yoink

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content

    5,638

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    21

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by yoink

  1. yoink
    To be fair, the US does the same with Al-Quaeda and they only killed about 3000 people on Sept 11. The Nazis did kill in excess of 25 million Russians so a bit of legacy is understandable, no? 25 million. That number still boggles my mind.
  2. yoink
    Pretty canopy. Looks like a blast to fly and you guys look like you're having an awesome time with them! I'm extremely jealous! Given the recent incident with a swooper hospitalizing a spectator you might want to revisit the idea of swooping through the picnic areas at 2.45 though...
  3. yoink
    You don't need a swooper, you need an aerodynamics engineer... This has been discussed several times with no clear consensus. One camp thinks that as the attachment point is static all loading is done from that point and there is no alteration of CoG with body position, and any performance change is a result of reduced drag, pressure on the rear risers and a psychosomatic / placebo effect; The other camp believes they see more gains than can be reasonably explained from the above so a shifting CoG may have something to do with it. Some stuff in this thread about it http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4145123
  4. yoink
    If I'm reading your intent here correctly, you and other folks that say "it's about the oil" when it comes to the American military are,... what's the word..., ridiculous. If it was really about the oil, we'd own the oil in about 2 weeks. Considering we haven't done that, then your premise seems to be misplaced, IMO. That wasn't my intent, but following that train of thought, you'd keep any oil you simply took for a further 2 weeks before the entire world turned on you... However there's a difference between taking ensuring friendly local ownership. Regardless, I actually believe that if oil is the driver needed to refund NASA, then that's a good thing. I'm one of those people who fervently wishes we were out exploring the universe more than we do. If the commercial opportunities of oil is what is needed to fund that exploration that I'm up for that for the time being.
  5. yoink
    Talking of which, I'm looking forward to NASA receiving a boost in funding for their upcoming freedom missions...
  6. yoink
    Regardless, some direction from the owners would be useful - does DZ.com use open SSL? Should people change their passwords now rather then in a few months?
  7. yoink
    Lets add actually manufacturing the flag to that list too... Remember the incident which almost killed someone when the weight came off the bag and went through a whuffos house?
  8. yoink
    I got a mean paper cut working on the design of a marine barracks a couple of years ago. Where's my money??!! What an asshole.
  9. yoink
    The people telling you that are fucking idiots and should shut the hell up. Listen to your instructors. It's just another skydive... 4000ft is loads of time. Smile, relax and have fun! Hop and Pops are awesome!
  10. yoink
    The same idea of a deadline which the entire US government seems to have had in passing a budget for the last 5 years. Both parties are as guilty as each other when deadlines are involved. If the government were run like private industry, every politician would have been fired long ago, or at the very least learnt the meaning of the phrase 'manage expectations'....
  11. yoink
    A tandem can be completed with other skydivers of sufficient experience. I believe (but may be wrong) that this is determined by the tandem manufacturer and is commonly a minimum of 500 jumps. Additional skills commonly required are a certain level of currency and experience in relative work and then discretionary approval by the TI / DZO. Regardless, 'just getting your B' suggests you have nowhere near the skill or experience to jump with a tandem. Not only would you probably not get near them, but you'd actively be a danger to the tandem pair - even if you don't believe it. A tandem is not an ordinary skydive. Don't worry about it. You don't want your friend looking at you in freefall anyway! They should be experiencing the sights and sounds which you can then have fun talking over after. Seriously - they'll get a massive buzz just out of seeing you go first.
  12. yoink
    No. Best thing to do is to arrange to be on the same load as them, give them a big thumbs up before letting them see you exit, and then meeting them on the ground for a beer.
  13. yoink
    I could never be a BASE jumper. I don't have enough Go-Pros.
  14. yoink
    They are not burning babies - over emotional claptrap. What happens to the same bio-waste where you live? It's deep fried and served with waffles.
  15. yoink
    You're reaching, which is unusual for you. For newbies - there are good lessons here re body position and arguments for an RSL but... after a chop you head home. Don't follow your gear. Don't feel compelled to hit an X. Don't worry about standing up... your priority is landing safely, nothing else.
  16. yoink
    Happens all the time. Plaintiffs typically sue claiming negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, or breach of contract. Not just for being shit though? ;)
  17. yoink
    I wonder if you can sue lawyers who don't get verdicts you want?
  18. yoink
    It'd get you ostracized from the skydiving community pretty quick. For the OP - packers do the best jobs they can, but shit happens. If you want to minimize the chances of it, pack your own rig. Remember - you pay for a packjob, not the opening. Learning stuff like this is part of learning to skydive... The corollary to that is that packers need to do the best they can. You don't get just to scoop up the parachute and throw it in a container any old how without any repercussions. They may not be legal ones, but there would definitely be some...
  19. yoink
    Nothing reported as found after the first full day of searching west of Perth. It doesn't sound like they've done much with the Maldives sighting as yet, but are really concentrating on the Australia one. I hope it turns out to be something.
  20. yoink
    Hang the fuck on. Why is this now Europe having to pull their head out of their ass? The US has been as happy as anyone to try and collaborate with the current Russian regime. You can't have it both ways.
  21. yoink
    there's always that irritating problem of having to land. don't get me wrong, i have fun landing and try to make the best of the situation but sometimes i just don't wanna land go paragliding.
  22. yoink
    Why? What would you have done differently without the hindsight you have so far? Assuming they're not somehow hiding anything then they're trying to figure stuff out as much as anyone. I'm curious what you think they should have done with people clamoring for answers that they don't have? Personally, I think they should have been able to say to the 24/7 media 'we don't know yet. We're investigating and will inform you when we have some facts', and then shut up... - of course they'd not only be hung out to dry if they did that, but the media would just go ahead and make shit up anyway.
  23. yoink
    Ding Ding Ding! there are no stupid questions. Only stupid teachers.
  24. yoink
    Well, watch the eastern border of Ukraine. That's going to tell us a lot. Nobody whose country it isn't wants to get involved in combat. I have to agree with that stance too. War is expensive, and deadly, and not good for the overall well being of the planet or mankind. Pushed hard enough though and that's not off the table. Putin knows this and I think that's his long term strategy; find the edge nobody is willing to die for, push a bit, wait a bit, see if you can find another edge to push. I agree. There's argument to be made that he thinks he can get away with the Crimea move because nobody batted an eye when he annexed parts of Georgia into new Russian Protectorates a couple of years back. I'm sure he's eying up former soviet countries for little bits he can snip off in the guise of 'legitimate border unrest / safety concerns'.... He's a nutter, but one that's good at playing the game.
  25. yoink
    That seems like one of the less crazy theories out there... The simplest answer is usually the right one.