tbrown

I'm not a rigger, but this would seem to be due to not paying attention to the condition of one's gear. I've got a rigger who gives my entire rig a thorough going over when he repacks my reserve and last year he told me I needed to have my p/c handle replaced, as it was becoming badly worn. But I would find it difficult to believe something like this would happen suddenly, it seems more like a long process of age and wear. A lot of people nowadays don't look at their gear, or even KNOW what they should be looking for. It's part of the "My packer/rigger/RSL/AAD will take care of it" syndrome. Then suddenly something goes "snap" and there's barely time to say "oh shit". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Were the New Testaments collected, or seized ? It is an important distinction, though many "voluntary" surrenders of the literature may be due to the social pressure of being "asked" so directly, as in worrying about the consequences of not surrendering something the religious authorities thought you had in your possession. The anniversary of the great Nazi book burning was only a week or two ago. I used to think the book burnings were sort of a regular Saturday night kind of thing in Nazi Germany, but apparently most of it was done in one big night, all across the country. It wouldn't do the people of this Israeli town a bit of harm to watch some documentary films on the Nazi book burning, though I'm sure they'd be offended to the core at being compared in any way with the Nazis. But the thing to remember about the Nazis is that they weren't born that way. They were by and large good, hardworking, honest people with families, who allowed themselves, one step at a time to be seduced into committing monstrous crimes. We all have a dark side and the only difference with the Nazis is that their social order not only permitted, but encouraged the development of their dark side. And it can happen to anyone else; to Cambodians, to Hutus, even to us. A lot of you are too young to remember, but in 1966 there were large scale public burnings of Beatle records after John Lennon flippantly said the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus". The Ku Klux Klan picketed Beatle concerts in full hooded regalia and portrayed themselves as defenders of Christian values - at a time when they were also bombing little girls in Sunday schools and shooting people dead in front of their homes. So, it can happen anywhere, even here and even in Israel. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I haven't heard any stories about Indiana Jones poisoning anyone with Rycin either. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

With only 241 Constitutional days left to the Bush presidency (and provided Dick Cheney doesn't invoke some emergency powers as President of the Senate), it seems likely that Barack Obama will be next President of the United States. Unless she has Obama assasinated, as she has lately been hinting at, we can count Heil Hillary out of the running. She and Bubba will both be sent packing back to New York, where their subsequent divorce will provide tabloid fodder at supermarket checkout counters for the next year or two. I do not believe McCain will prevail over Obama either. Nothing against McCain, he's a good & honorable man, but I think that he and the entire Republican species are about to be swept away. Though both McCain and Heil Hillary will have their Senate seats waiting for them to return. So, for the sake of argument, this thread will ASSUME that Obama has won the election and been sworn in as our 44th President. What's your take on America in the next four years under an Obama presidency ? There's plenty to think about with the economy & mortgage crisis, the price of oil, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the rising fortunes of China and Russia, a strong Euro against a weakening dollar, and Iran hell bent at lobbing a nuke at Israel. So how do YOU see a President Obama (better start practicing how to say that, it might take some work) facing these challenges ? How would an Obama presidency affect YOUR life ? Me personally, though I am an Obama supporter, I'm hoping he won't turn out to be another Jimmy Carter. And since I work for a company that makes jet and rocket engine parts, I'm concerned that the Dems will always cut defense spending, leaving me out of a job - again. But I can't vote based on my fears and I'm not willing to give John McCain another five years to "fight on to victory" in Iraq. So I'll take my chances on the man from Illinois and hope for the best. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

This just in: Hillary's latest apology. Heil Hillary has now apologized for having said the 1968 assasination of Robert F. Kennedy is one of the reasons she's staying in the race. She "hopes she hasn't offended, or caused pain" to the Kennedy family. As if Ted's brain tumor wasn't bad enough. Nice going, Heil Hillary ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The news reports a tornado flipped a big rig on the 215 freeway yesterday, as well as derailed a freight train. This was somewhere between March Field and downtown Perris. Is the airport okay ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's funny how the standards have changed. I've always pulled at about the same 2800 - 3000 ft. Thirty years ago, people asked me if I was "nervous" for pulling so high. Nowadays some people think I'm "wreckless" for pulling below 3500. I don't worry about it, the one time I actually had a streamer mal, I was chopped and sitting under my reserve above 1500 ft (with no RSL in those days). And compared to the squares we had then, ALL of taoday's canopies, even the student Navigators, would've been considered "extreme". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Instead of spending the rest of your life with some crazy idea of pulling on your RSL, you should be spending your precious few seconds remaining finding the reserve ripcord cable coming out of the cable housing, tracing it to the reserve ripcord handle, and pulling on that. One more time for the guy who understands the basic issue involved. Ding-ding-ding-ding - we have a winner !! An emergency situation is NO time to start experimenting with your rigging. If you can't find your resrve handle, it HAS TO be within inches of the bottom of the cable housing. The time it will take you to locate your RSL and even begin peeling the velcro aparrt from your reserve riser will put you into the ground, you won't even get to the pull. Long ago, when pilot chutes used to be mounted on belly bands, there was a fatality involving a guy who had a p/c in tow - a rather common mal in the belly band days. He apparently was seen trying to reel in his p/c before risking a reserve pull. He never got to the pull - and in those days we didn't have AADs. You figure out the rest. It was a different malfunction, but another case of somebody trying to improvise when sticking to simple procedures would have probably saved him. Don't forget that our gear is designed for SIMPLE operation. Handles are designed to grip & pull, because that's all we have time for. If you want to improve on the system, do it on the ground, not on your last two thousand feet of terminal freefall. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

They can also replace the paper with very thin plastic, which a lot of countries have already done. Plastic bills are more durable than paper as well. I've seen some Australian dollar bills and (old, pre-Euro) Swiss Francs on sheer thin plastic and they were really cool. Should be much easier to emboss as well. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Well, Mass General is the best place for him to be. My dad had surgery there right after Xmas for a tumor that was thankfully ON his brain, and not in it. It wasn't cancerous either.But the surgeons were incredible, really the best. One of them even looked like a twentysomething version of Barack Obama. Boston is a real magnet for some of the best doctors in the world and these tumors are a lot more treatable than they used to be. I imagine that even with a good outcome, this will bring down the curtain on Kennedy's career and he will be missed. He's been a great Senator. As for whatever happened with Mary Jo Kopechne, he may be beyond the reach of the law, but he'll still have to reckon up with God for it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Iraq is never going to have freedom of expression anyway, so why bother worrying about it. The act of using a Quran for target practice is understandable, within the context of young soldiers who necessarily (and in my opinion correctly) don't trust anyone in the "host" country. This is the problem with occupations. Soldiers are not degreed anthropologists, nor are they politicians. They are trained to fight, kill, and prevail over armed enemies. and they do that very well. Their officers, who do have degrees, have even offered up a quote as to the limits of using military force, "If the only tool in your box is a hammer, soon everything starts looking like a nail". Guess the Quran looked enough like a nail for some kid to shoot it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

We can already take a look at the first generation of kids who grew up and reached adulthood with openly gay parents. Statistically, they're as normal as any other kids of their generation. They're about as happy, adjusted, and successful as anyone else. They've got their share of screw-ups, but no more than the population at large. And thry're also no "gayer" than the rest of their generation, their sexual orientation as to whether they grow up gay, bi, or hetero is no different either. So what do we need, another generation to study ? The results are already their. Gay parents are just as good - or bad - as any other parents. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

