A Higher Perspective

Skydiving

2006-09-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

I engage in a very misunderstood sport - I say so because of the images of danger which most people associate with falling from the sky. In the sport you will find a large percentage of participants are in their 30's, 40's, 50's and up. One individual I know personally is 70 years old and has been jumping since 1961 - with over 36,000 skydives logged.

The most common reason people get injured or killed in the sport is not a failure of the parachute to open - it is a sharp turn close to the ground with high wing loading. Wing loading is basically the ratio of total weight to the size of your parachute is square feet. Really big parachutes (like mine) are much safer than little ones.

Most people have a device on their reserve parachute which automatically deploys the reserve parachute if they do not deploy their main at a reasonable altitiude.

From my perspective - skydiving is much safer than many of the other activities I engage in - such as skiing, motorcycling, driving on I-95, etc.

I would never try to convince someone to try it - it is something you must seek out for yourself. All I ask is that people try to understand it more before they criticize it.

Send 'em back

2006-09-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

A recent raid has created a 'ghost town' in Georgia.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_re_us/immigration_aftermath

Now, alot of people are crying 'Oh the humanity!' But I say "It's about damn time!" People compare the immigration law enforcers to Nazi's. According to Ann Coulter, thats the standard liberal accusation thrown at people who are enforcing the law. Personally, I'd rather compare the illegals to criminals - but they are, so why bother?

The plant they worked at ILLEGALLY has a shortage of workers now.
The store they shopped at has lost the business of the ILLEGALS.
A trailer park owner who catered to ILLEGALS has decided to fly an American flag upside down in protest.

Hopefully, Hazleton will win all the lawsuits thrown at it for enforcing the law.

Washington, DC more dangerous than Baghdad

2006-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

Nation's Capital Declares Crime Emergency
Jul 12 11:26 AM US/Eastern

By BRETT ZONGKERAssociated Press Writer
WASHINGTON
Two groups of tourists were robbed at gunpoint on the National Mall, just hours after the police chief declared a crime emergency in the city in response to a string of violence that included the killing of a British activist.
The activist, Alan Senitt, was attacked in the Georgetown area on Sunday, his throat was slit and police say the attackers attempted to rape his companion. It was the 13th homicide in the city this month. Robberies are up 14 percent, and armed assaults have jumped 18 percent in the past 30 days.
On Wednesday, U.S. Park Police were looking for connections between the latest Mall robberies and three similar incidents in the area in late May. There have been no arrests in any of those cases.
On Tuesday night, two women from Texas were robbed at gunpoint by two men dressed in all black, said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Scott Fear. About 15 minutes later, a family of four from Missouri was robbed by suspects with the same description, he said.
Though no one was injured, Fear said there were similarities to three violent attacks on the National Mall in May. In one case, a 17-year- old woman was sexually assaulted.
"We try to prevent this from happening," Fear said. "We're going to reallocate our resources. We're going to see what improvements we can make."
District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency in the city after Senitt, a volunteer for the potential presidential campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, was killed.
The crime emergency declaration allows commanders more flexibility to adjust officers' schedules and reassign them to high-crime areas.
The tourist-friendly National Mall, which is under the jurisdiction of Park Police rather than D.C. police, is usually considered safe. But the recent crimes against tourists have raised calls for a larger police presence.
Police are asking Mall visitors to "be our eyes and ears," Fear said. "We're going to ask them to be vigilant."

Fighting Illegal Aliens

2006-06-20T08:35:00.000-07:00

The more I hear about private citizens taking matters into their own hands, the more hope I have for the future of this country. From the Minutemen on down to the guys destroying the water supplies that some misguided individuals leave out to aid the illegal crossings, people are working to do what congress won't. I am even further heartened by a story close to home, where government (although small) is taking a stand. Lou Barletta, I salute you!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_re_us/illegal_immigrants_crackdown_4

City to crackdown on illegal immigration

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 20, 5:10 AM ET

HAZLETON, Pa. - With tensions rising and its police department and municipal budget stretched thin, this small northeastern Pennsylvania city is about to begin what the mayor calls one of the toughest crackdowns on illegal immigrants in the United States.

"Illegal immigrants are destroying the city," said Mayor Lou Barletta, a Republican. "I don't want them here, period."
Last week Barletta introduced, and the City Council tentatively approved, a measure that would revoke the business licenses of companies that employ illegal immigrants; impose $1,000 fines on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants; and make English the city's official language.

also see:
http://www.standardspeaker.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2227&Itemid=2&PHPSESSID=3977de0d618ea31a75862dad9a7f09d2

Or could it be stupid drivers?

