FliegendeWolf

That wasn't nearly as bad as how he kept jumping his motorbikes fifty feet into the air without any sort of ramp in the Colombia sequence! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

You know, it's been my experience that LOL does not usually mean somebody actually laughed out loud, but was just very amused by the post. I literally LOLed, Justin! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

I have this picture in my head of half-a-tongue slowly descending under its own tiny parachute A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Can't you use the larger offer from the second company as leverage to get more from the first? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Thank you, sir!

Chris, Is this the chart printed in that issue of Parachutist? Not yet a USPA member, so I don't have a subscription to recent ones, let alone older ones. By the way, what are the other figures here? The 110,000 and the 28 under skydiving, for example. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

I think this makes an interesting point about about tolerance (or acceptance, if you prefer). In life, there's just not enough time to do everything, so we prioritize, and get really good at a few things. Naturally, since we build our identity around these things, we have a lot of pride and affinity for them. The thing is, other people have prioritized other things, and have an affinity for those things which we do not understand. This isn't just skydiving, either. This is anything in life. Some people go to graduate school and get a PhD, some people become mechanics. Some people like to go out until 4:00 AM, others would rather stay in. Some people skydive, others hang glide. Ultimately, we are all Whuffos in many many different areas, and knowledgable in only a few. I am a Whuffo when it comes to going to business school, gardening, baseball, eating tripe, working a graveyard shift, the list goes on and on. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Well, it could be done if you took a per capita index of deaths per year between the sports, injuries per year between the sports, and perhaps broke down the data very loosely for novice, intermediate, and expert participants in each. Perhaps you could do a comparison between the different license ratings for each. I agree that there are a lot of variables, but statistics can be constructed. Do we right now have solid data for the number of deaths and injuries in either sport? Probably not, but a determined statistician could probably research this. As to how to break down the experience levels, I am completely ignorant about hang gliding, and am still a student in skydiving, so even if I am unqualified to determine these, there are doubtless people who are. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Well slow down, then, Steve!! And use your turn signal!! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Good point, Deuce. I packed my first rig last weekend, and then deployed it on the ground. Knowing how the canopy actually deploys makes it all less mysterious to me, and therefore reduces the anxiety a bit. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Thanks, quim, for providing Goose with an example of a troll post! (I caught your sarcasm, btw)

Yeah, I noticed this when Subway started running their ads. Remember? They were black with white text talking about the bravery of Americans and their remorse about the loss of innocent lives. However, they just couldn't resist sticking their logo in at the end, could they? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

The ones that I love are the ones that are designed to look "official." I got one the other day that had a big sticker that looked like a UPS label on it with all sorts of random coding. I've gotten ones that are designed to look like utility bills. I've gotten ones with "Confidential - Only to be opened by addressee" written on them. Thing is, if they really want to fool me, they have to figure a way not to have the "Postage Prepaid - Capital One Corp" over where the stamp would be. That's the first thing I look for when deciding whether to open a letter. (Oh shit, you don't think I just gave them an idea, do you?) A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Good call. Reale isn't the most obvious word to pronounce. Any time somebody asks for Mr. (Reel), (Reelee), or (REE-al), I can rest assure it's a telemarketer. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

That's a bummer that you didn't get to jump. Do you know whether any footage of you jumping will make it on TV? Or just the interview and training footage? Again, we're all looking forward to the airing. I think it'll be neat to watch TV and see somebody that I've been chatting with online! Congrats again! Steve A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

