wolfriverjoe

Where are you located? "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 Rs gerrymandered very well. Well enough, at least that a 5 million vote shortfall could still get a "Mango Mussolini" elected president. The fact that the president has no clue how to actually lead anything doesn't seem to matter to his supporters, or to the Rs that are in congress. Something along the lines of "you reap what you sow" comes to mind. "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, we know he was in Canada in that timeframe. He rode TK Hayes' sled. He must have gotten up to some other shenanigans at the same 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

True. Trump claims that all the voter fraud was perpetrated by illegal immigrants who all voted for HRC. The reality that there was virtually no voter fraud, much was committed by Rs, and that the Russians hacked into the system has been, is and will be completely ignored by the Mango Mussolini (thanks Ryoder, I'm soooo stealing that 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

Senate? Forget it, he's rolling. (not a direct quote, but what I changed it to fits better ) "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 really isn't new. They knew shortly after the election that the systems had been accessed by 'unauthorized individuals', and they strongly suspected the Russians. They were also pretty sure that, while access had been gained, no changes or alterations or fraud had happened. "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

Just make sure your candidate isn't a self-professed Nazi, like our GOP candidate is. Oh, absolutely. But it seems like the Nazis are gravitating towards the GOP. On a serious note, you are metro Chicago, right? Has there been a R rep from there in recent memory? I know the 'downstate' areas often elect R reps, but not so much in the Chicago area. Does the Nazi have any real chance of winning? Or is he just running because nobody else was willing to lose? "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, RFK was not working with a halfwit. For a real nightmare, just imagine the Cuban Missile Crisis with Mango Mussolini in charge. Well, Trump is not going to have an easy time finding someone to "have his back", seeing that it has become obvious to everyone that Trump has no problems 'stabbing anyone in the back' if it suit him. This isn't really news to anyone who has paid attention to him in the past, but it's become more and more apparent since he took office. Also, he wants someone to 'craft a midterm message'. What message? "I can't pass anything, except tax cuts for the rich." "I support Nazis & sexual predators." "I'm going to build a wall and make AMERICA pay for it." "America, the best country Russia can buy." The backlash at the midterms should be interesting. Personally, I'm going to vote for a D for congress for the first time ever. "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

Haha, I highly doubt that a disguised person can hang in Lodi and pass unnoticed. Bill even charges "hang out" tickets if someone is hanging there and is not jumping. If people refuse he tells them to fuck off the area. Really? So tandem students aren't allowed to have family and friends come watch? Or are they required to leave after the jump is done? Or are simple spectators who want to watch the jumping charged? We get folks parking along the road, watching (maybe 50 yards from tandem landings). We get locals coming in and watching from the spectator area (not a lot, but some). Every once in a while, one decides to make a jump. They often buy stuff from the vending machines. The DZO thinks it's good 'neighbor relations' to be nice to them. Have you been to Bill's operation? Plenty of space to sit outside and watch. Not really any area to sit around and inconspicuously watch the cash flows of the DZ. He would notice you, ask if you were going to jump or what you were doing. If you said anything to the effect of I'm watching friends/family jump or watching people jump because I might want to jump myself, he would say the watching area is outside. I doubt you are going to get away with the excuse of that you would like to watch the 5 minute promo video, or other peoples tandem skydives on the TV for two hours. No. As I noted, I don't know the operation at all. I know a bit about surveillance and observation. As I noted, the manifest area where I jump is very busy, with lines for the desk, busy staff and lots of people. For an observer to stay towards the back, move in and out a bit, but continue to observe the check ins would not be terribly difficult. If Lodi is different, so be it. "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 can't believe nobody mentioned the sign on the dash. The letters are fairly large, but I'm not sure I'd call them 'friendly'. "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 think you are confusing the old USSR with the new Russia. Christianity is now celebrated. Gays and feminists are persecuted. And reporters. At least those who report on anything Putin doesn't like. Russia is a very dangerous place to be a journalist. https://cpj.org/europe/russia/ "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

