DrewEckhardt

I'll define morality as a function of intent, need, and risk. The hypothethical street racer, drunk driver, and driving cell-phone user don't plan on hurting anyone. None of them need to be driving on public roads in those circumstances. The street racers can have their recreation at a track. People can avoid drinking when they won't have transportation or arange for other transport. One can pull over before placing a call.. Studies suggest that the risk from driving under the influence and while talking are similar. With all three factors equal I'd say there isn't a moral difference between the two. In some circumstances street racing isn't any different either. As long as people continue living they can't choose not to be old. Living many places in America is not practical without driving. Staying out of the driver's seat is not an option. Waiting to get to a hospital is not a choice.

How about the Sabre 2 135 you're jumping now? You're more familiar with it, learning will be easier at low speeds, and it may suck less when you screw up.

People make needed calls on their cellphones while driving because they're too lazy to pull over. Unecessary calls are just entertainment. There's no moral difference between being a menace because you feel like driving fast or would rather talk while driving than stopped.

Do nothing. Just sit back and wait for capitalism to work. Less expensive fuel sources will become available as oil from the ground gets too expensive. My first bet is on thermal depolymerization because it lets us make gasoline and diesel from biomass and plastic waste. We keep our existing cars, gas stations, etc. Nothing changes except where the oil comes from. There's a plant in Carthage, MO making 400 barrels of oil a day from turkey offal. We don't do this more because the oil's currently more expensive than what comes out of the ground. Biodiesel made from biomass is also interesting. Existing trucks, locomotives, and other diesel powered vehicles run on biodiesel without modification. We have the infrastructure needed to distribute it. Car makers are already producing reasonably powerful TDI engines - Audi sells their A4 with a 225HP TDI V6 and their A8 with a 325HP V8. We don't have more biodiesel because oil is so cheap. Biomass can also be converted into alcohol, although biodiesel is a better option because in practice Diesel engines are more efficient than Otto cycle motors, especially at part throttle . Alcohol could run fuel cells although that technology is not yet financially viable. Raising fuel taxes isn't going to dramatically reduce consumption because people aren't going to sell their suburban homes to move closer to cities where public transportation is viable. While increased taxes could fund research, tax dollars get allocated for political reasons not scientific ones. Increased fuel costs do hurt the economy. Increased taxes on staples are regressive and increase the number of people living in poverty. Waiting will get us cheaper fuel and less dependance on foreign energy without those negatives.

If they were built with non-rectangular planforms. Body position while opening definately causes line twists and starts turns which become spins when they are not stopped. Line twists are recoverable when the canopy is not spinning. Rectangular canopies nearly always come out of those turns without pilot input so the combination of turns and line twists is a minor inconvienance. Some non-rectangular canopies will continue to spiral until control input is applied. This is a malfunction when control input is not applied because of line twists. Most new mains are not rectangular, and old squares like Sabres are becoming rare at some dropzones.

I've only seen Dacron tension knots including one on low-mileage lines with a tail pocket, and would bet on physical differences being the cause (weight, stiffness, size, spectra slickness).

Modern ellipticals sometimes spin up when you neglect to fly through the openings and start getting unruly with abnormal deployment attitudes. I don't know anyone who has mixed wing suits and ellipticals without at least one cutaway.

At 13 jumps my new Turbo-Z 205 (under 1 pound/square foot) was frighteningly fast compared to the 295 Skymaster and 288 Manta I jumped as a student. Before I had 100 jumps I tried out a 170 which was much more fun and ended up replacing it with a 155 that was even better. In hindsight that was not a good idea.

I used a 50L givi top case on the back rack and/or cargo-netted a gear bag to the passenger seat. I'd recommend the passenger seat option. Riding 200 miles round trip I would not want all that weight on my back.

Many people wouldn't use the word "cool" to desribe guys who hold hands with eachother and spend thousands of dollars on custom tailored suits plus color coordinated acessories.

You can make skydiving as dangerous as you want it to be. While not safe, dying when you've done everything right (due to gear failure, getting run over by an airplane, etc) is exceedingly rare. Being more conservative lets you do more wrong with fewer consequences. You need to figure out what you want to do skydiving, weigh the risks of that, and do what you want to reduce them (better training, waiting for more experience, not doing some of those things). Accurately assessing the risks is not always easy because your point of view makes it harder to determine what you're doing, especially when lack of experience means you don't have all the information available.

In over twenty years I never managed to hurt myself bad enough to see a doctor Then I screwed up my back. Three extra strength tylenols, three advils, and three aleves didn't provide enough pain relief to remain sitting. That plus pins and needles in my feet were enough to get me in to the urgent care clinic where they decided that I probably ruptured a disc. Assuming it doesn't get worse, I need to take it easy while it heals naturally in 6-8 weeks and worry about what happens when my Lortab prescription runs out. After that I'll do things differently. I'll take allergy pills before I start sneezing. I was done in by a single sneeze Tuesday morning. After I'd already eaten the advil in tylenol - my back started hurting Monday while I was riding my bicycle slowly in a straight line on smooth pavement, the sneeze just finished me and made the event somewhat amusing.

A friend had no problems putting a dacron lined 222 square foot F111 seven cell in my J7. You definately want to try putting a 230 in your J6 before declaring it won't fit. As long as you buy from private parties and are patient you can find a good container, main, and reserve in any size you want for $300 - $350 a piece. I paid $700 for my J7 + Raven III. Sold my Batwing 134 for $300 or $350. My memory is bad although I think I got $700 for my old Raven II and EOS built for a turbo Z 205. You won't get that sort of deal on popular new designs, although older in-trim ZP canopies still fly and land as well as they did 5-10 years ago. You also won't find odd sized harnesses, although a used rig plus a new harness ($400?) is a lot cheaper than a brand new one.

You need to get a better accountant or to read more about the game rules. Ideally you don't buy the rig: your LLC or S-corp does. Its net income is reduced the year the rig was put into service under section 179 or over a period of years as the rig depreciates. Section 179 is only applicable when the business use is over 50%. The deductions are adjusted based on the percentage of business use. If your percentage of business use drops after you've taken the section 179 deduction you have to pay the back taxes. The next choice is reporting your skydiving income on schedule C and depreciating or taking the section 179 deduction. Either way it's not part of your miscellaneous deductions that must exceed 2% of your AGI and doesn't phase out with the rest of your itemized deductions.

Under what circumstances? With $4M in cash I'd use $600K-$1M to move from a townhome in North Boulder to a house in Downtown Boulder and retire on the rest. I'm not moving to a better home with less money because I'd rather invest to retire earlier. I'm not moving elsewhere because I like it better here than the places I've visited. Good tech industry with work within bicycling distance, enough amenities without being a big city, plenty of decent resaurants within walking distance, great climate, good dry snow for snowboarding, close to Moab, great outdoor activities, an airport for skydiving within 15 minutes and one for flying within city limits, reasonable gun laws.... New Zealand sounds like a fine place. If I find it to my liking after visiting, there are plenty of software startups happening, the tax situation is reasonable, and the US has gotten too out of hand I'll strongly consider it.

I really like Moab with plenty of cliffs in the 300-400' range : nice hikes, great scenery in freefall and on the way up, high enough to take some delay, low enough to be exciting. I've jumped a 2700' cliff and 1000' bridge. While very enjoyable nearly all of the intensity came from the tight landing areas and that diminished when I realized those really weren't that bad.

Lightly loaded seven cells flare a _lot_ differently than similar canopies (PD reserves and lightnings) at typical skydiving loadings. When I'm not current on my Fox 245 and Dagger 244 (current loading .67, has been as high as .79) I get harder landings than I do under a less familiar seven cells at much higher loadings (My PD143R with one jump in the last few years or a borrowed Lightning 143). Flaring higher and faster seems to work. Deep brake approaches without returning to full flight don't appreciably change things. A few weekends at 4-5 jumps a day out of a plane really helped.

I just keep talking. People don't hear, don't mind, are too embarassed to say anything, or are too polite to notice.

Three of the last four companies I worked for no longer exist due to what the new owners did after acquisition. The other one became unpleasant after the big boss made his millions and quit to teach highschool math. In between the last one and now I worked as a software contractor. While it paid exceptionally well and/or had great work hours it wasn't much fun working on small projects in borrowed cubicles. After finding some things to work on I now have more fun and don't regret that.

You don't need to turn far or agressively to get plenty of speed. As a data point I clocked 48 MPH on RADAR with a carving 90 degree front riser turn under my Stiletto 120. A better pilot that got out of his dive smoother would have been faster through the gates. You'll go farther and faster with a well-executed 90 than a poor 180 and have an easier time putting it where you want. Start high because speed comes from acceleration over distance, establish roll angle to set your acceleration with a front riser, maintain roll angle to keep it through the dive using both risers so your turn fits into the space available, and come out smoothly with no (or minimal) toggle input Take a class and get video so you aren't doing things like digging out without knowing it (bruised my heels that way). Establish roll angle. A faster . I am on a Safire 2 135 loaded at 1.4. I currently am doing 90 degree front risers and can do the consistently and accurately. I find that after the riser input I am usually a bit high and need to stay on the fronts to keep the speed up and even to the point that all the speed washes off. ( Obviously too high but I'm not bothered). Is this ok? Even though I am loosing the speed generated by the turn. I dont mind doing this at this point because I know that I'm not too close to the deck and is a bit safer. I have also been doing 270's up high with full height hop n pops. I am wondering what is the principle behind it? Do you do the turn and stay on the risers to maintain the dive or after the turn is completed, you shouldnt have to do any input on rears/toggles until the flare at the end? Is a 270 safer than a 180 due to the lack of vision of looking over your shoulder? This is what I've been told and tend to agree a bit even though I havent done any 270's close to the deck yet. A few of the guy's like to bury a toggle and do a huge 180 degree hookie and they generate heaps of speed for there swoop. Fronts are heaps safer in my book and I plan to stick with it. What do ya think? All help is always appreciated, thanks.

"Extreme" sports are those which have been designated as such by people using them to sell drinks, people who wouldn't do them, and people who need to feel macho about what they're doing. You can have any risk level you want skydiving.

Taking a four second delay from a baloon will have you opening with the same time to impact as when you pull at 3000 feet on a terminal skydive. Your opening will happen at 2750 feet so you'll still have lots of altitude for your emergency procedures. Opening immediately at 3000 feet wouldn't be much fun. You might pull following a very unstable exit if you won't open lower You don't have any air to work with for about 3 seconds and even then its real mushy so you won't be able to do much aerodynamically to correct any problems. OTOH a skydiving pilot chute won't have much drag at that speed.

I'm jealous of those guys with their big minorities having "equal opportunity" programs, their own check box on forms, and only a single hyphen in their -Americanism. We Danish-English-German-Irish-Americans don't get any special treatment in the workplace, when getting government contracts, or applying for college. We unrecognized minorities can't write in our ethinicity on forms. Even describing our heritage is a mouthful.

Square footage can have more to do with how responsive a canopy is than wing loading. For this reason a 120 is an inappropriate choice for a 100 pound girl with a few hundred jumps even though her wing loading is just 1.0:.1. A 95 loaded at 1.5 is a questionable choice for a 130 pound guy with 500 jumps.

Children pose a danger to fewer people when skydiving than driving. Letting them skydive with parental permission would be fine in countries with more reasonable legal situations. Letting them skydive without that wouldn't be too different from other dangerous sports like skiing, motocross, etc.