DSE

If you could post an example of the noise, I might be able to help.

"learn to love your belly before you begin exploring your butt....." Until my incident, I'd been shooting lots of AFF Instructor candidates. It is immediately obvious who started freeflying right away vs those that had waited. Nothing wrong with freeflying right away, just be aware that it may have an impact on how well you'll do during coach/AFFI examinations. Seen several very good freeflyers fail the AFF program.

I'm genuinely curious about what people think about swooping tandems. I don't know that my curiousity is "child-like" but it certainly has no ulterior motive. I have swooped tandems, and know it's dangerous. Each of the swoops I've done have been with the permission/encouragement of the TI, and with good communication on the ground prior to doing it, and getting the permission of the student passenger. Even though they're not "common" for me I've done them. What if the TI has to cut away just as the flyby is occuring and the WS flies into it? What if the WS strikes the lines or canopy and cuts either one? What if, god forbid, wind or "other" causes the TI or WS to be off course for a pre-planned flyby and there is a body to body impact? Lots of "what-ifs" that have me re-considering flybys at any distance. Being told by an FAA representative at the BOD meeting that the FAA is "closely watching the wingsuit community" (mostly due to cloud and tandem issues) got me to thinking and wanting to ask questions. That said, the community "being out of control" and not being "good at self-policing" are two _entirely_ different discussions. IMO, the community is far from "out of control." In fact, I think it's got a pretty good grip on what's going on.

Mike, because of the kind of guy you are, because of your strong desire to wingsuit but understanding of the reasons for waiting, for the contributions you've made to the guys in the flock, and especially for your very amazing care for me while I was in critical condition and rehab...You're already part of the flock, you just don't have your feathers yet. Was good having you in my home, at the DZ, and with the group. Glad you got some awesome jumps in. Wish your brother had been here too. Much respect, Sargeant Miller. Can't wait to fly with you.

Even thought I didn't get to jump, it was fun flying a couple loads with y'all as an observer. I learned a lot from Scott as an organizer. It was wonderful seeing some of the newer birds like Matt and Justin P having troubles hitting their slot on the first days and being rock solid by the end of the weekend. Watching the flocks from the ground was great too. There are a few pix on Scotty's 40d that I took. Some of those flocks were very challenging to assemble but it was beautiful to see them come together. It sucked (made me cry a little) to watch every one exit the aircraft and I had to stay in. I lied and told Will (the pilot) that the air pressure was messing with my injuries. Debbie did a PHENOMENAL job of taking over after I was injured. The band on Saturday night was thrilled with everyone, thanks to all that participated. It was terrific. Scotty B, J-Sho, BSR(Callantine) Purple Mike, Andreea, Les, Cookie, Greybeard, Deaf Sean, Monkey, Justin P,....I can't remember who all else (it's the pain pills), thank you all for coming over to the house and hanging with me for a bit. It was fun playing the flutes for you, fun hearing everyone's "no shit there I was" stories, and I apoligize for the lack of a bonfire; hopefully the hottub made up for it. Andreea, thank you for getting the extra altitude while I was in the copilot's seat. Milk, anyone? Some of those flocks over the water and over the salt beds looked phenomenal. Scotty's pix will tell the tale. With the new recognition of wingsuiting records, do the slot perfect jumps you guys did count as the "first" official records? Doesn't matter, in my book they were the greatest ever and the only thing that could have been better was if I could have flown with you. Thank you all.

I didn't lose a ball, my two simply grew to the size of a few dozen for a while. I'm happy to report things are mostly back to normal now that the Foley catheter has been removed.

not a "best" shot but a funny shot. I shot this the day of my accident, so I'm glad that one of my 'last shots' for a while was a fun jump.

Try buying just the D connector from Sony....it costs more than the HypEye mini.

Just curious what folks think of tandem flybys in wingsuits. If you answer with #5, please define what is close/too close/far enough away. If you answer #1, please define how close you're flying.

I love Glen too, but I think he likes a man with a slooooooowwwwwwww powdered hand.

some of us still use vacuum tubes. :-) Seriously. I do.

all I can say is "wow!". I haven't cried that hard in a long, long time.

iTunes offerings of my music has about 3/4 of my recordings. Native flute is my primary instrument, but I play most of the instruments on my albums with the exception of guest artists like Craig Chaquico, Michael Hedges, Michael Manring, Jim Brickman, Darryl Stuermer, Peter Buffett, etc. I usually don't have any of my own music around. Here is a video a fan did using my music, the song is "Arrival," which is one of my favorite compositions. When I die, I'd like it sung/played at my funeral. "We're Still Here" was a rock piece I wrote for a film credit sheet. Most of my work isn't vocal. Nii' dii'n'schlii'" was written shortly after my son's death. Loosely translated, it means "My heart wishes for you" or "I miss you." The song features Meade Steadman of Tranquil Touch on sax. I'm playing everything but sax and bass on this one. The vid is quite old. "Dance" is a collection of concert footage. centered around a performance we did in an old quarry in Sweden. The guy in the dark green sparkle shirt is John Frazier, the direct great-grandson of Gall, who strategized most of the attack on Custer at Greasy Grass. In the middle, you can see Al Di Meola. This video is also quite old. No grey in my hair back then, and I think I weigh a bit more now. But...at least you can hear some of my music. Curiously enough, my most played song ever is my version of "America, the Beautiful" which was done for the funeral of a prominent chief that died in the fall/attack on the World Trade Center. It was later picked up by various podcasters, and has been played for many cultural events such as Obama's inauguration and Independence Day celebrations. Simple, but a nice piece (and free of any royalty or copyright, I put it out there as a Creative Commons piece) that anyone can use.

I think that's a generally unfair statement. Basement fares with declining services to the point that it's OK to chuck luggage around like it was a soccer ball? FWIW, I average around 120k miles per year. Platinum Medallion and all that. I *expect* the airline to treat my expensive gear like they treat my luggage, so pack for it. If this guy's Taylor guitar was really so special to him, why didn't he have a proper case for it? In 20 years of flying very expensive guitars and flutes, I've only ever had one issue; a stolen flute while flying out of El Paso, TX. Stlll, I think this guy's song/video is a great way to damage United, and if it makes a vendor like United deal with him and help fix his problem, more power to him. At my company, we teach the concept of the "digital democracy." This guy certainly was able to make his voice heard. Kudos to him. My local television affiliate picked up this story and showed the video. Very cool.

Wow. Dieshu! My second favorite recording of mine. It means "The beginning of the end/the end of the beginning." Kinda fitting. Nothing will ever top "Arrival" from that same album. That one is for my funeral. Hope I'm going to be OK. I had a doctor who is a sports specialist examine me and he found a few other "gotchas" and had a differing opinion from my regular ortho. Suffering a few setbacks, but overall... it appears they've found everything. Three more surguries to go and I'll be back to good. Yeah, the thread has been incredibly inspiring and helped get me through some challenging nights. Cards from members of the community have been very helpful too, and one person even sent me a pecan pie from Texas! What a great community!

half the crew have arrived, looks like there are a lot of birds in town for this one, not to mention the non-bird skydivers. Looking forward to seeing everyone here.

Any idea what sort of condition it's in? Depending on how it's been stored, I'd expect 37 year old tape to be at least somewhat degraded (sticky). I think there are ways of restoring it, and maybe a buyer would only be interested in it as an 'object' anyway - but I'd expect someone to want to play it, if only to verify the contents. Of course to do that you'd probably have to locate a vintage machine to play it on! Given that I work in the business....I have the gear, the knowledge, etc to assure it's in good condition. In fact, you've given me the idea that I should throw in an old Roberts RTR to whomever buys the master.

Please no squeeze in the butt. I have a hematoma that resembles a third butt cheek and you might grab something really painful. God how I wish you were here, Jarno. Scotty and Justin arrived last night, t was good to be shaken out of a dope-induced sleep to receive some long-desired hugs from good friends. Scott and Justin have some super flocks and flights planned in the Otter. Looking forward to seeing y'all there.

back story is that my producer was a producer for SteelTown (later Motown) and he co-wrote some music for the 5. For my birthday many years ago, he gave me a copy of a "final" master (there are often many "finals" of a song) of a Jackson 5 song. Reels of any Jackson song outside of the studio are going to be exceptionally rare, likely never more than 2-3 per song from the old days, and no more than 2-5 per album in later years (late 70's, early 80's). A DAT master of Black/White is currently on eBay for 10.5M (it won't sell, I bet), but damn....a reel master would generally carry a higher value.

I knew, after I'd already had a couple of email discussions with Lyal and a wingsuiter in the area. I also met someone on the Saturday I was there who had 300 jumps over 3 years. I explained to her that I'd need to do a tracking jump with her to evaluate whether or not she could participate or not. I guess that makes me a bad person too. I've taken up one person prior to 200 jumps, learned the hard way when he had a cutaway. I don't fuck with that rule/recommendation/requirement at all as a result. I usually learn in one. Let's hope I've learned to never drop a toggle again.

*really* looking forward to seeing y'all here, even if I can't fly with you.

That's my quandry too. But I can't help but think they've got so much of that sort of thing.... It's a mix that was never released, so it's actually worth more than the final master. When I see the "Moonwalk" shoes that sold for 20M and the Thriller guitar that sold for 100K, and the "rare" 45 that is selling for a small mint...it's tempting. It's just an ugly tape box, but clearly marked with Motown, artist, date, speed, title, etc.

I believe the new administration at the USPA have demonstrated that "there is a new sheriff" in town. It's true that it could be a morass of work for an RD to perform (damn, they hate investigating incidents) but they *have* shown some balls that the previous admins haven't shown. Look at the minutes from the February BOD meeting; you'll see what I mean.

an original 7" reel master of a Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 song mastered in 1972, what would you do with it?

none of the above. Oban.