tbrown

I'm all for using the reserve if you need to. But if you have a flying canopy over your head that will land you OK, sometimes it's better to keep it than to take a chance with door #2. The jumper had almost no steering control at all (also no flare, but it was a PD-260) and drifted downwind and landed in a back yard more out of luck than anything else. We learn if it's not there, square, and steerable, then it's a bad parachute. Both of the above statements imply that a controllability check has, or should be successfully performed. A wing that can't or won't respond to control inputs , or responds erratically to them isn't safe to land. In the last two years there have been two fatalities at Perris involving jumpers who elected to land canopies they could not control. One was a newbie with about 150 jumps who lost control about 200 ft off the deck and spiralled in. The other was a jumper with over 1100 jumps, who was on a 120+ bigway jump and had a control problem with a steering line. Her mistake was just as fatal, so it doesn't only happen to newbies, anybody can screw up and you only have to do it badly enough once. Of course a reserve can malfuntion too, it's something we'd rather not think about happening. But the fact is that more people die from NOT going to their reserve than because they may have made an "unnecessary" cutaway. Reserves can fail too, but ultimately he HAVE TO trust them, as that's the nature of the game - and our decision to play. So a proper controllability check, which requires pulling on both toggles (and thus unstowing the brakes) will tell you quickly whether or not to keep it or lose it. Left - right - flare. Does it work or doesn't it ? That's all you need to know. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Actually, it's more like a chicken/egg scenario. Mithraism could very well have had an influence on Christianity; it is not known which had an influence on which. To me, Christianity is a pagan religion. The trinity itself is not a monotheistic concept. A great deal of Christian belief and tradition came into being after the Romans' suppression of the Jewish uprising of A.D. 70. Prior to that time, Christians were mostly an apocalyptic sect of Jews who literally believed that Rome would be overthrown and a righteous government under God restored for a thousand years. Literally. So when the Romans moved in and leveled Jerusalem, it was only natural that they also wiped out as many of these troublemakers as they could get their hands on, which they did. Thus the earliest Christian sect, the Jewish Christians, were wiped out. The remaining non-Jewish survivors found it necessary to put as much distance between themselves and apocalyptic nationalism as they possibly could. Besides which, as non-Jewish pagans from all parts of the Roman world, they found it easy to incorporate all sorts of pagan concepts into some of the Jewish beliefs they'd adopted (highly developed moral and ethical codes, intellectual debate, and so on). The Trinity, even Jesus' divine nature, are distinctly pagan concepts and utterly foreign to Jewish thinking. Virgin birth was the ultimate complement of the ancient world - "whatta guy !". Other great men of the day, notably Alexander the Great, were also said to be of virgin births. Christianity went on to acquire a great many pagan beliefs over the centuries. There were so many by the 16th century that the weight of all these pagan beliefs were a factor in precipitating the Protestant Reformation. Personally I'm a Christian who prefers not to chuck the whole thing just because history shows it not to be literally true. There is great power to belief and nothing in history disproves the existence of an unknowable God, who can only be imperfectly understood with incomplete human concepts. No more than Christian abuses like the Inquisition invalidate other countless acts of genuine charity by ordinary believers. I can't honestly say that I've found anything in Christianity's place that offers the hope of healing or redemption that is found in this highly evolved system of belief, which continues to grow and evolve. We don't all goose step to Pat Robertson. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

God, it must be fun to make such a good living being such an asshole. I just wish my own asshole opinions were as popular - and lucrative, as those espoused by O'Reilly, and the other two, Rush Limbaugh, and that blonde bitch who puts her retouched photo on her little Mein Kampf missives.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hey, whatever works, whatever helps. Some people can't take the existing drugs, other people stop benefiting from the drugs that have been helping them. AIDS is the most dangerous threat, not only to public health, but to the economic and social stability of the world since the medieval Black Death. Whatever helps is GOOD. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I fail to see any problem here. I happen to disagree about seatbelts, they should have tham on school buses, not that the little bastards would wear them... But I don't expect to agree with everybody about everything, so I guess I can't agree with them on everything either. But a standing ovation is in order for them saying openly what everyone else is saying quietly. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Thanks Paul for a fabulous pic. This thread gets a bump. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

There's a good picture of a Thunderbow in the original "Skies Call" by Andy Keech, the first of the three books he published. This book came out around 1974 and has lots of great shots of Paracommanders, Paraplanes, and some great early RW with lots of gut gear, big boots & small suits. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Took a friend out to make a tandem a while back. While watching a HIGHLY repectable women's 4 Way team practice an exit and dirt dive, she asked me if they were going to "do tricks in the air". I informed her that hookers turn tricks, skydivers turn points. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I used to drink lots of water, maybe about a six pack's worth a day. But since i read somewhere that that's a lot of baloney I don't bother anymore. Except for when I'm at the dropzone in the summer. At any So. Cal dropzone, you've got to hydrate constantly or you won't be in any shape to jump. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Talk to your doctor about it. If there is a physical dependence issue, that 's fairly easy for your doctor to deal with. The tough part is the mental dependence and that has more to do with personality types. Most people don't like the side effects of narcotic pain killers (nausea, constipation, being "out of it", etc.) and will reduce or stop using them once their pain becomes manageable. But for others, narcotic euphoria is like mannah from heaven and they keep going back no matter how many times they're cleaned up because they need the comfort. Fortunately only a small portion of the population is inclined to that kind of addiction. So get with your doctor. If you develop chronic pain issues, and some people do, you need to talk some more. You may legitimately need relief from a drug that causes a physical dependency. Don't let anybody fight a moralistic holy war over your body or the pain your in. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Doctors and hospitals are protected by (exorbitent) malpractice insurance, because society needs a medical profession, or we'd all die a lot sooner. Society has no such need for skydivers, or to protect an extreme sport that most people think is nuts anyway. Our sport doesn't make enough money to survive ina climate of litigation. So sign the waiver or go away. No apologies about it, be a man (or a woman for that matter) and accept the risk or GO AWAY ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Also, as with aircraft accidents, skydiving accidents are usually the result of a cascading effect. There are many small factors, perhaps involving human error, others involving equipment, aircraft, other people on the jump, weather conditions, etc. None of them in and of themselves necessarily result in a catastrophic accident, but enough of the wrong things happen at the wrong time that they can come together very suddenly and make for a unique and unfortunate situation. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just like when they co-opted the "g" word, which used to be associated with merriment ? I used to jump a rainbow double spectrum 7 cell back in thoise days & still have a blue jumpsuit with HUGE rainbow patterns on the arms. Huge wings too, but I can't get the zipper up over my aging gut. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

At Perris, Tim Farnam's recovery crew will often have your main waiting for you at manifest when you get there, and more often than not they'll have your freebag as well. Not to mention they send a truck out for you if they see you landing out, or anywhere beyond the grass strip. But other places simply don't have their act together and some expensive canopies have been lost or stolen, while manifest is paging you to tell them what color your canopy is (as if that helps). If somebody isn't chasing a canopy on its way down, your chances are slipping away by the moment. At Perris I won't worry about it, anywhere else, I'll follow somebody's cutaway as closely as safety allows. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hmmm, haven't tried anything really cold. Have tried whipped cream, but of course who hasn't ? Well, the good wife is as inquisitive and fun loving as I am, so we'll have to give it a go. Any problems & I'll let you know (already had the Creme de Menthe on the "honey do" list...). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

A lot of new jumpers have semi-ellipticals like the Pilot, Sabre2, Safire, or Spectre ( a 7 cell semi). The Sabre is a somewhat obsolete and aging canopy and you could switch over to a semi with no real problem. What you really need though is to talk to one of your instructors or coaches. The guy (girl ?) who taught your canopy course whould be a good choice, especially since they've got an idea about how well you're handling your Sabre. They can explain the differences and the advantages to you. And if you really truly have your heart set on an elliptical, they can first of all tell you straight up or down why they think you are or are not ready for one. And they can help you to work on the skills that they think you need to master before trying one. Tell you what, in "the old days" (yeah, I'm THAT old), we used to have to put over 200 jumps on round canopies before we could even try a square - and your Sabre absolutely blows the doors off any square we had back then. There was a time when the Sabre was the "hot" canopy - for advanced jumpers only. Believe it. And don't be in such a hurry, you're SKYDIVING for heaven's sake. And we're all gonna die someday, but why rush that either ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In the Republican Party, zealous right-wingers, such as Representative William Dannenmeyer (CA) and Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), hammered home this same message. When he retired from the Senate, Jesse Helms got up and apologized for having taken his earlier stand about AIDS. He said he considered it one of the greatest mistakes of his life. Ironically, Terry Dolan the founder of NCPAC (National Conservative Political Action Committee), the first and once most powerful of the conservative PACs, was himself a closeted gay who died of AIDS. Former Sec'y of State Colin Powell called the worldwide AIDS epidemic a threat to America's national security. Of course Bush listened to this about as much as he listened to anything else Powell ever said. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Not endorsing this opinion, but the word "slut" is a contraction for "slattern", which the dictionary defines as a dirty unkempt woman. Seems to be some space between that and sexual liberation, which one would assume entails some personal enlightenment. If that helps define the question any better. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

A fair number of people who hook it in aren't even trying to make a high performance turn. A lot of "panic turns", or just plain "stupid turns" are made for all sorts of reasons. Some people simply HAVE TO get themselves facing into the wind because they don't want to make a crosswind or downwind landing. Downwinders may not be fun, but they beat pounding a hole in the dirt any day. Other people make a sudden turn because they've been cut off at the last moment and are trying to avoid a collison - which CAN be done safely without overreacting if you're prepared to do it. I would recommend some reading in the Safety pages. Read EVERYTHING by Brian Germain, and read Bill Von Novak's "Things to Do Before Downsizing" (or something like that), especially the part on emergency flat turns, flare turns, and downwind landings. Also really excellent is the Skydive Radio, Show #14 interview with Brian Germain. In this interview, Brian explains how you can dig yourself out of a low/panic/stupid turn without spinning up your lines or otherwise killing yourself. This is NEED TO KNOW stuff, this stuff is just as important as knowing how to do a cutaway. And it needs to be practiced with some hop & pops, where you're all alone above 2 grand. Fun idea for a morning jump is to make a hop & pop, get yourself awake, say good morning to your canopy, and at a lot of dropzones, make a no wind landing before the day's winds start to kick in. When your friends get down you'll be all set (and packed) for a great day of skydiving. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Okay, I'll bite....but why stope at a Stilleto ? Why not a Katana, or better yet, a Velocity ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Apparently he didn't die right away. Too bad somebody wasn't there to take his head off with a rusty hacksaw. (One of the indicators that he was in the area was a large number of people's heads were turning up all over the place, it seems the guy had a hobby.) Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

But who will punish all those women for having sex if they can't catch a deadly cancer anymore ? Somebody must've really screwed up to let this one slip through the cracks. That's the way this administration - and Congress think about these things. Personally I think it's great and will be enouraging my daughters to get their shots. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You could always wrap Ace bandages around your ankles. Alternately, a lot of pharmacies sell an ankle support made of Ace bandage type material, but shaped to slip your foot into. I wore one for a while when I first returned from a really bad ankle injury. They work great and can fit over a normal sock. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I wonder what a "TI Gun" would look like, for Texas peace ossifers to wear when they're jumping with tandems. Holster made of harness webbing with a 3 Ring buckle ? Tracer ammo ? Cell phone with compass built into the handles ? Combination hooknife with bottle opener ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Oh well, at least it's a "feel good" story, a little "Texas barbecue". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !