TomAiello

Generally, if you have a legal right to be in a building, it's much harder to pin something on you. This is a good reason to eat in the restaurant (and save the receipt) or get a room. If you're jumping from somewhere in the building you are legally entitled to be (hotel balcony, for example), the only thing you might get nailed on is some kind of reckless endangerment or public nuisance. If you have to go through a secure area to get to where you exit, you may still face some kind of trespassing. Much of the success of prosecution depends on how hard it was for you to get there. If you could plausibly wander there from public spaces, it's pretty hard to actually get you (not that you won't end up in court--you're just more likely to win once you're there). Of course, the building management can always ask you to leave, or forbid you from entering again. Since some buildings share management, you may want to research what other buildings you'd be banned from if you got caught (this is particularly relevant when jumping big casinos). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Many pre-Christian cultures celebrated the Winter Solstice. So I'd imagine that postulating that Christ never existed, cultures would have continued celebrating the Winter Solstice up to the present day. Many non-Christian cultures have large winter holiday celebrations around the same time. If you try to fly to KL for an event around december 25th, for example, you find it very hard to get airline reservations, because of the very large number of (non-Christians) in that area who travel during that time for their cultural celebrations. In short, yes. I think it very likely that we'd have a holiday around that time even if Christ never existed. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. I know three jumpers who were prosecuted solely on the strength of their own video (which was confiscated when they were apprehended, packing in a nearby park for another load). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There ain't no way I'm going stowed from 170'. Hand held? Ok. Stowed? No how, no way. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For a not quite so simplified (but still, in my opinion oversimplified) political spectrum, see the 2-D map at the end of the Quiz on the Libertarian Party website. I once had a poli sci professor who had (not kidding) a six dimensional mathematical model of political orientation. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm an extreme Liberal and and extreme Conservative on social issues. I think, for example, that Christianity (or any other religion) has no real place in the establishment in this country. I also think that the government has no business regulating marriage. But I think that "Affirmative Action" is just another name for institutionalized racism. And I have dozens of other positions that are firmly planted at opposite ends of the typical American "Liberal-Conservative" spectrum. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Maybe. The configuration I've played with is a tailgate sewn into the trailing edge of the slider. Vertigo put(s?--not sure how current this is) a stow band on the trailing edge. The idea is that you take a bight of the control lines (I've seen tandems packed this way) to inhibit line over. I don't really like doing that because (a) I can't be sure to make perfectly symmetric bights, and (b) I don't like re-trimming the canopy ad-hoc each time I pack. If you put a tailgate there instead, and close it with a rubber band, you don't distort the line trim nearly as much. Still, there are the issues discussed in this thread (tailgate/mesh entanglement, potential hangup due to low pressure, etc). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You could put it at the level of the grommets. When the slider was folded up into the pack job, no mesh would be near the tailgate. Theoretically, this would reduce the risk of entanglement, although you are correct that in the opening there would always be some way for the tailgate to get accidentally tangled. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe what you're looking for his here in the midst of the fatality discussion on BLiNC. For those not wishing to wade through the full discussion, the relevant part is below: Or is that not the one you were looking for? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just to mention... This is a possibility with large hole mesh but not with small hole mesh (so I've been told). This also ought to be impossible with the tailgate situated very low (say, down past the mesh), but then you get back into the things I was talking about above. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I usually use 2. I actually sometimes vary it depending on delay. I've seen as many as 5 used with no noticeable variation in outcome. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Followed by: But wouldn't you agree that a slider-up jump is rarely in low airspeed? Yes, but the slider slows things down, thereby decreasing the force applied on the tailgate closure. So, since we know that in "low tailgate breaking force" applications (i.e. PCA) a low tailgate placement can result in a hangup, and we know that this is because there is less force on the tailgate, it makes some sense to leap to "moving the tailgate down when force on it is reduced can lead to hangup." There is no solid evidence for this, and, to my knowledge, no recorded cases. However, tailgates haven't been used slider up nearly as much as slider down, so it might benefit us to take some of the lessons learned slider down, and try to see how parts of them might apply slider up. I guess what I'm saying is: "be aware of the danger, and make your own decisions." It would suck if I knew this _might_ be an issue, and I said nothing, and then someone, somewhere, snivelled in under a slider up tailgate hangup. I'd far rather that folks think I was a little alarmist (especially since the fix is fairly easy). Masking tape is the stuff you use when painting, to cover the stuff you don't want the paint on. It's the paperish stuff that tears easily. I've seen it used in 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch widths for this, with wraps ranging from 1 to 5. I personally prefer to put the sticky side out, so that the tape (and lines it holds) stay in the same place relative to the fabric of the pack job. This is not standard practice (most people put the sticky side in). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I generally use masking tape slider up. Here's why: If you have customized your DBS (which you should have, right?), then you'll need to move your tailgate. The tailgate ought to be placed such that with the brakes set, the line attachment tabs are _just_ (less than an inch is ideal) above the tailgate. If you place the tailgate too low, you risk tailgate hangup in some low airspeed (generally PCA) situations. Since I don't want to experience a tailgate hangup slider up, I'd suggest either (a) moving the tailgate up (and creating a second tailgate attachment point) for shallow brakes (slider up), or (b) simply using masking tape. I admit, I've used the standard tailgate set point, and haven't had any problems. But I'd hate to be the one to teach that lesson to everyone else. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Jason, I don't know if I ever told you this, but... A while ago, I had a roommate who was a seasonal ranger in Yosemite (he was getting his Ph.D. during the rest of the year). I played that for him, and the next summer, when I was in Yosemite, he introduced me to the guy who left that message. We talked about BASE a bit. It was interesing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just a note to anyone following this: I'm leaving site names in because they are very relevant to particular considerations for the NPS (i.e. there is traffic in some places but not in others). We know that, historically, these sites were once jumped, before the park service banned jumping on its lands. As we all know, no one has jumped any of these sites since that time without being arrested. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Check. More than one letter. Since I'm a believer in representative democracy I've also written my Congressmen and Senators. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This argument disappears in some other National Parks, where private vehicles are not allowed during peak season. Just as a point of reference, something like 85% of YOSAR dollars are spent on run of the mill "lost hiker" calls. Climbing and BASE make up a percentage of their time small enough to be relatively inconsequential. Plus, the YOSAR guys actually _like_ getting climbing calls--it's a heck of a lot less boring than walking 2 miles past Mirror Lake because Uncle Fred got lost while playing mountain man. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Toronto's friendly local is unfortunately laid up at the moment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I lived in Davis, California for 10 years. Davis was the 2nd city in California to ban smoking, and still (to my knowledge) the strictest. Smoking is banned in all public places--indoor or outdoor. You can even be ticketet for smoking in a private place where the smoke can carry. People have been issued citations for smoking on their own front porches. Step...step...slip...slip...slide... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't post much in this forum, probably because I hardly ever skydive. But I do have a few (probably in excess of 500) night jumps, most of them into not so well lit landing areas. Something I haven't seen mentioned in this thread. If you aren't landing in a well lit area (i.e. in this context, you're landing out): Focus your attention on your peripheral vision. You can tell where the ground is, and hence when to flare, much more easily by the change in shades of grey to the side than by the big patch of black in front of you. If you happen to be landing beside a structure of some kind (no idea what kind that would be) you can easily determine ground level by being aware of the color change from the ground to the structure. I've used this trick to make stand up landings on moonless nights with zero ground light. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, I could make a pretty good case that the best way to serve your country is to stay home and make a ton of money. Not only do you pay taxes on it, but you stimulate the economy so other people make money, pay taxes, etc...I think there was a guy named Smith who worked all that out some time ago. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Easy there. I've had enough fighting on this forum for a while. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Be careful. Folks can be a might touchy about things in their town. Best to always talk to them first, even if you think they're not jumping it. They might be at the end of a 3 year negotiation, just about to open up a legal BASE event, and you might blaze through and jump the site, shutting down all their hard work. How do I know this? I did it when I had about 15 jumps. edit to add: I mention this partly because it happened awful close to a city North of the Border with a very large A. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please note the bolded portion of my original post. I'm aware that there are places where this system isn't currently working so well. I'm not sure what happens to replace it, or where we are all going with this. I guess we all find out together. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In theory, you ought to at least be able to live together well enough that an out of towner could call either of you... In theory, anyway. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com