riddler

Just switched to cable modem via Comcast (formerly AT&T) and Vonage. $55/mo for cable modem (which is MUCH faster than the DSL I've had for the last four years), and $15 for the cheapest Vonage service, which is 500 minutes, including long distance, with voice mail and all the typical "extra" services (call waiting, forwarding, three-way, etc). $70/month for everything. By comparison, Qwest was charging me $110/month for the same services, with no long distance, slower internet, etc. You can request your local phone service to transfer your phone number to the new service. I think that was made a law a few years ago by some telecommunication act of congress. It takes a few weeks, but you get a temp phone number in the meantime. Seems that the Vonage line has a small amount of static on the line. They still have some issues to work out. Have to change all the local phone numbers in my telephone to start with a 1. Also, if you have a home network, with a DHCP server, be sure to disable the DHCP server on the Vonage device - struggle with the thing for almost an hour before I figured out what the problem was Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Drew, you are my hero. Edit: Yep. Only three years, but never more than about three weeks between skydives. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hmm - good point. I always took this as a rule for USPA dropzones. But now that you mention it, it's not actually in the BSRs. Maybe the point is that the S&TA at the DZ has the final say about currency? They can choose to follow the recommendations or not? This would make sense, in say, Alaska, where most jumpers probably go six months or more without a jump. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

OK, since you asked for it, here's another pic. Image quality on the large image is poor, only because I have to compress every image to under 60K for dz.com. The second image is a closeup of one small part, so you can see the image quality. Again, good definition. Good color in low light. My kitchen chandelier, taken inside with the standard built-in flash. Sorry about the "domestic" images - just want to give an idea of picture quality in case anyone's considering buying one. Someday, I'll be able to share real skydiving pics Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You've obviously never made the mistake of trying to put the slink bumpers on over 2 inch risers When I showed my work to hooknswoop, he just laughed at me Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

You are underestimating the value of good belly skills. I know damn good freeflyers that can't track for shit. Guess what? When we FF together and break off, I'm doing all the tracking away from them, and I've still had one or two close calls. These days, I don't FF with someone unless I know I can get away from them, and they away from me. Work on your tracking, and you won't have that problem when you start freeflying with other people. NoShitThereIWas! About the same number of jumps as you. Sitflying with rental gear. Two-way with a pretty good sit-flyer. 8,000 feet, I see his eyes get really big, and he moves away fast. Bam! I'm under canopy at 7,000. What happened?? Turns out the BOC spandex on the rental was loose and the PC came out while sit-flying. My partner saw it and wisely skedaddled. A lot of rental gear is old crap that is poorly maintained. You should get your own to save money and for your own safety! There's a reason people are telling you not to FF the rental gear. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Of course, the stats have all changed since then! Now, it's all the D-license skydivers that are getting themselves killed Best to say you're an A license jumper, I guess. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

No offense, Jen, but we get a lot of TROLLS on these forums, so we're picky about posters. You will get more credibility if you go to your profile and enter your name, where you jump, etc. Oh, and there's some debate among skydivers about whether someone that just has tandems is a skydiver. Personally, I think anyone that jumps out of airplane qualifies as a skydiver, but I don't want to start that whole debate again Edit - now that I know how to spell your name. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I ordered from Butterfly Camera, and they were OK. I've never owned a "real" (SLR) camera before, so I'm probably not the best critic. But I am amazed at how good picture quality is. This is a 6 megapixel camera, and I've been snapping photos periodically throughout the day. I can't see any evidence of aliasing, and the colors are amazing. I have a Canon i70 printer as well, and I can print out the photos on stock paper, and they look as good as standard 35 MM pics, if not better. I attached one pic that I took early this morning. The first image was cropped 50% from the original, just so I could get it smaller than 60K. The second is a closeup from the inside of that image, zoomed at 100%, and cropped again. I can't see any jaggies in the real pic. Colors are great. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Depends on if you want a nice funeral Even a small policy, if you can afford it, helps your family. Remember that they are going to have to take time out from their lives to settle your estate (even if your "estate" looks more like a patch of dirt ) It often takes 12 months to get all the paperwork settled from a death. Even well planned ones take 6 months or more. If you never get life insurance, the best thing you can do is have a will that spells out clearly who gets what and how you want to be disposed of - and no, flushing down the toilet is not legal in most first-world countries. Don't forget to include that Riddler gets all your skydiving gear. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Good point. No name, no jump numbers, no info. But for everyone ELSE on this thread, I have been self-employed for the last few years, so I had to get my own insurance. I called a few companies and found a good policy at a reasonable rate, and they didn't care if I skydive. I guess they felt that there aren't enough people that skydive in the statistical population for it to make much of an impact. If anyone wants to know who my carrier is and what my rates are, feel free to PM. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I saw one that looked like a mini-three-ring system on someone's chincup. I didn't know if that was factory, or home-built, but I think Bill Booth would have been amused Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Just want to bump this up, because I just purchased one of these. Hopefully, it will be a good entry-level digital still for camera work, but I'm still debating whether I want that much weight on my head If you go here, you will see a lot of variation in price. Don't be fooled - just about all of the ones under $800 are scams. Many of them are reportedly the same company with different web sites. The standard bait&switch, hard upsell, overpriced extras, etc. You can read about them here and here and here. Do a Google search on a company before you buy from them. Some places like BizRate have store ratings built in to the price shopping. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Update: OK, so before I started this thread, I sent an email to hooknswoop. He advised that the pin needs to be replaced, and I agree. It was interesting to hear some riggers suggest straighten it or leave it alone - I disagree with that, but I'm not judging anyone's choices. I feel that the amount of bend would compromise pull forces, and I'm not willing to do that, even if may only be a small amount. I also feel that even small bending and rebending in a stainless pin of this diameter will reduce the overall shear strength of the pin, although I have no test results to back that statement up. I called Mirage Systems, and we determined that for unusual reasons, this was a pin that was part of last year's recall, but never tested or replaced. Long story there. The previous rigger, IMO, should have tested it, but did not. Thanks to Justin at Mirage - he gave great service and as soon as it was deemed affected by the service bulletin, he immediately shipped a new reserve ripcord out to me, in exchange for this one. That kind of customer service is remembered next time I buy a container Thanks everyone for your opinions. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I wouldn't agree with this. We teach FJC and make a point to tell students that they can ignore the radio instructions if they don't feel comfortable with them - every canopy pilot is in control of their own canopy and has to make their own choices. We suggest that if the student doesn't see the harm of following the instructions, then they might do well to follow them, and most of them do. We allow the student to choose because of the problem you mentioned. Instructors can't always see that ditch or fence that the student is about to land on. I've even seen one instructor try to signal students to land downwind (fortunately, the student ignored the instructor). Instructors can sometimes make mistakes and they don't have the same information as the student. We also have the instructors precede radio command with the name of the student because one instructor advised a student with a bad canopy to cut away, and all three students in the air then cutaway. Even that doesn't always work - instructors often call the wrong name of the student. The point is that you are the one that will have to live with a broken leg, so you are the one that should be making the decision. All that being said, I remember one time teaching FJC. We have a separate landing area for swoopers. I had already spent four hours with the students telling them about how dangerous it is to land fast, and how they should avoid the high-performance landing area below 1,000 feet. I had them outside to show them the landing area, when all of a sudden, the S&TA comes swooping the peas, 20 feet away from the students. This was the same S&TA that made it a rule that swoopers have to land in the alternate area. The students' reaction? "That was neat!" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't watch television at all! Haven't watched in four years. Who has time, when there's so much post-whoring to do on dz.com? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I didn't even know you could get custom colors on a PD reserve. I thought they only came in white-blue-yellow. Good information, thanks! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't think anyone would scrutinize one or two degrees. You couldn't see it or feel it, so it wouldn't be suspect. The pics of the bend I showed in the original post is closer to 10 degrees. Would that compromise pull forces? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Hey, flyangel2's in Pink! I know this is why I'm keeping my old jumpsuits that I can't stand - they get pretty beat up in the tunnel. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Out of curiosity, what kind of wait time is there for PD reserves if you can't find the size and color you want on-the-shelf? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Is it possible that the pins are bending during the repack upon releasing the tension of the reserve closing loop too quickly after the pin is inserted? I know that impulse force (the force of a shock or impact) can easily be several times a static force. It seems like quickly letting off tension on the closing loop may increase the force on the pin for a split-second. Or do you suspect that they are more often getting bent in the field? I've also heard riggers say that some container brands are more prone to bend the pin because spring force is high. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

For riggers. You are doing a rig inspection before you repack the reserve. You notice that the reserve pin is slightly bent (see pics). What would you do? Remember that the poll option is anonymous, so be honest , but comments are also appreciated. Assume that you don't have a spare reserve ripcord lying around - you have to send away for one if you want to replace it. Also assume that the pin is a standard Capewell, but is POST recall - it was made recently. I've heard a few different opinions on this. One or two riggers gave me tips for the best way to straighten it out (apparently, a vice is the best tool to use). I'll give the full story in a few days and tell you what I did about it, but first I want to hear what others would do. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thanks for posting, Brett. Good information and I should have made an option for "I'll charge less" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'd like to get one now before they have the same commercials as AM/FM radio. When cable television first came out, there were no commercials, either. Didn't take very long before you had to pay for the service and listen to stupid commercials. Same thing will happen on XM, for sure Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In the event of a fire, both cutters will activate, correct? Is there any chance that the heat generated from the cutter firing would be bad for the reserve container or CYPRES unit? If it's stored away in the cable pouch, it wouldn't have the immediate exposure to air for cooling that the other cutter does. I'm just wondering - I have no idea how much heat they generate, but I know that it's a small (contained) explosive charge that does the firing. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD