tbrown

Nobody's arguing here, the discourse is pretty civil. It has been 40 years now and most of the principle players have died. The reason this goes on and on with no resolution is that the Kennedy assasination is when everything started "going wrong". It was a huge blow to America and the world, as well as to our perception of ourselves as a people and a country. It was a short slippery slope from Nov 1963 to Vietnam, urban riots, LSD, anti war and anti draft demonstrations, the King and RFK assasinations, more riots, and so on. I was only 8 years old on 11/22/63, I was in the 3rd grade and we were cleaning our desks before the weekend, when the news started coming over our school PA. What totally freaked me out at that age was seeing so many adults starting to cry. That wasn't supposed to happen, ever, and it was extremely unsettling to me as a kid. I knew something had to be SERIOUSLY wrong with this. The whole national mood was on a huge bummer for the next few months, until thank God, the Beatles came along on Ed Sullivan. They were so great, so completely different, and so fun, that it was suddenly OK to have fun again. We owe the Beatles for helping us snap out of it. But for those of us who remember, it was that big of a deal. And if you're too young to remember, think 9-11. The shock was that awful. And with the assasin killed before he ever went to trial, or even talked, it created a gnawing doubt that's never gone away. It probably doesn't make a difference anymore and we probably would b e better off to just go with the official Oswald verdict. I'd rather nobody else ever proves otherwise at this point. But the reason we still speculate is because of how deeply it shook us. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

More vibes and best wishes. Your persistence is sure to be noticed and should help. Have you offered them any of your holiday brews ??? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

To start the year right I've gone and bought me a rig! I feel wonderful ! It's not a done deal There are always those details But it's looking good Javelin, Spectre, PD reserve & Cypres Just what I wanted Harness is my size, Big guy harness, hard to find, Price is just perfect So Happy New Year's Be safe out there and have fun Blue skies to us all ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Maybe they just want to have sex with him... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Bush is a lousy president and history will judge him harshly. He took a budget surplus, left behind from those awful tax & spend Democrats and turned it into a deficit that dwarfs the one his lod man left behind. He flat out LIED to the American people about his reasons for going to war in Iraq. But we can blame ourselves and our members of Congress for swallowing the lies and letting him do it. His "No Child Left Behind" initiative is a pure testing regimen that drains resources away from actual teaching and provides an excuse for draining away education dollars to private schools after public schools fail in a program that fails by design. He's inflicted his personal religious beliefs on all of us, which I find deeply offensive as a recovering former Christian. He's CUT TAXES DURING WARTIME !?!?! Do I need to explain how stupid that is ? And beyond a slim $400 bribe, we're not getting any of the tax relief. We're paying for this party that he's given to the richest 5%. WE are paying for this war, and not only with the blood of sons, daughters, spouses, brothers and sisters. We're PAYING for it with our tax burden. You don't think Bush and his pals are paying for any of this with a drop or blood or a single dime, do you ? FUCK NO THEY AREN'T, WE ARE ! Finally, he's stripped away our Constitutional rights. Better watch what you say, or you too can be declared an "enemy combatant", and held without trial, without charges, without legal counsel, without a visit from your family, withhout anyone even knowing where you're locked up. If they can do it to Jose Padillo, they can do it to you and you and YOU. But Bush talks a good talk. Somehow he manages to to whip up the white male vote into a collective hard on and they just keep voting for him. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Oh I believe one nut with a rifle, or a pistol (like Sirhan Sirhan) can change the sourse of history. But I still can't believe that anyone could shoot so quickly and accurately with a WWI vintage Mannlicher Carcano rifle. It was NOT a semi automatic, Oswald had to open and close the bolt action before each and every shot, all the while re-aiming or maintaining his aim. I do think he was ONE of the gunmen, but not the only one. And there can be no disputing that Oswald shot a Dallas cop dead at point blank range with a pistol the same day. I recently had the misfortune of encountering an autopsy photo of JFK in a book a crime photos. I don't recommend anyone looking at the picture either, it's horrific. Kennedy's head is tipped off the end of the table with his brain hanging loose out the opened backside of his head. His face is visible and recognizable. So how do you get that from a rear entry wound ? Wouldn't a shot from behind have blown out his face (sorry to put it this way, but it's a relevant question) ? One of the cable networks did a factoidal "expose" that supposedly nailed the conspiracy on LBJ, working with the mob and the FBI. It made a rather interesting case, though I think it's extreme and highly irresponsible to accuse a former President of the United States of offing his predecessor. They wouldn't have dared do it while LBJ or Lady Bird were still living. But I wouldn't put it past LBJ either, this was the guy who promised the voters that our boys shouldn't be dying for a war that Vietnamese boys should be fighting for themselves. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Dude, it's Christmas. Got a wife and two teenage kids. Gotta spend some scratch on them or I'm out in the cold rain without a dime... I have no intention of letting this slip by, I'll get up there somehow. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The stories Dr. Seuss could've told with names like Osama bin Laden and el Qaida.... "A man like a vulture, with scraggly beard, whose bitter pronouncements grew increasingly weird. He sat in a cave all day brooding with ills, this dank little man in the Pakistan hills...". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

So naturally, the authorities are trying to blame these two guys for their fuck-up. "Traded cells without permission". Oh boy, the dead guy's in real trouble now.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At a greater velocity than the belligerent national bird these enslaved creatures desperately raced, while the power mad elfen figure shrieked each wretched creature's designated (though not natural *) appelation; "Now Dasher, now Dancer, now Prancer and Vixen, on Comet, on Cupid, on Donder and Blitzen ! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, now with all speed and regardless of your exhausted condition, dash away all, yet again". * footnote - these poor creatures' indigenous names are believed to be Digby, Ichabod, Elvira, Toots, Ray, Michael, Bud, and Sweetie. All are enumerated in vocal folklore as having been abducted by a red-frocked hairy demon who lured them into their captivity with peppermint flavored treats... And like shriveled foliage in a windstorm mount to the sky, when told by cruel master to do it or die, up to the privileged housetop the slave reindeer flew, with a backbreaking load of amusements and their obese tormentor too. But let us continue...Dagny ?? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The pale reflected sunlight from the planetary lunar adjunct reflected from the soft frozen water precipitate (recently deposited), imparted the false impression of normal daylight to objects within my range of visual perception. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

On 2nd thought, I think you're absolutely right. You never can tell unless you pull it yourself, the practice will do you good, and not pulling for even a fully open reserve can allow a lazy and dangerous habit to get started. I do use a RSL, but will always be pulling, no matter what. Thanks for pointing things out & Merry Xmas! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What would you suggest we do? Quite simply, if the bastards try fucking up our Christmas, we should cheerfully drop a nuke on their hly fucking city of Mecca and then tell them that's just a start. And I'm a liberal Grateful Dead brown rice hippie type, so put that in your pipes and smoke it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

God, I didn't think ANY DZ could be that stupid in this day and age. I've never been to Deland and was only at Z-Hills once in the seventies (THAT was fun...). But what you're describing reminds me of the OLD Elsinore back in the seventies. A skygod heaven where the rest of us mere mortals could wait 'til hell froze over. That attitude was a major contributing factor to the growth of Perris, which was just a struggling shack DZ in the middle of nowhere at the time. It didn't take too long for the Conatsers to come iun and figure out that all they had to do was make jumpers feel WELCOME. And I don't mean any of this to apply to the current operation at Elsinore either, the place has changed 180 degrees into a wonderful and welcoming operation, after a few floods cleansed it of eyesores like the trailer ghetto. But I can't believe that ANY DZ with an eye on its future doesn't have some LO's on their staff. Whatever line of business your in, drop zone or whatever, the day you get comfy with what you've got is the beginning of the end. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Pat Works once wrote that, "it is extremely poor form to 'go in' without pulling one's handles". Embarrassing too.... Now if an RSL or Skyhook is so fast that you're clearly getting line stretch under your reserve, I can see leaving the handle alone and not losing it. But short of line stretch pulling you upright, you have the responsibility to save your own life and nobody but yourself to blame if you don't. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Jose Padilla may very well be guilty of all the things he's been accused of. He may very well deserve to fry. But the way to do it is to accuse him of a crime and try him in open court, before a jury, where he can offer a vigorous defense. Why ? Because even if he is the criminal they say he is, he's still an American citizen. It's his right, no it's ALL OF OUR RIGHT to a fair trial, based on the evidence. This right goes back even before the Constitution. the right of Habeas Corpus (present the body - as in court) goes all the way back to the Magna Carta of 1215. The thing that always scared me about Bush even before he was "elected", was the way he was so sure about the 150 people he had executed in Texas. "They were all guilty." 150 people, in Texas, all of them ? Nope, couldn't be. He for sure killed several innocent people, but it doesn't bother him a bit. Now he's trying to discard rights and freedoms that go back to the days of Robin Hood. Time to call out the Merry Men... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Britney Spears. Took my two daughters and a friend of theirs. I didn't actually go into the show, which was at an outdoor arena. Stayed out in the parking lot drinking beer with other parents. But we could hear the show loud and clear and it was awful. I always loved the Grateful Dead and have seen them some forty times or so, but on a bad night those guys just sucked. 1988 in Tacoma was especially awful. Thank god Santana also played, Carlos helped salvage an otherwise miserable evening. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Chins up, you'll do just great. Especially with square canopies, they really do WANT to open. In the old days (oh god, here I go again...), a students were taught how to pack for their first freefall, which was like jump #6. I'm not making this up, your first freefall, sixth jump, was your first pack job. I don't think I've ever seen a first freefall student have to cutaway either. Anyway, the sooner and the more you pack, the more confident you'll feel about it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There are already people who are retiring their first Cypres, as it hits the 12 yr age limit. Their Cypres has never fired once in the whole 12 yrs. And they're getting a new one to replace it. I don't think I NEED a Cypres, I've made over 500 jumps without one. I never RELY on a Cypres. But I think they're a great device with a good track record for saving lives. I won't ever need one - until that one jump when I'll need it, whether I've blacked out or just fucked up. Besides, in the old days I was single, I've got a family now. They're glad I use one. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The people that came back after the 25 year break - were they using the same gear? Some do, we've got a friend who just came back from the eighties, he's jumping a Wonderhog Sprint (that's a pre-Vector Booth rig to you kids...), a Fury main and a 23 ft round reserve. He had the main container altered to a BOC setup for his pilot chute. I was out for 22 years, and I did sell my rig. I don't hink I'd want to be jumping it nowadays anyway. But it will take several/many years for your rig to go out of date. Put it in a safe dry place in a closet and forget about it if you like, it will keep. Starting to jump again without a rig is a major hassle. I'm renting demo gear and don't know if or when I'll be able to afford a rig. I burned out back in 1980. After about 7 years in the sport I got fed up with the usual crap. There was also a rash of fatalities and a few friends who opened reserves below 500 ft. We'd all gone to Yosemite and jumped El Capitan, and after that the DZ just seemed boring. There is a whole world out there off the drop zone and skydiving is only one of life's many flavors. Go to school, get married, make some babies, buy a house, go across Europe on a bicycle. Run for Congress (hell, why not ?). If you're meant to come back, you will. You just sound liike you need a break. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

One thing to keep in mind is that when you're 8 miles from shore, having a square is no advantage over the rounds those folks were jumping. Bottom line is still that we shouldn't jump if we can't see where we're getting out. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What he said. As I don't own a rig yet I rent a lot of demo gear and jumped a lot of different 210 and 230 Spectres (I'm a big guy with a 240 lb exit weight). I pro pack and never do anything special with the nose and just basically quarter the slider. I typically throw out my pilot anywhere below 3 grand after clearing myself and waiving off, so about 2800 ft. And I'm consistently sitting in at 2200-2300 ft, after an opening that's like falling into bed, so I guess I'm using up 500-600 ft. Anything that's taking a grand or more to open sounds pretty dodgy to me. If you get too used to those long openings, what will you do the day it finally decides it doesn't feel like opening ? The things open so softly, you should be able to expect about 700 ft max - and get it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

When I was young and stupid I'd jump in any kind of conditions. Had some nerve wracking canopy rides too. Then one of those jumps I had a cutaway and got banged up pretty well landing my round reserve. Now that I'm 23 years older, 50 lbs heavier (sigh...), and have a wife and kids, I'll head for the bar if the winds are too high. I'm not in this to get hurt and I hope I'm a little smarter than the young fool I once was. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Same as a jump ticket. Really, is that for waivered jumpers only or for "whuffo you jump" civilian whuffos ? In the old days observer rides were common. Observers would wear a bailout rig (FAA regs for an open door aircraft, etc) and pay for altitude the same as the jumpers. I've got a 1980 picture of my wife in her first jump gear, standing in front of the price board at Perris. It says "Whuffo Rides - $10", which was the going price for 12,500 in those days (and we thought it was robbery...). But my daughter asked about an observer ride last week and was told that insurance won't cover non-jumper passengers in the plane, so observer rides were discontinued. I think observer rides were just great. Even if they never jump, the whuffs get a huge thrill out of seeing people go out the door and fall away. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm more concerned about getting to 1 grand, the rest is all icing on the cake. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !