TomAiello

If we reduced our healthcare to aboriginal levels, everyone would have immediate access to the best healthcare technology available to us. Same as if it was 1800, everyone would have equal access to the world's best sportscars and private jets. Pointing out a time when something was totally unavailable is not the same as proving that at that time everyone could have it. In fact, no one could have it. Everyone fed is not the same as everyone starving equally. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I agree completely. Alleopathic medicine appears to be (to re-quote from my last post) the worst of all possible medicine--except everything else that has been tried. If I had been living in an aboriginal culture, I'd be dead about 6 times now. Our modern system has kept me alive--and remember that I'm not exactly "the rich." So, if we closed all of our hospitals, medical schools, and clinics, we'd have "Universal Healthcare"? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Oh, I'm happy to discuss that. But you do have to remember that this started as a discussion about providing high quality, universal, free healthcare. But sure. What would you change in our current system? As a side note, having required medical care in 7 nations, and having been involved in accidents where others required care in 4 more, my view of US healthcare mirrors Churchill's oft-cited view of democracy--specifically that it is the worst of all possible systems, except all the others that have been tried. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah, yes. State of the art aboriginal healthcare. Free trepanning and chicken chants for all! I'm sure they also provided top flight educations in hunting and gathering to everyone who was motivated and capable. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Byron Davies... Wasn't he the Minister of Finance for former President Mguabe Wuhazi of Zimbabwe? I'm pretty sure if you just send him your bank info, he'll gladly transfer you the amount of US Dollars 20 million. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That is a bold, unsubstantiated statement. Perhaps you can name a nation that has been able to do so? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd actually say the issue is - what will we have to give up to do it? Unlimited wants, limited resources. Choices are going to have to be made. If you pick unlimited free education and unlimited, free healthcare, what are you going to give up? I guarantee it's going to have to be a lot. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Why? There has never, in the history of man, been a nation able to pay for doctoral degrees and perfect, universal healthcare for it's populace. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's usually publicity, not money. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The warnings in parts of Europe are hilarious. I've seen "Smoking Kills" and "Cigarettes Cause Death," as well as various other graphic warnings. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Life is composed of choices. If anyone tells you that you can have it all, they are lying. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Funny coincidence. Me too. Want to go jump off something? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sugar Bowl kickoff... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

jcd11235, ahegeman, Consider yourselves warned. Please try to discuss the topic without resorting to bashing other posters. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Given that Marx said that the eradication of religion was necessary to create a utopian dictatorship of the proletariet, and that virtually _all_ governments attempting to implement communist systems have banned religion (or at least attempted to do so), I'd say that "part of the platform is to eradicate it" is a fairly reasonable conclusion. Communism, in short, is associated with hostility toward religion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Imagine driving into the valley with a plate reading "BASEXXX". I'm looking forward to doing that after I stop jumping. Ought to be good for a few laughs. Or maybe BASE will be allowed by then... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I would call 911, then climb down. If I thought I could provide aid, I _might_ jump after, if it was a long way around to the bottom. But if conditions were questionable, I'd worry about creating two victims, rather than one. An exception is that one of my friends made me promise that if he went in, we'd all jump afterward. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. Never heard that idea before... Great idea! Let's do it! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Welcome to DZ.com! You might want to pull your caps lock off. In online forums, all caps is considered SHOUTING, and is a bit rude. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've long intended to get a BASE579 personalize license plate. I'll apply for it just after I give up jumping. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

They could still sue me. And I have attorney's fees, even if I won. The letter is mostly for you, actually, rather than me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know that numerous jumps have been made with 3rd and 4th gen models. But max altitude reached was around 5000 agl (these were all BASE jumps). In terms of opening shock, etc, I'm sure you're fine. As far as altitude, I don't know. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have been able to acquire a $1 million liability policy for my free first jump courses. It only costs me around $70/yr. I specifically asked if it would cover for-profit events, and it does not. Since I wasn't that interested, I didn't pursue it any further. Many umbrella policies will cover you for problems at work. So if you created a corporation to run Bridge Day, you could acquire a personal umbrella policy for under $100/yr that would cover you, personally, as an employee (it wouldn't cover the Bridge Day corporation). That would at least protect you if something bad went down. And you could always have the BD corp declare bankruptcy if it was sued, and just charter a new corporation for the next year. I'll dig around a bit more. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

LLC's and S corps offer much greater liability shielding than sole proprietorships. In a high risk environment like parachuting, especially if you have things to lose (for example, you own a home), this is pretty important. There are also numerous tax advantages to S corps (like creating a defined benefit plan to save pre-tax money). I agree with LawRocket that the extra effort of qualifying in each jurisdiction you travel to may be onerous. Delaware has fairly good rules, especially for large corporations. But in my opinion, Nevada is even better. Nevada doesn't even collect some information (including, in some circumstances, corporate ownership), so that information can't be subpoenaed out of the state records--it simply isn't there. For this reason, some business strategists recommend creating a nevada corporation to act as the owner in your local state LLC (where you can act as the manager), so that even if the underlying Nevada LLC is sued, it will be difficult to trace ownership back and attack your personal assets. I recommend grabbing a copy of Own Your Own Corporation, by Garrett Sutton, which is a very useful, and practical, guide to creating corporate entities for tax and liability sheltering purposes. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you clarify if you mean "initiated deployment" or "had a landable canopy"? Or some other definition of "opened"? You might also want to specify if you mean wingsuit or not, because it is physically possible to initiate successful deployment from wingsuit flight, because the deployment consumes some horizontal distance in place of the normal vertical altitude. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com