DanG

A. Huh? B. Are you honestly saying that Jesus Christ of Nazareth would condone torture? For any reason? C. I have seen that you are willing to bend the scripture to say anything you want. D. Huh? - Dan G

I think NWFlyer's question is perfectly legitimate. At some point, someone decided how the description in Parachutist would read. I sincerely doubt it was the Parachutist staff. If it was, and they just made a mistake, have they been contacted to correct it? If it was someone else, have they been asked to correct it? The whole story is not contained in Jan's post. - Dan G

That would be a convincing argument if torture were not consistently shown to be a much less reliable means of obtaining information than rapport building. Here's the scrorecard against torture: it doesn't work, it's morally reprehensible, it's against the law, and it reduces our international prestige. Here's the scrorecard for: . . . still waiting. It is crazy to even be having this debate. - Dan G

Aren't you the devout Christian that spends most of his posts arguing for the validity of the Bible? You might want to go back and read it. You know, the Golden Rule, love thy neighbor, thou shalt not kill. "They're baddies," is not an excuse to be a baddie yourself. I can't believe I have to explain something so simple. - Dan G

Bullshit. Are you a capitalist or not? If the US car companies would make a competitive car, then I'd buy one. They don't, so my free market dollars go where they belong: to the company that makes the best product. Relying on the "Buy American" crap is one of the reason's the car companies felt safe making an inferior product all these years. They failed to learn the lesson from the Japanese car invasion of the 70's and 80's and are still paying the price. I proudly own a Toyota and a Subaru. I'm also strongly against bailing those idiots in Detroit out. - Dan G

http://www.aviationresearch.com/Free/fuel_survey.asp Average national price of Jet-A is $4.73 as of this month. Jet-A prices have not fallen like gasoline. - Dan G

Al Kruger waited for his Argus to fire. Does that count? He's a left arm amputee who got hit hard during a bigway event. The impact dislocated his right shoulder and broke his prosthetic. He had no choice but to wait for the AAD. He's neither stupid nor lying, although I'll admit his situation is fairly rare. - Dan G

Great. Thanks for your service. Sincerely. Now can we all (actually, just a couple various posters) stop implying that conservatives and/or liberals have a better record of military service or support? Thanks again. - Dan G

I already did my two tours: Gardez and Lashkar Gah. Where were you stationed? - Dan G

100% - Dan G

Please do not disturb the perfection that is this thread. Especially now that it is back on track. Anyway, I agree that the tunnel can be a fantastic tool. I also agree with what Lloyd said regarding some things to think about. I believe, however, that you can work on all these skills in the freefall environment, too. You will need a willing partner who can fall straight down the tube and give you good grips and post-jump feedback. That is exactly what a USPA Coach can do. I hope DON321 would be willing to keep helping you out. Despite the fact that DON321's post replying to Kirk was probably the funniest thing I've ever read on dropzone.com, his advice was actually sound. It can be easy to misinterpret what you read here, and although Kirk's advice was correct, DON321 just misunderstood what he was getting at. Although the pile-on after the comment was very entertaining, it was largely directed at the tone of his post, not the content. I'm sure DON321 can teach you a lot about docking, so don't let this threat dissuade you from working with him. Docking is actually one of the hardest things to learn, and as some of the posts above have hinted, even very experienced jumpers screw it up sometimes. When two bodies are falling close to each other, you not only have to worry about directing the air off your own body, but now the air coming off your partner is a factor, too. It can be tough to get the hang of it, but talk with a Coach or Instructor about the fundamentals and physics involved and it might help you understand what to do. Good luck and have fun. - Dan G

May I wax poetic for a moment? Yes? Thank you. I've had the good fortune of meeting some of the big names in skydiving, and jumping with some of them, too. Beyond their obvious skills in their respective disciplines, what's really impressed me about many of the top people in skydiving is how approachable, humble, and friendly they are. People like Pete Alum, Amy Chmelecki, Brian Germain, and, yes, Kirk Verner, are great folks who just happen to be the best skydivers on the planet. You'd never know how "big a deal" they were by the way they act (and they certainly wouldn't feel the need to tell you). People like that can teach us a lot about skydiving, and they can teach us a lot about class, too. Not everyone, however, will choose to learn. Poetry off. You're both acting like spoiled five year olds. - Dan G

Oh my God it's getting even better. Dude, chill out, people are busting your chops in good fun. Not everyone comes out of the womb knowing who's who in the sport, it's no big deal. It's just funny that you told Tiger Woods that his backswing's all wrong. To the OP, if I may be so bold as to interpret what Kirk was telling you: by coming in a little low, it forces you to keep your hands and head high ("reaching up"). This ensures that you continue to spill air off the front of your body and fall straight down. If you come in too high, taking grips causes you to cup air in the front and can lead to backsliding. Either way, you need to fly your body to the grips. The way I try to get the same thing across is to have students raise their elbows while taking the grip, as well as apply a little extra leg extension. The mantra I use (stolen from Skydive U) is Grips, Elbows, Toes, Altimeter. GET-A if you like, as in get-a-grip. Anyway, I'm nobody important, so feel free to tell me I'm wrong. I gotta go help Kobe with his jump shot. - Dan G

One poster on this site has stated that if he has to cut back on employees, he's going to fire the Obama supporters first. That sort of attitude shows why voting should be done in secret. - Dan G

Wow. Only $5 AND you get to break an FAR. Awesome. - Dan G

No, I think you are relying on everyone knowing your positions. I do keep up and realize that you were trying to continue the discussion on your own terms. It is still the same as posting something with no commentary. If you were just trying to continue a discussion, you'd make your posts in the thread they pertain to. Starting new threads with a similar title to highlight your point is, IMHO, bad form. It is essentially saying that your point is so important that you can't stand that it might get lost in someone else's thread. It is actually a little childish. Maybe the OP was assuming that you would already know his position on the Bible and that his point would be obvious. Or does the internet just revolve around you? Sorry for the thread drift. Sometimes I just get very annoyed at the hypocrisy around here. - Dan G

But there would be an electronic record saying that Doctor X accessed your file. With paper, there would be no record that your file was access, copied, etc. If medical records are properly controlled, I think they are safer (both in terms of privacy and accuracy) in electronic format. And no, I don't lie to my doctor. But then again I try not to do anything that would require me lying to a medical professional. - Dan G

Why would people you work with have easier access to your records if they were electronic instead of paper? I would think it would be the other way around. Although I agree with privacy concerns vs-a-vis insurance companies and other 3rd parties, I think medical records within a given practice would be more secure and accurate if stored digitally instead of on paper. - Dan G

Cool. I just wanted to clear up any misconception that you had to drive to Raeford, NC to jump in the winter in Virginia. As far as the original post, I think it is better to keep trying to jump during the winter, even if weather gets in the way, than to wait three or four months. Even if you can't jump, you can certainly knock out the ground portion of your card, and maybe get some jumps in on good weather days, whether you go to Orange, West Point, or Raeford. - Dan G

Kettle, pot. Pot, kettle. You don't know what the heck you're talking about. I'm not exactly known here for holding back on my opinions in threads that I start. Get out of the kitchen, and pay attention. Let's see, of the last five threads you started, two contained nothing from you at all. I couldn't go back further because that's all that is available from your profile. Here's the two of the last five of which I speak: Yet more good reasons for the death penalty.: wherein you provided nothing but a list of death row inmates. Obama wants $50B in loans released to carmakers: wherein you posted a short clip from a UK newspaper with no commentary from you. I just think it's funny for you to chide the OP for not posting anything besides, "I think this is interesting," when you do the same thing yourself all the time. - Dan G

Please talk to your instructors about this, I think you might have misunderstoof what they were saying. If I'm in a main entanglement, I'll surely try to get out of it before I cutaway or fire my reserve, but at some point it may be better to get as much fabric out as possible. Also, if you are entangled with a partially inflated main, you may not be descending fast enough to set off your AAD. Again, talk to your instructors. - Dan G

Kettle, pot. Pot, kettle. - Dan G

You're right, but don't assume that you'll be allowed to fly 2-way with someone else, especially if you've never flown in a tunnel before. If the second person is a tunnel coach, it shouldn't be a problem. If the second person is your buddy from the DZ, there's a good chance the tunnel staff will not let you fly together until you can both demonstrate (separately) that you can fly a two way safely. Call the tunnel in question and work it out with them. Don't be shy, it's their job to get you to fly in their tunnel and enjoy a safe experience. - Dan G

I've lost three Pro-Tracks to riser strikes. L&B graciously replaced the first one. I was too ashamed to ask for help on the second and third. Since then I bought a helmet that I could mount it internally. - Dan G

Massive thermals? Visibility? Fire? Probably the same reason that these building escape systems won't work too well when the building is actually on fire. - Dan G