Hummusx

Mark was a great guy. He was always having fun and always willing to change his plans to make a jump if you wanted. When I first started freeflying, he jumped with me a lot despite how much I sucked, and he always had something positive to say. He was easy going and never seemed bothered by questions or requests for advice. This is a real loss. We'll miss him. Ben ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I'm wondering how many people would cut away if they found that they could not unstow either toggle, assuming that you have an otherwise perfectly functioning canopy. It would be useful when you answer if you could indicate your canopy/experience level (not necessary if your profile is filled out) and whether you have landed your canopy on risers previously. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

There are very few goggles that work well with contacts. With the first pair that I owned, I lost a contact twice in freefall. Both times the contact stuck to the inside of the goggles so I didn't actually lose it, but trying to land with one bad eye was quite tricky. I like the wind in my face, and I found a pair of goggles that work very well. Look for ones that seal each eye individually instead of together. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

How many of those in Gitmo are american citizens? Anyone that is NOT a citizen would not be particularly pertinent to the current discussion. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Are you saying that Americans have more sex than Europeans? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

My friend and I were down in Florida and visited one of the large dropzones. We were *very* surprised to find that they only checked our USPA cards (we both have A licenses) and our reserve card. No one asked us how many jumps we had, when our last jump was, looked at our log book, or even glanced at our gear to see if the card matched the seal, etc. We're from the frozen north, so typically we'd have been 6 months since our last jump. I guess it was nice not be 'hassled', but on the other hand it seems like there should have been some kind of additional validation that we should be getting on the plane. Maybe I'm just used to our normal dropzones around home. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Well that's all fine and dandy, but I'm merely trying to reply to your initial questions. In this case, in the US I can write whatever hate-inciting thing I want and hand it out with a lollipop on the street corner. Apparently in the UK you cannot. And pretty soon you won't be able to post it on your website either. What's scary about this is that the definition of 'hate-inciting' is awfully subjective. But to get back on topic, it is an example of where we have MORE rights in the US than in the UK. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I just had to have this done...I'm sure you are meaning patch the entire vent. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Here's an example: http://news.com.com/2100-1023-275708.html?legacy=cnet "Publishing material likely to incite racial hatred is already illegal in the United Kingdom under the Public Order Act 1986," ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Not to be knuckleheaded here, but could someone explain the quotes? How is the tandem invention time related to AFF? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Page 7 section 2.1 E 6. b. of the 2005 SIM deals with this. "All students engaging in group freefall jumps must be accompanied by a USPA Coach until the student has obtained a USPA A license." I'm almost sure that it does not say EVERYONE on the jump must be a coach, merely that they must be accompanied by a coach. That means that you can bring 2 non-rated people and an AFFI and do a 4-way. Part of the assumption is that your coach/instructor will have the brains to avoid bringing you on jumps you shouldn't be on. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I've got two questions: If I want to learn to fly on my back and subsequently in a sit, is that something that the tunnel instructors can help me with? Or is it necessary for me to set up with a coach? Also, any thoughts on how long a relatively new sitflyer (~50 jumps) might expect to spend getting backflying basics down before moving to a sit? Assuming roughly average innate skill and learning rates. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I hope you didn't think this was actually going to fly. There's a discussion on the topic here: http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:4Ursqtt0tJQJ:www.apocalipsis.org/difficulties/pi.htm+1+kings+7:23&hl=en I don't normally post in this section of the site, but come on, that was silly. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Yes, it's worth it even if you can only do 10-30 minutes. My wife and I did 1 hour last year and it helped immensely. Getting this kind of training early on would be great for you so that you don't waste time learning bad habits. As far as how much time, I'd say the more the better! There's a progression that you'll go through with a coach from basic body position and stability to the whole range of movement in all directions. This took me almost the entire hour. My wife didn't get all the way through the progression because she spent more time then me on the basics (she has fewer jumps). I would definitely break up your time, ie you don't want to do 30 minutes altogether. Do it in 10-15 minute blocks and do as much as you can afford to get. You'll never regret it. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

