steve1

reply] Ain't no denying brother, i'm a youngun who only dreams of being back in a fog filled love fest of tie dye and bad acid aka The Decade of Mysticism aka The Free Love aka communes and stuff aka the 60's. However, i also have a yearning to talk about the great returns the Dow has made while cruising about in a Hummer, so i'm naturally somewhat confused as to where this fits in with my skydiving subset. ........................................................................... I'm sure there are places where rich folk get together to brag to each other about how rich they are, but this isn't the place for that. Now if you want to talk skydiving, that's another matter. What many of these posts are saying is that hippies were once a big part of skydiving....Much of the writing here reflects what skydiving was like back in the day. I have a ton of repect for those who are sharing their past with us. Furthermore was the 60's really a time of fog filled love fests and free love communes. Sounds to me like I missed out on all the fun.....Steve1

I like the small plastic hook knives, because they are easy to fasten onto your rig without creating a snag point. And yes, I imagine the handle could break if you yanked on it too hard....Particularly when the adrenaline is pumping. I also have a Jack the Ripper knife. I like it a lot, but does anyone have a good way to stow it out of the way? I had it stuck in a leg pocket on the front of my jump suit, but I was wondering if anyone had any other good locations to put it. Since I got a different jump suit, I quit packing it. In the old days, I just tied a small hunting knife on top of my belly wart, right next to my altimeter dashboard. I never used that one either, but who knows the day may come.....Steve1

That's another thing I like about my old Hornet, is the color coded lines....Steve1

............................................................... Jeane, Did they have women para-troops 35 years ago? In 1970, (37 years ago)when I went through jump school, there wasn't any women allowed. A few years later, that all changed. I can't recall what year that was....Steve1

A friend of mine has a limp and operation scars that run from his ankle to his hip. He got all that from competing at blade running years earlier. I love to ski, but I don't think I'd ever try this sport. It looks like a great way to get busted up bad. I don't think the sport is meant for old farts anyhow!....Steve1

............................................................. If you didn't like hippies it would have been hard to find anyone to jump with back in the 70's. This is a picture of my team "Nine and a Piece" back in "73". I don't think the Airforce Academy liked us much either that year. Particularly after we kicked their rear in competition. I'm the one with the least hair. I was also the one with the least experience. I was just lucky that this wild bunch let me jump with them. I think this is where B.J. got his start as an organizer. This was back in the day when Men were Men and the sheep were scared in Montana....Steve1

What's this world coming to...can't even buy an gal-dang OLDSMOBILE anymore! .............................................. Ain't any more of them there Rambler Sation Wagons neither, to haul the family in.

Some of those most hard-core jumpers in the world were hippies during the 70's. I was a red neck, cowboy, but I got along great with most everyone I jumped with back then. That might have been because I tried not to be overly judgmental. They accepted me for who I was, and I did the same with them. The way a person dresses or looks is superficial in my mind. Who cares if someone is popular or not. What counts is if they are a good, safe, dependable jumper. Hippies or not, we were all brothers when we went up to jump back then...Maybe that attitude is changing. I can show you pictures of B.J. Worth, when he looked like a hippy. And who has done more for our sport than he? No, he doesn't look like a hippie today, but he did once. I imagine Jerry Bird still looks more or less like a hippy (wherever he is at today). He was another one of my heroes from the past. So, anyhow, that's my twisted view on this subject....Steve1

I'd take it jump by jump, and leave it up to your instructor to decide when you are ready for freefall. In the old days most people made five static line jumps before moving on to your first hop and pop. I made four static lines before making my first free fall. Again it was my instructors decision. I had a lot of prior military jump-experience and that confidence carried over to sport jumping. You are definitely ahead of the game if you have already made three AFF jumps....Steve1

I thought you might enjoy this picture, Skratch. I posted it a while back, but you might not have seen it. It shows Hod way on the left. He still makes about a million jumps every year. He's had about 25 malfunctions (mostly doing tandems). He can still fly like a bird when it comes to RW. Walt Mercer is way to the right (On top). I know you and Jerry Bird used to jump his aircraft during the early days of jumping in California. Poor Walt had to quit flying jumpers a couple years back, when he developed a heart murmor, I think it was tough on him to quit flying loads. Bob Smith is another old timer who helped train B.J., Hod, and the rest of us to jump, back in the day. He's way to the right, 2nd from the end (in the white jump suit). He was one of our jump pilots also, and he still goes on most of the over 60, World Record attempts. I'm the young looking feller, way to the right. I haven't done anything famous yet, but I hope to some day. This picture shows the silvertip skydivers, which (I've been told) is the oldest continually running collegiant club in the U.S. The only thing is that I don't think the club has a single collegiate jumper in it anymore. About half of us are just old farts trying to act like college kids again. And the truth is most of us really can't drink that much anymore. A brewing company gave us a keg to drink if we'd take a picture of us drinking their beer. I think it was part of their advertising campaign....Steve1

I sure do feel better knowing that Jesse Jackson is in the middle of all this....Steve1

I put mine inside, and like it there. You might want to trade for a bigger helmet if yours is too snug. You could always try cutting a hole and then building a shell with fiberglass (If you are really handy!) and that would probably mean repainting your entire helmet. I personally love doing stuff like that, but sometimes the finished product is less than desired. Not to mention that I end up wasting a ton of time on some of these projects. I tried to build a camera helmet a while back out of an old protec helmet. This was a great challenge that I really got into. After hours and hours of pouring fiberglass, sanding, painting, and fixing this and messing with that....I ended up with a monstrosity that probably wasn't even safe to jump. My cameras were missing the target, and I now have a sore neck from all that weight on my noggin at opening time. I wonder why I didn't just buy a camera helmet, instead of making one that was a total failure....Steve1

Oh, you make me laugh Skratch. Yes, Hod is married to a nice gal named Tina. He has a boy named B.J. (of all names). I think he should have named him Skratch....Steve1

........................................................................ Skratch, I think I'd like to learn Skratchese or PatWorksian! Hod Sanders was saying that you and B.J. and he also learned how to speak Vodkaese after a hard day of jumping with the Russians, way back when noone could speak the same language. I wish I was bi-lingual like that....Steve1

I remember a RW jump, a while back, that a young feller was organizing. Most everyone seemed way too serious while dirt-diving this load. You'd have thought it was a world record attempt or something. Another old fart and I made a little joke just for fun. We were in the process of snickering over this when this young guy gave us the look of death. I thought for a minute there, he was considering kicking us off the load because we just weren't serious enough. Tell me more about this skydancing stuff. It might be just the discipline I'm looking for....Steve1

We had some training with this system back in 1970. Can't say that I ever saw anyone pulled into the sky though. We were told that there had been a fatality using this system when someone came unhooked while being reeled in....Steve1

I like the idea of having extra ammo handy, but if you add too much weight onto your weapon it might not be as quick and handy as it should be. In a close quarters shootout, where a shotgun would be deadly, I'd want a weapon that would point very quickly. Fractions of a second could decide who lives and who dies. That's why I think it might be wise not to add any weight onto your 870 that you don't absolutely need. Shotgun rounds are light, but they do add up, when you consider an extended magazine, and extra rounds on the butt, and receiver, and possibly someplace else. I know extra carriers are popular for combat work and even hunting, but I sometimes wonder how wise this is. But then, what do I know? I've never been in a shootout in my life, and I hope it never happens. I have done a lot of hunting though. I used to put a few extra rounds on the butt of my shotgun when pheasant hunting. I quit doing that though, because I think I can get a shot off a little more quickly with a slightly more streamlined weapon. I used to have a sling on the 870 shotgun also, but took it off too, because I think I can be just a little faster and little more accurate without it. I just like the feel and ballance better without anything on it. Pheasants explode out of the brush and you have to be quick on the trigger if you want more than one shot, or more than one rooster. Just my two cents worth....Steve1

If the student had a legitimate belief in something, and was honestly demonstrating, the school could probably be taken to court and the kid could win a big settlement. This sounds like the kid is in the wrong, so the school probably did the right thing. A girl a while back came to class in her school, with duck tape over her mouth to symbolize something, and started passing out leaflets against abortion. The teacher told her to please stop, because this was disrupting her class. She also had the girl take the tape off her mouth. Later the girl's parents sued, and the school lost. Supposely this infringed on her right to free speech.....Steve1

Quote[ Why would a person accept the risk when entering the sport and then later, as they got better thus reducing the risk level, decide it is too risky.[/rep ......................................................................... I don't think a lot of new jumpers realize how dangerous our sport is. Experienced jumpers have been in the sport for years, and have lost friends due to fatalities. And then there are all those serious injuries that sometimes happen to someone you know, or even to yourself. I think you gain a whole new perspective on how dangerous our sport truly is, when that happens.....Steve1

...................................................................... AFFI...This is really well written. I sincerely hope there is a way you can somehow stay in the sport somehow. If not, I hope you can find happiness in something else of your choosing. We are all pulling for you....Steve1

I'd rather use different nose/slider placement. ...................................................... I tried that too, but it wasn't helping much either. A big part of the problem was that I was trying to stuff too large of a NEW canopy into a bag that was one size too small, thus messing things up in the process. I went to the Psycho pack, and just loved it. My openinings have been soft and mostly on heading ever since.....Steve1

I tried the Wolmari pack for a short time. It didn't seem to help my hard openings so I went back to a pro-pack. I now Psycho pack everything, and really like it. As far as combining the two methods into one, I don't really know much about that. Let us know how it turns out.....Steve1

You guys know a lot more about pistols than I probably ever will, but I was wondering what you thought of Smith and Wesson? It seems like their popularity has gone way down hill, over the years. They do have several smaller versions. I don't like the feel or looks of Glock, but for a defensive pistol, what a weapon! No safety to worry about, just point and shoot. But then again, I've sold several rifles over the years, because I just didn't like their looks or feel. So, I don't know if I'll ever buy a Glock. Maybe it takes a while to learn to like this weapon....Steve1

I do agree though it is difficult to get rid of a tenured teacher. Maybe some steps should be made to make it easier to get rid of some that are obviously not doing their job. I really don't think it would be good to get rid of tenure entirely, though. A teacher is in a school, on a probationary period, for a full three years, and then the school board and administration vote to rehire them or let them go. If anyone is to blame it is the school board and administration for rehiring a failing teacher. Not the tenure system. I don't think many teachers start out as Wonderful educators, and then go bad. Someone mentioned that the NEA may be getting too strong. I somewhat agree with this. I worked construction for a lot of years. On some jobs it was almost impossible to fire someone. The unions were that strong. This may now be the case with the NEA. I've heard they are the strongest union in the nation. I do like the security of knowing that I can call the union for legal advice if our school tries to pull something illegal, which they often have in the past. They do offer a lot of liability insurance if I'm sued...I quit the union a while back, but am considering rejoining for these reasons alone....Steve1

Oh, now I get it....You're trying to identify the kids in the pictures. I guess my reply was off track. God, I'm stupid....Steve1