pacific Skydiving Center are on the same airport on the island of Oahu, there is also Skydive Kauai on the island of Kauai. I haven't been to it though so I don't know about their operation. While I was on Maui in September I took a day trip to Oahu to jump and did my jumping through Pacific Skydiving Center. My overall experience was positive. Their King Air has straddle benches and was pretty fast to altitude. Make sure you are comfortable with jumping in wind because (at least when I was there) it is a steady 15 mph (at least). I was there on a weekday and was the only fun-jumper. I didn't mind the solos though because the were wingsuit flights and I was looking at the scenery anyway. Once the tandems were done, they were done. Plus at that time of the day (about noon) the winds started to pick up (over 20 mph) so they were shutting down anyway. I don't know anything about accommodations though because like I said, I was just on a day trip. There's plenty to do and explore on Oahu (its the most populated and the island most tourist go to) so you can certainly find something to do. Read the reviews on this site and also if you're interested to know which are USPA DZs look here. Have fun too. Its a beautiful place!

In case you didn't know... My guess is that NPS reg writers wrote it under the direction of what the policy makers wanted. Normally when govt regulations are written they are first proposed in the CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) and there is an open period in which the public can comment about the proposed language. When the comment period ends the agency then reviews all comments (which are public record) and takes into consideration all comments before finalizing the language and releasing its final rule (also published in the CFR). I don't know if NPS policy falls under the regulatory process (although I would think so). When there is an open comment period and one wishes to comment, you simply go to http://www.regulations.gov/, select the agency (Dept of Interior, in this instance), and scroll through their regulations that are currently open for comment. After finding and reading the rule you want to comment on click on "submit a comment for this regulation" and procede as instructed. Of course, you have to do all this before the closing date of the "open for comment" period ends. And that is my govt lesson to you all for the day...

Could a possible solution be to keep the flock (that you are going to join) to your right (if they're doing a left hand pattern) until you figure out which direction they are flying? That way if they are flying in the same direction you are you can just crab (or bank) over to the right and join them. If they're still travelling in the opposite direction (like in the video) you can keep them far enough to the right until you pass/they pass and you can turn and join the flock. Could that work? What problems can you all see with this solution? (With loads with multiple flocks I could see that this might not work...) I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Yo Yuri! Are you still using BOC for your flights with the V1? I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Wendy, I used the below website about a year and a half ago converting all our old home movies to DVD for an Xmas present for my dad and they did a good job. I can't remember how much it cost but I think it was more expensive than $120. Anyway, take a look if ya like...

Is that the best you got for avoidance of questions? Yeah? Thats what I thought. I think I've made my point. edit: no need for that second point... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Wow. 18 posts in under 24 hours. You're doing well. -Yawn- Your quotation marks are there for sarcasm, right? I didn't think you could answer my questions... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

This is hilarious!! The importation of slaves was outlawed in the US in like 1805 or something. Of course Ron couldn't produce anyone. Do you think Ron knows everyone in the world and everyone's story and can just call someone up at will? Brazil was importing many slaves at that period from Africa, but I don't have the means to check there, nor do I care to. The point is is just because Ron cannot produce someone doesn't mean that there isn't someone in the world that may have a claim. Answer me this: Why was Ethiopia denied membership into the league of nations in 1919? Why? Lets use your tactics for a minute. Show me proof that the Italians are lying and its all propaganda. Proof! I'll save you time and say now that whatever you show me is lies. See how weak that (non)argument is? Now answer me this: How did Menelik finance his military to kick the "imperialistic Wops" asses? If the Italians were lying about the whole thing why didn't they just say they withdrew from Ethiopia for economic, moral, whatever reason instead of let it be known that they got their asses handed to them? Why did they let that part get out? That would be the most embarassing thing, I would think... "Denial ain't just a river in Egypt..." I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

link that was sent to me on the same subject: (the last link in the article was particularly entertaining; to me anyway) http://www.antiwar.com/orig/ross.php?articleid=6108 The Lesson for the Left in Star Wars by Jack Ross There is much to be said for the political allusions and messages of the Star Wars epic now that we are able to see it completely. In both very broad and very particular ways, there are stunning and prescient allegories to our own time. With episodes I and II, we learned that the Empire was not a foreign conquering force but an organic transfiguration that took down the Republic. In the current episode, the full extent of the degradation of the Republic (and its vaunted Jedi Knights) becomes clear. Curiously, one of the best articulations of the stunning prescience of the present crisis in Revenge of the Sith is a vivid illustration of just how evident said degradation is among our own ostensible opposition. Ami Eden in the Forward has written a column entitled "Darth Vader: The Original Neocon," (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:v0j44s5cM8MJ:www.forward.com/articles/3200+Darth+Vader:+The+Original+Neocon&hl=en&start=1) saying of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader, "We see a once liberal warrior seduced by the promise of power and order, and fed up with the bumbling bureaucrats in the Galactic Senate – to paraphrase Irving Kristol, a Sith lord is a Jedi mugged by reality." Eden goes on to point out that this image of a neocon is entirely consistent with their initial emergence as hardheaded Cold Warriors combating liberal idealism, but that this has of late totally reversed for the neocons with their newfound democracy evangelism. All true enough. But Eden actually goes on to celebrate this, even comparing it to Darth Vader's ultimate turn against the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi upon Luke's insistence that there was still some good in the hardened Lord of the Sith. Watching Revenge of the Sith should demonstrate just how dangerous this notion is. What makes Darth Vader the original neocon is that he took the Jedi hubris in the Force to its brutal and logical conclusion, just as the neocons took Cold War liberalism to its brutal and logical conclusion. The lamentations of Obi-Wan and the other Jedi that there was a right way to prosecute the Clone Wars are eerily similar to John Kerry's line last fall that there was a right way to prosecute the Iraq War, and more generally that there is a right way to govern a sclerotic half-Republic/half-Empire. We see this most of all, however, as Anakin has his own Jedi hubris exploited by Palpatine, like Richard Perle luring George W. Bush into his scheme. When Padmé confronts Anakin about the turn he has taken, the latter exults in his power and glory in terms utterly Caligula-esque. There are other profound allusions to the classics in Anakin's odyssey as well – he dreams about Padmé choking to death, which leads him to seek the life-giving power of the dark side, only to use that power to actually choke Padmé to death: an absolutely vintage staple of the classics, that all prophecies are self-fulfilling, and are made so precisely by the means with which one seeks to prevent the occurrence of the prophecy. This brilliant allusion is meant to illustrate the plague of hubris. By definition, of course, the liberals are quite averse to such virtues as the proscription of hubris. But in fairness to the Jedi and the liberals, we must not forget that the advent of the Empire came about through the long, methodical infiltration of the Sith, just as in our case with regard to the neocons. Indeed, there are many parallels in this respect between the Sith and the cult of neoconservatism, who rose to power from Trotskyite origins to Social Democrats USA (http://www.socialdemocrats.org/) to the Republican party. If past has been prologue in viewing Star Wars as a prophetic guide to the neocon advent, we can see frightening premonitions of what lies ahead. At the very beginning of Revenge of the Sith, we see the unrestrained ideological ruthlessness with which the Sith turn against the Trade Federation that was so crucial to their advancement in the previous Attack of the Clones. This could turn out to be a perfect allegory for the old ideologues crushing their "free-market conservative" allies when advancing the revolution calls for it. We can perfectly see Anakin's slaughter by light saber of the Trade Federation transmuting into an old Trotskyite standard-bearer like Josh Muravchik going at his corporate paymasters at AEI with a machete. The more solid analogy, however, lies in the parallel between Palpatine's purge of the Jedi and the Bush/neocon purge of the CIA and career military. Like the CIA, the Jedi were an institution that perfectly illustrated what was deeply flawed about the system they represented, but in the end were an independent source of power that had to be eliminated. Anakin is implored to turn against the Jedi and destroy them with transparently cynical denunciations of their undemocratic nature, which had to be crushed by the perversely mass-democratic executive, and the embrace of this view was a hallmark of the infamous essay by Weekly Standard online editor Jonathan Last, "The Case for the Empire," (http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/248ipzbt.asp) at the time of the release of episode II. Which brings us back to the alleged (or at least allegedly recent) conversion of the neocons to democratic utopianism. Ever since the election, the trend in all quarters has been toward a steady uptick in the democratist madness, and with the recent events in Uzbekistan, the relatively stolid editors of the Weekly Standard have decided that the time has come to shed any pretension about American interests or security. Now all that matters is the ideological agenda, which they call the global democratic revolution. This appears to be the culmination of the turn that began with Richard Perle taking the democratist line in extricating himself from the Iraq quagmire and defending Ahmed Chalabi, just as Darth Vader throughout the original trilogy fancied himself the true and loyal servant of the dark side of the Force against the hard-headed Imperial officers who mocked his "sad devotion to that ancient religion." For such is the attitude of our rulers to those of its court intellectuals who continue to profess their fealty to democracy or socialism or liberalism or whatever. Alas, as liberty died to thunderous applause when Bush declared his global democratic revolution, it was, and remains, the Left which applauds most thunderously of all. I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Thats interesting. I saw the film last night and I had the same thoughts when I heard the line from Natalie Portman and during that whole scene...hmm... edited to say: I don't think it would ever get that far in the US, it was just interesting that others see parallels too... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

So are you supposed to be the 2,000 jump skygod then? Ok. And I'm a 300 jump wonder not 400... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Yeah, I was pretty proud of that one. I admit it, I was just having fun with that one... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

So you're saying that your and ?? Ok. I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

They just don't ride wheelies cause 99% of them can't. How long have you even been riding street bikes? Not even a year right? I'm not trying to offend you but what do you really know about motorcycling culture? Sometimes, to me (not that you care) you sound like a 50 jump wonder when it comes to street bikes. Get some experience before you start making generalizations. And before you ask, i have been riding streetbikes for over 10 years (since I was 17) and I ride at least 300 miles a week for 7 months out of the year in DC area traffic. And I have friends that ride every type of bike. I don't like generalizations about my fellow riders (including you)... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Yep. Looks like the gloves are going to be off this season... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

Well, then here is where our opinions differ. Everything (within the govt/military subject) in the DC area is looked at politically these days. The military cares less about this (if at all) than others, but go high enough and there are polititions that do care about how something is "seen" by the public.... In my experience, how govt decisions are seen publicly is at the forefront of every decision... I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

I'm sorry, but I find that response a little comical. Do you think hijackers have people on the ground that will radio them and say, "No, wait, don't crash that plane in here. They have some surface to air missles now and you'll get shot down." I think if anyone is flying a plane with intent to do harm with it, surface-to-air missles aren't going to deter them to change their minds and fly away. I also think that a terrorist that is determined to do harm in the future won't think twice if he/she is walking around DC and sees SAMs around. My opinion is that these are put on public display for citizens. I think that the objective is to give the public a psychological effect of "security" and they are being taken care of by the powers that be. Consequently, the media coverage does the same thing. The military doesn't need to parade anything around in order to be effective in their defense. I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.