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?? Well, you can listen to other people talk to them, or about them. Or you can read their email threads. Or you can just ask. I mean, suppose you meet someone on the street and you don't know their name. What do you do? Or suppose you meet someone named Chris and can't tell if they are male or female. What do you do? Or suppose you meet your old friend Sarah, and she just got married, and you don't know if she changed her name when she got married. What do you do? I'm 99.9% sure you have experienced these in your lifetime. And I bet you figured it out then, too.

A couple of years ago, I did a FOIA request with the Army Corps of Engineers for information about dredging operations along the Columbia River. I shared a photo on Shutter's site last year showing the money find spot and a dredge spoil location. The picture seemed to indicate that the money was found on the southern edge of a dredge spoil location they called "96.6" which is approximately its mile marker designation. It brought up more questions than answers, and the matter was eventually dropped. I haven't had time to put much thought into it since then. So, I have decided to just share all the information from the Army Corps of Engineers FOIA records. Here's the link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11o6PCCNgnigx384ZfiAkmkfMDTbjiPO8?usp=share_link Here is a picture of dredge spoils from 1974: The mile markers are circled and the approximate location of the money find is marked with the black "X" Interestingly, these records indicate that 1974 was not the last time "Willow Bar" (the ACE's name for the Tena Bar area) was dredged: It's my hypothesis that the Tena Bar money arrived naturally via flood debris, but was subsequently buried under dredge spoils which eventually eroded and exposed it enough to be found in 1980. Happy to hear anyone else's thoughts on this. I know georger has put a lot of time and thought into this, so his opinion is greatly appreciated.

Will there be swooping for me to watch from my deck?

“Insults are the arguments employed by those who are in the wrong” Rousseau

Sidney Powell making a deal means that the courts are RIGGED!

Yeah - but as pointed out above that’s only because there’s never been a case to rule on. Presidents generally either don’t commit blatant crimes or are smart enough not to get caught. Nixon being the only exception but he was pre-emptively pardoned before it became an issue (and even that is controversial). Really though, I don’t think it was ever in question. I’m not aware of any serious school of legal thought (except from Trump’s true believers) that has ever suggested it was the case. In fact, if anyone really thought it was true why was Nixon offered, and why did he accept, a pardon? Why is there an official Justice Department position on not prosecuting sitting Presidents (for very different reasons) if Presidents couldn’t be prosecuted at all? I think they both clearly show that the default presumption always was that Presidents aren’t monarchs, and can be prosecuted. When Aileen Cannon suggested otherwise while trying to sabotage the FBI’s ability to investigate the documents they seized at Mar a Lago the 3 Conservative judges above her in the appeals court came as close to calling her a fucking idiot as you can get in acceptable legal language.

Hi Jerry, I believe you are correct that 'presidential immunity' has never been formally ruled upon. Nixon was pardoned, so he was never charged (there's a hell of a debate about the validity of it, but that's "a whole 'nuther" thing). The main reason it's never been ruled upon is that we've NEVER had a President commit the crimes that Trump did. Kind of like how there's no prohibition against convicted felons being President. Because, apparently, the founding fathers never realized we'd be stupid enough to elect one. Fun fact: If Powell wasn't Trump's attorney, 'attorney-client privilege' can't be claimed. So she's free to testify about anything they discussed.

Scary how quickly in the Trump era this became a genuine defence from his supporters for all kinds of terrible behaviour. “Why are you even talking about that - he does that all the time!”

Problem,, How do the particles get on the shorter narrower piece of the tie that was behind the wider front piece? with a tie tack/clip holding them together.. Only if they were deposited when it wasn't being worn.

Well, in that case he can't go bleating about attorney-client privilege when she testifies.

Door #2, it seems to me. USPA is great for keeping the government at bay. Chuck opined on the entertainment value of CP. To ask him to what end, is it singing to the choir or expanding the sport seems fair to ask given his position and support. As far as banning it goes I know of no one suggesting USPA do so; that's for each independent business to decide.

I spent a lot of time writing this speech but (sound of blank sheet of paper crumpling) I've decided to speak from the heart.

Is the purpose of USPA to grow the sport, or to support activities that significant numbers of members engage in, while encouraging safe practices? Probably both, but maybe neither to the exclusion of the other. How would you regulate swooping if you were in charge — given that actual people actually do it. It was hard enough to get DZ’s to start enforcing traffic control areas, and that appears to have cut down on in-air collisions under canopy. Yes, they have to adhere to certain standards to be USPA members, but since there are successful non-USPA DZ’s out there, the stick approach to enforcement won’t work for very long. Used to be that advertising in Parachutist was how people found out about DZ’s; with the net, that’s effectively useless. Personally, I’d like to see the same sort of emphasis on minimum number of jumps and/or canopy classes before people are allowed to use the swoop lanes. It’d be a start. Forbidding swooping at commercial DZ’s is probably a non-starter. It sounds like the most recent Eloy fatality was doing all the right things for education; swooping just doesn’t forgive mistakes, any more than proximity BASE does. Wendy P.

Right, that's my point; and a hell of a lot more dangerous than the statistics show due to gross under reporting of injuries. At the level of International Competition it's all art and beauty, for sure. But that's not how it is at the start of the pipeline and that's reality.

Your question cannot be objectively answered because it teeters on a subjective measure. That is, your personal opinion on what constitutes a level of growth that is "worth it." The logic can be extended to anything and everything. Is driving really "worth it" with all the fatalities and injuries? What about running? What about living? Stupid question. Stupid thread.

You made a very incorrect statement that I don't like to answer questions. The reality is that I refuse to get suckered into dead-end conversations with the "yeah, but" crowd. Look through the forums and you will see that I answer questions routinely for anyone with a desire to have a sincere conversation on any subject. When I sat down to write this, I planned to address your post in great detail. After re-reading my own words, I've changed my mind. I will not take the bait. You know as well as I do that there is no acceptable level of injuries or fatalities in skydiving. There is no skydiving discipline designed or intended as a tool for growth, so making a connection between them and any intended promotional value is a false narrative. Here are the facts: CP is a legitimate, internationally recognized discipline. In accordance with USPA bylaws, we support all ISC recognized disciplines. CP is dangerous. Statistically it's more dangerous than other skydiving disciplines. Welcome to reality. All forms of skydiving are dangerous. I wholeheartedly support all of them. Finally, you suggested that I must either believe that CP injuries and fatalities are "worth it", or that I haven't "actually thought about it seriously". Brother, you are way off base. There is NOTHING in skydiving that I haven't thought about seriously. Pretty much every moment of every day. Anyone who knows me and my priorities knows that. Five left and cut.