tbrown

Well your friend's obviously never read anything posted by Sky Monkey One, Bill Von, Tom Buchanan, or Ron, who have contributed an immense wealth of solid info. and I'm sure I've left out countless others, but those four should serve as an example of what I'm talking about. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Okay, fine. If you're going to go down two sizes and then go to a boogie, I'd say fly conservatively. Stick to the pattern, keep your head on a swivel, fly straight in approaches, and if there's no wind and you're coming in hot, you might consider sliding in sideways on your hip (think "stealing 3rd base"). Since you're gonna do this anyway, that's what I'd recommend. Also, because you're now two sizes smaller, expect a much higher rate of descent and accordingly adjust your pattern for that. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Not true. In the seventies, flat packing was the way we all packed our squares and most of our openings were on heading. It's just an illusion of trying to see how the canopy spread out on the ground opens. Nevertheless, nowadays I pro pack. It's just simpler and amazingly logical, faster too. Only drawback I've ever heard of is a claim that pro packs have more lineover mals than flat packing. I DO see how that can happen with pro packing, but prefer it anyway. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I got a cool idea about using 2 rubber band stows at each stow point on my D-bag, so if one breaks in the middle of the day, I've got a "reserve" I can move to while packing. then I can make up the difference on my last pack job at the end of the day. Make It Happen finally explained to me what the whole deal is about clearing yourself before opening, with her quote, "Look where you're going and not where you've been". I've always worried too much about clearing my backside before pulling, while becoming increasingly aware of the fact there are blind spots that you'll never see, no matter how hard you look. She explained that collisions have ALWAYS occurred because of people not looking DOWN at who's BELOW them. I still look over both shoulders as I wave off, but only after constantly looking down and around me while tracking away. The cool thing about this is that I know Make It Happen and often see her at Perris, but it was her Forums post that finally turned on the light for me. Also Bill Von's article on skills you need to master before you downsize. I learned how to make emergency flat turns from that article and it saved my ass when some joker cut me off at about 50 ft. on final one time. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

______________________________________________________ USPA is gonna have to. DZO's are gonna have to. We're NOT policing ourself and we'd better get started, before the fatass politicians do it "for our own good". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I know from working on 777's at Boeing that those planes have Crew Rests, i.e. sleeping quarters for working crew. It would seem that the crew, who are being paid for practicing their profession, could buck up and strap a stiff into one of the bunk beds, out of the sight of fellow passengers. Nevertheless, it does present a problem. Over the ocean I suppose you could have an impromptu "Hail Mary & heave-ho" funeral, though not without coming way down in altitude first. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Agreed 100%. But, what I keep wanting to point out is that this is not only a swooper problem. General canopy awareness is a HUGE problem. Just look around. Hell, if I remember correctly the stats on collisions were mostly NON high performance (although that number is rising for sure). No, it isn't just a swooper problem, I agree. But the unique character of the Dublin incident was a person who decided to do a 270 degree turn in the middle of a bigway record attempt. That in itself is a seperate issue that needs addressing. I'm just beginning to jump with a monthly 40 Way group and hope one of these days to attend one of Kate Cooper's 100 Way camps. And I know for a fact that both Kate's group and ours make it very clear that hook turns are forbidden and the penalty is instant expulsion from the group. This was not somebody on a seperate pass who exited two groups and 20 seconds later than somebody in the first group out. These two guys were on the same BIGWAY. Somebody else likened this incident to a person roaring around a Walmart parking lot at 70mph and it's an apt comparison. I think swooping is beautiful. I don't do it myself, but I love to watch it, it's a beautiful sight when it's safely and intelligently done. But it has no place at all on a Bigway and I'm still trying to understand how anyone, especially with so many thousands of jumps, would even think of doing a thing like this. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Thank you for setting the record straight, it's about time... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm a local So. Cal jumper, so I generally deal with Square 1 in person at Perris. But I've never had anything less than complete satisfaction with them on everything from a custom built jumpsuit to a measly closing loop. I wish people would think five or six times before they go trashing reputable businesses. Sure we all get frustrated sometimes, but they're the people to talk to about it, you don't need to assasinate their character in a skydiving forum. If they were THAT bad, they wouldn't have lasted for over 16 years. And if you wanna spend your dough someplace else, go for it, that's the American way too. But next time you get mad, go kick a fire hydrant instead. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Very interesting. This has some remarkable parallels to the "Mark of the Beast" referred to in the Book of Revelations. A mark on everyone's forehead or wrist, without which they "cannot buy or sell". The really tough part about it is that it would make so much sense. Especially in an overpopulated world of increasing scarcity. And implanting a chip is not only possible, but has the added advantage of attempting to prevent identity theft. Obviuosly anyone operating outside such a system must be getting their food and other sustenance SOMEWHERE, all illegally. Those people become enemies of the system and are put to death. Of course those who accept the Mark get their reward in the end by being tossed into a never ending lake of fire. Interesting indeed..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I remember reading a book about Navy frogmen in World War II that said they used to make a game out of catching Japanese rifle bullets underwater with their hands. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

