slotperfect

Keep your head low, Tom . . . see you when you get back! Arrive Safely John

1) You are giving advice to a jumper with 20 jumps on which canopy he should buy, and you have absolutely no idea how he flies a canopy. This is a very dangerous thing to do. 2) While you apparently have a considerable amount of jumps on the Triathlon series, you make some assumptions that are frankly incorrect. Telling a jumper with 20 jumps that a 160 flies the same as a 220 only faster is again VERY dangerous advice, and is quite wrong. A 160 anything flies much differently than a 220. 3) When, as you say, things fall within your experience, you are certainly free to comment on them here. The issue is who you are conveying information to and how they will use it. Even with my experience level I would never recommend a wing loading of 1.2 to 1 for anyone with 20 jumps, nor would I make any specific canopy recommendations to a low experience jumper I have never seen fly a canopy. That is why so many of us point people to their instructors or canopy coaches on their DZ that have seen or can intentionally watch them fly their canopy. 4) You need to learn to control your temper and remain objective when you post. Your conduct here in this thread is NOT welcome in this forum. Personal attacks are not permitted ANYWHERE in these forums. Take a week off from here and cool your jets. Arrive Safely John

My wife went with me to my 20th in 2002, then I went to hers the following year. We had a lot of fun at both. We got to learn a lot about each other through meeting the other's high school friends and hearing all the stories. I had only been back from Iraq about four days when I went to hers, to it was a nice vacation on top of it all. The highlight of her reunion was the short shubby bald guy who was telling everyone he was a porn star. When I asked him his porn star name, he said "huh?" I proceeded to walk him through how one determines that particular moniker, and then my slightly tipsy wife had me walk the rest of her friends through it as well. It was a blast! Arrive Safely John

The incident has been aired. The person directly involved has publicly held himself accountable for his mistake. douwanto's character has been supported by numerous customers, friends, and fellow Riggers. It is impossible for me to discern whether or not the author of this thread had any personal agenda in airing it here. There is no evidence other than "he said, she said." There are also, in my opinion as Moderator of this forum, no personal attacks (as defined in the Forum Rules) in any of the posts here. The thread has run it's course, and anyone who has issues with the individuals involved in the incident itself or in this thread should take any further conversation to PMs or other less public forms of communication. Personally, I thank God that nobody was hurt in the incident, applaud Chris for his incredible integrity, applaud Tom for his professionalism, and applaud those of you who have stood up here to bear witness to Chris' character and professionalism. I encourage everyone to choose wisely when posting controversial and/or personally damaging information, and suggest that you not draw unnecessary attention to yourselves by labeling your own post as a personal attack. Arrive Safely John

There are more fraternal skydiving organizations out there than you can shake a stick at: POPS, SOS, JOS, Caterpillar Club, Freak Brothers, Muff Brothers, Rodriguez Brothers, Pink Mafia, ETC ETC. Some are more formal than others, and each of them have their own criteria for membership. It is not too much to ask for a group of Christian skydivers to be added to that list without those who choose not to belong getting wrapped around the axle about it. Then you can choose not to belong to their organization, choose not to skydive with them, whatever you like. I suggest you try and understand their desire to have such an organization before you judge them. Arrive Safely John

I have very successfully used a front-loading washing machine many times to clean containers. See this thread This process was recommended to me by Sun Path, makers of the Javelin/Odyssey. Arrive Safely John

All that I did has already been said, although my three coats were light enough that one can was plenty. One thing to add - keep shaking the can throughout the spraying process so the product doesn't clot. A clot landing on your rig may leave a small stain. I have only had to clean my rig once - a small grass stain patch on one leg strap. I used Shout Wipes immediately after it happened, and was able to simply blot the stain away with a wet washcloth when I got home. Do a forum search for more on Shout Wipes. Arrive Safely John

I organized my 20 year high school reunion, and registering for Classmates.com resulted in contact info for three people (out of nineteen), so it was worth the $25. Once I got everyone's email address (that had one), I started a Yahoo Group to keep everyone posted on my progress. And yes, I had 19 classmates from my hometown of 742 people. The senior class the year after mine was 11. Arrive Safely John

Check it out! Arrive Safely John

I don't log tunnel time. When I first flew in one nearly 17 years ago, none of us thought of it. Anyway, I was trained (pre-AFF) in the Flyaway Tunnel in Pigeon Forge, TN. I have also flown in the Skyventure Orlando, FL tunnel. I have countless time in the Fort Bragg, NC tunnel. I plan to visit the AAC Tunnel near Maggie Valley, NC this year. Arrive Safely John

