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Well my first four sport jumps, 25 years ago, and the only jumps I made until this year were on 24 foot T-10's. Can I jump a round reserve? No thanks! I landed a modern 230 square foot canopy backwards in a field full of cows and mesquite and it was a softer PLF than my best landing on one of those! "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Out of pure ignorance on my part - why not? Edit to fix a typo "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

So maybe we professional drinkers need to start our own chat group. It would either be a hell of a party or maybe we could clean our acts up a bit. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Stage 2 ends for me January 17th when the next set of excuses rolls in. Hope I never get to stage six, sounds kind of depressing. Seems to me you have lost interest in enter the sport/hobby/lifestyle of your choice here if you aren't interested in telling people about how cool it is. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Man I feel better now. Around jump 22 or so I downsized from a 230 to a 210 student rig and I can't stand up for shit unless I have at least a 5MPH breeze blowing. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

I used to have a picture of an F-4 canopy after a bird strike. The pilots helmet too. No human injuries but he did say he needed a new flight suit because of the deposit he made in it. If I can find the pics I'll post them over the weekend. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Their own final analysis says it would have made no difference in the final outcome even if everyone who voted for Perot voted for Bush. Pretty much what I said. "Analysis: Perot’s vote totals in themselves likely did not cause Clinton to win. Even if all of these states had shifted to Bush and none of Bush’s victories had been reversed (as seems plausible, in fact, as Bush won by less than 5% only in states that a Republican in a close election could expect to carry, particularly before some of the partisan shifts that took place later in the 1990s – Arizona, Florida, North Carolina, South Dakota and Virginia), Clinton still would have won the electoral college vote by 281 to 257. But such a result obviously would have made the race a good deal closer." "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

If Perot would've stayed out => no Clinton Popular maybe, electoral, no way. Nader took one or two small states away from Gore that would have won the electoral vote. I think vermont alone would have made the difference and no one would have cared about Florida. Perot's popular support was bigger but spread thinly across more states having a smaller impact on the electoral vote. And at least Perot took a respectable amount of the popular vote his first time around, compared to Nader even the second time around. Although having watched his antics here in Texas before he ran I knew he was looney tunes. http://gi.grolier.com/presidents/results/restable.html 1988 George H. W. Bush, Republican 426 48,881,278 Michael S. Dukakis, Democrat 111 41,805,374 Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., Democrat 1 1992 William J. Clinton, Democrat 370 44,908,233 George H. W. Bush, Republican 168 39,102,282 H. Ross Perot, Independent . . . 19,741,048 1996 William J. Clinton, Democrat 379 47,401,185 Robert Dole, Republican 159 39,197,469 H. Ross Perot, Reform . . . 8,085,294 2000 George W. Bush, Republican 271 50,456,169 Al Gore, Democrat 266 50,996,116 Ralph Nader, Green . . . 2,695,696 "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

No, just be sure and put in fresh batteries. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Did you ever check the recount results?? I did say I was throwing gasoline on the fire. I know that the media finally had to admit that GWB took Florida by about 12 votes. This of course implies that the electoral college still is a valid way to hold elections. Popular vote went to robo-canditate and if Nader had gotten out of it when he should have so would the electoral vote. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Well that is a highly respected Democrat tradition, see LBJ congressional election, but things are fixed at the local level where we ordinary folks were involved, not at the supreme court level. Edited to add that I will now go the other direction and claim old age caused me to forget this tidbit of history but now that you bring it up I do recall. God, Dailey the First was a great Mayor! "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Is that the answer or the question? Judy Is there any doubt? Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (BBC Series) or the second book in the series The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. 42 is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Problem is that the question is "What do you get when you multiply six by nine." Explains why the universe is so screwed up. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

That movie was so bad in so many different ways. I am surprised Snipes hasn't tried to buy every copy and have them destroyed. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Well if that is the criteria for invading a country lets mount up and move on Saudi Arabia! Hey, they have oil too! "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

And JFK was...................what? I didn't like him either..... Well for once in these forums I can say I am to young to know what you're talking about. My first president to be really aware of was that loveable scamp Tricky Dick Nixon.

Well let me throw a little gasoline on the fire. At least Clinton was elected and not appointed by the supreme court. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

42 Absolutely "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

I live in Texas too and missed this but here are the gory details. http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr081903b.htm "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

You've never been to Rocky Horror, have you? Well Rocky Horror is a totally different thing. I was at it once and actually heard someone yell out "Some of us haven't seen this before." The folks that piss me off there are the loaners who have there own set of commentary for everything that happens on screen. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

I just went through this and my personal recommendation is save up enough to get through AFF and the coaching jumps, assuming no repeats. Lots of places will give a small discount if you pre-pay and it makes the jumps feel like they are free. After that try and do at least two jumps at a time. I go once a month and do three because I rent the gear and it is $25 a jump or $50 for the day. With lift tickets it comes to $110 once a month. The big thing I would stress is get your A card started on day one and make sure you are not just meeting the AFF requirements but covering the things on the card. For the most part they overlap but there are several things on the old card, and I assume more on the new one that are meant to be handled in the coaching phase. I could have finished up at 21 jumps just before the requirements changed but there were a few items not complete on the card. Now four more jumps was no big deal and I had no pressing need for the license as I wasn't planning on jumping anywhere else but it would have been nice to squeak in under the wire. As it was I did my check jump on jump 25 and got licensed that day. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Daily attacks dropped to less than 18 per day, versus 40+. It's still early, but WTF. Well 48 hours is probably shorter term than I really meant but I also wouldn't mind being wrong. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

You misundestand, I am in central Texas too and would rather see the snow out my window. Except on the days I plan on being at the DZ.

Amen, and it's the middle of December too! Oh just rub it in why don't you! "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

I'm 45, got four jumps when I was about 20 and then restarted over the summer. Same reason sdas you. most of the kids gone and I needed something for me. In a way I got lucky and the wife didn't care to jump, she tried but just didn't find it a thrill. Now I get one thing in life just for me. And as to the skychickies, they aren't going to go to far but they can still show you a little love.

I hope you don't think there will really be a short term reduction in attacks. Short term this may increase them. Long term, if respected Iraqis begin to come forward and take leadership positions, it should have a positive impact. Correct, but we have done both and showing the captured and dead soldiers was wrong. "Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes