mdrejhon

Gay pride events are becoming more mainstreamed, at least in Canada, that it's less shocking than it used to be. More ordinary looking people. Some of the parades have a little more banal than they used to be, and more commercialized with commercial sponsors such as Starbucks, IBM and Travelocity. Sure, there are those shocking floats, but also a lot of the mainstream people that are very straight acting. In Canada, most parades are now called festivals instead ("Pride Festival") instead. One of the pride festivals in my city (www.bankfest.ca) removed Pride and has now become a mixed event (both gay and straight) see the website, it is called a "Unified Party", with the gay specific parade being a separate thing on a separate day, with mostly tamer floats than there seems to have used to be (with a couple of exceptions). Daresay that the parades are starting to become a little more boring than they used to be -- and the highlight has become the BBQ/rock concerts at the public parks instead (more of a festival thing, not as much parading in the streets showing off). Gay people in Canada no longer feel as much pressure to defend themselves, so there are not as many activists around here as they used to be. In a recent poll, 89% of Quebec population, were shown to support gay rights (plus or minus some percentage points, 19 out of 20 times). Ontario is not very far behind... In your part of your country, things may be different... but this is a trend in Canada that it's starting to just become such an ordinary festival, often with mainstream sponsors at some of them (I've seen IBM, I've seen Starbucks, etc) and the purpose have been changed from a protest (as it was two decades ago) into a festival (as it is today in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Vancouver). Not very much different from Chinatown or Mardi Gras or Blues Music "festival" type fare, and no longer shocking to the majority of these cities' populations. People aren't being activist around here as much as they used to be. Times are changing, at least in this country. Sure, there are pockets of rampantly anti-gay stuff, just as there are pockets of rampantly anti-black and other niche subgroups. There's still difficulty for each group, but people have no problem having an annual cultural festival for the various cultures, you see that stuff every month in different parts of a big city anyway. Some of you know we are up for an election soon. The conservatives want to bring gay marriage back to a popular vote. However, it has already been said that even existing licenses would not be nullified even if the Conservatives win. However, the politics venom of our Canadian government (ugh, let's switch the TV channel), while has made a few concerned, most aren't worried, since 3 out of the 4 parties support gay marriage here in this country. We're going to have yet another minority government. (While it becomes Animal House in the government with lots more nasty political fighting, it seems more things get done for the Average Joe Q Public in a minority government due to the way Canada works.) But, nothing you Americans aren't used to -- Democrats vs Republicians is also ferocious material for you too.

Vibes are on the way....get well soon!!

There's no such thing as ADD on dropzone.com -- The proper acronym for Attention Deficit Disorder is spelled AAD here (and is sold under numerous brand names such as Cypres, Vigil, Astra, etc).

A more straight answer: Usually no, but Cypres is compulsory in some areas and some dropzones. I know it is compulsory at a few dropzones near me. It is not always compulsory on a national level (North America comes to my mind). But I can see by other posts that there are certain countries that it is compulsory.

Walk away. I've walked away from 5 figures worth of expenditures spent on my better half before. Yes, resentment can be there and vile thoughts and language expressed, but get your stuff and walk away. Escalation of war between both of you is painful and should be avoided -- otherwise you will be too distracted and distraught at dinnertime. What if he does something even worse after you did your revenge (tit-for-tat escalating back-and-fourth). You'll then have a much more terrible time than now... Sure, play darts with the photo, play baseball with that gift ornament, burn that love letter in the bonfire (but first, write the words "F__K Y___!" in red sharpie marker all over it, pretend it is his blood, before throwing it in the bonfire), and burn up that photo CD in the microwave. That way, you're safe from escalating a nuclear war. Me, I am often too sentimental to even do any of the above, but it's a safer and more private kind of revenge if you must succumb to temptation...

FYI -- It's a stereotype. Not all gay men do anal intercourse. In other cases, some men diet and douche so well it's cleaner and nicer-smelling than an average woman's pussy. Granted, not all do, but I am frankly correcting stereotypes here. Okay, granted, sure, the bible says it is wrong. But that's not the point. I'm merely correcting a common stereotypical assumption made by straight men about gay intimacy (or sex for those who like to call it sex.)

Thanks for the big laugh you gave me today. And numerous other posts by you and other people -- this thread has been the funniest ones I've ever read on dropzone.com, not even dampened by the occasional mildly negative posts between. But, I know it is all good funny sarcasm though, obviously I wouldn't take children to watch movie with such sexual content (regardless of whether it was gay or straight) - To me, it doesn't matter about the sexual orientiation. What I see here in this thread pretty tame compared to gay-bashing I hear about sometimes. Fortunately that kind of bad gay-bashing isn't very prevalent around here where I live. The fireworks going off in this thread, is just a few cherrybombs exploding, not a nuclear war. I've read much worse bashing. Tolerance is a funny thing. To some, tolerance simply merely means "I don't accept your lifestyle, but I will jump with you anyway" (I'd hope chuteless is at least tolerant enough - I do admire the historic feats that were accomplished, even if CSPA doesn't recognize them). For others, tolerance requires "I don't care if you're gay or not" or "It's interesting to hear you are gay."

You misread my post. I was a little aggressive at 1.1 wingload at 57 jumps (still jumping it now) -- but not nearly as aggressive as many of you are. I'm not a canopy nazi, but I'm not going to be the first person to recommend jumping this right away... Obviously, I'd be attacked by instructors otherwise. I'll leave it to you 1000+ jumpers to say it's not too aggressive, better it being you than it being me being the one who say it isn't aggressive. I'm not as experienced as you are to say that, and neither is this jumper. Actually, personally, I feel ready to jump a 150, but I really want to get a bunch more flareturn landing done first (I've tried a few, but I feel I need more pratice) and a lot of other canopy instructor recommended stuff. My post was made in part because I am a perspective of a potential gear shopper, another similiar 170sq ft canopy jumper (me) that's also possibly doing a 150-ish downsize eventually, roughly similiar number of jumps (only 15% difference 138 vs 160, I consider 'roughly similiar'), and the rig fit my criteria. So our places (me and canedraw4) could easily be swapped. Anyway, that isn't even the focus of my post

It's not a wingsuit. It's a squirrel suit.

You forgot something: How big a bargain was it? Personally if a complete nearly-new Safire2 149 rig came for only $1000 used including an AAD and it was legal (It's plausible: Somebody's girlfriend quitting the sport in disgust and a breakup and needs the money to fly back to her family the next day), I will buy it even at my jump numbers, and will store it away. It may collect dust for a year or two as I jumped to get myself experienced enough. Then the wingloading will eventually be pretty conservative relative to jump numbers (experience). Although, I admit would be tempted to jump it right away -- at a canopy course.

I treat it more as a washer. But for rinsing, jam, tomato paste, and stuck melted cheese are fair game to me. Those tend to crust and rot. But if it's just crumbs, butter, and whatever easily dissolvable in high temperature water, no rinse necessary. I'll fill the dishwasher without a rinse first. Modern enzyme-based detergents work very well nowadays (According to Consumer Reports, nowadays it doesn't matter TOO MUCH anymore which detergent you use, as long as it is enzyme based). I suddenly noticed the difference in incomplete cleanliness when I used an old-style liquid detergent which months later I found out was at bottom of their ratings. It was a Costco generic brand that did not use enzymes. Switched to a supermarket generic brand (or occasionally the more expensive advertised-on-TV brands), and have had no problems since. I often start the dishwasher at just 75% full if the kitchen is all cleared up and a category is lacking (i.e. we are out of clean glasses), or that I am not going to be home for a while. Otherwise, I wait until it's more or less full (90-100%)

Sounds like you'd be the perfect person for my gear....if only I was selling. (Of course, it may not be perfect -- not very freefly friendly, instructor may recommend something else, etc) I got a used Vector 2 rig with a Sabre 170, with room to downsize to a 150. Already has a Cypres2 AAD and I got the whole rig for around 3k-ish (USD) including the Cypres2 with 10 years left. But I need to jump this for quite some time yet...so keep looking....but rigs like these have existed on the market, just snapped up pretty quickly by newbies so you may have to call dropzones directly and cast a wider net rather than solely looking at online classifieds.

Glad to see someone with their priorities in order -- the fun toys (and skydiving too) before a new pair of blue jeans!

I completed most of my PFF in two days doing 8 jumps (though it was 3 weekends really, to get everything done) at 4 per day. The dropzone limit was 4 per day. The weekend prior, there was one tandem, and the next weekend was a repeat level, some pratice full-altitude supervised freefalls, and a graduating hop-n-pop once my pull-time anxiety was mostly gone. The tandem was a prerequisite (sort of like a tandem progression). It wasn't too much in large part because I already did a few tandems (4 tandems to be exact -- 2 just prior and 2 in previous years), and in the last two tandems, I was responsible for proving altitude awareness and helping with turns and landing flare.

I'm still a relative newbie, but I just flew tunnel for the first time after approximately 125 jumps. I hear from enough people in a few countries that a few minutes of tunnel time doesn't hurt. Be careful about altitude awareness -- a tunnel session is usually 2 minutes and a freefall session is about 1 minute (usually depending on dropzone's typical AFF jump altitude). And you'll have to adjust for a container on your back when you skydive, which means you have to adjust your backward/forward motion to compensate... The consensus is that tunnel usually help more than hurt, although some argue doing 2 or 3 skydives first before tunnel time, is a good idea (to know weaknesses). However, if you're forced to wait for AFF anyway, I see no reason why not taking a little tunnel time since it takes a small amount of sensory overload away from you, since you'll know how to arch and fly your body a bit. Little things like that make a lot of difference... make sure you're debriefed on all of the above by your instructors... I'm not an expert, but I have read, met and heard so much to know that the above are common considerations to remember, just be aware of tradeoffs.

Although I view windtunnel as a way to improve my skydiving skills, I would be inclined to agree with you... There's a really big whuffo market out there. I have heard of these proposals that does make a lot of sense: - The Zero-G room in Houston. ("Oh! They have a zero gravity room now!") - The dual 10-feet-diameter recreational windtunnels at an upcoming huge shopping mall. (where the flying areas are plainly visible to people walking by. "Mom -- I want to try that!")

Sounds like it is popular there and the phone is understaffed. Time for another employee! (once the revenues have stabilized, I'm sure the capital costs were painful!) Or update the call center and website to support skydivers better.

Wingsuit landing, at least on a ski slope, should be possible. (IMHO) First: 1. View this: Actual Video of Loic Wingsuit Flight Over Ski Slope - 6 Feet Above Snow 2. Did you know that downhill skiiers in Olympics, can go downhill roughly as fast as this wingsuit flyer? Downhill skiiers have already broken the 150mph barrier. 3. Highspeed ski wipeouts have happened near these speeds, that were survivable. It would be interesting if they did some GPS testing of a wingsuiter with skiis, to see how the skiis affected aerodynamics up high at safe play altitude. You notice how the angle of ski jumpers lean forward, with the skis tucked in. How is wingsuit lift in this situation? Skiis could be modified to be nearly parallel to body, until touchdown time. Has anybody bothered to do this testing? It's pretty clear that investigation is warranted. Verdict: Survivable, at least on a ski slope. Broken bones? Up for debate.

The elementary question is, whether his sleigh has a flux capacitor, and a Mr. Fusion reactor. This would solve most of the time related problems. Also, I think there's some truth to the quantum superposition theory. Santas seem to manage to exist simultaneously at nearly all North American shopping malls. You can only observe one of them at a time, but not all of them.

Spit comes back to you, no matter which direction you fly in. Even when flying downwind, spit comes back to you. Of course, you did include a smiley so I know you were joking....but newbies may not figure it out.

Considering the high price for airfares on very short hops, don't forget there are overnight trips on VIA trains and Greyhound buses. DOWNTOWN to DOWNTOWN service, to boot, you save taxi costs from airport, and you save one night of hotel, as long as you're able to sleep sitting up... In fact, occasionally you save time by going by train nowadays (faster than the plane) when counting holiday delays and security lineups. Not always, but I've seen the train beat the plane sometimes, when transportation/security/taxi/hassles are taken into account. It's only about, what, a 5 hour trip by train downtown to downtown -- that's how long it takes by plane too when including the extra airport hassle time, doesn't it? (Especially when you have to an expensive taxi in rush hour traffic, taking 40 minutes to get to the airport in Toronto) I miss the days of $99 roundtrips to Toronto from about a decade ago -- including airport fees and taxes. It was much easier to show up at the airport just 20 minutes before departure, and not miss the flight...

I'm not an instructor, but I heard someone got hurt because their canopy 'fixed' itself right at what normally would be flare time. So that hand being pulled down to correct a stuck turn, now suddenly becomes a hook turn at the last minute. BAM. If possible, I am NOT going to land a main that requires me to pull one toggle all the way down to the bottom just to fly straight -- precisely for that reason. (Besides the fact that no-flare PLF/PLR landing at 1.1 wingload is still not going to be fun). A tenson knot may slip and it suddenly becomes a deadly hook turn. Talk to your instructors...

Is this the same ZP tandem you loved so much in trial jump of it? (the one you alluded a sports car comment to -- like a Ferrari)

Tab #4 of that excel spreadsheet (Eule) is very interesting -- same as Germain but color coded to reveal some rather interesting wingload trends. I wonder if the professionals here with big jump numbers, would like to comment on it.

Actually, correction. 1 + 1 = 10 is perfectly correct -- in binary.