I actually went to a lawyer about this. As it turns out, the telemarketer has to call back twice within one year of your asking to be put on the do not call list before you can sue. The one call that blew me away was from someone pitching a Discover card. I was in a sardonic mood that day, so I played along as though I were interested, asking all sorts of questions about it. The marketer talked about the 1% cashback award on qualified purchases, so I asked her what constituted a qualified purchase. She didn't understand the question, and just repeated that you get a 1% cashback award on qualified purchases. I told her that I needed to know what purchases would be considered qualified. She said that she didn't know, but that I could call customer service once the card came and ask them. Then, I asked her whether the cardmember agreement includes a binding arbitration clause (check your agreements, folks. This clause waives your right to sue the company over a dispute in favor of taking the dispute to a private arbitrator, whose fees begin in the thousands ... are you going to recoup those fees with whatever dispute you take to the arbitrator?) Anyway, I asked her this question, and she didn't have a clue. She said she'd never heard of this before, and she can personally assure me that there is no such clause. Well, I know for a fact that there is, because this is why I never signed up for a Discover Card when I wanted to cancel my Citibank card for including the same agreement. So, she is selling a product of which she is completely ignorant! And when she couldn't answer my questions, her suggestion was for me to sign up for the card, and just ask somebody later about it. I couldn't believe it! How on earth can you sell something without knowing what it is?!? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Viking, you officially made my friday! A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Well, may I suggest drawing a parallel to something a bit closer to home? I read all the time in these forums that people should not succumb to peer pressure, foresaking safety for looking cool, whether this is in wingloading, pond swooping, or jumping out of the plane in bad conditions rather than riding down. I think the same judgments should be made here: do you have the safety of your friend and others in mind when you bail him out? Or are you succumbing to peer pressure? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Quade, Would you consider the manufacturer recommended wingloadings to be conservative estimates? Obviously, not all 135 pound novices will be equal, but will their recommended 150 sq. ft. Spectre suit most of these divers on the safe side? Steve A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

No gas. The anesthetic was intravenous. I wasn't charged extra, though, if that's what you mean. I paid before the procedure, and they never asked for any more (though maybe they dug through my wallet why I was under) A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

This reminds me of when I got my wisdom teeth removed. The dentist came into the room and knocked me out with a general. I remember waking up pretty woozy, and asking the nurse who was there how long I had been out for. She said about 45 minutes. I said, "Oh, so he's all finished?" She said he hadn't even started yet. Shortly after, the dentist came back in, put me out again, and extracted the teeth. I want to know why I was put on general anesthetic if the dentist wasn't go to operate right away. Why not wait until the forty five minutes later and put me out once. I think it's pretty negligent to anesthetize somebody for no good reason. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Something occurred to me recently, and it might be useful for any instructors out there to know. I realized that on my last few jumps I was NOT altitude aware and I did NOT have a good heading, yet I passed my levels without a hint of reservation on the parts of the jumpmasters. Why? Because they never knew I made a mistake. On the ground, when I rehearsed the flow of the dive, I'd practice my COAs, but I wouldn't actually be looking for a heading, and I wouldn't actually be reading an altitude. I simply moved my head in the necessary directions. In freefall, I did my COAs exactly like I did them on the ground! I would move my head up for a heading without actually getting one, and I'd look over at my altimeter without actually reading it! I realized this on the ground when my jumpmaster asked me what I used for a heading. In the future, when I rehearse the dive on the ground, I'm going to pick something as a heading and announce what it is. I don't know what to do about the altimeter, though. I know some places have those training altimeters, but I don't know if my dz does. I'll ask them, so that I can read and announce my altitude during the practice run. It will be useful to me to be actually practicing getting a heading and altitude reading on the ground so that once I'm in the air, I won't just be going through the motions. [size 2][/size] A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

Here's a discussion question for everyone. There has been some talk here lately about how it is typical for skydivers to not fear their first jump, but a later one, and it is this later jump that they fear that becomes a decision point: does this person, now knowing what they are involved in, want to continue in the sport? I'm interested in when this point occurred for people, and the circumstances surrounding it. In short, when did you first feel fear strong enough to make you question your future in skydiving, and was there anything in particular that caused this fear? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

If only men would listen, then what? A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All

There's also a utility floating around called Startup Manager you can do a search for. It allows you to enable and disable all of the programs that automatically run when you boot up. A One that Isn't Cold is Scarcely a One at All