tbrown

Send our daughter to four years of college (dorm living, the whole nine yards) AND be able to keep jumping. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

No less an authority than Kinger has already identified the women as Paulette and Darlene.

The blonde is Paulette, the brunette is Lucy (Coop's girlfriend). Pilot is Waldo, you can't really see him, but I remember this card and picture. The jumpers are Kinger, Dick Ski, Chip Port, and on the far right Bart Biche. I just can't remember who the guy with the gold flat pack reserve is. This pic had to be from '76, right after Howie got the Beaver, because by '77 Bart was jumping a piggyback rig with his 5 cell Foil. God, those were fun days ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Me too. There were a lot of unwipeable silly grins wandering around, mine lasted for at least two hours. It's just one of those "gotta do" things everybody in this sport needs at least one time - we really DO have all the best toys. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't have an ounce of sympathy for Saddam and believe that if he didn't deserve the death penalty, nobody else would. He plainly got what he deserved and people in Iraq would never believe or understand any reasoning to spare him. That said, his death also points up the very real limitations of the death penalty. First, now that he's dead, he can't be killed again and wouldn't even feel it if somebody kicked his sorry carcass or dragged it through the streets, which of course did not happen. He's dead now, so there is no further or greater punishment for the S.O.B. Second, he'd become completely irrelevant to the situation. the guy had already been rotting in jail for just over three years and the whole situation in Iraq has moved on, quite badly, without him. His death unfortunately does nothing to help the situation. It seems only to have pissed off a lot more people because he didn't stand an endless series of trials for his endless crimes, that he was executed at the beginning of a holy day, and so on & so forth from people who only know how to complain and kill each other other, when they're not killing us. Personally I'm a little surprised there wasn't some kind of a dramatic jailbreak. I fully expected the Iraqi guards would've turned their guns on the Americans and driven Saddam off into the sunset and am a little surprised (and greatly relieved) it didn't happen. It's ironic that he was executed for a massacre at a time when the US was supporting and arming him and sending diplomats like Donald Rumsfeld to shake his hand and tell him we'd look the other way while he nerve gassed his own people. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I caught the first load at 10am. What a beautiful, smooth - and short ride to altitude ! The closest thing I could compare the exit to, after a very long moment of feeling nothing at all, was like catching a huge ocean wave (think of the big wave on "Hawaii Five-O"). But even catching the wave was smooth, just really powerful. I could really get used to this !!! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I would have to say Washington, Licoln, and Frankin Roosevelt. Washington was of course our first President and the only one elected by acclamation with no opponent. He resisted the all too human urge to become a king, or a dictator for life and set a precedent by stepping down after two terms, saying that should be enough for anybody, a precedent that has held with just one exception (FDR), and then became law with a Constitutional Amendment. Lincoln of course saved the republic, though at the cost of the bloodiest war in our history. He really only freed those slaves living in the Confederate states, which only gradually came back under our control. But his death and legacy led to the Amendments that finally abolished slavery and granted equal protection under law to all citizens, though in practice that took another century and is still being contested today. I don't think anyone here could honestly imagine a United States that had fractured into two or more regional nations. Our entire place in the world would be so dramatically reduced - we might never have able to stop Hitler. Or Stalin. And finally FDR, elected at the very depths of the Great Depression. Though the conservative Roosevelt haters (the ones who are still alive anyway) brand him to this day as a Commie, he got this country back on its feet at a time when the entire social fabric was falling apart, along the way founding the Social Security system. And then he led us through the Second World War, truly a war to save the world from a real Axis of Evil. Most people have no idea how close the Axis powers actually came to winning that war. As it was, they succeeded in murdering tens of millions of innocent people before they were finally stopped with nuclear weapons. The nukes were of course Harry Truman's decision, as Roosevelt unfortunately never lived to even see V-E Day or the death of Hitler. But he took us within days of that victory. Without those 3 Presidents, the USA as we know it would not exist. Period. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I think the fact that these women were prostitutes is very relevant and it should not be hidden. All indications are that the killer specifically targeted prostitutes. In fact, according to Skynews, The Guardian is claiming that police are giving prostitutes money to keep them off the streets until the killer is apprehended. Prostitutes present more opportunity as targets because of the nature of their trade. But it has also been the case, from the original Jack the Ripper to the Seattle Green River killer, that other women have been attacked and killed as well. There is still an unfortunate tendency for some people to look the other way at murdered hookers, as well as when they're raped, beaten, abused, or otherwise enslaved on a daily basis. But at least in this present case, the police appear to be taking the real issue of a serial killer seriously. Believe me, this guy's not going to restrain himself simply because he discovers his target is NOT a hooker after all. (And to the PC crowd, I'm using the male pronoun as serial killers are almost entirely male, exceptions like Eileen Wuornos aside.) Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It would help if there was legislation that says you can't complain about airport noise if the airport was there before your house was, but most voters don't use airports. There have been laws like that to protect farming, in fact we once signed off on an agreement with a neighboring farm. A lot of city dwellers decide they want to live in the beautiful countryside, only discover to their horror that farming is sometimes stinky and the farm equipment moves too slowly down thhe road for their SUVs to get around. Problem is, the US Supreme Court ruled a few years back that these laws and agreements are unconstitutional. These people just want everything and everybody to be just like them. They want to live forever, in perfect safety. And they won't live forever and the world will never be a safe place. But in the meantime they will make our world a prison for the rest of us, if we let them. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

No. 6 is actually quite interesting. I don't personally like large areas of red, they're sort of overpowering and not very interesting. But the large yellow areas, with a few black cells and red interiors command some attention. Would still go well with a red rig or jumpsuit, it that's what you've got. I think the large areas of yellow would stay interesting for a long time, long after a red canopy would put you to sleep with boredom. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The entire purpose of a jury of one's peers is to protect the innocent. Otherwise why not just grab a red hot poker and have the wound examined by some witch doctor. Or maybe be thrown in a pond, if you drown you're innocent, if you float you must be made of wood and therefore should be burned. I mean WTF, do you actually need to quantify this shit ? I've served on criminal juries, I've even signed a guilty verdict as the Foreman. It's a heavy responsibility to look some poor fucker in the eye and know you're sending him to prison over YOUR signature. The fact that you know he's guilty isn't much help. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Well I just think ever since the Litvinenko poisoning happened, Dick Cheney has been kicking asses and demanding to know why we're not doing stuff like this. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Evidence is hard to come by because naturally the other girls in the area dont want to be connecting themself to the police - their trade is illegal after all. Not so sure as to what extent prostitution is illegal in the UK, perhaps some of our Brit friends here can help out. My impression is that prostitution itself is NOT illegal in the UK, though brothels are NOT legal and streetwalking may not be either. I know plenty of British working girls operate legally on a "call girl" basis. But that's also beside the point as well. The victims are young women, whether or not they work in the sex trade. ALL murders rob a person of their life and rob the people around them of that person's life. I've known two friends who were murdered, and that's the difference between murder and things that happen, like AIDS, cancer, or accidents. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

When Robert Kennedy was assasinated in 1968 he was a U.S. Senator from New York. Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed U.S. Rep. Charles Goodell, a Republican, to complete Kennedy's term in the Senate. Rocky took a lot of shit for it too, but legally there was nothing anybody could do about it. Goodell was defeated for re-election in 1970 by James Buckley, the Conservative party candidate (NY in those days actually had Liberal and Conservative parties on the ballot). Once the Senator is dead or has resigned, a governor can pretty well appoint whoever they damn well please. this may go back to the days when U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures. the U.S. Comstitution was not amended to allow popular election of the Senate until 1916. As I've already posted twice, I'll wrap this up with one final question - are there ANY signs of Polonium 210 radiation ??? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Sen. Biden had some sort of cancer. There was another Senator who had a stroke in the late sixties, who never returned to Washington before the end of his term. Never voted again either, but as he never resigned, he kept his seat. Pretty similar deal with Strom Thurmond, who near the end of his life had an escort walking him around the Capitol, even though the Senator couldn't recognize old friends. So unless Sen. Johnson dies or actually resigns, he IS a U.S. Senator to the end of his six year term. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I had a sort of variation on the Jesus String built into my 1977 Hanbury rig. At the time, Jim Hanbury was still experimenting with Kevlar ripcords on the reserve. The ripcord was a two pin, but instead of being in a straight line, it was a "Y" split to the two grommets and closing loops. The pins themselves had a loop bent into them where the ripcord attached and the loop was too large by design to pass through the ripcord channel housing grommet. So when you pulled your ripcord, the loops on the pins hit the grommet and continuing the pull would manually peel the top flap back. I ended up using the reserve a couple times and how I'd pull the thing hard (it was an easy enough pull) and could feel myself pulling that top flap open. Still said the "Jesus mantra" until the reserve opened, which obviously it did. But by late '78 or '79 Hanbury gave up on the idea and went to a conventional steel cable, 2 pin (in line) reserve ripcord, which was typical of the times. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Incidentally, this is the only non-radial Beaver I've seen (including the ones featured in movies and on TV) - it certainly makes a big difference to the look of the aeroplane. Does anyone know if they're a rarity? In Seattle there is definitely at least one turbo Beaver with pontoons flying off Lake Union, or at least there still was when we left Seattle four years ago (NWFlyer, what do you think Krisanne ?). These planes are for charter, usually to fly rich fuckers out to the San Juan Islands or up to Canada, but I know I've seen at least one turbo and a radial taking off or landing many times during the years we lived up there. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I believe that all reality may be an illusion of our concious mind - a central belief to Eastern and Buddhist thinking. But I still wear a parachute when I jump. I don't know if I believe in heaven and hell or not, but if they exist they'll be there whether I believe in them or not. Or maybe they don't exist. Faith in a belief that can't be proven (i.e. belief in the existence of God) can be a wonderful thing. Or we can just go around believing every cool thing we like at the moment and not believing in those things that make our tummies a little queasy. There are a lot of people out there spouting a lot of crap and it's really up to us to decide what we're going to believe in and whether or not it's worth governing our lives by those beliefs. So I'm not going to tell you if you're right or wrong - just to choose carefully and be willing to make the hard choices. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't think it does. Voluntary celibacy is a choice and though I wouldn't make it myself, I can respect a person choosing to be celibate for spiritual reasons. Celibacy isn't really voluntary if you want to be a priest or a nun, but then nobody's making you enter the priesthood or a nunnery either. What I DO think has contributed enormously to the problem is the way that the church hierarchy covers up the problem, moves the offenders around, and fights tooth and nail to not hand over records in these cases. Quite frankly, I don't understand why some American dioceses aren't prosecuted under the RICOH Statutes, as playing a shell game with pedophiles amounts to an organized criminal enterprise. There's no excuse for it and there are some bishops and cardinals who belong in PRISON for nothing else than their systematic efforts to frustrate justice in countless cases. So if you were a pedophile and you knew you could join an organization that would support and protect you for life, as well as supply you with a steady stream of victims, wouldn't you feel inclined to join ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There are sober kids in India, so shut up and drink your beer ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I hear you pal (just kidding...). I've spent many years working with or around rivet guns myself - and ALWAYS wore ear protection for that too. Rock & roll, or whatever you kids are listening to now just keeps getting louder and I actually had a problem at an outdoor concert a few years ago where one of the Grateful Dead's former drummers actually blew out one of my eardrums (what an asshole, it really didn't need to be THAT loud). Bill Clinton blamed rock'n roll when he had to get a hearing aid. Anyway, they ALL need ear protection. I wear earplugs whenever I'm in a machine shop environment, I wear them if live music is too loud, and I wear them for every skydive. It all adds up and the engines and roar of freefall will take their toll if you let them. 21 is too young to be losing your hearing. I'm 51 want to hold onto every bit of hearing I've got, because whatever range you've lost is gone and won't come back. If you don't start doing something about it NOW, it will just keep getting worse. The bit about equalizing air pressure is all bullshit. I don't use the rubber kind of earplugs, but I know several people who do and they tell me they have no problemo with them. I use the foam kind, which "breathe" and have no more than the normal pressure change you'd expect after dropping two miles in a minute. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The big problem with using the military is that while they're very good - excellent - at what they do, that is all they can be expected to do and no more. Which is why shooting their way into a foreign country, overwhelming that country's military defenses, and bringing down the ruling government was the easy part. It's one of the things the Army's meant to do, that and of course defending the American homeland from foreign invasion. What the military was NOT designed to do is nation building, teaching civics to people who just want to kill each other anyway, or impose an occupation. No army has ever been good at occupying another country, they all end up being hated by the locals, regardless of policy, religion, or whatever. The locals will always be willing to fight and die until the occupying power's folks back home get sick enough of the mess to pull out and leave. It has nothing to do with Iraqis, or Muslims, or with our troops, or America. Occupation is simply folly. The British, French, Italians, Germans, Japanese, Russians, and unfortunately ourselves have all found this out the hard way. "When the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, pretty soon everything starts looking like a nail". We can't hammer all the world's problems. Some problems need a wrench or a screwdriver (i.e. diplomacy, etc). The military cannot be expected to do what they were not designed for. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Not for Christmas, fer god's sake man, what's wrong wid' you ? Maybe for halftime at the Super Bowl. would be cheaper than hiring The Rolling Stones. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Which is what happened to a friend of ours at Perris this Thanksgiving Day, his opening broke the ball joint off his femur. The guy's in his sixties, but in good health, works out at the gym and all the right things. It happens. Used to be that all squares opened faster and harder than they do nowadays. It didn't usually hurt, but you'd definitely get a sudden sharp tug that would squeeze the breath right out of you and make your body feel like a sack of concrete. Try jumping a vintage Strato Cloud at your next boogie to get thhat feeling. We thought of it as a "strong" feeling and we learned to like it. But hard ? Anything that makes you see stars, pass out, or causes an injury, that's hard. (Bill Booth has written a hysterically funny story about a Para Plane opening he had in 1972, where he "pulled his ripcord and woke up in an ambulance". Now THAT'S hard.) Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The mere fact that an audible doesn't sound as loud in freefall doesn't mean that it's any less loud or potentially damaging right up against your ear inside a helmet. It just shows you how much other noise you're engulfed in that makes it necessary for your audible to be so loud. It has to compete. I wear a good pair of industrial foam earplugs on every jump. I'm over fifty and have a slight loss at the high end of my hearing already, so I want to protect every bit of hearing I've still got. And I like having an audible, I think they're a good idea. If you're wearing earplugs, you should be okay. You'll hear your audible just fine and it shouldn't be hurting your ear. You'll also be keeping a lot of engine noise and freefall noise out of your ears as well and your ears will thank you. One caution though - since you are wearing earplugs, make sure the beeper is pointed AT your ear. For a few jumps I found I wasn't hearing my audible, until I took a closer look and found the beeper side was pointed away from my ear. Point the beeper at your ear, wear the earplugs, and enjoy. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !