Skwrl

It's not too surprising, given the trend that Florida and other states have been following. I would expect you will see similar results in other states. (I'm not saying it's good policy, I'm simply saying that I'm not surprised it turned out this way.) Net result for DZ owners: if you want to (help) make sure your DZ's waiver is effective, don't accept waivers unless the skydivers/students are at least the age of majority in your state (and check their ID). If you want to roll the dice anyway, that's up to you, but do so knowingly. /Not legal advice. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I tried a bunch of different suits from Pheonix Fly and Tonysuits before I ended up ordering my Mach 1. Justin Shorb and the Flock U guys had demo suits that allowed me to play around and see what I liked and didn't like. I didn't have access to any Birdman suits at the time I was shopping, so my decision was really between the different models of Tonysuits and different models of Pheonix Fly. What I like about my Mach1 is the suit's range - I can use it for flocking, for distance, and for aerobatics (for aerobatics and backflying, particularly if I close the inflation zipper in the leg wing). I didn't have the money or desire to get one for each activity. What pleasantly surprised me wasn't just the suit - it's solidly made and flies nice, etc. - but the "aftermarket service" that the Tonysuit guys have provided. People make comments about the "multiple versions" of the suits, but I actually view that as a feature, not a bug (it means, to me, they are continually exploring what works better). When new improvements have popped out of their development process, I've been able to get them added to my suit. Since a lot of the improvements have been safety related, I'm pretty happy about that. Anyway, that's my $0.02. And take it for what it's worth - I'm by all accounts a wingsuit n00b, but I also have no real bias (I'm not a rep). Try one and see if you like it. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Because that's probably Hotei (or Budai) not Siddhārtha Gautama. Compare: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budai with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gautama_Buddha Buddha is a title (the englightened one), not a name, in the same way that Christ (the anointed one) is a title and not a name. If you stop and think about it, you could ask the same question about most of the images of Christ: you don't see many that depict him as even vaguely Semitic looking... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Well, duh, Spot, it's the USRBSFA (the US Roller Bungee Shark Fucking Association) that promulgates the ratings. Internationally, it's the PESRIA (the Putain élastique - saut de Requin sur Roues Association, I think the "fucking" is implied...) Of course, some of the gear manufacturers also have their own requirements... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Of possible interest: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2008/12/14/when_jesus_met_buddha/ Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I saw the picture that was sent out as part of the debriefing to all participants. Others have as well. Maybe there's a better picture, I don't know. Since I had to fly home on Tuesday night, I wasn't part of the formations on Wednesday in any event. I have no dog in this hunt. But I can tell you the picture that I saw was pretty impressive. Why do I care if the photogs make money? Because Matt and Scotty are nice guys that I've enjoyed skydiving with - and having a beer with on the couple of times that I've met them - and quite frankly I hope they can make some money off of it. (This isn't a knock on Craig or Norman - I'm sure they're both great guys, too, I had just never met them before Elsinore.) And I didn't "pay for them" - they still own the copyright (unless they assigned it someone else). I could turn the question on you, though: why would anyone feel that they are entitled to access to the photogs' property? Now, perhaps I made a mistake posting this thread originally saying "They Got It", since I wasn't there for Wednesday and was relaying third hand information. But based on the evidence, it looks like they did something pretty fucking cool. Overall, I guess I don't get my knickers in a twist over any of this stuff. I skydive because it's fun. If it ceases to be fun I'll take up something else, like roller-bungee-shark-fucking. I mean, seriously: you'd never know what we do is fun from half of the crap on dropzone.com. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

That might be because it was in the debrief document that was provided to us. And since it's the photogs' copyrights, people don't want to be jerks (or, you know, infringers) by posting other people's stuff, since that would mess with their ability to make a well-earned buck off of it. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Indeed. This is why I wanted to try it again. The video I took last year of it was great. But Phil (as usual) is right: it's a tad on the risky side: blow out a bootie and you can be shark food. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Friday High Altitude Jump 1) Scott Gray 2) Chris Gray 3) Andreea Olea 4) Brian Barnhart 5) Marion Mobley 6) Scott Bland 7) Jeff Donohue Any chance we can get this to the beach? Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

You remember the scene in Total Recall when Schwarzenegger's space suit breaks and he's exposed to the low pressure conditions of Mars (eyes bulging out, etc.)? It's just like that. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

By the way, some of the "similarities" are a little misleading (there's really no 'baptism' concept in Buddhism), but I would suggest, if this is an area of interest, that you not focus on details like that and focus on the fundamental messages. The Buddha taught about dis-attachment and compassion as being "the way" to englightenment. The Christ taught about the coming judgment of mankind, and urged us to reject the material and traditional in our world (Christ was, per the Gospels, more radical than any radical you'd find today). Both, as far as I can tell, pointed at a transcendent - something more important than the stuff we look at every day, and certainly more important than ourselves. So insofar as there's a common thread, as far as I can figure, that's it. For what it's worth, Muhammed's lessons about the will of Allah (God) were actually pretty similar. So, look for the core concepts, and I think you'll find incredible similarity. And maybe that's enough. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

"Bodhisattva" is the word you are looking for. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

A (rough) way to think of it is "extinction of the ego". (But it's actually a little more than just the ego, so the word "self" gets used.) Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

For those interested in the Historical Jesus lectures, a small snippet that I found interesting: *** I’ve decided that the best place to begin our study is by summarizing for you the life of a remarkable man who lived nearly 2,000 years ago. The accounts of his life may sound familiar to you. 1. Before he was born, his mother knew he would not be a normal child. An angelic visitor told her that her son would be divine. 2. His birth was accompanied by miraculous signs and wonders and as a child, he was religiously precocious. 3. As an adult, he left home to engage in an itinerant preaching ministry, teaching his good news that people should live for what is spiritual, not the material things of this world. 4. He gathered disciples and did miracles to confirm them in their faith. 5. He raised the ire of many of those in power, who had him brought up on charges before the Roman authorities. 6. Even after he left this world, though, his followers claimed that he had ascended to heaven and that they had seen him alive afterwards. They wrote books about his life, and some of these writings still survive today. I doubt if any of you has ever read them, and I doubt if many of you have even heard the name of the man I’ve been describing: Apollonius of Tyana. He was a famous neo-Pythagorean philosopher of the first century AD, a worshiper of pagan gods, whose life and teachings are recorded for us in the writings of his later follower Philostratus, The Life of Apollonius of Tyana. Apollonius lived at about the same time as Jesus, although they never knew each other. Their followers, though, knew each other and had heated debates about who was superior. These were not the only two men believed to be divine. Jesus may be the only miracle-working Son of God that we know about in our world, but he was not at all the only one talked about in his world. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Nirvana is the cessation of the wheel of dharma. Basically, in Hindu (and Buddhist) philosophy, reincarnation is taken as a given. In Buddhism, there are traditionally six realms in which one may be reborn. See http://www.npr.org/programs/re/geography_heaven/kawakarpo/wheeloflife/slide.html for a neat discussion of it. However, as the Buddha taught, all life contains suffering (we want stuff we can't have, we grow old and frail, etc.). So the goal is to achieve satori (enlightenment) and free yourself from the cycle of rebirth (using the wheel metaphor, to be at the axle of the wheel, not on its hub - rather than being thrown about by the motion and events of the world -- and your own desires -- you are at one with them and unmoved by them). The "cessation" taught by the Buddha, is, in a sense, ceasing being blown around by the world and your desires (paraphrasing). At that point, you see eveything (even the crappy stuff) as manifestation of a benevolent universe. But there's not a sense of "Bob went to Nirvana", because one of the things that you let go of is a sense of a self. (The sense of "self", in a sense, is an illusion that separates you from others and the 'one-ness' that I was describing.) I'm not doing it justice, but that's the basic concept. It's a little unclear exactly what Christ's view of the afterlife actually was, particularly if you read the Gospels (the four books that describe the life of Jesus) as opposed to the other books of the New Testament, which were written by Paul (who never actually met Jesus, unless you take the Road to Damascus event as "meeting") and others... You have to read the Gospels in light of the context of first centurty Judea... He was definitely a radical apocalyptic prophet, but he was far from the only one of those... He seemed to imply a coming kingdom - and Earthly one (see Matt 19:28) for which there will be a judgment before one can enter (the references to the "Son of Man", which is interesting because (a) he doesn't appear to be talking about himself in some of them, and (b) the term "Son of Man" basically meant "mankind" in Aramaic. For those interested in learning more, check out a series of lectures published by the Teaching Company titled "The Historical Jesus" by Bart D. Ehrman. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Just a point of correction - that was Ray ("Stoney") Stone, not Tony. It happened at Skydive New England's boogie this year. And the chick with her shirt off the whole time was a nice bonus. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Great video, Zach. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I was short handing it a little bit, and I shouldn't have. Also: a disclaimer (you know this, Spot, but others don't): I'm not a copyright lawyer. I do licensing work, but mostly in the biotech patent world. But here's my understanding: When the US signed Berne, it took the position that other, existing laws (like the Visual Artist Rights Act) addressed the moral rights requirement of Berne. VARA limits the modifications that "distorted, mutilated, or modified in a way that would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation", like Berne requires. Two catches. First, what's "prejudicial to the honor" is more narrowly defined in the US (at least based on US case law) than elsewhere... Second, you can't assign (sell) VARA rights, but you can agree to waive them. If I were a magazine or newspaper, I'd want to have you waive your rights under VARA as part of the license/copyright assignment (although I've read a bunch of assignments that don't do that specifically). In a bunch of the civil law countries in Europe (mainland Europe, not the UK or Ireland), you can't even waive them. So that's why I said the US deals with them differently - you can waive here, but not there. The net result is that when you send in something for publication in the US, you probably might have to sign something that releases these rights... In civil law Europe, you can't (and even if you tried to, it would be ineffective). At least that's how I understand it. Also, FWIW, VARA only applies to visual art, so music and other copyrightable works aren't subject to an equivalent provision, as far as I know. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

I make a home brew from time to time. There are a ton of books on the subject, including my personal favorite: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Homebrewing-Third-Harperresource-Book/dp/0060531053/ref=pd_sim_b_1 It's not hard to do. The biggest challenge will be sanitizing everything (it's just time consuming) and getting the hops and malt (you can order those on line - no idea where they will ship to). PM me if you want to discuss. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Mostly. What he was talking about in Norway (I think) is a thing called "moral rights". The Berne Copyright Convention provides: "Independent of the author's economic rights, and even after the transfer of the said rights, the author shall have the right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to the said work, which would be prejudicial to the author's honor or reputation." It deals with the following situation: I take a pretty picture. I'm the initial copyright holder. of it. I assign (not just license) the copyright to the pretty picture. All things being equal, the new owner of the copyright would have exclusive rights to make derivative works (in other words modify) the picture. If I'm in a moral rights jurisdiction, I can object to that modification. Moral rights (in most of the jurisdictions that recognize them) aren't assignable or waiveable. So I retain the right even after I've sold it. (I am oversimplifying it a bit here, but that's the general jist.) It's different if I license a picture for use in a magazine, for example. There, I can put limits on what the magazine does pursuant to the license (though in practice, a lot of people don't). The US doesn't recognize moral rights in the way Berne does... But the short answer is you can get to the same result in the US, just by different means. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

That setup uses a C02 cartridge, right? How/where do you get that on Puerto Rico? My limited knowledge of this stuff was that TSA doesn't allow you to travel by air with C02 cartridges, even if they are in checked baggage. That's why I was wondering if Scott's flotation device was a self-inflated one... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Please don't be offended, but in my opinion that's rather narrow minded thinking. You are implying that our lives are somehow meaningless without the existence of a Deity. That's just not the case: there are many, many people who lead rich and emotionally fulfilling lives without any such belief. Personally, I have a lot of meaning in my life, and I get along just fine without a belief in any form of Deity. The meaning I do find, however, is meaning that I chose for myself. Or perhaps you are implying that without some sort of life after death, our lives are meaningless. That's a different issue, but again, I don't think it holds water. We can be activly be engaged in the world, help our fellow human beings, and lead fulfilling lives without the need for some aspect of us to some how float on. Besides, what could "spirit" possibly be? It couldn't be "us" as we think of "ourselves". We've seen that if certain portions of the brain are damaged or die, personalities, memories, attitudes, etc., can change, which is highly indicative of anything that we think of as our "self" is directly tied to the function of a brain. If my brain ceases to function but something were somehow to survive that, I would propose to you that the surviving thing would have so little to do with what I may think of as "me" that I couldn't think of it as "me". I'm not saying it's impossible. I just ascribe to the theory that extrodinary claims require extrodinary evidence, and no one has presented that evidence to me, at least. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

That's all quite interesting, but while Washington was nominally an Episcopal, most of his writings indicate that he was more of a Deist (i.e., non-Christian). In other words, the "Being" that he referred to wasn't Jesus or Yahweh, at least not as contemplated by either the New or Old Testament. Of possible interest: http://www.deism.com/washington.htm Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

[Caveat: I'm the least experienced guy on this thread.] I always try to get the right tool for the job I'm doing. So one of the questions that raises is: "what are you going to use it for?" I think the helmet of choice might be different if you say "I want to learn to be a professional video guy" versus "I want to take point of view videos of my friends on the skydives we do just to hack around on and post to YouTube or Skydivingmovies.com." I'm definitely in the second category. I used to fly a PC109, now have a CX7. Given that combination (not professional and CX7 only), the flat top approach wasn't necessary, and created snag concerns that I didn't need. So I never really considered that. I had considered a Rawa. However I ended up ordering a Tonfly with a top mount at the moment for use with my CX7. I've inspected a couple people's Tonflys (DSE's, for instance), and I can say that they are really well made helmets. Nothing against Rawa, they make a fine product. I just personally liked the Tonfly more. FWIW. Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

Is your employer planning on using it as an instructive video? "Don't land out or look what might happen to you!' I suspect the result would be a lot of guys biffing into whatever obstacles are around your DZ in a desperate attempt to avoid the hawt biker action. Also, it brings a new meaning to "pounding in" on a landing. (Or having "two out".) Put your Cypres on for safer sex, I guess... /I'm here all week, tip your waitress... Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork