DanG

Neither. A gun is probably the worst defense against aggressive dogs. They don't understand what it is, so pulling it out and pointing it at them has no deterent effect, such as it would have on an attacking human. You have to actually fire a shot for the effectiveness to kick in. And don't think it is going to be so easy to fire an effective shot at close range with the addrenaline pumping (both yours and the dog's). You might scare it away, but you also might shoot an innocent bystander like in the OP's story. Once the dog is already on you, you have a good chance of shooting yourself, too. Pepper spray can be very effective against dogs, but again it has no deterent effect before you pull the trigger. Carrying it is not a bad idea, but you won't stop a charging dog by pulling out a little can. Pepper spray is only effective at very short range, so you have to wait until the dog is very close to act. IMHO the best defense against a dog attack while walking is as simple as carrying a walking stick. The dog knows what a stick is, and raising it up or banging it against the grounds sends a clear message that our non-human friends easily understand. If you are really afraid of the dogs in your neighborhood, carry a sturdy stick and a can of pepper spray. If the stick fails, spray 'em because they aren't fooling around. Also, take some time to learn about dog behavior. Go to the local animal shelter and talk to the behaviorist (if they have one). You can learn a lot about a dog's intentions by the way they act. Their communication system with each other is very visual in nature, and they try to communicate with us in the same way. Many of us just don't speak the language. By the way, I own a pit bull and a german shephard/hound mix. With people they are the sweetest dogs in the world. With other animals, not so much. The only way the pit would hurt a child is if he accidentally licked one too hard. - Dan G

Poodles are actually responsible for a pretty large number of dog bites. And if you've ever met a standard poodle (not mini-puntable) with a bad temperment, you'd be just as afraid of it as any pit. - Dan G

Please. Do you ever say, "God bless you," when someone sneezes? How dare you presume to know what God will and will not bless! When parents say they have been blessed with wonderful children to you berate them for deigning to know God's intentions? This thread would be funny if I wasn't sure that you were actually serious. We have a man in the White House that has said, in no uncertain terms, that God speaks directly to him. You are trying to equate that with a phrase clearly meant to imply nothing more than, "Thank God we have a candidate who is not a total dumbfuck like the current Commander in Chief." - Dan G

Really? Wow. I'm quite impressed. Bust out your calc book and refresh your memory on derivatives. I would argue that in anything but the very short term the towers coming down had almost no impact on our economy. The massive military spending spree on a bullshit war, the constant fear mongering, and the preferential treatment toward the very rich, on the other hand, had a substatial effect. Gosh, so please educate me, Mr. Math, how reducng the deficit, and thereby the growth rate of the debt, is not having a positive impact. By your logic, having a budget deficit of $1 is just as bad as having a deficit of $1 trillion. Time to dust off those trusty math books. I'll grant you that Bush had to deal with 911 and Clinton didn't. I'll make you a deal, you show how invading Iraq had anything to do with 911 and I'll agree that all of our current problems are Clinton's fault. I can't believe I'm defending Clinton, I never liked him or his policies, but at least I have the blinders off. - Dan G

Please, take a math class. The important thing to note about the graph you posted is the slope of the line for national debt. During the Clinton administration, the slope is monotonically decreasing. In other words, the yearly increase in debt gets smaller and smaller every year. If you take a leap of mathematical reasoning, had Clinton's poicies continued, the debt would eventually start going down. During Bush, the rate of increase of debt is going up. Our debt is blowing up at an ever increasing rate. The current fiscal policies are untenable in the medium to long run. Oh, and I like how, when billvon pointed out you were totally wrong, you turned around and said that it didn't matter anyways because Clinton caused 911. Very smooth. - Dan G

I'm fine with the advice to fly slow and straight. I don't necessarily agree with your picture, especially if you have off heading openings, or if peope turn to "fly toward the sun" as you suggest. Try that one and now you'll find some overlapping black lines. My perception of which way the sun is will probably differ from yours depending on where I am in the cloud, how dense the cloud is, or other factors. If you want to subscribe to the straight and slow advice, I think you would be better served by saying fly straight and in deep brakes in a straight line in whatever direction you end up after opening. That way you have a good chance of people flying generally away from the center of the formation. Just my two cents. At my dropzone we are more anal about jumping into clouds than others. We try to focus on avoiding the clouds in the first place. IMHO the OP should have never been put in the position of having to deal with this with such low jump numbers. - Dan G

What do you do if you are jumping between 11am and 1pm? Which way is the sun then? - Dan G

No, but calling them a spic is. I don't see your point, unless it is to point out your ignorance of the fact that the term "cripple" is not looked upon favorably by many in the disabled community. - Dan G

I'd be offended if someone went up to a mentally retarded person and called them a retard. The act is offensive, not necessarily the word itself. Would you be offended if an able bodied person came up to you and called you a cripple? - Dan G

Some more details: When: Friday, August 15 to Sunday, August 17 What: Fabulous Annual Boogie in Orange/The Orange Boogie Planes: Mr. Fabulous (Twin Otter) Mike Mullins Super King Air Organizers: FS/Tim Tharp & Dan Glanz FF/Josh "Dog" Mitchell Wingsuit/Brother's Gray Entertainment: Friday/Kelly May Brown (local acoustic singer) Saturday/DJs Wild Bill & Action Man Dinner & Party: Saturday catered bbq dinner and Wild Wild West themed festivities Boogie Bags: tshirts and other trinkets Raffles & Prizes: 50/50 Boobie Raffle and assorted Skydive related certificates and prizes $30 registration covers everything OR $25 if you are a Skydive Orange member in good standing. Jumps are normal price ($25 to 13K), discounted weekday jumps in effect for Friday If you are a licensed skydiver and would like to jump at Skydive Orange August 15 to August 17 you must register for the event. Non-licensed students are the only exceptions. Hope to see you there! - Dan G

Um, that is what a tandem factory is. - Dan G

My point was that tandem factories don't cost us any more money than non-tandem factories. Your example does go counter to what I was saying in that regard, but Mark seemed to imply that USPA would (and does) spend money on lawyers and witnesses to SUPPORT DZ's in court, not to fight them. Your example is a good one to show that the issue is more complex than "DZO's are bad" and "USPA sucks." I don't know anything about that case except what you posted, but it seems that USPA was doing what most people would want them to do, which is try to maintain access to skydiving for everyone. The fact that is was a GMDZ and tandem factory on the other side does muddy the waters, but I don't see how spending money in such a way could be considered being in the pockets of the DZO's. - Dan G

This example proves my point. USPA is not in bed with tandem factories and all GMDZ's. This type of litigation is what I expect USPA to be involved in. Keeping skydiving safe and available for everyone. I agree with you on this, but I fail to see how having a rating course at your DZ is a cash cow. I suppose other DZ's do it differently, but at Skydive Orange we host numerous rating courses every year. The CD pays the club $5 for each candidate trained. We're not making much money on the deal at all. - Dan G

C. I admitted that there is a staffer assigned to GMDZ. She does other stuff as well, for instance right now she is in France helping to manage the US team for the World Meet. D. It may have existed at one point, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't now. E. No, I mean it doesn't exist. It isn't offered, and it will never be offered. Absolutely no money is spent on it. H. Admitted. I. "Willing to bet" is not the same as "fact". J. Most of USPA's lobbying effort have nothing to do with DZ's getting shut down. They have to do with keeping skydiving alive for everyone, such as keeping Otters and Skyvan's exempt from Part 135. Airport access is different and covered above under H. L. Sounds exectly like what USPA should be doing. I'm going to look over the USPA website to see if I can find numbers. I'll let you know if I do. - Dan G

C. I believe the "Professional" is an e-mail newsletter, not a separate publication. If it is a separate publication, I've never seen one. Doubt it costs much. D. I've not aware of any USPA sponsored DZ insurance outside of third-party liability, which only covers individual jumpers. If such insurance were available, I'm pretty sure I'd know about it. Please point to some specifics. E. Doesn't exist (in the real world). H. Access to the AAD fund is reserved for GMDZ's, but help from them is not guaranteed and the AAD gets at least some funing from separate contributions outside of member dues. I'm not sure of the breakdown. I. Has this ever happened? Not sure, but I'd like to hear of cases where USPA paid for expert testimony in a case against a DZ. Also, a careful read will reveal that these benefits are "either as part of the membership or on a user fee basis." So they are not all necessarily free. J. As I mentioned earlier, USPA lobbying efforts help everyone, not just GMDZ's. L. Huh? What does that even mean, and where is the cost? I think you need to base your argument that the GMDZ is expensive on some numbers, not just some fuzzy descriptions from the website. Again, outside of the AAD, which is not tied directly to the GMDZ program, I fail to see where all this money is supposedly going. By omitting any other harm to the individual jumper outside of misdirecting part of their dues, are you saying that financial concerns are the only problem with the program? If so, then I again don't see what all the bitching is about. - Dan G