GOP candidate Davis ran ads trying to tie Childers to Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the national Democratic Party's policies. Oh the unbearable shame..... Sounds to me like something you'd want to put on a resume if you were running for office this year. He should thank the Reptilians for their help - and on their dime ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Two questions a husband should never answer "yes" to: 1.) Does this dress make me look fat ? and 2.) Is my candidacy killing the Democratic Party ? I'd love to take credit for that, but I heard it last weekend on a quiz show called "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Well, I'm white, working class and I'm voting. For Obama this fall. Because Heil Hillary would NEVER play the race card, she's "not" playing it by appealing to white working class voters. Especially those who would be happy to play the race card for her, because she would NEVER stoop to such a thing. She apparently believes her darling white boys have also got over the idea of voting for a woman, because she is after all a white woman (though she would NEVER call attention to herself that way). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Perhaps a worthwhile area to investigate after slammer incidents is to determine what kind of riser covers were used. Tuck tabs, magnets, velcro, other, or none ? Also an inspection for damage to riser covers would be worthwhile (though after a real slam banger, the entire system should be inspected, as my rigger did after mine). For the record, I had tuck tabs and still do. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Heard a great joke about Vladimir Putin standing beside his new handpicked successor and drinking a glass of water while President Medvedev delivered his inaugural address. Even better was the punchline, "This is a little trick I learned from Dick Cheney". But levity aside, can there really be any serious doubt about who's calling the shots in Russia ? With soviet, uh Russian "peacekeeping" troops occupying breakaway regions of Georgia ? And now with tanks and missiles making their first post-Soviet appearance in the May Day parade ? (Actually, it's not May Day, or on May 1st anymore, they're not Commies anymore. Nowadays it's Victory Day, commemorating the end of WWII, or The Great Patriotic War, as it's known in Russia.) The Dick Cheney angle is interesting, as for all intents and purposes that's how our executive branch has been running the last several years. More interesting though is that historically the Presidency in Russia or the old USSR was never more than a ceremonial head of state position. Anybody remember Nikolai Podgorny ? No ? Maybe some of you older guys & girls ? Old Nick was the againg decrepit President of the USSR through most of the Brezhnev years, until he finally kicked the bucket sometime around the late seventies or so. When Brezhnev named himself President, it was thought highly unusual, it hadn't been done since the days of Stalin. The old USSR was ruled by the Gen'l Secy of the Communist Party, the President was just some old guy who would talk a lot about world peace and how the Soviets were all for it (of course). So they have precedent for a strong man ruling the country from behind the guy with the fancy titles. And Mr. Putin is one very dangerous Prime Minister. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

According to the PD website, there are two versions available; a fun version for the average skydiver and a serious CF version. The fun version is said to be an "upgrade" and perhaps even a replacement for the Spectre. The opening is supposed to be as soft as a Spectre, but not as snivelly. the flare is supposed to be more like a Sabre2. Check out their website, they'ge got the Storm up now. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I wuz gonna say, this sounds like an opportunity for some regime change, but if they don't have any oil, why bother ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hmmm....well, first of all, maestrabella67, have you ever encountered a problem while scuba diving ? It seems to me that whether scuba or skydiving, the more you do either one, the greater your chances of eventually encountering a problem. Both sports take us to places we would ordinarily not be able to survive without our equipment and a cool head to keep on top of things. I returned to jumping after a very long (22 year) break, and during my first few jumps back, mostly in the first month or so, found myself thinking on the plane ride up, "Do I really want to be doing this again ? It's only a matter of time before I'll have to do a cutaway and trust my reserve to save me". It's lind of a personal choice as to what you want to make of it. As a scuba diver you have more time to react, so long as you don't completely run out of air. Even if you do have to beat a hasty retreat to the surface, you can always hope to get to a hyperbaric chamber where things can be made right. In freefall, we get down to 2 - 3 grand, where we're only 11 - 16.5 seconds from a collision with the planet. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, if you consider how many times you come that close to a collision on the freeway. It's just that thing that gravity doesn't respect any time outs, the ground just keeps getting bigger and bigger, faster and faster, until you either get something open or go in. I don't think either one of these sports are for just anyone. They're both for the people who really want to be there. Because the other thing they have in common is being weightless in a world of incredible beauty that most people can't even imagine. I can't say that we're really "willing" to pay the price to be there, but sky & scuba divers both feel we can control the odds enough in our favor to make it worthwhile for the rewards we get. If you're just getting into skydiving, you are confronting some very real feelings about just what it is you're doing. Falling and loud noises are supposedly the only two things we're instinctively afraid of from birth, and skydiving's got them both. I haven't been scuba diving, so I can't really say what it feels like to be breathing under water - and relying on equipment that allows me to do that. But skydiving can be an incredibly spooky thing to get used to. Most of us get used to it soon enough that we learn to deal with it, but I don't think the fear ever quite goes away. But for the most part, we don't feel resigned to inevitably having to deal with a problem. Those of us who stick with the sport are having too much fun with it, while we're prepared to deal with a problem if things go wrong. And if we're not enjoying it, or if the prospect of having a problem weighs too heavily on our minds, we get out of the sport. A lot of people do - I did myself back in 1980. In the end, it's an extremely personal equation, with variables that can change at any time. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

That was a cover shot on Parachutist back in the day. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm 6'3" and 225 lbs, also returned to the sport five years ago after a very long break. I agree first, formeost, and completely with the advice to talk to your instructors. they're the ones who are watching you and know what you're doing and what you need. For a beginner, stick with Navigators, Silhouettes, and Spectres for now. They're all great canopies that can give you good landings. I'm personally prejudiced in favor of the Spectre, as the 230 and later the 210 sizes were the demos I usually rented until I bought my own rig. They're great, even in no wind. Big guys like us are harder to fit than most average size jumpers, so used gear is harder to come by. But I managed to find a beauty of a used rig that another big guy was selling, but it took a little time and patience to find it. The whole thing about used gear is to AVOID the desperate urge to buy the first rig that comes along. You NEED a harness that will fit you comfortably. You NEED a reserve canopy that's big enough to set you down safely. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise on those two items. You also should get a rig that's big enough to hold an appropriate sized main canopy for your ability (remember, you're talking to your instructors about that). Ideally, your rig will also safely hold a main canopy one size smaller, so in a year or two you can downsize your main without having to replace your entire rig. Also, unless you're a confirmed die hard belly flyer, you should hold out for a harness/container system that's "freefly friendly", since a lot of you newbies like to skid around on your butts with your friends. You need a rig that will hold itself together at the higher speeds of vertical freefall. And NEVER buy anything without a rigger's inspection before any money changes hands. But mostly be PATIENT. It will do you no good to spend all your money on some "great deal" some guy sells you out of the trunk of his car. There's tons of great used gear out there at reasonable prices. There's a rig out there just waiting for you, all you need to do is wait for it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There was an online edition of the video of Booth giving that talk, which is where I saw it. According to Booth, his research came about after being asked by PD to look into the problem. To me, the fact that PD was concerned about the problem would suggest that this problem is more widespread than any particular brand or model canopy (as I've also witnessed a "cannon shot" slammer with a Safire2, the jumper was fortunately not injured, though he said it really hurt). What sounds convincing about this theory is that Booth says he's seen evidence of damaged or destroyed tuck tabs after some of these incidents. It also makes sense because this seems to be such a rare occurence (thankfully) that it has taken years for a pattern to emerge that anyone has noticed. Perhaps tuck tabs aren't as safe as we'd thought. They were created to make our rigs safe for the high speeds of freefly without the wear & tear of velcro, but have unkowingly created a new problem. Come to think of it, Booth also mentions that this problem was unheard of in the days of velcro riser covers. It wouldn't be the first time that a solution to one problem has created a new problem of it's own. Quite possibly magnets are the way to go. In a few more years we may all be jumping rigs with magnetic covers, along with Skyhooks, 3 Rings, and hand deployed pilot chutes, all thanks to Mr. Bill. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I've seen the video of Bill Booth talking about tuck tabs causing extremely hard openings - he's also no great fan of the thin spectra and HMA lines that are popular these days. I think anything Bill Booth has to offer on any subject is well worth considering. Personally, I had one horrendous slammer of an opening with a 210 Pilot last summer. Didn't break any bones, but had some huge bruises and the canopy was destroyed (I had to cutaway). I do my own packing and honestly can't think of anything I did differently. Up until that jump, my 210 Pilot had always opened "Spectre soft", and so does the new 188 Pilot I replaced it with. I do know one person who broke the ball joint off his femur in a slammer opening, but I hear conflicting reports as to whether he was jumping a Pilot or a Sabre2 when it happened. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The famous Iwo Jima photo was not staged, but for many years there was a serious misunderstanding about that. There were actually two flag raisings, the first was a smaller flag. Photographer Joe Rosenthal did arrange and pose the Marines standing around this smaller flag for a group shot after it had been raised. Later in the day, the larger flag was sent up Mt. Suribachi so that all the Marines fighting below could see a big American flag on the summit. When this flag was raised, Rosenthal just happened to have perfect timing to get his famous one-in-a-million shot. But at the time he didn't even realize what he'd captured on film. When the film was developed onboard a Navy ship, it was an instant sensation, all the way back to Washington. Somebody then asked Rosenthal if he had posed the famous shot. Nothaving seen it yet, Rosenthal answered "yes", thinking it was one of the group shots he'd posed around the first & smaller flag. And so the misunderstanding began. This was from a television interview Rosenthal gave some years before his recent death. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !