riddler

I love the stuff. I go to the store just about every day, and a few time a week, I'll buy a bag of oranges, so that every morning I can make my own orange juice after exercise. A good juicer runs about $30, and you make up the money quickly by squeezing your own, vs. buying juice at the store. I have a beef with restaurants - it's becoming darn near impossible to find any that squeeze their own OJ anymore! Everyone serves it out of a plastic jug. What's up with that? I can get that at Safeway. Next, they'll start serving microwave dinners for entrees. Sure, restaurant juicing machines are expensive, and they break frequently, but so are cappuccino machines, and just about every good restaurant has one of those. And it's not like I'm asking for a Coke or other name brand drink - if I'm paying $5 for a glass, I should get something that's not rancid after being pasteurized, filtered and sitting in a fridge for weeks. The American culture is all about low expectations, and Americans simply don't stand up for themselves. We settle for restaurant food that is terrible, we allow corporations to make laws in our name, such as "you can't bring your own wine in here - we want to charge you 4 times as much for the same wine". We always tip the waiter 15% or 20%, no matter how bad their service is. Why do we put up with this? Sure, I can talk to the manager and "make a scene" and they'll probably give me my money back - but it won't improve service or quality in the least, because just about everyone else doesn't complain. What do you think? Do you care if your OJ is fresh-squeezed? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yahoo And yes, snakes eat gators, and gators eat snakes. They're reptiles - anything goes. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

My next rig will likely be a Vector. Why? Skyhook. But good innovation and good technology doesn't absolve manufacturers from responsible advertising. I bet this is just a case of RWS not seeing this one issue of an otherwise good ad. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Random question for the day. Can someone who has taken a "vow of silence" use sign language? I know it's kinda like cheating, but heck, I'm all for cheating. Interesting trivia - sign language was created in 530 AD by Benedictine Monks who were trying to get around the whole "vow of silence" thing. It was later taught to deaf children as a way to communicate. Wondering if they are still allowed to cheat?

I think a lot of up-jumpers are looking at this ad, and thinking "same old gear, slight modification, no change to EPs". I am looking through the eyes of a student, a consumer that doesn't understand the gear, and thinking "complete redesign of the gear, reduces steps of EPs". In this case, I think there's cause to say that a student could easily buy this gear and assume they no longer have to follow the old EPs. Most are going to talk to instructors and learn different. A few may not. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Not really. To me, this ad implies that you no longer have to take a critical step that could save your life, within the scope of what it is designed to do. A better analogy might be an ad for a hair-dryer that claims that it doesn't kill you if you use it in the bathtub. You can bet they would asterisk that product with fine print that says "please don't use in the bathtub". Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

404? TIA! SLTU (Still Looking This Up ) edit - geez, can't even spell acronyms tonight Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't think it would be that hard to put an asterisk in the ad, with fine print that says "always follow appropriate emergency procedures, including pulling the reserve handle if appropriate". And it wouldn't hurt to add "always consult your instructors for advice". And I don't think it would make the ad boring. To me, that's the difference between responsible and irresponsible advertising. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Are you saying that a student with 10 jumps looking to buy a new rig would know better? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You're both right and wrong. The manual does state that: But the same manual, also states: Now to be fair to Airtec, they have released an update to the manual: However, Adrian did not have that information And BTW, I think we should probably get back to the original topic. Airtec has not made a statement that the investigation is concluded, AFAIK, so we shouldn't assume (edit for PC) that the CYPRES did anything out of accordance with the manual. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Man, I hope you never decide to teach with an attitude like that. There is nothing natural, instinctive or obvious about skydiving. Everything must be learned. Students have to take in multiple sources of information and they often get conflicting advice. Hopefully, we can teach them what are the reliable sources of information, and the unreliable ones. Instructors are reliable, manufacturers are reliable, so are official publications (USPA, et al). That guy sitting next to you on the plane with fewer jumps than you - unreliable. Point is, if an instructor says always pull silver, and a manufacturer says (maybe even implies) you don't have to pull silver anymore, who do you believe? I would hope that most or all students read the manufacturers instructions and advice, so I would expect a lot of students to believe the manufacturer. As a student myself, I *still* get conflicting information between very experienced jumpers and the manufacturer's instructions. I tend to believe the manufacturer. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