Two points: So you think that USPA Group Member drop zones should be required to allow all USPA members to jump, regardless of any other considerations? I think most private business owners want more control over how their business is run. Who decides when a GMDZ is allowed to turn someone away? Do we need an independent USPA rep at each GMDZ to make sure every USPA member gets their $49 worth? By the way, it's 49 fucking dollars a year people, that's two jumps. It's not breaking anyone's bank. Do you have any evidence that the Group Member program is not paid for by Group Member dues? I'm honestly asking, because as far as I know, the expense of the Group Member DZ program is half of one staff member's time at headquarters and, well, that's it. And what, exactly, do you see as the benefits to a GMDZ? Third party insurance is on each jumper, not the DZ. The lobbying efforts help all DZ's, not just GMDZ's. The free advertising in Parachutist? Oh goody. Please. There are not a lot of financial benefits to being a GMDZ. It is not some giant conspiracy to squash the fun jumper. I have yet to see any tangible evidence on how the GMDZ program has hurt anyone in the hundreds of pages on DZ.com bitching about USPA. - Dan G

So let me get this straight: the DZO's, the instructors, and the video guys are all dues paying USPA members, and the DZ is a dues paying USPA Group Member, but you don't think they deserve USPA benefits because of who they choose to jump with? Should a USPA Group Member DZ be required to allow all USPA members to jump there? At my DZ we have a list of people (short, but still there) in manifest that have been banned for life for unsafe acts. Under your philosophy, we would have to let them jump as long as they keept sending in their $49 to USPA. And what about you? You say you are no longer a USPA member, so what do you care what USPA DZ's do or do not allow? If you're not part of the organization, why should you have a say in how it is run? You can criticize tandem mills all you want, but complaining that they are taking advantage of USPA is bullshit. - Dan G

Actually losing a toggle is a very real possibility if you adjust the length of your steering lines and do not reattach the toggles properly, for instance by only finger trapping the line but not knotting or tacking. It has happened in the real, non-internet, world. Learn a little more about your gear and how it works before slamming other posters with more knowledge. The above does not, however, have anything to do with the OP's problem. To the OP, since you've already admitted to being a little overweight, one part of your problem may be that your leg straps are able to move around more than normal. This could especially be true if you carry a lot of your weight in your hips and thighs. If that is the case, you need to talk to your instructors and explain how the rig is riding up on you after deployment. The fit may look fine on the ground, but be totally wrong when under canopy. To test this, you can hook up the rig to a hanging harness with you in it. Your instructors may then be better able to work on the fit. As far as not getting to "3" (which is terminology that I've never heard of) I assume you mean that you can't get your hands all the way down with elbows fully extended. There could be many reasons for this, and I'm not going to try to cover them over the internet. The fit of your rig could easily be playing a part, especially, as you said, if the laterals are up under your armpits. In short, work first on finding gear that fits you both in freefall and under canopy. Practice your PLF's to avoid injury while you work on canopy control. Explain everything you've said here to your instructors. Don't assume they know any of it. Skydiving does not have to be painful and uncomfortable. You can work it out. - Dan G

Please talk to your local instructors about this. Adding a step to your EP's such as trying to disconnect the RSL shackle may not be a very good idea. - Dan G

The Fabulous Annual Boogie in Orange (the Orange Boogie) returns August 15-17 at the one and only Skydive Orange in Orange, Virginia. This year's theme is the Wild, Wild West, so bring your ten gallon hats and spurs. There will be freefly organizing by Josh Mitchell, aka Josh Dog, former Orangite and current Eloy tunnel and sky stud. Flat organizing by yours truly and world record holder Tim Tharp. Wingsuit organizing by the Brothers Gray. Lifts will be by our very own Super Otter, Mr. Fabulous, and the one and only rocketship also known as the Mullins Super King Air. Details on vendors, pricing, schedule, etc. to follow. Updates will also be posted on our website at http://www.skydiveorange.com Look forward to seeing you folks there. - Dan G President, Skydive Orange, Inc.

How? - Dan G

When people use the term "porch monkeys" they are not referencing behavior, but racial identity. The blatantly racist poster above was talking about black people, not bad people. - Dan G

Maybe if you have a positive experience with one of "them" you would change your opinion. It's too bad that the actions of a handful of people have prejudiced you against a couple million (billion?) others. I've had negative experiences with people of every race there is. If I thought like you, I'd be one lonely guy. - Dan G

Student stuff at well under 1:1 (40 jumps) Fury 220 @ 0.95 (45 jumps) Sabre1 170 @ 1.24 (300 jumps) Spectre 150 @ 1.4 (400 jumps) Stiletto 135 @ 1.63 (600 jumps) (Arm blown off) Sabre2 190 @ 1.1 (100 jumps) Stiletto 190 @ 1.1 (250 jumps) Will probably go to a Sabre2 170 next season. - Dan G

Really? The New Yorker is one of the most respected, and widely read, magazines in the country. Or was that satire that I missed? I hope so. - Dan G