murrays

Lori, I know that it is no problem for Mac users to use the protected (DRM) AAC files the iTunes store uses in iMovie but I don't think they would be able to import them into most Windows video editing software. They could burn the song to a cd in AIFF format and then rip it into mp3 but that's a bit of a hassle. I can't buy songs from the iTunes store yet (not available in Canada) but I sure like using it to browse and listen to the 30 second samples. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Hey Andyman, You just need a police scanner and you could be the next Weegee, prowling the Naked City in the middle of the night! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I looked up the Technical Bulletin issued by the Canadian Sport Parachuting Association regarding free stowing of suspension lines. The bulletin was issued in 1980 after 2 Canadian jumpers died 10 days apart where free stowing was a factor. "This practice is no longer considered to be advisable or recommended." The link leads you to a pdf file containing 49 bulletins. The free stowing one is Technical Bulletin #4 from 1980 on page 5 of the pdf file. They recommended having at least 50% of the lines stowed on a bag or diaper so that an entanglement with the main container would be far enough below the main canopy that it would likely open. You have to put that scenario into today's skydiving world...I don't want to be under a Stiletto tied to my main container!! When everybody jumped Clouds and Pegasus canopies, this scenario would likely be survivable if the canopy opened. Under today's small canopies I think it would most likely result in serious injury or death. Remember that we stand not only on the shoulders of those who came before us but also on many of their graves. And with that cheery thought I will leave you... -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Just wondering if people find that they get more chilled doing wingsuit jumps compared to a regular rw jump when jumping in the winter? It's winter up here but the occasional day that gets close to freezing is tempting. I have lots of non-wingsuit winter jumps but wonder if the longer freefall and higher opening altitudes and time under canopy make an appreciable difference. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I started at 28 and am now 51 and still loving the hell out of skydiving! Our little dz is pretty young with most people in their 20's and 30's but there are a few of us with 20+ years in the sport. I'd say that at our dz most people 40+ started when they were young and have never stopped. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Am I the only one out here who has a sense of deja vu when it comes to free stowing suspension lines? Around the time I started jumping (in 1980) this was a practice that was strongly discouraged because of at least one fatality (in Canada for sure) attributable to free stowed lines tying themselves around a main container flap and creating a horseshoe that couldn't be cut away. One of the contributing factors to the earlier fatality(ies) was the presence of plastic stiffener plates at the end of main container flaps. Containers were subsequently designed to help prevent this by tapering the flaps and making them so that lines couldn't tie themselves to the main container. My opinion is that it's a good idea to have your lines clear your main container with your deployment bag..whether the lines are stowed in a tail pocket, rubber bands or a pocket on the d-bag. Because most reserve free bags have the lines stuffed into a pocket I don't believe that the lines have to be stowed in rubber bands but I believe they should be lifted clear as early in the deployment sequence as possible. Last summer, at our dz, a new jumper with less than 100 jumps started talking about coiling his lines into his pack tray because he'd seen someone do it or heard about it. Gives me the heebie jeebies to see a potentially dangerous practice resurface. Eric points out that he does this in a particular way to avoid certain other problems. There may be a way to do this safely but I feel that the worst possible outcome of freestowing lines - a horseshoe - is worse than getting a bag lock from using rubber band stows. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Andy man is right! I spent a day driving around my little city and no photography or music shop had any. I finally found some in a theatrical lighting shop. Actually, not some...they had tons of the stuff in all sorts of colours and sizes. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Thanks for the model name, I was able to find some more information searching on the model number.. According to this Nikon Australia website, Nikon is releasing 3 digital lenses: 10.5, 12-24 and 17-55. It will be interesting to see the pricing and how the quality stacks up. I was thinking of selling off my Nikon film equipment but think I'll wait and see the pricing on this new body. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

In the introduction of the book "Photoshop Elements 2 Solutions" author Mikkel Aaland writes: "Ten years ago I wrote a book titled "Digital Photography". The book was dedicated in part to the great photographer, Ansel Adams, who introduced me to digital photography in 1980." That's all he says but it indicates that Adams obviously was contemplating the possibilities or even using early digital cameras years before digital photography and inexpensive computing power were widely available. He died in 1984, well before digital photography reached the masses. I did a few Google searches to see if I could find more about Adams and digital photography but didn't find anything worthwhile. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Here ya go....15" Flatpanel iMac, Sunset Port Alberni, BC after a fabulous sea kayaking trip in the Broken Islands off Vancouver Island. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I just got a Protrack after using an original Dytter for 21 years. L & B's service is probably the best of any company I've ever dealt with...in and out of skydiving. Whenever the original Dytter stopped working L&B replaced it.....free of charge! I went through 3 of them over the years. I just sold the last one for $50. I really like the Protrack. The data feature is great and the three tones is also a super feature. I have mine set for break-off, pull and pull reserve altitudes. If I am in freefall at 1200' and hear the flatline I am going to open my reserve and avoid any chance of a two-out/main-reserve entanglement situation. That is how I have modified my procedures to accommodate the presence of a Cypres in my rig. I think the Prodytter would be a good choice. Whatever you buy, if you buy from L&B, you've made a good choice. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I had about 2190 jumps, and about 40-50 in the previous 12 months, when I did my first WS jump. I read the manual several times and got LOTS of great advice from the people on this forum. One of my fellow jumpers who had 5 or 6 demo WS jumps briefed me and checked my rigging of the suit and rig before I jumped it. I was nervous on the way to the dz but very calm once we went over everything and got into the plane. No problem with any aspect of that jump or the few subsequent jumps. I think that more jumps and time in the sport makes it a lot easier. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

A month or so ago the local Nikon dealer told me rumours of a 12-24mm Nikon lens for digital use....with a 1.6 conversion factor, that's a 20 to 40mm lens equivalent. Very nice range for freefall photography! The following article about using digital cameras for a complete National Geographic article mentions that this lens was used by the photographer, Joe McNally. (Page 2) I think that Nikon will soon be answering the gauntlet thrown down by Canon's 10D and 300D. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Kaz, After smoking for 16 years I quit. May 3, 1983..over 20 years ago. The first days are horrible. After a couple of weeks have gone by it should be getting easier. Hang in there...I quit for ten seconds at a time...for 20 years. You won't regret it. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

I jumped barefoot for a season a while back (mid-80's) and loved it until I had to wade through some irrigation ditches after landing out in ZHills. I was shitting myself stepping into those ditches, wondering what the hell I might step on that might bite back! Anyways, I gave it up after that. I jump in Tevas unless it's too cold. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Bill, Great post. The only suggestion I have in the double front riser approach material is to emphasize that you ALWAYS keep your toggles in your hands. It seems self evident, but ...well, we know that if you don't say it, someone will let go of the toggles. You never drop toggles, grab front risers and then try to grab toggles again to land. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Yes. Here's #26 for you....one that any respectable skydiver should have included in the first place....TWIN OTTERS! -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Or, you could use a Belkin Media Reader attached to a third generation iPod to store many, many gb of photos. Quade, I know Lori has an iPod, do you? Have you looked into this as a way to offload photos? Looks like it should download them to the iPod fairly quickly as it uses the Firewire dock to connect. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Seeing as how you're planning on getting one of each (PC and Mac) and want an inexpensive Mac to play with .... as Quade has suggested, an eMac with a DVD burner comes with everything you need to edit video and produce DVDs...Firewire ports, software and a DVD Burner. Everything produced by the same company and designed to work together. Put as much Ram in it as possible Buy the biggest hard drive available.....I have gone from 13 to 60 to 120gb in my Macs over the last couple of years and they just fill up when you do video. 1 hour = 12-13gb. An eMac with DVD Burner, 1GB of ram, a copy of Final Cut Express and a 160 gb hard drive is $1598. I'd suggest getting FCE when you buy the machine as they have it available for $99 with a computer purchase. It's Apple's high end video editor pared back to work with DV material only. Panther is a great OS. The iLife applications: iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto and iTunes are great little applications and except for iTunes ...aren't available for Windows If you have a problem on a Mac...you call Apple for help. If it's a hardware, OS or Apple application problem you can't get the runaround of "call the other guy" like you do in the PC world. One call does it all. You won't have viruses. Thus far, there are none written for OS X. Panther should network easily with the PC machines on your home network as long as you are running newer versions of Windows. My prediction: You won't be sorry. I use both varieties of computer daily and far prefer the Mac world. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Last year, I was having the same sort of openings that you describe on a Stiletto 135 that I started jumping. Over the winter, I had it relined and this year...no problem. A few 90 degree turns but no spinning openings with the canopy fully open. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Thank-you very much for creating and nurturing dropzone.com and having it become _the_ skydiving web destination and community. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Rick, thanks for your reply. I'm glad to see that someone close to Jean (you) is into digitizing material to preserve it for the future. I hope that a person acceptable to Jean can be found to perform the digitization of Carl's work. Carl's photography and film(s) with interviews with the RW and BASE pioneers would make for some kind of a documentary!! There are many great stories that should be told with a camera running. Thanks again, -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Bookmarked! Great website. Thanks for the link...and thanks to Kevin for putting together the site. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

No it hasn't. One of the newer guys in our club called last week and bought one after I e-mailed everybody in our club they were still available.. Here's the e-mail reply I received from them three weeks ago. My original e-mail is quoted in the reply: ------->>>> Thanks for the kudos on the website! Yes, we are reinstating the bone bonds until March. So get your $ in soon. Thank you for contacting Bonehead. 144 Malbert Rd. #B Perris, Ca. 92570 909 943-1166 Please make sure to give us your phone number when ordering. fax 909 943-3316 9-5 M-Thur 9-4:30 Fri. Closed on the weekends ----- Original Message ----- From: "Murray Stevens" To: Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 10:18 PM Subject: New Website is very, very good! Hi, I have to let you know that your website redesign is very good. Much better organized and information is easier to find. Am wondering though, if you are still offering Bone Bonds? Murray -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey

Joy, I'm not a BASE jumper but I've been an admirer of Carl Boenish's work since I started jumping in 1980. I would love to see Carl's skydiving and Base films re-released on DVD. I feel it is a crime that they are no longer available in North America. I know there are an awful lot of other people that feel exactly as I do. Carl's work is too important to both sports to have it disappear. Is this something you ahve ever discussed with Jean? Is it something that you could discuss with her in the future? This is something we discussed in this thread a while back. I know that I am ready and willing to help bring his work back in whatever way that I can. -- Murray "No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets." - Edward Abbey