evilivan

Yep, 'filtering' or lane splitting is legal in the UK - one of the reasons I didn't bring my bike out here when I moved to the states... Didn't fancy being stuck in a line with all the cars on my daily commute, without the luxury of aircon and music on 100 degree days... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Honestly, I don't know for certain what to think. It could genuinely be a cultural barrier. But his waiting and what he wrote - well, it seems like a fob-off. To put it into context... I went to Moroco for almost 2 weeks, crossed the desert, blah, blah. At the end of the trek, some of us had a "free day" to explore Marrakesh. ie: the guides were now off-duty. The lead guide made a point of giving me his details (email and phone #) and telling me he was free for the day. We agreed to meet for a coffee sometime later (his idea) but then my phone died and I didn't have my charger. I spent all day with the same group of trekkers because none of us wanted to risk exploring on our own. All 10 or so of us were up late, and when I retired to my room, the hotel phone rang almost immediately. Turns out he had been trying to reach me all day.. We met up, went for a long walk, and went to his place - apparently, going back to my hotel was unthinkable. I was very clear from the get-go -- ie BEFORE going to his place -- that no funny business would happen. Christ, for all I know women get stoned to death over there if they have sex outside of marriage!!! (I'm exaggerating of course, but still...) He was totally respectful and didn't even try anything. We talked and talked and we curled up together around 4am finally but even though I was exhausted I couldn't sleep a wink. I just felt very connected to this guy - we just had one of those great conversations about everything and nothing. Not to mention I was uber impressed by his charisma and leadership during the whole trek, et cetera. Before we parted, he told me repeatedly that I should either extend my stay in Moroco to spend more time with him or else come back, given I'm not currently working. As soon as I got home, I charged my phone and sent him a text thanking him for a really wonderful trek / evening, et cetera. And his response (5 days later) was: (in French) "Hi Natalie. Hope everything is well with you sorry if I didn't send a message earlier but I didn't have time because I went back to my family for the [religious] holiday. Thank you for your email I hope we get to see you again in Moroco. Thank you for the nice moments we spent [together]. Take care Mohamed." He practically begged me to move to Moroco to be with him (seriously, he did) and 5 days later he writes that???? It doesn't fit. Well done if you read all of that!! Hate to say it Nataly,but you have been 'enjoying' one of the classics... This guy is a professional tour guide - it's the same story as the skydiving/ski/scuba instructor in the exotic location - they enjoy the challenge/conquest (however far it goes) and then move on. As should you. Respectfully Ivan "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Brilliant...! "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

No one responded to this yet? Golden Ratio... 2.08333 "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

I thought I recognized it..... you couldn't see what a mess it was from the ground! Always wondered how they got him down... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Yep, another firm L&B supporter here - twice I have dropped my Protrack and been sent a new one (with a few extra batteries for good measure). I bought an Optima and needed something to fit externally to my helmet; they sent one for free (and some more free batteries of course). They truly rock. "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

...actually not strictly true - just takes a little longer with LCD panels... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Guitar (mediocre), piano (average), sing (cats generally stick around)... Like pretty much all music - but haven't seen the link in NickDG's thread yet... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Go here for lunch (only open Tue through Fri): http://www.carverscountrykitchen.com/ ...quite an eye opener for this Brit expat! Food is great (not necessarily healthy). The view is pretty good from here too: http://www.sundialrestaurant.com/ "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

...this is why I never ride alongside anything (unless its a biker in my group...) and always get past quickly on an overtake. Glad the guy was OK - nice one Nick. "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Last time I looked (about a year ago) insurance companies were no longer covering the USA for skydiving... You could try Harrison Beaumont (I think that's the name) - they used to do bespoke packages for skydiving. Don't think it will be cheap though... Others that used to cover skydiving: Columbus Marks & Spencer ...there is also a new-ish one who's name I can't remember - they were advertising at Brit DZ's and in the Brit mag though. "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

....and doesn't reply to the threads they started. For a troll, they are pretty boring - gone are the days when trolls asked entertaining questions http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=all&search_string=&search_type=AND&search_fields=sb&search_time=&search_user_username=softopening&sb=score&mh=25 "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

That was definitely my feeling afterwards - almost 500 jumps before I had my first and 'it was starting to itch'... wanted to know I would deal with it right. As per somebody above, during it (slow speed line over - lots of time to think) there was no question I was going to cut away because there was no way I was landing what was above me. "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

...yes, "Tracking 2" should say "from the west and on level" (before the pedants wade in ) "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

@ Bill and rehmwa - spotting tracking skills from the ground....

Thanks both - but unfortunately not that easy I'm afraid.... The (only) info I found on the web was this: Radio Constant 12V+ Wire: Orange/Black Radio Switched 12V+ Wire: White/Black Radio Ground Wire: Chassis Radio Illumination Wire: Green/White Radio Dimmer Wire: n/a Radio Amplifier Trigger Wire: n/a Radio Antenna Trigger Wire: Pink (speaker wire information removed because they are in #3) ...which, based on wiring colours, puts all the power/antenna stuff in #1 - even if logically it looks like #2. Thanks for the harness link; I also found one that also includes the link to the amp - but either way I still don't know what is in #2 and don't think I should ignore them without knowing what they are.... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

HIJACK ALERT I also got a car audio question - this time related to a car.... 2001 Mitsubishi Spyder; want to swap out the original stereo unit. The wiring for the factory fitted one is confusing me slightly... see attached pic. I know what they all are in circle 1 (through web searches), and circle 3 are the wires to the seperate amp - but what are the wires in circle 2? Haven't been able to find anything on those... If you can't tell from the pic, they are all solid (no stripes) and are red, black, brown and white. Any help appreciated! And advice on whether I should use the existing amp, or run the speaker cables to the new unit (and have to mess with crossovers for the tweaters etc). "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Been there.... it sucks. Had over £12,000 worth (note that is pounds not dollars!) taken from my company Amex, and my debit card was copied once - the bank got suspicious when there was a purchase in Tobago, followed by one in Karachi about 3 hours later (and I was travelling to Turkey at the time). On the bright side, they caught the guy with the Amex and he is currently doing time "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

I use Cute PDF Writer - chuck it into Google... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

# the global economy - are we in a false recovery? is the system fundementally broken? (lots of talk that it will collapse BIG time at some point soon...) # the space race - with America dialling back on it's investment, what will that mean for the progression of space exploration? will another nation step up to fill the void (pun intended )? ...I'll keep thinking... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

"If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

...well, if you direct me to wherever you are hanging out there is a crate in it for you "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Looks like I'm going to make this one (Saturday into Sunday at least). Farm jumpers: I owe a beer fine for my pre-second jump a the Farm, and the reserve ride that followed it (I blame the spot) - this will be the only opportunity I have to pay my debts for about 6 weeks, so.... will there be a Farm area at the boogie? I will bring the crates there if you let me know where it is... Hopefully this post won't get lost in the static (900+ replies??) of this thread... "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent

Just for your info, we already have available to us (although not always used): Visual altimeters - both analogue and digital Audible altimeters - both analogue (very rare! but I still have an original dytter... never jump it of course ) and digital Air-to-air audible comms - not in mainstream use AAD's - automatic activation devices that deploy the reserve at a given altitude and speed Hand signals (they work!) So if you can improve any of the above, go for it - but do recommend that you research first... there is a lot information in these forums alone that can give you the history - and the painful births of some new products brought into the market (check out Vigil). As mentioned above, if you could reduce the cost of some of these things then excellent - however, please remember that we need a certain amount of reliability in our kit (by that I mean a LOT

There could be some mileage in that idea (I was scrolling through the post hoping someone hadn't thought of it first - damn you Dean358 ). Knowing the altitude of someone under canopy from the ground could be useful for all types of canopy coaching; but as I see it the cost of something that would provide that information in (semi)realtime would probably outweigh its usefulness... Ref: the original idea, you don't specify (but seem to be referencing) that this would be for freefall primarily? Others have already said it above, but if the separation between "instructor" and "student" is so much that you need a device to tell you what that is, there is very little you can do with that information.... I suppose if your student is going low because of a lack of altitude awareness, and you could get a "pull" signal to them via audio? visually? it might have some use, but I would argue that we already have devices to deal with that, and many other, scenarios (AAD's), and that the situation itself is rare enough to make the cost of buying something to maybe improve the situation (the student would still have to respond to the signal) would not be worth it... Hope that was helpful. "If you can keep your head when all around you have lost theirs, then you probably haven't understood the seriousness of the situation." David Brent