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I guess if you can’t make everything perfect (whatever that means), then screw it, why bother? In the parts of the world where women are property (a decreasing number), then you’re right, it might not matter. However, even in the parts where women don’t have external presence, they often wield considerable influence within the home. And an educated woman knows there are more choices in life. Perfect system? Nope. Just look at some of the Fundamentalist Mormons. But disseminating a small amount of power via education is better than a top-down approach that is resented by the worst paternalists — and they’re often the ones in the government. Look at the US, and how long it took to begin to seriously address codified racial discrimination. Not every problem is best solved by a man deciding how much power to cede. Wendy P.

Just to be very clear here - do you mean once the heart is actually formed and functioning, or once we can hear a thing that *sounds* like a heartbeat but is in fact not remotely the same thing? As far as I'm aware, every proposed "heartbeat" bill so far has been the latter, and is based on junk science to put a limit at an unreasonably early date.

Many fly the Atair Winx as do I. I concur on the Storm, we had loads of cutt's on that. IMO the Atair Winx is No 1. I tried the Pilot 7 also, but the Winx has it. Brilliant canopy

Hi flyhi, That would have been the late Garth Taggart. He was a real nice guy. Jerry Baumchen

For the most part - you and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum, but your presentation here is less than I would expect from you.

I agree. How would it possibly work? The woman wants an abortion and the guy wants to keep the baby so the woman is forced to carry a foetus? It's not even remotely feasible. What about the other way around? The woman wants to keep it but the guy wants an abortion so he gets total say over what happens with another persons' body? Again, utter nonsense. As there is no possible way for the man to 'have a choice' then it's dangerous to even bring it up. The guy DOES have a choice. It comes before having unprotected sex. After that it's not up to him and shouldn't be.

At least you are honest and don't dance around. I am also an absolutist like you. But in the other direction. Abortion is strictly a matter between a woman and her doctor. Your opinion, strong as it is, should never be a factor.

Hey jerolim, You may be technically correct but it isn't helpful to a newbie to give them a million options that don't matter much at their level. It's like a novice driver asking, "Are Toyota's any good?" and saying, "Well, you should understand more about how they forge their crankshafts, because it's dangerous if that breaks!" The newbies doesn't need to give a shit about how the reserve pin is swaged. They really don't. Not when choosing a brand. Yes, if a particular rig is being inspected, if there's some substitution or damage or something, that's something for the owner & their rigger to look at. The geometry of the 3 ring similarly doesn't matter in that all the major manufacturers have things sorted out and they are functional. Details don't matter if the details are correct in the first place. How much the corners are stitched is also useless info for a newbie, as there is no objective guide to anything like that, nothing that says "Vectors score an 8, Infinities score a 7 on a magical combination of deploys-easily-when-it-needs-to-but-not-too-easily-when-it-shouldn't ". I could go on. Yes, riggers can argue all they want if they have strong opinions. If one wanted to have super strong opinions on rigs, different riggers would ground just about every rig out there for some reason or other. Vectors' low drag reserve PC's (unless on their side) and huge number of flaps to push through. Wings for stupid mismatch of container and freebag shape and too little mesh on the PC. Maybe the same about the mesh for Infinities. Racers for needless complexity for some reserve pilot chute things in this day and age. Everything but Icons for not having the better leverage mini 3-rings. Everything but Mirages due to having a less potentially sharp AMP fitting replacement. And obviously ground Mirages for only being certified to super-vague 1949 standards. Ground Javelins for their snaggable main container side flaps. And so on. You've built gear, you care about all the little details. You and I and other riggers can argue the details out all we want, but give the newbies a bit of a break. :-)

That’s the first line of the Wiki article on the subject. Very slightly further down in the article you find this; “cardiac arrest came to be called clinical death rather than simply death, to reflect the possibility of post-arrest resuscitation.” Clinical death isn’t death, and meeting the defined parameters of clinical death doesn’t mean you are dead. If clinical death isn’t death, the opposite of clinical death isn’t life, and meeting the parameters in the opposite direction isn’t the point at which you become alive. And even so, the definition you posted is a heartbeat and breathing. You could equally use your own argument in support of abortion up until the point of birth.

When the IRS recognizes your existence for tax purposes, since death and taxes are the only certainties in life.

It means you consider yourself holier than Kallend, and therefore can disregard what he says because he is not a "true believer." It's a popular position among religious extremists, from the Crusaders to the Spanish Inquisition to Islamic terrorists. You are in good company.

I don't know. And neither do you. Since you brought up breathing (another vital function without which we cannot survive), the lungs aren't capable of inflating until ~week 25 of the gestational period. On your logic, someone could argue that is the beginning of life, couldn't they? Which pretty much falls in line with the generally accepted term "viability." The point at which a fetus could conceivably survive outside the womb.

I disagree with the premise. The opposite is non-existence. I can see what you're trying to do in the abstract here, but it kinda falls flat in practice. You could use the same appeal to emotion by saying "the opposite of this is a condom." Question: why is everyone so focused on a heartbeat?

Ahhhh yes. I see the point, however. Murder is no different than coveting your neighbor's new 'vette, I think is the point. That guy in Colorado that killed his wife and two daughters a while back and pretended they were "missing," - he just found Jesus apparently. I bet he'll be a good addition to heaven...

The ones on the pillows & mattresses. It's perfectly legal to tear them off if you are the purchaser. The only 'legal requirement' is that they be attached when the product is sold new.

It's pretty well known the Storm is not that good of a wingsuiting canopy for the exact reason you described. Some people claim it's good, but really it's not. There are a crap load of people have cutaway a Strom on a wingsuit. I can think of about 10 - 15 other canopies that are better suited for WS than a Storm.

Buy a container that holds the canopies you are jumping for the next couple hundreds jumps. You can downsize to a 170 in most if not all containers built for a 190. Then when you are ready for a 150, sell it and buy something smaller. If you think you will be downsizing quickly, buy used gear now then buy new custom gear when you are down to a 150. Something else to think about - if you are flying a 190 main, why a 176 reserve? Ever jumped anything that small? Ever jump a 7 cell? Want your first jump on anything that small to be on your first reserve ride? Into a shitty landing area cuz someone screwed the spot?

Here in the UK our whole firearms licence system is "may issue" with the local police force having one or two specialist firearms licencing officers. Before you even apply for a licence you have to be a member of a gun club (IIRC, it's a minimum of 3 months). The club will advise on the licencing process, fitting of gun cabinets and other items that the police will check for. Firearms owners in the UK also accept that their doctor is a mandatory reporter in the case of mental health problems if a firearms licence is issued. I've had it happen to me and the local firearms officer worked with me to remove the risk while still allowing me access to my guns. The end result was that for the six months I was receiving treatment my guns were stored in the gun club armoury where I could use them if I wanted to.

Damn this is a huge loss. Gary was a big man with a big personality, yet also soft-spoken and mild-mannered. Epic moustache, epic ponytail (did I ever see it unfurled?). Every year he was in charge of 60+ load organizers at the World Freefall Convention, which was a monumental task, but he did it with maximum efficiency and little drama. He did not play a part in my first becoming an LO at WFFC, I have DJan Stewart and my friends David “Duk” Miller and Todd Jacobson (RIP) to thank for that. However, once I earned my hat, Gary was my biggest advocate and supporter, even when a jilted lover from a previous year caused a ruckus at tent #1. His speech was basically “pick less psycho women, or keep it in your pants”...haha, the good old days. He was a big dude, not fat, not a bodybuilder, just big. A barrel chest and big trunk. Huge calves. When I first met him, I think he was jumping a Man-o-War 320, and his Vector was so big it looked like a tandem rig. He liked being safe and was in no hurry to get down. He enjoyed working with students and newer jumpers, and he had many other interests. He was a genius-level computer programmer, an accomplished musician, and a budding scientist with a focus on (what else) aerodynamics. Oh yeah, and he was on USPA’s BOD for more than a quarter century. Not bad, eh? I had not seen much of him since the convention disbanded, and I am very thankful that I had a 30 minute conversation with him at last year’s nationals in Chicagoland. We reminisced about the glory days, then I let him vent about his current gripes with USPA, of which there were many. Same ol’ Gary...I’m gonna miss him...sigh. BSBD my friend...

The sport has lost a true ambassador as well a one hell of a nice guy. Blue Skies, Gary

Could be a lot of things. Misrigging of the canopy. One line length wrong. Gross asymmetrical loading of the harness. Like JR said give PD a call. They will tell you what to do next; most likely it will be to ship the canopy to them and they will test jump it and fix/replace as needed. If you don't want to do that, you could have your rigger check line lengths and/or have a local canopy expert do a test jump on it. But PD is the best way to get a reliable answer.