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In case you haven't heard, Mister Douglas landed at the Deland municipal Airport last Sunday at approximately 3:30 pm from Tennessee. She's back.

and I just got a response to an FBI FOIA.. It says there is info and it will be released in the Cooper Vault... but, I don't know what that is,, either Gunther or parachute info.. it doesn't say

A friend, fellow skydiver and former member of the 82nd Airborne and I went to the 1983 Nationals in Muskogee (not to compete as skydiving newbies, but to watch). We took our rigs, "just in case" we could jump. A big way formed up and the team captain came and said there were two slots on Mr. Douglas, did we want them. Absofrigginlutelty!! He told us to go to the front of the plane and let them out and wait thirty seconds before going. Then he asked if we had ever jumped that plane and knew how to exit. Nope. "Point your chin at the bottom of the door and dive out." It was one of my more memorable jumps. I got to jump Mr. Douglas. It would be my one and only time, but I still love that I got to be a part of history and am glad that others will soon be able to also. EDIT: Damn, I just realized that was almost 40 years ago. What the hell happened.

I went into the VA about two weeks ago and got the quadrivalent flu shot in one arm and the new and improved Moderna Covid booster in the other at the same time. No sore arms, no muscle aches, no tails growing outta my ass. Little tired the next day, but that could've been any number of factors. Anyway, if you haven't already, please get your shots. You may be a pain in the ass, but you're my pain in the ass.

Ulis wants to be the one to solve the Cooper case, that in itself is not a problem as many of us sleuths want to be the one to solve it.. the problem with Ulis is that he has a track record of elevating conjecture and assumptions to fact then making unsubstantiated conclusions.. Researching Rem Cru is not a problem, making unproven or false claims as fact is. Eric has always done this whether intentional or not. The result is Ulis getting lots of media attention with bogus information and that undermines the credibility of Cooper case overall.. Most people who do not have a higher level knowledge of the case and of Ulis will get sucked into his narratives because he says them with confidence and in the media. His track record is a disaster.

Just as I expected But i don't think its DeSantis as leader and this is why. "Even as he faced a re-election fight, DeSantis found time to travel the country and campaign with Republican politicians cut from the same cloth. He attended rallies with Kari Lake and Blake Masters in Arizona, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Lee Zeldin in New York, Mark Ronchetti and Rep. Yvette Herrell in New Mexico, Derek Schmidt in Kansas, and J.D. Vance in Ohio. The first seven all lost, and while Vance emerged victorious, he ran nearly 10 points behind his Ohio Republican ticket mate, Gov. Mike DeWine (who did not campaign with DeSantis). " I think Liz and Adam would be ideal leaders. But for the MAGA base they are too tainted by the Sept 6th committee. So the search over the next year or so will start. Big republican money donors have turned their backs on trump. Murdoch as well.

I "believe" all three have said the same thing I have - If Trump is the nominee; we're out. My point is they remain R's and are trying to wake the GOP the fuck up about the Trumpists. My point is - I won't change parties now; but will if there is not change. My voice is not the only one and the group gets louder. There are more and more R's using their voice on gun control, abortion rights, etc. You (the GOP) needs to listen. This. And then as you state later: That is why I remain a rock in the stream. If there comes a point where the stream becomes a river; there's many of us that will change to the Independent party. We have a good relationship of discussion, Phil. I appreciate your input.

From the photo's I'm seeing there are a lot of women fighting at the front in Ukraine. I expect new paradigms are being formed that will cause change in armed forces around the world. Good.

It sounds like EU wants his particle to be an alloy because his identified company worked with alloys ? Eric calls Cooper press conferences, the way six year olds make pancakes! Everything EU does is always crude and haphazard, if not crazy. Thats just a fact.

Ulis is not a materials expert. He doesnt have a lab. Has Tom consulted Dick Stone? Has Ulis tested clothing from his suspect that shows the same suite of particles Tom found on the tie? Is the whole suite of particles present at Rem Cru . . . Has the FBI tested the suspect's dna? Has anyone seen the suspect's medical records ... etc ? ! Why did Ulis announce this before doing all of the testing necessary and working with the suspect's family ? There are protocols to be followed in these matters ...

And that's effectively exactly what happened. I rode it for a bit on the 1st time it happened and cut it. I've learned a LOT about canopy flight, etc. since this incident as it's forced me to do my research, etc. Pretty funny now in hindsight, but that's how we learn.

Nothing wrong with pursuing a lead but Eric is manufacturing a fact which he is known to do.. Tom didn't reject Rem Cru, he rejected Eric's claim that it was 100% an alloy and it 100% came from Rem Cru... Tom said the particles may not even be an alloy... if so Eric's argument dies. In addition, if it is an alloy the ratios on the patent are a range that is not exclusive and there are other sources... Eric has assumed the particles are an alloy and assumed they only came from Rem Cru... the first is unproven and the second is false. Bottom line, those particles may or may not be an alloy and the ratios are not exclusive to Rem Cru.. Classic Ulis, he elevates assumptions to facts and makes false or unproven claims with a confidence that people just accept... Is Rem Cru a possibility for those particles, sure, but it isn't 100% as Eric claims, it is probably less than 1%.. Remember, Eric was 98% sure Sheridan Peterson was Cooper for years when all the other top tier Cooper sleuths had rejected Peterson.

Hey....they can be pragmatic. They gave up on polygamy when they needed to.

Zero side effects for me. I was looking forward to an evening of laying on the couch under a blanket to watch TV. No such luck.

I bet it smells very rich in that cabin. I actually like that. Well, and the fact that you can stand up. That's nice. So far it is airworthy and certified. Before they can take jumpers it needs some additional work. Disappointing but hey, it does have seats, and seatbelts.

You mean like staying in your own party and trying to evoke change from within, rather than tucking tail and crossing party lines just cause your knickers are twisted on a couple of issues, kinda non-confrontational?

Intro As there are not a lot of ressources regarding a transition from skydiving to paragliding/speedflying available online, I decided to share my experiences and impressions in this post here. Even if you are not planning to get into paragliding yourself, it might still give some interesting insights. If you like, I can keep you updated on my journey. About my skydiving background Originally from Austria, I started skydiving in southern Germany back in August 2012 and got pretty hooked on it. After spending every weekend at the dropzone for about a year, I decided to quit my regular job, move to the dropzone and pursue a career there, although I always had to support it with at least a part time "normal" job. Living off skydiving alone is almost impossible within Germany. After about two years (as soon as legally possible) I got my coach and tandem instructor rating. I was able to earn money with skydiving from that point on, mainly doing videos, tandems and coaching jumps. My AFF rating followed soon after. My favourite discipline in skydiving has always been canopy piloting, why I invested lots of time, money and effort into that. I quit skydiving in the beginning of 2020 as I was starting to burn out after 7 seasons of 7-day-weeks during the summer and moved back to my origin in the Alps of Austria at the beginning of this year. Alltogether I did about 3500 jumps of which about 2000 have been on solo-canopies. My canopy progression was: * PD 170 (~150 jumps) * Pilot 150 (~150 jumps) - started working on high-performance landings with that canopy * Pilot 132 (~200 jumps) * Katana 120 (~200 jumps) * Velocity 96 (~300 jumps) * Valkyrie 84 (~1.000 jumps) - loaded with up to 35lbs of extra lead (total exit weight around 220lbs) (sample landing) Do not take my personal path as advice for your own downsizing. I went through some downsizing steps rather fast, but keep in mind that I did many of these jumps in shorter timespans than many other people and always had direct mentoring from more experienced pilots available. In retrospective I have to say, that the step from the Pilot 132 to the Katana 120 was the most challenging. My paragliding experience until now I started my training at Cloudbase, a professional, commercial paragliding school in Zell am Ziller (Tyrol, Austria) - huge recommendation by the way - last Saturday and completed my final exam yesterday. Usually training takes a bit longer (40 flights) but due to local regulations a shortcut for licensed skydivers is possible (15 flights, although practically not appropriate in many cases). Theoretical instruction is easy, but covers topics that many skydivers have likely never had any contact with. It might have helped that I also hold a commercial pilot license for airplanes and have quite some knowledge regarding meteorology and basic aerodynamics, but I doubt that my skydiving experience gave me an advantage in that area. During training (and some test flights today) I had the chance to fly the following paragliding wings (surface area in brackets although less relevant): * Mescal S (240 sqft) * Masala S (235 sqft) * Susi 23 (213 sqft) * Susi 21(190 sqft) * Kode P 18 (173 sqft) * Tonic 2 S (172 sqft) How do paragliding wings compare to skydiving canopies? I was surprised how much performance even large student paragliding wings offered in comparison to skydiving canopies for students. While a skydiving canopy for students (and to be honest - also most intermediate skydiving canopies) allows the pilot to hang in the harness like a bag of water and yank on the steering lines without any requirement for sensitivity, a paragliding wing requires immensely more coordinated inputs by harness and brakes to achieve an acceptable amount of control. I suppose a docile student paragliding wing would likely still not kill you, but it will be a very uncontrolled ride, if you fly it the same way a skydiving canopy allows you to fly. Techniques required to fly real high-performance skydiving canopies transition very well to paragliding. From the first flight on paragliding felt very natural and I had the feeling of having a good amount of control over the wing. I got lots of compliments to be the very first skydiver at the school with sensitivity for brake inputs. Aside from techniques like doing big ears, that are not used/available in skydiving, a huge difference is the possibility of (unintentionally) inducing extended rolling and pitching oscillations and the inputs required to stop these oscillations. Standard skydiving canopies do not really require such inputs and will quickly self stabilize (or at least keep the oscillations low). High-performance skydiving canopies require such inputs but still stabilize quicker than paragliding wings. While angle-of-attack control is not necessarily required to safely fly a skydiving canopy, like it is on a paragliding wing, it certainly allows much better flight path control even on less performant skydiving wings (Did you ever feel your controls become "mushy" after recovering from a turn input? Surprise! There's ways around that...). Some skydiving pilots might bring that skill, some might not. Paragliding wings are a lot easier to flare than their skydiving counterparts. I did not see a lot of really bad flares during the course on my coursemates without any pre-experience. That is likely due to the much lower sink rate and more lift that paragliding wings provide. I would not expect any skydiver to have much trouble correctly flaring a paragliding wing. Paragliding wings seem a lot less critical regarding low turns. While even very docile student skydiving canopies react with a good amount of dive to any turn, I have seen safe turns at heights that sent shivers down my former skydiving instructor spine during the past week. There are other dangers that come with paragliding wings, but the risk coming with low turns seem a lot lower with paragliding. I do not have any numbers on that feeling, so take it with a grain of salt. Conclusion I have a hand full of paragliding flights by now, so my opinion might either be false or have to be revised by myself in the future. High-performance canopy flying experience transitions very well to paragliding and should allow you to feel comfortable on a paragliding wing quickly. Controls are different but follow very similar principles. If you got the feeling for a high-performance skydiving canopy, you will likely have the feeling for a paragliding wing. At least a docile one (like to ones I used to fly during the past week) and at least in my case. I doubt that limited, other skydiving experience will give you a huge advantage on paragliding. Some things might feel similar, certainly taking away a good amount of stress. Some of your habits might be very counter-productive. And it is very well possible that you will have to seriously extend your "toolbox of canopy control". Recommendations In any case, do not assume that you know how to fly a paragliding wing, because you know how to control a skydiving canopy. It's different. I for my part decided to go with the Tonic 2 S for now. It's very slow in comparison to the Valkyrie 84 I used to fly, but it still behaves reasonably agile and I have the feeling that I got a good amount of work to do until I can fly it perfectly to its limits. It outperforms similarly sized skydiving canopies by far. Speedflying is my goal, but I do not see any reason to rush it. Doing some paragliding training could be a good addition to becoming a great skydiving canopy pilot. I can see paragliding skills and knowledge transition extremely well to skydiving canopy control, if you already bring some skydiving experience. Paragliding training is super cheap in comparison to skydiving. And it's a huge amount of fun.

I'm honestly kind of sad it's not sporting its 80s paintjob. I volunteered as a painter since I have aircraft paint experience. I do think it looks better in its natural bare aluminum. I don't even think it needs paint.

Last I heard Tom rejected it.. he is not even convinced the titanium antimony particles are an alloy.

According to Israeli military statistics, 535 female soldiers had been killed while serving between the years of 1962 and 2016 Then there are "The YPJ (Women‘s Protection Units) is the lesser-known Kurdish women’s army – allied to the YPG (People‘s Protection Units) – fighting in northern and Kurdish Syria" There was a news report recently about Ukrainian female snipers . This is the same person but not the same story., nurses in the field units and rehab hospitals. Very stressful given the amount of Russian artillery. All just makes a person want to send Putin a Christmas present.

Probably not. A requirement of receiving HIMAR's was that they would not be used against Russian territory. The Ukrainians have that ability now but are conforming to the agreement. I see that given their fidelity that we might now give them our ATACMS systems enabling them to hit deep into the Crimea. I hope so, anyway.

Solar flare activity causing localized gravity storms. Gotta have something for when you funnel a formation.

It is just Ulis's MO elevating an assumption to a fact and then claiming a conclusion.. he did with Sheridan Peterson and the media didn't learn. The claim that those tie particles only came from Rem Cru is complete BS.

It would be hard find more ways someone did not fit the Cooper profile, than the number of ways this guy does not. IMO his family is due an apology. I have a host of issues with the use of that single particle (or any of the tie particles) as gospel, but regardless, of all the places they might lead if you decide to presume they are meaningful, this is the most far-fetched. And your question is important: Can the rest of the particles be explained by the same environment(s) that suggest the first one? If not, it's hard to make the argument that that one's "real" while the others are meaningless. Any new suspect that follows that same single particle, will have to reckon with that question in a meaningful way.

Got mine just before going out of town last month. No aches, just soreness in the flu arm. Wendy P.

Thanks for the reminder. We got the booster on September 14, but have been waiting on the flu vaccine, so that it should last through the season.

Same here, same shots: one left, one right. Little bit of headache next morning, when leaving to work, it was gone. I can only recommend ....

Congrats! Thanks for posting that. I love the FJC cert.

BRAVO KICK A$$

Interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to voice your thoughts