wolfriverjoe

Does my hypothetical wife look hot in cowboy boots and shorts?? Oh, wait... That's the other poll. "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

An energy that most religions call "God". It's an energy that our science cannot measure, and our vocabulary is quite limited in describing. What makes you think it exists? For me, subjective, emotional evidence that leads me to believe in the existence of a god of some sort. Again, evidence that doesn't meet a level of scientific "proof". But it is enough to convince me (mostly anyway, I'm not completely sure). "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

Zero proof. Lots of evidence. None of it is scientific, repeatable, experiemental data. It's usually anecdotal, personal and very very subjective. Kind of like eyewitness testimony in court. It has value as evidence, but isn't proof in any way, shape or form. Big difference between evidence and proof. The evidence I was referring to was defined earlier as scientific. Yeah, I saw that you had narrowed your definition of "evidence" to the level of "scientific proof" after I made my post. From dictionary.com I'm still going to disagree with you. Those are two different levels of evidence. You are looking for proof (of which there is none), I'm willing to accept the "grounds for belief" part. YOU have a far, far stricter standard than me (or a few others here). I have a stricter standard than some here. That's ok. "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 do you mean that gun control is unneccessay for the government to oppress the citizenry? That even an armed civilian population couldn't prevent a dictator from taking over the government? (I'm not going to name any names, but the extremists on both sides have accused the last 2 occupants of the Oval Office of wanting to do that very thing) I think the resistances in both Iraq and Afghanistan have done a pretty thorough job of rising up against the US military. I don't know if the level of will would be there. I don't know how many people would be willing to see a lot of death and destruction to resist oppression. But if the will was there, the amount of small arms in civilian hands, and the number of military that wouldn't bear arms against their own countrymen would make it difficult for any dictator. "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 agree that that (i.e., keeping govt in check to guard against tyranny) was one of the intents. But I don't agree that that was the only intent. I think the complete intent was to allow citizens to as militia for any purpose for which a militia might act. Broadly speaking, these would include any threat or potential threat to anyone's security against which citizens might choose to arm themselves to deter or defend against, since anyone's lack of physical security is, logically, in conflict with his freedom. I agree with Andy on this. The militia in those days wasn't just to protect the citizens from the government. It was to protect the locality from any and all threats. In a lot of places there was maybe a local constable. That was it. No police department, no SWAT teams no nothing. Except the local militia. Which was usually all the able-bodied men. "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

Zero proof. Lots of evidence. None of it is scientific, repeatable, experiemental data. It's usually anecdotal, personal and very very subjective. Kind of like eyewitness testimony in court. It has value as evidence, but isn't proof in any way, shape or form. Big difference between evidence and proof. "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 muzzle flash and unburned powder aren't that big of an issue in the 22 mag. Nowhere like with a 357 mag. There just isn't that much powder to begin with. It can be a viable carry caliber if you understand it's limitations. The reliablity and simplicity of a revolver is traded off against the double action trigger pull. Same with a lot of the "Duty" automatics. Many have no external safety (the "Slick Slide" models) the trade for the simplicity is a long, heavier trigger pull. If you want a light, short single action trigger you are going to have to learn to manipulate a manual thumb safety. The tradeoff for the trigger pull is a more complex gun to learn to operate. Safety location is a personal preference. With proper training, the slide mounted safety can be manipulated with the shooting hand (as long as your hands are big enough). I personally don't like them. I want a safety mounted low on the frame, where I can reach it with my shooting thumb without changing my grip. That means the S&W, Beretta and a few others are not my choice. That's fine. There are others that suit my requirements. Size and weight of the gun is a similar tradeoff. The heavier the gun, the bigger the gun (as long as it fits your hand well) the easier it is to shoot. Lower percieved recoil, easier to hold steady, ect. The tradeoff is that a big heavy gun is harder to conceal, and a lot more effort to carry. And again, caliber is a tradeoff. Larger calibers do more damage, but are more difficult to shoot, and require a heavier gun. Those are considerations you need to find your best fit for. Nobody else can decide what's best for 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

Hoo Boy! This is a really loaded question. (pun intended) The best gun is the gun that: A - you can shoot well enough under pressure to hit with. B - you can manipulate well enough under pressure to use (safeties, trigger pull, malfunction drills ect) C - you will carry on a regular basis. When shit goes south that teeny tiny 22 that you have with you is infinitely better than the 45 that you left at home I wouldn't recommend the "Ultra-compact" pistols (Kahr, Kel-Tec, Ruger LCP, Kimber Solo, ect) to anyone who doesn't shoot pistols a lot. They are really hard to grip, difficult to aim and shoot well. Unless you are running around in shorts and a tank top, you can easily conceal something that's a little bit bigger and a lot easier to operate. "Snub-nosed" revolvers are very simple to operate, fairly easy to carry, reliable as all hell. Not the most accurate in the world, but at real world distances do just fine. Some women have difficulty with the length and weight of the double action trigger pull. It can be lightened some, but there is a reliablity tradeoff if you do so. Glocks are very popular for a lot of reasons. Revolver simple to operate (no manual safety), light weight and easy to carry. They come in a wide variety of sizes and calibers. They do have the semi-auto malfunction drills to master. Springfield, S&W and a few others have the "Glock-like" duty pistols, same basic pistol, same pluses and minuses. Sig makes really good pistols. Top quality, priced accordingly. I'm not super familiar with their line. 1911s. They now come in a variety of calibers, and 3 basic sizes. Government (the big one) Commander (the middle one) and Officer's (the little one) There's some mixing and matching going on, Kimber now offers a Commander frame and a 3 inch barrel. The better 1911s are just fine out of the box. Kimber is the best of the non-custom models. You will pay 1000 on up for a new one, but (in my opinion) they are worth it. I have a good deal of experience with 1911s. I don't agree that they need gunsmith level attention. Keep them clean, replace the springs on a regular basis and as long as it's a reasonably good gun, you should be fine. As a single action, manual safety pistol, the operation requires the most training. But if you are willing to put in the time, they are probably the best shooting of them all. I'm old fashioned, and I like the short, light pull of a single action trigger. I have worked with them enough that taking the safety off as the gun comes up is now an automatic action. Caliber - That is even more controversial than pistol. Realistically, there is NO caliber that you would reasonably carry that has anything close to "Stopping Power". 45, 40 and 357 have a decent kick to them. Shooting them in a lighter pistol takes a lot of practice. Lighter calibers like 9mm or 38 are a lot easier to shoot but don't do as much damage. Smaller than that (380 or 32) are not really a good choice, but if the shooter isn't comfortable with a larger caliber (intimidated by the noise, recoil or whatever) then they are an option. There was a 327 magnum that came out a few years ago. Again, not an optimal choice, but still better than nothing. The really small stuff, 22 or 25 are really bottom of the barrel. Unless the shooter needs a really, really small gun (like the Baby Browning or the NAA micro revolver) they are a poor choice. BUT... If you are armed with a 22 and the bad guy has a knife, club or bare hands, then you are better armed. There are a lot of stories about the bad guy stopping the attack because the "victim" was armed with a puny, underpowered, little 22. Any gun is better than no gun. For both guns and caliber, the only real way to find out what works best for you is to try it out. Find a friend (or a friend of a friend) who has a few pistols. Offer dinner or something to spend an afternoon at a range trying different stuff. If it's a busy range, there will more than likely be other pistols being shot. Most shooters will let you try their guns, although some may ask you to pay for the ammo. As a last resort, some of the larger shops offer gun rentals. It can get a little spendy (they usually make you buy their ammo to shoot) but it's a good way to "try before you buy" to see what you like to shoot and what you can shoot well. Training. Get some. Make sure it's good. The "name" schools are not cheap, but well worth it. You don't need to go to a name school to get decent training, though. There's lots of decent local training out there. What you need to do is learn the fundamentals, and then practice them a lot. Shooting - both precision accuracy and higher speed "draw and fire" drills, malfunction drills, weak hand and one hand drills. And make sure you get some solid training for your carry permit. What you can and cannot do. What you should and should not do. What to expect if you do have to shoot someone. And practice that too. As was suggested above, play the "What would you do in this situation?" game. Practice your situational awareness. Ask your wife (or have her ask you) stuff like: How many people are in here (like in a restaurant) with us? Who might represent a threat and who wouldn't? And Why or Why Not? Is this a good place to be sitting? Again, why or why not? Yogi Berra was right when he said "Half of baseball is 90% mental." So is self defense. There is stuff that you need to physically practice, but there is a lot more that is mental. Mind set. Attitude. Hope some of this helps. "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've heard that argument before, but I've always been a bit skeptical of it. Thinking through it outloud here... A C-182 weighs about 2,500 lbs. In landing, the nose is often held off the ground and the two rear wheels absorb the impact, so they have to be designed to handle at least 1,250 lbs each. More actually, to allow for G-loads from descent rate. Probably up to a couple thousand pounds each by design. So, a piece of steel that is designed to take a load of over 1,200 lbs from the bottom pushing up, I wouldn't think would have much problem holding 500 lbs. or so from two skydivers from the top pushing down. That's just my logical side thinking about it. Not doubting the validity of your aspect of the direction of the load, as I don't know how that piece of steel is attached to the frame and such. Here is a video of the retraction/extension: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnToe7zOa8E&feature=related Watch how the gear droops and rotates back. When it is extended, it is very strong in support of the plane. But it doesn't have any significant strength for a jumper standing on it. It isn't designed or intended to have loads placed on it that way. It's designed to 'collapse' in that direction when it retracts. "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

Damnit woman, tell me who! That's not how it works. You know 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

call me stupid...I got a big *whoosh* on that one. Lots of the big name movie stars who played their most famous roles with a gun in their hand were anti gun. More of the recent (last 30 years) than earlier. Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson off the top of my head. Many of the "Hollywood Elite" also have a California Carry Permit (which is really hard to get), personal securtiy guards, gated communities, ect., but are very vocal about the ordinary citizens being armed. "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

He neglected to list the level of Mad Skilz required. And the ad has been edited. It now says that PD does not reccomend the Stilleto as a first canopy and includes a link to PD. "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

We do elect them. But we are forced to choose from candidates who have pretty much sold their souls in order to get on the ticket. To get the funds (money rules everything in politics) to mount a major campaign, they have to have the support of major lobbying groups. It can be anything - AARP, NRA, Sierra Club, AOPA, OOIDA, NAMBLA (Google them if you really want to find out what they are and represent). So we have to choose which lobbying group is closest to our own interests. Or which one we hate the most and vote for the opponent. I've voted against more candidates by voting for their opponent than acutally liking or agreeing with the candidate I voted for. So in the end, we are given a choice between a giant douche, and a turd sandwich. http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/episodes/s08e08-douche-and-turd And lots of democratic countries have only two major parties. Japan, Britain, France, Canada off the top of my head. Usually Liberals (of some sort) and Conservatives (of some sort). Some have more viable third and fourth parties of some flavor or another, but they usually link up with one of the two major players. Here in the US, we have one technically "independent" congress-critter. But he caucuses with the Dems. "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 the first time this has been brought up. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3546393;search_string=CYPRES%20fatality%20police;#3546393 "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, Dick Trickle ran top tier NASCAR (Winston Cup at the time) for a couple years. He was running around the upper midwest for a long time, and one of the announcers on ESPN heard about him and started reporting on his finishes on a fairly regular basis, mainly to make fun of his name. That publicity, not his actual racing skills (which were good, but not top tier) got him the Cup sponsorships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Trickle "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, at the risk of sending this off to SC, you're wrong on Oswald and Whitman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5IWK9sRYTs "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 cop around here back in the mid-80's named Richard Head. Really. I got a ticket from him. And Ft Wayne Indiana had a very popular mayor named Harry Baals. They considered naming a building after him, but decided not to. "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 they're covered in chocolate, then they're technically not nude. Not that I'd oobject to 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

Aren't they worried about it capsizing? "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

But they're losing a Friday! Couldn't it at least be a Monday? Or maybe a Thursday. I always have trouble with Thursdays. "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

Skymamma is right. Some folks have personal wind limits that are fairly low, others choose to jump in higher winds. Guess which group limps more? When you see the young guys getting on a load while the old farts are looking at the wind sock and scratching themselves off the load, you might want to think about it. And when the old farts break out the lawn chairs and the cameras and go out to the landing area to watch the carnage, you definitely want to think about it. (to older more experienced jumper) "Hey, aren't you going up??" "No, I'm going over to the landing area to watch the new guys learn that their wind limits need to be a little lower." "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 don't forget Amazon whose skydiving feats probably exceed those of everyone else on this thread combined. My apologies to smokin99 and most sincere, heartfelt apologies to Amazon. I knew I was missing a couple. I remembered smokin99 while in the shower this morning (nothing weird or stalky, just one of those "D'oh" moments). Others... Well, there are a number that I chose not to list. For a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that putting my personal opinion of them on here would constitute a PA and I choose not to do that. Mr Blevins - YOU WERE WARNED!! And MeyerLouie wrote: You certainly are entitled to your opinion. But when you state a fact (the weather conditions) that are in direct opposition to the historical record, you can expect to get challenged on it. The opinions that turn into myth that get mistaken for fact are one of the biggest challenges in this case. The ones who have been around a while know this and insist on backup for anything proposed as a fact. And eyewitness testimony is often faulty. So official, historical records are usually given greater weight. The official weather reports from numerous locations, the FBI report, even the TV news reports (the outside shots) all indicate the same thing. 40s, scattered light rain/snow showers, winds below 20. I'm not saying you are a liar, but how do you reconcile the difference? Mountainous areas often have very localized weather patterns, some of which can be severe. Perhaps that played a part. And don't make the mistake of thinking you have freedom of speech on here. It's a private site, owned by South Africans, hosted on servers in Canada. The rules (listed in the "Announcements" fourm) make it clear that you are a guest here. We all are. Invitations to be bitten are invitations of Quade's wrath. Go back and read the very first post of this thread for the reality 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

A few more: Orange One. South African, Skydiver. Sensible and rational other than continuing to post to this thread. Guru312. Old school skydiver. He's not DB Cooper (follow the link in his sigline for a real treat). Pops in and out. AirTwardo. Old, old school skydiver. Lights himself on fire in midair. Has all the good stories in the "Scary Stories from the Old Days" thread. If he ain't done it, it ain't been done. SluggoMonster. Nuclear Genius. Has arguably the best website on the Cooper case. SafecrackPLF. Hydrodynamic genius. Figured out where the money must have traveled to end up on Tena Bar. Gave up on the thread mostly a while back due to silliness but pops in every so often. Farflung. Photoshop genius. His composites are masterpieces. Has a bit of a nun fixation, when he isn't hitting on Vicki. Thread "hunkyness" champion. But he was the only competitor. Robert99. Serious contributor. Asks good questions. But most of them have no answer. Has good answers to a lot of questions. Snowmman (2 "m"s) isn't Deep Throat. He's left enough clues to figure out who he is if you try. He's a search genius, but his misbehavior got him banned. After he kept sneaking back in and rubbing in everyones faces (and a few PAs against the moderating staff) he got permabanned. And last, but certainly not least. Quade. World's most boring skydiver. Moderator of the forum. He's the poor guy who has to read all the garbage on here (and there's a lot of it) and make sure the rules are followed. Break the rules and you get warned. Keep doing it and you get a "time out." If that doesn't teach you, well... Ask jamie what happens. Quade is a writer by trade and is pretty good at identifying writing styles. If you make up a new username after being banned (we call them "sock-puppets" on here) Quade will figure out who you are. That's how the Snowmman got it a few times. Couple corrections: Jerry has spent years not months in the Washougal area. Larry Carr was never assigned the case. His speciality was bank robbers. He worked in the Seattle office (SAC maybe??) where all the NorJack files are and looked into it as a hobby/sideline kind of deal. Purely unofficial, but it sure would have been good for his career if he could have solved it. I said this to Mr Blevins when he first showed up: Welcome Mr Bennet. But be careful entering here. 377 calls it the "Cooper Vortex", I call it the "Cooper Zone". Same thing. You think you will just waltz in, look around and see what's going on. Maybe write a story about the case, maybe about the weirdos that are obsessed with it. But it will get you. By the time you realize it, it will be far, far to late. You can't leave it alone. You have to see what's new. To see what silliness certain folks have posted. To see Farflung's latest composite (to look for the Tina and the Cooper just like the Bunny on the Playboy covers). You will be just like the rest of us!!!!! Blevins thought I was kidding. He said goodbye a whole bunch of times. But he's still here. THIS is the best synopsis of the whole thing I've come across. 377 thinks Snowmman did it, but just like NorJack, nobody but the perpetrator knows for sure. "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

Nice. 140,000feet. Wow! "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, all I know is that I had the biggest post-Christmas day ever at the local range (I volunteer as a Range Officer). Today was the first day since Christmas that we were open (normally closed Monday and Tuesday). Holy Crap!! It seems like everone and their brother (and sister) got a rifle or a pistol under the tree this year. 3 families (both parents and 2 or more kids), 6 father/child(ren) groups - both sons and daughters, a bunch of couples (not all of them had both shoot, some just the man, some just the woman) and a bunch of the "usual suspects." I was busier today than I've ever been during the week, even right before deer season. The five gallon pail we use to collect reloadable brass started empty and was half full when I left. That doesn't count stuff like Blazer alum or steel case (or what people took home with them). It was a blast.