DanG

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Everything posted by DanG

  1. DanG
    The Fabulous Annual Boogie in Orange will be held this year Friday, August 14 to Sunday, August 16 at Skydive Orange, VA. The theme this year is Trailer Trash, so come prepared with your best cut-off shorts, mullets, and illegitimate children. (Actually, leave the children at home, but bring on the mullets). Ari the Tunnel Rat will be providing freefly and RW organizing, with additional RW organizing by our very own Anne Hyde. There will be live entertainment Saturday night, and dinner included in registration. Lift will be provided by our Super Otter, Mr. Fabulous. A Skyvan from Deland was scheduled, but is experiencing mechanical problems. If the Skyvan is not up by the boogie, a second Otter will be present. Registration is $30, and includes a t-shirt, free organizing, and catered dinner on Saturday. Pre-registration is not required, but AAD's and USPA licenses are. FFI search Facebook for the Annual Boogie in Orange, or visit www.skydiveorange.com - Dan G
  2. DanG
    Every single thread I've read recently has included at least one post from Rush (often more than one) regarding Kallend's supposed use of more than one user name. It's not only creepy, it's fucking annoying. I haven't seen anything of the sort from Kallend or chasteh. The post in this thread was completely out of the blue. Like I said: creepy. - Dan G
  3. DanG
    Your stalking is getting creepy. - Dan G
  4. DanG
    The Cypres does, in fact, arm on the way up, and stays that way until you land. On the way down it only senses pressure. That's it. Not altitude, not descent rate, just pressure. It uses the pressure data in conjuction with a clock to ESTIMATE to the best of its ability current altitude and descent rate. If the pressure suddently changes, the ESTIMATES for altitude and descent rate may be off, enough so that the firing parameters might be met, even though you are not, in fact, at 750ft going more than 78mph. - Dan G
  5. DanG
    Actually, the Cypres does "arm" on the way up. If you haven't ascended more than 1500' since take-off, the Cyres will not fire even if you otherwise meet the firing parameters. In other words, if you exit the plane at less than 1500' AGL, your Cypres is essentially turned off. On the other hand, you really can't count on it being off either, because it might have "armed" early if it thought it was higher than it was. It's a tricky situation. Read the manual. Everyone. For me, anything below 1500' will be straight to reserve. I do a fair amount of hop and pops and am quite comfortable with how my canopy opens. - Dan G
  6. DanG
    I'd venture to say that no one knows what drag will do as you approach the speed of light. That's just a tad faster than we can go right now. Mass does increase exponentially, but I doubt Kittinger experienced significant relativistic effects. He was moving, but he wasn't going THAT fast. If you plot airfoil drag vs. Mach number for low to high subsonic Mach numbers, it appears that the drag is increasing exponentially as M goes to 1. This led pre-sonic engineers to believe that it was impossible to travel faster than the speed of sound. Here's such a plot: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Theories_of_Flight/Transonic_Wings/TH20G2.htm Of course, they were wrong. The drag does reach a peak at M=1, but it is not infinite, and in fact goes down as M increases past 1. - Dan G
  7. DanG
    Those numbers regarding the speed of sound at various altitudes seem to be based on the Standard Atmosphere, which is just an aproximation used to standardize aviation engineering. The real speed of sound can be approximated to be proportional to the square root of the (absolute) temperature. So when the temperature goes down, the speed of sound goes down, but not as quickly. Whether or not Kittinger broke the speed of sound appears to be the subject of some debate. His coefficient of drag (and drag force) would have increased almost exponentially as he approached the speed of sound. I'm not sure if gravity power alone would have been sufficient to propel him past the sound barrier, especially with a drouge out. I haven't done much research into the question, but it is certainly interesting. We may never know, or at least until the next super high altitude attempt, if that ever happens. - Dan G
  8. DanG
    Hmm, a bunch of blogs calling Obama's grandmother a liar is what you're presented. Care to present something a little more substantial? - Dan G
  9. DanG
    Wow. You've changed my mind. A page (or a hundred) of links to people making comments in internet char rooms and blog posts (which is what most of the links provided are) is some really damning evidence. I need more popcorn. - Dan G
  10. DanG
    So refusing to say the pledge makes you unpatriotic. Got it. You like to make inferences to your service defending this country. What exactly about this country were you defending? When I served I liked to think I was defending the Constitution. Perhaps you thought otherwise? - Dan G
  11. DanG
    I actually teach students to have their default position be feet and knees together, and then take a step if the landing is going well and they can stand up. I'm a coach, so I usually work with students when they have about 10-15 jumps. I see a lot of students coming in on final with their feet apart, and they get so "busy" during the landing that they forget to put their feet back together again, even when a PLF is imminent. I think developing the routine of putting your feet and knees together once on final will serve students better in the short run. On turbulent days I still put my feet and knees together once on final so I can devote all my attention to keeping the canopy flying. And all this talk about feet in front vs. feet behind, just put them below you. You can't PLF properly with your feet either in front or behind you, but you can walk/run out the landing just fine with them below you. - Dan G
  12. DanG
    What, pray tell, is USPA's motivation to "kill the future of our sport"? Why would anyone think that the USPA is trying to destroy skydiving? I really don't get the mentality. - Dan G
  13. DanG
    I agree, and it looks like Obama has no intention of pulling out of Afghanistan. I disagree, but I'm sure you realize that no matter how clueless he may be WRT military strategy, he has put some very knowledgeable and impressive men in charge of the war effort. - Dan G
  14. DanG
    I thought libertarians liked flat taxes. As pointed out above, a flat gas tax doesn't differentiate between your 1st gallon of use in a month, and your 1000th. Of course if you use 1000 gallons instead of one, you'll pay 1000 times more. You seem to be working from the premise that it is possible to determine some level of use that is "average" and therefore should be free. Instead look at it this way: everyone who uses gas pays an "average" gas tax, but those that use more than the "average" amount pay more proportional to their overuse. If you are a real gas miser, you get a tax break and get to pay less than the "average" tax. The only difference between you and I is that I don't think the first X gallons of gas should be tax free. - Dan G
  15. DanG
    Or you could just apply a straight tax per gallon. Use more, pay more. It's entirely fair and neutral. But if you prefer to be alarmist, your way sounds better. - Dan G
  16. DanG
    Why do you refuse to get it? I'm trying to explain it politely, but there is just no getting through to people who won't listen. "Men who think like that" define how we fight because they are the battlefield. They don't live on the battlefield, they ARE the batllefield. It is people who think like you, and refuse to change in the face of historical lessons, that doom us to failure. Next time you go to the airport and wait in line for an hour just to get strip searched, and then have to turn over your contact lens solution because it might be a bomb, ask yourself if the terrorists are winning or not. - Dan G
  17. DanG
    Speed is a scalar. Velocity is a vector. There, you've been out nerded. - Dan G
  18. DanG
    And what if it had been women under there? Then all the lies the Taliban spreads about the US being there to rape the women and destroy Islam would have been confirmed, at least in the minds of the men of Helmand. You can't win a counterinsurgency just by killing the insugents. You need to also make sure not to create sympathy for the insugents' cause at the same time. It is the toughest type of war to fight, but if we're smart about it we might make headway. - Dan G
  19. DanG
    Um, a gas tx hits those who use more gas harder than those who use less. If the point is to punish those who use more (literally "overuse") then a gas tax is perfect. And to rushmc's, "Who decides?" That's up to the individual consumer. Use as much as you want, just be willing to pay for it. - Dan G
  20. DanG
    And how'd that work out for us? He most clearly was blaming Obama, which is ridiculous. The whole point is that we've learned a lot about counter-insurgency since Vietnam. This time maybe we'll do a better job. - Dan G
  21. DanG
    Nope. A gas tax does that quite well. - Dan G
  22. DanG
    Females to search females was the SOP in 2002, so I doubt this is an example of Obama ruining America. Unless you want to argue that Bush ruined America's military efficacy? The Marines could have detained the "women" until female searchers could be brought in. Of course, I wasn't there, so I don't want to Monday morning it. On the other hand, blaming Obama is just stupid. I'm pretty sure he wasn't there, either. - Dan G
  23. DanG
    You can get a decent, inexpensive RW suit for about $200 as long as you need neither bells not whistles. Contact Windline (863-679-9009 is the number I have, but I don't know how recent it is) and ask for an order form.They also make Freak-n-Suits freefly suits, which are great. That being said, it's the pilot, not the suit. Work on your body position and you'll be much more successful in the long run. And since you mentioned your up-coming Coach jumps: any decent Coach should be able to help you with your body position for adjusting fall rate. Make sure you mention your concerns up front. If they can't help you, find another Coach. - Dan G
  24. DanG
    Your post is silly, but I'll respond. Not everyone can join the Army. There are age limits, physical requirements, mental requirements, and background requirements. And guess what, people with pre-existing medical conditions cannot join the Army. And can you imagine what the Army would be like if it was filled with people who joined to get healthcare? We'd never win another battle. And then, in the next sentance: How about healthcare run by the same people who run the Army? Are they incompentant, too? - Dan G
  25. DanG
    No one wants to. Shit happens. Plan for the worst case scenario, not the best. - Dan G