CrazyThomas

Never been busted during a jump (yet), but I "FEAR" getting busted. oops, I thought I wasn't afraid of anything. i guess I was wrong. I admit that freely, and openly. I was wrong. So, I "FEAR" getting busted on a jump. If you want some more insight into fear, let me throw out an idea, of course, "Not to be tried by anyone" Try SOLO jumping. True SOLO jumping. Tell noone where you are going, or what you are doing. Tell noone what you did. Just go do it. Real fear comes in last part, where you are all alone on the exit point contemplating life. Then, you will realize if you want to BASE jump or not. Or BASE jump with ground crew or not. Or BASE jump without other BASE'rs. Sure, jumping in groups can be fun, but can also lead to "Complacency" And I heard a rumor somewhere that: "Complacency Kills" Peace, Thomas

How old are you? Not meant meanly. I ask this: When did NUCLEAR testing on US soil stop? May have already had nukes going off in your life time. Really, ever see "Trinity and Beyond" ? We blew up the most nukes already. On our OWN SOIL! called the proving grounds or something? then there is BIKINI Island. wow, we torched that one too. I am glad OUR country is blowing up so many bombs. What for? Just to prove we can, I guess. Seriously, to test a theory? OK, theory works. NOW STOP. can't stop......need more than other guy...... Wow, remember the cold war? I don't. Luckily, I didn't have to be alive at that time. Peace, Thomas

A concept to discuss: Does a rotational motion enhance stability, and/or on-heading opening performance? There are three axes of rotation to be considered. Front Flips we'll call (right hand rule) positive X rotational momentum. Back flips are negative X momentum. Barrel Rolls (lying on belly and spinning) to the right hand side we'll call positive Y. Rolls to the left are negative Y. Standing spins to the right called postive Z. To the left is negative Z. This coordinate system is based with the ground (or impact point) being 0, and everything else considered positive. Gravity acts towards the center of the earth. and can be assumed constant 9.81m/s. As in, is there safety in performing flips on exit as opposed to flat and stable eixts? Peace, Thomas

Where to start. And how to phrase it nicely...... Why don't you stop bragging about things that ARE NOT supposed to be shared in public? Do you think you are helping American's image in general with your ever so subtle "Tales of Triumph"? Peace, Thomas

I don't think even CrazyThomas would pay that cost. He might ask who's permission you have for the navajo bridge though. The NPS, or the NAVAJO? Because, if I recall my geography correctly, there is an issue of WHAT SIDE you walked out from. And where does that money go? Funding your trip. Hmmm...sounds like something else. Peace, Thomas

because less women overall........ Fewer women overall doesn't affect the injury rate. "Rate" takes into account the population differences. If 100 men result in 5 injuries and 20 women result in 1 injury, the rate is 5% for both. Rate versus ratio buddy. Rate is TIME related. Miles PER hour, meters PER second, and jumps PER injury. Ratio is number related. How about this? Number of jumps women make before object strike, versus the number of jumps men make before object strike. Then, we would have to factor in things like difficulty of objects, and then it sounds like ROCK CLIMBING, with rating scales. Of course, then it would only be an averaged approxiamation. Now, how about we look at: Number of women in the sport 10+ years Number of men in sport 10+ years And compare injury per gender on a 1,000 jump average. Then, you would have a decent looking rate. "Injuries PER Thousand Jumps", we could call it. What then? Would the rate tell you how many jumps a woman or man should make before stopping without injury? willing to give a guarantee on that number? This post is not above judging "fitness" for the sport, but to discuss "Boyfriends and BASE". As in, how they affect us. Not judging who can BASE, or even who can teach. But how it affects us. I have had problems with my Ex-girlfriend and BASE. That's all, Peace, Thomas

Comes from South Park, "Bigger, Longer, Uncut" it is something Cartman said: "Fuck fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. What's the big fucking deal bitch?" Peace, Thomas

Is there such a thing as "Justifiable Paranoia"? I mean, if I realize that every word I say is heard by someone, and gossip occurs, is that enough justification for me to think everyone is watching? And another point, why are we so chicken that we need aliases? My nickname CrazyThomas comes from my friends in another state. They know me, and they think what I do is crazy. An explanation in itself. Would it offend you if I called you gay? It wouldn't offend me if you called me bisexual. My best retort to all the judges, is: "It takes one to know one." So, call me what you want to admit yourself. Who said I was heterosexual? Who said I was homosexual? Who said I was bisexual. Wait, I did. I don't care. Sex is just a physical act. For me, life is more about who I care for, and who cares for me. I have many friends. Some black, some white, some gay, some heterosexual, some women, and some men. Did I miss any groups that feel underrepresented? The main thing I share in common with my friends is we are courageous enough to admit who we are. without all the bullshit of hiding. Why hide who you really are? Are you embarrased, or scared to admit who you are? Afraid to face judgement? Peace, Thomas

That statement was a good one Mick. I learn new things when I go to new sites also. Every jump is different, even if the same day, same object. Wind differs, openings differ, and landing spots differ. I got busted out of my DZ for flying my reserve intentionally. I thought it would be a good idea to try it in a no-stress sitaution to see how it flies. And if it opens like it is supposed to. See, if I ever had a mal skydiving, my guess is my reserve would be opening under 1000 feet. So, little time to try to find a clear landing zone, much less figure out how to fly my reserve. I guess my idea of a "smart plan" turned out to be wrong. I once heard the discussion about legalizing BASE. if that would increase the numbers of jumpers. I don't think so. Really, it is legal in UK, so let's ask if all the people over in UK are compelled to try it just because it is legal. Look at Twin Falls. Not every citizen BASE jumps there. It truly is not for everyone. So, a good question I ask myself before I jump is: Why am I doing this? Not about who I can impress, or what people will think of me, as I am sometimes alone. But why am I taking this risk with my life? It's easier to send troops to war, when your life isn't the one on the line. Just ask the US government. They had a draft dodging president (Slick Willy) with the power to send troops to war. Something he dodged himself. Ask the Aussies how to determine AM antenna radiation. They may be honest and tell you. It's easier to get a newbie to test out an idea, than to try it yourself. Because it will be the newbie that gets hurt, and not the person whose idea it was. Ouch, that hurts. Peace, Thomas

WOW! Source code is hard to uncrypt. Good thing I be gettin stoned! I'll say it out loud. I'm getting very, very baked. So, to the police: "Come find me." pukes.....I bet the trace on this has begun. Which IP? Where did it come from? What is the real meaning? Which user name? What tone of VOICE did he use? Which personality was he talking from? What are the related topics Michael Moore spoke about? Do we really care that much to discuss Michael Moore. There's a button that works great on my computer for censoring out offensive comments. When I get really offended, I just turn OFF the computer. It does not matter what people tell me, or think of me. My life is more than a personality on a computer. Peace, Thomas

on a scale of 1-10? I mean, how are we measuring chaotic? Is this a quantitative analysis, or qualitative? Measure with what tools? Money? Friends? hours slept every day? number of skydives? number of BASE jumps? Measure of spending time in freefall? Number of different ways a person knows to freefall safely to the ground from XXX feet above the ground? Number of DZ's attended? Number of objects jumped? Number of objects opened? Number of object burned? Because there a real good way to measure that, or so I'm told. maybe we could ask XXXX XXXXXXX? Let's first establish the criteria for "chaotic events". Then, once a set of criteria is established, surveys could more accurately determine a somewhat useful definition of "chaotic". Then, we can set up guidelines to throw people into psych wards. Or jail. So, maybe we should add that criteria. Number of psych wards entered? Number of jails attended? hey, maybe how about how many days spent unconcious because of impacting the earth? because something like: "Blah blah blah, parachuting is inherently dangerous" yeah, life is dangerous too, but some manage to live through it. Peace, Thomas ah yes, how about: "If your good at what you're doing, you might live through it."

It's mainly about safety I think. We try to be safe in America, and that means driving the biggest cars. Sure, we can almost hit a loaded semi head on in our SUV's and live through it. Small euro cars? We can drive over them if we want, like speed bumps. It helps us find parking places. We can just pull a HMMV onto the top of one of those smaller cars. Peace, Thomas

Sounds about right Jraf. Why settle on one beer? I would like to split a case with the grim reaper, get him/her drunk, and get the grim reaper to tell me some stories. Usually works with people at bars... Peace, Thomas

Let me guess your take on the issue. Wait, I won't do it with words. It is about politics, and I thought general talk back was the place for politics. It is not solely about BASE. It is about politics. Some people may be interested in this. Why try to shut down this concept? Are you friends with..xxx? And he has told you how to respond? Because maybe he tried before, but got laughed at, so he thought that someone else's words were a better way to talk? Is this hitting close to home, or I am way off the mark? You think I cut and pasted this? That truly shows your involvement with this situation. You came here simply to disagree. You tried to get my post removed, so you could feel better. Why not just leave it alone? Something like....if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say it? Or did I flame you by pointing out the obvious? Peace, Thomas

best one I have heard so far is: "Let's just be friends." some replies I will give to that: OK, how about friends with benefits? Sure, wanna hear what my other female friends do for me? Sure, friends that do laundry. Friends? You're the one that made me say I loved you to get into bed. I would have done it as friends. Cool, then I can tell you the truth now? or just simply call them bitches. Then there is no friends bullshit. a good thing? Not sure yet. Peace, Thomas

Hey Skydivegirl, I would second the opinion that a good instructor might say: Do what I say, not what I do. My mentor went stowed. Should I go stowed my first jump? NO WAY! So I didn't, and was glad I listened. Thanks. Peace, Thomas a wise man once said something like: "BASE jumpers are rebels more than freedom fighters. The good ones seek neither publicity, permission, or support. They are the last cowboys of parachuting and when they disappear BASE jumping will be just another pastime like golf and bowling." - Nick Di Giovanni

Ahhh... that 'splains it. Guess I should actually read it now so I can semi-intelligently comment on it... Don't strain yourself. No offense meant by that. Maybe you could try answering these: Will Petronas go smoothly/at all this year? And which of these people in the above post are you most likely to believe? Ever met any of them? Peace, Thomas

Not to start flame wars, but what do you think just before betting your life on one parachute that needs to open quickly and on heading? Ever seen a McConkey jump? photos don't do this insanity justice. looks to easy in pictures, and you don't get the whole "wind blowing the canopy" effect. Ever watch a "quad" jump? Know how that got named? I heard that if you do it enough, you end up a quadrapalegic. There is some purely insane jumping that goes on these days. The sport has just grown and advanced that humans are pushing limits we thought not possible or desirable to push. Anyone want to strap onto a giant rocket, and get shot at the moon? They were just called Astronauts. Maybe instead of BASE jumpers, we should call ourselves : Astro-Nuts! Peace, Thomas

Stefan. Yeah, I have a little thought left. Let me see if I can pull it out of somewhere. Pop, here it is. Hey, now I can sit down. 4.5 sec slider off range is PURE ABUSE in my mind. Not only to a canopy, but also to a body. I have seen one or two people here in the states take a healthy 3 second delay slider off. I just checked BR's chart, 600 foot, 4 second delay = bad idea. Not to pick it apart, as it is only recommendations, but I see a slider is poor performance off a 486 foot bridge. I have a bigger problem to contend with. As some of you know, I have some metal in my back that acts as a vertebrae (can't say I'm spineless). So, I feel very hesistant to take more than a 2 second slider off/down delay. In fact, when I jump my favorite bridge, I have begun to put the slider on. Sliders are not the only key though. What I have found is that my mesh slidered/vented Fox cracks open almost as hard on a two second delay than if I had no slider on at all. The cure to this was to simply take my delays a little deeper. I think the theory behind this is that a slider is designed to fight the wind. at 2 second, there may not be enough wind to take advantage of having a slider on. A term comes to mind: Slider Rebound. And supposedly it helps to rubber band the slider to the center C lines as "direct control". I can't say if it helps or not, as I have not near the experience to determine that one. Maybe slider control could be another discussion? Why not put the slider up when taking a 4 second delay? The object I have running through my head is around 600 feet? So, if taking a 4 second delay, I can see where the slider off part comes in. It fits into what we were discussing in the "Low Pulls" thread. Pulling around 200 feet, a person would desire a quick opening. Maybe not that quick though. If I recall, it was a blown toggle after opening? That could easily have came from a 4 second slider off delay, in my mind. Wait, my mind is goofy, so anything I say should be taken for entertainment value only. Peace, Thomas

