karenmeal

Hey, got my history final tommorow and am trying to figure out what to write on one of the essays on the test.. so anyone want to help me out? Please, even just a lame half ass attempt would be much appreciated! So the question is.. Rank (and give a brief explanation for your opinion) the top five presidents since 1900. This includes Teddy Roosevelt on up to Dubbya! Anybody? I hope there are some smart drunk people out there tonight...

Why, the stork comes from the garden of Eden, silly!

How about Mal? (short for malfunction) You could try gear names.. they might make nice pet names... sabre Racer Chaos Icarus Extreme FX thought of some more: spock, eagle, over-under, compressed accordion good pet names??? Edited to add: The more I think about it the more I like compressed accordion as a pet name. You can tell the whuffos that when you were coming up with the name it was a close call beteen compressed accordion and squashed piano.... It will be really funny!

I would not date a whuffo, ever, absolutely no exceptions. I once dated a guy who had about 3 jumps, that was bad enough. I also won't date somebody who only belly-flies.. they have to do some freeflying at least now and then. They have to be taller and heavier than me. Have to be smart, interesting, fun, nice, thoughtful, articulate, funny. They also can't be too straight-laced, that would get on my nerves. No military guys. Ever.

A friend of mine runs the Virginia Tech skydiving club. They are actually doing pretty well, and have lots of active members. They give discounts on jumps to people doing tandems. Then later on down the road they have two club rigs that are available for a rental fee of 5 dollars. They've applied for various types of funding from the university and for two years now have gotten the school to cover all their jumps and some additional fees for collegiates (I think the school paid for some tunnel time too.) I think what has helped this club out is having a very close relationship with the DZO at the nearest DZ. They've worked out some deals to not only help cut back on cost for the first jump and the student program.. but they've provided incentive for the students to continue since the cost for rental gear is basically a non-issue. They have tons and tons of parties and dinners to atleast get the whuffos to hang out with them. The president also teaches packing classes for free to anybody who needs to learn. Because their are some people with higher jump numbers in the club.. nobody really pays for coached jumps. If you want the e-mail of the guy who is the club president, PM me.. I'm sure he'll be happy to share a bunch of tips with you and give you great advice. -Karen

I actually skipped A, B and C. I would have gone for a B.. but when I did my first couple of night jumps the USPA's director of safety and training personally waived the B liscense requirement for me. The stamp on the yellow card served me well for the 7 months it took me to get the requirements for my D (I only got that because I was getting my coach rating). "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I'm coming!!! Yeeehhaaaaw.. and this year I get to drink at the bar too. Can't wait to get drunk as hell then clog my arteries at McGregor lake resort. Maybe jump into the brewery this year. What beer war are you talking about? It has to be your second year there and you need a D liscense.. then they do a lottery system...

Reminds me of one of my friends who was perfecting his camera set up and drilling some holes in the helmet... ..while wearing it.

Umm.. both hands are the same option.. I would put the 4 way belly fly, freefly, solo and then the tandem. The order of 4 way belly before 4 way freefly is pretty accepted. Also, the freefliers are probably going to have a much higher wingloading than the solo belly guy who is pulling high. Rather have that guy out of the way and less of an obstacle. Also.. in my experiences belly fliers seem to generally pull a bit lower than freefliers, so its a good order for that reason too. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I put 250 jumps in 2001 on my 81 vector!! I'm proud of it, it's two years older than I am. I learned to freefly on it, but it was hard to progress at head-down with the risers flopping at my elbows. (this would not have been a problem if I replaced the velcro as often as I should of.) It was great for RW, but not freeflying so I had to get a new rig. It's still in my closet and once I have some extra cash and a cross-braced canopy it will then be my pond-swooping rig. A few years off still.. but its a fine rig that will be jumped again! I think jumping older rigs is fine, just make sure that flaps stay closed, that the proper mods are done and keep up with the maintenance!

You've proven yourself wrong.. by saying that a flat pack greatly reduces the chances of a lineover, you are also implying that sometimes lineovers just happen. I'm just saying an attitude of: "I'll kick your ass if you pack me a lineover!" is a really crap attitude. I've pro-packed around 5,000 tandems and two were lineovers. If the tandem masters had considered that justification for beating me up.. I would have been more than a little pissed. Back to the tandem reserve ride discussion... "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

does anyone flat-pack icarus mains? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I love that sort of vibe going on between DZ employees... Tandems lineovers and tension knots are just going to happen.

I remember when I was 13 or so.. in seventeen magazine someone wrote in to ask what an orgasm was.. and the lady with the sex q&a column said it was a lot like a sneeze. Just thought everyone would like to know this. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Have they got border patrol in Georgia or something? Don't feel bad.. I've got a warrant out for my arrrest too! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

My grandma never cooked with lard. My mom is a registered Dietician and a college professor on food science.. I'm also taking nutrition classes right now. And... they have not conclusively proven that trans-fats are worse than saturated fat. While obviously their original intent of taking a poly unsaturated fat and converting it to a more solid form while maintaining the benefits associated with unsaturated fats didn't work... it is still slightly better than trans-fat which is why its still reccommended that you choose margarine over butter. (obviously the best choice would be polyunsaturated fat) I think the reasons that obesity is such a problem is because of inactivity due to our technologically based society, increase in portion size and the convenience of fast foods. So its not really fair to say that obesity is a problem in the US because the government failed to educate us on the dangers of trans-fatty acids.... "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I thought that saturated fat was worse than trans fat? (Even if only by a teeny little bit) I'm still going to use my margarine. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

How many of those 100 jumps has it consistently dove agressively to the right? Does it seem to have any built in turns or anything? I don't reckon that tube stows would cause the canopy to dive to the right.. more likely if the rubberbands/line stows were of very different strengths then it would cause the bag to turn/spin and cause line twists. If your leg straps are different lengths that would have obviously been affecting openings the entire time you'd had the container. I'm guessing the openings are probably coincidental, but if you're really worried about it, have your rigger check the trim of the canopy to the manufacturers specifications. If the trim is fine, its going to be something that you're doing.. like body position or packing or something. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

Where is the video? "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I love debating religion and politics. Which is why gay marriage is so much fun to debate/discuss since the government is now trying to force their collective religious beliefs on an entire nation. I'm having a friggin field day! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

In response to the really long post... Proud to be agnostic! Does anyone feel pride in their religion when they read excerpts like that from the bible? I certainly appreciate the teachings of Jesus and many of the things he taught have governed my set of morals, but many parts of the old testament are ridiculous! A God that tells his people to get into heaven you must do A through Z (omitting F through M) but if B then do 2C and if R you must have done the third version of X before you can commit Y... ----As far as which sin is worse, I believe the bible said that to even consider committing a sin is just as bad as committing all of the sins? I could be totally wrong though as interpreting the bible is not my forte... "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

On the subject of people saying that they feel their religion condemns gay marriage.. Fine. Don't vote if this issue comes up. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

You took my words out of context so it looks like I have poor grammar. nooooo!!! "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I do not think that the concept of marriage should be abandoned. I think that the legal rights that are given to a spouse are important for a significant other to have. I do think that we should have a legal definition of marriage that does not include religious bias. But then when you remove all religious aspects when defining who gets to marry, things like siblings and polygamy are a little fuzzy... hmm.. just not quite sure where to go from there.. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

I think that its a major problem that they are trying to make a constitutional ammendment to protect marriage and nobody has answered exactly what they are protecting marriage from. Do most people have gay tendencies and just don't want to be tempted? If we ban gay marriage will this help potentially gay people show some self-restraint? I know I sound assinine, but what are the reasons? Can anybody explain them to me without using catch-phrases such as "sanctity of marriage?" Are we afraid gays will increase the divorce rate? Perhaps we should make a constitutional amendment to only allow people over 21 to get married, that would likely lower the divorce rate a good deal. "Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham