PalmettoTiger

I'm planning to set the fatality risks equal and derive the units. As in, "One skydive carries the same fatality risk as driving X miles." Ideally I would eliminate things like hook turns and no-pulls (please don't make this a Cypres thread) that people can reasonably be sure of excluding from their jumping career. But, that then raises the question of excluding bus miles and fatalities, or motorcycle miles and motorcycle fatalities. It ends up being too many numbers to juggle, and too many exceptions for people to complain that I'm comparing apples to oranges. So, I've got the '97 highway fatalities, the '97 highway miles, the '97 driving population, and the '97 skydiving fatalities. Once I get '97 membership figures and total jumps, I can do fatality risk per action (skydive or road mile) and fatality risk per participants. I'm not actually looking to prove that skydiving is safer, but I want to give people a number so that they can compare skydiving to the risks they take in everyday life. That way they can put a finger on the likelihood of "almost never." Checking with USPA sounds like the best bet, but if anybody has those figures I'd really appreciate it!! Blues, squares, PTiger

By any chance are you an Ordnance specialist?

Fairyn- I mean, Wingnut, I had the same problem. You have to look at where they are and what they're doing, and then anticipate where they'll be in a few seconds... sorta like setting up your landing pattern. Blues, squares, PTiger

Mike - I'm working up the skydiving vs. driving comparison right now. The latest complete numbers for driving are 1997, so if anyone can give me the total USPA membership in '97 and the total US Skydives in 1997 I'd really appreciate it - I've scoured the web already. PS Cross-posted this in Safety & Training Forum and I will cross-post the results as well. Blues, squares, PTiger

Hi all... I'm working up some figures on skydiving vs. driving. If anyone could tell me the 1997 USPA membership count and the 1997 total number of jumps in the US, I'd be grateful - I've already scoured the web and it's not out there, according to Google and Altavista. Thanks in advance! Blues, squares, PTiger

There's some joke e-mail floating around, can't find it right now, but it's about a father's lecture to his daughter's date. It ends something like "Son, I have a 12 gauge, 40 acres, and a shovel. You won't be found, and I doubt you'll even be missed." Blues, squares, PTiger

EDIT Whoops, sorry about the double post. It did put me up into Enthusiast, though! Woohoo! I've added a picture to my profile in honor of the occasion. It's slightly out of date, though. /EDIT Click here to see how that one got started!! Blues, squares, PTiger Edited by palmettoTiger on 4/26/01 07:34 AM.

Click here to see how that one got started!! Blues, squares, PTiger

40 in 74 seconds on my slow-ass workstation: Win95, 32 MB RAM, 200 MHz AMD K-5. Beat that! Blues, squares, PTiger Leave it to a "Yank" to start a gunnery competition. Edited by palmettoTiger on 4/26/01 07:27 AM.

You don't live in the boonies unless your mail is delivered not by one of those right-hand drive US mail jeeps, but by a beat-up station wagon with two NRA emblems and a bumper sticker that says "US Postal Service." Blues, squares, PTiger

What are you going to do, leap off the derrick? Some people say theirs open too slowly, so maybe you should take packing classes from a BASE jumper or two. Blues, squares, PTiger

d00d, I'd love to buy new but I'd have to sell all my worldly posessions and a major organ or two to afford it! Actually, I bet that bass would fetch $150, and the disco ball could get me another $50. AY!! Anybody know where a fella can sell a kidney or two? /PalmettoTiger wanders off to pawn shop w/ an electric bass, disco ball, and small cooler. Blues, squares, PTiger

OMG!! It's Michael Knight, taking up skydiving! "Kit, how the hell does this work?" "I'm sorry Michael. You're SOL on this one." j/k ... very cool picture, Viking! Blues, squares, PTiger

SIGH. The problem with trying to buy a kickass canopy used is that no one wants to sell theirs because they still like it! Maybe when those rumors of new ultra-elliptical PD canopies become fact, people will sell their Spectre 210s, preferably in orange and black, but if not I don't mind because I'm not too picky, probably 400 or more jumps and recently re-lined if over 700, and for around $600. I can always hope. Blues, squares, PTiger

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I had finally decided to buy the used Spectre 210 at Square2. Great price, not too many jumps, and the only 210 I've seen out there, much less in the right price range. Everyone - everyone - I talked to said it would be great for my size and experience level. I first saw it 31 hours ago... and when I call it's just been sold!! Goodbye, cruel world... I shall forsake thee for the comfort of the fetal curl. Blues, squares, PTiger

PREACH ON, BROTHER!! Can I get an AMEN? I said, can a man get an AMEN!? Blues, squares, PTiger

Froggie, from what I understand (I took 4 weeks of Japanese before dropping the class ) there are 3 different character sets in Japan. One is kanji, the more complex symbols that are whole words, then there's katakana and hiragana, both of which are sets of symbols that represent individual sounds. Hiragana are used for grammatical markings and foreign words, and katakana are used for Japanese words that don't have their own kanji. (I might have those two backwards but it's not like your life depends on it, eh?) For keyboards.... well I've never seen one but I assume it works like ours - the symbols that make sounds are laid out and you tap on them until you get the word! There are some programs out there that will take your American keyboard and convert what you type into Japanese characters (i.e. you hit a key and the corresponding hiragana symbol appears on the screen), and others will even make those characters into kanji. Pretty funky. Of course, I could be absolutely barking mad. Blues, squares, PTiger

I got the same error - I searched for Spectre and it said it returned 30 Classifieds, but the first page was blank and the second page only had 1 ad. What gives? Is the search still beta? Blues, squares, PTiger

I'm not much for poetry but here's one of the few I can remember. It's from some joke about poets, St. Peter, and Timbuktu: Tim and I a-hunting went And found fair maidens in a tent. As they were three and we were two, I bucked one and Tim bucked two. Blues, squares, PTiger

Well this one time, at band camp... Blues, squares, PTiger

Thanks for all your input folks. I think I'm going to get the Spectre 210 I saw at Square2. Depending on what my rigger says I'll get a Raven-I or a Raven-II from somewhere. I was really tempted to buy a Dolphin D3 that has 0 jumps and is available at a ridiculous price, but on y'all's advice I'll look for something one size bigger. Thanks for all of your help!! Blues, squares, PTiger

One of the saddest songs I've ever heard is "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." It's about a soldier who gets his legs blown off in the Gallipoli assault. If there was ever a song to make you want to slit your wrists, it's this one - especially The Pogues' rendition. Blues, squares, PTiger

OK folks, it's Gear Time for Dannyboy. I've been looking around and it seems that most of the used mains available are 170 or smaller. Unfortunately, I'm out the door at 225 or 230 (depends on if I've puked or not

Oooh, take me! Take me! "Dude, we've never climbed this slowly on takeoff. Hey Pilot, is something wrong?!" Or the old standby, "[looking in the tandem student's direction] Is this your first jump? [tandem student nods] No dude, your jumpmaster!" [tandem j/m nods enthusiastically] "Yeah, I'm really excited about it!" My favorite is when a camera guy in the back asks the pilot to roll the plane (after all of the seatbelts are off). The pilot gives a thumbs up, the camera guy takes off his helmet and rolls it over while all of the jumpers wave their hands and scream until it gets back to level. Shhooooooooo........ fuggin with the other passengers is the key to a good ride. You're always better off if someone else is more nervous than you are! Blues, squares, PTiger

What's the difference between vultures and lawyers? Removable wing tips. Blues, squares, PTiger