AndyMan

The point that you seem to be completely missing throughout this thread, is the degree to which this is only a last resort, and not to be taken lightly. Moreover, from your comments it appears that you're either looking for the groups permission or acknolegement of you or your DZ banning a specific individual. Without knowing the specifics of what prompted you to start this thread, the comments here have come far short of this, I think. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

You should fly into Pheonix. If you drive like I do, it's a 45 minute trip to the DZ. Be safe, everyone. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

We're partying here in your honor. Really we are. Just last night, one of my friends said "boy, I sure wish we had some crack!" See ya in a few weeks, babe... _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

They're pretty common at my DZ, and I have one on my christmas list. I've borrowed a few for evaluation, and found they work well, as long as you're able to bring your arm in to to check. In freefly positions, I found them hard to read at full arms length. Some tips: Avoid the ones that have white print on the black dial. While they look cool, they're dificult to read in bright sunlight, and nearly impossible to read in freefall. This means: AVOID THE OBSERVER. Look for black numbers on the brightest background. Also, look for the ones with the biggest numbers. The ones most common at my DZ are the X6, Metron, and Advisor. The Metron is on my christmas list. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

In 5 years of working for fortune 500 companies, being a highly paid and highly respected profesional, I have never had a christmas bonus. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It may have simply been the cypres misfiring as the jumper walked back. It's been known to happen on the ground. Once, at Aerohio, a rig sitting on a picnic tables fired for no known reason. Incidentally, the closest person was 10 feet away, and was talking on a cellphone. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I've now got two Merlin suits, a freefly one and I just received my camera suit. The quality of construction is excellent, with all seams double or tripple stiched, and a quality lining. Both suits fly well. I would rate Merlin a solid '5', except I've found delivery time is exceptionally slow. The camera suit I just received took nearly 12 weeks to ship. It was a very long wait. Merlin used to be cheaper then its compeditors, however this is no longer the case. Unless I get assurances of a reasonable guaranteed delivery date, I would consider alternatives. _Am

Sounds to me like their "new equipment" is really a rather hungry dog... which begs the question, has anything really changed? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

No they can't. The NSA can not break a 128 bit key. The last attempt to break one using over 20,000 computers took over three years. Now I know the NSA is well funded and all... but if they want to break a 128 bit key they would need a high school gymnasium full of servers running straight for 3 days on ONE message. They would only be able to justify doing that for highly targetted messages, not filter out the crap that people like us say to each other. Remember that when we mean '128 bit', what this really means is that the key is 2^128 bits long. Not 128, but 2^128. Likewise, a 64 bit key isn't 64 bits, but 2^64. What does this mean? A 128 bit isn't twice as long as a 64 bit, rather, the length of the key has twice as many zero's on the end of it. Key complexity increases exponentially, not arithmatically. Strong encryption is called strong for a reason. The minute the NSA can easily crack a 128 bit key, all we have to do is start uysing 256 bit keys, and they'll be screwed for a good 5 years at least. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

What are peoples experience with SSK's turnaround time on the 4 year check? Are we talking days, weeks, or monthes? I'm debating leaving the rig unpacked if it's only for a few weeks, or is it takes longer I might fit it into two scheduled repacks. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Cajun sucks cause he's not going to Florida. Ooops! No, wait! That's ME!!!! _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I guess its airline specific. On American Airlines, the limit is $5,000 worth of stuff. http://www.aa.com/content/customerService/baggage/liabilityLimitations.jhtml#Additional%20Insurance. That's enough that you could check one rig, carry the other and have everything safe. I'm a whole lot more surprised that people have been checking their rigs in the past without insurance. In my mind, this new rule really doesn't change anything. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It says the TSA aren't liable, that doesn't mean you don't get compensation. Look, everytime somebody pops on here and says "Help! I'm flying, should I carry-on or check?", we always answer the same way: Carry-on, if you can. If you can't, then check, AND BUY INSURANCE. Every airline sells insurance for checked baggage above the standard limits. It's cheap, too. Something like $10 per $1,000 of stuff. This doesn't change anything. If you're really worried about theft, you should've been buying insurance before, and you should be buying insurance now. No difference. My bigger concern is that they would see a rig, know its a rig, and want to open the reserve to see the cypres. This will be a more common problem as more bags are screened behind the 'backstage'. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

You should PM the AndyMan, and meet him for drinks sometime. ORD->YYZ Dec 20 YYZ->ORD Dec 27 _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

$1200 is still too much for me, when I know something perfectly usable will be $600 next year. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Because batteries can die in freefall. _AM __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

RWS provided a stowing mechanism, and Sunpath says you shouldn't stow in the first place. To me, that makes it a non issue. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

I disagree. I psycho-packed my Stiletto easily at least 10 times before getting the bridle extension. You simply pull the bridal attachment point out. The purpose of the extension is to reduce wear on your canopy. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

?:1:1 ?: Good weekend! 1: Wandered over to the Cessna boogie at Skydive Chicago. 1: First time jumping a Cessna 182 at Skydive Chicago. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

It depends on two things: a: the canopy Older "F-111" canopies should not be loaded above 1.0. Period. Slightly newer zero perosity rectangular canopies can be loaded from .8 up to roughly 1.4. Triathlons, Spectres, and older Sabres fit in here. The latest in tapered 9 cells are usually loaded between 1.0 and 1.8, and up to 2.8 and 3.0 with crossbraces or air-locks. Sabre 2's, Safires, and Hornets are good starting points. This group also includes the high performance canopies like Stiletos, Crossfires, Samurais, and Heatwaves - but you're a long way away from flyint those. So? The only part of this that's relevant to you, is that if you're looking at f-111, you do not want anything over 1.0. period. b: the pilot The first thing you need to understand is that the speed that a canopy turns, and the danger that canopy poses, does not increase linearly with wingloading. Wingloading plays a part, but it is not linear. What does this mean? An 80 pound girl flying an 80 square foot Sabre 2, will be flying a HELL of a lot faster, then a 280 pound guy flying an otherwise identicle 280 square foot Sabre 2. The heavier you are, the higher wingload you can fly safely. While that 280 pound guy might be conservative when he buys something at 1.2 (260 sqft)[1], that 80 pound girl will have her hands full at 1.0 (100 sqft)[1] I understand you're roughly in the middle between these two extremes. So you can't press the wingloading as much as our 280 pounder, and likewise won't be screaming in at 1.0 like our 80 pounder. You've got a baseline. You can fly 1.0 relatively safely, assuming you're a competent pilot. What you need to evaluate from here, where you fit on the competency scale. Have you stood up every landing? Are you petrified on final approach? Have you ever brain-locked? Have you been taught how to do flat-turns and flare-turns? Have you ever landed down-wind, and did you stand it up? Lastly, what do your instructors and the knowledgable people who know you say? Do they tell you that you really need to work on your canopy contol? That you really need to stop screwing up? Or do they pat you on your head and say 'nice landing dude!'? Based on ALL those answers, you need to decide where between the moron at .8, and the hotshot at 1.2 you are. That's a decision that only you can make, and you shouldn't do it without the advice from your instructors and knowledgable friends. _Am [1] Wingloadings calculated as reported body weight + 30 pounds for gear for him, and 20 pounds for her. The 280 pound guy really weighs 310, so at 1.2 he's under a 260. The 80 pound girl is really 100 pounds, so at 1.0 she's under a 100. __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

You need to rememeber where WEP came from, and what it was intended to do. Quite simply, WEP was designed to make a wireless network just as secure as a wired network. That's a pretty low target considering that you can get on a 'wired' network just by plugging into a nearby ethernet jack. In a corporate environment, breaking WEP gives you the same level of access as plugging into ethernet. You still need to overcome network security (NT Login, for example), then application level security (database password, for example). WEP is "good enough" for many organizations simply because there's robust security running overtop of it. WEP is also just fine for home users, who don't want their neighbor accidentally finding their porn collection. Where it falls WAY short is from targetted attacks against systems without any other security - ie, the typical home network. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Any god that would damn somebody because of the person they love, is one god I won't believe in. As to any ideas of Darwin; the nature vs. nurture arguement seems to never end, and is quite frankly, monotonous. That said, I do tend to fall on the 'nurture' side of thing, and as such any Darwin argument is moot - ie, not even worth debating because the answer is irrelevant. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

The one thing you didn't think about is resale value. Very few people are buying Silhouette, either new or used. When it comes time to part with it, I think you'll have a hard time selling it. Walking around the dropzones I frequent, you just don't see any of them. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

Anyone know who she is? She seems to have a pretty strong bone to pick with base itself. I wonder whats made her so angry? _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

This is a myth, unfortunately. Most Canadian beer is 5% alc/vol, just like most US beer. However, percent alcohol in the US USED to be measured by weight as opposed to by volume, so the numbers used to come out a bit lower for American beer then Canadian beer, even though it was largely the same. There is a few beers in Canada that is legitimately 7%, but if you ask me it tastes like piss, and was only useful when I was in highschool and wanted to get ripping drunk off a six pack. _Am __ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.