riddler

You rock Michele! I love when people talk expertly about things that they've never experienced. Whenever I hear people like this, I can't help but think of Chris Farley's motivational speaker bit on SNL: "My name is Matt Foley, and I live in a VAN down by the RIVER". "Well la de frigin dah!" "I have what doctors call a little bit of a weight problem... " "You're not going to amount to jack squat!" "You can take a good look at a butcher's ass by sticking your head up there but wouldn't you rather take his word for it? " "If you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed I will. I got spare time." "Whoop Well Whoop de frigin do!" I put money on him NOT showing. These people make a living by talking convincingly. People that actually DO things, don't waste time trying to convince others that they are great. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

But back on topic ... There are many good reasons to train AFF students with a vertical harness (the ones that you can hang from and cut-away your three-ring system). This is one of them. Better to happen in the trainer than in the air. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Nice job Eric - I've started a plan for this and I'm taking the course myself in March. Good work. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was envisioning more of a cube-type shape - I guess from the word "block". I guess that would be kinda hard to pack. It looks like there's only a small lump that sticks out, and you have to use thumb-pressure to keep your grip on it? How hard is this, relative to using a loop? Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I might have been tempted to read the cartoon plane instructions that show how to open the door, and ask questions from him "Do you think this means to pull the handle up, or down?" "I think it's probably harder to pull than it looks", etc ... Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

So amongst my other jobs, I manage some IT projects for companies around the globe. For one project, I manage a group of developers in Armenia. I just got this email: ---------------- Dear Colleagues, This is to let you know that a new legal holiday has been registered in Armenia two days ago. Now January 28 (tomorrow) is a legal holiday consecrated to the Creation of Armenian Army. ---------------- Now I'm not here to make fun of anyone else's holidays, considering how ridiculous some of ours are, but it's interesting when working on international projects how many holidays there are between the various countries, and how that has to factor into timelines, etc. I will say these guys (and I mean that - there are no women in this group) are hard workers and often work weekends (like myself) to get the job done, so I hold no beef. Personally, I wouldn't mind if uncle sam declared two days ago that tomorrow is national skydiving day, so we could all go jump. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

1:5:0 5 jumps, despite the cold weather and lack of jumpers. I dunno why some types of gambling are legal and other ain't. I think there's a stigma about some types being "dirty". Last time I checked, roulette was not legal in Colorado, although blackjack and slot machines are. They say it's to keep the stakes low, but that's BS. You can keep stakes low in roulette, and they have slot machines that you can win a million dollars at. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I was told that his rigger made the mods - from full loops to "finger-loops". Thanks for the better information. This is the problem with the "buddy-of-mine" stories - the second-hand or third-hand info is sketchy at best. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Here's what you do: Keep them in a small leather bag - a european carry-all, if you will. Women can keep them in their purse. Fill the bottom 1/4 of all bottles with tic-tacs, so they sound like they have prescription meds in them. Every time you are in a public place and the subject of paying some bill (restaurant, hotel, etc), get really aggravated and fuss around, trying to find your wallet in the bag. Start pulling/spilling the bottles out and mention how your psychotherapist keeps giving you tips on how to avoid stress. The longer it goes, on, keep pulling out bottles and sounding more desperate. Ask if you can use their phone to call your psychotherapist, since you can't seem to find you cell phone either. Tell them it's an emergency. See if you get any freebies out of it Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

OK, so we've all heard the bad/evil DZO stories, but we also know from experience that there are lots of cool DZOs out there. So let's hear the good stories! I'll kick it off with my experience this weekend. I get there early Saturday morning with the intention of getting 10 jumps in over the weekend, but I thought the weather might interfere, and it did. Since it was cold and windy that morning, and we only had a few jumpers, we didn't get the first load up until after noon. But the DZO's invite me over to their trailer and cook breakfast for me and a few other skydivers - eggs, bacon and pancakes. Then, all weekend there was almost no one there and they didn't have the Cessna, only the King Air. But instead of shutting down, they flew the King Air with, on average, 6 fun jumpers. 3 loads Saturday and 2 loads Sunday - max was maybe 8 fun jumpers, and one load had only 5. Altitude in 7-8 minutes, no tandems, no AFF students. It was a little chilly, but it wasn't too bad in the later afternoon. I know they lost money on every load, but they still flew because the fun jumpers wanted to. One load had high uppers, which only dropped us maybe a quarter of a mile from the peas, but one of the DZOs came out and picked us up in his truck. Good service. My DZ really has the feeling of home, and it starts with the very cool owners. I hope/know the rest of you also have some stories to share, so let's hear 'em

Pardon the "buddy-of-mine" story, but a guy I know broke his hip in five places after getting fingers caught in a dive loop on final. I've never used blocks, but they "sound" safer. For me, right now, the safest thing is to simply not use my dive loops below 1000 feet. I will say this - I have a little trouble yanking the loops on my 190 to make them work (wingload 1:1). I imagine if I had blocks, they wouldn't work given my canopy size/lack of strength/whatever. I will also say that I wish I had loops on my rear risers so that I could flare better under rear riser. This might have saved me one cutaway. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Despite the cold weather and lack of jumpers, I still got in two jumps today. Football? I think that's something they show on television. Years ago, I used to watch television. Now, I just postwhore on DZ.com. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I'm with you, Young Gun. The only information about the source of this article is as follows: January 26, 2003 Agence France-Presse This could be anyone with any motivation, or just someone with a lot of time on their hands wanting to stir the pot. Articles with this much gravity should be posted with more sources of information, please. Although the AFP is pretty respected (they claim to be the oldest existing news service), they have occaisionally posted stories that would make the Weekly World News folks balk. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Thanks for the firsthand report Hook. Just want to point out that this is definitely not skydiving related, since neither of those airports support skydiving operations, and all Cessnas in CO are (I think) 206s. I do have several friends that fly at both airports, however Some are students and instructors and fly a few different plane types, so I'll have to wait for more. In the meantime, I'm off to Brush for the weekend. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Only slightly more info: http://www.9news.com/storyfull.asp?id=10571 And some more unsubstantiated "[B]!eyewitness news![/B]" http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_1697241,00.html Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Mom just called and gave me the news since I don't have a television, but there was apparantly a king air and cessna crash today in north Denver. That's all the information I have. No web sites have been updated as of yet. There are two DZs in Colorado that have King Airs, but they don't normally fly that close to Denver. Nonetheless, I would like to hear anything else if anyone gets any more information. Correction - initial reports said a king air, but they have changed that. They now say a cessna and a twin-engine piper cheyenne. All CO DZs have cessna's, but again, they don't normally fly that close to Denver. The impact site is a little under 3 miles away from my house. I was in quiet meditation at the time, but I didn't hear anything. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've had some surprisingly good lunches at strip joints. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

sorry Bytch - this was a joke - I should have made that more clear. The part about the junior high kids - Bin Jovi - hahaha. sorry. also, the courts ruled that it's OK to make a tape of a song for a friend, but not copy multiple tapes for people you don't know. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

In a related story, a federal judge announced today that at the request of recording industry lobbyists, indictments were being prepared against several individuals who may have allegedly dubbed their cassette tapes into a "compilation" and distributed it illegally to friends and family members during the period of 1980-1985. Specifically targeted were those individuals possessing copies of Van Halen's "1984", and so-called "love tapes", containing mostly ballads recorded directly from radio broadcasts and commonly traded among junior-high couples. An RIAA spokesman commented on the charges earlier today, saying only that "....the road to hell is paved with 90-minute comp tapes....", and "....that money belongs rightfully to Bon Jovi." Federal prosecutors connected to the case had no comment. *Note that the above was made in jest* It is not real. No need to go home and throw out all those old tapes of Prince that your junior high sweetheart made for you Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

And the folks at the DZ laugh at me when I say that I can slow down my descent by flapping my arms. They laugh! Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

One alternative to everything I've heard mentioned is what I've been doing for the last few years. I refuse to purchase new music - I am boycotting the RIAA. Not because I disagree with their stance on stopping music thieves. I just feel they go WAY too far - like trying to end Internet Radio - there's no reason for that. Normal radio stations don't pay the duties that they are ordering IR to pay. The RIAA just sees it as a new technology and think they can capitalize on something they missed out on with normal radio. Read all the reports on RIAA and how they threaten and intimidate organizations into giving them money, and you might agree with me. What I do is this: I download the music in MP3 format, and if I like the music, I want the CD, which has a much better sound quality. Then I find the CD *used* on eBay - normally for about $5-10 US - quarter to half the cost of a new one. Shipping is typically $1.50 - the same as tax on a new $16 CD. CDs have a shelf life of over 100 years and as long as they're not scratched, they always sound as good as new. In this way, you give no money to the RIAA, you recycle music that someone no longer wants and you pay a reasonable price without sacrificing quality. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Brian - just to speak for my good friend Beeron - he does have a g/f and he's very committed to her She's pretty cute, too Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

This is a bit off-topic for this thread, but just want to chime in that I've never jumped w/o an AAD and I don't know how comfortable I would be without one. I do feel good about my ability to handle emergency procedures, but I also like to have multiple backup plans. I think it's like wearing a seatbelt. If you've always done it and you've never experienced anything else, then doing without can be daunting. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

I've had a few friends that have claimed their batteries expired like James Dean - before their time - but I never witnessed it, so it's not first-hand experience. There is also some question about what caused it to happen - letting rigs set in sunlight, heated trunks, lots of jumping. But you're right, I don't think it happens often. I'm just one of those people that always worries about batteries Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

Steve, I took a 6'5" buddy to Longmont for a tandem and Pintamo said it was no problem. Jeremy ended up doing the tandem with him, but Pintamo will as well. They are more concerned about the weight limit - they will just need to pair him with someone taller. PM me if you want Pintamo's email address. Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD