Leaderboard

If you want ignorance look at the election deniers and if you want bad faith look at Supreme Court confirmations.

Yes! Not a single western nation that has imposed strict laws on gun possession has gun violence lower than the USA. Not Germany, France, Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Ireland. . . . Clearly they should all copy the examples of Alabama, Missouri or Louisiana, havens of safety. </sarcasm>

^This. Big time. At the bigger DZ I've been a part of (haven't been there in a couple years now ), the DZO is adamant about building a fun jumper population. He freely admits it's selfish. He, his wife and his two sons all jump, and he wants a good group of friends for him and his family to jump with. So EVERY student is invited to the 'festivities'. They are informed that they are a part of 'us', and welcome at the social events. They host a variety of those sorts of things too. Lots of bonfires on Saturday nights, Chili cookoff & film festival near the end of the season (good prizes for the winners provided by the DZ), even a 'prom' and winter skating party (pick up the packing mat and the hangar floor makes a great roller skating area) during the offseason to keep everyone in touch with each other. They seem to graduate a lot of A licenses. No clue what the FJC numbers to A license numbers are, but to be fair, it's a hell of a commitment, both time & money. It's not always apparent how dedicated one has to be during the FJC, so I'd be surprised if the retention rate was much over 25%.

You have proof? If you do not have proof, wouldn't you agree that such unsupported, outlandish claims, which are specifically designed to get a reaction alone, meet the definition of trolling and should warrant discipline?

I have had several different back pads from several different manufacturers, and I can confidently say that none of them have ever made a difference. It might just be where I've lived. It goes from fun springtime temps, to brutal, ruin your soul hot summer temps pretty quickly. A fun mesh design in my backpad has been the last thing on my mind when I'm trying not to die of heatstroke. I'm sure there are varying opinions on this, but if money was a factor for me, I wouldn't bother with any of the backpad upgrades.