freethefly

Bill Waterson's Calvin and Hobbes Wiley's Non-Seguitur "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Yeah, ever drink moonshine while coonhunting? "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Ha ha LOL, now that is kinda funny, considering that GWB most likely can't even recall those years as he, reportedly, spent most of his days back then in a cocaine and alcohol induced haze. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Anyone who would harm a child, sick in the head or not, should be taken out of society and put away where they can no longer harm anyones kids. Maybe not prison, but a mental facility where they can be studied and something could learned of what makes them the way they are. Kudos to Dateline for a job well done "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Anyone luv them Snorton

Move back to Mexico "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

If your friends are the type who are akin to using harder and harder drugs then, maybe, you need to reevaluate your choice in friends, no offense. There is hard proof that the people who are going to use drugs will use them regardless of the law. Simply put, legalizing all drugs does not mean that people are going to start using simply because they are legal. The majority of mj user are not hard drug users. Most hard drug users do not smoke mj. With a line of reasoning that people would simply move on to next illegal drug after the one they are presently using becomes legal would be an arguement for legalizing all drugs. In the 30 some years that I have been smoking I know very few who have moved on to hard drug addiction. I have known hundreds of smokers who live pretty much normal lives. Some are lawyers, one of who moved on to be a judge. One of my Dr.'s smoke. I have known police officers who smoke. I know business owners who smoke. It is quite simple that there is a wide spectrum when you examine exactly who smokes. If the argument is, as it is with the "anti-marijuana warroirs", that if you legalize it they will just move on to the next drug then that implies that anyone who smokes mj is a canidate for heroin addiction. Such arguments have never held water and quite the oppisite applies that people who smoke are quire intent with just that, smoking pot. There is no doubt that some who smoke will move on to the next, yet, this does not imply that pot is a gateway drug when the majority of heroin addicts first taste of any drug is usually nicotine and alcohol. Again this does not imply that nicotine and alcohol are, also, gateway drugs. The people who move on to hard drug addiction are mentally wired for addiction. The focus should not be soley on the drugs themselves but on the pyscological make up of the addicted and what fosters addiction in the first place. Locking people up for smoking pot or locking up heroin addicts does not and has never addressed the problem. It is merely sweeping something under a rug. Out of sight, out of mind mentality is far more dangerous than all drugs combined. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

No offense, but, that is one of the most unlearned response to WHY mj should remain illegal. Take a look at certian European mj policies and the proof is there that decriminalizing/legalizing mj does not lead to increase drug use. In fact it is the oppisite. Use of all drugs go down. US policy is draconian and based on the ignorance of heavy handed totaltarian types who believe that the answer to everything is to lock people up and throw away the key. Polls show that 70% of Americans favor decrim/legalization of mj. The old pruneheads that are running the show will someday be dead and gone and along with their much awaited death will go their draconian views. The young adults today who have bought into the lie that the Feds have spun to be truth, well, I only hope that they open their eyes and see the truth that is readily available at such organizations like www.norml.org They do not spin lies but rely on sound scientific fact to what mj really is. It is a miracle plant that got a bad rap thanks to the Harry Anslingers of the world. War on marijuana? I say war on those who are against telling the truth. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

