tbrown

I'm sorry, I thought maybe the Old Boy had got a job somewhere. City Hall would be a good place, or maybe on the Dept of Public Works, leaning up against a shovel. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hunting with Chaney. Interning with a Clinton. Voting for a Bush - ANY Bush ! Skiing with a Bono..... Or skiing with a Kennedy... Flying with a Kennedy How about just SITTIN' NEXT to a Kennedy! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

This guy Karr is such a looper I'm not sure he killed JonBenet at all. Going to have to see some real evidence, something more than a press conference in Thailand by a guy who looks sedated. But anyway, lucky us. Thank God, now we can see more pictures and vids of little JonBenet for the next five years. How could we ever get along without that ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Finally got around to renting some Deadwood DVDs (I know, I'm always behind the times) and am really disappointed with a series that has so much potential. I think the writing is pathetic, mostly in the way that it uses the most offensive language possible, as often as possible, and in a manner that disrupts the viewers attempt to follow the story. I'm no Puritan about language either, as my many posts will show. And profanity has its place as a legitimate part of both language and in drama. To make a comparison with another one of my favorite cable series, "Dead Like Me", a show that I absolutely love, they used terms like "fucked up", "fuck you", "oh shit", "blowjob", etc in a very natural way, the way you would hear real people use those expressions in these times. It doesn't interfere with your ability to follow or enjoy the developing story. What I found with Deadwood, in the seven episodes I watched (all from the first season), there seems to be some rule that 15 seconds can't go by without calling somebody a "cunt" or a "cocksucker". I would even allow that those words per se can be used in a script legitimately. But let's first admit that culturally at least, most people would agree that these are considered among THE most offensive words in use. And to machine gun the audience with them throughout the story, often for no apparent reason than "this is Cable and we can do it if we fucking well want to", is just piss poor writing (and there - I just used a baddie myself, but made a point with it). It's like walking across sharp stones in your bare feet, you can't think about anything else besides how much it hurts to take every step. Where's the enjoyment in that ? I mean I can get that Deadwood was a mean nasty and bad smelling place without somebody yelling "cunt" in my face every five seconds. Does the writing improve at all in the second & third seasons ? I hope so, I'd even be willing to check it out if it has. Otherwise, I've seen all I need and Deadwood has failed to be the series it could've been. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If it were completely safe you wouldn't feel that little twinge in your tummy that keeps you sharp and honest. I think we hate to admit it, but there's a little bit of fear every time we open the door and it's part of why we love it. Besides, the danger keeps the riff-raff away, or at least it attracts our kind of riff-raff. If it were safe you'd have a bunch of jerks trying to tell everybody what to do because they read it in a book somewhere. We're proud of mastering (more or less) something that is dangerous and doing it in a mostly safe manner. And that is what builds our confidence in ourselves and our bond of trust with our friends. Where else do you trust your closest friends with your life ? Unless you're into S&M, I don't think there's any comparison. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

They should sell guns, then the sword problem will go away. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't think anybody should have to have children. And God only knows, some people should never even think about having children. But that said & done, I think couples who don't have kids are missing out on the biggest part of life. I know plenty of singles and couples my age who went kidless and make cushy incomes (the justly hated DINKs - Double Income, No Kids). They're nice enough people and a few of them are some of my best friends. But their focus on life is that of aging children. They have all the best toys, best cars, and take the best vacations. In our sport they're the ones who own two or three rigs and couldn't pack a one of them if their lives depended on it, because they pay a packer while they're off playing at whorehouse prices in the wind tunnel. Maybe JUST a tinge of jealousy in that, but that's only bwecause they rub it in by insisting I should jump more often and play in the tunnel like they do. The morning our first kid was born, I looked at this little naked baby and realized I wasn't a kid anymore, that I was an adult and it was her turn to be the kid and my job to be a dad. Having kids has more ups and downs, rewards and frustrations than anything else I can think of. But it completes you as a human being and that's something more toys will never do. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

