tbrown

I bought my rig through the dropzone.com classifieds. The previous owner took wonderful care of the rig, even though the main was not as new as yours. The deal was also brokered by a highly reputable dealer, who also posts on these forums. Even so, I had everything gone over by a Master Rigger. Not only that, but last year when I bought a brand new main canopy, straight from the manufacturer, I had the same rigger inspect the canopy before I took it up for a jump. Let's not ever forget that for all the good clean fun we're having, our rigs SAVE OUR LIVES every single time we jump. You might never even have to use your reserve (it happens), but you're still depending on your main to save your precious heinie every jump. Treat it with the respect it deserves. Love your canopy and it will love you. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Pfffftttt !!!! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The one I married, almost 28 years ago. She's still pretty darn good and insists I'm still hot. The rest I've lost touch with and one I wouldn't keep in touch with if I could. Oh wait, there IS one. She's a retired skydiver, she got hurt pretty bad in 1980 and hasn't jumped since and is a cool little woman. My own wife thinks she's "a doll", and even one of my daughters has met her and likes her too. So it's all good. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Exactly. Hell, it's like paying somebody to pack your main. But if you're willing to pay for a service, it's also the American way ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Try standing on the sidewalk of a busy city street. Wait for a bus to come along, then wait for the bus to close to about 100 ft. Step off the curb, directly in front of the oncoming bus. Then wait for the brakes to stop the bus. They SHOULD work. They're supposed to. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You might still get some rain, but things are definitely looking up. April is one of the most beautiful months, nice and warm and sunny. But the desert gets cold at night, so be prepared. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'll never forget the guys in t-shirts, shorts & sandles lounging by the pool in January. "So where are you guys from ?" "Idaho". Dress in layers. If you don't get rained on, it's actually quite nice. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Her last name is Kennedy and not Khadija. I think that counts for a little less than half the country. Interesting remark, since at one time in America, "Irish need not apply" and a name like Kennedy was enough to block a lot of ambitions. Anyway, her name now is Schlossberg, and she's been an uptown Manhattan socialite for over a generation. That and Hillary's seat was also RFK's seat, in other words, it's NY's "reserved for carpetbaggers with ambitions" seat in the Senate. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If atheism is unbelief, then why should there be any "holy day" for it at all ? Even the solstices and equinoxes only have meaning to pagans, witches, or druids. Have the courage of your disbelief and suck it up - no holiday. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm hoping it's the start of a new fad. I wouldn't want to see anyone get hit in the face with a shoe, not even Bush. But waving or throwing shoes is funny. We haven't had a good shoe laugh since Kruschev banged his shoe on the desktop at the UN. Can't wait to see what SNL does with this ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Smoking some really good shit, are we ?? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I hate to break it to you like this, but i guess i'm suicidal. I had a PC in tow (24" Jim Cazar PC W/ Cobalt 170^2, Javelin J-4) pulled on the bridal and unseated the closing pin. The only thing that happened to me is the risers bitch slapped me at line stretch, cut my face and busted my nose. I was a bloody mess when i got down. Cleaned up and got packed went right back to jumping. Nothing hurt but my pride when everybody asks me what happened to my face. P.S. This was a 3,500 AGL deployment. Many moons ago. I know of several other individuals who have employed this exact teqnique, i didn't make it up all by myself, i was told how to do it from an upjumper, not an instructor. Give or take the broken nose, I'm glad you're okay. I know people get away with stuff like this, but there have been others who didn't. Why take the risk ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You don't have the TIME to work this out. You're falling at a thousand feet every 5.5 seconds. First, you have to sense that "something is wrong". THEN, you have to look over your shoulder and start groping for your bridle, until you find it (maybe). THEN you have to give it a yank and evaluate the results. You really don't have the time to go through this bullshit. Just ask Tom Demotts - oh, wait, he bounced back in '81. My point, is that when you have a HIGH SPEED malfunction like a p/c in tow is that you have no time left but to do the one thing that can SAVE YOUR LIFE. Fucking around with your bridle is what's called "improvised rigging". It's a fatal mistake when you have a high speed. I knew someone who tried it and died for his mistake. If you think you're smarter, then go for it, I'll cite you as a more recent example (that's cold - but I will). Pulling your 3 ring won't save your life either. I personally witnessed an incident where a woman blew up her reserve after not being able to extract her main p/c. After her reserve blew up and streamered, she damn well got her p/c out with a huge adrenalin rush and opened her main at about 100 ft. She landed and collapsed in a sobbing heap, but she lived. I do NOT believe in cutting away any canopy that has not yet been deployed. Look, the simple truth is that a p/c in tow is both our worst nightmare and almost completely preventable. We have too many people with packer mentalities who don't know Jack shit about the gear that saves their life on every single skydive they make. They don't pay attention to the condition their pilot chute is in, until it nearly kills them. Or actually does kill them.... Proper maintenance and doing their own packing could reduce the chance of this worst case ever happening to one in a million. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Trying to clear a towed bridle is suicidal. With the punch/drag a pilot chute has, if your PC hasn't pulled the pin, then neither will you. Meanwhile you've wasted precious time and altitude looking for, reaching for and grabbing a bridle you can't clear anyway. Tick-tock, at this point all I can say is I hope you have an AAD. I once knew a guy named Tom DeMotts who was killed trying to clear a pilot chute in tow back in the pre-Cypres days. So now that you're way low, you want to pull yet another handle that won't save your life either. After you find it, grip it and - oh, don't forget to PEEL it first. Sure hope you remembered to turn your AAD on this morning. If your reserve is open by now it's because you did. Otherwise you're already dead....and management is pissed off because all the tandems suddenly don't want to jump anymore and want their money back. You've got ONE handle to pull and ONE handle only that will save your life. It's there on the left main lift web. If it's a pillow handle you'll have to peel it anyway, so you'd better get started. Don't try to trouble shoot your rig, just pull that one handle that SAVES YOUR LIFE. Of course the real answer is to practice proper gear maintenance and reduce the likelihood to as near zero as you possibly can. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Call the cops and tell them you think the guy's selling drugs out of his house. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Glad to hear she's okay. Some lessons we learn are burned into our brain for life and it sounds like you just had one of them. Those little pups move FAST and you just can't let them out of sight or reach. Consider getting her a leash when she starts to walk. You'll get some crap from ignorant hippie types, but you'll also keep her out of the street, off of glass shelves in stores, and under control in parking lots. Besides, they make a really cute monkey backpack with a long tail/leash now. I'm jealous, even of the fright you feel. Our first little girl was way back in '84 and even though I was out of work, I still love to look back at those days (and pray for grandchildren....). Merry Christmas to you and your family ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I DO wish ONE particular Pres. was buried... UP to his eyeballs,,, in the sand of an ocean beach....Just as the tide is coming in... Watching a TV set playing Al Gore's Oscar winning film about global warming ? Creepshow revisited ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Grant; & I believe Wilson? Question: Who's buried in Grant's tomb ? (Hint: the tomb is in NYC, so unless you're trying to say NYC isn't American soil, or else that the body is entombed above ground level...) Wilson's buried in the US, why wouldn't he be ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Here's a theory: what if Fitzgerald wanted to protect Jackson before he actually compromised himself on the wire tap? Just a theory of course but does anyone else have a better explanation? "Protect" Jackson how, by besmirching his name and reputation ? It's one thing to say that Jackson is "innocent until proven guilty", or even that there is no evidence to proceed against him. But the accusation has already been made in the public's mind and Jackson's reputation is seriously compromised, if not ruined, already. It makes me wonder how easily, or how often, officials can cripple, or end, the career of a politician they don't like, simply by making a strategic leak like this one. OF COURSE if Jackson is guilty of a crime, he should be sent away to stamp license plates for a few or several years. But if he has committed no crime, then what is the penalty for those who have suggested he may have ? They haven't committed a crime either. He could perhaps sue them, but not even a hefty civil judgement could begin to make up for a lost Senate seat he could have won, or even may have deserved. In any event, for all of the reasons above, I already think Jackson will not be filling this vacant seat. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There does seem to be a common mythological thread concerning great prophets, including a lot of stuff that sincere thinking believers don't quite believe anymore, without throwing out the main body of teachings. Virgin birth was ascribed to more than a few great men, including Alexander the Great, it's sort of the ultimate "whatta guy" compliment of the ancient world. More recently, the Dalai Lama has said that he thinks the age of religious competition is over. He believes that the world's religions, at their core, are teaching the same essential truths and that people are wasting their time trying to argue with or convert others. He believes people should stick with their native beliefs and look to find the truths they contain, and use those truths in their lives and their societies. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I can't help to conclude that the USofA in itself is the biggest Ponzi scheme of them all. Pffffttt (wet and juicy).... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

He hasn't taken office yet. It's very easy to be president when you're not the president. What's your plan if Obama does not meet your expectations? __________________________________________________ Of course he's not going to meet my expectations. No elected official ever does. I will disagree with him and even be disappointed with some of the things he does. And he will make at least several missteps getting started. But for starters, he can cobble together an intelligible sentence in the english language, and considering the moron we've put up with for the last eight years, I'd say that's an encouraging start. ___________________________________________________Oh wait...he's pro-abortion. He's already met your expectations. My bad. Um, yeah, it is your bad, considering I haven't mentioned abortion in my post. I'll thank you to not put your words in my mouth. Anyway, just 38 days to the most deserved layoff in history. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I love Christmas Carols ! Merry Christmas to you too Carol, uh, Lisa.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Damn, I just saw that scene on cable a few weeks ago. Jane RUSSELL, hey, I was thinking Jayne Mansfield for some reason. Jane Russell was HOT ! Anybody who hasn't seen "The Outlaw" might be surprised at how hot movies could be in the old days. That's the one with the famous scene of her lying around in the hay... Yee-ha !! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's almost over. We will have a POTUS with a normally functioning brain again. Today's the beginning of the last forty days ! Considering how badly the economy has tanked, it's taken the joy out the counting, but with just 40 days to go it's worth a try. Can we hang together now and keep this thread moving 'til Jan. 20th ? And we ALREADY have a President with a real functioning brain again - and he's already got his feet on the ground and moving in every way but having taken the oath and assumed the full legal authority. Speaks English good too... The guy in the White House isn't doing a fuckin' thing. There's no leadership in the hour of his country's need, he's already enjoying early retirement..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !