tbrown

Not much we can do about evolution of the human species, which will always be imperceptably slow to those who are living at any given time. BUT you still raise an interesting point. The greatest changes to the gear came about in the seventies. At the beginning of that decade, people were jumping Paracommanders, with chest mounted reserves, paraboots, motorcycle helmets, etc. By the end of the decade, almost everyone was flying a square, square reserves were starting to come along, piggyback systems with hand deploy and the 3 Ring release were the norm. Jumpsuits had gone from small to huge and were headed back to small again. I would go as far as to say that most developments since 1980 have been refinements, rather than revolutionary changes. But that period of experimentation had its costs. There were a lot of experiments that didn't work out so well, or stick around for very long. Free packing, Kevlar ripcords, Kevlar suspension lines, "R2" type releases, a whole bunch of "flip-flop" lever action type single point releases, p/c pouches on belly bands, Paradactyls (even Paradactyl reserves), etc. Unfortunately some of the worse ideas resulted in injuries and a few deaths along the way. The net change was definitely for the good, but came at a cost that it would do well to keep in mind. Not to discourage innovation, but to do it carefully and intelligently, with an eye for the unforeseen problems that have a way of popping up out of nowhere. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Politicized the FDA to the point that safe drugs, like the "morning after" pill are kept off the market by religious zealots, inspite of the scientific advisors voting 31-3 that it's safe to use. Keeping HPV vaccinations out of schools. He'd rather have another generation of kids get genital warts and possibly cervical cancer, than provide a vaccination that can actually PREVENT CANCER, because he doesn't want kids to not be celibate (wonder if he was ever celibate, sort of doubt it...). Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The flat turns really work very nicely. I started practicing them last year, after reading some of Bill's other articles and posts on the subject. And then a flat turn saved my bacon. I was on final and getting pretty close to the ground when another canopy flew up alongside and started crowding me, enough that I yelled at the guy. He then looked me right in the eye and cut directly across my flight path. The first thing I thought was "Do NOT bury a toggle!". Then I gave my right toggle just a little tug and immediately matched it with the left toggle. I slipped neatly around and behind the a-hole who had just cut me off and in another moment had to flare - there was no time to raise the toggles back up. The flare wasn't perfect, but was still pretty decent and I stood up a landing that was just a little harder than I'd ordinarily like to have. The a-hole was looking nervously over his shoulder at me as he scooped up his canopy, then he RAN like hell - he knew what he'd done. But the turn worked beautifully. All I'd like to add is that it doesn't take much of a course correction to miss somebody. If you miss somebody by six feet, it's as good as sixty. You don't need a dramatic turn, just enough to not thump into them. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Jerry Borquin (license D-22 and a founding member of the Golden Knights) does a textbook PLF on ALL of his landings. Saw him do it a couple times on a beautiful day at Elsinore a few weeks ago. Everybody else was doing easy standup landings (even me, so it really was a perfect day for it), but Jerry prefers the tried & true PLF. And he really does a perfect PLF at that, rolls over, feet up & together. May not be as graceful or as cool looking as everyone else, but I bet he doesn't go breaking a leg the way I once did either. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Some kind of an improved release system that would work for pilot chutes in tow or horseshoe situations. 3-Ring systems and the freebag on reserves have helped, but they haven't really solved those two nasty problems, where all you can do is pull and pray that it works. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

It's about time for a decent skydiving movie that really shows the two things that matter the most to us all ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hitchhiking was very common in the sixties and early seventies and very much part of the "youth counterculture". I used to hitchhike everywhere locally, and with confidence. There was also a lot of long distance hitchhiking, even cross country, and some people just lived that way for years at a time. When I was sixteen I took off from upstate New York and hitched all over the New England states. Stayed at a couple of communes in the Vermont countryside and a few urban crash pads. Didn't like the urban stuff much, so mostly stayed out in the country. I never really had any trouble with anybody who gave me a ride. I knew several girls who hitched a lot themselves. None of them ever said they'd been raped, but for a fact they had a lot more problems and it was considered safer for girls to hitch with guy friends. When I finally got a car I picked up a lot of hitchhikers through the end of the seventies, but times changed and people started getting wierd. I'll still pick up somebody in tie dyes if I know something like a Grateful Dead show is happening nearby. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Anybody catch National Geographic's dramatization on the life of Blackbeard the pirate last night ? Okay, his real name was Edwin Teach, which for some reason sounds almost as cool. Well, if you love pirate stuff, this was absolutely glorious ! This guy had the Atlantic coastline from Brazil to Virginia in his clutches. What a nut, who else would go into action with a brace of pistols in his beard and burning cannon fuses woven into his hair. He didn't have the usual Jolly Roger flag either, his flag was a white Devil on a black background. When you saw that flag, you knew you were in DEEP trouble. I'm hoping this gets re-run a couple hundred times. When I was six years old, there were only two things I ever wanted to do - skydive and/or be a pirate - aarrrgh mateys !! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Good article in today's Sunday Orange County Register (p. 19), about Dr. Wafa Sultan, a lady psychiatrist from Syria, who is now a naturalized American citizen. This lady had the sheer nads to go on Al-Jazeera television, toe to toe with an Islamic "scholar". Here's a few things this gutsy lady (herself a Muslim) had to say: "The Jews have come from tragedy and forced the world to respect them - with their knowledge, not with their terror; with their work, not with their crying and yelling." "We have not seen a single Jew blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew destroy a single church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people." (Actually, a few radical Jewish settlers have randomly shot Palestinians dead in public markets, but the lady is still 2 for 3 and that ain't bad.) "Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing people and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind before they demand that humankind respect them." The "religious scholar" from Egypt refused to even debate with her, simply denouncing her as a heretic. She has since been receiving daily death threats, at her home, here in the United States. All I can say is welcome to America lady, you're made of the stuff we're looking for. And God help any of your co-religionists who DARE to harm a hair on your head in OUR country. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yup, they sure are. Even his own party is deserting him. Unlike W, they have to stand for re-election, some of them this year, the rest of them in 2 or 4 years. It isn't even a matter of liberal vs. conservative. It's a simple matter of competency, which W has none of and never did. Even the Republicans are beginning to see the truth, which is that the King is butt nekkid. And damn stupid besides. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Yeah, and he was an anti-war Christian peace activist. The Moslems have some bullshit lie about respecting "People of the Book", i.e. Christians and Jews, since all 3 religions have a common ancestor in Abraham, supposedly. This is just exposing the lie for what it is, they have no respect for anyone, not even themselves. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Good riddance to old garbage. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The teachings of Bokonen: "Around and around, through life we spin, With feet of lead, and wings of tin" Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I always heard you track for the trees, or water. If no trees or water are available, at least start yelling "Take pictures!" really loud. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Lawsuit seeks right to decline financial responsibility for kids Contending that women have more options than they do in the event of an unintended pregnancy, men's rights activists are mounting a long shot legal campaign aimed at giving them the chance to opt out of financial responsibility for raising a child. What an absolute load of crap ! Because a woman doesn't abort her pregnancy or give a child up for adoption, the impregnator is off the hook ?? I'll retire to fucking Bedlam.... Obviously these guys have never heard of a vasectomy, or they haven't got the BALLS to get one. Yeah, they're not quite as painless as we guys might hope, but it's over quickly enough and the benefits last a lifetime. If these DICKHEADS want to fuck whoever they please without paternal responsibility, then they owe society a few hours discomfort getting themselves clipped. What utterly disgraceful bullshit, these guys aren't MEN, they're a bunch of fucking whiners. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I quit in 1981 when I got married and didn't jump again 'til 2003. Sold the rig in '82, to a kid who was just getting into the sport and we worked out a deal that made the two of us both VERY happy. My wife never made me quit by the way, she never even asked me to. It's just a case of life having its "chapters" and it's always time to be turning the pages if you don't want to keep doing the same old shit. The kids came during the eighties, and while I know plenty of jumpers with small children, I personally couldn't justify the risk with so much at stake. Now I'm back and I bought a lovely rig for a reasonable $3 1/2 grand, all told. If you're selling your rig to help pay for your education, you'll be worth more money after getting your degree. You get a better job, whip out the plastic and go deeper in debt like a good American - it's good for the economy. Either that or we'll be out of oil and you won't be left holding a rig you can't use anyway, so don't worry about it. The education is more important. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I don't care if someone is against the war that is being fought in so many places that we don't have enough fingers and toes to count them on... She is an afront to many of us who served and continue to serve, and yet still gets away with using others names without permission, and represents herself as a speaker for all of them. If you don't have permission to speak for a dead person DON'T!!! Just wanted to state for the record that I object to your title for this thread, right out the gate. The above quote from you is fine. It's a reasonable opinion, whether I agree with it or not. Cindy Sheehan however does NOT "need a bullet". If you want to vent at her, excoriate her, maybe even picket her house, sue her, or possibly have her arrested (though I'm not sure for what), those are all fine and she can answer you back. But we are a nation under law, and people who we disagree with, or who piss us off do not "need a bullet". A "can of whoopass", maybe. But we don't make our decisions or air our differences by shooting each other. Especially not a dead slodier's mother. She might piss you off, that's fine, but you can't possibly get inside her skin and feel what the loss of her son has obviously done to her. So save the bullet for yourself. Does that offend you ? It should. So don't be so free with prescribing a bullet for ANYBODY else. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

'S beautiful man. Reminds me of life up in Worshington state (sometimes). Enjoy it while it lasts. More to life than jumping... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

"The United States has the power to cause harm and pain," said a statement delivered by the Iranian delegation. "But the United States is also susceptible to harm and pain. So if that is the path that the U.S. wishes to choose, let the ball roll." I heard the cocksucker actually say this on NPR this morning. I don't think they have any concept of the utter annihilation they are bringing on themselves, but it's time we considered making the first strike. Just tell Vladi Putin that this has nothing to do with him and to stay the fuck out unless he wants some too. Then fucking annihilate Iran. Fuck them. Kill them all, then take their oil. Fuck 'em. No troops either, just nukes, Fuck 'em. They want nuclear war, then give it to them in full measure. It will put a stop to this Islamic bullshit once & for all. The fewer Moslems there are in this world (it will never be eradicated), the better for the rest of us. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All we have to do is construct a fantasy scenario for declaring victory. Which shouldn't be too hard, since we constructed a fantasy scenario for invading that shithole of a country in the first place. We're handing over Abu Ghraib prison to the Iraqis next month, so they can take over the torture and abuse and probably do it better than us & certainly without any qualms. They've already replaced Saddam's death squads with Shiite death squads, so there's already a track record. Our biggest concern is not to be seen "cutting and running". But did we EVER intend to stay forever. I dunno, maybe we did, but I sure hope not. We need to accentuate the positive, call the glass half full and get the fuck out of there. Then a free and democratic Iraq can go on killing each other with happy abandon, since that's all they seem capable of doing anyway. Besides, the less Moslems in the world, the better for the rest of us. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You go girl ! I fuckin' HATE Didneyland. My daughter worked there a few years back and they treated her like shit too, so I hate them even worse. What's an amusement park anyway but a bunch of fat tourists lining up for make believe adventures. When Perris and Elsinore are both just a few miles down the road ? Fuck that Disney shit and ditto for Snott's Berry Farm ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Thanks for the reminder, I was getting too close on my renewal. Just aced it online in no time at all. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Oh I don't like either word at all. This was in the mid sixties, when the Civil Rights movement was in full bloom. The Catholic Church was very heavily involved, with a couple priests and nuns even getting killed in the south. The nun was the Principal of the school and a real holy terror. She grabbed the kid right out of his seat and up to the front of the class, where she produced a bar of soap from somewhere out of her robes and crammed it right into the kid's mouth. And said she'd do the same for anyone else who wanted to use that word in her school. We were like 8-9 years old and all sat there with our hands folded on our desks, thinking "okaaaaaayyyyyy.....". Nowadays the nun would probably go to the pokey. The kid probably used the word because it was probably the way his family talked at home. But it was a very useful lesson that made a lifelong impression - and a good one. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Soap worked for me. Also worked for our entire class in Catholic School the time one moron used the "N" word for black people, he got his mouth cleansed in front of the whole class & we totally GOT that message. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I think it's a good decision. Even in the days when the military was racially segregated, campus recruitment brought in a quality of educated officers who made the changes to integrate the services, if over a period of many years. Ditto for integration of the sexes in the military. Sexual orientation will happen eventually. If recruiters are kept OFF campus, the quality of recruitment goes down and you get a much more narrow minded bunch in the officer corps. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !