AndyMan

Yup, they also come on "Suunto" watches, that some people (myself included) are using as our primary wrist-mount altimeter. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

That's pretty funny, coming from a Texan... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

A few weeks ago I jumped gear that was manufactured in 1973. For the record, I was born in 1974. If manufacturers were to put time limits on gear, I would suspect its purpose would be to sell more new stuff then retire un-airworthy gear. Determining the airworthiness of equipment is a relatively straight forward process, one that any experienced rigger is more then capable of doing. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Likewise, I hear "cut down on welfare/medicaid/X" fraud frequently, but I never hear an acknoledgement that investigating and prosecuting, or even just cutting off services is expensive. It's frequenlty cheaper to give a benefit to everyone, then it is to adequately determine who actually deserves it. Benefits that are selectively distributed are frequently poorly enforced, because that's the only way its cheaper then giving it to everyone. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It's incredibly valuable to know what a canopy feels like as it approaches its stall point. Many student canopies can not stall without a wrap or two, as the steering lines have been lengthened to make this impossible. I would much rather a young skydiver experience their first stall under a large student canopy, then a smaller one they're jumping later on. Done properly, recovering from a stable stall is no different then the parachute opening in the first place. While it's true that we usually don't make a habbit of wrapping lines, we also do not make a habbit of jumping de-tuned canopies. I would much rather somebody discover the stall point while loaded at .8, then when loaded at 1.2 _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Including most of Zenisters posts! go figure! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Propaganda, by definition, is government produced. Clearly, Bowling for Columbine is not propaganda. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I do not understand football fanatics. have they no life? Is there really no better way to spend a weekend then watching other people have fun on TV? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Update: It turns out my "fresh" feta had gone sour. I had some fresh parmesan, so I layered that on top of the pesto, then slices of grilled chicken, a few artichokes hearts and finally topped with some fresh mozarella. I didn't do the olives, or the fresh tomatoes... The whole thing grilled on the BBQ for 20 minutes, it was awesome. It's amazing what you can do with a bbq.... I'm weird. I'm a guy and I love cooking. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Tonight me and craichead are hosting a dinner party for her co-workers. I'll be grilling chicken pesto pizza, the dough's rising as I type. The debate is wether I should add olives and artichoke hearts, or keep it simple with chicken, pesto and feta. Thoughts? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

(andyman applies flame-retardent to underwear) Damn Right! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Are you planning on using the web ever? Expecting people to remember bizzare spellings to find your website is a good predictor of their failure to do so. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This seems like a silly question... Kinda like "what's the best way to be given a million bucks?" Who cares, just take the money! _Am (would've hugged michele, had he met her when he was last at perris....) __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

No. That's a pretty depressing outlook, and I certainly don't subscribe to it. It seems to me that people who play these compeditive power games are going to need those skills, as their relationship is doomed from the start. Those who don't play the games, won't need the skills because a relationship built on trust lasts longer. _Am - blissfuly naive. __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Student canopy are frequently "de-tuned" so that you can't stall the canopy, stalling at 30 feet can lead to injury. If you're playing up high, try wrapping your hand around the steering lines to shorten them a bit. That should help you stall it. Wrapping the lines will also make your turns sharper, which will make it more likely to spin up, so do this up high and learn about how it affects flight. Make sure that when you land youi've unwrapped the lines, so they're at their normal length for your flare. __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've never seen anyone using a s400 for skydiving. It does not appear to have a remote shutter, nor can you change the wide angle lens. The standard lens on these cameras is rarely even close to good enough for skydiving. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Is a spring loaded pilot chute safe? I hope so, it makes up the core of every modern reserve deployment system out there. Like every piece of gear, it needs to be in spected and maintained. If you're not getting good launches from one, the spring may be worn out, and due for replacement. Also, I've seen far more throw-outs in a burble then I have seen spring loaded ones. Weak throws are very common. Personally, I prefer throw-outs over spring loaded ones because of the lack of the ripcord, more then the behaviour of the pilot chute. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Is nobody discounting the Cypres 2... or is $1250 the discounted cost? I know the dollars taken a nosedive, but you used to be able to get a cypres for $800. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

from slashdot "If you're looking to spend about $1200 on a new digital camera, check out this Digital Photography Review look at Sony's upcoming 8 MegaPixel Cyber-shot DSC-F828. The most interesting thing isn't the number of pixels in this prosumer-grade camera, but its 4-color filter CCD system. ['Instead of the traditional RGB color filter array, the new CFA is made up of Red, Green, Blue and Emerald (like Cyan) color filters.'] I've always been a strict Canon fan, but this is making me think twice." _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My Sony was in for repairs this weekend, and there was a jump that just begged for video, we were taking a stuffed Big Bird on a hybrid.... One of the participants in the jump lent me his Panasonic PV-DV203 that he'd bought for jumping, but hadn't yet jumped since he's still a bit green. We screwed on a Raybox 27mm .6 wide angle he'd gotten from bhphotovideo for $75 - kenko doesn't make any 27 mm thread size lenses. The jump was a cluster-fuck, but it was fun to watch - from a distance. The opening felt fine, I didn't feel any kind of riser strike. When I landed I found the wide-angle lens missing. What was amazing is that the threading on the camera looked perfect. There weren't any scraches or broken parts on the threading, the camera looked as if there never had been a lens attached. The lens simply popped out of the threading. On review of the video, you can see the camera refocus after line stretch, but before full inflaition. I took this to mean that it wasn't a riser-strike at all, simply the opening shock of a normal on-heading Stiletto opening cause this the lens to depart... Amazing. Two lessons, I guess.... 1) don't borrow other jumpers cameras.... 2) don't buy panasonic. Thankfully, I only lost the guys $70 lens, not the camera. I had also been smart enough to make sure he agreed that I wouldn't be responsible for damage or loss... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

From what I understand, gliding is pretty much a perfect example of the "Big Sky Theory". Sad to hear about this, though... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I got this too. I'm not impressed. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

My folkes place in Toronto has been up since 5:00am today, and their cottage on the St. Lawrence west of Toronto has been up since 11:00pm last night. They got lucky, I guess. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I call them Sky Trucks _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Dude... scroll down! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.