DrewEckhardt

Drinking to drunkenness got boring a long time ago. Now when I go out for a drink it's 1-2 drinks, although I may have three beers in a long day. Not enough to have a hang over.

On bratwurst. Hot dogs are not food.

Some people are unwilling to accept living in housing they can afford which may be less than their own apartment. When I was supporting myself on $10 an hour in an expensive town I survived by renting rooms in larger dwellings for less than half what I'd have spent on my own. A pair of room-mates got by for even less by sharing a single room.

Highest: 23,500' Highest not from aircraft: 2700' Lowest from aircraft: 2000' (open below 1000') Lowest freefall: 300' Lowest: 212' It pretty much comes down to having the right opportunity and gear at the right time.

The guys in question shoot trap which means using birdshot with a maximum range of 175-200 yards. That's not enough for pellets to land off airport property. The airport is in rural Colorado. It doesn't have any regular users apart from Denver Skydivers. If folks we're shooting rifles and pistols in the air I'd get upset. Birdshot doesn't have enough range to be a problem.

Yes. It comes from a Monty Python sketch set in a restaurant where nearly all the dishes contain spam and the Vikings sing things like http://www.detritus.org/spam/skit.html

Torture is the government doing something. Outlawry is the government not doing something - notably providing most legal protections.

There's a 14.7 PSI difference between sea level and space. Taking a SCUBA bottle up in a plane is going to change the forces exerted on it by less than 1%.

In 1913, the exemption for single people was $3000 ($54,567 in 2003 dollars), $4000 ($72,756 in 2003 dollars) for married/ The first $20,000 beyond the exemption ($363,783 in 2003 dollars) was taxed at 1%. Earnings over $500,000 a year ($9,094,578 in 2003 dollars) were taxed at the top rate of 7%. We'd just need to shrink government spending to accomodate the reduced income tax revenues.

Other alternatives exist to prison. The constitution does not preclude slavery as a punishment. Outlawry would not be inappropriate when you decided not to provide for your FBI bill.

Captitation. Where practical government services should be covered by user fees like the US postal service. USPS's entire operating budget is paid for with postage. Interestate highway and controlled airspae useage could be covered by tolls. Military liberation of foreign countries could be paid for by their treasuries. Where that doesn't work take the budget, subtract government income from other sources, divide the resulting quantity by the number of able bodied individuals, and send everyone an annual bill for their entire share. Have some form of grandfathering for people who planned for retirement under the old system so we aren't passing an ex-post-facto law. Government service use doesn't increase with income and taxes shouldn't either. The other part is to get people aware of what they're actually paying. $380 a paycheck doesn't look as big as $20000 a year. If you're not self employed your pay stubs don't show the employer's share of Social Security/Medicare which is up to 7.5%. Federal+state unemployment insurance payments aren't there either. I think support for a large government spending lots of money would disappear once people were paying for their share of the government and had to deal with the yearly total all at once.

Nearly everyone believes that whoever's protecting them is entitled to guns and some people shouldn't be allowed to own guns. We just disagree over who is responsible for our protection (answers include me, my bodyguards, the police, or the government) and who shouldn't have them (choices include everyone but the government, convicted criminals, people of the wrong color, and everyone not incarcerated). The exceptions are hard-core libertarians (everyone is entitled to protect themself with any gun including "criminals." Once a criminal initiates force against someone he ends up dead and is no longer a threat) and pacifists (everyone should accept their role as a victim).

I bought my first rig used off the base board with no questions asked beyond shipping address.

I'm fond of tasty ales in both English and non-traditional styles. In warm weather I like a light (can see light through them) bitter beer to brighten my day like IPAs and ESBs. Particular favorites include the Bridgeport bottle conditioned IPA, Fuiller's ESB, Anderson Valley Belk's Bitter, Oasis ESB, Stone IPA or Arrogant Bastard, and dry-hopped Boulder Hazed and Infused. For cold I prefer black beers to brighten my mood especially oatmeal stouts and porters that aren't burnt. Examples include Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout (better than Sammy Smith's), and Sammy Smith's Taddy Porter. Sometimes a smoother drinking beer off a nitrogen tap is nice like Guiness or Bodington's. And when I want something with less bite, a real draught of hoppy ale is nice. Sad how few American pubs can pull a beer for you like that.

It's a great docile canopy which is pleasant to fly, not too sensitve to control input compared to other non squares, works for casual CRW, and is less likely to have opening problems in unusual circumstances (notably on wing suit deployments). I'd definately put one in my wingsuit rig.

On skydives I leave my risers alone until I need to do something with them. I used to hang on during opening, although after changing to slinks I got bloody fingers from the slider gromets and it is possible to get stuck up there if you develop severe line twists.

You may also be able to find deals outside the FBO without their markup- I was flying our favorite skydiving pilot's 160HP 172 for $56/hour wet in 2001-2002 (bought 10 hours at a time). His services as a CFI were also less expensive than if I had to hire him through a middle-man.

Love sushi. Favorites include sawagani (flash fried river crab), unagi shirayaki (fresh freshwater eel, not made in a factory in Taiwan), wasabi tobiko with uzura (raw quail eggs rock!), ama ebi (love the sweet tails and shrimp heads - yum!), o toro (bluefin belly. melts in your mouth), and shake (wild - sweeter than farm raised salmon). Mmm.

No. If you're falling straight down your chest is in the relative wind and it reads accurately. If you're actually on your back it can read a few hundred feet high. It can stick regardless of where it is.

3. 1. I met Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn at the Brown Field bar (while having a beer after skydiving) 2k. Kurt (I) Russell was in Backdraft (1991) with Jennifer Jason Leigh 3k. Jennifer Jason Leigh was in In the Cut (2003) with Kevin Bacon 2g. Goldie Hawn was in First Wives Club, The (1996) with Marcia Gay Harden 3g. Marcia Gay Harden was in Mystic River (2003) with Kevin Bacon

The Outbacks I've been to (Twin Falls ID and Louisville Colorado) have fed me over-priced mediocre food. Rock Creek in Twin Falls does a _wonderful_ aged prime rib for about the same price. In Boulder I eat most of my steak raw from L'Atelier ($15 for a healthy pile of organic steak tartare with a raw quail egg, crostini, and various condiments). Chain restaurants are never exceptional and usually provide a poor value - elsewhere you can spend less for the same quality or have something a lot tastier.

Farmer's. I think I paid about $180 a year full-coverage on a 900cc Triumph Sprint, and that it was about half that for liability only on a 920cc Yamaha Virago.

No, I just use a credit union which doesn't suck. The only difference I've found with them (UofC FCU) and a bank is that I can't give them a deposit slip for my payroll taxes.

The short lines aren't any longer when a 100 pound woman is jumping the canopy than when a 200 pound guy is so it's still going to be sensitive to control input the way a small canopy is. Outside exceptional circumstances (skydive chicago style training, hundreds of jumps on larger rental gear, etc) it's not an appropriate first canopy.

Repacks should be done when the AAD batteries come due,the reserve container got wet, the rig is too dirty to look good, or one year has passed - whichever comes first.