Guru312

Oh, come on, Jim, why don't you tell us how you really feel. Mike's jump into the stadium and Owen's jump from the south tower were defining moments in the history of the sport. I think their story needs to be told. I spent months working to keep my commercial ticket after I flew for what was--fortunately for me!--a totally legit jump into Veteran's stadium on opening day of the Philadelphia Phillies season. I'll have to check what year that was; I'm rather sure it was prior to Mike's night stadium jump by a few years. Quite honestly, I never thought about the repercussions of his jump on your wallet or the effect on others who do demos as you do. Earlier today I told a guy I've known for 40 years about having posted the link to Mike's story. He did lots of demos back in the day. His comment was, "that guy screwed our demos up for a very long time because of his jump." You make a good point regarding how Mike's jump hurt demo jumping. I can see why you would be less than happy with his actions. But... thousands of folks read this thread and I think his story should be out there...even if the only value is that we are saying: "don't do something really stupid just for the shock value." Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

A little background on this story which actually isn't mine... I ran a DZ in New Jersey from '69-'75 or so. A few years ago, I got an email from one of my students, Rick McGonigal. In his travels, Rick got friendly with Owen Quinn the "father of BASE jumping" who jumped from the World Trade Center. My student was given a picture of Owen stepping off the tower. You can see it here: http://berniesayers.com/Owen%20Quinn%20South%20Tower.htm A month or so ago I got an email from a German photographer who started a website about the World Trade Center. He asked about the picture and could he contact the jumper or the photographer. His very interesting website is here: http://my-wtc.com I decided to track down the photographer, Mike Sergio who took the picture of Owen stepping off the tower. So...technically, this is Mike's "Scary story from the old days" not mine. Mike sent a link to the story here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1068903/1/index.htm The story is about one of the most famous bandit jumps ever made. Enjoy...I certainly did. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Agree! 377 Holy crap! I agree with Blevins AGAIN. And 377. And... Your stuff could be flung far, Farflung. I have no clue what you do for a living but your stuff on here is a pleasure to read. Nice work...keep it up until Quade does his "off topic thing"... Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

It isn't everyday that I agree with you, Quade, but I concur that he doesn't get it. This sub-plot within the DBC thread is funny but it doesn't compare to Blevins threatening copyright legal action over a link to a document on his company website. Never the less, I have to charge you a quade for instructing him on the nuances of words totally not connected to this DBC forum thread. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Quade, the next time you slap someone for getting way off-topic I think I'll post this comment of yours. Internet Meme: A quade is committed when a forum moderator breaks the forum rules. Your post commits two quades. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Well, I for one, believe some members of society will believe anything they read on-line. I'd call these people gullible... I don't think you need the words "they read on-line". LARGE numbers of people will believe anything. Although I am not a professional hypnotist, I've been doing it for 50 years. Over the years I've learned that given certain circumstances and degrees of emotional involvement, most people are not able to think. Whether it be from too much television... or something else, I'm convinced that given the correct presentation, people can be made to believe almost anything. I don't mean to equate hypnotism to "normal" life or to television. My experiences have shown me that the larger majority of people simply do not know how to think rationally or critically. People embrace a position on an issue through emotional responses and for emotional reasons, not by rational thought processes. And, to add to the mix, people are very concerned about what others think of them...and that influences their opinion even more so. Much of the "reasoning" expressed by posters to this thread is very scary. It's scary because so little reasoning is actually taking place. It's all quite sad, actually. I'm afraid we really are a nation of sheep. Quade and I not being in the flock, of course. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Me too! You and I agree on _one_ thing. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

OK, Who? 377 Not me! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Sluggo, you surprise me. In both of your pictures a silhouette is clearly seen beneath the port engine. Obviously, this is a Northwest ramp rat who is in on the hijacking and the picture proves that DB had an accomplice. The accomplice can be seen deactivating the Cooper Vane which is affixed on the port side. This action was necessary to allow the stairs to be lowered in flight. I wonder what his cut of the money was for doing this bit of sabotage. Nice work, Sluggo. [/humor] Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Robert, this is why people (like me) do not give credence to your claims. And people like me. Not only did you post 4-5 posts of total nonsense regarding copyright and Internet operation, you then removed the material so readers would not be able to see how ridiculous your statements were. That is sad. Not only did you remove your incorrect rants, you also removed the very material that you were ranting about when I pointed out to you that the material had no attribution for the photo that you used. It puzzles me why you didn't use a proof reader who knew something about the material to review it before publication. By your own words, only 75% of the material was correct. I read on the Internet that any fifth grader knows more about parachutes, parachute material, the qualities of suspension line and the difficulty one may have tying a package to a harness. Matter of fact, I read that some fifth graders have more knowledge than a Senior Parachute Rigger with 40 years of experience. I have been thinking about what word I would use to describe your presentations and postings here on DropZone.com. The best one that I have so far is disingenuous. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/disingenuous Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Acknowledgements page. Check that. Look under 'Image Credits'. We don't 'embed' the information. That PDF was part of the actual print file used by Lightning Source. . Impossible to check the acknowledgements page because the document has been removed. The server is throwing a 404 error: Not Found The requested URL /mediaonly/Blastpublicpreviewweb.pdf was not found on this server. Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request. Apache/1.3.39 Server at www.adventurebooksofseattle.com Port 80 Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

His rants to me were wrong on multi-levels in addition to showing ignorance of both copyright law and the Internet. The worst part is what appears to be copyright violations that the company that he is associated with has committed. See the picture at this link which was the center of copyright rant: http://www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/mediaonly/Blastpublicpreviewweb.pdf Go to the link, You'll see a very nice picture of a paratrooper in what appears to be full combat gear under a T-10, or a more modern variation, ready to make a PLF. (Whuffos should not confuse a PLF with a PDF.) What you won't see in the AW book excerpt is any copyright or attribution for the photograph, near or embedded into the photograph. Nothing. Who took that picture? Did Jerry Irwin, Chris Wentzel, Carl Boenish or some other old-time jumper who made a living taking pictures of jumpers take that picture in the material referenced by the copyright expert guy. I'm wondering how long it will be before the picture disappears-- just like the 4 or 5 embarrassing rants about copyright. Catch it now because they'll be taking it down soon. It's more than a little surprising--and amusing--that a man who pontificates so much about his knowledge of copyright law would publish a picture without attribution.. Finally, I would like to ask Quade to consider removing either one or both posts Mr. Blevins made shamelessly hawking his product. See posts # 21387 and #21398 in this thread for what I mean. Two links to his company in eleven posts seems a bit much to me. The material may have some relevant value. I don't know because I don't care to watch any of it. My point is: if it has value, one link to it is fine and the other should be deleted. If the material is not relevant at all--meaning that it's just a way to sell books--delete it and let's move on. One great thing about having served in the 82nd Airborne Division is that I can scream at the end of my rants: AIRBORNE! All the way! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Me, me!!! Here is a link to the material in case you missed it: http://www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/mediaonly/Blastpublicpreviewweb.pdf Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Uh, maybe! Internet primer for you, copyright expert person: The link goes to your company website: adventurebooksofseattle.com It points to the directory: "/mediaonly" And it points to the file name. You did get one part correct: Blastpublicpreviewweb.pdf The file is a P-D-F. Grab your plate of crow and dig in... Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I will presume that you don't know anything about how the Internet works. The following link takes you...or anyone else in the world!!...to your company webstie. Give it a try. It works for me. http://www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/mediaonly/Blastpublicpreviewweb.pdf Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I think it's best if I stay away for a while. While you are away you could read up on how the Internet works. NOBODY violated your copyright!! What Sluggo did was include a link TO YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE where the document resides. Look at the original of what you chose to change: http://www.adventurebooksofseattle.com/...publicpreviewweb.pdf Again: He posted a link to YOUR COMPANY WEBSITE... You really must be hungry for crow a diet. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

This is my guess, too. What ever it is seems to be a prototype and is rather crudely made...at least in the attachment points. Beneath the tape, seen in the last photo, there seems to be two chain connector links. The cable has obviously been cut. What ever it is it seems to have been modified for some other use than originally intended. It couldn't have been TSOd with the workmanship shown. IMHO. Oooops...I just read Amazon's guess. I'm changing my guess to hers! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

You are willing to be seen and interviewed with a bunch of fifth graders who don't know anything about parachutes?! That's surprising. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I'm sorry Mr. Blevins, you just explained why Kenny could not have been DB Cooper. You probably don't realize it but everyone here on DZ.com knows: gay men can't breath in freefall. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

You got that much right. Do you understand what some us are saying about tying the money to his harness or his body in some way? Have you ever worked with parachute suspension line? Have you ever attempted to tie something bulky to a harness with suspension line all by yourself? Your "explanation" is naive and shows that you know very little about the subject matter. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I've slept in a parachute and I've done a few other things. As usual, Jim, you hone in on the issue in a few words. "...and if he tied a good knot..." The act of tying the bank bag closed is trivial using 550 cord. Tying the bag to his harness or body sufficiently to survive exit and opening shock: damn near impossible. Unless he gutted the cord, and used it without the core lines, he would have a near impossible time tying a decent knot...and supporting the money bag at the same time. Imagine the gyrations of movement that bag would have gone through with the forces of exit and opening shock. Surviving the jump: very doable. Having the money bag intact with him at landing: very unlikely. Landing at some pre-determined point: at least as unlikely as the money bag staying attached to his body. There are at least a few thousand people frequenting DZ.com who could pull off this jump and walk away. But the issue of tying the money to the harness single-handedly would be equally difficult for an experienced jumper. This is a deja vu post. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Agreed! Hold them in awe. In the early '70s, a guy shows up on my DZ and wants to jump. He said he had a few static line jumps and a single free-fall at another DZ. I looked at his log book. Turns out, I knew his instructor personally and all the comments looked good. I told him to put on his gear and we'd check out a few things. When he came to me with his jumpsuit on, I saw that he had military wings sewn on it. When I looked more closely, I realized the wings had four stars. Four combat jumps! I asked where he could possibly have gotten four combat jumps. He said he made three in Europe and one in North Africa. He said only a few guys had that many. He had jumped into Sicily as well as into Normandy on D-Day with the 82nd Airborne. Talk about being in awe! Here was a guy with four combat jumps...and I thought it was a big deal for having served with the 82nd Airborne during--but not in--Viet Nam. I was humbled by meeting him. He didn't like to talk about the fighting but he was more than happy to talk about what it was like to jump into combat four times...and live through it..as well as all the places he got drunk and into bar fights. WW II combat jumpers are a *very* different breed. He became one of my best friends and I ended up teaching two of his sons to jump. He died about 20 years ago of a heart attack. Rest in peace, Walt Santman! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Ya coulda fooled me! Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

I agree. I've had disagreements with Quade over the years but my take on these last banishments are that he is totally correct and within the DZ.com guidelines. I don't agree with having *any* such guidelines at all, frankly, but I don't own or control the domain. I consider myself, all of us, actually, as guests here, no matter what our collective skydiving experiences. That written, I can reiterate: I am not DB Cooper. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper

Me too!! I taught quite a few hundred more people how to jump from a plane because of DB Cooper. I made lots of aircraft payments because of his hijacking caper. To this day I chuckle to think how many dozens of students refuse to believe that I am not DB Cooper. "DB Cooper taught me how to skydive" is so much better than the truth. Thank you, DB, where ever you are. Guru312 I am not DB Cooper