riggerrob

Dear Gowlerk, "Turtle Island" was the best guess explanation that native Americans could come up with based on their limited knowledge of geology/astronomy/cosmology, etc. When they lacked measurable knowledge of plate tectonics, that used the "Great Spirit" to fill in the gaps. As human knowledge increases, those gaps get progressively smaller, ergo less need for "God in the gaps." The danger is when a religion/shared world view stagnates and clings to an old belief after that climate/society, etc. have changed around them. Organized religions tend to stagnate, while scientists are constantly challenging old views, peer reviewing and testing new theories. For example, modern surgeons perform operations that were considered "miracles" only a few decades ago.

Not being able to prove - that something is physical - has been a problem for most of humankind's existence. It is only within the last few hundred years that we have developed instruments to measure the smallest things and the largest things. Even so, scientists still speculate on things smaller than we can prove/see/measure. For example, I can understand Newtonian physics, but Quantum Physics are too bizarre for me to grasp. Heaven is a human invention to ease their fears of death and the fear that friends and family will forget them as soon as they die. Telling people that if they live a good life, they will go to heaven is a way of moderating their behaviour on earth. Initially "good behaviour" only needed to include your own immediate family and extended family. If you were to stupid to share and cooperate, your genetic line died out after a few generations. As clans and tribes and villages and kingdoms grew larger, it became increasingly important for everyone to behave the same way (e.g. not pissing in the public fountain that provided drinking water for the entire village). Initially these morals/standards/ethics were imposed by the village leader. To ensure some continuity when the old leader/king, etc. died off, his son inherited the kingdom and also inherited the same set of behavioural expectations. After a few generations, these shared behaviours became central to the family, clan, tribe, village, kingdom, etc. To simplify the process of passing these shared behaviours on to successive generations, stories about these behaviours were retold around the fire every night. Rhyming schemes helped ensure consistency over the generations. Then these epic poems were put to music, another step in ensuring consistency. Then travelling poets/musicians/entertainers spread these poems/origin stories to other villages. Eventually the wisest poets started to claim that they could predict the weather, etc. When they could not point out clear evidence/prove a theory, they used God to fill in the gaps. That was the origin of organized religions. It is possible to absorb these behaviours without ever attending church, just by listening to your neighbours. But it is not possible for a single generation to learn all these behaviours, ergo humans retell stories from their grandparents. Grandparents hold the collective knowledge of a tribe. Eventually those shared stories about good behaviours get written into books. Even later, those good behaviours are codified in holy books. After many more centuries, those good behaviours become the "law of the land." These days, if commit most of the sins (bad behaviours) mentioned on the Ten Stone Tablets given to Moses, you will be arrested, tried and punished. Origin stories do not have to be 100 percent accurate as long as they are easy to remember and encourage good behaviour. Hence: organized religions.

Oh! The "positive" side of organized religion. Well, the Catholic Church did a lot of good things in Quebec until I was born. They ran orphanages, schools, universities, hospitals, charity for the poor, psychological counselling services, etc. That began centuries before Canada had a central government, much less gov't bureaucrats to administer all those programs. If you go back a thousand years, you will find that Irish monks preserved thousands of ancient documents by copying them (laboriously by hand). See the book "How the Irish saved civilization" by Tom Cahill. In the majority of European villages only one or two men could read or write and it was usually the village's Catholic priest. Monasteries and convents didn't just sit around and pray all day, rather they were economically self-supporting agricultural communities that sold grain, fruit, fish, cheese, wine books, etc. Many monasteries also provided lodging for travellers. Perhaps you have heard of the monastery at Grand Saint Bernard Pass in the Swiss alps? Back during the Middle Ages, the Pope mediated between feuding Christian kingdoms to minimize bloodshed. Catholic churches also provided most of the live entertainment, many centuries before electronic media. I say this as a descendant of a long line of Protestant Christians. That is "Protestant" with a capital "P." My grandfather would cheerfully pass a Sunday afternoon regaling all the sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church. Too long-winded for my young ears, but we could not change our old grandfather's attitudes. But my family are also Universalists who look for the good in all religions. And search for common values. Perhaps my grandfather was miffed at tiny amount of food shared by Roman Catholics: barely a stale wafer and a sip of wine!

and The difference between religion and science is that religion is frozen at some point (e.g. when a holy book is published) whereas science is constantly tested and challenged. Religion is fine for busy people and generally provides good advice on how to get along with your neighbours, etc. However, most holy books were written hundreds or thousand of years ago in a much simpler society. Then the teachings are frozen and can only be challenged by heathens, infidels and other sorts of mal-odorous perverts. For example, "go forth and multiply" made sense up until about 1970. After 1970 we realized that human population had grown to close to the maximum capacity of this planet. Since the 1960s, birth control has become available for millions of women allowing them to still have recreational sex with their husbands, but not be burdened by a dozen children. This reminds me of a conversation after Thanksgiving dinner. We were sitting around chatting about the dozen children in a grandmother's family. One of my teenage, girl cousins, once-removed was horrified at the thought of one woman (my great grandmother) raising a dozen children! When I suggested "birth control" as an alternative, she was shocked! Then we got into a discussion about infant mortality rates a century ago, etc. I wondered if I had over-stepped the bounds of good taste, but my cousin told me to relax because his wife is an obstetrition who leaves textbooks laying around the house. We both agreed that teenagers should understand the basics of birth control and various methods of avoiding sexually-transmitted diseases. Some of those STDs did not exist when I was a teenager! Which means that sex ed. textbooks - from my teenaged years - are obsolete. Anyone dogmatically following those old textbooks risks dying of recently-introduced STDs. Unfortunately, several organized religions have dogmatically stuck with equating birth control with "though shalt not kill." Part of their motivation may be to increase the number of faithful by out-breeding other religions. That "revenge of the cradle" worked well in Quebec until the 1960s, then people realized that did not need to be burdened with a dozen children. Only recently has the Pope murmured something about birth control being okay. OTOH Scientists constantly review and critique and questions each other. If a scientist wants any credibility, they need to publish articles, papers, thesis, etc. in peer-reviewed scientific journals and lecture about their findings at scientific conferences. What was gospel 50 years ago is scoffed at now. For example, the whole concept of continental-drift (aka. plate-tectonics) was scoffed at until geologists collected massive amounts of seismic data starting in the 1950s. By the time my school started teaching geography (late 1960s) plate tectonics was accepted as fact because any elementary student could glance at a globe and quickly see how the Brazilian and African coasts meshed together so gracefully.

Good points Gowlerk and Wendy, I remember the whole argument over abortion in Quebec during the 1960s. Abortionist Dr. Henry Morganthaler (sp?) was repeatedly sentenced by courts and repeatedly challenged the written law. Eventually abortion laws were abolished. Then Prime MInister Pierre Elliot Trudeau said: "Government has no place in the bedrooms of the nation."

Dear Ron, You are getting confused. Since Judaism, Christianity and Islam share common roots (Jewish Torah/Christian Old Testament), that must mean that Islam is based upon fact ... er ... a similar mono-theism. How can Islam be completely wrong if it is based upon Judaism and Christianity? I will admit that too many modern Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Hindu, etc. extremists have distorted God’s intents to inspire their violent actions.

History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

Good riddance! Persia/Iran has been meddling with Middle Eastern regional politics for something like 5,000 years now. The sad part is that their meddling has caused immense amounts of misery for Middle-Eastern citizens since the last Shah was deposed in 1989. Funny how Americans only got upset after their pet/puppet Shah was deposed in 1989.

Happy New Year dear Gowlerk, You, Transport Canada, CSPA, USPA, FAA and I all agree on the wisdom of wearing seat-belts/restraints in jump-planes. I refine Hooker belts to be the most useful. Since 2008, skydiving instructors have invented 3 or 4 more ways to anchor tandem students inside jump-planes. However, this Canadian DZO got tired of power-tripping CSPA Board members telling him how to run his business, so he affiliated with USPA a long time ago. He also is not interested in senior, licensed jumpers telling him how to run his business.

Back during the 1980s(?) canopy manufacturers ganged up against harness-container manufacturers to write the PIA Standard that says that canopy manufacturers only need to supply: canopy, lines, links, slider, manual and reserve packing data card. If anyone tries to sell you a canopy missing those key items, demand your money back! The reserve packing data card goes with the reserve canopy, since reserve canopies often out-live containers. If the card includes notes about Service Bulletins done in the harness/container, then a photo-copy of the RPDC goes with the H/C. If the AAD battery replacement or factory inspections are noted on the RPDC, then a photo-copy of the card goes with the AAD. Sometimes selling a used container without risers, goggles, d-bag and pilot-chute is a blessing because those are high-wear items.

If skybytch shuts up, then I also have to shut up. I did not jump in 2019, because of a disagreement with the local DZO about seat-belts.

Call around an ask until you find a skydiving school that has a modified tandem rig for extra-large students. My largest tandem student was a 270-pound, retired rugby player. He had thighs the size of tree trunks! ... so I did not worry about breaking him. He listened well and helped me steer the canopy and we were all smiles as we slid to a stop in the wet grass.

Parachutes de France Blue Track debuted around 1988, with Performance Designs’ Sabre in 1989. By the mid 1990s, you could not “give” away an F-111 main!

Great video! I always encourage sport jumpers to pull their own reserve ripcords when they drop off rigs for maintenance. I also invite junior jumpers to pull reserve ripcords when school rigs are due for maintenance. Many are surprised at how little effort it takes to pull a ripcord. I like to turn it into a miniature review of malfunction procedures and I deliberately stand outside their field of vision. Ripcord pins can be polished, but only by a rigger, only with fine emery cloth and only after they are scratched.

May I make a musical suggestion? Try listening to Paul Thorn’s song “I don’t like all the people I love.”

May I suggest a religious alternative? Universalism. Many Universalists are nominally “people of the book” (jews, christians and muslims), but they don’t take god all that seriously. U’s cheerfully debate - for long hours - whether God is male or female, or black or white or blue. Some Universalists don’t even believe that god exists! But U’s respectfully listen to major prophets from most religions. The best part about being a Universalists is enjoying ALL the religious holidays. If Hindus have a festival, U’s help the Hindus celebrate an stick around for snacks! If Pastafairians have a festival, U’s help them celebrate and stick around for spaghetti afterwards! If Sikhs have a festival, U’s help the Sikhs celebrate and stick around for lunch afterwards! The best part about being a Universalist is all the free food!

I gained a couple of pounds ... er ... 1 kilogram just looking at that trifling desert!

The old standard was ordering a chest strap that is way too long and simply loosening it after opening. Definitely keep your belly-band snug when you loosen your chest strap.

I don't remember PISA publishing any life limit on Tempo reserves. I have packed hundreds of Tempo reserves and never heard of any problems. They are decent reserves, roughly par with similar-sized reserves made by Performance Designs or any of the major canopy manufacturers. More likely, Tempo reserve canopy life is limited by national standards in your country. Though you may have difficulty convincing a new rigger to pack any canopy older than themselves. Hah! Hah!

How many different languages do they speak?

Last week, (Conservative leader) Andrew Scheer was caught using party funds to pay for his childrens' private education, so he was forced to resign as head of the Progressive Conservative Party and resign his seat in the House of Commons. If you did not know the back story, you would never have understood it by listening to his resignation speech. TV coverage started with a smiling (Liberal) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ad-libbing and thanking Scheer with copious quantities of love and affection and admiration for all the good deeds Scheer had done while serving in Parliament, blah, blah, blah, etc. Then Andrew Scheer read from script about how he was stepping down to spend more time with his family …. and how important it was for conservatives to continue to support the federal party, blah, blah, blah, …. Yet politicians seem baffled as to why voters do not trust them???????

I draw the line a naked streaking the runway after dark, but before the air traffic controllers went home.

Also remember that Para-Flite designed the Swift Plus series before anyone routinely loaded main parachutes more than one pound per square foot. If you expect an old Swift reserve to flare as gracefully as a modern Performance Designs Optimum 145 … you had better pre-pay your medical insurance. IOW, anyone who loads a Swift Plus 145 reserve with more than 145 pounds is an idiot! … er …. not very bright …. er … poorly informed ….

Yes! I frequently get into trouble by saying words that had radically different meanings when I was young. The last time I asked for a "fag" some guy pinched my ass! Then I tried to explain that I was trying to bum a cigarette. Hah! Hah! When I tried to explain that I did not mean "faggot," he handed me a bundle of twigs.