DrewEckhardt

Assuming we're talking about you and that you're coming from a Triathlon 175 as noted in your profile, in no particular order a Sabre 2, Lotus, or Safire 150 would be a better choice. I managed not to break myself too much (bruised heels for a few months) by easing into more agressive shapes (square 135->elliptical 134->twitchier elliptical 120) than I would have if I jumped right there and would _strongly_ recommend the same to other people. Even though BZ told me I'd be happier under a smaller FX, I decided to try a 119 loaded at 1.6 pounds/square foot so I could compare canopies and not sizes versus my Stiletto 120. While it dived nice and kept flying to a lower speed, it was unresponsive and had high riser pressures. Dropping to a 104 arround 1.8 got me something closer to what I was used to in terms of control sensitivity but still had the heavier risers. Based on that, I'd say that the FX is an enabling technology which lets you go to a wing loading which would set you down at an uncomfortable speed under a conventional canopy (1.8 with a formed nose and 9000 foot density altitude, maybe 2.0 at sea level?). At 1.2 - 1.4 pounds/square foot, anything from the major manufacturers made out of ZP (even a Sabre or Monarch) is going to land nicely.

Morally? The same party that's responsible when making sperm bank withdrawls with artificial insemination should be footing the bill when she decides to use a free sperm bank with natural methods. Legally? Unless the guy has a signed release from the woman, protecting society and children from guys who'd lie about the circumstances of conception is going to require him to support the child. When both parties are telling the truth about using or not using birth control and it fails it's a joint problem.

If you want to do more than just play with yourself doing solos there's a lot of overlap. Regardless of body position you need to be able to quickly make up for horizontal and vertical separation, dock gently, keep formations stable, not drift away when changing grips, and get decent separation at break-off. It's easier to learn all that when you're not trying to master a more difficult body position at the same time. Hybrid formations are fun. You can make much bigger hybrids (especially with small doors) if everyone gets together while falling slowly and then speed it up for the vertical fliers. While trying new things is interesting, skydiving is mostly a social sport. Belly flying is the greatest common denominator and lets you jump with everyone. The basics are also much easier, so if you want a sunset 10 way or something you'll be a lot more likely to pull it off when you're flat.

I don't worry about my ZP mains which all have at least a few hundred jumps on them. They take a bit of a set but don't stick or anything. If you search through old posts you'll find annecdotal reports on nearly new ZP canopies bricking, at least one of which was jumped and wasn't opening until the jumper started pulling on the risers.

The problem isn't the sex-offenders, it's setting legal precident that does not consider placing legal restrictions on criminals who've already served their sentances to be unconstitutional ex-post-facto laws. It's not a legal stretch to go from moving sex offenders outside city limits (population density must allow > 1000 feet to a school bus stop) to doing the same for people convicted of posessing marijuanna as young adults. Or to prohibit those people from voting. Unless they're wealthy and connected enough to have their convictions legally expunged, which would definately change voter demographics.

I trusted my reserve packed for 6 months (not every place on earth has the same 120 cycle as the US you know). I'll trust my main for the same amount of time. Your reserve is probably made out of 0-3 CFM nylon. Your main is probably made out of ZP nylon. New ZP nylon can stick together when left packed, forming a brick that takes a while to open. The two are probably apples and oranges.

Yep. I had a half-faired Triumph sport touring bike with hard luggage as my only motorized transportation for a while. Givi 50L cases are a perfect fit for a medium sized skydiving rig, jump suits, skydiving helmet, etc. I'd throw one rig in the Givi top-case, and could fit a second on the passenger seat in the gear bag. Tent + sleeping bag in one of the side cases. Rain suit and spare clothes on the other side. Riding in snow sucks (some BMW GS riders would disagree). Rain isn't too bad with a fairing, rain suit, and water proof boots. Just stay out of the car drool in the center of the lanes, off slippery cross-walks, etc. While I prefer the plastic-free look, more wind protection definately makes riding longer distances more pleasant. One more thing: Don't let skydivers who've been drinking beer follow you. I got hit that way.

Once the exemption drops back to $1M and basis step-up goes away the entire middle class who saves enough for their retirement is going to be paying the death tax. The middle class allegedly starts at $25K a year before taxes. If you're earning that sort of money, never see a pay raise better than cost of living, and put 10% of your income away into a tax deferred acount you'll hit the cap in 38 years. If you're better off, 35 years from retirement, saving the legal maximum in your 401K (pretend that your raises don't exist and stick the extra in your 401K until you get there) you'll have $7-8M in there. $14-$16M if you're in a dual income family with both partners saving. Guys who've spent decades working and have already retired will be paying the tax if they planned for retirement income of at least $40K a year. Those who live in expensive areas will be paying the inheritance tax. I passed a modest home on the way into work yesterday - 2000 square foot ranch (plus a finished basement), one car garage, and a car port. The asking price was $1.3M. Congress could increase the exemption with inflation, although that wouldn't match historic practice. Back in 1913 the first $3000 of income was exempt for single people and $4000 for married people. Our exemptions and standard deductions total a lot less than $57,000 and $76,000 respectively.

Real estate isn't cheap on the Seattle east side either. In February some one paid $540K for the house across the street. 1 bedroom. 1 bathroom. 680 square feet. Built in 1945. I bet it'll get scraped off and 3 new homes in the 700s-900s built in its place. We bought a condo.

Thousands with variety.

What's to abolish? You don't have to register motor vehicles that you don't intend to operate on public road ways, waters, or airspace.

Depends on the person. They fed me vicodin when I tweaked my back I don't particularly care for being fuzzy on opiates so I asked for something which worked better than acetaminophen and ibuprofen but didn't do that. They gave me some ultracet samples (tramadol + acetaminophen) and a prescription. It didn't make me fuzzy like the hydrocodone. It also didn't work any better than the acetaminophen + ibuprofen combination so I didn't bother filling the prescription.

1) Get a pre-approval. As a seller I'm not going to risk paying for another month's worth of interest, property taxes, HOA fees, and utilities on a deal that's more likely to fall through. 2) Get an inspection from an inspector with references. Without references you might get a worthless inspector. With a good inspector you'll find out about anything that may be a health issue (Radon), expensive to fix (Radon mitigation is $800), and perhaps a bunch of stupid things that justify asking for credits which a seller may give you instead of loosing a few weeks or a month by putting their property back on the market. 3) Don't spend too much and be house poor. As an extreme example you don't want to buy the house and be unable to afford window coverings or more than mac & cheese for dinner. Lending guidelines will probably allow you to spend a lot more on housing than you'd like to - 28% of gross income with housing + other debt spending not over 36% of your income. The last time I checked I was only taking home 60% of my salary after taxes + 401K contributions. 4) Note that _everything_ is negotiable. You can ask for a closing date that minimizes the amount of time you're paying for two properties or gives you more time to move in (you want a few weeks). While Realtors will write in a month out as the standard closing date the title insurance company, banks, etc. will work towards whatever you list (we took posession of our new place two weeks after making the offer). You can ask for any furnishings you'd like. You can request credits for new paint or whatever and be more likely to get them than if you made a lower offer. People get psychologically hung up on the selling price. An offer of $245K might be unacceptable, while $250K plus a $5K credit for paint is.

About 70% of us own homes. How much of a good idea it is depends on the local ratio between rent and purchase price + taxes - some places you can rent for half of what you'd buy a property for, others buying is less expensive. Local appreciation factors into it - some places are seeing property values drop 20% a year, others are going up at double digit rates. Your personal tax situation also effects it : in America we get to choose between having a standard deduction (about $4500 for single people and twice that for married couples) subtracted from our taxable income or an itemized list of deductions including state/local taxes (income and property) and mortgage interest. Once your other taxes exceed that standard deduction, you might be able to have the same money left in your pocket after spending 50% more each month on a property you own than one you rent (that means a 33% combined federal + state marginal income tax rate with the same mortgage deduction allowed on state taxes).

In Westchester county, New York, you'd expect to pay between $800 - $1000 per month in property taxes. In Boulder, CO you'd spend $125 a month for property taxes on a town house the City appraised at $266K and actually sold for that. Shopping the $400K range here in King County Washington you'd pay $50-$300 a month on properties different cities appraised at $300K. Different states, counties, and cities vary radically in the vallue they assign to properties, what percentage of that is taxable, and the percentage of taxable value (mill levy) you actually pay. You need to research this. And since total tax collections in Colorado are not legally allowed to increase beyond the rate of inflation * population growth without voter approval they wouldn't increase much.

Not really. Apart from a few city council members and a Sheriff I didn't vote for the current government. English-speaking Europeans lighten up when I tell them that. Where there's a language barrier saying Bush, holding my nose, and exclaiming PEWWWWW! seems to get the message across.

