NWFlyer

Don't mind at all. And yes, I've talked to them. My parents also are not the "sue-happy" type; they raised me and my brother to be strong believers in personal responsibility, so I have no expectations that they would be likely to sue, but you never know. My SO is also a skydiver; because we're not married my parents would still have the "next of kin" designation, but I certainly hope that he could be a positive influence on my parents in the case of my death (or incapacitating injury), as I hope I could be to his family as well. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

She'll be able to pick up the Sammamish River trail near Marymoor Park in Redmond. That trail is about 11 miles and it connects to the Burke-Gilman Trail which is another 18 miles. These are rails-to-trails projects and very popular for both cyclists and runners/walkers. Here's more info: http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/trails/regionaltrailssystem.aspx "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It reminds people that they had the opportunity to learn the easy way. Since they chose not to maybe they will take the opportunity to learn now that they've gone the "hard way." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

When's the last time you invited them to do something (other than "hey you should try skydiving!!?") When's the last time you accepted an invitation even though it was on a day you could have been skydiving? You may be okay with devoting yourself 100% to skydiving ... but don't blame them if they devote themselves 100% to doing other things and they're not as eager to hang with you when the weather sucks or you have a sprained ankle (or worse) or don't have enough money for a jump. I like balance. I like that I still have important people in my life who don't skydive. I like that I still like to do things other than skydiving from time to time. Among other things, it helps to keep dropzone drama in its proper perspective. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Or the media is just getting mixed info - not atypical of the on-the-fly reporting/updating that comes with the 24-hour news cycle. The article you linked says "The platform is a fixed petroleum platform that was in production at the time of the fire. " (emphasis added by me). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This thread should serve as an important reminder of why we have to have these conversations with our loved ones well before anything bad happens to us. I'd venture to guess that no one posting here knows Ms. Lipps, yet everyone is expressing anger and disdain. Yet we have no idea what kind of conversations her daughter had with her prior to her death. Grieving family members plus aggressive pursuit by lawyers looking for a case is a bad combination. It's incumbent on all of us who are involved in the sport to have the conversation, as many times as it takes, with the person or persons who are going to be making such decisions after our deaths. It might be your parents, spouse, children, siblings, etc. Whoever it is, make your wishes expressly known. Make the fact that you are fully accepting the risk known. Talk to them about how you manage risk, but never ever promise that "my AAD will save me, don't worry!" It's a lie. Your AAD may save you, but it may not. And there are a lot of other ways you can die in the sport that have nothing to do with a low/no pull. I've had the conversation with my parents. I've sent them an "open if I die" envelope that they have put in their safe deposit box. It's reiterated in there (there's a lot of other information, too, but that's in there). To do anything else is being irresponsible and setting your family up to be influenced by attorneys at their most vulnerable time. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Ah, that's good news. Everyone's (apparently) safe and sounds like we won't have another gusher... "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

13 people on board, but it looks like they're all accounted for alive with one injury. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/02/rescue-efforts-underway-after-oil-rig-accident-in-gulf/ "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090202590.html?hpid=topnews Hoping there were no people on board. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Missed this thread when it was originally posted ... I think you'll find good business at a boogie. There's always a massage therapist at the Lost Prairie Boogie - she sets up a tent so that there's a little bit of privacy (not to mention relief from the sun). She seems to do pretty well. I think she does both table massage and chair massage. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

But if it's that easy, then we'd have to eliminate all self-help sections of the bookstores and wipe out all magazines in the Cosmo and Men's Health genres. Wait, maybe that's a good thing! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Incident thread: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3437901 "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

We're a "just for fun" intermediate 4-way team looking for a videographer for Nationals. Please PM or email me (email is in my profile) if you're interested so we can talk details. Registration is Sept 10, competition is scheduled for Sept 11-15 (exact days will be weather dependent of course). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

This is my life. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Shah will probably think it's the two in the white jackets with sparkly lapels. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Why should the iCult users have all the fun? What are your favorite Android apps? Practical: Advanced Task Manager Battery Status Pro Bubble Level Cardio Trainer Moto Torch LED Kayak Shazam Urbanspoon Yelp Where's my Droid Aviation Weather with Decoder Fun/time-wasting Paper Toss Urban Dictionary Twidroid Facebook Google Sky Map YouTube "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

If you're dependent on your parents for 1) transportation and 2) finances ... it's their call, not yours. If you don't reasonably believe you can skydive during college (though many many people do manage to make it work) you may want to wait till after you're done to even start. Finishing AFF now and coming back 4 years later will mean you're pretty much starting from scratch in 4 years. If you can support yourself fully and support your skydiving, then your parents are out of the equation, as you're 19 years old and an adult who is able to make your own decisions. But if you're relying on them to take care of your financial needs, then they still have quite a bit of say in your life, including whether or not you skydive. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That's great news - it's been a long time coming but I'm glad to hear that the time spent put the prosecution in a position to win the case. I'm very thankful that justice was served for our friend. It won't bring him back, but at least the guilty party will be punished. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Require ID. You can take it a step further and even document the ID that was checked (e.g., California Driver's license number XXXXXXXXX) on the waiver. I would think that would be a reasonable precaution that a DZ could take that would go a step beyond "trust me, I'm 18." "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Excellent advice. For my first solo dive off AFF was dedicated to doing nothing more than watching my altimeter and the ground. I've done a few jumps like this and it's really helped. Sure, it may not be cool or exciting... but it's an essential skill to learn. Play a game on the ride up. Look out the window, estimate the altitude, then check your alti to see how close you are. You may not be able to tell the difference between 4,000 and 5,000 feet but you should be able to tell the difference between 4,000 and 9,000. The more you do that the more your visual instincts will improve. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Five Second Films! "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

Anyone planning to watch this new show on Sunday? I'm pretty excited about it because I knew the host back in college. Phil was a PHD student while I was an undergrad, we both wrote for the same newspaper, and he was also my TA for Astronomy 101. He always tried to get me excited about astronomy back then ... no dice (seriously, the class SOUNDS easy but there's all that math and stuff!), but this show looks like a ton of fun and I can't help but pimp out a cool show for an old friend. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8PU7NMx178 Review: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/review-discovery-phil-plait-bad-universe/ (And yes, fellow Mad Men fans, I know it's on at the same time as Mad Men, but through the beauty of TiVo and frequent Discovery channel reruns, I can keep up with both). "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

It went to a broader distribution because I got it and I'm not an S&TA. I'm guessing it went to the folks that get the USPA Professional newsletter (those with ratings of any sort). Good reminders, though I hate that it took a string of fatalities to force us to think about this again. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

That's good because doing a 16-way BFR with non-belly flying 100 jump wonders is not likely to lead to a successful BFR. Rounds after a certain size are HARD. I always laugh my ass off when someone is doing a milestone jump and says "let's just do an Otter-load BFR!" with a mix of freeflyers and belly flyers because they think that'll be an "easy" jump. IF the formation even gets round-ish, it usually also features multiple levels and people chasing grips to the left or the right because they don't understand that everyone needs to drive towards the center instead of chasing people side to side. I'd call 12 plenty big. "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

How's fedex supposed to know a package needs special handling unless the shipper tells them? "There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke