MarkM

If your company calls a partially exposed breast "porn" I wouldn't consider it very open minded.

What about sleep? You gotta sleep.

I had a 2 year stint between going from a SL student to an AFF student. My last SL jump was a 15 second delay, but I didn't have the time to actually look at my alt during the jump. I was busy getting off my back and deploying. So before I went AFF at the new dropzone I decided to do to a tandem to make sure I had altitude awareness. I had never actually used my hand altimeter in freefall and it may sound silly, but I wanted to know I'd be able to see it properly before making any dives that I'd have to really use it on. It also gave me a chance to relax and make sure I was mentally back into the sport. Was I going to be as tight as I was during my early SL jumps or more loose like my later ones? I think tandems are a real useful training tool and after making one I'd definately recommend them to my friends if they were at all interested in trying out skydiving.

Risk is relative to the individual. Just because 750 feet is unsafe to you doesn't make it unsafe for everyone.

1) Jump more often. 2) Have sex more often. 3) Stay alive.

When you talk to a reporter you have to think about what you're saying right at that moment. They ask questions and you have to formulate an immediate answer and give it. The reporter has both the luxery of time to look over everything you said in full detail and in turn gets to edit what you said when it finally comes out in print. No matter what you say to a reporter, you're going to say what the reporter wants you to say.

Heh. First jump May 2000(SL), went student on a SL progression that summer. Moved to Florida, spent about 2 years being broke then started my training back up in March 2002. Been jumping in between health problems and bad weather.

Uh, would you please take a step back and look that over again? Do you have proof that you didn't speed on the way to work this morning or run any red lights? Photos of the lights being green, time log of how long it took to get to work vs the miliage so we know how fast you were going? If not, should you get a ticket? It is not SDC's responisbility to prove they're safe, it is the responsibility of others to prove them unsafe. If SDC is violating student cloud jumps is it really so hard to get some video of it and take it to the FAA? Remember the moto "innocent until proven guilty"? Or did I wake up in France this morning?

Because jumping from airplanes is just crazy man. We're all a bunch of adrenalined out freaks who'd need to be protected from ourselves.

I never got why people lie about their personal lives. I mean, the only person ever really that interested in yourself is you, so why do you need to lie about who you are? I guess I'm naive.

Well, my first jumps were hop and pops from 3000, so in my mind an exit from 2500 feet is a lot of altitude. If that altitude makes you nervous you might want to make some hop and pops to get used to leaving low. The only reason I'd think of going reserve above 1.5k is if I want a faster opening to give me more time to find a better landing area. But I guess as long as you pull something it's all good.

Do some hop and pops and see how long it takes for your main to open, that way you know for sure how much altitude you need. On a Cypres, even if it's armed I don't see why it'd fire. It works off of a vertical speed that you won't reach for, what, 8 seconds after bailing out?

Specious argument. Not wearing a helmet does not mean 100% fatality rate. Not wearing a Cypres while unconsious in freefall does. You will have a 100% fatality rate in the car without the helmet if you are in an accident that delivers a blow to the head that would be fatal without the helmet. You will have 100% fatality without a Cypres if you take a blow to the head that will knock you unconscious during a skydive. Both of those situations are if's and not guarantees. If you're racing cars you wear a helmet, because the risk of being in a situation where you need it has increased to a level where it's prudent to wear a helmet. Wearing a Cypres is no different. It's a matter of assessing your risks and determining what level of protection you need against them. Just because a person jumps without a Cypres doesn't make them stupid.

Do you drive a car? Do you wear a helmet while driving a car? Considering that wearing a helmet while driving a car can significantly reduce the potential for head trauma in an accident aren't you stupid for not wearing one?

I love dogs, but sorta have the same situation you have: small apartment, not home much. So I won't get one, I don't think it's fair to the animal. Avoid birds, they're so damn annoying. A cat is probably the way to go. He'd probably just sleep all day and wake up in time for you to come home.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up for me too. The only thing I know for sure is that sooner or later we all find out. Just hope it doesn't turn out like that South Park episode... Hell Initiation Director: "The correct answer was the Morman religion, yes the Morman religion." Christians, Jews, etc: "Ahhhh. Ohhh"

Jumps 2-10. I really wish the BSRs had said "students must jump with a GOOD AAD". Did I miss a meeting or something? I thought kill line PCs were a performance device, but it seems like sometime over the last year or so they've turned into safety feature.

Never really beleived in God, because really, why do I need one? But free will's another thing, I choose to believe I have that(and if I don't, well then I really didn't make a choice, now did I?). And if I have free will while a rock doesn't, then there's something to me beyond flesh and the energy that animates it. Wanna buy souls? What makes you think people have the ability to sell it? Might as well try to buy the energy I'm shedding off as I type this.

You jump without a Cypres, but would you jump without a reserve? It's just a matter of safety level vs what each individual is comfortable with. Some people BASE while others won't leave the plane without a Cypres.

Mark, just like you, I have every right to state my opinion. I don't expect you to agree, but I do expect you to respect my rights ... I believe the only people who should be permitted to carry firearms are law enforcement officers. I will never own a gun -- and thankfully my country has strong gun control legislation. There's stating an opinion and then there's trolling for posts. Gun control wouldn't have prevented the shooting, it's already a federal crime to bring a firearm onto airport property. It's already a "gun controlled" area. As far as I recall you don't even live in the US, so how we handle guns is pretty much open to the people that live and vote here, just like you can influence your country's right to live without guns. Outsiders sure as hell don't have to like how we live. It's obviously an emotional issue for you, therefore nothing I can ever say will change your mind. It's a logical issue for me, therefore nothing emotional you can say will change my mind. You show me a child killed with a gun, I'll show you a father using one to scare off an intruder from his home or a woman fending off a rapist. When someone builds a "phaser set on stun" gun that's just as effective as a handgun and our police forces uses them for personal defense(because they really ARE effective enough to replace slug throwers), I'll gladly turn in my Glocks. But until then, I feel they're the best form of defense we have and choose to live in a country and state that allows me the use of them. Again, if you don't like it then don't live here.

This is a common fear and really unjustified. Some f'er can take you out any minute with their car when you're walking down the street. The same guy in the pub can take you out with a beer bottle. A good clubbing to the head can kill you just as easily as a shot to the chest. Knives and clubs are every bit as dangerous as a gun. The most common murder weapon in the US is a screwdriver. One big difference between a gun and knife though is that a person's physical size or strength doesn't matter with guns. Women can use a gun for defense just as effectively as a man. If we're going to have the means at our hands to kill each other, my vote is to at least keep the playing field even. And really the whole idea that when people have access guns means they go around wildly shooting each other has been disproven over and over again in cities and states that enact conceal carry laws.

If you know you're going to start a flame war, then why the fuck post it?

I see so many flame fests start on dz.com from the stupidest of things. 90% of the time person A will say something, but person B simply reads it the wrong way. Person B then responds to what they perceive as a hostile post in a hostile tone. Of course person A responds back with hostility. It's so especially bad on this site because skydiving is a sport with so many strong opionions. You lose a lot of information when you just have lines of text to read, information on the tone of character on the speaker. The inflections in their voice, their posture, facial changes, etc. So your mind just creates a tone for you. Sometimes you just have to give a poster the benefit of the doubt, that a post that may seem inflamatory in fact isn't if you read it in a less hostile tone.

First jump was the typical: bored, wanted to see if I could do it, didn't care about the rest of my life, etc what you hear a lot of. But when I found myself under canopy it was peaceful. Skydiving relaxed me or balanced me in a way I didn't really understand.

Heh, no.