CanuckInUSA

As previously stated by some other people, the risers are associated with the container and not the canopy. I own multiple main canopies and to avoid having to swap risers whenever I wanted to use a different canopy, I bought additional riser sets. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Agreed ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

We know why the dogs were brought in. To ensure that no explosives were there and as much as some of us don't like GWB, he has the right to NOT worry about being blown up by bombs when he visits some place. But why are you getting your panties in a bind over a culture which is different from your own? If they want to hold some sort of religious ritual after GWB's visit to cleanse themselves from what they believe. Let them do it. It's not like they denied the dogs access to do their jobs in the first place. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

1) If this guy was supposed to be teaching a "Geography" lesson instead of World/American politics, then yes he needs to be disciplined as I didn't hear a single thing about geography in that tape. Leave the ranting for the Political Science classes. 2) He was definitely too emotional about the various topics he was talking about and one would wish that an educator talking about such things would be able to keep a level head. 3) It is unfortunate that he didn't answer some of the student’s questions and deflected the conversation on to different subjects instead of addressing what some of the students were asking. But that is as far as I'm going to go in terms of slamming this guy. 4) How many people here in the previous 8 pages of this thread actually listened to the tape before they started spewing their opinions? I only read a small sample of what we've been saying here but it's the usual pro GWBers who are the most vocal calling for this guys head. 5) In regards to my last point, I don't know why some people here are getting their panties in a bind about the "GWB versus Hitler" comments. First off it was such a small part of the overall tape. But did some of you actually listen to what this guy was saying? He even claimed that Hitler was much worse than GWB. His only point of comparing the two was that Hitler and the Nazi party wanted to conquer the world to ensure that the German way of life was the dominant way the rest of the world would live and well how is this different than some of the American governments have conducted themselves over the years? Contrary to what (some) Americans think, there are plenty of cultures in the world who are not interested in living their lives the way Americans live. 6) People need to educate themselves better (and I'm no different than some of you) in not only how the different cultures of the world live and think, but also the various histories the different cultures have come from. How many people think all this terrorism started on September 11th, 2001 and that "THEY" started it? If you're in this camp of "THEY" started it, then I suggest it's time you picked up some history books (preferable ones not written by Americans) and started reading up. This conflict between us (who the #### is us anyway) and them (who the #### is them) goes back decades, no it goes back centuries. And that was part of the message this guy was trying to get across. But as I said, it's unfortunate that he was emotional and didn't let his students be more part of the dialogue. 7) Finally and the end of the tape. This guy can be heard saying "He's not asking his students to necessarily agree with him, except that he wants his students to think about the issues more in depth". So while his method of delivery was far from ideal (yes at times he was ranting), there is nothing wrong with educating the students that "America hasn't always done the right thing and that the American government has been know to do some really bad things in the world". Of course I fully expect some of the GWB lovers with their "God has blessed America because we are God's favorite people" to slam me for my stance on this issue. And that's okay, it is a free society where free speech is allowed and encouraged. But might I suggest that those "Apple Pie Loving - America is the best and #### the rest of the world" people wake up and smell the coffee because you and your beloved president are part of the problem in the world today. Not every culture is interested in your ideals, is interested in adopting your God and your way of life. Personally I think that there are a lot of good decent Americans out there in the world who have done a lot of good things for mankind. It's just unfortunate that numerous American governments can not be grouped in with these good decent Americans. Is there anything wrong with saying this? Is it un-american to question American governments past and present? What happened to free speech? I guess it's a good thing I'm not American living in America ... eh? Otherwise I could see the CIA showing up at my door (under the guise of the Patriot Act) and telling me that I'll be off on an extended holiday to Guantanimo Bay where I can be held and tortured indefinitely for the rest of my life without ever being charged for anything. PS: My comments are not directed towards you Gemini. I don't know where you stand on some of these issues, and I only replied to your post since you provided a link to what was said in the classroom. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I'm sure this is no longer the case but when I purchased my Rock Draggon around this time last year, JimmyP informed me that I would be a test pilot since I was the only one at the time with the 5th control line on their Rock Draggon. But I like the 5th control line on my FLiK so I told him to go ahead and put in on the Rock Draggon. You only live once right and someone needs to be the test pilot. I've only got 10-12 jumps on the canopy, so I'm hardly an expert with it, but I thoroughly have enjoyed it so far. It's just that I know my brake settings on my FLiK are dialed in and I will grab the FLiK before the Rock Draggon when I'm only doing one jump from our local E. I need to get my ass out to Twin in the not too distant future to get the brake settings dialed in on the Rock Draggon though. Plus thanks to being a dumb ass, I was forced to land it on rears on my very first jump on it at Twin last year when I incorrectly set the brakes on a slider off jump and lost a toggle on opening. But fortunately this jump happened in a somewhat forgiving environment that I was familiar with and I landed on the beach with no incident. It wasn't something I'd like to get into the habit of doing, but the landing was kind of like a mini swoop. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I never flown a BlackJack but I know some people (like PK) who really like theirs and there is no reason why I wouldn't like one as well if I ever got to try one. I'm not a BASE guru (likely never will be), but I am passionate about canopy flight and I enjoy flying small sub-100 square foot high performance pocket rocket cross-braced swooping machines. I enjoy flying moderately sized traditional 7 and 9 cell skydiving canopies and enjoy flying my Flik 293 and Rock Draggon 303 BASE canopies. I have no problems flying both my FLiK and my Rock Draggon in 1/2 brakes and still have plenty of flare left over to still standup the vast majority of my BASE canopy landings. In fact I seem to get better landings on the BASE canopies coming in in 1/2 brakes than I do coming in in full flight. Both canopies have vents and valves and unless I'm mistaken I believe it's the valves which allows us to come in in 1/2 brakes and still have enough flare to stand up our landings. But there is a common saying in the canopy control forum and that is, "It's not the canopy, it's the pilot". And if people don't believe me, there is video out there on skydivingmovies.com of Scott Miller swooping the shit out of a large Navigator canopy. It's not the canopy, it's the pilot. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Obviously the key to doing a shit load of paid jumps is to become first a coach, then an AFF or Tandem Instructor and if possible a vidiot. But just so that newer jumpers are aware of this, you don't just show up at the DZ one day with camera gear and say I want to fly tandem videos. You need to build the appropriate skills. It's likely easier to become a vidiot at a smaller DZ, but thanks to a fatal tandem/camera incident last year. The DZ in CO where I was at last year started a new policy that in order to fly tandem video you either needed to be an existing rated AFF Instructor or a rated Tandem Instructor (they had a few existing vidiots which had been flying camera for years and were understandably grandfathered in towards this policy). It's totally understandable why they would ask for this requirement as nobody wants to see Tandem accidents due to inadequately skilled video fliers. So I just wanted to point this out to the newer jumpers that you can't just show up one day and say pay me money to jump without building the skill set first and you'll need to spend some of your own money to build this skill set. So either get a good job outside of the industry or become a packer/rigger at the DZ and watch where you spend you money elsewhere in the world (this last part is not directed at Kansasskydiver since he's doing a better job working in the industry than I am). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