2006-06-06T07:05:00.000-07:00

Study says millions have 'rage' disorder

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060605/ap_on_sc/road_rage_disease

By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer Mon Jun 5, 5:00 PM ET
CHICAGO - To you, that angry, horn-blasting tailgater is suffering from road rage. But doctors have another name for it — intermittent explosive disorder — and a new study suggests it is far more common than they realized, affecting up to 16 million Americans.

"People think it's bad behavior and that you just need an attitude adjustment, but what they don't know ... is that there's a biology and cognitive science to this," said Dr. Emil Coccaro, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Chicago's medical school.
Road rage, temper outbursts that involve throwing or breaking objects and even spousal abuse can sometimes be attributed to the disorder, though not everyone who does those things is afflicted.

******************************************************

Ok, my two cents........

People usually get angry or drive aggressively because of frustration caused by people who either display extreme discourtesy, poor driving skills, stupidity, etc. etc.

Road rage and aggressive driving are not problems - they are symptoms of problems. If anyone wants to solve this problem, they would need to address driver education/training and promote common courtesy on the road.

I heard something on the radio today suggesting that if you are in the left lane and going below the speed limit, you need to get in the right lane. Finally, someone has a good idea - state the obvious for the morons who are clueless.

New York doormen avert strike

2006-04-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Please read:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060421/ts_nm/life_doormen_dc

I never knew that doormen had their own labor union. It's bad enough that "elevator operator" is still a career choice in today's world. Perhaps this is why the cost of living in New York City is so high. People are getting overpaid for obsolete jobs. Maybe this is why I can still see some horse drawn carriages running around up there - the unions managed to preserve all those jobs too. I'll bet the toll booth people union really hate EZPass - maybe thats why I love it that much more?

Doormen currently earn an average of about $37,000 a year, the union said. They also receive tips for special services and as recognition on holidays.

Where can I sign up? Sounds like great pay for easy unskilled labor. I could commute from the Philadelphia suburbs and still make out like a bandit.

In the unlikely event of my death

2006-04-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to post a few notes here just in case.

1. I want to be cremated. I believe that as a veteran I can get my ashes thrown off the back of a destroyer into the ocean for free. No burial plots please.

2. I want Marines to do the gun salute and play taps, as my veteran status allows (not Army please)

3. If I'm in a permanent vegatative state - by all means pull the plug.

Box office totals (Warning: A Rant)

2006-02-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

If you want to measure a societies acceptance of an idea, just put it on the silver screen and see how much money it makes - at least that is one theory. Some people go to see a movie just to find out what all the talk is about, or their girlfriends or boyfriends drag them into it. Some even go see a movie cause they love the actor/actress involved (ever see those movies posters that simply have the title of the movie and a picture of the star? Blatant exploitation of name recognition)

I'd like to compare two movies in this particular post.

The first is called "Haunted Mansion" which has a dual appeal:

1. Stars Eddie Murphy, a funny guy who has made many fun movies
2. It is a Disney movie

Let me start out by saying that movies with Eddie Murphy have been on a downward spiral. I liked films like 48 Hours, Beverly Hills Cop, The Golden Child, Coming to America and others of '80's vintage. I think somewhere in the '90's he lost his appeal in my opinion, at least in the starring position. Quite a few blockbusters find him playing second fiddle as a voice actor. He did way too many sequels of way too many of his movies, again in my opinion. One item I find mildly amusing is the fact that while Eddie was working on "Mulan" , (The story of a cross-dressing chinese girl *sorta*), he was caught by LAPD with a transvestite prostitute named Shalimar in his car with him.

I find Disney's ploy of making movies out of its old attractions to be incredibly lame. "Pirates of the Caribbean" is one they lucked out on, but not "Haunted Mansion." I didn't enjoy it at all.

The other movie is "Brokeback Mountain"

Now, I remember a South Park episode where they had the Indie Film Festival in town, and the character Eric Cartman dismissed it as "just a bunch of movies about gay cowboys eating pudding." That's about how I feel about most so-called Avant Garde productions, (Avant Garde being a euphemism for "shoving left wing ideology down our throats") How many unnatural acts will the left and Hollywood attempt to legitimatize I wonder? Will the next cowboy movie made by a chinese man be about a love affair between a shepherd and his flock?

This movie also managed to get tons of free promotion and advertising from the "mainstream" (leftist) media. I wonder how well it would have done without it?

Ang Lee's work? "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was ridiclous, and "The Hulk" was ok. Heath Ledger is a bit of a rising star too, and now with his role in this sodomy promoting movie - I'm sure all kinds of "doors" will open for him.

Now what do these two movies have in common?

1. They have both made about the same amount of money. As all the free publicity begins to wind down and Iraq manages to smuggle a nuclear device into the USA with the help of their friends in the United Arab Emirates who will be taking over our main East Coast port facilities, the mainstream media may have to shift it's attention to things that are more important - then the theater run this movie has managed to pull off will die it's long overdue death.

2. Both come from an industry pushing a leftist agenda.

3. People hiding who they truly are: In Mulan we have a girl pretending to be a man so she can go to war. In "Brokeback" we have gay men hiding the fact from their wives.

4. I will never watch either movie in the future, although I have seen "Haunted Mansion" in the past.

It's a shame that a gay cowboy movie made it as far as it did. I imagine that most of the 68 million dollars of "gross" earnings were collected in blue states.

You would think that homosexuals would eliminate themselves via natural selection. That would be fine with me, leaving more women available for the rest of us. Unfortunately they want to have their cake and only eat it a little bit, passing on AIDS to women and marrying for the sake of appearances.

Now, they like to throw out that line, "Well, if you don't like homosexuals it's because you fear them, and if you fear them it is because you are afraid you might be one."

Lets talk about this for a moment. There are only two things I'm afraid of, and neither one of them is a male human. I think disgust is a more fitting word, or perhaps even revulsion. To follow the above quoted line of leftist spawned illogic, if I come across a pool of vomit and react negatively to it - that would mean that secretly I am attracted to it.

Rant ends here.

Tit for tat

2006-02-07T08:13:00.000-08:00

How often do you see entire countries act like five year olds? Too often actually, but here is a prime example:

Iranian Paper Plans Holocaust Cartoons

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - A prominent Iranian newspaper said Tuesday it would hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust to test whether the West extends the principle of freedom of expression to the Nazi genocide as it did to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Ok now, I've looked at those comics that caused all the rioting. They have mostly been taken down. It is a shame, because if they juxtaposed the cartoons with video footage of rioting, more people would realize just how insane these people are. Now, instead of rising above all this and acting like adults, they will have cartoons in their newspapers that will be FAR WORSE than that which they are complaining about.

Now about this "test" of our reaction. I image the ADL will issue generic statements of condemnation for such printings, and there will be numerous negative articles, but I doubt any embassies or flags will be burnt.

Israel may react to another action Iran is taking, in the form of airstrikes on their uranium enrichment facilities, and I'm sure the "holocaust cartoons" will make their actions seem somewhat more acceptable.

Media doesn't want to offend Islamic people

2006-02-03T09:59:00.000-08:00

US media shy away from reproducing Mohammed cartoons

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060203/ts_alt_afp/europeislammediaus

Ok, lets not offend people of one religion - but it's okay to trample all over another. Everyone seems to think Christians are such a dangerous lot, with people going so far as to say religion is the root of all evil. Has anyone ever heard of Christian suicide bombers or Christian Hijackers? If you ran a google search for images mocking Christianity you would find many - but in my quest to find these Danish cartoons that has the "religion of murder" in such an uproar, I have found only one.

http://www.faithfreedom.org/index.htm

My conclusion? If you want respect from the manistream media be a terrorist, or supportive of them.

Apple Sued Over Potential Hearing Loss

2006-02-01T20:06:00.000-08:00

Now here we go again. It's no wonder that most people in America seem to think the top 2 ways of getting rich are to either win the lottery or sue (aka legal lotto) These people blast music in their ears and wonder why their hearing degrades - and it's Apple's fault? Now Ipods will go up in price, and they will not be loud enough. It's another hot coffee/burn - eat lots of fast food/got fat legal scam that screws everybody but the awardee and the lawyers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060202/ap_on_re_us/apple_ipod_lawsuit

We calculate "tax freedom day" as the day in the year in which we actually begin to keep our money (sometime in June). I believe someone who knows more about macroeconomics than me calculate a "lawsuit cost increase freedom day." New 4 seat airplanes cost about $150,000 - but are cheaper to manufacture than cars. Whenever a plane crashes - pilots fault usually - the lawyers sue the makers of EVERY PART of that plane - go figure.

We need liabilty reform - this is madness. Doctors are leaving Pennsylvania in droves. People in New Jersey only have a couple of auto insurance companies to chose from.