Hummusx

I'd like to get opinions on what the best (safest?) route would be for changing canopies. First let me say I'm talking LONG term plan, as in multiple years/hundreds of jumps. The basic question is does it make more sense to move down in size, and then switch to an elliptical canopy or would it be better to switch to a large elliptical and then downsize from there. Please note in the polls that the arrow '->' means step down not go directly from a 190 to a 120. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

There's also Skydive Twin Cities just a few minutes east of town on 94 (at Baldwin, WI). That's where my friends and I jump all the time. Send me a PM if you want directions. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I'm trying to find out what people's opinions are on health insurance. I'm a pretty healthy guy. It's been probably 3 years since I went in to the doctor's for anything. I view my medical insurance as a purely emergency type of thing. What I'm wondering about is what kind of cost would be involved if I had a serious skydiving accident. I haven't had a major injury since I was a kid, so I don't really even know what ballpark we are talking about. $10k? $50k? More? If something like that were to happen, what kind of difference is a $2k vs $5k deductible going to make? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

As far as I can tell the 'Currency Requirements' in the SIM are actually recommendations. If this is the case, then what is required to be 'current' should be evaluated on a case by case basis based on what is known about a particular student. Right? ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I'd love to get peoples opinions on these two specific items: 1) Tunnel camp vs. Tunnel time with a coach 2) If you could only do one camp this year, a) better to learn to sitfly in the tunnel and then improve your RW skills via skydiving b) better to work on your RW skills in the tunnel and learn to sitfly via skydiving ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Wow I wanna jump at your dropzone. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Yes I'm aware of the website. I've also done searches in the forums and spent time reading what people have already said about tunnels and tunnel camps. I'm looking for some recommendations based on people's personal experience. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

My friend has been trying to contact them for a week via phone and email with no luck at all. He's starting to think the entire company packed up and went on a vacation somewhere. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I'm a relatively new skydiver (85 jumps) looking to spend some time in a tunnel this summer. What I'm hoping to get is some advice on how I should approach this. Of course I could just book some time with a coach and go for it. Or I could try to identify a camp to go to. I'd really like to get the most overall learning/experience that I can. I'm don't see myself getting into competition 4-way, although I definitely want to improve those skills. I'm planning to start freeflying this year, so that would be another possible area to work on. Can someone give me some advice? Thanks! ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Last year we were about halfway through our AFF progression when we got weathered out. It was 29 days before we got back out and did another jump, and we were really worried that it was going to mess us up. In fact, everything went fine and all 4 of us passed that jumped and moved on. Your mileage may vary, but if you were pretty comfortable on your 5th jump, I wouldn't sweat it too much. Just remember to RELAX and everything will be fine. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I've got just a couple questions regarding costs vs retail on skydiving clothing. If you wouldn't mind sharing some general information (don't need any industry secrets here ), could you please send me a PM? Much appreciated. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

This will be my second year of skydiving and I'm planning to start in on freeflying. Obviously I don't want to wear my RW suit when I'm learning to sit, but I'm not sure what route I should go for a new suit. I like the idea of a two piece freefly suit, but I have no idea if there would be a reason I want a single piece suit instead. I see a number of people at our dropzone doing the no-suit thing too. Anyway, looking for any and all feedback. Thanks! ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

What camera do you guys wear with that for recording? I'm trying to find a new one that is as small as possible.. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

A bit is the smallest amount of information stored in a computer. It is represented as either a 1 or a 0 (hence the oft-seen string of random 1's and 0's). Bits are grouped into Bytes (8 bits to a byte), which is what you normally here people talk about. Anyway, yes, a bit has only two values. 1/0, True/False, Yes/No, whatever. I always loved Bit in that movie. Wish I had one. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Grabbed this off the web: Technically, a person violates the law against trespassing by knowingly going onto someone else's land without consent. "Knowledge" may be inferred when the owner (or the owner's representative) tells the trespasser not to go on the land or when the land is fenced in a manner that suggests that intruders should stay out or there is a "no trespassing" sign in an obvious place. A trespasser will probably not be prosecuted if the land was open to the public when the trespasser originally entered the land and the trespasser's conduct did not substantially interfere with the owner's use of the property and the trespasser left on request. ___________________ This is pretty much in line with what I've heard before regarding hunting on other people's land. It's got to be very clear to you that you are not allowed on the land, otherwise it's not trespassing and all they can do is tell you to get off. On your second reserve ride though... ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

So I'm looking at a used rig for my wife. I got the SN of the container (javelin) and called in to talk with Sunpath about it. Basically they said the main lift web was an inch too long and the lateral was an inch too big as well. They can adjust it to fit her, but of couse that will be $240 and two weeks. In the words of the Sunpath guy, "It would need to be adjusted for the rig to really be comfortable." My question is, can someone give me a little detail about what those sizes really mean and also maybe comment on the comfort level of those two sizes being off by and inch VS the comfort of random_rental_rig_01 that she would be using normally. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I took my (now) wife out for a nice dinner, and afterwards did your typical one-knee proposal. But when I gave her the ring, there was no stone. I told her that I wanted her to go look at diamonds with me and that we'd pick on out that she liked. A couple days later I showed up at her house at like 6 in the morning and told her we were going diamond shopping. Of course she was surprised, especially since she was supposed to be starting a new job that day. I told her to pack a bag because we were going on a trip. We flew out to Antwerp, the diamond capital of the world, and shopped the diamond places there. We spent about week sightseeing in Germany and Belgium. It was great fun, and definitely something neither of us will forget. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Here's a thought about the ending. In the first movie, Smith killed Neo. It is emphasized in the second movie that he WAS killed. Then somehow, inexplicably, he wasn't dead. Shortly after that, he killed Smith. And as Smith said in the second movie, he didn't do what he was supposed to do after he died. So they were both in some sort of state of limbo, based on the fact that part of each of them was in the other (again, referenced in the second movie). Then when they were finally combined in the end of the third movie, that limbo state was released and they both died as they should have in the first movie. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

The wife and I shower together every morning. Well...except when I sleep in and go to work late. If you have a nice seal on your shower curtain/door, and don't run the fan, it gets nice and warm pretty fast and you don't get cold when you aren't under the water. Plus, it saves time and shower together. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Yeah, supposedly. But where's the motivation? It's a Friday after all. What's really bad is when you start getting bored of all the stuff on the web and then don't want to work OR surf. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

I'm trying to find a thread that came through a while ago with a few pictures of airplane 'crashes' on the ground. Like mis-parking, etc. I really want to send them to my dad (he's a commercial pilot) but I can't seem to find it. For some reason 'airplane' and 'picture' seem to be common words on this board. Go figure. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

That's because the idea is to wear stuff that is sized much to small. Have you ever actually looked through one of those mailers? Everything is spilling out all over the place. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Heh yeah, couldn't guess how the author feels about the subject... ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=06C603EF-5B3F-49CF-ACAC-50D9F895E7DE Kyoto debunked A pillar of the Kyoto Accord is based on flawed calculations, incorrect data and an overtly biased selection of climate records, an important new paper reveals Tim Patterson Financial Post Wednesday, October 29, 2003 This has been a nightmare of a year for aficionados of the Kyoto Accord. After Canada's ratification of the treaty in late 2002, environmentalists had every reason to believe that few climate experts would dare continue to publicly oppose Kyoto's science, Russia would quickly ratify the accord and it soon would become international law. Instead, as illustrated at this month's World Climate Change Conference in Moscow, exactly the opposite has happened. The growing number of scientists who dispute the treaty's scientific foundation have become increasingly vocal, regularly pushing their case in the media as groundbreaking studies continue to be published that pull the rug out from under Kyoto's shaky edifice. Of these, none may have the long-term impact of the paper published yesterday in the prestigious British journal Energy and Environment, which explains how one of the fundamental scientific pillars of the Kyoto Accord is based on flawed calculations, incorrect data and a biased selection of climate records. The paper's authors, Toronto-based analyst Steve McIntyre and University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick, obtained the original data used by Michael Mann of the University of Virginia to support the notion that the 20th-century temperature rise was unprecedented in the past millennium. A detailed audit revealed numerous errors in the data. After correcting these and updating the source records they showed that based on Mann's own methodologies, his original conclusion was flawed. Mann's original version resulted in the famous "hockey stick" graph that purported to show 900 years of relative temperature stability (the shaft of the hockey stick) followed by a sharp increase (the blade) in the 20th century (see graph). The corrected version of the last thousand years actually contradicts the view promoted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and removes the foundation for claims of 20th-century uniqueness. To understand the significance of the McIntyre/McKitrick announcement, it is important to consider how our understanding of long-term climate history has evolved over the past decade. In its 1990 and 1995 "Assessment Reports", the IPCC clearly identified two major global climatic events in the past millennium, as confirmed by thousands of papers written by quaternary geologists during the past century -- a "Medieval Warm Period" (MWP) from about 800 to 1300 A.D. that was as much as two degrees Celsius warmer than today, and a far colder "Little Ice Age" (LIA) from about 1300 to 1900 A.D. The effects of these events were felt worldwide with convincing evidence of both the MWP and LIA found in Europe, North America, Africa, the Caribbean, Peru and even in China, Japan and Australia. As part of our emergence from the LIA, scientists agreed there had been a gradual warming throughout the 20th century, although the reasons for this were hotly contested with increasing greenhouse gases (GHG) and changes in the output of the sun being leading contenders. In recent years, however, the case for solar variations being the 20th century's major climate driver has become much stronger, much to the consternation of Kyoto supporters. After all, if long before human-induced GHG emission became significant, temperatures were considerably higher than today, there would be little reason to think today's temperatures were anything unnatural. This was especially true since long-term solar records indicated that both the MWP and LIA were closely correlated with changes in solar activity, and the output of the sun has indeed been increasing during the past century's 0.6C warming. Supporters of the GHG-induced warming hypothesis desperately needed a "smoking gun" to prop up the need for Kyoto. This was conveniently supplied by Mann, Bradley and Hughes in their 1998 paper (referred to as "MBH98") in which they reduced the MWP and LIA to non-events outside Europe and unveiled their "hockey stick." The paper concluded, "Our results suggest that the latter 20th century is anomalous in the context of at least the past millennium. The 1990s was the warmest decade, and 1998 the warmest year, at moderately high levels of confidence." Of course, Kyoto fans were delighted. Despite being at odds with most of the scientific literature, and the fact that the MBH98 study was only one of thousands of possible millennial temperature constructions, advocates of the GHG hypothesis of climate change started to promote Mann's results as the definitive global temperature history. Within a year, with little real debate, the hockey stick became entrenched as the new orthodoxy, showing up in official documents everywhere. However, the scientific review process that all studies must undergo before publication had failed in the case of the MBH98 paper. The temperature data before 1900 were not directly measured, as they were after 1900 when land-based thermometer readings were used. Instead, pre-1900 temperatures were calculated based on the measurement of "proxies," natural phenomena such as the growth of tree rings or coral that indicate what temperature was at certain times in the past. Consequently, grafting the two very different types of data sets together without significant overlap to come to dramatic conclusions was unwarranted and should have been seriously contested by the paper's reviewers. Chris de Freitas of the School of Geography and Environmental Science at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, sums up, "The Mann 'hockey stick' is nothing more than a mathematical construct vigorously promoted in the IPCC's 2001 report to affirm the notion that temperature changes of the 20th century were unprecedented." Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard Institute of Astrophysics added to the critique of Mann's hockey stick in March of this year when they showed that a careful analysis of 240 proxy studies reaffirmed that the MWP and the LIA were indeed worldwide phenomena, not limited to the European and North American continents. Baliunas and Soon's results coupled with this week's McIntyre/McKitrick paper may now end the debate for good. By looking carefully at the MBH98 data and their computational methods, McIntyre and McKitrick uncovered such serious flaws that the temperature indexes computed from it are, to quote McIntyre and McKitrick, "unreliable and cannot be used for comparisons between the current climate and that of previous centuries." Mann's claims that "temperatures in the latter half of the 20th century were unprecedented," and the IPCC's and Environment Canada's confident assertions that the 1990s was "likely the warmest decade" and 1998 the "warmest year" of the millennium, are wholly unsubstantiated. Among the many mistakes in Mann's paper, some appear blatant, some simply careless apparently due to clerical errors (for example, allocating measurements to the wrong years, "filling" tables with identical numbers for different proxies in different years, etc.). In many cases, obsolete source data was used that have since been revised by the originating researchers. As an example of their numerous "truncation errors," Mann's Central England Temperature series stops without explanation at 1730, even though data are available back to 1659, thus hiding a major 17th century cold period. Similarly, Central Europe data are truncated at 1550, rather than 25 years earlier, for which the data are available, the effect being to remove the warmest data in the series. Of course, no one with an understanding of climate history really believes there was a dramatic temperature spike in the middle of the Little Ice Age. Yet Mann's data and methodology actually supports such a notion, completely contradicting his contention that there was merely a gradually cooling between 1000 AD and 1900. Correcting and updating the proxy database used by Mann and his co-authors and then repeating Mann's methodology, McIntyre and McKitrick showed that the MBH98 study in fact reveals that the late 20th century Northern Hemisphere temperature trend is unexceptional compared to the preceding centuries. In doing so, they demonstrate the sort of in-depth analysis the IPCC should have conducted on its own. Instead, its so called "rigorous review process" failed miserably, giving highly flawed work central prominence in the 2001 IPCC Report. As a consequence, governments worldwide are now making some of their most expensive policy decisions ever based on uncritical acceptance of an IPCC Report that we now know to be decidedly unsound in itself. Dr. Tim Patterson is a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at Carleton University. ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill

Anyone have suggestions other than dating? Somehow I think my wife might take issue if I chose to go down that road... ____________________________________ It’s like selling a million grills all at the same time…with extended warranties. -Hank Hill