My wife met with a life insurance agent from somewhere last night to talk about an existing policy that her parents set up for her when she was a kid. Anyway, she came home with all kinds of printouts and charts of different available options of what she could buy (of course). I know basically nothing about life insurance, which brings us to my question: The plan that the woman recommended was a Variable Universal Life insurance policy. Supposedly (I don't know if she actually said all of this, or just said the right things to let my wife conclude this) she could pay in $2500/year from age 25 to 60. At age 60 she would start withdrawing $18000/year for the rest of her life, and would still receive a death benefit of something like $1.3 million if she died at 100 years old. What wasn't she told? I know that the money paid in is held in assets that may or may not appreciate at the rate that the figures were based on (8%, which seems high). I tried to do some looking via google, but I couldn't find much that gave details on how the numbers were arrived at, for instance how the withdrawal amount is figured, how the amount of the death benefit is figured, etc. I guess I also thought that almost all life insurance 'expired' at some point well before 100 years old. Everyone dies eventually, I thought the way they made money was by people NOT dieing and collecting the benefits before the plan expired. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I spent an hour in the tunnel over 2 days last year in Perris, and I recall being pretty sore afterwards. Maybe more importantly, I remember a few muscles being rather loathe to respond to my wishes at the end of my last block of time. Of course now I can't remember exactly what was sore (other than my lower back from arching). I've got some time scheduled at the tunnel in Orlando for March, and I would really like to start preparing by doing some exercising, stretching, and just general training. So I guess the question is, what's going to hurt on the first morning after I'm in the tunnel? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

In 2003 SVO generated $2,501,236 in sales and operated at a 35% profit margin (this included a 3-week downtime period for system upgrades). In 2002, SVO generated more than $2.25 million in revenue and operated at a 36.7% profit margin. http://www.zerogroom.com ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Unfortunately, that is not the case. They have some sort of exclusive arrangement with Paralog or whoever it is and don't seem to be interested in allowing anyone else to build software to download jumps. Which is a shame. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

So many things to say, so little time. I'll just inject this thought. IMO, one of the biggest flaws with most discussions about pre-destination vs. free will (at least in the context of Christianity) is the imposed concept of 'time'. There's always this concept of 'xxx happened then yyy happened', either as a result of following some linear plan or as a chain of decisions made by free beings. Obviously if you believe in an all-powerful God, you must be willing to assert that he exists outside the bounds of time and is not bound by any of the constraints that go along with it. I think the idea that free will and predestination cannot coexist depends on our concept of linear time. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Absolutely not. I am flabbergasted that the vote is nearly even. "Your appeal to the secretary general is alarming and embarrassing," he said. "As a Member of Congress sworn to uphold the Constitution and represent the people of the United States, it is disturbing, to say the least, that you would entrust the most sacred act of American democracy - our presidential election - to an international institution, which is unaccountable to the American people and mired by scandal and corruption." Kilgannon said the request "undermines U.S. sovereignty, demoralizes American servicemen who are fighting to build democratic governments abroad and sends the message worldwide that the United States is nothing more than a Third World nation unable to police itself." AMEN ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

And that works just fine? My wife has had a newish Sabre 150 for a couple months, and it's still too slippery for her to stick in the bag. Having to wait for packers to be available is really dragging down her jumps/trip to the DZ and it's expensive. This sounds like it could really easy up the process...there's no problem with just lifting it up against you and rolling down? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Is there any reason we should be concerned about shipping our rigs UPS 2-day air? Do they X-ray packages they ship, and if so should we post something about the AADs on the outside of the box? Doesn't seem to me that it should be any kind of problem, but then I'd rather ask than be sorry. =) ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I hate to rain on the anti-money parade here, but don't you think you are missing something here? If you spent your entire week picnicing in the mountains and your weekends skydiving and sailing, where would you get the food? Where would you get a boat? Where would you get a rig? The reality of life is that staying alive requires WORK. There are two ways that it can work. Either each family can do all the work themselves (ie hunt/gather, make clothes, build a house), or people can specialize in one particular area and then trade for the others. Turns out money is a great way to normalize trading. Anyway...focus on wealth has definitly brought about lots of bad things. But the problem isn't money, the problem is greed. The problem is the sense of entitlement that everyone has these days. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Anyone ever purchased a car on ebay? Love to hear your thoughts/experiences. Thanks! ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Given these ingredients: 3 days 40-60 mins coached tunnel time 2-5 coach jumps 5-10 solo jumps Anyone have any thoughts on a good formula for starting out? Burn all the tunnel time and coach jumps, then do some solos to practice? Do have the tunnel time, a bunch of solos, and then back in the tunnel? There's lots of variations, maybe it doesn't matter that much...the most important thing I want to accomplish is to reach a level where I can safely practice on my own when I'm done. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill