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I saw that quote blasted across the front page of FoxNews this morning...COVID in the US is raging like a wildfire right now. Massive wildfires take time (and organization/planning/execution!) to get under control....Fox's headline - and, presumably your post here - were painting Biden's quote as evidence a failure. I, for one, take it as a refreshing truthful assessment of the situation that we're dealing with. I firmly believe that the actions of his administration will accelerate getting this under control, but it's not going to happen overnight. We're currently looking at 3000+ deaths a day. Biden is acknowledging that this is likely to be the reality for a while. Would you prefer he suggested we grab the Clorox and the shot glasses and say that everything's fine?

Just a little hello while the ex-president is golfing again.

I knew your dad, Don, Rocky, and Sam very well. I started taking lessons from them out at a little grass runway in a corn field near Athen, MI. i was 15 years old when they started training me. Your dad was a great man and we had some great times and great dives in Athens out of your dad’s red and white Cessna 182. Don, Rocky, and Sam also spent a lot of time with me showing me the ropes - all of them were so accomplished, yet they took the time to help me - great characters all of them - Don and your dad were always there to talk. Eventually Jim Plumber started coming out to Athens and then Athens kind of went short of cash, so we all moved over to Austin Lake, near Kalamazoo, MI. What a blast I had growing up with those guys and jumping out of airplanes! Those guys taught me a lot - leaving the plane, grabbing a formation, then a back-flip and back together. The sport changed from that style to skipping the back-flip and just grabbing as many formations as possible. Your dad, Don, Sam, and Rocky didn’t seem to like the change - they thought that it all looked a little sloppy. Anyway, great memories and great times - I will look for photos for you - all the best! Steve Bertheau

That wasn't the hope or the expectation. We're simply guaranteed that things will be better now that everything is not going to be Trump. So, before you move the expectation goal posts and commence with 4 years of 'told you so's please get it straight that no one on the left who posts here claimed Biden was ideal and the promised land was soon to follow. Pretty much, he was who could get Job 1 done which was beating Trump and I, for one, am willing take a lot of what I don't like for that outcome.

Oscillating (not rotary) hook machine produces the highest quality seam and do not twist the thread, but have a horizontal axis of hook, and mostly primitive fabric transporting mechanism. High speed sewing is not the top priority for intricate designs with high precision, and repair, for my opinion.

He's correct. It's painfully obvious my fellow Americans lack the intestinal fortitude to do what is necessary to reduce the spread. And now that the UK variant is here, it'll only get worse. Ultimately brought to you by Trump's mismanagement.

Trump didn't cause it. He just capitalized on it. If you want to blame someone, blame Obama (not really). Once one of 'them' took up residence in the White House, all the racists lost their shit. They claimed he was a 'secret Muslim'. They claimed he was really Kenyan. They called him nigger in every way except actually using the word, and many of them did use the word. Just not where 'regular people' could see it. Trump capitalized on that big time. Remember when he claimed that a private detective had provided him with earth shattering proof about Obama? Of course, it was going to be made public in 'two weeks' and again of course, never was. Lots and lots of older white Christian males were completely marginalized when their hate, something they had held for decades, something they had needed to keep secret for a while, was brought out to the degree that Obama fueled it. As I noted above, Trump capitalized on it. He fed into the bigotry, xenophobia and hatred. He made it acceptable to hate again. His supporters lapped it up. He let those slimeballs think it was ok to crawl out from under their rocks. Why do you think Trump praised the Nazis? Or told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by"? Or attacked the BLM protests with anonymous federal agents? All of it was because he knew his base and what they wanted.

So now you're a sociologist, too? Has your fascination as a quantum theorist caused you to wonder why the truth always seems to happen somewhere else whenever you're there?

A friend of mine bought new nylon handles for his Starlite rig after demonstrating to himself the breakage with his main handle, and then for some folks at the DZ with his reserve handle -- just wham it on the ground in the cold. Not a lot of plastic handles after that. Wendy P.

And that is why they wear their masks in their car when they are by themselves.The need to virtue signal must be overwhelming

I can't help much with your dad's pre AFF history, but I was his primary cameraman in Deland during AFF development. I just have to say what an honor and a pleasure it was to work with him. The sport owes a very deep debt of gratitude to Ken. Bill Sutton

I made my first few jumps at Austin Lake. Then a DZ opened much closer to home, so I continued jumping at it. One day I went back up to Austin Lake and made two jumps. After the second one, the experienced jumpers had left, so I asked the pilot if he could sign my log book: "Sure, I've made a couple jumps." It was only much later, reading about him in "Parachutist" that I realized who he was. "There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

I was a member of the VXE-6 Para-Rescue Team in 1982 and 1983. I may be able to give you a few names of the folks on the team at that time. I also did a short stint at Strong from Jan to May, 1979 working in the harness and container dept. On many days after work, we made jumps from your Dad's 182 at the Kississimme airport.

I jumped with Ken in the mid 70's as a team member of the Beechnuts. Remember him well. I have photo's posted on the Midwest Skydiver's Reunion facebook page that Ken are in. I can send you high resolution pics of your dad and probably a few more than what are posted, just send me an email.

Gary - Can you chime in and just confirm this? I was not involved in 1997 so I would not be able to confirm nor deny that this happened. ----- ~~~Michael

This has nothing to do with safety. BASE gear is incredibly safe, especially in lower-altitude baloon-jumping environment. This is about breaking the letter of law, and that matter is strictly between a jumper and a pilot. Calling FAA on a jumper is the worst sin one can commit, and in many places there will be serious consequences for such a caller. bsbd! Yuri.