MakeItHappen

I am NOT a network guru by any stretch of the imagination. but one thing that you might try (and the experts can correct me on this)... When you have two networks trying to connect on the same IP addy you should try changing the metric on one of them. You do that by going to Network Connections. Double click on the connection in question (You may only have one network connection, but some of us have several) Click Properties. Click the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Click Properties Click Advanced Under the IP Settings tab there is a box to enter Interface Metric. Bump up that number to something larger than what it is. Try connecting again. I, at times, have 3 networks connected to my system and can connect to all at the same time. The 3 systems are a wireless router (Belkin), the ISP and a local network that uses a NetGear, Hawking or other hub. Most of the time I connect the ISP uplink to the Belkin router (to share the internet access with the other computers). What I don't understand is that shared drives are seen on the hard wire network, but not always on the wireless network. Sometimes I can see them, sometimes not. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

In theory it would be nice if you could get a bunch of recreational jumpers to remember what a 'heart' is. The only place I see something like that is in the hard core competitors. They remember letters or numbers, not the names of the formations. In real life, saying 'Let's build a heart' does not answer the question 'Where do I go?' for each of the 11 randomly assembled jumpers. However, if you say 'M' to a 4-way team they all know exactly where to go. The difference is that Boogie organizing does not have groups that all have a specific and constant exit position and they do not know the build sequence (on exit or at any other time). 4-way teams have an assigned exit position and assigned A and B slots for each formation. Back to the group you want to build a heart with.... I'd stand with my arms out and say 'I need two more for a 3-way.' Bill and Joe step up and take grips. Then I'd say 'I need a 3-way loop between me and Joe.' Sally, Tom and Bob pick up grips. Then I'd say 'I need a 3-way loop between Bill and Joe.' Eric, Sam and Jen pick up grips. Then I'd say 'You 2 leftovers, make a loop between Bob and Jen.' Then I'd turn to Sally and say 'That is the front floater slot. Do you think you can do that?' Sally says 'I've never done it before.' I say 'Great! This is the perfect time to learn how to do it. I'll show you everything you need to know.' etc, etc explaining that Eric and Sam are rear floaters..., here's the build sequence, come straight into your slot, dock with no momentum... all the usual stuff. On larger formations, I'll build the base with me in it and then walk around to the next slot pick up grips and say 'I need someone here. This is a {floater, diver, long diver slot}.' or if it's a +20 way say 'I need a loop between {Name 1} and {Name 2}.' If you have people that are familiar with the 'Formations for Dummies', you can say 'I need a cat off of {Name 1}, stairstep off of {Name 2} etc. As dives get larger and still are pickup loads, people tend to gravitate to the slots they know they can do well, as long as you point out line of flight. If you don't point out LOF, then you may hose someone. I don't mean to frown upon a library of formations, available a priori. I have not experienced a situation where this actually works in real life for pick up loads. Pre-planned invitationals are a whole 'nother ball game. As an organizer, a big library really does help. Sharing that with the world makes no difference in what you have to do at the dirt dive. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

See DiveMaker.com and Formations For Dummies The hot tip for prime or odd number formations is to 'think' 4-way, 8-way etc and then overlay slots to eliminate a slot to get the desired number. See attached for sample double stairstep diamonds, double donuts and a hybrid stairstep diamond and donut. In real life, a big notebook of formations is great to prep your head, but you have to be flexible when organizing pick-up loads and be able to adjust formations on the fly. That's when overlay techniques come in very handy. When you know you have EXACTLY so many people and their skill level, the big library helps a lot. Remember to include break-off and traffic pattern rules in the dirt dive. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Density Altitude - Wing Loading Converter . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I am still looking for a cheap parking space. Heck you can use my truck while I'm gone. My departure on Aug 2 is 7AM, so I'll need to be at your nearby house at 5AM. And then get a cab to ONT. (It's an international flight.) Can anyone provide a parking space near ONT? Or if anyone can shuttle me from the Perris/Hemet/Elsinore area - that would work too. Of course, departure from Perris/Hemet would be 3:30-4 AM Aug 2. It's nice and cool then. ;) Return is 8 PM on Aug 25. Thanks . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

A member votes for a director who sits on the BOD but that director votes for an ED that the member would not have wanted. Shouldn't a constituent know how the person they voted for (or even didn't) acted so that they may factor that into any future decision or action? This is not a US Presidential election where your entire life history is under scrutiny of the public. This is a position in a private organization. The applications for ED are confidential information. If a private organization, such as USPA, divulged all those that applied and were or were not selected for a position, they could be sued for release of private information. USPA is under no obligation to release potential candidates by name or by releasing their resumes. Also, USPA BOD members generally know or have more information about a particular candidate than a regular member. The actions of a BOD member are made with more information and knowledge than what would be known to a regular member. BOD members cannot disclose the additional information under most circumstances and therefore cannot legally justify their vote or make their vote public without compromising the confidentiality of a particular candidate. The reality is that constiuents and the BOD will only know that xyz candidate received a majority of the votes. No one will know how large that marjority was or who voted for so-n-so. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Then you have made a mistake. I have sat on several BOD both for profit and non-profit the most recent being an organization with 70,000 members. I have also served as Parliamentarian. Contrary to your belief you are not the only educated person here. Yes I can speak “authoritatively” as I have seen BOD misuse RR as a shield and bully members before. I made the statement as a general statement for any BOD of any organization that it would apply to. If you are somehow feeling offended or guilty maybe you should ask yourself why? When was the last time you were at a USPA BOD mtg? And saw how the USPA Chair runs mtgs? At the 2007 Summer mtg, the Chair did bully a BOD member. He summarily dismissed a BOD member from 3 committees without cause in a closed session that was supposedly the President's report. That is definitely an abuse of position. Within hours, that BOD member was back on all 3 committees. I agree with you that sunshine laws are in place to prevent such abuses. The original statement that you objected to was "Actually, Roberts Rules (RR) does say that any member of the assembly can request a 'secret' ballot. If the assembly agrees to that, then the ballot shall be made in secret. I don't have time to quote the exact page in RR, but it is in there." I looked up the exact reference in RR. From page 274, lines 24-26 RR says "A member who believes that a secret vote will give a truer expression of the assembly's will on a pending motion can move that the vote on the motion be taken by ballot." As you already mentioned, disciplinary actions are held in closed sessions and voting is closed, with only the vote count made public. USPA also uses secret or closed votes whenever there is a 'personality' involved. That pertains to election of officers, USPA awards and US Nationals. The USPA Gov. Man specifically says the officer elections are closed and secret. Awards are voted in a closed session, but not by secret ballot. US Nationals bids are presented and debated in public, but the balloting is secret. As for the accountability of all BOD members and their voting record, I have developed a Motion Manager that we have used in trial runs at the past two BOD mtgs that record each members vote on each motion. At the 2007 Summer mtg the C&B, Exec, GM, MS, N&E and S&T Committees all used motion manager to present and record their motions. There are a few glitches that need to be resolved, but I do expect motion manager to eventually be adopted by the USPA BOD to record voting records of the BOD. That will enhance the accountability of BOD members to the membership. No, in fact I can not imagine a professional administrator acting so sophomoric in the 21st Century. Well, then you do not know the nature of the beast. I, like you, do not lose sleep if someone thinks I did the wrong thing. However, there are a few BOD members that do things to promote their 'agenda' and try to promulgate their perceived power and authority to the detriment of the members. Explain to me how the membership or USPA would benefit if you knew which BOD members voted for the new ED? In essence, Mike, I agree with you about making debates and voting records public as much as possible. There are situations that a public vote record would not be to the benefit of the assembly or organization. Selecting the ED is one of those cases. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I'm gonna call you on this one. You are NOT speaking from a place of authority or expertise and are casting unjustified aspersions upon a group of people that may not have knowlegde of your accusations. Mike - I will challenge you to educate yourself about RR. RR was written to uphold and promote the minority opinion in assemblies at a level of equal time and equal voice. IOW, the majority can not shout down the minority by being louder or more populous. RR is dedicated to ensuring that minority voices can be heard before an assembly. Because the ED has to work with all of the BOD after she/he gets the job. It is better if the ED does not know if a particular director voted for them. Come on, you can certainly see a subjective bias of "hey this one did not vote for me, so I'm not going to help or facilitate as much as I could' versus 'hey this one did vote for me, I'll do anything they ask' . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

That is a contradiction. If the USPA is a non-profit member driven organization then why are we having "secret ballots" How can a member tell if their elected BOD is representing their views if they don't know how they are voting. In most respected member organizations and in some by state law the only time that a board can meet and vote out of the presence of the membership is in Executive Session for reasons of disciple or pending litigation which after there is resolution the information is available to the membership. If this is how the USPA does business then they just lost another member. Actually, Roberts Rules (RR) does say that any member of the assembly can request a 'secret' ballot. If the assembly agrees to that, then the ballot shall be made in secret. I don't have time to quote the exact page in RR, but it is in there. A simple majority of what, the voting BOD present at the meeting or the whole BOD? RR specifically defines that a majority is to be determined by the majority of 'votes cast'. Vote cast means yes or no votes. The total votes cast is equal to yeses plus nos. Divide yeses by total votes cast to get percentage. Abstains or absent members do not count towards the calculation of the percentage. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Now that is what a future skydiver sounds like. Go for the jump and have a good time. I hope you get hooked. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