The freezer mice did. They were looking for your stash and something to eat. At least they didn't try driving out of your kitchen. My god, they could had killed someone. Never mess with a stoned mouse. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Go to www.norml.org and educate yourself on the subject concerning marijuana as it is clear by your statement that you know very little on the subject. Marijuana is a miracle drug and needs further investgation, which is being hinderd by the Federal government. I suffer from AIDS wasting and mj has in the past kept my weight above 170. I have not smoked in quite sometime as I cannot afford the blackmarket price. As of now I weigh about 135-140. I used Marinol, synthetic THC, in the past but it's results were not on the same level as smoked mj. You obviously buy into the lies that the Feds pass as truth and your type of reasoning to keep mj illegal does harm to so many who can benefit from this wonderful plant. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I made 7 attempts due to depression brought on because I could not deal with contracting AIDS. My fears were irrational to say the least. In the end I got professional help. If or when I reach the end stage I fully plan on taking my own life and going the way I want to go, not the way this illness will take me. This is a rational decision that I have thought out clearly being of sound mind. I see no reason to lie in a hospital bed that will drain funds that could be used to help someone who does have a chance when my end result is death. I see it as purely selfish for some one to continue treating all the way to their death when their is no hope of recovery and life is nothing but pain and suffering. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I posted this at the Bonfire and thought I should post it here also after reading Liemberg's comment on her med bills. It should also be realized that jumpers with far more experiance have done far worst than she did and with a far worst outcome - death. We all should be extremely happy that the latter was not the outcome in this incident and focus on that as the sport has survived far worst exposure. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In Reply To -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, she did get a break on her dental, but she is still left with aprx $450,000.00 in medical bills. She has no medical insurance, and even if she did, most likely it would not cover this accident. Most insurance companies will not cover accidents that result from participation in a dangerous sport. And again, please let me reiterate, SHE DID NOT SEEK OUT THIS PRESS COVERAGE; THE PRESS SOUGHT OUT HER. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is why I changed my feelings towards this. Her $450,000.00 is a far cry from the $60,000.00 I bankrupt. Once I realized exactly how I felt with mounting bills and no possiable way to pay it put me in Shaynas place. This poor girl is pregnant and in need of assistance and all we have done is berate her. I for one am ashamed that I let my passion for the sport over ride my compassion for another human in need. I hope that they can forgive me for not seeing the whole picture. If you have the ability to place yourself in her situation, do it and then look at what she faces in the future. Hopefully you will see it from her standpoint. I hope that she can garner some income from this and be at ease. I also hope that others can understand that they also can find themselves in such a situation and will most likely do what it takes to get on with living a fullfilling life minus the pain and aggravation of mounting debt. After all, skydiving ain't nothing but a thing. Shayna on the other hand is a person in time of need. Let's all have alittle compassion for her and Rick. I cannot imagine how he feels for what has happened. It must be terrible knowing that your descision nearly cost the life of someone you love. Leave them alone and just shut up and jump "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

This is why I changed my feelings towards this. Her $450,000.00 is a far cry from the $60,000.00 I bankrupt. Once I realized exactly how I felt with mounting bills and no possiable way to pay it put me in Shaynas place. This poor girl is pregnant and in need of assistance and all we have done is berate her. I for one am ashamed that I let my passion for the sport over ride my compassion for another human in need. I hope that they can forgive me for not seeing the whole picture. If you have the ability to place yourself in her situation, do it and then look at what she faces in the future. Hopefully you will see it from her standpoint. I hope that she can garner some income from this and be at ease. I also hope that others can understand that they also can find themselves in such a situation and will most likely do what it takes to get on with living a fullfilling life minus the pain and aggravation of mounting debt. After all, skydiving ain't nothing but a thing. Shayna on the other hand is a person in time of need. Let's all have alittle compassion for her and Rick. I cannot imagine how he feels for what has happened. It must be terrible knowing that your descision nearly cost the life of someone you love. Leave them alone and just shut up and jump "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Not so, being on disability does not mean one has to live their life confined to a room and away from life. I am on disability for AIDS and my caseworker is well aware that I skydive. There are times when it is near impossiable for me to do so, so I just stay in bed untill I feel better. There is no provision that says that a person cannot skydive, go fishing, skiing or whatever just because they are on disability. I myself have been trying to get off of disability but working in a factory is not doable as being on my feet for 8 hrs or more is extremely tiring. My last factory job, I spent more time having to sit and rest in order to finish a day. I did start an embroidery business but have had few sales. I made a big mistake trying to cater it towards skydivers. Most of whom have only complained that my prices are to high when in fact I am far below the normal fees that one would pay else where. Skydiving is not exactly the same as I am not on my feet all day. If it gets hot or I am about to fall out, I leave and go home. In no way am I or Rick or anyone else on disability breaking the law by skydiving. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I am starting to cool down on how I originally felt when this first hit the media airwave. I know Rick and Shayna and know that they are genuinely nice people. Rick is a pretty cool guy and Shayna is an extremely sweet girl. It is a shame how this has played out. It is obvious that they did not realize that this would cause a backlashing that they may regret. I now believe that they did not intend harm on the sport. I also understand the need to pay med bills as I have had to brankrupt over $60,000.00 in medical bills at one time. Having major medical bills piling up with no way to pay can lead to other complications that a person can do without. I hope that this will soon die down and be forgotten. I am also retracting anything negative that I may have posted and I am hoping that Rick and Shayna will not be shunned in the community. I hope that others, also, will wish them nothing but good from here on out as I believe that this is not of their making but only got caught up the media's wave. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

If they go on Oomprah, USPA should yank their membership. As it is right now they are on their way to NY NY to go live on TV to tell another crock of lies. They are trying to yank on heart strings to open pockets to grab cash. This is so shameful. It is obvious to me that they have no consideration for our sport. The stations around Springfield and Joplin have been running all sorts of promo on "poor Shayna and on how her parachutes failed to open". Shit , just as I key this they are now talking about how her parachutes were "broken and no chance they would open" and how she "fell" 10'000 feet with no parachutes to stop her fall. I am about to puke, I am so tired of turning the TV and seeing them on there trying to garner sympathy and money. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

The 190 was a Sabre2 which is semi eliptical and considered a HP canopy. PD themselves does not recommend this canopy for an inexperiance pilot, although they do aknowledge that they have been used successfully. They state other models that are more appropriate. As for use with students, 152lbs exit weight is max. I believe she weighs in the area of 120-130. Exit weight with gear would put her at the max. Another 190 of say maybe a silhoutte or a larger size navigators would had been a wiser choice as they are not as ground hungry as a Sabre2. An older Sabre190 would had been a wiser choice also as the only thing it has similar to the Sabre2 is the name. I myself trained on a PD210 F111 in 97. In fact I still have this canopy. It is a great canopy to learn under as it is very forgiving. I also once packed it without properly stowing toggles and opened in a slow lazy spiral. No problem. My next canopy was a Sabre150. I now fly a Stiletto150 and I am very happy with my current canopy and how I came to be able to properly handle my current canopy. A lot can go wrong when in a high stress situation and being under a fast spiraling canopy not of your doing can only elevate the situation from bad to worst if the pilot does not have the experiance to recognize and rectify the problem. A big floaty type canopy such as a PD210 or the larger Mantas will most likely, given a proper wingloading, give the jumper time to recognize and rectify most problems without overloading the jumper with fear due to the accelerating spiral and ensuing groundrush. It is appearent in this incident that the canopy choice did play a major part in her cutting it. Had she had been under a canopy that is designed for student training she most likely would had more time to see things as they were and maybe had acted correctly in the situation in which she found herself. Being that she was flying a good canopy it is also appearent that had she not had inadvertantly fired the toggle, she would had most likely landed just fine to jump again. So this says that the canopy is fine for students if a high stress situation is not introduced into the equation. But, being that no two jumps are the same and that there is no guarantee that you will have a good canopy every jump, why risk the life of someone who is not even qualified to jump student gear without supervision. What is wrong with jumping Mantas or PD210's as students? What? jumping and flying a big floater is not a thrill? It is because of these types of incidents that more rules are imposed upon us. People need to use common sense if they wish to stay alive. Skydiving is an extremely dangerous activity and a lot of new jumpers do not seem to realize this. To much attention is giving to such items as "safety helmets" and aad's and not to the responsiabilty of the jumper to choose wisely. There is a reason why guys like Lew Sanborn and the such are still jumping today. They take extreme responsiabilty for themselves and others. They choose proper gear. They sit out on high wind days. They give and take advise and use it wisely. These guys are who I look up to. If ya ever get the chance to talk to guys like Lew, sit for awhile and listen. You will learn alot about the importance of choosing wisely and be able to jump for years to come. As for "crap sells", well, only if someone is willing to sell and selling out the sport to the media is crap. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

KOAM 7 TV in Joplin, Mo. just had them on for the umpteenth time today. Again, with the "both parachutes failed to open" crap. They are now on their way to NY,NY to be on the morning shows. Obvious they are going to do the talk show curcuit to garner sympathy for money. They are milking this for every dime they can get. Word is that her boyfriend/instructor just bought her an engagement ring. Seeing that he is on disability and they have funds set up to cover their expense, not to mention that the majority of the medical expense has already been paid, I see this as a milking con job and they should be ashamed of theirselves for taking advantage of this to make money. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I did fire off an email to a local station yesterday that was running this story as they kept saying crap about how the gear was at fault. Other jumpers I have spoken to are just as pissed about the flat out lie in their story. I would had been alright with this had they told what really happened and not made it sound as if it was the gear. I guess this video will soon be on RealTV. They were told that they could not train at the DZ here, as the DZO did not want an instructor romanticaly involved with a student, so they went out of state to another DZ. The DZO would had been fine with her had they had used another instructor. The name of the out of state DZ (a great place to jump) has been all over the news around here and I believe that this kinda of pubilcity will deter some first time jumpers from taking that first jump. Nothing good at all comes from this kind of stuff. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

I know the people in the video. What a crock of shit. It was her second or third freefall. Her first six or so jumps were IAD. The instructor was her boyfriend. The canopy was a Sabre2 190. She opened a perfectly good main. Her boyfriend had her doing rear riser turns. She inadvertantly fired a toggle while doing so and she cutaway a perfectly good main. The reserve opened with slider up. Appearantly she did not pump the risers to clear it. As with the main all she had to do was unstow the other toggle. This story has been all over the news in this area. All blame was put on the equipment and NONE on the boyfriend who put her under a canopy she had no business being under or the jumper herself. I talked with Shayna a couple of weeks before this incident about canopies. She was talking about something much smaller and I told her she needs to stay under something that is big and floaty. Something more forgiving than something that is ground hungry. I see this as soley the fault of her boyfriend for giving bad advise on canopy choice. Instructors should never instruct girlfriends/boyfriends as they are less likely to see a problem. The word is that they have been selling this story. What a crock of shit. This does nothing but make our sport look bad. I hope like hell that these two are shunned at all dropzones. Our sport does not need this type of publicity. I feel real bad that this had to happen as Shayna is a very sweet person. Yet, I also feel sad that our sport is very seldom shown in a positive light. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Those ain't BOOBS, they're DICKHEADS "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Sad, but that is just how it is and no matter how much one jumps up and down ya just can't shake it all out. There is good and bad everywhere. Shame that some of the people who are given the highest level of trust such as in the police forces, millitary, church, schools, government and courts not to mention the media also amongst many have abused that trust. People are people and we are all predators of such. There is not one single human who has not at one time abuse trust. Whether it is a minor infraction or a major case squad crime everyone has done something. I think people tend to fall back on their shortcomings and use that to justify to themselves why they did nothing when they knew better. "With all the crap I pulled in the past, who am I to point a finger". Pretty lame excuse, but it tends to work for most people. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

The same as in any profession. You better be damn positive and have solid proof when making a claim as to anothers integrity. Otherwise your credibility comes into question. Most people have families to take care of and morgages to pay and will fall short of taking the step that may or may not result favorably. I have stood by as others done things that were questionable as others have stood by as I myself have done things that could be questioned. Truth is each and everyone of us on this planet has stood by while questionable behavour goes on. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

Not all American police officers are on the level as the asswipe with the tazer. My nephew is a cop in the Kansas City area. He is a very fine person and treats people with respect as other officers do. I have met some cops who really should be in prison and not carrying a gun. It is these assholes that get the attention and take away from those who really do try and help others. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young

It could have also turned out far different than it did. Had they properly assessed the situation, this man could had just been incapacitated How would it be possible to know that the bag went past the baggage screeners at the time? Obviously they did, after all, he said he had a bomb didn't he? So security at check in is at fault? If a person does get on with a bomb this says that the whole system is flawed. The feredal goverment wasn't the one running down the aisle of a plane yelling they had a bomb. An almost-dead person can activate a bomb, a dead person can't. Simple really. Not simple, really. See above. I'd say they handled it they only way they could have. They didn't know he didn't have a bomb, he wouldn't respond when they told him to stop, and there was no way they could have known he was a nut. It's not their responsibility to make sure he takes his meds and doesn't freak out. The mans wife was screaming that he was bi-polar. The air marshalls paid no mind to information that would had brought a differant conclusion to this unfortunate event. I only hope that I do not find myself in an unfortunate encounter with Federal Hitmen. What would you be saying if he actually had a bomb and detonated it because they didn't shoot him because of his condition? His mental condition doesn't make him less likely to have a bomb than anyone else. QuoteWhat would I say? I would say that the screeners should pay more attention to what they are screening. The real truth is that the Feds, once again screwed up in a bad way. The whole situation is sad for everyone involved. Very sad. "...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young