wolfriverjoe

So what are Florida's standards for issuing a permit and how did the morons circumvent them?? Background check (no felonies or involuntary commitments) and a training class, IIRC. I highly doubt these people "circumvented" them. I do agree that the guy arrested for opening fire from the door of the store is a moron. The other permit holder was not arrested. As a matter of fact, he was injured. There aren't any "intelligence" tests. At least none beyond read, write and be able to pass the class. There aren't any sanity tests either. This sort of thing happens on occasion, rarely, but they happen. The major media usually picks up on them because they are sensational. Did you hear about the drunk driver who killed a mom with 2 young children recently? I doubt it. It doesn't make the news. How could that moron have gotten a driver's license? How could he have circumvented the process that determines a person's future actions and decides who is going to kill someone else? Oh right... There isn't 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

I'm a little late, but here goes: Pros: It can be a lucrative job, often the packers make the most money on the DZ. You get to hang out at the DZ. You get to meet an amazing cross section of people. Some are world famous. Cons: Some DZs are rather tough to get a job at. Since it's one of the most lucrative jobs, it's also one of the most sought after. Make sure you are legal. Some people ignore the rules and laws about working in a different country. Some get away with it. Some don't. The consequences can be severe. It is very hard work. Can you spend all day bent over, on your knees, working your hands hard? I can't. Speed is essential. If you can't pack a rig in less than 10 minutes, you won't do very well. There are threads on here about the ways packers go as fast as they do. Short version is that they have very refined technique. They don't waste a single second or a single motion. I'm not trying to trample on your dreams, but packing is a tough job. If you aren't willing and able to work very hard, all day long; then it might not be for you. If you don't have much experience packing, then simply going overseas and trying to do it may not work out very well. Try it at your home DZ. Try packing for a bunch of people, all day long. At the end of the day, when your hands, back and knees are sore, you can barely grip a can of beer, and your eyes are crossing from trying to thread the pullup cord through the grommets, then decide if you want to try it full time. If you can do it, great. It can be an awesome opportunity to travel and see places, meet people and jump a little. Good luck "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

Right. There's no "IF" about it. It's offensive. How the hell somebody didn't think it was offensive is what I'm commenting on. The girl's comment was "IF" it was offensive. It clearly is. It's in poor taste. It's offensive. It's their right to be offensive. I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with them being so stupid as to attempt to deny it's offensive. They care not BEING offensive, you CHOOSE to take offense. I find nothing offensive about it at all. Taste and offensiveness is not universal Very true. A lot of people aren't offended by that costume. I'm not. To say that they didn't intend to offend anyone may be true. But to not realize how offensive a lot of people would find that costume is pretty ignorant. Sort of like Prince Harry dressing as a Nazi. Again, I wasn't offended by it. But I understand why a lot of people were. Halloween has become 2 things. How offensive of a costume can I come up with? How slutty can a woman dress? "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

Probably. You are under the supervision of a rigger (your dad) and meet the legal requirements. The arguments about what "Supervision" and "Direct Supervision" mean grow into very long threads. I'd probably want to watch you pack a couple of rigs before I'd hand you mine, and I'd probably watch you do mine the first couple of times. I had a kid who was probably 15 or 16 packing for me a couple years ago at Summerfest. One of the regulars vouched for him, and he did fine. "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 disagree that it is a 50/50 split too. But a bit differently. I would guess that 50% simply don't care. Of the rest, 25% pro-gun and 25% anti isn't unreasonable. And the Pro-gun people are far more vociferous about keeping their rights than the Anti people are about taking them away. Look at the legislation that was proposed last spring here in the US. Polls showed 90% in favor. When it failed, the polls showed a much different response when asked "Are you happy it failed" with about 40% happy it failed. Another 40 were unhappy and 20 didn't care. (Those results were posted in one of the threads about it. I could be somewhat wrong on the numbers, I'm going from memory) And the congresscreatures reported receiving far more mail opposed to the legislation than in favor of it. Mainly because those opposed to it had more motivation to actually write letters and postcards than those in favor of 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

You can get the FAA Parachute Rigger Handbook as a free download from the FAA. No sense in spending a bunch of money for a hard copy. "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 out of curiosity, how about Sexual Assault charges? It was unwanted and unwarranted (search warrant wasn't applicable in that county) penetration of the guy. I doubt the doctors got any sexual gratification from the procedure, but it does fit the definition. "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

How in the world did they get the car into that sub??? "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;1 Did my first Pumpkin Drop! God that was hilarious. Lots of people so only one shot each. Missed with the Pumpkin by 60 feet or so. Misjudged how much the wind wouldn't drop off near the ground so I ended up well short of the landing target. But it was still a great way to spend the day. The sight and sound of pumpkins hitting the ground from 500' never got old. "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 C&D guys raced the Flying magazine guys a few times. One was a Porsche against the Porsche powered Mooney. They made the race "fairer" by requiring the pilot to start the race in town (usually at the hotel they were staying in) and end by going into town. The plane always won. "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

Brock Yates' book covered the routes fairly well. 80 to 76 (in Ohio) to 71 to 70 to 44 to 40. Yates had a kind of short cut in New Mexico to get down to 10. There's been enough new roads that there's probably a better way from 40 to LA these days. They had (according to the story I linked) an independent tracking company verify their trip. They also had triple fuel capacity (2 extra fuel cells in the trunk). Saving time on fuel stops has always been one of the keys to the Cannonball. A couple entrants in the first one had vans with huge tanks (the "Arkansas Tankers" and the Polish team) And they had laser jammers. They are illegal in some places, but not all. They instantaneously return a signal to the lidar (laser gun) that keeps it from getting a speed reading. Detectors are legal (except in Commercial vehicles) everywhere in the US except Virginia and Washington DC. I agree that not pissing off other drivers (especially the trucks) would be vital. The cops are too much in touch with each other that too many reports of a silver Mercedes doing triple digit speeds would have resulted in them getting stopped. The Cannonball in 72 had a real problem with that in New Mexico. The last one in 79 had a problem with that on 44 in Missouri. A couple people ended up in jail. "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 know we have a few car enthusiasts here. A new coast-to-coast speed record was set a couple weeks ago. 2803 miles in 28 hours, 50 minutes and 30 seconds. From the Red Ball Garage in NYC to the Portofino in Redondo Beach. 100 mph moving average, 98 mph overall. 158 mph top speed. 46 minutes total stop time. A lot of people didn't believe 30 hours could be broken. It's a real shame Brock Yates is in a home, suffering from Alzheimers. Cannonball Baker would be proud. http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/31/us/new-york-los-angeles-cannonball-speed-record/ "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

Why would they ban during just that period? For plowing snow? Yes. If there's cars parked, the plows have a hard time. They try to plow during the middle of the night/really early morning if possible. If it's not, then there's a big mess from the cars parked during the day. At least until the next night when they run the grader all over town. That scrapes down to the pavement pretty well. It's common up here in Wisconsin to ban overnight street parking in winter. Some places ban it year round - you can do it for a night or two if you call the cops and let them know, but you can't do it on a regular basis. "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 makes you feel better you aren't alone. Where I live they ban overnight street parking from Dec 1 through March 31. I always get a laugh out of my neighbors who park on the street on Nov 30. It becomes Dec 1 after midnight. On the bright side, the cops often hang warning fliers (just sheets of printer paper with the rules and a warning) the first night. "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 friends of mine have done that. The husband sits on the porch in costume while the wife opens the door and hands out candy. The husband doesn't move until the kids are about to leave (and, no he doesn't do it to the little ones). The best part is when the more observant kids ask "Is he real?" The wife will answer "No, he's just a dummy." "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 not really aware of the conservatives claiming that gays can't raise children properly. Their arguments are far more along the lines of "It's a sin" or "It demeans the meaning of marriage" or similar garbage. "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

Yes, I know the pic you are talking about. The side of the 182 is torn open from the door frame back to the back of the passenger compartment. It's in the "Skydiver's Handbook" IIRC. I can't find it with a Google search, can't find it searching here either. "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 so. There was a situation a couple of years ago where a new member created a bit of confusion by adopting the screen name "Skymamma1." This made people think she was trying to impersonate the real Skymamma (she wasn't). Even with His Head Honchoness involved, she had to create an entirely new account. You might try to ask this question in the "Suggestions and Feedback" forum (at the bottom of the list on my screen). Meso is pretty good at responding to those sorts of questions. "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 haven't given out candy in years, but when I did I always had two baskets to hand out from. The little kids in costume would get the "good stuff" basket - Mini-chocolate bars, the bigger packs of hard candy, that sort of thing. The teenagers without costumes would get the micro packs of candy corn. Or one Hershey's Kiss. I would sometimes get a "Is that all?" look. I'd look them in the eye and say "You sure put a lot of effort into that costume, didn't 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

Natalie died today. She never did make her jump. But she did a lot of things on her bucket list. "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

Yes, I did know that. Unfortunately, despite years of trying, I am unable to move stuff telepathically. I couldn't even use the "Jedi Mind Trick" to get my dog to stop barking. I even used the "hand gesture" and everything (I had taught him hand signals for most commands - the rotating the hand with fingers extended was the one for "stop barking") My midichlorian count must be too low. "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

Much more of a pain in the ass when there's a huge center console... like in a HMMWV. Yes and no. It's rarely all that hard to reach over and take the wheel. Most of my practice is along those lines. It's a little strange to steer from the "wrong side" of the car, but with a little practice, it's no problem. You won't drive the car out of a bad situation with an incapacitated driver, but you will be able to control the car well enough to keep from driving into a tree or oncoming traffic if the driver has a heart attack. To manipulate the pedals, you either need a bench seat or help from the driver. "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

A life skill everyone should learn. It's a handy thing to know. How to hit another car to disable it without disabling your own. Where to push to move it out of the way (hint: the back is usually a lot lighter than the front). Another fun one is driving from the passenger seat. In case the driver is incapacitated or too busy doing something else. At the risk of moving this to SC, sheep just sit there and take it, sheepdogs have teeth and know how to use 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

Weird Al. The Night Santa Went Crazy Pretty "non-traditional." "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. There are actually very few predators out there. The vast majority of folks are not "up to no good." A bit of caution, attention to body language, awareness of surroundings, normal "situational awareness" will go a long way towards staying safe. And most people understand sensible precautions (like asking the guy from the utility to see an ID) I drive truck, and am often in fairly sketchy areas. There are some places that I will not get out of the truck after dark. There are truck stops that I will not park overnight at. I get the occasional "sob story" from someone begging for money. I never give it. The best ones are the people begging for gas money - often wearing high-end designer clothes. They get a little annoyed when I refuse to give them anything, but offer $50 for a $300 jacket. There's also a pretty common scam where a guy offers to sell a cheap gold plated necklace (or bracelet or something) in a very nice box with a receipt from somewhere for a real one valued at several hundred dollars. "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