TIDBITS (Timbits + Tedbits)

20 September

0830

For messages for teams, send mail to me here or to Ken.

A lot of them in the inbox this morning! We'll do our best to get them delivered but please understand that sometimes the printer doesn't work and we have to copy them from the computer screen to a piece of paper. This is really tough with the Cyrillic messages we get from Malawi and Edmonton.

One most welcome e-mail was a solution to the Outlook read-receipt problem I had until a few moments ago. Special thanks to Ivan Kljajic of Mayfield, NSW, for directing me to a product called OutlookSpy. I owe you one, Ivan!

(Yes, I was just kidding about the printer.)

We're starting today with 8-Way FS round3 and ladies 4-Way round 5. I'm on the judging panel for both, so you can continue to sleep soundly in Seattle while I sip coffee and push buttons starting in about 20 minutes.

Putting my FS spectator hat back on, this is turning into one of the best competitions I've ever seen, and I'm not just talking about who's at the top of the leaderboard. (Oh! Speaking of the leaderboard ... Ken pointed out to me yesterday that we have a link for that but it hasn't been updated. Sorry about that. I'll try to do that at the end of the day.) The skydiving is just spectacular.

And before I forget, I want to offer special kudos to the best video of the meet, team 414, Germany (I'll get his or her identity posted here soon), whose video is head and shoulders above the rest.

Klaus now tells me "His name Mark, but he goes by 'Euro', because there are no longer any marks in Germany."

How about a couple of team pics ...

In response to a couple of requests: sorry, we do not have the technology here to digitize video clips.

0930

CF Rotations have started -- there are 8 countries participating.

The FS drill this morning is 2 8-Way teams and a 4-Way team on each MI-8 load.

I sure hope the FS Subcommittee gets rid of the Zipper-Star! What a headache. If nothing else, bring back the Star-Star, or better yet, have the next IPC meeting in New York and add the Bottaboom-Bottabing.

1100

8-Way FS is complete through Round 3, the leaderboard is updated. Russia had the best score with 17, USA and France each with 16. The race tightens!

1120

Ladies round 5 is done; France and USA each had 17s, so USA maintains its 2-point lead going into Round 6. Go Girls!

1300

*Burp* sausage, sauerkraut, mashed 'taters and bread for lunch. Oh, and a peach, which will hopefully be ripe by Friday.

8-Way FS Round 4 will be completed shortly. Russia did a 16 in this round, which is a slow one.

Soooooooo ... I wonder where the Fun Flag is. Whoever has it -- which is either the Canadians or the USA Female 4-Way team, Synchronicity, depending on who you believe -- is not being a proper sport by keeping it locked up instead of flying it. Hoist it proudly and let it be seen and saluted by all!!!

France 8-Way FS is up ... they are down by 3 points. They look good, a solid and clean 16; 17 was just out.

And USA's boys & girl from Arizona are up, a better performance than the previous round for them. Like France, they just miss getting the point on the freeze-frame, but unlike France, it was the 18th point -- USA picks up another point on the field.

In CF Rotations, Russia did not have a good first round but is again asserting itself as the team to beat in this event.

1410

Round 3 of CF Rotation is complete.

Hack hack hack

1500

Round 6 of FS 4-Way Female is done and the USA ladies pick up one more point on the field!

Hack hack hack

1700

The weather is holding up good, 4-Way is halfway through Round 7.

1810

Wow, some great skydiving in Round 7 (4-Way, Open) by the Russians, who won the round with a barn-burning 28. The USA was nearly as good with a 27. France busted a 25 down to a 23. That makes a six-point lead for USA with three to go.

Oops! I misspoke earlier -- the USA ladies did not pick up a point, they maintained their two-point lead. Sorry about that <eg> ;)

Sorry to be so lite on the 'Bits today this afternoon (I was judging this morning). I implemented a laundry list of software system honey-dos for the judges, one of them implementing the new (as of this year) standings-at-round tie-breaking rules.

A programming note: I will be spending less time at this keyboard for the remainder of the competition so that I can spend more time with my huggable, loveable and adorable judging team (Elizabet, Sara, Rina Rina Rina!, Karla, Doris, and even you, Exi!). Ken will try to fill in some of the blanks in between his duties running DZTV and keeping the results tables up to date. We thank you for your patience!

We say goodnight with this 2-minute old photo by Judy Celaya:

Ted Wagner, Chief Engineer | Tim Wagner, Webmaster