Sen.Blutarsky

The Senator jumps at Aerograd near Kolomna. I can PM details if you like, it's a great place to skydive and has the largest vertolet (helicopter) I've jumped to date, the mighty Mi-8. Say privet to Crazy Doc for me. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I gather you doubt the authenticity of reports by comedian Steve Martin on the cruel practices of cat juggling Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Wow, sounds a bit like my undergraduate days at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, except that I also started on a nationally-ranked intercollegiate team, worked two jobs, kept my girlfriend at Albion College relatively happy and hung around with guys monikered "Abbs" who later led our country to a gold medal in the Olympics then pitched in the majors despite only having one hand while, incidently, I was getting my ass kicked by a handful of my fraternity brothers who had greater than 4.0 out of 4.0 gpas and are now the kings of Lincoln Labs, DARPA and Harvard Medical School. Welcome to slackerdom, work harder if you're unsatisfied, you'll have eternity to sleep in a few decades, raise yourself and look up from the rest of the mud for the brief while you are ambulatory and granted the privilege to understand. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

We have substantial snowfall and high velocity persistent winds screaming outta Canada to deal with both here in Chicago and in my home state of Michigan during each winter driving season, which occupies roughly five months each year, I blame Canada for this incidently. What we see is that light vehicles powered only by two wheels, which can be quite suitable for driving in other parts of the U.S., tend not to cut it here during the critical winter months when people freeze to death after they skid off a road into a ravine during whiteouts etc. American and Japanese pickup trucks fishtail out in these conditions when true four-wheel drive and CG'd vehicle mass, to include deadweight ballast sometimes, gets you home safely. My only point is that vehicle choice depends on more than volume, tow capacity or prestige, and any intended replacement must address the issues I raised or it won't be successful where I live here in the states. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

This made me feel all tingly and such. NOT Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

No, however I will give you some context. A few weeks ago my SO received an e-mail from her firm's managing partner, who was simply notifying her and the other equity partners that she and her colleagues had just given 1% of their individual annual incomes to aid victims of Katrina. No discussion or debate. Their individual contributions were forced, fait accompli. In addition I am routinely "shaken down" by "community activists" who believe they are entitled to a share of my profits and they threaten with few nuances to either damage our reputation or diminish our cash flow through various means. Forced contributions are wrong as are shakedowns IMO, they are increasing in frequency based on my actual experiences, and I will continue to comment on them as I see fit. Cheers. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

You implied this position is debatable and therefore it is legitimate, see the following text in boldface, your own words: Indeed you did. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Good for you. Just don't impose your views on me or my for-profit businesses and we'll co-exist swimmingly. At the present time I'm diligently working on a not-for-profit organization to which the for-profits likely will be contributing substantial funds and other resources over time. For me the separation between the different entity types and their guiding principles is important and I am absolutely against the forced contributions that are insidiously weaving their way into professional firms and companies with increasing frequency. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I am wishing you a happy birthday Kallend. Go fly your private aircraft and pretend its an airliner, apparently you'll feel younger. Wear socks Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

A for-profit business exists but for a single purpose, to maximize its profits. A not-for-profit enterprise exists for reasons other than to profit. We have both types in America and the moment government or the public moves on my for-profit businesses and attempts to convert them into the latter type is when I move both types offshore and 100% of 0 goes to charity. There is nothing to debate. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Nah. The well-heeled and the skydiving-as-lifestyle types will always find a way to jump. It’s the middle income strata and the weekenders who have retreated from active skydiving in recent years from my vantage point. The effects of the trends you mention could have a profound impact on the sport, especially if there is a national airspace crisis or a mass skydiving tragedy and government acts on the basis of flawed or biased information about skydiving. But we’re so tiny and fragmented that I doubt we can directly influence the growth or retention of experienced jumpers, or preserve our freedom to self-regulate, at this phase of our history. Neither directly IMHO. Worker productivity and home ownership have surged over the past several years, burdening the middle class with additional responsibilities. The population is aging, and we’ve increased our levels of formal education and also taken on a lot of personal debt. The nation is at war against islamic fundmentalists and natural events. It’s my belief these factors have combined to produce the trends our sport is witnessing, not fuel prices or the dangers of skydiving per se. What can they say, this sport is inherently dangerous and people will continue to die playing with it even if they don’t commit any mistakes. So it isn’t safe. On the other hand, like you, I want to see the sport grow in terms of the numbers of qualified active jumpers, investments in infrastructure, lobbying power and control over publicity. Ideally we also will be able to self-insure. To this day I don’t understand why in a nation of nearly 300 million people there are only approximately 30,000 “active” skydivers. Certainly there are hundreds of thousands and even millions of Americans who could be interested in skydiving and who are sufficiently fit and possess the requisite judgment to safely participate and contribute their talents and resources towards its betterment. Somehow these people are misperceiving the sport or are being diverted to other sports, or both. I believe USPA could do a lot more to place skydiving on the public radar as something more than a one-shot thrill ride, I would rather see my dues spent on a professional, targeted public awareness campaign than on some of the other projects they’ve been allocated to. Perhaps. But there isn’t much we can really do about it at this phase of our existence as a sport and thus you may as well not worry about events that are beyond your immediate power to control; instead, just find a way to continue jumping that works best for you as an individual. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

As Bluto I've developed a certain notoriety at my dropzone and it's nice to escape that by visiting other places where I am plain ol' John Blutarsky or just John, at least until the partying begins. My home dz is Skydive Chicago and I've noticed our jumpers are of many different racial types and practice the Wiccan, Christian, Jewish and Muslim religions and probably others. I myself am a hedonist and consider myself a true believer. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Ice Boogie? A friend from Framingham, NM is a leader of Chicks With Picks and that's near Durango, CO where they take us to ice climb during winter. Another friend in Manitoulin Island, Canada (proximate to my childhood stomping grounds, Soo St. Marie, Michigan) gets us out on the fast ice boats. What do you mean by Ice Boogie precisely? Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Both. I travel abroad a lot and powered contraptions seem to perplex American airport screeners, I tell them they're a vibrate-y present for my girlfriend and it's true in a sense. My floss has never been questioned but the baking soda I keep in an HDPE bag routinely gets sniffed by dogs. What can I say, proper dental hygiene has been worth the effort thus far and I hale from the Michigan sticks so doggie nose juice doesn't bother me, it's actually a comforting presence. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Damn! I always hate it when one of our own commits suicide. When and where is gjhdiver's wake being held? Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Please see a medical doctor asap and have that removed before it turns septic Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

My thinking has been that if an aircraft of the majors is flying under the control of a commercial pilot who I believe is operating within the law and the aircraft is holding any attitude that would permit me to don a rig and reach an operable exit then I should remain tightly strapped to my seat. Of course I should immediately put on my rig, bail out and trust my equipment if the pilot or aircraft behaviors are so crazy that it's impossible to get to my gear and open some door to escape safely. Similar results obtain in my view Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

This movie was Lame-O-Rama. Nothing detected by the Cleverometer. No joy in Team America-ville on this trip Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Just like the Mafia. Fail to comport yourself according to the dictates (self-interests) of a powerful self-proclaimed representative of the group and you have effectively “renounced your kind” thus sealing your death warrant and visiting a death sentence upon innocent members of your clan. Utter submission or elimination -- it’s so, so Sixth Century but since this paradigm has traction in an Islamic world rooted in intransigence we must eliminate it there or else human progress for us all will be jeopardized. No Sharia for the U.S. thank you very much and please pass the ammunition. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

I just tear a page from the Sears & Roebuck catalog that we keep in the outhouse Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

You're a freeflyer now, John? Didn't see that coming ... Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin I do believe, not counting ballroom music or polka, which the local D.A.N.K. lobbied into our elementary school curriculum much to our horror. Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

... or stands to make a buck from selling bumper stickers and related merchandise Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

We once hired a Venice Beach, CA singer and she performed for a group of our clients and friends at our home in Chicago. She claimed to be an astrologer and wouldn't stop pestering me until I disclosed when I was born. According to this person, I'm a Geminii with Leo rising and a Capricorn Moon. Do I win a prize or am I about to die Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!

Thrill 'em all and let God sort 'em out, I used to say. Or was that just a military slogan Blutarsky 2008. No Prisoners!