tso-d_chris

It seems anti-intuitive to not take measures to maximize the performance of the square footage you do have. Why handicap the canopy at all? Is cocking a pilot chute such a complicated process that the obvious benefits be sacrificed? Maximum glide and lift on flare are not just beneficial to swoopers. Last time I checked, these "less reliable deployment devices" are provided by the container manufacturers. In fact, The Relative Workshop builds what is arguably the most imitated container on the market. If kill lines are such a huge danger as you are implying, why do you build them? Don't the manufacturers help define the DZ culture? Except during front riser flight, full flight, braked flight, turning and landing, I can't think of a single scenario when a collapsable pilot chute would be beneficial, pushing the odds just a little further in favor of the jumper.

Didn't you mean: Research cleaning mains Before getting yours messy; It can be a bitch.

The first to come to mind is that a steeper gliding seven cell is often more stable when it is necessary to sink a canopy into an extremely tight landing area. That is not a good reason to get a steeper gliding canopy, IMO. For Great Deals on Gear

Do I have to put siding on the whole apartment complex, or can I just side my unit?

When you loosen your chest strap, you allow your canopy to flatten out a bit, by allowing your risers to spread apart. This increases the amount of effective lift producing surface area of the canopy. Even better is that it does so without increasing your drag with respect to forward motion. The result is a canopy that is able to produce more lift. This extra lift can be the difference between an off field landing and landing in the peas on a long spot. Collapsable pilot chutes and sliders serve the same purpose. They make your canopy fly more efficiently by reducing air resistance with respect to forward motion. Sure, this is important if you swoop, but it is also important if you have a long spot. I can think of few situations where a superior glide ratio (all else being equal) is not better. For Great Deals on Gear

When you choose your reserve, it is a good idea to choose a canopy large enough to land you without major injury with the brakes stowed. It is very likely that the gear recommended by your instructor(s) will be sized properly for you. For Great Deals on Gear

Are you sure he's not referring to Jimmy Trantor and Chris Hayes (Paxton Vinyard flying video)? Sounds a lot like what happened to them. I'm guessing that there is footage of that with the Nationals video, if anyone has it. (I don't) I haven't had any luck finding video.

Bummer. We had just gotten to a nice spot today, with a clear line of sight to the launch pad, without loads of people, and then I got a call that the launch was scrubbed. Bummer.

Tashkin was careful about using control groups. Remember, the purpose of the study was to provide irrefuteble scientific proof that cannabis did in fact cause lung cancer. Tashkin never tried to prove the opposite; he just acknowledged that his hypothesis was incorrect and that a hypothesis stating the opposite was reasonable, and merits further testing. This was neither the first nor largest study to demonstrate this.

Yes it has. http://paranoia.lycaeum.org/marijuana/facts/3-mj-myths (www.google.com search terms: marijuana brain cells) If I had time I would find a more complete list of sources for you.

Read again ... there was a consistent lower rate for lung cancer among marijuana users vs. non- marijuana users. In other words, even the most die-hard prohibitionist researcher (Tashkin) has indicated that it is quite possible that using pot reduces your chance for lung cancer. As far as lower sperm count or permanent brain damage, those myths have been long since disproven. You would be wrong. That is not the point I made. When was the last time you heard an actual case of someone falling off a balcony because they smoked a joint? How exactly is this dangerous?

I would recommend the largest hard drive, and the iPod Mini. I have 40 Gig in my G3 iBook, and it goes pretty quick. Then again, it is my primary computer. You sound like your iMac is probably still going to be your primary machine. Also, the $949 base (student) price model reads DVDs and comes with an Air Port Extreme card, which will give you wireless capabilities not available in the $899 CD-ROM model without substantial additional cost. ($899 + $71 = $970 for wireless and CD-ROM or $949 for wireless and DVD-ROM) DVDs hold much more data than CDs, and the ability to read them is very beneficial now, and will be even more so in the future. Remember, its a Mac. You should be able to get three years out of it, easy. The Combo drive version is a much better deal. I also recommend at least 512MB of RAM. A Gig is better, but probably overkill for your purposes. Except, of course, when you are playing World of Warcraft. More RAM will give a very good performance per dollar return, IMO. It is a great deal, especially with the free iPod.

All depends on how many different kinds of drugs are there! My guess is all of them.

You said tyhere were no non-recreational benefits for drugs like marijuana, nicotine and cocaine. That is clearly untrue.

Does that mean I should sign up for rehab after my morning coffee?

Care to support this statement? I can think of valid medical uses for at least two of these drugs, and I'm not sure Cocaine is wholly without legitimate uses.

Maybe they're not kidding anyone. Check out this article about a study done by Donald Tashkin, "It is Tashkin's research that the Drug Czar's office cites in ads linking marijuana to lung cancer."

At a DZ I used to jump at, there was a jumper fond of saying, "If I'm having more fun than you are, I'm a better skydiver."

In my short time in the sport, I have noticed a correlation between poor landings and radio dependence. In other words, the instructors that minimize radio instructions have superior student landings. Using a radio is not inherently bad, but it is sometimes depended on more than good ground instuction. Take that with a grain of salt, as it is from a single digit sample of DZs.

Try installing them using normal procedures. Root access requires a password. Dropping the fake MP3 file into iTunes should (theoretically, since I don't have a copy of the program to try) not allow the malicious software portion to open. Anyone can install malicious software on their own computer, but it is very difficult for software to install itself in OS X. Close to impossible with out of the box configurations.

OS X has no known viruses. I get maybe one pop-up a month (if I round up), on Firefox. I have not found any spyware on my Mac. I have found one piece of malware (PACE anti-piracy software), but it was hidden in Pro Tools by the developer to be installed without user notice. While these problems are not absolutely unheard of with Macs, compared with Windows, OS X is pretty much problem free, at least with respect to viruses, adware and popups.

You've described it pretty accurately. They wore freefly suits, so there were no booties. I'm still trying to find video.

aspirin? caffeine?

That translates roughly to 132lbs plus gear equal aproximately 1.3:1 wingloading, which you will not be ready for until you have around 500 jumps. A better choice would be a Sabre2 150 or a Pilot 150, or a Stilletto 170. And all three of those are agressive choices for your level of experience. Any of those three choices will have more than enough performance to require far more than 500 jumps to really explore the entire envelope. If you jump a Stilletto 120 at your early stage, it is a coin toss whetther you will make it to 500 jumps.

A 1975 Chrysler operates in largely the same manner as a 2005 Chrysler. It requires the same actions for accelerating, braking, etc. The same cannot be said of skydiving gear during the same 30 year period. Capewells are gone, and we have pilot inflatable wings instead of riding passenger on an aerodynamic decellrator. You can't use the same procedures as with old gear. IMO it took a much larger pair of cajones to jump out of an airplane back in the early years of modern skydiving, with very good reason, compared to now.