And the world is flat, the Army invented the AIDS virus, the Bush administration orchstrated the 9/11 attacks, and uh, let's see, JFK only recently died of a stroke at the hospital where he was kept in a wheelchair for thirty odd years. P.S. Be extra careful if you go sailing, you don't want to sail off the edge, or the monsters will eat you. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I think OJ has a video out about anger management and preventing domestic abuse. Maybe you should check that one out. So did you clean the douchebag's clock for wasting your time ? I once knew some fat asshole at work who got sent to anger management after he pulled a gun on some schmo and threatened to kill him. For having cut him off in traffic. In front of the guy's kids. Big tough guy, he cried like a baby in front of the judge about losing his job, boo-hoo, etc. The candy ass judge let him off with anger management and the guy went right on being an asshole, though he didn't try the gun bullshit again. He should've gone to jail, got his bunghole fucked and taken it like a man. Anger management is a useless crock of shit and everyone but the judges know it. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You can find it at skydivingmovies.com, in the TV and Movies thread. If you haven't seen it you might as well, if for no other reason than to find out what people are talking about. I jumped from Mike's King Air two winters in a row at Taft and always enjoyed the fast ride, zero-g lift off the deck for jump run, and the low prices. This story took me by surprise. Yeah, he was acquitted, but so were OJ and Robert Blake. Not sure what I make of it. It's sort of hard to overlook, but then again any TV prognosticator with an agenda can make anyone look really bad. IF the prosecution had such an open & shut case, they had their chance and blew it. Or else the guy's innocent. That's what trials are for, the state takes their best shot & has to prove it. And they didn't. I suppose anybody who's really bothered by it can choose not to jump from the guy's plane. You sure do meet some interesting people in this sport. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Addiction schmaddiction ! A daily shot of the wad keeps the prostate in good working order and can help prevent prostate cancer, a medically proven fact, or so a skydiving friend of mine tells me. Doesn't interfere with your sex life either, so line them little kitties up and machine gun 'em ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I think he's still an alcoholic. I know he SAYS he made up his mind to quit drinking years ago and that was that, but like anything else he says, I think he's lying. When I look at the confused look on his face and hear his slurring mispronunciation of words, he looks and sounds like a drunk. He not only can't put a sentence together, he can't even express an IDEA, without pausing, getting frustrated and then falling back on something really lame, like "the haters of freedom". I'm talking about real times he gets cornered by the cameras, like last year after Hurricane Katrina, or this year during the recent war in Lebanon, or the foiled terrorist plot in London. The guy is just plain FUCKED UP, as in "had one too many" and I'm betting the Secret Service have given him cold showers and pots of coffee more times than they'd care to admit. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd be bummed. Probably drink a lot & be a real asshole to get along with for days on end. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

"Because the Noid belongs to lovers ?" Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll do that at the first opportunity. Meant to say this the first time around, but I'm such a windbag I forgot. You should also run out and buy a copy of Brian Germain's "The Parachute and It's Pilot", an absolutely fabulous book. There's a whole Part II section about swooping you don't need to go into for the next few years, but the whole Part I about basic canopy control is a real must read. I like the way Brian explains things, it's a little different than the rest, but makes a lot of sense. As Brian explains it, the canopy is "trying" to fly up and away from you, which ideally should be putting tension on the suspension lines between you and said canopy. But if you go aggressively toggle whipping the poor thing, you can actually create slack, a lack of tension, on some or all the lines. And when that happens, wherever there is slack in the lines, you have NO control until the vital line tension is restored. Which is in a nutshell what happened when you went toggle whipping to show off to your family and gave them a better show than you had even counted on. (Rule No. 2 - Don't show off, it will get you every time. I planted my face under a 5 cell back in the seventies trying to show off. Eventually walked away from that one, but if I'd done that with my Pilot canopy nowadays, I'd have made the "Sports Page" in Parachutist). Got another idea that you can act on RIGHT NOW. Before you even run out and buy his book, click the link to Skydive Radio.com on the home page of this website and download Show #14, there's a fabulous interview with the G Man himself and you need to hear it. So do we all. Get thee hence and listen up unto him, it may saveth thy bacon. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hey, good job ! Ain't it great to be alive ?! Pulled your cutaway ? That's okay, if that's the way you were trained you followed the drill. Dropped your handles ? Fahgettaboudit ! I'll accept that a packer might have misrouted a bridle so completely that it can't be seeen (his name wasn't Uncle Fester, I hope...). There are things you can & should do with packers, like ALWAYS set your own brakes, set your own kill line, and re-open your slider, but shit happens. What counts the most is you did the right thing and are counted among the living. "Hurray for Agent Lead, he made it at last (everybody sing along!)" Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Haven't heard yet of any actual documented attacks on humans by gray wolves, though I'm sure they've picked off some domesticated animals. On the other hand, when I was living in Washington state, the Feds were trying to ram recovery of the brown (or grizzly) bear down our throats, with philosophical one liners like "it's not really the great outdoors if it isn't dangerous". As far as grizzly bears go, if they're way the fuck out in Idaho, Montana, Canada, or Alaska, fine. God bless 'em, they're a magnificent beast. Etc, etc. But in the Washington Cascades, with the human population of Western Washington exploding and more & more humans taking to the hiking trails and camping grounds, it was a recipe for an inevitable and deadly conflict between humans and a species that attacks - and wins - without provocation. Unless the humans want to hike with an Uzi, which is of course illegal. It wasn't the right time or place for grizzly bears, but the Feds didn't give a flying fuck. Which makes them a lot less credible anywhere else that they try to protect a worthwhile predatory species. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yeah, but they had the temerity to rub it in Bill Booth's face with a special "lifetime award" they gave him for inventing the 3 Ring so they could "improve" it. Their claim seems to be with spun up high performance mains, which are a real bitch to cutaway, witness the recent innovation of hard cable housings on risers. They claim their new design significantly lowers the pull forces required for chopping highly loaded postage stamp divebomber canopies. I don't have the expertise to say yea or nay, but in general there ain't nothing that can't be improved on, so I'm not ready to completely dismiss the idea. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Lasagna, a salad of butter lettuce, Romano tomatoes and non-fat cottage cheese, plain white French bread and lots of vino. No dessert, not in front of the children anyway... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Not per se, since I have the radio turn on intsead of being basted out of my sleep by a blaring alarm. But the radio kicks on at 5am and I lie there listening to the news (NPR I'm proud to say) until the local anouncer says the time is 5:19, which he does without fail every day. That's when I sit up and put my feet on the floor. It might take another five minutes to get up on my feet, but once I'm sitting up the battle is won (or lost, depending on point of view). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Weegeegirl's cutaway, a BASE video of some guys jumping bridges in France, another "First Cutaway" where some Russian guy curses in Russian and then starts singing in Russian underneath his reserve (love that one), a Euro RW vid called "Hohenems" with some Belgian and Austrian jumpers making big formations from two single engine turbos, and the Alexander Belaglasov video of the Russian team jumnping with the guy who plays an accordian in freefall ! And others too various to mention.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Ole Robin was rehabbed for cocaine a couple ages ago, sorry to see he's got another problem. Clapton and Keith "Captain Coconut" Richards are two ex junkies who hit the bottle hard after kicking the junk. Keith's still at it, but of course he's actually a 5000 year old mummy anyway. All the best to Robin, if he checked himself in maybe he wants to quit. That's the hardest part, is wanting to. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Sounds scary. I'd agree that it sounds self induced too. Royd, this would be an excellent time to take the next canopy control course that's offered at or near your DZ. Canopies today, even the "tame" ones (Pilot, Spectre, Sabre2, etc.) fly much hotter than anything twenty years ago and would've been considered "expert only" canopies as recently as maybe 15 years ago. They're just too hot to be flying around in without some proper instruction and the injury and fatality reports are sad evidence to that fact. Canopy control is every bit as important as knowing how to do a proper cutaway. Besides, canopy courses are really FUN to take and you'll learn so much about improving your landings, stall recovery (it's fun when you try it up high), and how to get back from a long spot. And you'll make new friends and have a good laugh about everybody making the same kind of mistakes. Anyway, glad the cutaway worked out for you, if you got up and walked away ya done good. Too bad about your pants, but if that's all that died, then what thhe hell. Ain't it grand to be alive ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

This pic was just recently posted at the Air Trash website. I wasn't there when this plane burned, had already left the sport and moved north, but this is the plane that threw the prop blade just before taking off. Everybody got out alright, though the pilot had to go out the windshield. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Good job & a great video, thanks for posting it ! I think very few of us have picture perfect cutaways, where everything feels perfect, unless it's on a Skyhook demo rig or the like. Malfunctions are very disorienting and they tend to get the pulse and respiration up just a bit. Especially if you don't have a RSL (you were flying camera and I'm not criticizing) and are trying to get stable. The video has really cool details and I watched it over & over, especially the way the risers released one at a time and the reminder that reserve toggles are one last thing we also have to peel to get loose. I think most people would admit their cutaways felt at least as flaky as yours, the important thing is that they work, it's kept really simple, there are just two handles and you pull them (in order of course). It's not much fun until you see the canopy behind Door #2 over your head. Ain't it great to be alive ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !