lurking

I recently upgraded from my first handheld GPS (a simple etrex; no maps) to the oregon. What a difference in usability! It is true that the screen is not that great in direct sunlight. I use it for hiking/geocaching or in a car (upcoming off-road trip to Namibia) where I can always shield it with my other hand. Then it´s OK. If I imagine it mounted to a bike´s handlebar or a in a paraglider/hangglider that could be a problem. If you go for the oregon go for the 300, not the 400 and save some money. The only difference is built-in maps and there are a lot of free (legal) maps out there you can install. Thomas (Germany)

If the Hondas they sell in the US are not completely different cars from the ones they sell in Europe your car will be fine. Here in Germany a lot of cars are driven at these speeds routinely. I commute my 25 miles at 100-120 every day in VW Golf. I will not say anything about the the legality or safety of doing so on a US freeway ;-). Do they really sell cars with tires that are only good for

I have been to the Maldives several times for scuba diving. There are currently 2 companies using twin-engined seaplanes to take tourists to the resort islands after landing at Male International. It´s quite an experience. Male international is a modern airport with a very long runway that accomodates everything up to a 777. It´s practically built into the ocean (see attached). If you want to avoid a long boat transfer to your resort you are then taken by bus across (!) the runway to the seaplane "airport". The bigger company alone has about 20 twin otters on floats. The flight si something special for every aviation enthusiast. Most pilots are from Canada. They traditionally fly barefoot. Off-season the planes are flown to Canade for major checks. Thomas Germany

Just yesterday I opened a "business" xmas card in my office. Now I have "artifical snow" (tiny bits of something that looks like styrofoam) on the carpetry of my office. Who in his right mind sends such a thing to a (rather remote) business contact?

At the risk of sounding like a smart-ass: There is nothing strange about calling a girl Mercedes (a rather common Spanish first name). It´s in fact the other way round: The car brand was named after the daughter of a business partner of Daimler/Benz. Her name was Mercedes Jellinek. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Jellinek

I learned long ago to do it with a lighter (although I don´t smoke) or various other tools and objects. I have now transferred this skill to the office environment. OK; it´s rarely beer, but I do get strange looks when I open the litte bottles of mineral water we have during meetings and such with the top of a hole punch, a highlighter pen or other office equipment. I am surrounded by people who would not know how to hold a screwdriver...

I´ve seen these buses on the Autobahn. They come from a city not too far from where I live here in Germany. If you look closely at their website, you´ll realise that the name is indeed FÜCKER (with the infamous German "Umlaut"). They just replaced the little dots on the U with these fancy wings. Indeed not very well thought out. What´s even worse: It´s the familiy name of the owners. International travel must be fun for them...

That dream gal would have a 90/60/90 figure over here in Europe. Sounds good enough to me...

I love this: Hey, my fortune cookie says: "Help! I am kept as a prisoner in a fortune cookie factory!" ...That´s probably old, but I like it... Thomas

In fact, the D stands for Germany and the first letter of the rest of the reg stands for the class of aircraft. the I indicates an aircraft with more than one engine and an MTOW of 2,0 - 5,7 tons. The other letters are just coincidence (although some owners pick the letter to form a word) D-Exxx would be a single engine under 2 tons D-Kxxx would be a motorglider D-Mxxx are ultralights D-Axxx are airliners over 20 tons and (most importantly, at leastfor me as a glider pilot) D-1234 are gliders/sailplanes Thomas edited because I had the D-Axxx wrong

Well, over here it´s 90-60-90 and it looks just as nice (although it´s about half an inch less then 36-24-36)...

No offense meant, but... For a European it is hard to understand, that a civilized country with a strong economy can have people running around with no health insurance. Over here, if you have any kind of job, it´s compulsory and is deducted from your pay. If you are married with children and the wife does not have an income, wife and kids are covered by the fathers (compulsory) insurance. If you are unemployed, insurance payments are taken out of your "unemployment support", if you are retired, it´s taken out of your pension. Nobody runs around (or even drives a car or skydives) without health insurance. You might say it should be somebody´s choice to get insurance or not (land of the free, you know) but taking that decision and then relying on the ER at the taxpayers´ expense does not seem to be fair to me. (Is this thread really still in bonfire???) Thomas Germany

Now that the event draws close I would like to repeat the question I already asked last year: Any dz.com-regulars attending this event? I hope I can make it there to watch (although I know nothing about skydiving...) Bye, Thomas

You have obviously solved your problem. But for reference I will contribute my solution. I use it a lot for situations where I have started a spreadsheet with Dollar- or Euro-amounts and only later figure out I want it done in thousands of Euro or Dollar. This solution permanently converts the amounts and does not use any extra columns, sheets or files. Here goes (please note that I am in front of a German excel version and translating the commands. They could be called slightly different): - Go to a single unused cell and enter the value you want to divide by (in your case a 4) - Still on that cell use the "copy" command (Ctrl-C) - Highlight the cells in your price column - Use "Insert Content" (or whatever it may be called. It´s the command under the normal Insert-command in the edit menu) - In the box that appears choose "divide" on the lower right of the box. This will permanently divide all cell values in the highlighted area by the value you copied. You can now delete the cell where you put the "4". There is no reference to that cell. Hope this helps somebody...

Hi! I just realized that there will be a major skydiving event here in Germany next year. The venue of the Worldgames 2005 (The "olympic games of the non-olympic sports") will be in Duisburg,Germany and the landing zone is not far from my office. Although I am not a skydiver myself, as a glider pilot I´m interested in all kinds of airsports. Do any names in the list of participants (see URL) ring any bells here on DZ.com? Does anybody know where the aircraft will take-off? The landing zone is not at an airfield! http://www.worldgames2005.de/en/sportarten/trendsport/luftsport/ I´m looking forward to being a spectator and see competitive skydiving for the first time. Note: Skydiving is the only airsport that made it into the event. It´s classified under "Trendsports". CU there, Thomas

I´m still amzed that this screen name was not taken when I registered quite some time ago. Been lurking ever since ... and will stay that way.

Sorry, but I´m afraid it´s you who is wrong. I know it´s in Poland but as a German I am (unfortunately) a little closer to the subject. The correct spelling for the name of the place is Auschwitz. As a proof you might look at the official polish website (also in English) of the museum they have there. http://www.auschwitz-muzeum.oswiecim.pl/ Thomas

My favorite: Mother complains that kitchen sink is blocked. Father crawls under the sink with a bucket, detaches the pipes and tubes, lets the dirty water flow into the bucket. Then hands bucket to mother to dispose of the water while he remains under the sink to reattach pipes. Guess where mother disposes of the water? Yes: Into that very kitchen sink and thus into my fathers face who was trying to reattach everything. Talk about not knowing if to cry or laugh...

Let me just try to rephrase in simple words what some of the advanced gps users here are trying to tell you: Technically the etrex does not have a compass built in. As soon as you start moving (just a few steps are enough) it uses the change in position it has determined to point you in the right direction. It just cannot tell you in which direction your next waypoint is if you are standing still. If that bothers you depends on the application you are using it for. I use my etrex for flying sailplanes and if I would be stationary while airborne I would be in trouble (can you say stall speed?) So I don´t need a "real" compass in my gps. Does that make sense? Thomas Germany

I am only too willing to assume you are right. Sorry for putting all of you "into the same drawer" as a German idiom would say. Thomas Germany

I was trying to keep quiet here but this kind of tips it over the edge. With that post you ( and some other posters above) have destroyed most of the good impression I have gained about the people in this forum. I had found you guys to be above average in open-mindedness, tolerance and similar qualities. This one set me back quite a bit. The way even educated US-citizens are now hating everybody and everything french due to a political decision of their government which happened to not agree with the wishes of the US utterly appals me. But you probably couldn´t care less because I´m from Europe too. Thomas Germany

I´m sorry to say that, but that´s not right... The leg "das Bein" is neutre and the neck (der Hals) is masculin. Good luck; I´m so happy that I didn´t have to learn that in school.. Thomas Germany

Try http://www.skydiver.de/restauration/dropzones/de/platzkarte.html for a map of dropzones in Germany (text in German though). There seem to be some around munich. Thomas

so you´re a rocket scientist? - that don´t impress me much (Shania Twain) SCNR

I will just comment on the hiking plans: When you arrive at the trailheads leading down into the Canyon you will find a number of warning signs warning you about the heat and the distance and such. Take them seriously. We were there outside the season (late Oct) so we were able to get a permit for the little wilderness campground at the bottom for the next day. Permits for the summer will probably be taken by now. Also the cabin at the bottom will be sold out for the next two summers. Hiking down and up in one day is doable as long as it is not too hot. This ONLY applies to you if your physical fitness is above average. My friends who did it were running marathons at the time. So better be safe than sorry... Thomas