Haha, I highly doubt that a disguised person can hang in Lodi and pass unnoticed. Bill even charges "hang out" tickets if someone is hanging there and is not jumping. If people refuse he tells them to fuck off the area. Really? So tandem students aren't allowed to have family and friends come watch? Or are they required to leave after the jump is done? Or are simple spectators who want to watch the jumping charged? We get folks parking along the road, watching (maybe 50 yards from tandem landings). We get locals coming in and watching from the spectator area (not a lot, but some). Every once in a while, one decides to make a jump. They often buy stuff from the vending machines. The DZO thinks it's good 'neighbor relations' to be nice to them. "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

What fear, specifically, is holding you back from doing AFF? There are lots of things people are afraid of. Some are reasonable (fear of screwing up the landing and getting hurt, for example), some aren't (fear of a double mal for example). Training and knowledge can help mitigate some of that. Keep in mind that stepping out of an airplane 2+ miles up is a very unnatural act. If you aren't afraid, at least the first few times, there is something wrong with you. Or you don't fully understand what you are getting yourself into. I used to jump with a TI who had awesome 'student interaction' skills. He was a very good judge of what to say and how to say it for any given student. He understood who to joke with, who to be 'gentle' to, that sort of thing. One of his comments would be "Did you know that 2 instinctive fears for humans is heights and loud noises? Even babies are afraid of those. In a minute, we're going to open the door, lean out and take a look. The wind will be loud and it will be a long way down. Have fun!" Jenn's (Namowhal) cartoons are great. Probably the best and most accurate depiction of the beginner experience I've ever come across. Very good description of the fears and some of the underlying aspects of it. Also, don't be 'afraid to be afraid.' There will be fear. Understand that and work with it. Courage isn't the absence of fear, it's 'saddling up and going ahead, even when you are scared silly' (paraphrasing John Wayne). Early on, I had a lot of fear issues. Some of it is still there and always will be. I had a very experienced camera flyer tell me that, even after thousands of jumps, he was still nervous on the plane. He said that if that ever went away completely, then he wasn't taking the risks seriously and it would be time to hang it up. "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

Steve Wynn, former RNC finance chair, resigned from his own company. He resigned from the RNC due to allegations of sexual misconduct, and has now left the company he founded because those "little problems" just won't go away. One of the claims is that he paid out $7.5 million to a woman over claims he pressured her into sex. And there are many, many other claims. "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's funny, the sequence made me think of THIS. I know perfectly well there's no way anything but a Tesla was going to come out of that nosecone, but I was still disappointed not to see a 57 Vette. "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's actually addressed in the "twitter cascade" that Normiss linked. Maybe they didn't trust him, maybe they wanted to double check his info, maybe a variety of things. Was he an FBI informant from the beginning? Was he originally working for the Russians and the FBI 'turned' him? It's waaaaay too early to draw any real conclusions. But it's been the 'year of the anonymous source' since Trump took office. For a variety of reasons, the Trump White House has more leaks than any previous administration in memory. And most of what's been reported has turned out to be accurate. If these reports are accurate (and that is yet to be seen), then one of Trump's inner circle during the campaign was informing on him from the beginning. Could prove to be very damaging. Or it could be a "nothing burger." The next couple of weeks may be very interesting. "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

More profits for the owners. No pensions or health care for the retirees if they are dead. "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

Good point. "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

Some interesting facts (I haven't checked them, so it could be wrong): Belichick has never won a Superbowl the same year that Saban won a National title. The Patriots have lost every Superbowl that they won the coin toss in. They won it this year. The league MVP hasn't won the Superbowl since 1999. Brady won MVP. The league leader in passing yards has never won the Superbowl. Brady was that leader this year. For those that believe in these sorts of things, superstitions, omens, predictors or whatever you wish to call them, the Patriots were doomed from the start. Or its just a funky set of coincidences. "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

Given the typical 'turf fights' between local law enforcement and the FBI, I kind of doubt that they are working together unless they have to. Some of the stories from the NYPD/FBI 'cooperative' investigations against the mob are legendary. Waivers and CC receipts are proof jumps were made. If the income reported is more in line with the CC numbers, and there are extra waivers, then it is an indication that income was not reported. They seized videos too. If there are videos for people who's names aren't among the names on the CC slips, then more indication. There's also a reasonably simple technique of having an agent in the manifest area, keeping an eye on check ins. He (or she) could get an idea of cash to CC ratios. I don't know Lodi at all, but where I jump, it's busy enough and crowded enough that a spectator could blend in for a couple hours without being noticed. And my understanding is that Bill is an A&P (if I'm wrong on that, correction is welcome). Unless he was paying himself for the work done (or not done) on the planes, there wouldn't be any financial records, just the aircraft logs. Nothing shady or illegal about a business owner doing work without pay or records of the 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

Fixed it for you. They've brought it to a new level of sophistication, it's only because it's their turn. Wendy P. Maybe,, but maybe not. Drawing districts to benefit the ones doing the drawing has gone on for a long, long time. But the Rs have taken it to a level not seen before. To the point that people are basically being disenfranchised. The Rs are also the ones pushing very hard for the Voter ID laws. Which have been shown to disproportionately affect demographics that are likely to vote D. While I could be wrong, and the Ds really don't hold any "moral high ground", I haven't seen or heard any real efforts by them to disenfranchise R voters. "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

And the Confederate Flag isn't a symbol of racism. "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

Didn't we have this discussion a few months ago? My answer is "No." Age alone is not a determining factor. But I agree that "liability" in other areas is a factor. I wouldn't pack, for instance, a Micro Raven for someone who is overloading it (or anyone overloading any reserve). That could be considered an "ancient design issue". I haven't had it be an issue, but I would say something like: You're overloading this thing rather badly. It's not going to be good if you have to fly and land it. I won't pack it. If they complain that another rigger has repeatedly packed it for them, I would suggest they go back to that rigger. "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

First off, make sure you read the sticky about "taking advice" from here. You don't know any of us, and taking advice from strangers on the internet, about stuff that is a matter of life and death, is not always a good move. Second off, a PD 190 is not a good canopy for your skill level. Period. Likely ragged out, didn't fly all that great when new. I understand it came with the container, but you should really consider retiring it. They make nice indoor car covers. To answer the question in the title (not exactly the question you are asking): Maybe. A nice, gentle, forgiving 190, loaded at 1:1 may not be a bad choice for you. How are your landings? How is your accuracy? How are your general canopy flight skills? I highly doubt you've competed the entire downsizing checklist Billvon has on here (look in the "safety articles"), but if your skills are reasonably solid, you can likely be reasonably safe on a 190. I went from 288 Mantas (variety of them, some new, some ragged out pretty bad) to a Triathlon 190. loaded almost exactly at 1:1, somewhere under 50 jumps. My canopy skills were good (for my jump numbers), I had some serious discussions with a variety of instructors at my DZ, had a good understanding of what I was getting into and chose a 'good' day (moderate but steady winds) to fly it the first time. I pulled fairly high and went through a 'checklist' of maneuvers before getting low enough to enter the pattern. Flares and stalls, turns of different toggle input, slow flight and dives (single front riser diving turns and double front riser straight dives). And it went fine. It took 10 or 15 jumps to get more or less 'dialed in' with it, but I had no real issues, no close calls, no reason to regret or second guess my choice. It certainly wouldn't hurt to do a few (or more) jumps on an intermediate sized canopy, but that wasn't an option for me. Standard disclaimer: Not an instructor, didn't even stay in a Holiday Inn last night,use at own risk, close cover before striking, contains flammable gas under pressure. "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

Can he swim? "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