LouYoung

That's what I guessed may have happened. I remember when I was there, they were very adament about us putting the tables and chairs back the way we found them so that the conference room looked like a conference room instead of a room to store tables and chairs. They've been very accomodating in the past, letting us use the room free of charge. I'm sure that if we scheduled and offered to pay to book the room for us they'd be all for it, but when they give up the room for free and we walk all over their hospitality, what do you expect?

I've jumped goggle-less and was fine, it's been 3 years. I ride motorcycles and do other things that cause wind. My doctor told me not to swim for three months, though. Regular eye doctors, the ones that sell you glasses, will try their best to scare you out of LASIK, because they know you'll never be in their office again. But like Leroy said, if you're worried, stay away. Lou

Do you have any idea about the events that led the Shiloh to no longer allow jumpers to pack in the conference rooms or hallways? Did jumpers stop respecting the room (putting chairs and tables back, vacuuming, etc.)? Or do they just have new management that doesn't like jumpers?

I second the going naked part. Post pics.

My nearsightedness was about -.75 and -1.00 with -.75 and -1.25 astigmatism. I never wore glasses and treated my eyes really bad with the contacts, only took them out about once a week even though they were dailies. My eyes started to get pissed off, so I got LASIK. I was worried about what the LASIK would do to my night vision, but to tell you the truth, before the LASIK my vision was worse at night due to the astigmatism. And the contacts caused halos and starbursts at night anyway. The day after the LASIK I went in for my eye exam and was seeing 20/15 in both eyes. Same a year later. Night vision was spectacular with far FEWER halos and starbursts than I had with the contacts. The sentiment was the same for me, "The best thing I ever did and pissed at myself for not doing it sooner." I paid about $3500 to $4000 about 3 or 4 years ago. There was no pain, ever. Eyes were dry and itchy for about a week after, but the drops helped that. Lou

On the advice of my mentor, I picked up a SuperRaven III from eBay for about $150 to practice my BASE canopy skills before my FJC. It flies quite a bit like a "real" BASE canopy. My DZO let me borrow a student rig that had the main out for service and I put about 30 jumps on it from 5,000 feet. Most of them I'd track for the hanger for a couple thousand feet then pitch and start going through the drills I found on CR's website. Lou

Leroy, that's the perfect post for the gist of this thread. You can't even see her face, but to us, any girl that jumps off of shit is hot! Not that Jasmin isn't hot, I've never met her, but jumping off of something makes it all that much better... barefoot even! To girls: Men who jump off of shit are just crazy lunatics who can't hold a job long enough to buy them stuff. To men: Girls who jump of of shit are hot! I was once talking to a friend and telling him that's it's probably about time for my girlfriend to start wandering looking for another guy who's more exciting. He said, "But you jump off of stuff with parachutes! That's not exciting?" I said, "It's exciting to guys. Girls want a different kind of excitment. Excitment to them is coming home from work and finding out their bags are packed because you're going to spontaneously wisk them off to a secluded bungalow at a five-star resort in Cabo where they'll find chocolates and diamond rings on the bed and a man named Jose waiting to give them a full body massage. Meanwhile, your wallet is empty and you're scanning the horizon looking for something to jump off of." Lou

I think what he did was pretty irresponsible. I don't think I saw a pilot chute on the end of that bridle, seriously putting the bag of dog food in a lot of risk in the event that he may have accidentally released prematurely. That bag of dog food would have been in a world of hurt if the container didn't open from the assist.

Lockpicks? Black ski mask? Crossbow?

I might be talked into going to TF in April. I want to get back out there this spring, but nothing set in stone yet. (Tom, you may not remember, but I was one of the party crashers at your house last Labor Day! )

People were still BASE jumping with skydiving gear in 1999? I thought by 1999 everyone was using BASE specific gear. Crazy.

I've always wanted to somehow "escape" the Superman The Escape ride at Magic Mountain. Let the thing do the climbing for you and just kind of float off the top at apogee. It'd be like doing a two-way with a car load full of people. http://www.sixflags.com/parks/magicmountain/Rides/superman.html

Wow. You guys really like the skunk up there in your neck of the woods, eh?

Nice video. Did anyone notice that the dude still has his reserve rip cord when he lands? That's hardcore.

I read that book, too. I got it in the mail and read it that night. I couldn't put it down until I turned the last page. Really good story telling.

I just recently read someplace that the USHGA doesn't want to push for paraglider access for fear that it may hurt hang glider access.

60 degrees and perfectly sunny here. Everyone else I know is either working or out at the dropzone. I decided to go to my local 250 foot overhung cliff that's about 8 miles from my house. Put my girlfriend at the bottom for ground crew and hiked up to the top for my first solo with GC. Happy Holidays! Can it be better? Woohoo! Lou

I've heard of ton of these stories about people getting a talking to, a simple ticket, or just a "Hey man, that was cool!". Later that night they find themselves sleeping in their own beds. With my luck, I'd end up spending approx. 16 hours in jail until I was bailed out. Do most of these "let go" stories originate from when the cop actually sees the jump and confronts the jumper (no one called in a complaint)? Or do people have these stories even when someone called 911 and the air unit shows up with their 10 gazillion watt spotlight? Has anyone experienced a ton of commotion caused by a complaint and then been let go? Lou

It'll be different depending on where the construction site is. In AZ, if you walk into an area that isn't completely fenced and doesn't have any signs telling you to keep out, it'll only turn into trespassing if someone asks you to leave and you don't, and it'll be 3rd degree trespassing. If the area is completely fenced or there are signs around telling you to keep out, you'll get 2nd degree trespassing (fines and jail time go up, but they're both still misdemeanors). Carry some lock picks with you, or find yourself in a "critical public facility" (water treatment plant, electrical station, etc.), you're committing first degree trespassing which is a class 6 felony (up to 10 years and 150,000 dollars). I did a little research on trespassing in Nevada and from what I could find (their statutes didn't seem to be as well organized) they don't have different levels of trespassing and far less verbiage explaining what it they consider trespassing, so it'll probably be open season in the court room. I didn't see any mention of a felony or what they call a gross misdemeanor in the text. I think all trespassing there is just your standard misdemeanor (10 days and 1,000 dollars max).

Umm... just curious what I may be up against in the Joe Arpaio Socialist Republic in.. maybe the future for example. You know, I may be somewhere and they may happen to send 6 cars and a helicopter after me and there may be no getting away. Just a hypothetical.

What's the longest you've stayed in jail for an infraction related to BASE? I think the guy who met up with the plate glass window spent 3 days in jail, right?

In my division of the company I work for every employee is required to get a Six Sigma Greenbelt and a Design For Six Sigma certification. I know what you do, and I feel sorry for you. Ugh.

It wasn't really a PCA. More like a shrivel flap assist.

Someone has done it somewhere. I don't remember if I read it on Blinc or here. Someone assumed the average person launches at 3.2 mph at an angle of 30 degrees (or whatever; I'm making those numbers up) and they figured out the persons tragectory so they could find the distance from the object on different delays. Do some searching and it might pop back up. Actually, it shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Find out your horizontal speed on one of your normal exits and use that to find out the distance horizontally you've traveled after each second. Should be accurate to 3 or 4 seconds until air resistance slows your horizontal movement. At those slow speeds, it shouldn't affect you too much in the shorter delays (where tracking won't help anyway). Lou

Reference this post: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1041580#1041580 I was at the DZ when a mini-riser snapped. Mirage later told the jumper that you shouldn't jump mini's if your exit weight is over 200lbs. Manufacturer recommendation. Lou PS - I never got a picture of risers before they were sent back. Damn. Edited by slotperfect to make the link clicky