3ringheathen

My .02: It's an added complication that, in my opinion, is not worth the trouble for sport gear. I'm not talking about tandems. I think you're better off sticking with a standard RSL and good gear maintenance. Inspect your gear regularly. Look for signs of wear and abrasion on the risers. Don't drag your rig accross the ground when packing. Use a packing mat or move your d-bag towards the rig as you stow your lines. Properly taken care of, there's no reason that your risers should ever fail. Having said that, now would be a good time to ask a rigger to review gear inspection with you. You're thinking about it, which is good, and you've got more experience than when you first got licensed. You'll probably absorb more knowledge this time around. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I had a rigger replace a worn tuck tab on my '95 Javelin. It wasn't too difficult. If you're not freeflying, investing in risers with secure toggle stows *might* be adequate, or at least a good stop gap measure. If you are freeflying, there are probably other concerns on a rig that old. Consult a local rigger, and start budgeting for newer gear. You should seek clarification: Is there something about the design of that rig they're concerned about or is it just that it's 13 years old? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Yeah. What he should have done is take an El Marko and draw a mustache and horns on the photo. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I don't have that much faith in my main. That's why I have a reserve. That, and the law requires it. Seriously: skydiving gear is really pretty straight forward stuff. It doesn't take much faith to trust it's reliability. At least, not if you take the trouble to understand and maintain your gear. There's lots of documented evidence showing that it works. You can even witness it first hand on any given sunny day. The same can not be said for your messenger and message. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I can't recomend a BASE specific canopy strongly enough. The Silhouette would be a very poor choice, though it *could* be done on some objects. Slow, off heading openings aren't fun in the BASE world. Theoretically, a 9 cell canopy could be designed and built with desirable traits for BASE jumping. In practice, the only non-base canopies that even come close to having appropriate traits are modified seven cell skydiving reserves. Even those aren't all that good. For BASE canopies you want: Rapid, consistent openings. Heavily reinforced/overbuilt stitching and seams. Very light wingloadings (around .7lbs/ft2) Stable flight in deep brakes. Tailpockets as opposed to d-bags. An assortment of different sized, usually BIG pilot chutes. A longer bridle. Sliders are either not used or usually made of mesh as opposed to solid fabric. This is a list off the top of my head. It' not complete. BASE specific gear and quality training are essential for minimizing the already high risk of injury or death. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

You wouldn't *have* a center cell anymore. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

If we're talking about replacing the lower brake line, ie: from the loop for the brake toggle down, it won't affect the trim. Unless, of course it's WAY too short to begin with. As long as the lower line is long enough to allow full flight, plus a few extra inches of slack it shouldn't matter. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

I've yet to read about anything that "botches the old earth support of evolution" as you put it, that wasn't written by pseudo scientists with mail order degrees and/or a willfull ignorance of the scientific method. You are onto something with this line of reasoning: A flat earth was suggested by the bible, not to mention the earth as the center of the universe, and other long since debunked ideas. The reality of a round earth that orbits the sun, which is in turn but one of oodles of stars in our galaxy, and so on, is due to increasing use of the scientific method to understand our world. So to answer your question: I've little doubt that future generations will look back and marvel at how stupid some of us were to doggedly hang on to the idea of creationism in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Once I made a jump with a friend, and she gently landed right next to me. Then she fell over and grabbed her ankle. I thought she was joking, but it turns out she broke it. It looked like a great landing. Go figure. Anyway, maybe he really did get hurt. If not, maybe the story was embellished by whomever sold it to RTV. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I think RTV is a particularly ethical show. Anyone know the real story? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Your take on this subject parallels mine fairly closely. All of the labels have very limited utility. It doesn't matter too much what label one chooses to describe their take on things, someone will misconstrue and/or misunderstand your position. If you parse the meaning of your descriptor of choice, i.e: "orthodox infidel", it's a bit more fun than saying atheist, but essentially means the same thing. At least to me. Ultimately, you end up being misunderstood or forced to elaborate. C'est la vie. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Skydiving's always been like that for me. Struggle, struggle, struggle...*bam* I get it. All of the sudden, I can basically do something that eluded me for a while. Those occasional plateaus are a big part of what keep me in the sport. *sigh* Haven't had that feeling in a bit, and the weather absolutely sucks up here. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

OK. You're right with respect to how an outside observer with knowledge of the concept would describe them. However, if you asked them about it, they'd say "Huh, what?" -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Third possibility: He's made a reasoning mistake. At 81, his mental abilities may be slipping. Until someone presents the evidence he's supposed to have followed, the safe bet is the logical fallacy that's already been discussed here. I'm fairly certain that's a spoof article from The Onion or a similar source. Oh come on. It's less fashionable than it used to be, but is still vastly more popular than not believing. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Fair enough. You call that agnosticism, and I call that atheism. We're essentially on the same page, you just have a misconception about what atheism means to me. I've never taken the position that I can prove that god doesn't exist. For all practical purposes, I don't believe. To me that's not agnosticism, it's atheism. You say potato, I say tuber. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

This is a common argument, but I've always found it to be rather odd. Are you agnostic about ghosts? How about Santa Claus? Car key gnomes? Unicorns? I don't know about you, but I can't disprove any of these examples, but never the less, I don't believe in any of them. It seems silly to say I'm agnostic with regard to Santa because I can't prove he doesn't really exist. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

1) Arguments from authority are really low on the usefullness scale. 2) I didn't dismiss his claim "off hand" as you say, but rather because so far it appears to be an empty claim with no evidence whatsoever submitted to back it up. Rather, it appears to be a tired old argument that has been destroyed based on the circular nature of the reasoning time and again. Nothing new here. 3) No one characterized him as ass backward or as a zeolot. We're just highly skeptical of the nature of his elusive evidence. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

He found evidence? I missed that part. Could you kindly point it out? Thanks in advance. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Hmm... I read the article and he claims he's followed the evidence, but there's absolutely no reference to any evidence in the article. It just states that he can't imagine any other explanation. Explaining the complexity of life by saying 'god did it' is no more valid than saying it just happened. The position he's taking is fundamentally flawed, for attributing to God what one can't explain begs the question: Where did this god come from? And you're back to square one. The cat chases its tail ad nauseum. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

You guys are getting WAY to worked up over this. I'm sure there was some sort of problem on his jump. I'm sure his level of awareness wasn't up to the task of fully understanding what happened. Was yours on your first jump? I'm also sure that the media compounded any innaccuracies he conveyed to them. I know first hand how badly they can screw up the story. I told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth and they still got my incident wrong. I'd love to know what really happened, but admit it. Most of you are just bent because he gets more tail than we do, and we're cool. We jump out of planes and handle our very own emergencies. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's not clear from your post, but it sounds like you are describing parallax. Let's say you are 2000' above and 2000' NW of another canopy. From your perspective, it looks like they are much further southeast than they actually are. It's an optical illusion. You want to develop your own site picture for setting up a landing pattern and not rely on what others appear to be doing. **** At this point it's best if you discuss it with instructors at your DZ, though. **** -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

We talked about this a little bit Friday. I've got a Six Six One top that looks similar to yours. The spine is a series of smaller plastic pieces. Probably more flexible, but not as strong. I'd like to compare them side by side some time. Mine was just over $100 new, but I don't know if others will be able to find it as cheap. One of my DZs TIs used to be sponsored by a bike shop. He's giving us a deal as a result. Oh, I'm probably going to remove or trim the shoulder pads, too. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

your a BASEjumper,your top of the food chain you shouldnt pay for sex One way or another, you always pay for it. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Are you out of rubber gloves? -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

Outstanding! Do you know how I get in touch with the Seattle chapter of the National Association of Discount Hookers? Thanks in advance, -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

It's always good to get the input of a Doc on stuff like this. Sports medicine specialist if possible. I used an Active Ankle brace for a while after my ankle surgery. It greatly restricts side to side ie rolling motion, but allows front to back motion for normal walking. I tried a few different braces/wraps, and that's the one that seemed most effective and versatile to me. -Josh If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me* *Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.