wolfriverjoe

I'm not a big fan of him wearing it. The right to wear that sort of insignia is earned, not granted. But if the operators who gave it to him are okay with it, then I'm not dumb enough to get into a fight with them Anybody that sees him wearing it and who thinks he earned it is a moron. If he really wants to honor the guys who gave it to him, he should have an "Honor Box" made. It's a display case, with a glass top. The "Budweiser", the rank insignia, medals/ribbons won, the (dress) nametag of the guy he's honoring, and maybe a picture of him. Usually the NOK gets the flag from the coffin, that often goes in too (Honor Boxes can be fairly large under certain circumstances). If Beck displayed that in a prominent place on his set, instead of wearing the insignia, it would be clear who he was honoring, and it would be clear that it wasn't for his own self-promotion. "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 under FAA regs. The article says he was prosecuted by the county prosecutor's office, and another article I found says he was in municipal court, so logically that would mean he violated either a state statute and/or a local ordinance. Anyhow, I'll bet he feels like an asswipe. The article in the OP said "over a populated area." The FAA is pretty strict on doing stuff over populated areas (or over open air assemblies of people). It sounds/looks like the "authorities" decided they had to charge him with something, and he decided that it wasn't worth the time and effort to fight it. The article says probation and a letter of apology (dear soccer moms, I'm sorry throwing toilet paper at you scared you so badly you had to call the cops. I won't do it again), but no mention of any fine or other punishements. I can see that if he chose to fight it he'd probably be acquitted, because he really didn't put anyone or anything at risk. But that would involve court and lawyers, and a lot of time and money. Does anyone else remember the Golden Knights doing demo practice with smoke, and having some idiot call the cops? This was right after the Sept 11 attacks and the moron thought the smoke was anthrax "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 agree with that. I routinely put my T-stat at 50 when I'm gone for more than a couple days. When I get back, I put it right to 64 (nomal daytime setting). I have an oil-burner, and when I go from 50 to 64 it will fire up, run for a while, the burner will shut down while the fan keeps going (normal). But before the fan shuts down, the burner usually kicks back on due to the walls, furniture and everything else being cold. It probably takes about 6-8 hours for everything to completely warm back up (getting into a bed with 2 blankets and a down comforter isn't a whole lot of fun, inuslation works both ways), but I burn considerable less fuel than I would if I left it up all the time I am gone. I've neglected to turn it down a couple times and the difference is pretty significant. "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

Getting the power turned off and then back on is far more of a hassle than it's worth. Unless he is just planning on turning off the main switch, in which case he will still be paying the "service" charges (which are about 1/2 the bill anyway). Unless it gets well below freezing, the chances of pipes freezing and bursting is low, but not zero. The cost associated with burst pipes due to freezing is astronomical, especially if nobody is home to catch it right away. Unplug everything (make sure there isn't anything in the fridge or freezer) and set the thermostat as low as it will go (that's usually about 50). If the apartment is part of a larger complex, the heat from the surrounding apartments will help keep his warm and reduce the heating costs to practically zero. "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

All year long. And you don't need a hunting license, but you'd best have a driver's license. Here in WI, you can get a tag for any deer you hit and legally keep it. You just have to file the accident report and ask for the tag. "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 forgot to say "There's no place like home" three times too. Duh "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

Upper left, there should be a "button' marked "Add Profile Picture". Like amstadler said, it's right above the "My Stuff" menu. If you have disabled that (and the left side ads) you may have to re-enable it to load the profile pic. Edit to add: I just messed around with my settings, and the "Profile Pic" button doesn't depend on the "My Stuff" menu being there or not. "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

Ok, I'm confused. Are you saying we should stop treating people different than us like subhumans so that they won't take advantage of any opportunity to get back at us? Or are you saying that the people we treat like shit should never be given any chances at any responsibility because they will take advantage of those opportunities to have their revenge? "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

'79 is when the Shah departed from leadership. And many considered him to be just an American puppet. So are you saying that things were much better in Iran when America had influence with the leadership? As with so many "American Puppets", the Shah's government was rather repressive. Think Nicaragua under Somoza, Cuba under Batista, Panama under both Trujillo (sp?) and Noriega, and many, many, many others over the years. But the governments that took over after the revolutions that toppled the "American Puppets" were often far more repressive and authoritarian than the ones they replaced. Again, think Nicaragua under Ortega or Cuba under Castro. This isn't often acknowledged by the anti-Americans who see anyone replacing the "American Puppet" as a saint. The Shah's regime was corrupt, repressive, dictatortial, and a bureaucratic quagmire. But it often appeared to be progressive and modern, especially with it's treatment of women. Especially compared to the other countries in that region. The current theocracy is everything the Shah was, with the addition of strict adherence to Shi'a religious laws. Except that the interpretation says that those in power are "Allah's chosen" and any dissent is an affront to Allah. Funny how it works that way, isn't 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

While I can't speak of the practicalities of it, you seem to be approaching it realistically. Having a good sum of money that will be available "when the money runs out" is a great long term fall-back plan. Don't forget there are US territories in the South Pacific. Guam and the Marianas. Saipan is supposed to be reasonably decent. Central America (specifically Costa Rica) issupposed to be pretty good too. I know a couple guys up here who are considering purchasing property down there. "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

Me too. Study done. The fact that it didn't ask for any personal info (name, e-mail addy, that sort) and was open and honest about where it was coming from were big "plus factors" for me. It would have been nice to know how many pages there were. Having "page x of y" next to the continue button would have been nice. Although some of the questions were a bit hard to answer accurately. I don't "think I'd like to learn to fly a plane" because I already know how. Same with "trying parachuting." "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 I've seen is sheetmetal screws. The kind with the hex head for a wrench and the straight slot for the screwdriver. This site lists both spiked and "screwed" tires and lists the screws (apparently special ones) as available seperately. I haven't seen the big spikes (look on wiki) around here, but all we have is amateur/club stuff, nothing really "pro" class. And I just go and watch once or twice a season, I don't compete. "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 you imagine what those tires would do to you if you came off wrong? That's why you wear good gear. They ice race a good bit around here. Bikes, quads, cars and trucks. The studded tires give traction roughly equivalent to hard packed dirt. A lot of the bikes are dirt track bikes with the fenders and tires changed. The fun ones to watch are the nonstudded cars and trucks. Those are mostly drag races, although they do a bit of oval too. Those are a lot more like demolition derbies than actual races. "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 love the smell of Hoppe's 9 in the morning. It smells like...Christmas." -- JohnMitchell Now it can be Christmas every day. http://www.hoppes.com/products/ca_air_freshener.html I can't wait for the scented candle.

It would be interesting to see these guys go on strike in this economy. How many people would be willing to cross a picket line for a $13/hr custodian job? There have been a few places that I have personally seen where the union goes on strike because the wages and benefits "aren't enough to live on" and they are replaced within a couple weeks. The union guys stay on strike for a while, but it becomes pretty pathetic to see them on the picket line while the company is doing just fine without 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

Yes, you're overthinking it a bit. The "before putting the rig on" check is pretty straightforward and logical. I was taught "top to bottom, front then back". Once you've done it a few times it becomes natural. Pre-jump is the "3 3's". 3 straps, 3 handles and 3 ring. You can get a "pin check" where someone takes a quick look at your main and reserve pins just before jumprun. "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

In 93 I got a Dillon 650 reloader (it's a machine that loads ammunition for those "G" things we can't talk about). 17 years later and it's still running strong. I've probably loaded somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000-30,000 (yes 20 to 30 thousand) rounds on it over the years. For giving, other than getting something fairly big for my younger sister (I went in with my mom and got my older sister an Ipad and we were brought up with "even" and "fair" important when giving presents) I keep it pretty low key. A few of my women friends will be getting Godiva chocolate, a couple "Good for one reserve I&R" certificates for friends who jump. "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

Around here, the Salvation Army does "Adopt a Family". The families are screened to make sure they need the help, the donors are given basic info (age and gender of family members) and the SA takes the gifts from the donor and gets them to the family. You might also call a couple local churches. They often do gift drives for members. Even if you aren't a member of the parish, I would think they would accept your help. "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

Mr Blevins, Where did you find that the money was packaged that way? Ckret posted that it was "ransom money", set up at the bank with the numbers recorded and bundled into irregular sized packs to make it look like it was hastily assembled. I looked for that info, couldn't find it. BUT, while looking, I found the descripiton of the training dummy reserve. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=2540834;page=30;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;mh=25; "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, in all fairness, neither the "underwear bomber" nor the Times Square bomber was actually "stopped". Both of them were "fizzles". The devices were smuggled into place and activated. If either of them had been constructed properly there would have been a hell of a mess. "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 should be pissed. It's theft. The person making money off of your ideas/creations should pay you for it. Depending on how much time/effort/money you wish to put out, you could go after the person. It also depends on what kind of proof you have that it's your design, and that you didn't put it out for free use - That's lawyer territory. Ashleigh Brilliant has successfully gone after a wide variety of people who used his work without permission. It isn't mentioned here, but he was "awarded" several tons of postcards that infringed on his work and had a rather difficult time disposing of them (Be careful what you wish for). "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

Who is right about the Training Dummy Reserve? Both the articles in Parachutist (Nov 03 and the three part last summer) quoted Cossey describing it the way I did, a functional container with a butchered canopy. Ckret (Agent Carr) agreed that it was this way. There would be a valid reason to have a training tool as such, for practicing the "scoop and throw" deployment used with that type of reserve. There would be no valid reason (at least that I can think of) to have a training reserve that couldn't even be opened. It wouldn't function as a reserve, and couldn't be properly attached to the NB6 to function as a reserve, even if the canopy was good. However, Tina observed Cooper tying something around his waist. There were several lines missing from the other reserve (the one left behind) and all the lines from the Training Dummy. The Dummy container could have been stuffed with the cash (it would make a decent container for it) and then tied (reasonably) securely to part of the NB6 harness. It wouldn't be secure enough to hold a jumpers weight (especially during opening shock) but could be secured well enough to stay in place during freefall. Or maybe it didn't, it got in the way of the ripcord handle and Cooper went in no-pull. And the bag was said by Ckret to be "lunch bag sized." I searched a little bit for the exact words, but there's way too much to dig through. There has been a lot of speculation about exactly what was in the bag. I'm not too surprised that you haven't looked through all of the nearly 20k posts to find out each and every little detail that's been discussed here. Interestingly, Agent Carr is still keeping up with us idiots (it isn't a PA if it's on myself). His "Last Login" is yesterday. "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 know how to make it up to him. I certainly do. Did you pack the French Maid outfit? It won't take up too much room. "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 was The Salmon! Have you ever watched a grown man take a shower? That was the pilot, what was his name? And it was "Billy, have you ever seen a grown man naked?" My favorite movie line of all time: "Surely you can't be serious!?" "I am serious - and stop calling me Shirley." Captain Oveur, played by Peter Graves (also gone). "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

For example, I took a friend and his son down for tandems a few months back, dad got OS video the son HC...after reviewing both...my friend said he'd wished he'd gone with a Hand Cam video like his son because of the up close and personal quality of the excitement after the canopy was open, that and the banter between student & instructor was quite entertaining. Now from 'my' eye, in this case the outside video has a much better quality overall...but to the 'customer' the close-up was all that mattered. And that's the key to this whole argument. A "good" tandem video has the intro interview, training, gear up, pre-board interview, boarding the plane/waving goodbye, plane ride up, exit/freefall (usually shown both normal speed and repeated slow speed), landing and landing/post jump interview. Handcam gives after opening/under canopy scenes at the cost of exit, wide shot in freefall and the view from the ground of landing. MOST STUDENTS DON'T CARE HOW "GOOD" IT IS. They want to relive the memory, and show their friends. Showing the nerves before the jump (and on the plane), the thrill of freefall and the exhilaration after are as important to them as well framed, well lit properly shot video (you know, that technical crap we actually notice and care about). "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