riddler

The right to privacy is only vaguely alluded to in the US constitution. I feel it should be a formal amendment, but that scares a lot of people/corporations/governments. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Depends on what you like to do. One of my most memorable was in New Zealand, taking the coastal track of Abel Tasman national park (north side of South Island). You can Sea Kayak along the coast, and camp on beaches or small islands offshore along the way. At one very secluded beach, my brother and I were swimming in a lagoon, and we realized that under our feet were thousands of live sand-dollars. Dolphins like to hang out around there too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

3:2:0 2 jumps Saturday morning. Then it got windy and turbulent. My airlocked canopy flies well in turbulence, but does not turn well in said turbulence. All I care about when it's choppy is landings anyway. I was surprised at the people that kept jumping in what I considered somewhat dangerous weather. I was surprised at the people that didn't. Sunday didn't look any better, so I stayed home and watched movies. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I do like your avatar Cora. Nice picture. Hey - are you backsliding?? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Keep in mind that there are plenty of riggers that don't jump and I've heard of one or two that have never made a skydive. If you like gear and tools, then I would say go for it now. I'm in the process now, and understanding the gear has already made me a more confident skydiver. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Funny thing about skydiving. It would never ask me to give up a relationship for it. So who loves me more? All you girls that say you don't date whuffos - could you do the guys a favor and get all your girlfriends in the sport? When we get to about 50/50, all the guys will finally have this option too. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

How much do you like your head? Seriously, take a close look at your friends' helmets. Most of those nicks and scuffs didn't come from sitting on the ground. Nor did the jumpers who owned them intend to hit their heads while jumping. I think of every scrape on my bonehead as that many fewer stitches in my scalp. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thus, the vegan diet, which proclaims to not use anything that comes from animals. No diary, honey, et al. My argument is that if cows ruled the world, they would definitely be exploiting humans in cruel and unusual ways. So I don't feel bad about it. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

From the SNOPES article that WFFC originally pointed out in the second post: Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Definitely Zeemax - that guy always makes me laugh If I was hanging around the bonfire drinking and and telling stories after jumping, then Airtwardo and/or Chuteless. Those two have some of the best stories. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I can pretty much say for certain that a horse head would not phase the SkyMonkey. He'd probably be pissed about having to clean up SkyMonkey One, but other than that, no big deal. Now a monkey-head, on the other hand ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Most widely spoke languages Considering Italian isn't in the top 10, there are probably better choices for a new language forum, if HH is even considering one. The question is how many people that speak these languages also skydive? China? Outside of the military, I don't know if a lot of Chinese people skydive. Hindus? India is a fairly poor country, but they might have a fair number of jumpers. Personally, I would vote for Russian, because it's very widely spoken, and the country has always been a big part of the sport. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

During one of my blue periods. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I have done it and I will do it again. But I feel comfortable landing off. This is something that should only be done by people that feel 100% comfortable with it. If something's not right about the landing area, or if you feel wind or other conditions aren't right, or if you have less than 50 jumps, I would say don't do it. Now, if you have TWO jump buddies, it works out great, because the first person can chase the jumper to make sure he/she is OK, and the second can chase the cutaway canopy. Bonus points if you get the freebag too Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Would this be the April issue of Maxim? Just an off-hand guess, but did you consider that this may be an April Fool's joke on the part of Maxim? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Summer, 2005. And now for a real spoiler. General Grevious Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

A pilot once told me that the only clothing that was required by the FAA for flying was closed-toe shoes, and that you can go completely naked except for shoes. True? I figure if the pilots are forced to wear them, then it's a good idea to wear them when jumping out of the plane. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Yep. I jumped my reserve as a main. PD has a great program that allows you to get your reserve canopy as a main. The canopy is the same, except it has "main colors" (i.e. not white or other typical reserve color) and it has a three-ring release that lets you hook up it up on your rig as a main. Mile-Hi Skydiving sponsored the program as part of Safety Day, and they just happened to get the same reserve I have (PD 143). I normally like my reserve to be a bit bigger than my main so I have a more docile reserve in an emergency. The downside of that philosophy is that you have two different sized canopies in a two-canopy-out situation. But in this case, my reserve is actually a bit smaller than my main, and it's always given me concern that I might have a challenge landing my reserve in an emergency. I had to take off my current main (Lotus 150), then put my own D-bag on it, and pay the PD packer $5 to pack it and hook it up to my container. After that, I signed up for a 4K hop-n-pop and jumped it. Since it has the reserve slider with a hole in it, it opens quite a bit faster than my main, so I didn't want to take it to terminal. Still, it opened pretty briskly at sub-terminal, considering I pulled as soon as I saw the tail of the plane. But it also opened on-heading, which I didn't expect, since the packer gave it a standard pro-pack. After I opened, it was play-time. The thing handles pretty darn good for a reserve. It would actually make a decent low-end main for someone that wants stable flight and fair handling. Turns were nice and didn't oversteer at all. The most important thing I learned is that the stall point is much higher than on my main, so I practice-flared several times up high. I could have easily stalled it on landing, so that's a good thing to know if/when I have a real reserve ride. I failed to take into account the steeper glide angle of the seven cell canopy, and landed well short of my target. I didn't stand up either, since I didn't get the normal "surf" that I get with my main. But it was still a reasonably soft landing, and it made me much more comfortable about using my reserve in an emergency. Thanks to PD for the demo program and thanks to Mile Hi Skydiving for sponsoring the program. A good experience I would recommend for every jumper. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I don't even want to think about opening a reserve at terminal with a large camera unit on my head. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Where's the option of finding another attractive naked jumper and wrapping the canopy around both of you? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Should add a NSFW to that, but thank you! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Right - the 18 year minimum is about minor law, not about FAA rules. I believe it's a federal law that says minors are not bound by legal waivers, so they can still successfully sue a DZ if they get hurt, even after signing the waiver. Also, parents cannot sign away their children's rights, so even if the parent/guardian signs the waiver, it will not hold up in court. Note that I'm not a lawyer, so the previous was just my unprofessional understanding of US law. Now Columbia is a different story, I'm sure. When I was diving in Belize a few years ago, the divemaster's "assistant" was an 8-year old boy, wearing adult gear that didn't fit him. Little guy was a better diver than most of us on the boat. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I live immediately next to three hospitals - literally a half-block away, and they always seem to have ambulances right there waiting to deploy. But it is in the middle of a fairly large city, so I could see how most ambulances don't come from hospitals in rural areas. Where do they stay when not driving? From what I've seen, they pretty much camp at the Einstein Bagels/Starbucks parking lot Is there like a building that houses them somewhere, similar to a firehouse for firetrucks? And wouldn't they put them close to hospitals? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Gotcha beat.

You guys have never seen "Terminal Angles" Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD