wolfriverjoe

18. Color Glossy photographs. With circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was. "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

Doubtful. They can always say that they were detaining you in order to find out what had happened (which is legal) and that they didn't want you out of the car on the side of the road for safety reasons (which is actually a valid concern - lots of officers and citizens have been killed that way). It doesn't mean that they didn't keep you there knowing full well what the truth was. It doesn't mean they didn't keep you there just to fuck with your head. But you will have a very hard time proving 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

Interesting question ~ I surely would, heck compared to when I started jumping in the 70's - there IS no risk now. After a certain amount of time / experience, I think one does their all to mitigate what risk there is...would someone not yet at that 'threshold' still jump if it was 100% guaranteed? I wonder... While not "Zero Risk", a tunnel is certainly much lower risk than actually jumping. They are pretty popular. Human flight has had appeal since before recorded history (maybe even since before you were a kid ). I don't jump for the rush from "cheating death," I do it for the rush of human flight. "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

Pffftt...I married a REDHEAD! Hey!! We're talking about "thrillseeking" behavior. Not "Death Seeking" behavior. "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 depends a lot on your point of view. The "Flag Etiquette" rules are pretty clear. You are in the military, I'm going to assume you are familiar with them. But what is listed as "proper" and what is acceptable has changed over the years. It used to be that wearing it as decoration on clothing (not a properly displayed patch) was not ok. Abbie Hoffman took flak for wearing his "Flag Shirt" at the Viet Nam protest in Washington DC, but there was an almost identical shirt worn by a serving General who led the "Rolling Thunder" motorcycle ride a few years back. And of course, right after the terrorist attacks in 2001, you weren't patriotic enough if you weren't wearing a flag on just about every article of clothing. "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

Hell that will probably start the first interstellar war humanity will be involved in. Well, the fact that no aliens have tried to make contact with us is probably the biggest indicator that there is intelligent life out there (paraphrased from Calvin & Hobbes). "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

Remember? No. Know how to type "On top of spaghetti Lyrics" into google? Yep. 1st Result "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 only time I've seen this happen is when they don't pull the cat-eye below the ring. It's an easy enough mistake for a newer jumper (or one who doesn't pack for themselves much) to make. "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 "office" (swipes finger across side of nose) "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

Very true. But for the most part the families & other spectators don't interact very much with the staff. And parents should keep a close eye on their kids at the DZ for a lot of reasons. Safety being one that is far above any potential predators. "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

Bolding mine. Are those "other sports" ones that involve children? In most cases, background checks that involve finding out if a person is a registered sex offender are for jobs that involve kids. And skydiving participants, by BSR, have to be adults. And there's no differentiation on the registration list for "serious" or "not-so-serious" offenders or offenses. So the reality is "not going to happen." And, for the reasons stated above by others, I don't think it should happen. After all, some of the worst predators have never been caught. (Follow the links Amazon posted). "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

uh, the Guardian and the FBI aren't the same thing, and this citation doesn't show CA at 40th lowest for gun deaths (when the data clearly shows it should be 33rd) and says nothing about gun laws. It does show quite clearly that whatever you were posting from prior, it did include suicides because CA, per the Guardian, has a rate of 3.25/100k instead of 9. And instead of having a lower than average gun death rate, it has a worse than average (2.75), trailing 31 states. I remember in this thread there was an article posted where the author combined a bunch of rankings in a goofy way which is probably what happened in jclalor's original list as well. It's easier to correlate "permissive gun laws" with gun violence when one of the metrics you use to indicate gun violence is permissive gun laws. It's also easy to inflate "gun violence" statistics by including those who were killed by Law Enforcement or lawful self defense too. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2344866/Anti-gun-group-names-Tamerlan-Tsarnaev-VICTIMS-gun-violence-rally.html The article mentions Tsarnaev by name, but the list they called out included a lot more "non-victims." Another similar article: http://www.examiner.com/article/more-bloomy-outrage-cop-killers-other-criminals-on-gun-victim-list But the anti-gun crowd has never really cared about truth and accuracy. "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

To answer your questions: Line twists happen sometimes. Under the large, docile canopy you will start out with, they are not a real issue. You kick out of them and get on with your canopy flight. No. A downwind landing, under a slow, docile student canopy, in the winds you would be limited to as a student, will not be a huge deal. Avoid it if practical, but don't turn yourself into the ground trying to avoid it. Learn to PLF (parachute landing fall). It is the falling roll that is used to make a hard landing less of an impact. It is a good tool to have available. Not really. But don't worry about it. It's not all that hard. And don't worry about the canopy not opening. They almost always do. The number of incidents that happen because of gear malfunction is very small. Most are "operator error." If you want to know what AFF is really like, read the Skydiving Duck. Hands down the best depiction of the training I have ever seen. Done by a student as she progressed through the training. "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

Make sure you have your logbook and A-license card. Make sure they have accurate and complete information about what you have done in your training so far. Make sure you have contact info for your old DZ & instructor(s) so that any DZ you end up at can verify where you are. You may have to do a jump or two to demonstrate you do know what your logbook/card say that you should know, but you shouldn't have to start over from the beginning. "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

Actually yes. My friend's tandem pants finally showed up last week. That is the third and final item he ordered. The order was placed on Aug 3, 2013 at SDC Summerfest. Chris had to ask for his shipping address. Apparently they lost it. WTF? The pants were behind the camera jacket and the full belly suit because they were first made with a 46 waist, instead of his 36. 46 inch waist? the TI would be so heavy he'd need a tandem rig to do solo jumps. And the pants came without booties, which were ordered (and paid for) as an option. He's also jumped the belly suit. He said it gives lots of power for tracking, but seems to be sewn somewhat asymmetrically because he has to compensate for a "built in" turn when tracking (he knows how to track straight). The neck is also too small, so he can't close the top correctly. The delivery times were a joke. The customer service was pathetic. The gear is not as ordered. He isn't the only one. I've seen 3 other FFS products. A pair of FF pants, a FF suit and a wingsuit. The only one that fit properly was the FF suit. The other two were way off. Anyone who recommends these guys... I'm kind of wondering what the hell you are smoking. I would never, ever, ever order anything from FreeFall Suits. Ever. And in post 26, Chris makes a couple of claims that are complete and utter bullshit. He never spoke to my friend. They exchanged texts and e-mails, never actual voice communication. My friend never told Chris (or Weaverd for that matter) that he was "Happy" about the situation, even getting the camera jacket for free as compensation for the crap he had to put up with. He texted that he was glad that Chris had gotten through his personal issues and was back with the company, but did not use the word "happy" or "glad" about the overall situation. He wanted to know why I was posting such negative vibes. It's because the community needs to know what kind of product and customer service these guys are providing. "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 to pile on a little more, search "Rigger as escrow" for more info. Short version: You and seller agree on an independent 3rd party to inspect gear (rigger, DZO, dealer) Seller sends gear. Escrow agent inspects gear, gives you green light. You send seller money. Seller tells escrow agent that funds have arrived and cleared. Escrow agent sends you gear. A lot of dealers will do the escrow part for free, they get paid for the inspection process. Chutingstar is one. Look on their site for more info. Legit private sellers shouldn't have a problem with it. It protects them as well as you. "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

Not really. At least not in this particular case. This is some of the worst possible grazing land. The very bottom of the barrel. The few hundred head of cattle (few thousand if you consider all that used to be there) aren't even a drop in the bucket to the beef industry. There is a lot better land, and a lot of it, elsewhere for cattle. We don't have a grazing land shortage in this country. We do have a few people who feel that they are entitled to use federal land however they like regardless of consequences because they have always done it. I'm curious about your statement that there is 'a lot' of grazing land in this country. Is that your assessment or do you have a source for that statement? I keep reading and hearing that we are losing millions of acres of farm and ranchland annually due to 'urban sprawl'. Also, if there is such an abundance of grazing land... why are ranchers leasing government land for grazing in our Western states? Chuck Sorry for the delay, Chuck. Haven't had much chance to catch up here. I don't have any source for this, it's a personal assessment based on a bit of personal knowledge, observations around the country and "gut feeling." It could also be very wrong. There is a huge (I mean really huge) amount of grazing land in the middle of the country. Good, well watered pasture. Much of it is too dry for food crops (corn, wheat, beans ect), but adequate for grass/alfalfa. Some of it is unsuitable for food crops for other reasons, like contour (too steep/hilly) or soil conditions. Here in Wisconsin, there is a huge dairy industry. The cattle graze pasture during the summer, plus the farmers have additional fields growing alfalfa that gets stored for winter feeding. Out west (Montana, Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas) it takes more acreage per animal, but still nowhere near what it takes on the land in question. Where the amount of land per animal gets higher, and where the land is mostly owned by the federal government, then leasing the land makes more sense than owning it. I'm not sure that it is even possible for the ranchers to buy the BLM land they lease. Urban sprawl is taking a lot of land, cities like to expand. Grazing land and cropland is being developed. But it's a tiny fraction of the arable land. It sure won't appear that way when the government decides to "appropriate" half of a friend's property, but it really isn't all that much compared to how much is really out there. And the beef industry isn't facing any hard times. Nor will it any time soon, at least not for lack of land. The US is still way up near the top for per capita beef consumption, and we are 4th in the world in beef exports. Wiki Clicki The land Bundy uses/used/wants to use is really marginal for cattle. If it was really usable, there would be wild grazers living on it (antelope, elk, bison, ect.) Those sorts of animals are quite common on good grazing land. It would be far better overall, IMO, to get the cattle off that land and let it land go back to it's natural state. Which is what the BLM has been trying to do. "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'm guessing he means posted here on Dizzydot. I have a WiFi hotspot attached to my cell account. I drive truck across the country (mostly eastern) and have posted from truck stops, rest areas, shippers and receivers all over. I'd have to say on the side of I 72 near Quincy IL, waiting for road service to come and fix my tire. Had a flat and goofed off online waiting for the guy to show 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

Pulp What? "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

Not really. At least not in this particular case. This is some of the worst possible grazing land. The very bottom of the barrel. The few hundred head of cattle (few thousand if you consider all that used to be there) aren't even a drop in the bucket to the beef industry. There is a lot better land, and a lot of it, elsewhere for cattle. We don't have a grazing land shortage in this country. We do have a few people who feel that they are entitled to use federal land however they like regardless of consequences because they have always done 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

+ 1 Don't let the narrow-minded try to shape you to fit their world. Don This^ You have to be true to yourself. Those who understand that will accept you for who you are. Those that don't, won't. To put it another way, those who mind don't matter, those who matter don't 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

That's great. The comments are pretty good too. I can only hope that it's real. "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

Did your job at 12 expose you to toxic chemicals? The pesticides that are used on tobacco are pretty toxic to people too. The nicotine in the tobacco is also a poison. It is absorbed through the skin when the fresh leaves are handled without good gloves. The kids regularly exhibit typical symptoms of nicotine poisoning. "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

Unusual but not unknown. There are a few SF guys that are both dog handlers and MFF qualified. There are also search & rescue dogs that have been taught to jump. If an earthquake closes all the roads (due to landslides, bridges down, ect) then jumping is often the only way in. The people buried in the debris can't wait for the roads to re-open. Most of the ones I know of go in a tandem setup though. I'd never seen a dog go solo S/L before. "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 won't pick them up and I wouldn't ever hitchhike myself anymore. I did it a few times (without incident) back when I was young and immortal. Far too much risk. And I'm an adult male in pretty decent shape, with a few useful skills. For you, a smaller woman with a baby? No fucking way. Period. While the weirdos and psychos are fairly rare, the downside of "catching" one is just too severe. And the biggest problem is that the most dangerous usually appear harmless. Look at Ted Bundy. Or the Scorpio killer. Handsome, charming, psychopathic killers. "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