All the Directors have an equal voice in anything that comes before the BOD. I do not know, but I think it may only have to be a simple majority. I doubt it. I think it will be a 'secret' ballot, but how we do that via email is a mystery to me right now. The Directors are accountable to members, of course. But that does not mean you learn who they voted for, for any 'secret' ballot. And to the recent posts... well, I can't say anything..... except keep up the conversation. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

You would think that was the way it should work. correct You can find out how much the ED makes by requesting the 990 tax form from 2006 from HQ. USPA is required by IRS tax laws to provide that tax form to anyone that asks for it for a nominal fee. See the IRS web site for details. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

yup. To answer your question about the hiring process - I am not sure what it is. The FULL BOD selects the ED. This part I know for sure and it is in the Gov. Man. At first the application deadline was Sept 1. That would have meant the vacancy would not have appeared in any mag. Another director called foul and got HQ to change the deadline to Oct 1. He also asked me to spread the word electronically. The announcement will appear in the Sept issue of Parachutist and SNM. From now until Oct 1 applications will be accepted. Apparently, HQ does not inform the FB of applications it has received. I know of one application already (that was submitted last week), but found that out from another BOD member. At sometime there should be an interview (one would think anyway). I do not know who does the interview. We may have a conference call for all I know. Since this position is expected to be filled by Nov 1, there will probably be some interim FB voting on it. However, the current ED has said he'll stay on if more time is needed to fill the position. Quite frankly, I do not know how an applicant would make themselves known to BOD members unless they took it upon themselves to contact each BOD member directly. An applicant should not depend on HQ to promote them to the FB. As for Ed's Q about who should it be... I am not going to publicly say who I think will be a good ED. I know of a very good person for this job. I can think of about 5 people that might apply. I am hoping that publicizing this vacancy may bring a few more people forward. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I am pretty sure I 'got' that part of the post. Let me rephrase the 'old-fart' view: Going to make your first jump 'all by yourself' was not big deal many years ago. That was how it was normally done. And it was an 'all by yourself' jump once you left the plane. So someone today saying that their friend(s) won't come out to the DZ with them and watch or participate in their jump is kind of in the 'WTF-who cares' regime. Sorry I don't have empathy for the people that need someone to 'watch their first jump' or do a first jump with them. I think the folks that actually do become jumpers are the ones that don't need an audience and jump because they want to. That was true 25 years ago and it is true today too. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Hey, I have an IPod to 'trick' people into thinking I'm still in my 40's. As soon as an Apache web server with mysql, php and local wireless network support can be set up on an IPhone, I'm gonna buy one. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

sounds like an oxymoron to me.. first jump "alone" with a TM or first jump "alone" with two AFF instructors I have always thought that first jump 'alone' meant you stepped off the plane all by your lonesome - as in S/L or IAD. No one around to save your ass except yourself. Didn't matter how many friends were in the plane with you. I think a different level of temerity is required to do a first jump 'all by yourself' with no one around to help you as opposed to going to the DZ all by yourself and doing a tandem or aff jump. But anyway, go do the tandem jump - you really won't be alone. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Get-Home-itis High Wind landing Approaches High Wind Landings some other info Most of the links I gave you deal with canopy control. The thing NOT TO DO is track back up the line of flight, if you think you are long on the spot. That is mentioned in the last link. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

See http://uspa.org/publications/SIM/2007SIM/Section4CatA.htm#a4 Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you were the DZO???? I don't think that tandem was ever envisioned as a carnival ride that it is today, back in the 1980s. Today, the market does support a certain amount of carnival rides, but along with that comes some different liabilities. It's the difference between 'hey it's a fun ride - nothing bad can happen to you' versus 'Hey- it's skydiving - you can die or get seriously injured on your first jump.' There is a BIG difference in liability. I think the DZOs that sell carnival rides are the ones living in a fantasy world. They sell a first jump as a carnival ride, that is 'perfectly safe'. Then when the shit hits the fan they expect USPA and the MFGs to back them up. Then they realize that 'Nope, we (USPA/mfg) never said this is a sure thing - it's a skydive with all of the inherent risks'. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Jan - what percentage of the BOD would you say supports such a grandfather clause? Well, I cannot speak for the rest of the BOD, but I would not expect many to object to allowing someone with a current I rating in AFF, S/L or IAD and a current mfg tandem rating to be upgraded to a USPA TI rating. Afterall, the major difference between a mfg tandem rating and the USPA tandem rating is knowledge of the ISP. Current USPA Is in any discipline are supposed to be current on the ISP. If you or anyone else has specific questions about your specific situation please email me or S&T comm or Jim Crouch. This rule change is not meant to, all of a sudden, bump some tandem masters out of the picture. All it is meant to do is make more tandem jumps training jumps, as opposed to carnival rides. Since Tom is saying he is coming back to the country on Aug 2nd, I'll tell you that I'm leaving the country on Aug 2nd for more than 3 weeks. Email at Aerosoftware_AT_MakeItHappen.com (replace _AT_ with @) is the best way to contact me. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

As a matter of fact, you and Jay did NOT abstain or recuse yourself from this particular motion vote. The vote was Voting Record: Yes 19 -Sherry Butcher,Frank Casares,John DeSantis,Ed Dixon,John Goswitz,Mike Gruwell,Larry Hill,Victor Johnson,Marylou Laughlin,Kip Lohmiller,Jan Meyer,Gary Peek,Chris Quaintance,Lee Schlichtemeier,Scott Smith,Todd Spillers,scott stewart,Jay Stokes,BJ Worth, No 0 - Abstain by Name 0 - Total 19 I believe I brought a Point of Order on this motion about a fiduciary conflict of interest and requested that you and Jay not be allowed to vote (or participate in the discussion) on this motion. This was overuled by the Chair and you were allowed to vote/discuss if you wanted to. You always had the option of recusing yourself or abstaining from the vote. Regardless of whether you or Jay voted or abstained from this motion, it would have passed. The motion arose from a request from the manufacturers at the FL meeting earlier this year. They wanted some way to reduce or elminate the carnival rides, aka non-training tandem jumps. I personally have heard this request by phone and in person from mfgs. At first, I was not too keen on the idea. But then I looked at what USPA has in the way of rules/BSRs. The current rules pre-disposition those without a USPA TI rating to do 'carnival' rides only. They cannot do teaching tandem jumps. [SIM 2-1.E.4.d.1 All tandem training jumps must be conducted by a USPA Tandem Instructor.] This rule change will require all GM-DZ TIs to have a USPA TI rating. That will allow them to do training tandem jumps. It will not require that training tandem jumps be done, but it certainly removes the bias towards carnival rides that we see today. It's nice of you to have 'offered to help get people up to speed', but that just smacks with a fiduciary conflict of interest, unless you do it for free. I suspect that USPA will see a lot of non-USPA TIs that have, say an AFF I rating, wanting to be grandfathered into the USPA TI rating. I don't have a problem with doing something like that. If someone does not have any USPA I rating, then they probably have to take an I certification course of at least one type of instructional method. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

Chris Needles is the Executive Director. Glen Bangs is the President. 2 different postions. One is hired one is elected. judy In theory anyway...... . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

That is a shame to hear if true because that means we may not be getting the best person for the position. he, he.... the wonder of the internet... a facetious comment taken as 'real'.... I always heard a Golden Night was different from a Golden Knight. Don't know what version Martin really meant..... . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

USPA Executive Director On or about November 1, 2007, the position of USPA executive director will be open. The executive director is the chief staff executive of the association responsible for directing the Headquarters staff and carrying out the policies and programs of the Board of Directors. Specific duties are outlined in Section 1-2.6 of the USPA Governance Manual. The place of employment is Fredericksburg, Virginia. Interested persons should send cover letter and resume to USPA, Attention: Search, 5401 Southpoint Centre Blvd, Fredericksburg, VA 22407or search@uspa.org no later than October 1, 2007. This announcement is on the USPA web site, but will not appear in Parachutist or SNM until the Sept issue. Please forward to interested parties. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I need a parking space near ONT airport for Aug 2-25 and Sept 6-22. These are competition dates for WC, Russian Nats, and US Nats that have OmniSkore support. If there is someone out there that can park my truck for these weeks -Please let me know. My expenses get charged to the host and then passed on to the competitors, so I'd like to keep those expenses down. If you can help out you are helping the competitors. Thanks for any help. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker

I don't know the details of the accident you are refering to. But in the old news category you might try this article. . . Make It Happen Parachute History DiveMaker