ZoneRat

I actually met the guy once about 20 years ago when I was taking a hot glass workshop at Penland. It was a field trip for the students. We watched him work a piece and he invited us to ask questions. Showed us around the workshop. We were in complete awe. Chihuly is to hot glass what Tolkien is to the Fantasy genre. Hot glass was practically a lost art in the 50's. It was through his work and the work of a few others that the art form got back on the radar as an art, rather than a craft. One of his bowls resides on the set of Frazier. He seemed a very kind man. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

In one dream, when I pulled just prior to hitting the earth, my jumpsuit inflated into a huge air bag. Poooooff.

'56 Studebaker Powerhawk. Had a hole in the passenger floorboard a tennisball could damn near fall through. You could see the street passin' by. To annoy my friends I would occasionally go out of my way to hit any puddles that might be in the street. If I hit it just right, the water'd come up through that hole right onto their lap. Steering wheel the size of a man-hole cover... with 4 inches of play. At Texas Tech, I'd park it on 19th street across from the university. More than once we had hard rains that would flood the streets. I remember the pedals (and my feet) being sumberged in cold-ass rainwater as I made my way home.... Lost control of it turning onto a dirt road a bit too fast. Hit a ditch then a telephone pole... and a barbed wire fence just the other side of it. That was the end of that. Loved that shitti-ass car... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

I dunno. The idea that you can download updates on an alt/ logbook just seems counter-intuitive to me. It's a finite thing. Jump out. Fall/ fly a while. Deploy. One would think they'd get things perfectly right before initial product launch. What is it? Windows based? When it comes to skydiving new things, I personally prefer to let others test stuff out for a year or two before I jump in. Then again... if I could play Tetris on it on way to altitude... I'd get one tomorrow! (and then jump it on my wrist with my protrack in my ear). “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

My RW team schedules training weekends where we focus on 4-way and only 4-way. Skydiving culture understands, supports, and expects this. Do you, as a swooper, ever schedule regular, training-specific weekends? I see regularly scheduled CReW camps, Big way camps, Scrambles, and FF camps. But I havent notice any swoop camps. Just the occasional canopy control class. Does swooping lend itself well to camps, or it it better taught one on one, mentor style? Thoughts? “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

That sounds about right. Not a swooper myself, so I don't really have a right to an opinion on it. More of an RW guy these days. As such, my team schedules training weekends with video and coaching. If I decided become a swooper, I'd do it the same way. Schedule a few weekends of hop n' pops with video and coaching. Really focus on it without the distractions of freefall. Just a thought. We have about the same number of jumps- and I'm no rigger... I'm probably out of line profering thoughts or advice... just don't want to see anyone get hurt. Swooping's serious stuff. Everyone agrees. But I sometimes wonder if the mass majority of those deciding to learn, act accordingly. For example, I plan on spending 300 jumps specifically targetted at learning 4-way this year. But if when I hose a 4-way, I don't increase the likelihood of bodily injury. I hope new swoopers extend the same type of focus learning their discipline. Hopefully more. They have more to lose. Just my thoughts. Forgive me if they seem simplistic. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

So. Sounds like you are going to stick with the Safire for a bit. What will be your next step towards learning to swoop? Just curious. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

body “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

8-10 seconds! YEah! I was in a 182 with this really heavy guy in back. He asked the pilot for a little help. The pilot initiated enough zero-g so that big guy could float from his ass to his knees! It was totally unexpected. My head hit the roof. I can only imagine the suprised look on my face! lol. What a fun little moment that was! “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

It's always been about money and power. Religion has always been the marketing tool to sell the war to the masses. Right? Hmm... I've never heard of anyone riding off to battle with the war-cry "For Atheism!". Whatever. Money and power. Power to control or not be controlled. Earlier, Skyrad, you mentioned increased moral decay. We've been hearing this phrase so long we tend to blindly accept it as true. But I'm not convinced. I think, generally speaking, morals have been improving for a while. Women's rights seem to continue to move forward. Gay tolerance seems to be increasing. Tolerance/ acceptance for other races and cultures seems to be increasing. The Enron thing seems to have raised awarenes that criminal accounting practices will not be tolerated. Patriotism has been at an all time high since 9-11. Our poor are the wealthiest poor (greatest societal benefits) that the earth has ever seen... Sure, individuals continue to do horribly evil things that shock and dismay us... but generally speaking... I think things have been looking up for a while... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Back in the day, when I was a broke art student, I was working at a 24 hour copy shop. I was working the all night shift and had an experimental sculpture final due the next morning and hadn't prepared a damn thing. The shop was dead, so I figured out a way I could use that time and resource to advantage. I took everything out of the trunk of my car. Xeroxed all the junk on each different side. Taped and stapled everything together making 3-d, xeroxed soft sculptures of all the items in my trunk. Jam box, baseball glove, books, donut spare tire, tire jack...whatever was in there. Looked pretty cool actually. The trunk junk of my car reproduced in 3-d black and white. The prof loved it. (huh... I haven't thought of that in years...)

20 minutes ago. Driving along on the highway. Look over to my left and saw this super cute lil' black baby girl, maybe 1.5-2 years old...in the back seat by her moma... just bouncin up and down like crazy.. laughing and smiling. She was really havin' a time of it! Pure happiness and joy.

You in college? Get a college grant. Then spend it on skydiving. Sew a college patch on your jumpsuit. Get a few friends to do the same. Then start a collegiate skydiving club. Should be a little cash floating around the university for that. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Haha... nicely stated. Thanks for the tips Zone! -syn Hey, no prob. The quote, btw isn't mine... it's one of those handy sayings that one picks up on dz.com from time to time. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Sigh... ok, then... well... here's a couple more snippets of info then... When you land and you find yourself sorta runnin after your canopy, step on your p/c bridal. Once ya got that underfoot that canopy aint draggin ya nowheres. Then sorta walk up the bridal as you gather your lines. It will help the canopy deflate. Also: Was talking to my instructor over a beer the other night. She mentioned something about the ever popular double front riser in high winds trick... If you're hangin' on your front risers close to the ground and catch a burble.. you can possibly roll your nose over.. closing your end cells and partially or fully collapsing your canopy. Here's a good one: Lets say you find yourself not clearing an obstacle you thought you'd clear... In high winds too low to turn. You can go into breaks increasing your backwards drift... essentially backing up from the obstacle rather than turning away from it. Once you backed into a clear place to land, resume full flight. Really though... as you rightly understand... It's much better to be down here wishin' you were up there than up there wishin' you were down here. Little fuck-ups become huge fuck-ups way fast in high winds. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Don't jump in high winds. clicky “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

You.. pricked.. your.. COOTER!? Oh, gawd. Oh, gawd NO!!!! Was it ok? Did you quickly put an earing through the hole? Is that how you got your piercing? I wanna hear THAT story! I got a sticker in my Yippy-Ki-Yay once... when I was about 12... (see?... maybe it's best not to tell skydivers afterall...) “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Wuffo's don't understand. They can't. Just like I couldn't really "get" an accountant's "No Shit Story". Although I can imagine one: "No shit, there I was, I thought I'd put the company in bankruptsy and myself in prison"... It'd be fun until the detail started, then my eyes would glaze right over... Skydiving friends not only get it, but can comiserate, chew ya out, teach ya stuff, etc. They can tell when you're blowing it out of proportion, and when you're not paying enough heed. Wuffo's just aren't equipped to do that. Naw, you'd be better off telling your cat. or your TV. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

I'd guess those things are the results of a deeper/ older misgiving. Mental/ emotional habits entrained years before the lung cancer. She sounds to me like she hates herself. Smokes with one lung. Eats when overweight. Risky/ degrading sexual behavior. She doesn't need flowers. She needed therapy 20 years ago. She may not have many ways to ascribe value to herself these days. Right now, as Skymama suggested, she may feel the race is run and she's not worth saving... except for her job. It's one thing she does well. Possibly why she steals other peoples accounts. If she can close them, she still has value in this world. An act of kindness will likely not result in real possitive effect, but it'd be good for your soul, and be an interesting experiment... definately a better way to go than doughnuts... kind of mean, that. I regret suggesting it. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

There is no need to piss in her chair, glue her drawers shut or perform any other similar actions. The 9k she snaked will not save her. She is still old, lonely and fat. She will die that way, long before you. So... You can take the high road, doing nothing, and still realize revenge. Revenge delivered by her own fat, toenail clipping, nose picking hand. Don't super glue the wheels of her chair, bring doughnuts to work 3 days a week. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

Interesting, what can we, as skydivers learn from this? Age: 37,39 Sex: Male, male Time in Sport: Infinate Cause of death: Starvation. (Never reached pull altitude). Description: Two experienced jumpers known by others as Achilles and Turtlespeed decide to perform a two-way. After an uneventful set up in the door, Turtlespeed gives a weak count, causing Achilles to leave late. This late count, combined with the jumpers nicknames, inadvertantly engaged xeno's paradox, causing both jumpers to fall only half the distance to pull alt at any given time. Therefore, neither jumper deployed and spent eternity in freefall. Conclusion: Jumpers should be careful not to trigger paradoxical mathmetics in freefall. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

I doubt I'll ever have kids, so you can have my list: Ian, Julian, Genevieve, Zoe. and of course.... Robin “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

That's when I wave my arms randomly in the air like windshield wipers and say "See? I could be an orchestra conductor!" Then I stop and give 'em the "you ignorant dumbass" look. And walk away. They hate that. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

1. Do you feel yourself accelerating as you are falling as compared to an airplane jump? yep. it gets faster and louder. 2. What is the feeling of acceleration like? Can you describe it a bit more please? Pleasantly exhilerating. 3. Is your body unstable or is it easy to maintain proper body position? unstable at first. as you go faster, stability resumes accordingly 4. More details please. Only done one. 5:30am at Skyfest in Dallas. $80.00. It was worth it. The ride to altitude was wonderful. Interesting that you spot from the ground. The trailers carrying the balloons drove around searching for a launch site that would put the balloon in a good spot at 4-5K alt. We ended up launching the balloon in an empty lot between some crappy houses. The owner of one house came out onto his porch wearing only some boxers to pick up his paper and there we were. The spot from the ground gave us a perfect spot above, I landed right in the peas. A very pleasurable jump and a great way to start a boogie. go do one. odds are you'll like it. never heard of anyone that didn't. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”

QuoteHere is a twist, what if the injuried party does not post to Dropzone.com? Is it still acceptible to not post the info if they don't want people to know about their injuries? To me? No. I personally wouldn't post. Others should do what they think is best, though. Basically what I'm wondering is if an S&TA has to fill out the paperwork for the injury and its going to be published in Parachutist already, should as many details as possible be posted if there is a lesson that can be learned or just leave it as a blurb in Parachutist? To me? Same thing. It's not my story to tell. Publishing in Parachutist is not the same thing as a high profile public forum. If they weren't a DZ.commer they soon would be... I just don't feel comfortable posting someone's incident story without their permission. Other's can do what they want, but to me, it just seems like bad form. I'd be curious to see what others thought about this... “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophies.”