MWGemini

Well, I finally got my A license yesterday, and today the clouds have closed in and aren't going to be letting up as far as I can tell. I guess my first "real" jump will have to wait until next weekend. For everyone who was at dinner last night- thanks for taking us along, we both enjoyed it. Mike

Ear candling is a way to thoroughly clean your ears. My aunt was a health nut, and did that to me a few times when I was a kid. I wish I could find them now, they work really well. Basically a hollow tube (the candle) that is made from some kind of fabric and (I think) parafin wax is inserted into the ear. You lay on the floor with the head slightly titled, light the end of it on fire, and have someone snip the burnt end off every few minutes so that it will continue to burn cleanly. The fire causes air to be drawn through the tube from inside the ear canal, bringing with it all the wax and other crap that you never knew was in there. Sounds really wierd, but I guarantee you that you'll be happy you did it. If anyone out there happens to know where I can purchase some, let me know. Thanks, Mike

Maybe a more powerful signal could be sent from an active transmitter that is activated when the cutaway handle is pulled. This would obviously add complexity to the rig in a location we cannot afford failure, but I'm imagining a system that would be pretty reliable. I have no idea how the transmitter works, however, so this may not be possible. It would also be nice to have this on the freebag. I helped a friend find his last weekend. The main was easy, the freebag took us a while. Luckily his handle was right underneath it, or that would have been gone forever. Mike

My answer to your question is yes. I have accepted the risks of everything I do. I make every effort to live my life without regrets, as if each day could be my last. I've lost several friends to combat and military training accidents, and witnessed a good friend of mine burn in about 200 yards from where I was standing (main/reserve entanglement on military static line jump, caused by premature reserve deployment). I've had several experiences in my life where I knew, without a doubt, that I was going to die. At first, I was so shaken up that I was barely able to walk or talk coherently afterwards. Now, after experiencing that feeling several times, I'm able to control it, and thrive off of it. It is because we can all die doing anything that I choose to push my limits and do dangerous things, like rock climbing, military rappelling, skydiving, etc. I believe that the only way to find your limits is to exceed them. That belief has caused me almost 30 broken bones, ruptured tendons, and has nearly cost me my life on several occasions, but I do these things willingly, knowing full well the risks to myself and those who are close to me. Read my signature line. It's not just a quote for me, I truly believe that. I have never felt so completely alive as the times when I have walked away from something that just seconds before I knew was going to kill me. Skydiving has not yet done that to me, but given time, I'm sure it will. I live to take risks. I take risks to LIVE. Mike

Today I made my 27th jump, and met the last of the A license requirements. I never thought it would take me this long (started over a year and a half ago, my fiancee and I went for our first tandem on valentine's day, but after doing 7 jumps, I had to stop for a year because of $), but I'm glad that I was able to pick it back up and stick with it. I plan on being in the sport for a long time, and every jump I learn and experience something new. The people that I've met, and who have helped me along the way are all great, and I look forward to meeting and jumping with some of you one day.... Mike

Withotu the permission of the songs creator, it usually is. That is a much less serious offense than piracy however. Mike.

Downloading software, music, or movies, regardless of how you do it (torrent, FTP, kazaa, etc) is illegal. It is not the software you use that makes something legal or illegal, it is the act itself. I've personally never used torrent, but I have heard a lot of good things about it. However, if you are using it to transfer illegally obtained and/or copyrighted material, chances are you will be caught, as the way that the torrent software works makes it very easy for knowledgeable people to track who is sending the data. The people who created the work (whether it be music, the latest movie to hit theatres, the cool game that wont hit shelves until next week, etc) worked hard to create them. By downloading their intellectual property and circumventing the store/box office/whatever, you are taking money away from them. For their sake and yours, stop doing it. Thanks, Mike

Iota and Phreezone, great points, something I had not thought of recently. Due to my local setup, I'm running a router, which will help to make things more secure (as it only allows data through on the ports I specifically open and forward to specific machines), but will that be enough? Also- this is only applicable to the mail server, correct? In other words, can I safely run a web server (Apache) without having to worry that misconfiguring it will leave my box open to being taken over? If a hacker gets into my system and totally destroys it all, thats something I can deal with, though I'd obviously like to avoid that. But having my hardware used maliciously is something I cannot allow. Thanks, Mike

Can you elaborate on some of the pros/cons of Exim vs Sendmail? I'm only planning on having one or two e-mail addresses, and all I'll need to do is be able to send and receive. I don't care about secure pages, encryption, PGP, etc (yet). Thanks, Mike

Linux is free, and there are numerous different distributions out there. I've had my linux box running for about 6 months straight without a reboot, running FTP and teamspeak servers constantly. FAR more reliable than ANY Windows OS I've ever used. In my opinion, linux is far superior in many ways to Windows. Apache is a linux based program that if I am not mistaken, is the backbone for most of the internet (in terms of servers) and has been licensed by IBM and other companies for their server software. I'm unsure if it can do SMTP/email hosting however, still trying to figure that out. The biggest problem with linux is that there is so much information out there, it is hard (for me at least) to find the information I'm looking for. Mike

It's not so much finding one that I'm worried about. With open source software, there are numerous options. I'm hoping to get a response from someone who has tried a few and/or set up a few and can suggest a noob friendly package . I'll keep looking though, thanks for your help. Mike

So Apache for the web pages, but what about running an email server? Thanks, Mike

I've got to work half a day tomorrow, but I should be out after that to make my A license check dive (FINALLY!) and mabe get another one or two in after that. We just finished watching The Gypsy Moths. For being made in 1969, its actually not that bad. Some of the gear they jump in that movie is a little scary. Mike

That's not an issue. I've already run FTP servers off this box, I have a pretty fast cable line, but bandwidth isn't a concern for me. My provider doesn't have a limit, and the pipe doesn't need to be big, as I won't be hosting a lot of large files, nor will traffic be much (if at all). It's mainly just to get experience doing it. Mike

I have a spare system lying around, running Mandrake 9.2. I originally installed it just to play around with linux, but never had the time. So now I've decided to try setting up my own web server. I own a domain and it would only be really small, more as a learning experience than anything else. My question is- what software will I need to install to do host that, connect to DNS servers, and possibly even run an e-mail server? I know Apache is an oft used system, but beyond that, I know very little or nothing. I should also put in the disclaimer that I am very inexperienced with linux, so I'm not asking for a comprehensive how to guide, although links to good ones would definitely help, but rather, what programs are required for an undertaking such as this. Suggestions from people who have experience in this are what I'm looking for. Thanks, Mike

Understood. As much as I'd love to jump it ( I used to be a big WWII aircraft buff when I was a kid and I've seen video from when it was at the WFFC), the cost and date is prohibitive for me right now. Does this aircraft do a lot of skydiving operations, or is it used primarily in airshows, flying museum, etc? Do you know where I can find out the aircraft's skydiving schedule? Thanks, Mike

Is this the only day it will be available? Also, what is the cost per jump, and what is the expected exit altitude? Thanks, Mike

I just got The Gypsy Moths DVD today, I'll try to watch it tomorrow and remember to bring it out this weekend if anyone wants to borrow it. CO starring Gene Hackman. He looks to be late 20s-early 30s in the cover picture. Wow. Mike

Yeah, there are links to that system above. Seems like it runs on any regular PC, so I may just inquire as to the cost of the software istelf without the hanging harness and VR headset, things that I can fabricate locally if I really wanted or needed to. I think the owner of my DZ was considering getting one of them at one point if I recall correctly. I'll have to ask this weekend. Mike

I've already done one high opening (waved off at 12k) to learn my canopy, but thats not quite the same thing. I've e-mailed the creator of X-Plane inquiring about the feasibility of simulating a ram air parachute, but have not received a response yet. Mike

MREs (Meal, Ready to Eat, the military's field ration) have a heater element where you open the bag, stick the food item in (in its own sealed bag), pour in a little water, and in a few minutes, you have a nice hot meal. I've also seen cans of soup with a heating element in the bottom. Pop the top, activate the element, 5 minutes later you have hot soup. It can be done. Mike

Happy B-Day, Eric! Dawn- why would we want to start a new thread? This is the third largest in this forum. Did Joe ever get the freebag down? I'll definitely chip in $20 or more this weekend, just remind me if I don't bring it to you first. Mike

Only had one ticket, 70 in a 55, because I was paying attention to somebody coming up behind me FAST after I'd slowed to allow a logging truck to turn off (I was basically stopped in the middle of the road around a turn). Paid for a a lawyer and got it dropped. However, there was a night I was driving from Raleigh, NC to Ft Bragg, NC at about 2 in the morning, had to be in formation ot 0530, and I blew a fuel line on the carb I had installed that afternoon (the clamp came off). Took me about 45 minutes to get that fixed (I had spares in the trunk). So, trying to make up lost time, I was going about 140-150 down 210 and passed a cop hiding behind a tree. I don't think he even bothered trying, but I wouldn't know, I floored it (probably hit close to 160) and then turned down a side road about a half mile further down the road, waited a few minutes for him to pass, but he never did. Maybe the roar of a 67 Mustang at 4500rpm or so wasn't enough to wake him up..... Mike

My primary reason for asking/wanting this is that I have not had enough time in the air to instinctively know certain things yet. Like what to do when the winds are high and in directions that are not "normal" for my DZ, or what to do in really long spots, etc. I can pretty easily think it over and find the proper (or at least not the worst) solution, but it would be nice to practice all the off the wall things that should never happen so that when they DO, I react quickly and properly. Exactly! No, it won't help with flare timing and learning how the canopy feels, but it can help in come things. The reason I had toyed with doing it with the Unreal engine is that I have some experience with that engine and its scripting language is very similar to C++/Java. I will check out x-plane tonight and see how that looks. I'm not interested in doing a freefall simulator. No "game" could come close with the current technology. Thanks for the links to SSK and FXC, PhreeZone and mjosparky. I believe the system I read the article on before is the SSK system, but I'll read both of those links tonight and try to learn more about them. That's certainly not something I can afford, however. Thanks, Mike

Does anyone know of any canopy control simulation programs? I remember reading an article about a virtual reality system that I believe PD was working on, but I've been unable to find any software on the net that is anywhere near realistic or useful. I've toyed with the idea of writing my own by modifying a 3d game engine (UT2k4 if anyone is interested and would like to help), and although it probably wouldn't be beyond my abilities, I don't really have the time or energy to devote to that. Or failing that, does anyone know of any reasonably realistic skydiving games? Thanks, Mike