You want to hear politics? Hear you go: Subject: "Robin was right, Malaysia is out!!!" Archived thread - Read only Previous Topic | Next Topic Printer-friendly copy Email this topic to a friend Conferences The BASE Board Topic #3792 Reading Topic #3792 Mark Hewitt unregistered user May-31-02, 06:53 PM (PDT) "Robin was right, Malaysia is out!!!" I want to make a public apology to Robin Heid because everything he said about Dann and Jasmina Lee last year was true. I was led to believe that he was cut from the Petronas project because of his compensation requests, but that was NOT the case. As I worked for basically free for the good of the sport of Base Jumping, to make it possible for Skyventure to succeed, and in the hopes they would have some loyalty for the person who pulled them out of their hole, and use me this year. Well they are showing me, and everyone who attended last year, their true colors, as they decided not to use me because of safety calls that I made, which they overrode. They want a scapegoat, as a Technical Advisor, someone to blame if there is a problem, but don?t talk unless you are asked a question. Because I stood up to wrong decisions they made, and overrode me on, I am not involved. I ran the Petronas event for Skyventure last year, against Robin?s wishes, because I thought it was the right thing for our sport, but it wasn?t. Skyventure has no loyalty to base jumpers, and no loyalty to Petronas. They actually exploit base jumpers for their own ego fashion show, and use base jumping as a tool to bring attention to their personal popularity party. I pulled their event together last year in 6 weeks on location in Malaysia. And despite fighting Skyventure?s owners over safety calls, ran a decent event. Skyventure couldn?t even produce a scoreboard before the events 10th and last round ? or friction tape for the launch platform at all. Jasmina put several low-time Malaysian jumpers on the load, even after I voiced my opinion on "checking them out" on another local jumpsite, which never happened, after requesting it for the whole 6 weeks. As she, without any jumps, didn?t think it was important. One of the jumpers who she O.K.ed, made his first base jump off of Petronas, without any training. I found out of his real experience afterwards. Now if he had gotten hurt, not only would our sport look bad, but everyone who spent their $1,000+ dollars on plane tickets, would have gone home with no jumps. Don?t forget, you are just the sideshow freaks who bring attention to the Lees. Where else can they get freaks who will risk their lives many times a day, and pay not only their own way, worth thousands of dollars each, but even pay for the Lees party? That is what all this is really about. After they decided not to use me this year, it became clear to me that it is not about money, it is about control and interference, meaning anyone who stands up to Jasmina when she interferes with safety is officially "out of control" and out of the picture. That?s what happened to Robin, that?s what happened to me. Control of the overall event is one thing, but not when she goes against me on safety calls, and overrode my judgments, as the Jumping Technical Advisor over safety, when the jumpers were putting their faith in me, and I was not able to live up to it completely because of it. They couldn?t even get a scoreboard, they sent people home with the wrong amounts of prize money, two days after the event, because of poor, no lousy, score adding. Skyventure only wants a Yes Man, a scapegoat to be accountable for accidents, but still let Jasmina make all of the decisions for her "fashion show." Both of the Lees have never jumped, and have no understanding of jumping, and yet they still demand to make all of the decisions. That?s another reason Robin was kicked out by them; he refused to compromise on safety and professional standards and the letters he sent to Petronas said so. That is the way the Lees operate. It doesn?t really matter who runs their events, they will take and take from the next Technical Director, until he too is humiliated and discarded and lied about, as they think the base world is endless and that there will always be another sucker. First it was Robin, then it was me, who?s next, I wonder? A last word on Robin and this event. Remember, every "technical director" was chosen by him, as were half the people who came. He knew what he was doing, as far as who should run it and who should come. He also knew how to get the keys to the world?s tallest building for a whole bunch of jumpers all over the world, a great job no one had ever done. And still hasn?t. With Robin doing his writing and political magic last year, there were two base events at Petronas. This year, there won?t be any and if anyone has been told or thinks otherwise, write to me and I?ll show you the emails from Petronas. So everyone who talks caca about Robin on Petronas doesn?t know what he did or how bad the Lees ripped him off. Think about it; only some of the technical directors got expense money, as Skyventure refused to pay for any of Omar?s expences. And only I got paid, a humiliating amount. Many of the competitors won prize money. Robin is the only guy who was paid nothing and was left holding the bag for several thousand dollars in expenses. And not only do the Lees not have Petronas, they have no other buildings at all at the present. If you don?t believe me, ask Dann or whoever?s "organizing" it this year to show you proof of the written permission they have for even one building before you make that non-refundable airline reservation. Even last year, Petronas held a joker card, that left them a way out all the way up to competition day, last year. And this year, I have been told by Petronas officials, that there will be no jumping from the building at all. Without any building permission yet, they are grasping at straws to pull together an event. I personally have an e mail from Petronas that there will be no jumping from the twin towers this year. If you want a copy, just e mail me. This year, it is more likely to pay for Jasmina?s fashion show while you sit on the ground looking at the buildings they didn?t get the keys to. Don?t let them pull the wool over your eyes with holding Petronas as a carrot in front of you, because it is just more lies. I will not tell anyone to boycott their events, but I warn you all, Robin was dead on right about these people, and you will be used, on your bill, and they will screw you. Sincerely Mark Hewitt hewittlunar@hotmail.com Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic Lukas Knutsson unregistered user Jun-03-02, 06:23 AM (PDT) 1. "RE: Robin was right, Malaysia is ou" In response to message #0 Mark, It was really good how you handled your side of things then, including the Malays, whining spoilt jumpers, unskilled jumpers and the whole safety aspect of it all. If people decide to go, please be very weary about leaving any credit card numbers to these people or the hotels or any deals in conjunction with Skyventures/hotels/transport etc. I got a mysterious $300 withdrawl from the hotel about 2 months after visiting KL. I gave my credit card number in order to make a long distance phone call, happy as I was to jump the worlds tallest building. The room was already paid for as part of the registration fee, with cash. I didn't stay any extra days. With the organization demonstrated by Skyventure I realised that fighting them for my 300 bucks back was/is a lost cause and I let it slide. Dann Lee hasn't answered my mails for several weeks now. So my tip is, 1.) Pay in cash. 2.) Bring a mobil phone. See some of you in Norway this summer. /Lukas Printer-friendly page | Top Dann Lee unregistered user Jun-04-02, 08:02 AM (PDT) 2. "RE: Robin was right, Malaysia is ou" In response to message #1 Lukas, Firstly, you know the event was good and you wanted to come over again. It is not right for a sportsman like you to join in the unprofessional bad mouthing of an organizer especially when we did such a good job for people like you to have the chance to jump. If you are not happy, then don’t join any of our event or championship that we organize in the future but it is unfair after all the work and preparation that we have done for jumpers like you and all we get is the ungratefulness of your behavior and words. You were invited by our country to participate in the only World BASE championship and now you are calling our people by names. You must either be a racist or an egoistical maniac. I have been busy doing road shows for Xtreme Skydive 2002 and I just finish a major sports conference on BASE jumping with all the public and private sectors. I only didn’t reply to you in two weeks because of my busy schedule. If you only knew the work and effort that we have put in. So Lukas, stop being a hypocrite because you will only put BASE a step or two behind. As for Mark remark on the BASE board, I will give clarification in a few days when my schedule is a little free. And don’t put the blame on us for your carelessness with your credit card. You just paid an nominal entry fee. We spent over a million dollars to organize the event with prize money and trophies of over USD 26,000. BASE has got more to gain than us. If we don’t organize BASE, we can always organize other sports. We are truly disappointed in you because we thought you would be the best Swedish BASE ambassador. That is why we offered you the post of an International Director. We are working very hard to put BASE into the professional sporting arena so all will get to enjoy the game. Please don’t give us a hard time by sabotaging us just because we can’t use the same person as a technical director again. As in all sports, only the organizer will know the true characters of a coach or in this case the technical director. Sincerely, SkyVenture Productions sdn Bhd Malaysia International Xtreme Skydive Association Dann Lee CEO/President Printer-friendly page | Top ghost of carl unregistered user Jun-04-02, 10:18 AM (PDT) 4. "RE: Robin was right, Malaysia is ou" In response to message #2 I'd believe Mark, Robin, or Lukas (real BASE jumpers) over Dann on this issue. Sounds like Dann has pissed off all his good customers. There are other places to jump buildings in this world. Printer-friendly page | Top space Charter Member 390 posts, 4 feedbacks, 8 points Jun-04-02, 11:22 AM (PDT) 6. "Response to this thread" In response to message #2 I was offered the slot (tech director) but after Dann Lee was disregarding my safety suggestions, I declined and gave him some basic tips on how to pull it off safely. At the end of Dann´s and my dialogue, he professed his interest in safety for the jumpers. I am nonjudgemental, It just didn´t fit my idea of how to pull it out at the last moment which was it was down to. It will take me some days to put the dialogue down of the pertinent points as I have an unbelievable amount of Petronas subject to cover to find it. But then I will email it to ANYONE. Just send me an email with "Petronas dialogue" as a header and wait. take care, space Printer-friendly page | Top Lukas Knutsson unregistered user Jun-04-02, 11:38 PM (PDT) 7. "RE: Robin was right, Malaysia is ou" In response to message #2 Dear Dann, I am definitely not a racist, any implication of that was not meant. I'm a Swede, we seem to be the planet's diplomats. Neither do I have any problem with you or your sister. And yes, I did have a whopping load of fun. I made 20 jumps! These are not the points of my criticism, so I don't feel I am being a hypocrite. It will be definitely interesting though, to hear why you think Mark is not suitable to be technical director this year. I can't think of a better person to control fifty jump hungry BASE jumpers from slamming themselves, which is in essence what he did. Not only in concrete decisions like "wear helmets" or "BASE specific" canopies but in reaching and understanding the soul of BASE jumpers and with his enormous understanding of the sport and feel for safety issues. I said this to you, others did as well, and you agreed. I just hope that a political or monetery issue is not governing that decision. Then there is all that other stuff, like the scoreboard ecetera, which is all true. It was chaotic at times. And you don't answer my mails Dann. I have a good crew of excellent Swedish BASE jumpers, really good technical jumpers, not manic hardcore crazies, just the type you want at an event like this. But they need to plan a trip now, and you need to provide some more information and a guarantee of jumping. It was really close last year. I have nothing to tell them apart from "what I know I read on the board". Makes me a good so called "international director" huh ? Still prepared to go, still standing by. Clock is ticking. /Lukas "Cold Steel" Knutsson Did you see my movie ? http://www.skydive.se/~lukas/video/titts-divx.avi 19Mb (you'll need DivX to watch it from www.divx.com).

Check this maybe: http://www.vertigobase.com/html/prod_pricelist.htm If you scroll down to the bottom, where it lists Labor, you will find many options that vertigo offers. One is Vent installation. If I remember correctly, this is simply what it says. Vent installation. Does not even need to be a Vertigo Product. Something to the tune of "if you want to send in your fox to get it retro-fitted with vents, we will do that. Just make sure it is clean." I read that in Skydiving I think, I can't remember which issue though. I will look through my old mags, and see if I can find it. Something like around the time Vents were introduced. Say, somewhere around Moab 2000? I remember hearing about DW test jumping a vented canopy. I think it was around beginning of 2000. But, as always, I could be wrong. Peace, Thomas

A true Crazy Thomas idea brewing. When I went to school at UW-Madison, I was asking my materials science teacher the same thing, only about helium balloons from a party store. The answer. Simply determine the amount of force that one balloon lifts with, and then factor it to be greater than your weight, and that theoretically would give a person lift. Simple physics calculations will yield a number of how many cubic meters of helium one would need to accomplish this. Cubic meters into cubic feet? Simple dimensional analysis. Then, buying the party balloons? Not so simple. Ever imagine going into a party store and asking for an order of 20,000 balloons? I actually heard a rumor (maybe our research type can help substantiate) that some guy already did this. He bought some weather balloons, tied them to his lawn chair, and off he went. He carried a six pack with him also. He was brought done after he floated away, and floated around several hours. (None skydiver type I think) One word of caution: As you rise up under these balloons, the pressure of the air around you drops. We should mostly all know this from high altitude skydives. Well, a party balloon isn't very strong, and could explode before reaching a sufficient altitude. Weather balloons are stronger, but more expensive. Bringing the question, what is safety worth? Peace, Thomas

Fitting the description? Dude, my friends already know I am suicidal. Where is the new info in that? The main problem is I know that suicide is wrong, and I can't get through the pearly gates. So I gotta do all this fuckin' crazy BASE jumping and hope for a fatal accident. My fear? Yep, I have a couple. One is breaking more bones and becoming paralyzed. Seriously, I have broken more bones than I like. Back, Skull, both, yes BOTH femurs, and a wrist. And I still love to do the shit I was doing when I got hurt. I like to think I got smarter about it, but we'll see. This biggest trick is staging an accident. Even if it looks good, God will know the difference. So it has to be a true accident. My other fear? Falling in love. I might enjoy life too much again, and fear losing it. Then, I would have to revert to being a pussy whipped bitch the rest of my life. no thanks. I'll eat it, but no slavery for me. Some people I talk with actually trust me enough to know I won't do something as stupid as put the gun to my head. Not that I have one, but if I did, that would be an easy way. Pretty obvious though, huh? Hey, maybe I should just start jumping with a certain group of BASE jumpers again. They already had one fatal accident this year and completely denied any responsibility. I could name them, but don't want to. Let sophists be sophists. Peace, Thomas

Hell no. I have been drinking beer, and watching this thing get interesting. And I have been thinking about how I can respond, so look out. Here comes some thought. Top Ten Rebuttals to all this crap: 1. Where is my beer? 2. Damn, I wish I had one of them horny sluts around. Then I could really get off. 3. I'm sorry. My ideas are that bad. 4. This is a simple case of brain poisoning. 5. Looks like schizophrenia to me. Me too. I agree also. Hey, shut up, we weren't asking you! 6. Lurkers....gotta love what they say. 7. Sophists--even more dangerous, never to be believed. 8. Dog's bark because they want attention. 9. Wolves prey on sheep. 10. Am I still thinking of this shit, or pulling it out my ass? Peace, Thomas

Anyone ever get jumps on a dagger? Wish to share any thoughts on the dagger from Vertigo? My only jumps were on a Dragon, which Vertigo sells, but I am not sure they manufacture. This is the canopy that came with my sorcerer. Thoughts: Fun canopy. Good openings of the 4 I had, and it flew nice. Flew a little fast for some jumps, but I never got the chance to do any deep brakes approaches. I was usually jumping in higher winds, so the extra speed helped. One time I needed to use front risers to gain some forward speed and clear some trees. I was glad the Dragon had the zip in it. Oh yeah, it was Dragon 235, and I weigh around 175, so a fairly high wing loading for BASE jumping. I kept it in mostly clean landing areas though. It also had an 8 footish bridal, and a 38 ZP pc on it. Nice set up for my 6-7 second delays, but a terrible set up for Idaho. In fact, I was not even crazy enough to jump the bridge with this set up. Maybe that is where I got my name, but I thought I had it before that action. Just my.02 on the Dragon, the only OTHER BASE canopy I have jumped. Peace, Thomas oh, a side note. My dragon had Microlines on it. This was to help fit it into the sorcerer, but something to definitely take notice of. More snap, less stretch. I think this would make a difference on slider off/down jumps.