Zennie

Not that I'm a hook turn God or anything. But it generally doesn't work that way. Most of the hook turn accidents I've read and heard about can roughly fall into three categories: 1. Newbies not fully understanding the flight characteristics of their canopy (and not realistically assessing their own flying skills) and starting to hook way too low & aggressively. 2. Experienced hook turners trying a new canopy and not easing into it. 3. Bizzarre. We have a crew of old school RW jumpers at our DZ who still toggle hook and it scares the bejesus out of me every time I see it. But as far as front riser hooks go, if you start a hook too low you can bail out of it... you just won't get the swoop you wanted or you may not wind up taking the line you planned. The stuff that spooks me are the third category incidents. We've had two canopy collapses in the past year now. We know Lisa Gallagher's was due to rotors, but I haven't heard whether that was also a factor in the recent Virginia incident. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

1:6:0 "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Hey Michele. I was wondering what was keeping you away from jumping. These things are always scary. Not just for you but for those that care about you as well. I'm not the praying type, but I hope you know that I'm wishing everything turns out OK. I've had two cancer scares, my wife and my Dad. My wife had a large liver tumor that had to be removed and my Dad has had a melanoma and a neck tumor removed (on separate occasions). Both are doing fine now. So try not to worry too much. I know that's easy for me to say, but it's probably not cancer and even if it is, it's probably very treatable. Best thing you can do is keep a positive attitude and do what your doctor asks. I'm sure you will and remember there are many of us here who care for you.

I'm gonna be a pain-in-the-ass agnostic and just note that it's impossible to prove the non-existence of a deity (come to think of it, I don't think you can prove a negative, period). Of course, no one has proved the existence of one to me either, but you must have "faith" in the deity's nonexistence to be a true atheist. If that's the case, no prob, I have an atheist friend who say's just that "I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I have faith that He/She doesn't exist". It's just a matter of semantics to me. I'm neither a Theist nor an Atheist. I just dunno. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

The more you study the various religions of the world, you find that when they are distilled down to their core essence, "kindness" is pretty much the universal message. The rest is just dogmatic adornment. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Bet most people can guess mine. Seriosuly though, I'm pretty much an agnostic Universalist with eastern philosophical leanings. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Boobies!!! I dunno. I just had the urge to say that. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yup. I've got countless O'Reilly books myself. Good stuff that's saved me a buncha time plodding through Google/Groups. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Heh, lessee top 5... 1. The Stand, Stephen King 2. LOTR, JRR Tolkein 3. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams 4. The World's Religions, Huston Smith 5. The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine Actually, I just finished The Age of Reason. Very powerful, but not for everyone. I'm currently reading The Tao of Zen. Very good read as well. I have about another 10 books backlogged on my "To Read" list. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Ahhhh. I'll never forget my first jump. I was 14 she was.... Oh wait. You mean skydive. Yeah that was a lot of fun too. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

It's funny, when I read the subject my first thought was the SCR song... "Him.... him...." As far as jump soundtracks go... Offspring, Rammstein, Green Day are good. I also like the vibe on the Melvin's "Youth of America". "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yeee!!! Haw!!! I am so looking forward to the next few months!

Hehehehe.... It's my Gnome desktop. It's wide because I'm running dual flat-panel screens. What you see in the one window is me running Windoze via VMWare within the Linux evironment. In fact, I'm installing I think the fifth Windoze security update. The beauty of it is that Windoze thinks it's running on it's own machine, so I'm connected to my office network, can print to my printer, run Office... anything I can do on a "real" machine. But it's all enslaved by Linux. I never have to run Windoze native again! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! Oh.... sorry again.... "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Forgot the attachment.... "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

OK gang, I have my workstation up and humming now and I just had to show it off. All I gotta say is "M$, j00 #4\/3 633/\/ 0\/\/n3d!!!!" MWWAAAA...HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! ... oh.... > Sorry 'bout that. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

No offense, but that depends on who's God your talking about. Mine wouldn't care (assuming there is a God). "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Absolutely agree on that count. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I'm pretty sure Hawaii. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Ding! IMHO the only sexual preference that would inherently disqualify someone from parenting is pedophilia. Then again, if Zennie were king, you'd have to get a license to have a kid. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Don't suppose you'll have me flailing around in that one will ya? Didn't make the cut last time. I'm so hurt. **SOB** "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I've eaten at all of 'em. I like Edwardo's a lot, but I like 'em really thick. Liz thinks they have too much cheese. We both like Gino's, especially the sausage-patty-covering-the-whole-pizza bit. Lou's & Giordano's are both good as well, but I'm leaning toward Gino's. Course I could order one of each. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yep-n-dippity-doodle!

Oh man, pet peeve of mine. But not in the skydiving context. I drive around my neighborhood and see every kid on a bike wearing a ProTek & body armor and just about barf. Shit, I can't tell you how many times me & my friends ate it on our bikes & skateboards. No helmets no pads. Abrasions & concussions build character. And another thing... why is it that people idolize auto racers, motocrossers & rodeo dudes (and dudettes) and then in the next breath say we're the crazy ones? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Oh.... my.... God.... You realize next time I sit down on the bench and grab a seat belt I'm gonna be going "Now I wonder....". "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Been reallly craving Chicago Style 'za lately. Which one should I mail order? Best Chicago Pizza Joint Gino's East Edwardo's Giordano's Lou Malnati's Other "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."