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Hey fam, can someone help me out and remind me the beginning part of the quote...? It was popularized in the late 90's I believe, and was a description of why the jumper preferred freeflying over conventional FS (then RW). It started with a description of a RW big way and talked about the pressure to be in your slot and how everyone was pissed off at you if you messed it up. And then it went on to state... "Freeflying, on the other hand, is like running naked, in the rain, on acid." Thanks.

With the knowledge we are losing SC I looked into low cost/free ways that the banter could continue. I’ve setup a subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/BeyondDropzone/s/EVhnSJsPC6 I don’t want to have to moderate a public forum so I set it up as invite only. Although all speakers corner posters and lurkers are welcome. You can request to join by emailing the moderators. Alternatively I’ve setup a reddit username dznigel99 and you can message me and happy to add you.

Remember when the best thing about Trump was that his government wouldn't be beholden to rich campaign donors? Now the best thing about Trump is that his government will be run by rich campaign donors! It really all makes sense if you just look at it sideways and squint a bit. Not like a cult at all.

Explain? When you know everything there is to know, explanations are redundant.

Its the next step in the oligarch playbook. There is a reason Trump admires Putin so much.

The format and channel depends on what your aim is,– play, collaboration, promotion, story telling, community, anonymity, novel discovery...? JMHO- Yes mixed bag- I think younger people have a clear preference for media formats in distribution systems that are not institutionally packaged. YouTube, podcast, FB, Twitter, tictok influencers, Wikipedia. Why- These channels are built for attention and have more utility than conventional media. You can get your mass media soundbites in these channels but with overlays of niche or mimicked opinion that feels customized or is slanted to your taste. Can't argue that these channels do a great job of pushing dopamine content to consumers that is relevant to their interest. These channels further offer consumers breadth and the ability to seek and find niche content - novel content. Socially most everyone values novel information as a form of status. The soundbites and distribution of institutional media just don’t offer much in the way of sustained novelty. The status of knowing what the media masses are currently being made aware of wears off quickly. Consumers that want sustained status need to develop or seek and obtain novel information and opinions prior to it becoming mainstream. The status of having novel opinions and interpretations diminish with distribution: think: discoverer - early adopter - bulk informed - aware masses. On the DZ charging a fee -I'm not into captive environments. Forums do not do well when they put up fee walls IMO. I think the value of the DZ thread would diminish immediately after a fee wall went up and it became a captive environment. If the DZ did a goFundme I'd put money towards that, but a fee would be go against our interest by erecting a barrier to future growth and participation on the thread. JMHO I'm still trying to keep to my resolution of limiting post in here till the end of the year so PM me if you have more specific or obscure questions.

I would entertain more requests for personal emails from many of you. Please PM me before the site shuts down! Tanya ETA -- Thanks, Sangrio. It's been great!

This used to be my bailiwick. While I thoroughly agree with the inclusion of private industry in the space business, I do think there's a place for government, too. Because they have different drivers. Private industry is mainly driven by eventual profit; even if they're doing something unprofitable in the short run, they're looking at money. The government is currently more driven by risk aversion in the short run, but they're not as concerned with the most cost-effective way. Which means that their imaginations are unfettered in a different direction. To me, the competing interests drive different approaches, and with a new technology, with goals that aren't necessarily possible yet (mission to Mars?), and which may not be financially possible, different approaches is a good thing to have. Each has constraints; all have money, time, and the current limits of technology as constraints, but they have different reactions to those constraints. With Elon at the head of SpaceX (and I'm by no means against SpaceX -- they're truly impressive), I can see it being weaponized because of his whims. It's not publicly traded. While he doesn't have sole control, he does have a huge amount of control, and I do think that needs to be fettered in some ways. Right now, the other space companies can't do that -- they're way more market-driven (i.e. "what's in it for me today) than SpaceX. If there's a vibrant multi-faceted space industry, great. But just as the drug companies and the technology companies now answer to the stockholders way more than to innovation (i.e. they're aiming at specific sales points, rather than just exploring what's possible -- remember Bell Labs and the like?), so will the space companies. Wendy P.

one more billionaire to the list of billionaires who supposedly know what's best for the average american worker..... Let me know how that all works out

Jim was my first sky diving instructor in May of 1976 at Zephyrhills Florida. We were all jumping from an old DC-3. We sort of rubbed each other the wrong way. I had completed my military obligations and was feeling pretty pretty tough. Jim sort of laughed at my bravado. In those days new jumpers progressed on a static line. first 2 jumps and you demonstrated that you could exit the door and hit a stable arch. Then 2 jumps where you exited stable and did a dummy rip cord pull to show that you were thinking in the air. I had been using student equipment an old army T-10 with a big bulky front reserve and had about about 7 static lines and was waiting for Jim to sign some paper that would allow me to do my first free fall. I was attending University of South Florida at the time it was Friday afternoon and I was out of class for the weekend. All the experienced jumpers were already there and I could see them flying down. Jim met me in the parking lot as I drove up with my rusty old Volkswagen van. He said follow me. I walked behind him into the chute packing room. He handed me a student rig with a ripcord. I put the rig on with a lump in my throat, Jim pulled the straps so hard that it actually hurt my nuts. I put you on the manifest he stated with a grin that only increased my fear. The load roar of the DC-3's engines warming up only increased my anxiety. Jim could see that I was scared and said Ok time to see what your made of tough guy. We boarded the roaring monster and took off the runway, static jumps with a barometric auto opener on the reserve were scary enough but now if I screwed up I realized I could die. We went around and around until we got to 2000 feet and a jump master named Ed Avery sent 6 new students out on the static lines. Jim pulled the static lines in and rolled his finger in the air to go around one more pass. we were almost to 3 grand and Jim took me to the open door. I heard the engines cut Jim looked at me and said NOW!. I jumped did a nice arch and pulled my ripcord my parachute jerked the beejessus out of me because I was a little head down. I looked up to see my parachute fully bloomed out. It was a sense of elation that overtook me. I steered my slotted T-10 toward the landing bullseye and just a little outside the ring I did a perfect PLF parachute landing fall. I lay on the ground for a moment only and started to collect my chute and Jim came swooping down next to me. He gave me a hug and said good job. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. Jim looked at me and declared Case of beer I drove to the local stores and purchased 2 cases of cold beer. I took it back to the DZ and that night me, Jim, Ed Avery, Marc Janchak, Stan Bussey, Ernie King, Anibal Turneaurua, Cheryl Morgn, Chuck Henderson, Ski and Donna, Pat and John Conway, and Bill Foster got blasted to celebrate my first freefall. I remember this time as the very best part of my life. I continued to jump and got to know Jim better. I loved Jim and all my jumping buddies. I cried when I heard that he had passed away. He was a great man, a man of courage, Honor and integrity. Well I guess I have to close now because this has got me crying again. We will miss you Jim you were one of a king. RIP Buddy.

Hey everyone, Dropzone.com has been acquired by a non-skydiving party. The site will remain active and available in its current format until the end of the year. Please back up your DMs and data before December 31, 2024. Some of you have been asking about the data: As part of the deal, I will retain all the data and content. We'll explore options to see whether it's viable to make it available in some format again. That being said, there may very well be a period where nothing is available. Ultimately we may not find a solution to put it online again without just returning to the same cost and support issues that brought us to this point int the first place. That's quite likely. If we bring any of the data online again, you should expect it to be different... Go follow Dropzone.com on Facebook, instagram or X. (links in the site footer) If there are any developments or updates, we will use those platforms to announce it. Safe swoops Sangiro