wolfriverjoe

Well, he learns what he wants to. From both personal experience and social media. He's made it very clear that he doesn't like facts. Particularly those facts that disagree with his feelings or beliefs. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Spam from someone selling shoes, "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Wow. I just saw the PBS Nature episode on this. To be honest, he hadn't been 'up to the task' for some time, but it's still a loss. Fucking poachers And the fucking idiots who think that "rhino horn" has magical properties "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Oh my. A bit before my time, but I always used to watch the Dragnet re-runs on "Nick At Nite" back in the 90s. That is great. Thanks Bill. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjquGpmgwOo "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, 'weak and stupid' is one thing. "Paranoid and prejudiced" is another. I know what the difference is. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, this real Christian would have driven by. I would think that the four MS13 members wanted to rob me or possibly kill me so that they could steal my car, money and credit cards to make it to their gang HQ in LA. Well, it's pretty obvious that these 'gang members' were so incompetent that four of them couldn't overpower Bill. Or maybe they did rob and murder him, but because he hasn't 'accepted Jesus', he couldn't get into heaven. So he just hung around. Seriously, it's very revealing that you automatically assume that "Mexicans" are "gang members. Not surprising that you would simply drive by out of fear of strangers though. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Still the greatest stand-up comedy bit of all time. May it never be surpassed, Jerry Baumchen And it actually happened a year or so four years ago. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It's the responsibility of the jumper to know what the policies are (landing direction is only one of the things they need to know). It's the responsibility of the DZ to inform the jumpers of the policies. If the jumper doesn't follow these policies, he (or she) should not be allowed to jump. Not a draconian "One screwup and you're gone", but blatant or repeated violations need to have consequences. My DZ has a few people with the authority to 'talk to' people. And an S&TA and DZO who are not afraid to ground people. They'd much rather have angry people on the ground than dead ones. And they have a very good DZ brief from Manifest, usually with a follow up with the S&TA. He's usually busy, but will always take a minute if needed (it may be a bit before he has a minute, but he will always find one.) "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, the latest I'm reading is that she was crossing a multi-lane street at night, in a location where there is no crosswalk. So I'm expecting a final decision that the car was not at fault. As for the goal of autonomous cars, the SAE has already defined multiple degrees of autonomy from 0-5. See the table "SAE (J3016) Autonomy Levels" here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_car#Levels_of_driving_automationv I didn't mean in this case, it's just something I've wondered about. I mean, if you want to drive down Court Street in Athens between classes the first thing you have to do is convince them that you're NOT subject to the three laws of robotics, if you know what I mean. Otherwise they'll find your starved corpse in a cobweb covered car when Summer break gets here. Well, maybe knowing that the self driving cars will run them over if they jaywalk will help with that. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

If it's a "First man down sets the pattern" DZ, then follow the first guy. If it's a "Land in the predetermined direction" then land in the predetermined direction, regardless of the tetrahedron. If winds are that light and variable, I would want to know before getting on the plane what the landing direction is. Under those conditions, 'follow the wind sock' (or tetrahedron or 'little plane') is a bad idea. That is policy at the DZ I jump at. Even if the winds switch, land in the predetermined direction. Even if it's down wind. On very rare occasions, the folks on the ground will radio up to the plane that there has been a significant change in the winds and the direction should be changed. This is in the Midwest US, and radical wind changes aren't likely to happen without a frontal or squall situation, and those are known well ahead of time. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It's not primarily about fear. It's about hope. Without God, you have no hope and you're going to die. Well, that sounds a lot like "fear" to me. Fear of death. We all face it, we're mortal. As I've heard and said a lot of times: "Nobody gets out of this one alive." I've seen people come to that realization when they have a close call, or someone close to them has a close call or dies, particularly in skydiving. Something along the lines of "I know I said I could die doing this, but I really didn't think it could happen to me." So they start to think about the finality of death.Both their own and others. And the fear that accompanies that can be pretty overwhelming. So some turn to religion, which offers the promise that they won't really die, and that they will be able to see the ones who have gone before after they die. It's a nice, comfortable, happy belief. That 'hope' is all about countering the fear. With absolutely zero evidence that there's any truth to it. Just fear, desire and belief. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

It's a bit too soon to be sure, but there have been a couple major elections where long-time R 'strongholds' fell to D 'interlopers'. There were other factors in them, but it's an interesting trend. Mid-terms are going to be rather... Contentious. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

The "Bio-Terrorism" story is both interesting and VERY disturbing. Short version - They wanted to stack the elections and take over the politics of the local town. So they spiked the local restaurant with salmonella. The idea was to make everyone sick, so the cult members would be the only ones voting. It didn't work. Wiki Clicky The footnotes in the Wiki article note a Nova episode on it. I've seen a documentary on the incident somewhere, but it could have been a different one. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

So turning someone into a pillar of salt for simply looking back at His destruction is "righteous" and "just"? Slaughtering every first born child? Putting Job through all of his trials just to prove something to Satan? (and how is it that an "all powerful God" can't simply destroy Satan? Is this some sort of comic book?) That's just 3. The Bible is full of them. And even more in the 'real world' since then. You mentioned above the concept of being punished for denying God. How about the idea that someone simply cannot believe in this garbage? Belief that is so deep that objective observation is dismissed because it disagrees with the "holy writings"? A God who "so loved the world that he gave his only son", yet apparently didn't love his son enough to keep him from dying a horrific, brutal painful death? The whole "live the way I say. If you do you get an eternity of 'heaven' and if you don't you get to burn in hell." What, is he Santa Claus? Presents for the good, coal for the bad (does Santa get the coal from the fires of hell by any chance?). A God who seems to be so punitive that anyone who doesn't 'accept Jesus' goes to hell, but the fakes, frauds and charlatans who "fleece His flock" get to live lives of comfort and luxury? I get it that it is ingrained so deeply into our culture and society that it is heresy to examine it closely and to question it, but if it wasn't, this entire fairy tale would be dismissed out of hand. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

^This. Big time. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

That was noted on this week's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on NPR. The comparison to the kids back in the 60s who protested the war and the draft. Tom Boudette then made a comment that their idealism and enthusiasm created a wave of protest that swept George McGovern into the presidency. I'm not knocking them, even though I disagree with them. More kids are killed texting and driving than by school shootings. But they feel its important enough to put the time and energy and risk the consequences of their disobedience. I respect and admire that. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Well, AFAIK, there's more evidence for the existence of Sasquatch (Bigfoot) than there for the existence of Heaven. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Eloquently put. Don Yeah, she's pretty good at that.

Ok, because it's 'religion', it goes in SC, but I posted a Poll on this. And because it started here, "boobies" is an option. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

There was a bit of discussion in the Bonfire, in regards to Stephen Hawking passing. Someone posted a cartoon of him sitting in his wheelchair at the bottom of the 'stairway to Heaven.' and the comment was made that it wasn't accurate because he was an atheist and wouldn't go there. Soooo... Can an atheist make it into Heaven, presuming Heaven exists? From one point of view, it's a clear "No." According to the more vocal Christians, the bible clearly states that "No man shall come to the Father except through me", meaning anyone who doesn't 'accept Jesus as his personal savior' is out of luck. OTOH, it also states something to the effect of those who don't will spend time in limbo or purgatory, awaiting judgement day, when their eternal fate will be decided. Some folks believe that a good person will be allowed into Heaven, no matter what they did or didn't believe. That it's deeds, not words. And of course, some firmly believe that there is no Heaven or Hell at all, that it's all just made up. But they might be wrong. So, as I noted in the Bonfire, Hawking was an amazingly intelligent man. By most accounts he was a kind and humble man too. A decent fella. Would God create this sort of man, and then punish him with eternal damnation because he wasn't able to believe in an entity that has zero evidence? Only faith and belief? And of course, because the idea started in the Bonfire, "boobies" has to be an option. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Could you explain that more clearly? I’m not a rigger but I am an mechanical engineer with education on aerodynamics and I’m not quite understanding what you’re saying about loading. If I read and understood it correctly, he's saying that the crossbrace allows the canopy to stay more rigid at lower airspeeds because it relies less on pressurization for rigidity. If I'm wrong on that, someone please correct me. And the idea of crossbraced accuracy canopies is amusing. Unlikely, because they accuracy folks don't need super-efficient wings to do what they do. They can fly a (relatively) crappy and inefficient wing to where they want to go because they know how to fly it and wringing the last little bit of performance out of it isn't needed. Swoopers, OTOH, need every last little bit (and then some) out of their wing. When fractions of a second determine who is on the podium and who is an "also ran", it matters. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

yeah that is what I was trying to say. No one believes Steven is going to heaven. Christians believe non-believers won't be there, non-believers don't believe it exists at all. Well, there are other religions than Christianity. Most of them believe in some sort of afterlife. And some Christians would accept than non-Christians could get into heaven (Ghandi for example). Hawking was a brilliant man. And by most accounts, kind and humble too. Kind of odd that "God" would create such a person, and then throw him into the 'pits of hell' for questioning His existence. Of which there is zero proof. Just belief and faith. Interesting question. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

Cost and bulk. It would make a typical sport canopy cost a fair amount more (no idea exactly how much). It would make a 170 pack really huge. And for what? It makes the airfoil more rigid and more efficient. But the average jumper doesn't need that. Kinda like putting ultra-high performance tires on a Kia. Yes, it will make it perform better. But not enough to matter. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I don't think we should be promoting races to see who's quickest. Yes, we teach students a two hands each handle sequenced EP, but most people at some point will transition to a one hand per handle EP. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's seen someone on their first cutaway immediately grab both handles and jam them simultaneously and nearly have an entanglement. Smooth, deliberate and accurate is better than fastfastfast. To clarify a bit: It was not the fastest to pull the handles. It was first to recognize the mal, choose a course of action and execute that action. It had to be the correct decision, not just cut it away. There were two good canopies in the mix. One was 'plain old good', the other had end cell closures. Cutting away either of those would not have been the correct decision. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

I don't think that 'historical' results are really going to apply this time. It's a lot more complicated (and a lot simpler too). Look at the disapproval ratings instead of the approval. Trump is pretty much hated by those who don't like him. There's not a whole lot of middle ground. A lot of the folks that stayed home a year and a half ago are pretty pissed. They may or may not regret not voting for HRC, but they are certainly going to make sure they vote next time. And there's a fairly large amount of people who voted either R (but maybe not Trump) or 3rd party who are not going to do that again. I'm in that group. I've never voted D in a national or major state election before, but there's a very good chance I will at the midterms. I'm almost certainly never going to vote R again in my life. The desire to "dump Trump" is pretty strong. The Governor's races in VA & NJ, the Senate race in AL and this one are all very interesting. Places that were Republican strongholds are falling (Trump won that PA district by 22%). These races may well be a harbinger of things to come. I think a veto proof D majority in both the House & Senate is possible. Maybe not likely, but possible. And despite the damage that may do to gun rights, I'd love to see Trump emasculated that way. "There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy "~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo