skybytch

Leg warmers. Shaun Cassidy. The Knack. Izod polo shirts - y'know, the ones with the alligators. Members Only jackets. Real Men Don't Eat Quiche.

All those stupid jobs you did during high school and/or college? They're still out there. If you were lucky enough to not have to work while you were in school, think fast food, Wal Mart, pizza delivery, pin resetter at the local bowling alley etc...

I'm looking at a copy right now. It appears to have a lot of good and current info in it, along with numerous clear color photos. FAA-H-8083-17 is the number in the upper right hand corner. You may be able to get a copy through your local FSDO; the FAA guy for my area recently dropped a copy off to my b/f who is a master rigger at a local loft. On a purely trivial note, Amy von Novak (who posts here as amy and is married to billvon) is pictured several times flaking a round canopy...

How long have you been operating under the delusion that anything in life is fair?

Use markup code instead of using the clickable smileys and buttons and that problem is solved. A way better solution than going back to IE! I do miss the "copy shortcut" link though.

I've seen several of those people featured over the years. You're gonna be waiting a long time... the profiles in Parachutist are written by Brian Giboney. On topic - I'd take the "conservative" comment to mean that he was conservative in staying with the same size and type of canopy for 1000 jumps - a conservative progression, not necessarily a conservative wingloading for a first canopy - unlike many people today who think that 100 jumps is sufficient to learn everything they possibly can under a particular wing.

Do you consider yourself a risk taker? Yup. Calculated risks, but risks just the same. What level of risk do you belive skydiving involves? Overall, pretty high. Nothing about throwing myself at the ground at a high rate of speed seems all that safe to me. Individually, pretty low due to the things I do and don't do to mitigate or manage those risks. Other than skydiving, do you exhibit risky behavior? You mean like driving recklessly, drinking lots of alcohol, having unprotected sex, doing drugs, riding a motorcycle and listening to loud music? No. I do not now and have never in the past done any of those things. Do you believe the idea that skydivers are crazy sensation seekers? No. Skydivers are normal. It's the people who spend life on the couch watching American Idol who are crazy. How do you eliminate risk in your sport? Can't eliminate it. Instead I manage it. I don't jump when I'm sick or excessively tired. I jump canopies that are appropriate in size for me to land safely given my ability and currency levels. I check my gear prior to putting it on. I have someone else check my gear prior to getting on the airplane. I don't jump when weather conditions are sketchy. I don't jump with cameras or people attached to my body. I don't jump after drinking alcohol. Etc....

It's not just the current generation. I know of a jumper who's been in the sport for a long time; he recently sold a reserve and sent the freebag and pilot chute with it.

Aleve, ibuprofen... whichever you take, take them with food to reduce the damage they do to your stomach. Any form of muscle relaxant could be helpful. Ice packs and a heating pad are also your friends - but being a hockey player I'd assume you already know that. My back pain is usually made worse by ice and better with heat but yours may be different. I've had people suggest alternating ice and heat, 20 minutes at a time but I haven't tried it... If you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees. If you sleep on your back, put a pillow under your knees. Supposedly keeps things in alignment; it's the only way I can sleep when mine hurts a lot. Hope it gets better fast!

You may find this article helpful.

Nice pic! But I like these frame grabs from yesterday much better.

( ) Had an irish car bomb (x) Given oral sex (x) Received oral sex (x) Jumped at more than 5 dz ( ) Crashed a rental car (x) Totalled a car (x) Broken a bone (x) Been drunk dialed (x) Drunk dialed someone ( ) Masturbated in a public setting ( ) Had sex in a public setting ( ) Have completed a marathon (x) Have lied to your boss (x) Played hookie from school (x) Played hookie from work ( ) Taken Public transportation to work ( ) Have eaten ethiopian food (x) Kissed a member of the same sex (x) Owned a dog (x) Owned a cat ( ) Owned a bird (x) Played a sport in HS (x) swam (x) Post whored before having sex (x) Post whored instead of having sex (x) Stolen a lighter (I prefer to call it "borrowing" ) (x) Purchased a water pipe (x) Wore women's underwear (x) Wore men's boxers (x) Set something on fire accidentally ( ) Done more than 15 jumps in a day ( ) Pulled your reserve ( ) Decided not to jump when on jump run ( ) Have eaten bugs (x) Riden a motorcycle ( ) Riden a Segway ( ) Piloted a sailboat (x) Purchased something on-line (x) Met someone from dz.com (x) Slept with someone from dz.com ( ) Lied to your SO ( ) Photo copied your butt ( ) Photo copied your breasts ( ) Cheated on a test

You have a girlfriend?

Skeptic! The view that knowledge depends on epistemic certainty - ie the assertion that to know there must be no possible way that you could be wrong in your belief - is too strict. Under this view the only things you can say you know are facts like 2+2=4 and "I exist." We're not operating under that view. We're operating under the explanationist theory, which states that knowledge is a justified true belief in which the justification for believing is "truth resistant" - at the end of the day there are no true statements that defeat your justification for believing. Gawd I love college.

Wull, yeah. I gotta use big words, specially ones that I don't know what they mean. Cuz if I don't use big words, then how will anyone know I'm gettin all edumacated n shit?

My first test in Intro Philosophy is tomorrow. The instructor is cool; he gave us a list of the possible test questions and told us that he'll pick three from the list, one of which will be question #12. I'm ready for the test... sort of. I'm good on everything but question #12. Here's the question and my answer. I'm totally not sure I'm going at this the right way. So all you edumacated people - break out your thinking caps and tell me why I'm wrong! The question - Suppose that someone paints a gold coin with gold colored pain made out of a nongold substance. The person shows me the coin and because it looks good, exactly like other gold coins I have seen, I believer that the coin is gold. In fact the coin is gold so my belief is true. I am also justified in believing that the coin is gold because it looks gold, having been painted that color, and because I have no reason to believe that any kind of hoax has been perpetrated. All told, I have a justified true belief that the coin is gold. But do I know that the coin is gold? Explain your answer in detail. My answer - No, you do not know that the coin is gold. According to the standard account of propositional knowledge, you must have a justified true belief in something to know it. But as is shown by the Gettier job seeker's example, there are cases where you have a justified true belief and yet you cannot be said to know. In this case, your justification for believing that the coin is gold can be defeated by the fact that the coin is not completely gold - it is covered by a non-gold substance. While it may look like gold, it is not. Without doing further investigation - ie scratching the coin, having it tested by a chemist, etc - you cannot know that it is gold. .

LMFAO! You're welcome.

I found this site today. Free mp3 downloads and/or podcasts of volunteers reading books in the public domain (ie the classics). I'm listening to Fyodor Dostoyevsky's "Notes from the Underground" right now; Stevenson's "Treasure Island" is next.

Wear off? Nah. I hope it never wears off. For me it has lessened to the point where I can go a month or so without jumping before I begin to feel the need to either jump or kill something.

A month ago I became a 40 year old college freshman. It's way more fun than working.

So... why are these canopy COACHES (plural) not offering their EXPERIENCES to the people who are landing like shit? Why don't they walk up to the guy/girl with the dirty jumpsuit and say "Hey, I saw your landing, instead of doing that next time try this"? $$$$$$$

I can do video at the Davis comps if needed. I know who you stole that line from.

I don't want to be at home. I'm going to the dz. There's an airplane there calling my name.

If you stop by Davis look for me. I'll probably be standing with a camera in the landing area acting as a target for the swoopers.