Leaderboard

There was a man from Kent whose virus' sequence was bent. It made one no sicker, but passed on much quicker, so faster and faster it went.

I have been hunting for used left handed BOC containers/rigs for days and haven't found one yet. It seems like most of the left handed throw outs are experienced and messed up skydivers who can't reach the BOC on the right. But those containers are tiny and are not for beginners. Where can I find a left handed container that can fit big canopies? preferably 210-230 main. I figured that a safer and bigger canopy is to my advantage just in case my shoulder ever dislocates again. Thanks!

That's not accurate. What that handle does is open the top of the BOC. The bottom seam is still attached to the container. When the reserve side AFF-I pulls that handle, it exposes the pilot chute. The wind usually deploys it, but if it hesitates in the burble the instructor can grab it and throw it. It would not be suitable for a self-deployed left handed pull.

At Perris, they're generally open weekdays, too -- all the odd hours, if something like that is easier for you. Wendy P.

Spotter Magazine Sept. - Oct. 1977.

Well, he's probably going to succeed in that. Just not the way he wants. The call to Georgia over the weekend is blowing up pretty good. It has serious criminal implications. As with the New York stuff, this is a state case that he can't 'pardon himself' out of. The fact that the R Gov & SecState of GA shut him down completely, which is what they've done the entire time, speaks volumes. I think the chances of Trump facing actual consequences for this are very real. At least I certainly hope so. Seeing him prosecuted for attempted vote tampering would be absolutely delightful. Not so much from a personal vindictiveness (that's very much there), but from a 'you try to steal an election, you get consequences' point. I'd like it to be made VERY clear that his behavior is not acceptable and to see him punished for it. Nixon got pardoned, Reagan (Iran-Contra) got ignored. This is the logical outcome of the idea that the President is above the law. I'd like to see that thinking end. I'd LOVE to see the Justice Department memo that a sitting President can't be indicted for a crime be tossed out. And Trump may very well end up with THAT as his legacy. That would be awesome.

Trump isn’t the problem here. Trump is an asshole. And corrupt. And probably a criminal. That’s not news to anyone. But there are systems in place that are supposed to deal with that circumstance.... the problem is that the people in THOSE systems are so invested in the power of the presidency that they’re not doing what they’re supposed to. The system is broken. The ‘checks and balances’ philosophy is utter,utter bullshit. The last four years have proven that most politicians will absolutely sell their country down the Swanee for personal power. The Senate should be demanding Trump appears in front of them first thing today to explain himself, but will they? Of course not. Will they even go on record saying that the call sounds like an abuse of power? Of course not... They’ll sit there and say things like ‘potentially very troubling’ or ‘I haven’t heard it’, or even worse try and defend the President because they’re completely morally bankrupt. Assholes. Complete transcript of the phone call here: https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Thanks for the replies guys! Yes Perris has a loft and I can change the BOC right there...but I think I am in a unique situation. I don't have a rig, and I am in the phase between student and licensed skydiver, and I have an unreliable shoulder. So...hm... about getting gear, what is the best way? If a dz can provide left handed rigs for students then I don't need to buy gear right now, but I don't think most DZs can provide that. That's why I think I need to get a left handed rig for myself, but I don't have the ability to buy a full rig at once yet, so I buy every part of the rig, container, AAD, reserve and a main (I can rent a main from the dz I jump) So my first step is to get a used container and change it to left handed. Does all of that sound reasonable? What is your advice?

Yes, you jump at Perris I believe. I am sure there is full service rigging available there and likely other master riggers around. Pretty much any rig can be converted for a reasonable cost. Don't go shopping for a left hand rig.

It's not an expensive job to turn round a BOC. I'd do it for about $30-$40. The bridle protection, however, will be an easier job on some rigs than others.

The easiest thing you can do is simply to get something that fits, and have a rigger/master rigger put a new pilot chute pouch on. It's something they normally do anyway, because they wear out. It's not that expensive, and you get a new pilot chute pouch as part of the deal... Wendy P.

He's got a point... Don't take too much advice off the internet. That's one of the reasons Skybytch's post is so on point -- you'll develop relationships, and that's how you get the deals sometimes, and certainly how you get advice from people that know you, and not just their preconceptions. You can definitely get some reasonable gear for cheap -- but it takes a long time and luck (generally in the form of contacts), as well as lower standards in terms of what it looks like, and maybe even how it fits to a point (you want to be safe and reasonably comfortable -- you really don't have to have it tailormade if you're a fairly average size). You also have to be ready to buy it when it's ready, rather than expecting to have the perfect deal drop into your lap at just the right time. Every now and then that happens, but that's even more luck. Right now with winter, would you still be doing a student program? Or do the dzs close in the winter? If they're closed, see if there's a FB page for the local jumpers for each dropzone, or for the area in general, subscribe, and just start listening. Most of it won't make sense (or it won't even be skydiving related in the winter). But you might start to get a feel for which one has more people you'll be sociable with, and in the long run that'll help. Wendy P.

So Operation Warp Speed had a cool Star Trek name. But what did it accomplish? Did it produce a vaccine in October, as Trump said it would? Nope. Did the money get a vaccine faster than pharmas could otherwise? Nope. The first vaccine approved took no money from Warp Speed. Did it "deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020" as Warp Speed's director promised in May? Nope. Did it "have 100 million doses of vaccine available before the end of the year and maybe much sooner than that" as Trump promised in July? Nope. Did it produce "at least 100 million vaccine doses before the end of the year, and likely much more than that" as Trump promised in October? Nope. Did they "have enough vaccine doses available for use in the U.S. population to immunize about 20 million individuals in the month of December" as the director promised in November? Nope. Did they get to 20 million vaccinations before the end of the year as Trump promised just after the election? Nope. In fact, it looks like we hit about 2.7 million vaccinations in all of 2020. If that rate keeps up, we will get everyone vaccinated in . . just over six years. But we'll be getting as much vaccine as we can to improve that, right? Nope. Trump turned down an offer of 200 million doses (enough to vaccinate about 30% of America) from Pfizer this summer. Now, nothing about this pandemic, or the timeline for vaccine development, or time for vaccine rollout, is 100% controllable. And Warp Speed was a good idea in theory, and it did do _some_ good - it may well have improved the schedule for the second vaccine approved. But I will still breathe a huge sigh of relief when we get someone competent in charge in three weeks.

As you know, I live in the reddest of red and am red myself, but I have been hearing my fellow redsters insist that DJT is going to be the next President. I scratch my head, OK, help me understand how you believe he will be the next President? Well, once everything is recounted, we'll see that he had more votes than Biden. Really. So, help me understand how four years ago when Hillary won the popular vote and our argument was, but the Electoral College!!! Why would the opposite not be true if Trump did win the popular vote, but the Electoral College has spoken?

Well, at 35 seconds, where he zooms under the student, he was being dangerous. His inability to control his fall rate or position in the sky relative to the student is dangerous. The video is of a single jumpmaster, harness hold exit, student jump. That's an AFF Level 4 type jump. His skills were not even close to being up to the task of helping or saving the student. That is dangerous.