wolfriverjoe

Why aren't you packing? Just because it's rental gear is no excuse. I was packing for myself well before I had my own gear (it saved the cost of the packjob on the rental fee too). The only way to learn is to do it. If you aren't sure about what you are doing, have someone keep an eye on you, but pack the thing!!! Mains all pack the same (or at least close enough to not matter). The only time I have used paid packers was at Summerfest back in July. It was over 90 degrees and I wanted to wear myself out jumping, not packing. Which I succeeded at nicely "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 won't be trivial after it is filled with all the memories of all those jumps. I have a habit of "writing a book" about each jump. Who was on it, what we planned, what went right (and wrong), anything especially fun, special, unusual or bad about the whole jump (including the canopy flight and even the plane ride up sometimes). During the winter, when I am jonesing for a jump, I can go back and re-live each jump. Far more so than a friend who only logs "Three-way with..." and nothing else. Or perhaps you're excited at how much fun it's going to be filling it up.

OMG, I can't believe I missed this yesterday. We do have a Denny's nearby, but alas, I have no roller skates. Damn the luck! Rollerskates, high heels, running shoes, sandals, bunny slippers, combat boots, whatever. You don't even need to wear the bikini if you don't want to Speak for yourself Kemo Sabe! A pic of Skymamma in a bikini would be great. A pic of Skymamma out of the bikini would be better, wouldn't it??? I wasn't suggesting that she wear a trenchcoat or muslim burkha instead of the bikini "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

Maybe if the FAA came down hard on more operators who are this negligent in maintaining their planes, we could trust the pilots and owners a bit more. "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

OMG, I can't believe I missed this yesterday. We do have a Denny's nearby, but alas, I have no roller skates. Damn the luck! Rollerskates, high heels, running shoes, sandals, bunny slippers, combat boots, whatever. You don't even need to wear the bikini if you don't want 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

Since you seem to distrust the dealer, go to an independent collision rebuilder (what used to be called a "Body Shop"). You need a fairly extensive one with an alignment rack. That's the (very complex) machine used to straighten out a bent unibody. It doesn't take much of an impact to bend them, and properly straightening them is a very precise job. They will be able to determine if the strut mounts, suspension mounts, and all the other points on the car are in the right place. It won't be free, but I would guess that you could walk in, explain what you think is wrong and find out how much it would cost for them to put your car on the rack and see how far the unibody is tweaked. Then go to the dealer and tell them you want it fixed right or a new car (lemon law). "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 the bottom line is its pretty pathetic and sad that people need to be divided into two camps about things like this as the US is indeed not the land of the free and stupid laws and fears stop people living a normal life. I'm not sure what you mean about this. There aren't any laws about adults doing these things. There really aren't any laws preventing kids doing this. It's just the legal climate that puts serious risk onto anyone who allows kids to participate in dangerous activites. There are pluses and minuses to having that legal climate, but that is really a topic for SC. If a place can't get insurance coverage to proctect themselves, then kids almost certainly aren't going to be allowed. Lots of activites can get that coverage, and kids can participate. Contact sports (football, basketball hand-egg); Non-contact, high risk stuff (like gymnastics or cheerleading); motorsports (go-karts, motorcycles and ATVs), Horseback activites (both the "English" riding and jumping and "Western" rodeo type stuff) are only a few of the things that they do. Skydiving is one of the few that there isn't any insurance coverage available for, and so kids can't do it, except at the rare DZ that is willing to take the risk. "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 this one from the "Name That Rack" thread too. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_attachment;postatt_id=111934; "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 made a real effort to search out the one she posted some time back, but no luck. 30 seconds seaching for "Nataly on a horse". I tried 3 other variations on it before I hit it. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3645625#3645625 "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

yeah how much weight would one have to wear to pull that kinda shit off!? every BASE wingsuit video ive ever seen shows them SCREAMING past the earth( i used BASE as an example because it gives you a better reference of speed, to me at least). either way, sure makes me think that the whole landing wingsuits with no chute is a lot more doable than i originally thought, Taya had a nice write up of this (not this particular jump maybe, but the canopy/wingsuit formations) in Parachutist a couple months ago. They aren't using a lot of weight. They've put a modification on the front risers to lock them in a shorter configuation (kind of like elevator trim in a plane). They pull down on the fronts to put the canopy in a steep dive and lock the risers there so that they don't have to hold them down. You can see the slack in the risers as loops in the video. Those aren't dive loops, they are the excess front riser. "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

Because those other activities have insurance. And those insurance companies have both lawyers to defend against a lawsuit and the money to pay a settlement. If someone gets hurt, and an ambulance chaser thinks he can win a lawsuit despite the waiver, the insurance company decides if it is worth fighting the suit, or offers an out of court settlement. The school district (for scholastic activities) or amusement park or gokart track or whatever simply pays the insurance bill and goes on with business as normal (maybe paying a higher premium, maybe not). For a DZ there is a simple choice. Sell everything you own to fight the lawsuit and hope the clause in the waiver that says the jumper pays all the DZ's legal bills stands up, or sell everything you own to pay the settlement. It's the legal climate in the US. Right or wrong (that's SC material) it is the reality. Whether or not minors are physically, mentally, emotionally capable and mature enough to jump safely doesn't matter (some are, some aren't). At my DZ, the lawyer who wrote the waiver said that it wouldn't protect us if we let minors jump. And that he couldn't (and woudn't ) defend us if we let them. So we don't. Period. "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

Lots of the bigger gear shops will sell stuff on consignment. Square One does (or at least did). They price and sell it, and keep a reasonable commission. If you don't know gear and values, it's a good way to go. You could sell it to a dealer, but like with a car, they won't pay top dollar. But you would get the money right away. The ProTrack could simply be put in the classifieds here or on E-Bay. Look at other ads to see pricing. "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 I don't understand how some people are so keen on ingesting all kinds of meds... It's a known fact that medication alleviates symptoms but does not cure a cold. I don't object to natural remedies (within reason - marijuana is, of course "natural" but I wouldn't take it!!), but I don't like the idea of taking something unnecessary and unnatural. Something that could actually cause problems we just haven't discovered yet, because it just doesn't belong in our bodies. I *would* take medication if the pain were unbearable - otherwise, pain/discomfort is our body's way of telling us to slow down and recover. I'm not saying I "need" to suffer.. Just that I don't think medicating is the right answer for me. So I am a fan of relief - just not the synthetic kind. Antihistamines (like benadryl or the generic eqivalent) have been around for decades. The side effects are known and long-term issues are nil. Pseudo-ephedrine is about the same. If your symptoms are causing discomfort, taking them to alleveiate them isn't unnatural (at least not a lot unnatural). But go ahead and suffer to feel better about yourself if you wish. I take as little medication as possible (especially antibiotics), but simple cold relief isn't a big deal to me. As far as "natural" cures - Zinc has been shown to help. Echanchia (sp?) hasn't been solidly proven one way or the other, despite numerous studies (AFAIK). Vitamin C doesn't hurt, but probably doesn't do much help. I'm a big fan of the Hall's "Defense" with the above 3. I can't prove anything, but if I start taking them as soon as the slightest symptoms begin to surface, the cold is much less severe and much shorter in duration. If I wait until the symptoms are definitely there, then the symptoms aren't as bad, and the cold is a little bit shorter. But, as always, YMMV

It's on their facebook page. "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 we'd need BillyV to interperet for us? Oh great, there go interplanetary relations down the tubes "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

Suicide attackers aren't generally concerned with the possibility of death. On the other hand, I agree that they are more likely to pick a place where there are large groups of people so as to inflict as much damage as possible. Whether or not they'd factor in the liklihood of an armed populace is unclear. As long as those civilians are okay with the fact that when the cops show up, they won't be able to tell the difference between attacker and armed civilian. The armed civilians may very well be killed anyway, but by someone other than the attacker. Welcome to guerilla warfare. No, the suicide attackers aren't concerned with death, but they want their attack to succeed. Note that the Mumbay attackers didn't go after police stations or military bases, where there would be armed opposition. And any combat situation has a high likelyhood of "friendly fire." One where the attackers and the victims and initial defenders are not in a distinguishable uniform even more so. Add in the fact that the armed citizens aren't part of an organized group, and probably don't know each other at all and it's even worse. Whether it's armed citizens shooting each other (thinking the other guy is one of the attackers) or cops/military shooting the armed citizens, it's quite likely that innocents will fall to friendly fire. I'm not saying that it would be anything "nice." It would be a very messy situation, with lots of casualties. I'm not naive enough to believe that having armed citizens would be a magical cure to an attack like Mumbay. But I'd still rather see a group of "victims" that is able to defend themselves than a bunch of sheep waiting to be slaughtered. "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, if the bad guys suspected that there were a number of armed civilians in the crowd, would they be as willing to attack? Or would they pick a place (such as an airport, hospital or college campus) where they would be reasonably sure the crowd would be unarmed? And while armed citizens may or may not panic, and may or may not be well trained, it would certainly offer a better defense than "lock the door and hope they don't shoot through 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

Ok, thanks for the (non) clarification So...what is your badge number? 2211 "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

Where we did we put that wheelbarrow the albino had? Please understand I hold you in the highest respect. Truly, you have a dizzying intellect "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, thanks for the (non) clarification "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 French seem to have arrested a bunch of dudes with a bunch of guns. Maybe they believe they have stopped the current plot that was going to have taken place in France. The stories I am hearing seem to make the conclusion that there are multiple plots out there. Maybe France has some reasons to believe there is a group in Britain with an attack ready to take place soon. I'd be willing to bet fairly heavily that France, Britain, the US and a lot of other countries are sharing this information among themselves. It just varies among countries how much they are willing to go public with. "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

Other people on other blogs talking about the same video... frame by frame... see an inbound round Fairly small explosion (compared to a real artillery round), timed just after he drops a round down the tube and located perfectly at the tube. Bad mortar round. Counter Mortar Radar has been around for a while (not exactly sure how long, but they had it in Viet Nam). 2 plots off of one round in the air gives them a location for the tube. If they are on their game, they know where it came from before the first round hits. But even with a tube already loaded and aimed in the general direction, it would take more than 30 seconds to line it up, fire it, and for the round to transit. And for the first shot to land exactly on the bad guy's mortar tube is pretty prepostorus. It's still a cool video. And since we are here in SC, maybe it's an indicator that God has a sense of humor. These dudes were saying "Allah Akhbar" before each round. They probably said a quick prayer before starting, perhaps a prayer asking God to remove the horrible people who are ruining the country. Well, he did "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

Do you have to have proof of the insurance required if you aren't wearing a helmet? Not the liablity you don't need, but the medical. "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 vote for me. But your best friend is probably a better choice. Although a bikini pic of you and Skymamma (the one and only) would be nice good really welcome if you take her along. "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

Congratulations Kim!!! You do realize that your face is now going to be plastered all over billboards across Indiana, right? You're gonna be famous(er). "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