My previous post above was obviously flawed in that I neglected to isolated on the PC and dbag when referring to dealing with the RDS for regular skydives. Yes I see the benefits of pulling off the slider on any skydive and in fact need to speak to people (like someone such as Joe B) interms of making myself a complete RDS for competition and training as well as the ability of taking just the slider off on all my other jumps. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Are you talking about JC? Good for him. Super nice guy and an awesome swooper. clicky Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Funny you should say this. I bought a house in Calgary back in '93 for 150k. I'm not sure exactly how much it's worth right now, but it's somewhere in the 300k range (possibly even more). So yes you're not wrong to say that some markets have doubled and well I just got lucky to have bought at a good time. Any young sky-girls looking for a sugar daddy? Of course this would mean living in a place where you can only jump part of the year. I'm currently paying $750/month for a pretty lousy small'ish one bedroom apartment here in suburban Vancouver with absolutely no desire to own real estate here on the lower mainland. My 300k 4 bedroom house in a nice Calgary suburb will buy me a 700 square foot one bedroom apartment (with no view) in Vancouver. As I said, I feel for the young people trying to break into the real estate market in some urban centers. But as long as you're not house poor, having a mortage isn't a bad thing. Learn to live on less and jump as much as you can afford to. But watch how much you jump if it means putting you into debt. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I agree!!! I have received some form of canopy control coaching from Jim on three different occasions now (with more to come in the future I'm sure) and he explained swooping to me like nobody ever did (and he's very passionate and graphic about the subject). It absolutely rocked my swooping world and opened my eyes up to how little I knew about swooping prior to my first encounter with Jim (in Wildwood two summers ago). My coaching with him wasn't cheap. But it was money well spent. I'm sad Jim and Duane got hurt. But very happy that it wasn't worse. Heal up guys ... as you're needed on the Swooping and Ground Launching circuits. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Being house poor is dumb. But we all have to live somewhere and pay rent somewhere (assuming you're not living at home and/or have a sugar-momma). So a mortgage doesn't have to be the evil iron ball. Of course I do feel for some young people in certain urban centers where the price of real estate has shot through the roof making home ownership impossible on anything less than a six figure income. Plus having this addictive skydiving habit doesn't help. Shit I own a house with a small mortgage (I'm not living in the house) and I sometimes feel like I can't get ahead. I shit you not, I'd likely be a net-worth millionaire right now (or close to it) had I first not become a licensed private pilot and then a skydiver (making almost 1400 all unpaid skydives and another 80+ BASE jumps which contrary to popular myth are not free). But I love being in the air and I'm happy with the money that I have spent on my flying and my jump endeavors. But I am slowly learning to live on less and that is the secret to surviving as a fun jumper in this sport. Not wasting what money you do have on other more frivolous things. Of course skydiving is not something that we have to do in life (something I'm slowly learning). And trust me, not having debt and having savings for that rainy day is good for your soul. Unless you're willing to cutaway and being a full time (yet poor) skydiving bum, it's all about balance. I should say though that I'm not a young'un. I pretty much wasted my youth in the 80s and do way more now than what I did back then. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I don't want to put words in John's mouth, but it was something along the line of "some people will find the HMA gives them better performance and some will say they think it's the RDS". But not having flown an RDS system, I can't speak much about the pros and cons since ... I know Jack. I am still planning on calling Joe B soon about him making me one though. But I need to pay off my JVX first. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I agree with Mark here on the RDS system in reference to it only being used in competition and competition training. It makes no sense to have an RDS system on normal fun jumps. The last thing I'd want to do on a fun jump where you pulled lower than intended was having to deal with the RDS system. Shit I didn't like it a couple of weeks ago when the DZ would only give me 3k for a hop n' pop. There was hardly any time to stow everything (I wasn't even using an RDS system) and get to the setup. Now as far as knowing which is better HMA or RDS, I don't know? I know John Judy told me something slightly different last September than what Mark is saying. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well I certainly want you to get it (whether you earn it, or it's given to you). Mainly to get you out of the picture in August ... but also because you deserve it. You flew very well last September. I am hoping that the top 15 will apply to the Pro/Am events though. As long as I'm current and won't embarrass myself (and piss off my potential pro teammate), I'd love to do at least one if not more of those Pro/Am events. I'm keeping my eye on the mid July Pro/Am in CO despite my earlier rant about spending $$$ on traveling. The August event is too close to the CPC Championships to know if I could attend that one. But July would be the bomb. One thing to keep in mind for the organizers of these events. July and August is still thundershower season in Colorado where the daily forecast is ... clear in the morning with afternoon thundershowers. Then it all blows through and you usually get a spectacular sunset load. This pattern is repeated on almost a daily basis there that time of year (just like the ####### daily rain in the pacific northwest this time of year). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Actually I'm okay with the 5 footers (I think). The scenario Dave has spoken about in the past had to do with competing with a handicap against guys who have competed at a higher level than us in the past (guys like Justin T). But since I'm no longer a CO regular, I need not worry about Justin (at least not in normal regional CPC comps). If/when I do compete this season (likely in your region), I tell myself not to worry about the other pilots and only worry about myself. I know Tom and Bryan will be just as good if not better than myself and those are the guys from the NW that I met last season. I'm sure there are others who are just as good as those two. Actually I should let Dave explain his position on the issue. I do see his point since Dave, Grant and Jason R will all be handicapped against guys like Justin if the current top 15 rules apply to this season. I'm up for the challenge during the regular CPC regional meets. But I'm not so sure it would be fair to be handicapped during the CPC Championships. But that is a long way off from now. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

But will you need to beat guys like Justin on 5 footers while he's on 10 footers (plus having your score handicapped?) Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

It's in the credits of the movie. Also contact Mr P Konrad as he's burned a CD of all the music in these sorts of popular movies. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Hey I'm just wallowing (is that even a word?) in my own self pitty as I realize life isn't as easy as it used to be. But I would like to know about the NWCPC's schedule once it's ready and I need to get in touch with the new Alberta CPC co-ordinator in case I'm up for travelling through the Rockies later this summer. I'm sure the NW is closer than Alberta, it's just that I have some ties to that province what with the fact that still owning a home there and have friends and family there. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Ha ... plus he doesn't have to run 5 footers and have his score handicapped against certain people running 10s who have competed at a higher level than you in the past. I'm sure you'd say the same thing applies to me, except that it's not looking all that good that I will be able to compete in very many CPC swoop competitions this season if I compete in any at all. I don't blame anyone but myself, but it looks like I choose the wrong ####### place to live after having to leave CO and I really don't know if it's very smart financially for myself to be forking out $1000-$1500 for each weekend of swoop comps for airfare, car rentals, accommodations, competition entry fees, jumps and food (not to mention lost wages for time missed at work during those inevitable travel days). I don't make nearly as much $$$ as I did in the states and I pay about double for everything else. Whoever said this new region I now live in is the best place in the world obviously hasn't done very much living elsewhere. Sure the scenery is nice (when it's not ####### raining which is virtually every day for a good chunk of the year). But I can only blame myself for thinking that BC would be better than AB. I'm seriously considering moving back home if my current renters don't renew this summer. That will cost me another $3000+ in moving expenses. But at least I'd be able to take up some cool and crazy sports such as ski jumping and skeleton. Well competitive swooping was fun while it lasted, but it sucks to be me. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I think I moved to the wrong province. I love the new canopy though. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well done Jaap (your writing). This is a MUST read for all current and future BASE jumpers and no it wasn't overly dramatic. One part that really struck close to home was your comments about the risks/rewards side of the sport. As someone who's ... knock on wood ... yet to really experience anything bad in this sport, I really don't know much about the risks. So far I've only experienced the rewards. I can only imagine how shitty it must have been to be stuck on a 2x2 foot shelf on a cliff several hundred feet up in frigid cold temperatures at night. Here's to the heroic SARs for bringing our friend Jaap back to us. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

There's been some fantastic progress in stem cell research lately where paralized rats are now walking again. It's a few years off from being tested on humans, but it looks very promising that the damaged spinal cord cells can be regenerated with the stem cells. The problem in the US though is that GWB passed some stupid laws where public money was not allowed to be used in this stem cell research (and this law includes everything from the actual research to the infrastructure setup to support the research). So private money is being raised and wasted because duplicate labratories are needed to be constructed. But fret not, a lot of the really good research is happening in countries with more open policies towards medical research. Plus listening to one of these scientists speak, they have good some arguments. They aren't destroying life. They are using a life which never would have been used anyway towards making the lives of those suffering better. Not 100% related to your points, but somewhat related nonetheless. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I've experienced two organizations which try to brainwash people. The first one was the army. They had me believing that I was this lean mean fighting machine and had there been a war for me to go fight in the early 80s, I would have gladly gone. And the second one was the church my parents forced me to attend as a child and teenager. I had no choice in the matter. I was forced to attend Church, to attend Sunday School and yes I was forced to go through that whole confirmation rig-a-ma-roll and publicly proclaim that Hey-Zus dude as my lord and savior (and at the time I believed in all of this even though I much would have rather spent my Saturdays and Sundays playing outside with friends). Why? Well I guess my mother and step-father felt that it was in my best interests that I be saved as all good christians are in their morals and the good book "The Burble". But as an adult I've choose to believe in science over some fictional book which was written by humans many many moons ago. The Burble tells us that the world was created in 7 days ... bla bla bla and christians claim that everything written in the Burble is the truth. But thanks to science we know that the world is billions of years old and that our planet is only a tiny speck in the universe (while the Burble tells people that we are the focal point of the universe). It was an easy decision to make as far as I'm concerned and I'm glad I no longer need to worry about listening to some preacher trying to brainwash me into believing something which goes against science. I can't remember who said it, but one of you christians said why do we non-christians worry about what you christians are doing and whoever it was, they were right. So for the most part, recently I decided to stay away from posting in these sorts of threads. But I felt compelled to stand up on the soap box when you claimed that the educational professionals of the world are trying to brainwash the children with their science instruction. I'm sorry but from our vantage point, we're not the ones who are brainwashing the young and impressionable. I hope you honor what you said about letting you children decide for themselves how to live their lives (and the sooner you let them choose for themselves, the sooner it will be their decision and not your form of brainwashing). I know my mother is likely not happy that I'm not on the same page as her when it comes to believing in the Burble (and she's not even remotely as passionate about that ficticious book as some of you are). But at least she's let me be who I am. Someone who would rather follow the physical evidence of science as opposed to believing in a book which was written many many moons ago by people who controlled others through scare tactics. One final question. You drive a car or at least you've been in a car right? The gasoline used to power these vehicles is refined from oil. Where do you think that oil came from? I'd be willing to bet that your answer is that God put it in the earth. But science has shown us that the oil came from the dinosaurs who roamed this planet millions and millions and millions of years ago (not the 6000 or so thousand years old the Burble claims the earth to be). If you don't believe me (which we know you don't), why don't you travel up to Drumheller Alberta. If you have the time on your summer vacation you too could be involved in an archeological dig where you discover real dinosaur fossils discovered in the rock. And with an open mind, a scientist who knows a thing or two about physics will be able to show you the different layers of rock and how carbon dating can be used to determine how old something is. But we know you'd rather spend your summer vacation in Burble Camp because you wouldn't want those evil scientists to brainwash you with their reasoning and logic behind physics. I'm done ... I promise to stay away from these christian threads (at least for the near term future). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I haven't weighed myself in a while, but I'm guessing that my 20 lb belt has now become obsolete. Supersize Me. Time to hit McDs before the swoop comps. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over