Zennie

S'about f!@$#% time! Seriously, welcome back! Now let's do some jumps! You gonna be out on Monday? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I've always thought that was possibly one of the worst names you could come up with for a parachute company. Might as well call yourselves Burn-It-In Canopies (tm). I mean, if you're going to name yourself after amythological character, how 'bout Phoenix Canopies (rising from the ashes & flying) or Pegasus Canopies? Oh well. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

And what's great is that I can see you grinning from ear to ear even through that full face!

Nice! Digital cameras rock!

Wrong hungover dog pic. Ya know, we get a couple more shots like these and we could come up with a pretty darn funny storyboard. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Couch Dude: "Man, I woke up with a real dog this morning." Friend: "Heh. Hate it when that happens. Damn beer goggles." Couch Dude: "No. I mean I woke up with a real dog this morning." Friend: Couch Dude: "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

And to the firey pits of Hell with you for not punishing her properly! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

This is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Yeah. I said what I said cuz you said, then he said.... Oh nevermind. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

There are a lot of good points in here, but Hook's point about the dangers of hard hooking a large canopy are valid. Hook can correct me if I'm wrong here, but by large what we're really talking about are lower wingloadings. I started learning hooks on a Sabre 150 loaded about 1.1. To get it to plane out for a nice surf I had to start the turn at about 150 feet. It took a buttload of jumps working my way down to that altitude and when I finally got there it was pretty damn scary. I'm loading my Jedei 136 at about 1.3. I start my hooks at about 300-350 feet to get the same plane-out. I have lots more control and reaction time in that 300 feet than I would under the 150. Now that said, I think what Hook is also driving at is that you need to use a little common sense to get there. I've put around 120 jumps on my Jedei and am just now getting to where I feel like I have a decent handle on it's performance characteristics. I did what Hook recommended. First got a feel for how it landed with straight in approaches. Then moved to double fronts. Then to 90 turns, now I'm at 180s. You don't just start snap hooking a canopy right out of the gate, regardless of recovery arc. But, you do have more margin for error with a longer recovery arc. That said, you shouldn't go to the smaller canopy to reap the benefits of the larger recovery arc until you've milked your current canopy for what it's worth. And I think what Hook is saying here is that mastering double fronts on a larger canopy is pretty much milking that canopy for what it's worth... but you should master it first. Just my $0.02 "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Anywhere near the dropzone? Which would make for an interesting poll.... what's the furthest distance, or most bizzarre, off-landing you've heard for a tandem? "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Dang, you guys are a rough crowd. Remind me never to show you my logbook or driver's license. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

The Toxic Soda guy was out at Spaceland for the recent freefly festival so without even seeing that I know which video you're talking about. Yeah that's just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. We do quite a few tandems so I've seen just about every expression imaginable. On one of our year-end videos there a clip of a girl who had her eyes closed for what looks like the whole ride up and the entire skydive. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Personally, I think helmets are probably most useful for biffed landings and the light head-bonking that goes on during exits & funnelled formations. Skydiving helmets aren't DOT/Snell-rated, so they really don't provide much protection from major impacts. If this is what it sounds like, I don't think the helmet/lack of helmet would be a factor. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

My condolences to everyone, especially the "newbie" jumper. I'm glad Roger took the time to let him know he shouldn't blame himself. BSBD "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Well, in Episode IV, Uncle Owen talks about getting the droid's memory erased. So my guess is that at least with 3PO something like that will happen. We may come to find that R2 knew all along who Vader & Luke were (thus the loyalty?) but kept it to himself. Natlie Portman! Hot grits! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Well, however it is, I'd prefer it to be quick & painless, preferably without me ever knowing what happened. Barring that, it's probably easier to say how I wouldn't want to die than how I would. One thing is for sure, I don't want to rot away in a nursing home somewhere not knowing who I am and not being able to control my own bodily functions. Sometimes I wonder if modern medicine is keeping us around far longer than our body was really designed to be. There's living and there's existing. I don't want to just exist. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Please tell me they got that on video! "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

I was going to give you a virtual hug, but since it's tomorrow I'll do it in person.

It.. is.. too late for me. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

You have no idea. I've even sucked in Liz. last night we were watching ATOC and in the one scene where Anakin is looking for his mother you see the huge sand crawler and him talking to a little robed guy. Liz goes "Those are Jawas right?" I was seriously impressed. I got message on my answering machine from my bor-in-law asking "Who was saying 'Anakin! NO!'" in Yoda's meditation. I'm pretty sure it was Qui Gon. Yes I'm a geek. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Now that I've seen it a second time after the initial "new Star wars movie" euphoria wore off, I think I can place it in my rankings. 1. The Empire Strikes Back 2. A New Hope 3. Attack Of The Clones 4. The Phantom Menace 5. Return Of The Jedi It'll be really hard for Lucas to top Empire & ANH. AOTC is an improvement over its two immediate predecessors, but it still suffers from bad dialogue and bland acting (especially Natalie Portman & Samuel L. Jackson). The "Sound of Music" sequence was so laughable I really think Lucas tried to be intentionally cheesy. I'm glad I watched Empire the night before. The parallels were quite remarkable. Obi-Wan & Dooku basically re-enacting Empire's "temptation" scene. Anakin losing his arm. Anakin leaving to assist a suffering loved one before his training was complete. Couple of thoughts regarding tie-ins to Luke.... Struggles with the Dark Side obviously run in the Skywalker family and that seems to be a fundamental element of the saga... people who are basically good being tormented by inner demons and starting down the Dark path with the intention of doing good. You even see that a bit with Dooku. I'm now convinced that Luke was basically a Dark Jedi all throughout ROTJ. Wearing black. Slightly arrogant. using Dark arts (the choke hold on the guards at Jabba's palace). Threatening to "destroy" Jabba. Though still he believed he was good, he was heading well down the Dark path. It's not until the very end that he see's Vader's severed mechanical hand, looks at his own and realizes what he's done. What he does that Anakin fails to do is turn away. My guess is in the next sequence we'll see a pivotal moment like that in the next movie where Anakin realizes where he's going but in a moment of weakness continues down the path, possibly because he thinks it's too late to turn back or his anger gets the better of him. Oh yeah, & Yoda's a badass. I'll shut up now & let others comment... "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

It does & it doesn't. I love the learning process, so a course with interesting subject-matter and a good professor is a joy. Tests & bad profs still suck though. The problem with schools is that they focus on structure & curricula. I don't think people are too far off the mark when they allude to school being basically a structural model for the "real world". Ding dong "bosses". Stupid mindlessly-applied rules. Demands for conformity. Being locked in a room for hours pretending you're "busy" because you finished your work long before everyone else. Ugh. Quite frankly I've learned more stuff and been more influenced as a person by just reading and learning on my own. Just sort of follow what interests me. You oughta see how many books I have on theology & Eastern philosophy. Of course, I think schools are a necessary evil for learning stuff like math & science. It's kinda hard to learn that stuff on your own, though obviously do-able if one looks back through history. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

Well the spoiler warning is more an online courtesy to warn folks that you're going to talk about specific plot elements. For example, since Lucas has pretty much stated that the first and second 3 roughly parallel in terms of the lives of Anakin & Luke, I was really expecting an "I am your father" revelation (from Palpatine/Sidious). I was kind of surprised when there wasn't. As far as your general criticism, I tend to agree with you (thus my "Star Wars Suck" thread)... until I saw this movie. I personally have noticed the marketing has been throttled way back this time around. As far as the story goes, many people may not like this one because it moves sort of slow in parts. I heard several audible sighs of boredom in the theater. But if you think of the whole rise of the Empire, it's basically a story of political intrigue. It's not really an adventure like you had with the Rebellion. So there's a lot of skulduggery & gamesmanship involved. I think that's why people are finding the latest installments confusing. As far as this movie went, it had a feel of a murder mystery in many ways. It also delved heavily into Anakin's personality, which I personally found interesting and well-presented. You really get a feel for him as a person. Someone who is basically good, but very emotional, and he can't seem to rein them in. Just when you think he's making progress, he suffers a setback. The other thing that was interesting was how Obi Wan was presented. He's so non-descript & restrained in his use of the force that, when you see Anakin doing all this wild stuff you start doubting Obi Wan's abilities as a Jedi. Then at the end he shows that he knows a lot more than he's let on all this time. Sort of like Yoda. I was really afraid this was going to be a sappyt love story. Of course there had to be some of that, because the story of how Anakin & Padme hook up needs to be told so that you know where Luke & Leia come from. I think he did a pretty good job with that, showing how the relationship develops without going overboard. So I think he's back on track again. I'm not going to rank it until I see it a couple more times, but I personally think it's way better than ROTJ or TPM. YMMV. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

What was even better was after the fight sequence, he nonchalantly picks up his cane with the force and hobbles back to the group. "Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."