RPC1117

You must not do much 4 way RW - a visor can mean the difference between a broken nose or simply a cracked visor.

It actually works well. We had trained a similar dive earlier in the year to work on slot switchers, so this wasn't too big a deal. We walk the dive a bunch for P & T to get it in the heads.

We did it as a slot switcher for Point and Tail

Yes, it is physically possible...in fact not that hard. 10 - 20 hours spread out of 4-5 weeks is only 2 - 5 hours per week. That is not too hard at all. Start slow and only do an hour or so a day...take a few days off and then do more. By the time you get to the 2nd week you shouldn't have much problem doing as much as you want. A word of advice - let your bank know that you will be shelling out $10-20k at the overseas tunnel before you go. The last thing you want is for them to block your account due to the large $ being spent at an overseas location and thinking it is fraud.

I threw up once under my own canopy. All of a sudden I got kind of dizzy and started sweating...I knew what was next. I pulled off my full face and sunglasses and held one in each hand and then proceeded to throw up at about 2,000 ft. I turned my head, but it didn't do much good. Luckily it was mostly only water. Had I known that I was going to do that, I would have flown my pattern over the ramp outside the hanger.

The US was attacked by a terrorist group, that was primarily based in Afghanistan. Iraq was an ally of AQ and had AQ groups spread all across the country in state funded training camps. Using your own statement above....we are justified and right to go to war with AQ in Afghanistan and in Iraq. You say that before Germany declared war on the US, the actions of Germany were not suffcient for the US to go to war with Germany. Dec 7th and Germany's declaration of war were the means of the US officially engaging in war against Germany. I assert that the situation is the same with Iraq. Before Sept 11th, Iraq's actions were not sufficient enough for the US to go to war. Sept 11th was a "declaration of war" and we in turn went to war against those that attacked us and their allies.

Ok, I'll play along- Germany didn't attack us - Germany and Italy declared war on the USA on 11 December 1941. Pity some people don't know their own history. I'm sorry...please inform me where in my statement "Germany didn't attack us" did I say that Germany didn't declare war on the United States Pity some people don't know how to read their own language

Ok, I'll play along- Germany didn't attack us - Iraq didn't attack us (I might argue this one based on terrorist training, etc) Germany was killing thousands/millions of it's own citizens - Iraq was killing thousands/millions of it's own citizens Germany was sanctioned after WWI, it ignored sanctions - Iraq was sanctioned after Gulf War, it ignored sanctions Germany had a dictator in Hitler - Iraq had a dictator in Saddam I can keep going with this... The fact is that if you want to make the argument that we wrong with Iraq, you have to draw the parallel to Germany in WWII. Like it or not, the situations have many similarities. In both cases, I believe that we were right in our actions. I think that someone has a hard time saying that we were right in helping to end the Holocaust but are wrong for helping to liberate the people of Iraq from a dictator that was killing its citizens in masses.

I'm curious if you feel the same way about the Revolutionary War, WWI, and WWII? I guess based on your statements, the United States should have never fought for freedom from Britain, should not have stepped in to help free Europe and help end Jewish annihilation. Why should we have stepped in to return democracy to France...they should have just told the Germans that they didn't want to be ruled as a dictatorship. Look what those terrible warmongers did...afterall, appeasement and negotiation was working so well in all of these examples. I guess you feel that what was acomplished during these wars was not worth the lives that so many sacrificed.

Fair enough...but where do you draw the line on the severity of the crime that you are willing to forgive. Additionally, many consider child molestation a worse crime than murder due to the lasting mental effects on the victim. So you're right...they aren't the same...but the degree of severity could be argued. The whole point is that like Kaczynski and Manson, people don't seem willing to overlook the bad that these people did.

Ted Kazinsky (sp?) did some great things for math early in his life....should he get a pass too? What about Charlie Manson...all of those poor people he took in and took care of...surely we should focus on that and not the other stuff?? And for those saying MJ was acquitted...so was OJ

Online version http://www.uspa.org/USPAShop/tabid/353/pid/263/JoinRenew.aspx

I understand where you are coming from and think you make a valid point... But, I'd like to play devil's advocate for a min. How do hospitals get built? How is new equipment paid for? How are exploratory ventures done? For the most part, it takes a group of investors or a VC to pony up the $$. In order to get the $$ the investor's are looking for a return on the $ they put out there. Before we get into how terrible the investors are for looking for a ROI from sick people, think about the fact that without the investors, there wouldn't be a hospital helping people. When the MRI machine stops working and the hospital doesn't have the capital to purchase a new one...having investors that are getting something for their $ usually makes it easier to raise the capital for a new machine. I'm not in health care, so I may have some of this wrong. If so, sorry. I'm just looking at it from someone in the finance world.

my 2 cents... I went down on Wednesday b/c on the SkyFest website, it had been advertised that on Wednesday night, there would be the Golden Knights demo and a seminar from some of the old timers (Bill Booth, Ted Strong, etc) about their experiances, history, etc in skydiving. I thought that would be a very cool thing to hear. When I got there I said hello to one of the organizers and said why I was there and that I had read about it on the website. I was told "you can't trust much of what is on that website" The Golden Knights demo did happen...it was cool. No seminar..no annoucement about why there was not seminar...nothing. I was disappointed. The main thing that I've seen and have been hearing is that this event advertised all sorts of stuff. As a result, people based their decision (partly) on whether or not to attend based on what was advertised. Many of the things advertised did not happen. If you planned to go to a concert b/c of who was playing...and many of the bands didn't play...wouldn't you be at least a little pissed? You may have still had fun hearing the other bands, but you didn't get what you what was advertised and sold.

[reply There's racism in Michigan, too, but not very open and not just as an aside to strangers. Ok, but I don't think I agree with that blanket statement. For all you know, there may be plenty of people in any of the places I mentioned in my example that are making aside comments to strangers. What I'm trying to say is that where you are in Michigan, it may not be open...but don't assume that it isn't open in other areas. See, you can say the same thing about the South. Just b/c one person made it open, doesn't mean the South is racist. What if that woman had said "I'm not going b/c all the MEN are going." I doubt that you would then be asking if the South was sexist towards men. Wouldn't you just assume that her offensive comment was simply just her opinion and not the wide held belief of the area? I'm really not trying to attack you in any way here...I'm just trying to show you another way at looking at it all.

I think that what most people are saying is that you were exposed to a comment made by one person in a particular area and have drawn the conclusion that the entire area feels the same way. Let's try looking at this another way...it looks like you are from Michigan. If I went to inner city Detroit or Gary, Indiana, or South Side Chicago...and while I was there a black guy made a racist comment about white people to me. Should I conclude that people in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois are racist towards white people? Growing up in South Carolina I've heard some pretty bad things said about black people by whites...at the same time, I've also heard some pretty awful things said about white people by blacks. It goes both ways

I had a hard plastic foot locker in college that was very useful. It can be used for lockable storage and then double as a coffee table. I still have mine and still find it useful. http://www.afmo.com/Foot_Locker_Quick_Deployment_1318_p/202-00228.htm

If you survived AZ, then you will be fine. It is a different kind of hot though, not dry hot, humid hot. Most everywhere has AC though, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. It would be very rare if a place didn't have AC. But you will have some very hot ass days in the summer...esp with the heat index. But beers are much better and colder on these days...so they are worth it. Traffic wasn't too bad when I was there. I've certainly seen much much worse. They improved many of the highways around the city when they built the new bridge a few years ago, so I think that it wouldn't be too bad.

I went to College of Charleston and still go back to Charleston every chance I get to visit friends. I've always told people that I would probably move back to Charleston if I could find a good job there. So if your job offer is good, then I'd say go for it. Downtown is lots of fun and has a whole lot to do. Great places to eat and drink (my favorite is the Rooftop Bar on Vendue) The beach (Folly Beach or Sullivan's Island) are only about 15 - 20 mins away from downtown. Since you mentioned kiteboarding...I think that the kite boarding on Folly has really gotten strong in the past few years. As far as places to live in Charleston, if you want to live downtown you are going to have to decide if you want to pay more to be in the nicer, already established neighborhoods, or pay a little less to be in one that isn't quite there yet. I would stay away from anywhere north of the cross-town connector. The other options the I would recommend would be Mt. Pleasant (right across from downtown, over the Cooper River). Mt P is very nice and you can get more for your $ than downtown. West Ashley is another option. It is less than downtown and Mt. P for the most part. If you have any questions, let me know, I'm glad to help. As others have said, you will have to travel a little to jump.

[reply He got the head football coach job at Notre Dame University, of all places......ya think one of the biggest names in college football won't double check your resume? Fucking idiot! Where's Notre Dame University? Are they the team that plays Southern California University and Michigan University every year? Tim Brown said the same thing one time at the beginning of a MNF game when you introduce yourself and say what school you went to. Pretty sad that he doesn't know the name of his own school where he won a Heisman.

Thanks for posting this. I went home yesterday after seeing this thread and watched it. Incredible movie. Probably the best I've seen in a while. While I've always had the upmost respect for those who serve, this increased my respect and admiration exponentially.

That's a fucking stupid re-name for something that already had a good one Then why call it a roundabout??? I thought the Brits called them a "circus"? Seem to remember a pretty famous one in London.

The prices in there are made up numbers...I just put a number in there as an example

I built the attached spreadsheet last year for my wedding to try to figure out the cost of the alcohol for the reception. I thought I would put it out there if anyone might need it. Budgeting for alcohol is tough (esp when skydivers are invited), so I needed something to give me a rough idea on what I would need to spend. I know that this isn't perfect, but maybe it will help someone. It has lots of variables to play with and isn't necessarily for a wedding reception (birthday, Super Bowl, Arbor Day parties, etc) Hope it helps

I've found quite the opposite to be true about UPT. When I saw that there as a magnet mod on the Vectors, I contacted Mark (via his UPT email, btw) and inquired about them. Within one day he not only had responded, but had shipped out the mod + 3 additional mods to cover anyone at my DZ that may need it. It was a simple fix to do as well. I found their customer service to be great. If UPT messed up your rig colors, cutaway, etc, why did you take delivery of the rig? Why didn't you have the problems fixed at the beginning before you accepted the rig?