"Okay, any you fellas been a-misusin' The Patriot Act ? Nope, I didn't think so.... well, that Nancy Pelosi made me ask because some terrorists have been complainin'..." Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What, you guys have never heard of the Uncle Fester Sport le Mort System ? It's lovingly stitched together with Black Widow silk, features a throwaway hackey sack (no pilot chute attached), and welded together release rings. Best of all, the Widowmaker Reserve is packed into the patented Slave Bag. So far no one has jumped it and lived. On top of all that, it's expensive. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The burial mounds were cool though. This town has burial mounds ?! That's creepy. Oh wait - you mean the ancient Indian mounds that were built long before Columbus (whew...). Yeah, never seen a real one, but those sound pretty cool. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Wow... very original way of dealing with a divorce and sticking it to the wife! Hardly original, it's been done - and reported - to the point of b-o-r-i-n-g. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Back in the day, the drinking age in New York was 18. as far as the college administration was concerned, beer was highly preferable to pot, which was illegal, so they'd sanction huge keggers in the dorms (and we'd go off to our rooms to stuff towels under the door while we got stoned anyway). We had a Rugby CLUB instead of a team because a CLUB could serve beer right on the bench DURING the game. Sadly those days are gone forever.... The only advice I can give is to let the older jumpers corrupt your club members. Also, sex might be a fun substitute - safe sex that is, of course..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I was a college student and saw a flier for a meeting with a film at the student union. As I'd always wanted to jump since about age six, I went. What got me to sign up was that it was all organized. Although the DZ was about sixty miles away, they'd send a van and organize carpools with the students who had cars, so everybody got a ride. They offered a good group discount ($35 apiece for our group of over 15 students, compared to the usual $50). And it was an overnight adventure. We went up Friday evening, got there just in time to watch the sunset load come down, took our training and then carpooled into town to get shitfaced. Back to the DZ we bedded down in sleeping bags, and at 6am the lights came on and there was coffee brewing. By 8am the first Cessna loads (they had two Cessnas) were in the air for static lines from 2800 ft. It was a well run operation. Nowadays here in So Cal we have Perris and Elsinore both about equally nearby to us in Orange County. They're both excellent safe operations in different flavors, so if people are interested I give them both web addresses, the latest prices, and assure them that either one is a safe place to have a wonderful day. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Excellent point, their history is vastly different from ours. I once took a course in Russian history, back in the seventies it was called "Russian & Soviet History" and about midway through the course I got profoundly depressed with it. The Russians took the brunt of all the Mongol invasions before they even got to Europe. The Rennaiscance in Europe completely passed them by and they've had a long depressing train of tyrant rulers for centuries. It's bred a resignation into their national soul, a kind of fatalism we don't even understand in the west. In western Europe there's been steady progress, give or take two World Wars and the Holocaust, but a lot of progress nonetheless. In America, we're descended from a self selected group of immigrants that decided to take their chances on getting the hell out of the Old World and making the best of a new one. But the Russians have just trudged on, banging their heads against a stone wall, in a manner of speaking. There have been periodic experiments with reform and democracy, even the Bolshevik Revolution that installed the Commies was seen in their eyes as a hopeful step forward. But the moment the going gets tough, they look for the "strong leader" who can see them through. And they get people like Ivan the Terrible, Josef Stalin, - and Vladi Putin. What's suddenly got very interesting is they've now gone and poisoned an American doctor and her daughter who were visiting Russia for a wedding of old family friends. What Bush and his henchmen will make of this deliberate poisoning of two American citizens remains to be seen. But I really do believe that Bush and Putin ARE soul brothers, so it may just be swept under the rug notwithstanding. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I am shocked. Shocked and dismayed. Dismayed and shocked. And dismayed. Did I mention I am shocked ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It really doesn't matter whether Bush SHOULD pardon Scooter Libby or not. The POINT is that Bush will or won't pardon Libby, or anyone else, as he goddamn well pleases, because HE is "the decider", or "the decisioner", or whatever the fuck it is he's taken to calling himself. The guy can do no wrong, he's got his mind right with Jesus and that's about all there is to it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

And we're spending the lives of our youth and our tax dollars to shore up these cocksuckers.....but I suppose they have the oil, so they can get away with it. On second thought, my apologies to the cocksuckers of the world, they make a lot of men happy - keep up the good work.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

20 GRATEFUL DEAD AMERICAN BEAUTY 1970. can't really say the only song i know is touch of gray. Liked that one alot. __________________________________________________ Actually, this is a whole seventeen years earlier and MUCH better than Touch of Gray (though I like that song too). Lots of people joke about what a bunch of stoners The Dead and their fans were, but I don't know ANYONE who hasn't loved this album when they heard it. My dad loves it. I even found it in a Benedictine monastery once. Really pleased to see it listed as No. 20. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

20mph limit ? Even for a school zone ? so where was this, Marysville ? I know sheriff Bart has some real no-shit year 'round school zones up your way. But it is still worshington, mebbe you could offer the judge some white lightnin' or chewin' tabaccy ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

18. chase with a vacuum cleaner Cats have the odd belief that vacuum cleaners are a plaything of The Devil. 21. Dress your kitties up in baby clothes and have a fashion show ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Only if you include the complete works of jenna Jameson with it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !