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Nah.

I’m pretty sure you’re misunderstanding my position on the issues at hand so let me be clear. I am definitely in favor of moving away from fossil fuels. I think reducing or eliminating our dependence on them is a goal worthy of our best efforts. But I think managing that transition in a way that is as equitable as possible to people at all levels of income should be part of those efforts. I realize there is a sense of urgency because we have lost the last four years but simply jacking the prices and leaving it to the market to solve the problem doesn’t achieve that. We needed the infrastructure in place for it yesterday. So let’s catch up. Take my tax dollars to do it. I am fine with that. I am all for it.

as nwt so eloquently stated, some of us out there are isolating and wearing masks everywhere, mostly because we care about others. i don't really care about anyone who thinks like you, but my tolerance allows me to coexist peacefully, and even keep my mouth shut, until your poisonous views start affecting me. racism is poison, and needs to be eradicated. had they not been too weak to stand up after the civil war, it would have been gone by now.

Well, not everyone can find their butt, even with both hands and a flashlight. When I went through S/L training, I had that impression too, and had some difficulty. My instructor was far more in Ian's 'camp'. He wanted to see a deliberate, focused, clean pull. If it didn't happen before the canopy was out, that was secondary to the rest of it. I was jumping direct bag student gear, so the canopy was out really fast. Trying to 'pull before the canopy was out' was virtually impossible.

Not sure how GME options are affected by the cost of oil.

He should run for the House.

Maybe the cartoon version?

You may find this hard to believe, but some people actually do what they need to do without being forced, and others refuse even when it's required.

Not really. Herd immunity does not refer to how the immunity is conferred. It refers to protection of a susceptible individual by the organisms around that individual all being immune, thus forming a "barrier" that the disease must pass through before it gets to them. (Of course it's not a literal barrier; it's a significant reduction in statistical odds of the susceptible individual being in contact with a contagious carrier.) The immunity could come from a vaccine or a natural infection/response (the outcomes are essentially identical) or it could even come passively, where antibodies are transferred from one person to another via natural or artificial means. Note that in many cases those susceptible individuals are people who are immunocompromised (transplant recipients, chemotherapy patients) or who cannot tolerate vaccination (infants, some people prone to anaphylactic shock) and thus herd immunity represents their only protection.

Back in the stone age, when I was an S/L instructor, the goal was to be able to keep pulling your main in a coordinated and stable fashion even if the jump was going wonky. No jumpmaster would ever make the jump wonky deliberately, but sensory overload during such a short time generally made that unnecessary most. But the goal was to make sure the student would, in fact, pull their main, not as an act of desperation, but as a deliberate and focused act. Wendy P.

In Canada gas is currently about $1.05/litre including a small but scheduled to rise carbon tax. Jump tickets are......about $35 plus tax! Health insurance is covered by those taxes.

it's real hard to beat the chute. that isn't a fail but not getting it out is. not an instructor, but it took me years to get licensed so i had to do these all the damned time.

But then you might get many with the same name, Schooley Mc School Face.

The biggest issue that I see with dummy pulls is rushing/going straight for where the handle is "supposed to be". Slow down and go for your butt first, then bring your hand up to the pack and find the handle/paper. Everyone can find their ass with one hand in the dark so just find your ass and move up to find the handle. Slow down, yes things will be happening/moving on your pack as the rig opens - don't let that get in your way, focus on your task. Find your ass, then find your handle. That's how I train my students.

Everyone's parents are different. But I would not take my mother to the DZ when it was honoring someone who died skydiving. That just reminds them that you could die skydiving. For that matter, I'm not sure that showing them how much care everyone takes would help either, because they already have tangible evidence that despite all that care, you still almost died. But I don't think it could hurt to talk to them about what they're worried about, and try to really listen and understand. Because, the thing is, they're right. Skydiving is dangerous. You could die, or get seriously injured from it. Some former jumpers are quadriplegics now. That's just the reality. I don't think it helps your case to minimize this -- it makes them think that you are willfully ignoring the risks. Remember, though you are now an adult, in their minds, it wasn't so long ago that they had to physically stop you from touching the hot stove because you just didn't understand why you couldn't. It's hard for parents to transition into the space where their judgment regarding their kids' well-being is not superior to the kids' own judgment. Instead, perhaps explain to them what you love about the sport, and why you love it enough that you are willing to take these risks. Additionally (if you haven't already), explain what went wrong on your jump, and what you're doing to minimize the risk of it happening again. They may never approve, but perhaps through communication you both can at least get a better measure of understanding of the other. And, if you take them to a DZ, I'd do it on a regular day, not during a boogie, not during a competition, and definitely not during an ashdive or celebration of life (unless the jumper died of something unrelated to skydiving). My $0.02.

That is no different to what the media is reporting. And there's two things here - the fact that some members of the crowd had planned in advance to assault the Capitol does not mean they would have managed it if Trump had not incited the rest of the crowd to join in. Second, the reason that some people were planning to assault the Capitol in the first place is because Trump had just spent months telling them the election was stolen and the people in the Capitol were facilitating the theft. Now I don't see any real prospect of Trump being criminally tried and convicted over this, but it is crystal clear that it is his responsibility. He made it happen. What's the alternative explanation - the first time in 150 years that a candidate loudly and continuously claims the election was stolen by fraud is also the first time a violent crowd invades the Capitol during the counting of the votes but it's all just a big coincidence?

Is the emoticon supposed to be you? I'd have chosen differently. Look, a country is many things but more than anything it is a society of people who choose to adopt a common identity and who work toward common goals for the common good. Those things generally come together very slowly for the whole. It's just reasonable that when most people have decided things like racism and racist behavior are no longer a part of their identity then they also no longer see it as a part of their national identity and, by extension, no longer identify with certain symbols of their racist past. It's not about starting over or denying our past it's about standing up for who we are now as a people. That's a good thing.