Sounds to me like you care about fairness in our beloved online community. Well, me too. While the criteria you mentioned from the rules are a bit subjective and open to individual Moderator interpretation, we try very hard to be consistent. HH also designed the rules and chose his Moderators so all of those things fit together. I have two suggestions for you: 1) If you see a thread that seems unfair to you, PM one of the Moderators from that foum (listed at the top). We do our level best to read every post. There are also Moderators worldwide on purpose so that hopefully someone is nearly always on. There are many options we have in dealing with those types of posts. Just bring them to our attention! 2) Fill out your profile. Seemingly anonymous posts, especially on controversial topics, are not as powerful and forwarding to these discussions as those from seemingly "real" people. It also helps lend you a bit of credibility here (not because of your jump numbers), because people know who's talking. Thanks for bringing this up! Arrive Safely John

Added Lara Kjeldsen from Alti-2 laraatalti2 Arrive Safely John

The L&B Website now says that their new products will be available in Fall of 2005. Arrive Safely John

This is happening every morning consistently at the stated times. Sometimes I can surf a couple of pages and it bogs down, sometimes I can't get past the homepage. Arrive Safely John

ROFLMAO!! Now that was funny! Arrive Safely John

First of all, this post should get moved to S&T so it's valuable content doesn't get buried in the volume of posts in Bonfire. To those trying to gain some insight on the value of accurate information posted promptly, please take the time to read the following guidelines, which appear above the text box when you choose "Post New" in the Incidents Forum: Now to speak to the issue of timing . . . People want to know - curiosity is human nature. There are many reasons for it, all of which vary from person to person. The reasons why we seek the information are not as important in the context of the Incidents Forum as why we choose to post the information. Some folks post information just to keep the rumor mill grinding out its often tangled and confusing pile of information. Some post so the facts of the incident as they are known at the time of the post are known early on, and can be used to build the pyramid of constructive information, hopefully ending in a solution. The majority of readers of that forum, from my experience, share some things in common: 1) they all want to learn from the incident, and want others to learn as well - they care about the safety of the sport; 2) they all find the known facts of the incident useful (timing notwithstanding). There has been a raging debate over speculation vs. conversation based on fact. You can search the forums for my comments on that - I won't address that here. Facts are the most valuable information we can glean from an Incident Report. You will likely NOT get them from press clips, as we have seen they are initially highly inaccurate and devoid of useful details. They are best posted by someone who is directly related to the incident - an eyewitness, a DZO, the reporting S&TA, an investigator. If they are posted right away, the rumor mill becomes unnecessary The person who criticized Betsy for posting Dr. Kenny's tragic death promptly did so in a forum designed for discussion of facts surrounding the incident for the benefit of the sport. His direct bereating of her did not contribute to the momentum of that discussion, and gave every appearance of personal bias. It effectively hijacked the thread and despite the careful choice of words it was in many people's opinion a personal attack. I join Liz in thanking BB for her diligent service reporting the valuable facts, and hope that she will consider doing so again in the future. Lastly, I pray that none of you would ever lose someone close to you as a result of a skydiving accident. Thanks to all of you who have kept me safe these 20 years. Arrive Safely John

That would only be possible if it were a formation of 752 flying pigs. Arrive Safely John

Regarding the Skyventure Raeford tunnel, the subject of this thread, that rumor is far from true. They have not broken ground on the Raeford tunnel, I am told because the crew is still finishing Eloy's tunnel, which is also behind schedule. I have also heard that there are questions about the proposed site as Chuck mentioned above, but the "version" of that conversation I heard was not definitive. The only thing "official" I have read is "Opening mid-2005." The Bodyflight Tunnel (Appalachian Amusement Center) near Maggie Valley (Western NC) has been open for quite some time. I have not flown in it, so I can't answer your questions effectively. DO a search because there have been other threads in the forums about it. Arrive Safely John

Honest mistake - no worries! If that's the worst thing that happened to you today, it was a great day! Arrive Safely John

The User Titles (Newbie, Pooh-Bah, etc.) that denoted the number of posts each user had turned into a tidal wave of post-whoring which was out of control. Then came the marked post feature. It was really handy. But, people figured out they could use it as another form of personal PW glory, and went nuts PWing. This also added to the bogging down of the system. I would love for that to come back - it's handy as a tool for Moderators. Another feature I wish would return is the repack calculator with email reminder. Arrive Safely John

Jimmy Hoffa Arrive Safely John

Our local PBS station had a Cnandian concert from 1981 on the other night. He is amazing! Arrive Safely John

I'll take "The Penis Mightier" for $300, Trebek." ####################################### Fellas, I gotta tell ya . . . I've got a fever, and the only prescription is - MORE COWBELL! Arrive Safely John

I'm in a short answer mood tonight . . . "Sport" and "No" Arrive Safely John

I'm moving this to Skydiving History & Trivia so it won't get quickly bumped off the fron page. Arrive Safely John