Okay, financial genius. Tell us how the government can give out credit cards, or cash, for emergency money, and control each and every transaction made with those items, immediately, at the time the expense is being made. As an academic exercise: The government can issue cards which don't allow cash advances and only approve transactions with the set of merchants who have an agreement in place to not make prohibited sales. Civil penalties of X * purchase price or $Y per illegal usage can be applied after the fact to merchants who ignore this. That in turn will offset the losses from merchants who aren't caught. Lists of merchants can be provided along with "FEMA cards accepted" stickers for those stores. Some states already use special debit cards for "food stamps". In practice: Except for the fraud being ammunition in the next election it doesn't matter. While I wouldnt say no to $1.5 billion, it's just .05% of our annual spending. For comparison purposes I couldn't get a nice meal for that fraction of my budget.

Sure. A couple years ago I jumped a Paracommander setup which was over 35 years old. Of course I'd rather jump my nearly 15 year old Monarch in my 10-year old Reflex because it lands better, has a single cutaway handle, main and reserve can be flown a considerable distance to a landing area, the setup is lighter and more comfortable, etc, etc, etc. I'd rather jump my Samurai which was released just 6 years ago because it lands better than the Monarch, opens nicer, and is more fun to fly. With grassy landing areas and in-door packing gear can last a long time; although if trends continue within 15-25 years you'll probably want to jump something more modern.

Licensed dealers must do background checks, fill out form 4473s, and file multiple-handgun-sale forms. Under federal law unlicensed individuals can sell to people who live in the same state that they don't have reason to believe are prohibited persons. No background check is needed. Doing this as a business means a seller is committing a felony as an unlicensed dealer (this is subjective and vague). Licensed dealers may take plastic. Private citizens may want cash. If you know what you want you'll probably get a better deal finding a local FFL who'll charge a flat fee ($25) for doing inter-state transfers and buy what you want off gunsamerica.com

Modern single action revolvers like my Ruger Super Blackhawk use a transfer bar and appropriately shaped hammer so they can't discharge unless you cock them and pull the trigger. That a hunting sidearm? Hunting and long range target shooting. At 3 pounds and over a foot long it's not exactly light or concealable. I waiver on whether full-power .44 magnum (240 gr @ 1450 fps) is pleasant to shoot. In exchange you do start with 2.5X the energy of a .45 ACP which people use to good effect on deer, wild boar, black bear....

Modern single action revolvers like my Ruger Super Blackhawk use a transfer bar and appropriately shaped hammer so they can't discharge unless you cock them and pull the trigger.

Nearly all skydiving injuries and fatalities come from pilot error. Ocassionally we learn something new about how equipment can fail. A few years ago we learned that we needed to build up the material arround gromets to prevent snags with micro-line. And sometimes things just happen, like dust devils, an airplane pilot not seeing a jumper under canopy, etc.

I wouldn't trade $6000 now (you'll pay a 10% penalty for the early withdrawl and I'm guessing on Federal and state taxes) and a month of fun for $175,000 when I retire in 30 years, working 8 months longer (I put the legal $15K pre-tax maximum in my 401K; adjust that if you contribute less) , or making over 100 jumps a year less after I've retired (assuming you retire in 30 years, that $10,000 will be allowing you to draw $2800 a year in today's money indefinately). Although you can roll it over into an IRA or just leave it where it is. Quit if it makes you happy and you can afford the lost pay. Travel as your budget allows without spending your 401K.

1. Effectiveness in social situations. Some hollow points will expand to twice their original diameter. Bullets with a full metal jacket don't expand. Punching bigger holes in bad guys may stop whatever they were doing sooner. 2. Price. You can spend over twice as much on defensive ammo. With the number of rounds you'll expend becoming proficient the difference will be hundreds of dollars. 3. Reliability in semi-automatic pistols. Some cartridges are less reliable in some guns. A gun designed to feed millitary cartridges with full-metal jacketed bullets may not work reliably with hollow points. You want to feed a few hundred rounds of what you'll be using for defensive purposes through your gun.

This sounds a lot like presuming guilt, imposing and carrying out sentence without judicial process, and leaving it to the convict to retroactively prove their innocence and obtain a pardon. The IRS already does this in other cases. "Backup witholding" is applied to all payments reported on form 1099s when the recipient does not provide a valid SSID (FEIN for a business). Companys must withold social security taxes on all income you earn from them up to the cap regardless of what other employers have done in that tax year.