He's saying the same thing as you are. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yeah, edited at the same time you posted Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Kinda agree with Labrys here. We all know Booth's commitment to safety and innovation. We know he wouldn't advocate not pulling the (edit) reserve deployment. But ads like this are intended for people that are in the market for a new container. A large percentage of this market will be newer skydivers (pre-A license students). Those jumpers may think RWS is saying they no longer have to pull silver. That's not a good thing, IMO. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nice! tunnel roaches! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I like seeing my friends in it every month. But I hate the thinly-veiled self-promotion. Fer'instnce - this month's capital commentary isn't about skydiving or anything related to skydiving. It's just Needles whining about how to keep USPA members. He could just come out and say "USPA membership is hemmoraging with a substantial loss of membership every year for the past few years". USPA might do better to spend more time and money helping dropzones and members, instead of building skydiving museums. Instead, they use Parachutist to promote themselves, rather than focusing on skydiving. I'm starting to throw out the magazines after flipping through the pictures and checking for anybody I know. I plan to start subscribing to Skydiving. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

For clarification, that would be John Carmack, one of the original creators of the popular video game "Doom". Here's a nice video of the most recent rocket crashing spectacularly. Movies, rockets - I expect a line of fall-fashion accessories next. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Dr. Goodall has been featured in many National Geographic articles and a few PBS documentaries. For those of us with shorter attention spans, I suggest logging onto your Netflix account, and renting the following film: http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60023727&trkid=189533 Or if you're lucky, it may be playing at your local IMAX. Edit - I don't remember if I saw this in this movie, or another special, but I was fascinated with the Chimpanzees waging war. I guess the younger adult males of one group started roaming the borders in small packs, looking for isolated chimps from the neighboring tribe. If they found any alone, they would maul them to death. I thought it was a fascinating look at organized warfare in non-humans, and I would be tempted to ask about this if I ever met her. From http://www.lessonsforhope.org/abc/show_description.asp?abc_id=47 Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I bet a penny that at least $2,000 of that bill was just for Starbucks Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

What, Doom doesn't look bad enough for you? Guys, keep in mind that Jackson is known to have a twisted sense of humor, and likes to play large-scale practical jokes. This could be one of them. Or maybe not. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And if you have to screw a scorpion, lift up the tail and do it doggie-style Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You want a toe? I can get you a toe, believe me. There are ways, Dude. You don't wanna know about it, believe me. Hell, I can get you a toe by 3 o'clock this afternoon... with nail polish. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't exactly walk around in my underwear, but I'll take my pants off to change into my jumpsuit. No big deal. Seen both guys and dolls do the same thing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just picked up a Powerbook a few weeks ago. IMO, they are much nicer than the iBook - a much nicer user experience. The case is a solid aluminum, rather than cheap looking plastic. They have a bit more power, but not a lot. The real problem with Mac laptops is that they can't put a G5 in them - too much heat. That's why Apple is moving to Intel chips starting next summer. If you can wait until then, I would suggest it. The developers that have prototypes are saying they are MUCH faster than the PowerPC chips. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Allright, I'll give my opinion, but I've only lived here for 32 years, so what do I know? As with anywhere, the nicer and safer it is, the more expensive it is to live. I grew up in Thornton, north of Denver, in old Thornton, and it's not very nice at all. This would be around 90th ave - stay away from old Thornton - my mom still has the house there, and there are all sorts of problems with gangs, etc. Once every few years she has to get the siding redone to get the bullet holes out of her house. New Thornton is further north - all the way up to, I believe 140th now. If you can get north of 120th, then you're getting into nicer newer suburbia, and prices range from reasonable to pretty expensive. And it would be a good location for you, since it's much closer to Mile Hi. But if you have to work in Denver, there's going to be traffic during rush hour. Westminster is pretty good, northwest of Denver, and it puts you halfway between Denver and Boulder, which both have their own appeal, for different reasons. If you go a bit further west, you get into Golden, which is nice and smells like beer, but it is expensive. I have an affinity for Golden because I went to college there. On the southwest side, you get into Highland's Ranch, which is nice, but also expensive. South of Denver is Littleton, which is nice and not too bad. Probably the cheapest area to live that's a good neighborhood is Castle Rock - about 30 minutes south of Denver - I had a house there for a few years, and you get a bit of everything - mountains, community, etc, but it's a bit of a commute to downtown. East of Denver is Aurora - stay away from old Aurora - I lived near Colfax and Chambers for a few years, and that place is just scary. South Aurora, getting into Parker is nice and pretty reasonable. Northeast of Denver, there isn't much, except factories. Downtown Denver is good to bad on a block-to-block basis, and everywhere is expensive. North-central Denver, near five points is bad. South-Central, near D.U. is good. East-side is good, but expensive. West-side is kinda shabby. I live in the heart of the city now, and that all depends on which block you live on. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD