TomAiello

You might note that because the NPS has lumped paragliders in with us, most hang gliders (and USHGA members) are generally in favor of allowing us (and their friends who paraglide) to play in the parks. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Certainly, at a minimum: (1) Permission from the object owner. (2) Permission from the landing area owner (if different) Likely also, (2) Liability Insurance to protect the object owner (and organizers). (3) Permission from any local authorities. I don't think that it would be that tough, really, if you had a friendly object owner and some cash to buy insurance to protect your friendly object owner. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've seen a lot of carnage in BASE. A lot more than in skydiving. Honestly, the thing I'm worried about is the psychological impact of being involved in a sport where (by my own informal count) I lose a friend approximately once every 6 months. This takes a toll. I would be concerned that a 16 year old would (a) not be able to understand that up front, and (b) have trouble paying that toll. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Generally, because they are the ones who's history stands out. Also, because they have been notified that this is the case. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Does anyone have any statistics on private giving? A lot of individuals, groups, and corporations are giving too. I wonder what the per capita aid numbers would look like if you added in the amounts given privately by the citizens of each nation? I sort of prefer human-to-human aid, over the government variety, and nobody seems to be noticing that kind of aid. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Kallend's ban is not permanent. Only a select group. And everyone in that group has been notified. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you been to Cuba? I'll take American healthcare over Cuban, any day of the week. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

slotperfect chutingstar NightJumper Mark Baur jlmiracle bbarnhouse councilman24 fields Rigger53 USSkydiver SkymonkeyONE katiebear Kim Griffin Sangiro riggerrob Andrew Whyte The Anvil (?) CSpenceFLY beezyshaw Skymama (Saturday) tspillers sid Freeflir29 Paige Raefordite TonyT hajnalka cssriggers crutch IMGR2 freeflynNicki deadwood skydiverek skygod7777 superwhuffo peek airtwardo Tom Aiello -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nice avatar! Oh, god, someone has created a monster... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

So, savings is bad? Sounds like the Bush economic plan: "Everyone, spend more money!" -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Let's just start here. I'll come back to the other points in a bit: That goes against everything I have read by even conservative economists. Which economists are those? Not that Google is an authority, but a quick Google shows the following support for my view that Smoot-Hawley was a leading contributor (at least) to the Great Depression: StocksandNews.com Stephen Lai The Ludwig Von Mises Institute Encyclopedia Brittanica The United States State Department Wikipedia Columbia Encyclopedia In your reading of the conservative economists, you appear to have missed such minor figures as Henry Hazlitt, Murray Rothbard and FA Hayek. If you'd like, I can recommend some supplemental readings, so that you can investigate the effects of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, specifically, or protectionism, more generally, on economic prosperity. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I still think it wouldn't. Single crop economies (be that crop petroleum or wicker based) aren't usually very stable. My point is that if you want education to have productive (for society) outcomes, you need some kind of mechanism to encourage folks into areas of study that are of high value to society. That's why doctors get paid more than basketweavers. Although our current system is far from perfect, a system with no encouragement mechanism (everyone just gets to study whatever they want, for free) is definitely not a change for the better. In fact, it'd be likely to collapse under the weight of a huge student body, which would have to be supported by the relatively small number of people who chose to do productive work, rather than learning additional things. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Did you know that in most cases FEMA requires you to rebuild in the same location to qualify for disaster relief funds? So all those houses you see getting flooded? They have to be rebuilt in the flood plain if people want federal dollars to help. If the people want to, say, rebuild on a hill where the house won't be flooded next time? No help for that--it would make too much sense. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Is the community better off by having everyone get PhDs in basketweaving? If you have no financial incentive (read: no need to make money afterward) you're going to see a lot of people studying things that don't make a productive contribution to the community. In fact, many advanced degrees do not pay for themselves in terms of payback to society, in economic terms. Even some MBA programs (which ought to be best on that footing) aren't actually worth the money if you do a comparative cost-benefit analysis. You're going to have a lot of trouble convincing me that providing free PhDs in esoteric, impractical subjects is really going to make society better off. Far better to spend that money on something more comparatively useful. In short, I disagree with your underlying assumption that a nation of PhD's will necessarily be more productive than a nation with heterogenouse educational levels. Can you tell me what leads you to this conclusion? For most of my life, I've been in the bottom 50% (usually more like the bottom 25%) of income, and I've always felt that I benefited from having health insurance. Are you arguing that I would have been better off without it? That somehow I was fooled into allowing myself to be exploited while thinking I was being made better off? This is demonstrably untrue under some insurance systems that have evolved in a relatively free market way. For example, doctors at HMO's get paid a salary regardless of the number of patients they see. It is actually in their interest to keep the patients healthy, because then they have to do less work for the same pay. What makes you sure the current system is focused this way? I could construct good arguments that (a) the system is in fact focused on preventing diseases, or (b) that there are sound reasons to focus on treatment (getting people back into their lives) rather than prevention (which is far more expensive, and targets lots of people who would never contract the disease anyway). Which would you like to hear? I totally disagree with almost everything in that paragraph. You're drawing awfully grand conclusions, and ones that are obviously slanted to your particular preferences. I could argue, for example, that what the Great Depression really showed us was that trying to restrict trade flows (implicitly an anti-Liberty idea, but also an anti-Capitalist idea) causes global economic meltdown. I think there are many historians who would say that the root cause of the Depression was the Smoot-Hawley tariff, which was definitely not a "strictly capitalist" measure. In fact, Smoot-Hawley might be characterized as an attempt to "temper capitalism with socialist safeguards," which resulted in economic collapse. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Neither of the Skyhelmets.de pages works for me in Safari. Both work fine in Internet Explorer. You might try switching browsers. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Honestly, that clip is a lot tamer than the carnage videos I've seen floating around. No one is wiling to post them on the internet (for good reason) but plenty of folks (myself included) have sat down overeager young jumpers and made them watch. And the carnage videos themselves are far tamer than the real life things I (and pretty much every other experienced BASE jumper) have seen first hand. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you haven't read Time Enough for Love by Robert Heinlein, I recommend that. It's a work of political philosophy thinly disguised as science fiction. I found it much more accessible than his more acclaimed Stranger in a Strange Land. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I disagree. Very strongly. Nascar, for example, has gained a lot of speed--without 16 year old drivers, or drivers who've only just gotten a license. The level of risk is high enough that I feel it is unethical to teach someone who (a) lacks proper preparation, or (b) does not fully grasp the potential consequences. In my opinion, it is very unlikely that a 16 year old will have sufficient life experience to really understand the potential consequences. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've had my iPod functioning fine at over 14k above sea level for several hours. That's an original (1st generation) model. I don't know about the iPod mini (per Phree's comment), but mine worked fine at that altitude. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've played with most of the 3rd party speakers that apple sells. My hands down favorite is the JBL On Stage. It's small, light, and has great sound quality. I thought it was superior to the (twice as expensive) BOSE Sound Dock. I own several sets of speakers for iPods. If you're in the lower end of the cost range, try this portable sony speaker. I won it and use it for several hours every day. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's only because they played them twice. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PM sent. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you do a forum search for "wingsuit land", you can see 19 pages worth of posts on the subject. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Georgia stopped Wisconsin's drive on the 6 (on 4th down), but then the Georgia QB was picked off for a Wisconsin TD. Two point conversion makes it 21-24 Georgia. There is much agitation in our house, at the moment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have a look at the Wingsuit forum. Lots of discussion on this issue there. The guy you're thinking of is probably Jeb Corliss. He's historically been more a BASE jumper than a skydiver, so if you do a search in the BASE forum, you can find more info about him. He's a friend, a fantastic BASE jumper and a great guy. I'd bet he'll cover all the angles for this one, but I, for one, will be greatly saddened if he's hurt or killed. But I'll send him a case of beer if he walks away (that's funny, if you know Jeb). As a side note, Den L, from Moscow, essentially landed a wingsuit several years ago (on accident). He impacted before his canopy reached line stretch (late pull on a BASE jump), and was hospitalized for about a week. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com