yoink

Perfect. Thanks Terry! I agree with you - After some research I've a feeling that a serrated edge will work better for the kevlar-sheathed types of lines I'll be working with. I'll probably do the same as I do skydiving and get at least a couple and strap them in different places. That lets me have some options in variety.

If you're having to shorten your glide on the final leg of your approach, you've made errors higher up in your pattern. Concentrate on learning how to adjust your pattern there, rather than trying for inputs down low. A canopy course will teach you how best to do that. There's also some good information in the thread on S-Turns in this forum too. If you have to shorten your final leg, it does rather depend on what canopy you're flying. Some react differently to partial brakes than others. The only surefire way I know of is going into deep brakes and this comes with its own serious set of problems. I'd highly recommend against it unless you're going to hit barbed wire fence or cause a canopy collision. If you have to do this, go into brakes and prepare to PLF. If you have altitude, you can slowly let up on your brakes when you've shortened your approach sufficiently not to kill yourself on whatever you're avoiding. If you don't have altitude to do it slowly, suck up the hard landing and keep the brakes where they are. Letting up on your brakes quickly will cause the canopy to surge and dive into the ground. Stay off your risers. Fronts will lawn-dart you into the ground, rears will (probably) extend your glide until you stall the canopy and then lawn-dart into the ground... It really is best not to find yourself in this position. Other options would be to do a braked turn and land crosswind to whatever you're trying to avoid. Remember you're landing priorities: Above all else - wing level on landing.

Glad you're practicing this stuff! It's important.

Thanks guys! I'll look into all those suggestions... Didn't sleep too well last night!

I'm in desperate need of a hook knife for sailing. We almost lost a crew member today and a personal hook knife would have made a really bad situation much easier to deal with. Does anyone know of a knife that has at least a half inch wide mouth? preferably 3/4" or more.

I feel your pain! I fractured my coccyx speedflying number of years ago. It took a good 4 or 5 months to heal. Definitely get to a doctor for an xray, and definitely get an inflatable donut. Pooping is going to be a chore for a while unfortunately! Make sure you eat LOTS of natural laxatives... the last thing you want is to be straining. It REALLY hurts!

The other thing i should have mentioned is the PACE program. (http://energycenter.org/policy/property-assessed-clean-energy-pace) - it's essentially a loan from the city which gets added to your property tax in yearly installments, so you can get an installed system with basically nothing down, and pay it off over 20 years. I'm waiting to hear confirmation from him, but my tax guy said he thinks that along with the property tax, the PACE payment will be deductible at the end of the year as well, so the cost might come down that way too.

Hi Spot. I think there was a complaint or two that "inside" video was not the same quality as outside video. No argument, but inside video still has its value, IMHO. It just needs to be done safely (snagproof). And instructors (who should know better) must not be distracted by it. That was one of the concerning things for me about the original video - the AFFI was paying more attention to his buddy than his student. 'I'll just switch it on and forget about it. We can just use it for review after the jump...'

The sad thing is that it's now a game of poker. Both players (I believe) were playing bluffs. The Greek government's was on national pride and the belief that a strong pushback would allow them to negotiate stronger terms with creditors, the rest of the EU on the inevitability of Greek exit. Both of those options SUCK. Either the EU gives in and throws good money after bad, (and let's see where that leads!), or it imposes a really bad time on the Greek people who have been led down the garden path by corrupt officials. As sad as it is, I don't think the EU can blink. Greece needs to go and find its own way for a while - as painful as that may be. And the rest of the EU need to learn some pretty fucking serious lessons.

Yeah. It's kinda about guns, too. If you don't see that, then the irony of you calling others 'idiots' is kinda tragic.

I have to clean the panels off occasionally. That's it. What other maintenance are you thinking of? The inverter will need replacing within 10 years, but the company I'm going with offer a 20 year warranty on the entire system, so when that goes they'll come out and replace it for free. Parts and labor all included.

You know that you lose all credulity when you say stuff like this, right? Sorry, reich?

Good answer.

Sorry - typo. Should have been 6-7 years. Our elec bill is about 240 a month. I work at home and have a fair number of computers running most of the time. We're getting a 24 panel system providing 6,000W which (with the rebate) came to about $17,000. I think I worked it out to about 6 1/2 years to pay itself off. the company we went with also guarantee a certain production over the life of the system. If the system they designed and installed fails to provide the adequate power, they pay any top-up costs. I also spoke to half a dozen realtors in the area who gave me estimates ranging from $10k to $20k as an increase on the value of the home from having a purchased system installed. As we've just moved into this place I think we'll be here long enough to pay it off and get the value out of it.

We're getting solar installed next month in our new house. The number I ran seem to suggest it'll pay itself off in about 5 1/2 years. I've also been paying close attention to the Tesla battery wall. It'll be interesting to see how long they hold up for as I could see SDG&E not only removing the buy-back policy they have in place, but also charging just for a hookup in future.

Might want to update your profile there.

Mods - I read the instructors forum regularly to get information from people with instructional ratings. It's a useful resource of relatively high quality information. I rarely post here because I don't currently hold a rating. Can you make sure this thread doesn't devolve into another JWest Camera thread please? In the previous one the signal to noise ratio was ridiculous.

And once again, a thread in Speakers Corner which might just possibly have started out with some interesting international commentary has devolved to US right wing vs left wing bullshit. Good job guys. *Golf claps

Nope. That argument doesn't hold water. I don't care if subcontractors don't like or approve of me. They're paid to do a job, and they should do it professionally if they agree to the contract. I can't force them into accepting a job from me. That's entirely different to me legally opting into a club that I know doesn't want me. By your rationale, beliefs that someone has follows all the way up the chain and trumps everything that comes after. OH NOES! I'm using a computer that has a microchip which was soldered by a person who doesn't hold the same beliefs as I do! I'd best not use it... That's just an argument to gather as much power as possible for a religion, and you're damn right. That I WOULD fight against. Call it a war if you want. I call it a fight for liberty... something I would have thought a patriot like you would understand.

More like 5-10 years - look at Argentina in the early 2000s for an example. If Greece does exit it's going to be rife with hyperinflation and devaluation. The next few years in Greece will be absolutely awful. I feel sorry for the Greek people. I honestly believe that international finance is something that is so complex and has so many ramifications that it's simply not realistic to expect the layman to have enough of an understanding to be able to make an intelligent choice. Tsipras ran on the stupidly simple 'do you want money? I'll get you money!' promise which most people with a broad understanding of finance knew was unachievable. Tsipras however, knew people. If you ask them if they'd like more money or less money, they'll always vote for the former... His policies have put them in an irrecoverable position. In 2010 there may have been some road to remedy. Not now. Now Greece has to choose between two miserable choices. You make the point that Greece has borrowed cash and is running out on that debt. As I understand it (and I could be wrong), from the perspective of the ECB, if Greece returns to the Drachma then that money hasn't actually gone anywhere. They could reprint the money or at least a portion of it and recover some of the debt that way.

That's super cool! Bits of furniture with stories to them like that beat Ikea stuff everytime! Fermentation is coming along nicely, although for some reason it wouldn't start in the initial bucket. I left it for 4 days and not so much as a blip... I skimmed off some of the foam and transferred it to a 6 gallon carboy and it instantly started bubbling away. I'm guessing either the juice wasn't aerated enough initially for the yeast to do its thing, or maybe it just wasn't mixed enough. Anyway, the airlock is now bubbling away so should have the first fermentation done in about 2 weeks I'd guess. I want to do a secondary fermentation in the bottles using champagne yeast to make the cider dryer and give it the fizz I'm looking for. I'm not sure how to do it though - anyone know? Do I use the same amount of yeast I did initially and mix it with the main batch and then siphon that in to the bottles?

But suggest any sort of alteration to gun laws and watch how quickly the 'IT'S IN THE CONSTITUTION!!' arguments come out.

Drop her into a vat of molten iron, maybe?

If they can walk to lunch it might be time to wean them!

Or Hard Cider for those over the other side of the pond...