TomAiello

I am currently in Cortez, Colorado. The next day or two will be scenic drives and such here, then probably back down to the Grand Canyon. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that's the strategy with lots of small cars. BMW apparently makes a _much_ higher margin on MINI options than on the cars themselves. Their pricing strategy appears to be to leave the base cost the same, but increase prices on options when they need to make more money. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah. I had assumed that the stripes meant you had the sport package. In the states you have to pay extra for stripes, but they come with the package. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What he said. I'd prefer to keep the government out of my bedroom--and yours. Heck, I'd prefer to keep them out of my wallet, my bank account, and my hobbies, but that's unlikely to happen anytime soon. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There is no need to actively mislead people who wish to reach a particularly conclusion. You just let them mislead themselves. They really do believe the conclusion, and you didn't have to do anything. Personally, I think it was aliens. Since they landed in Roswell in 1947, they've spread into all facets of American life and taken over... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey now, _I_ own guns and live in Idaho. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I also had bad experiences with the pre-MDV Troll openings. I found the canopy had a tendency to "Jellyfish" (term borrowed from a friend who was an early jumper of the canopy) on low airspeed openings. My review of the unvented version is on BLiNC. The MDV's pretty much addressed all of my concerns. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Looks like the sport package, and no sunroof. Have you ever tried autocross? That car would be a serious contender. The Cooper is tops in it's class. The S doesn't do nearly as well, though, since the supercharger puts you up in a higher class. We haven't gotten a plate yet--have to get home to Idaho first, but "WHEEE" is our first choice.

I rode in a SmartCar last year in Switzerland. When I was living in Davis, someone there had one that you'd see around town. I'm not sure how they got it into the country, though. Mileage on the SmartCar is fantastic--I think I heard 65 mpg or something. But performance is a little lacking. 0-60 was something like 17 seconds. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The new one's _are_ real ones. Besides, do you know how hard it is to find a classic mini in good condition in the states? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know. But I'm trying very hard to make this a non-parachuting vacation. I haven't had a non-jumping trip in about five years. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. What for? I can't believe the number of jumpable things I saw in college station. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm on a multi-week road trip across the country. Atlanta, Georgia, back home to Twin Falls, Idaho, via not quite the shortest route. It's pretty much the maiden voyage for our new car. I can't decide if it's the most practical fun car I've ever driven, or the most fun practical car I've ever driven. Pretty decent gas mileage, actually roomy in the front seats, good storage or back seats, awesome handling and super-quick acceleration (that's what you get for putting a supercharger in a car that only weighs 2400 pounds). Photos (of the car) here. Harry Potter fans will recognize the name. Others will decide that I'm really a nerd. I thought of AggieDave, and what he would have to say about our tiny little foreign car, when I took the photos in College Station. Fun, fun, fun! If you get a chance to drive one of these, do it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nothing. I already bought them proactively before the ban went into effect, back in 1993 or so. That included a pre-ban AR-15 with the evil flash suppressor on the end of the barrel, and a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun with the evil 15-round magazines. Bill Clinton made me want to buy more guns than any other President. Since existing ownership of the banned guns was grandfathered-in as legal to continue to own, there wasn't a problem with that. You just gotta get 'em before the law takes effect. What he said. Before the Clinton-era ban, I owned zero firearms. After the ban, I started collecting banned weapons (I now own 9 of them). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I agree. It should be noted, however, that direct control can noticeably slow the opening, so if you are in the habit of pulling low (by BASE standards, I mean--so more freefall than canopy time) you may want to pull a bit higher as you play with this. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As far as I know it's only up to BASE strike #1. Span strike was a pillar strike similar to this one. I know of one other span/pillar strike. It's on one of the Aussie videos (BE, I think?), when they launch a 4 way from some silly low altitude (I think it was less than 200'). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've made about 150 jumps on my Troll MDV, with about 150 jumps on it before the MDV's were installed. I can compare it well to FOX Vtec and Blackjack (on each of which I have in excess of 250 jumps) and not as well to Ace, Flik, Dagger, and FOX Vtec w/valves, on each of which I have less than 50 jumps. I cannot compare to the Rock Dragon, as I have no experience on that canopy. With the MDV I'm quite happy with the canopy. I wouldn't buy one without the MDV unless you are only going to do terminal jumps and open with a fair margin for safety. The canopy flies great. It has very good top speed, as well as excellent full brakes. In other words, it can go both fast and slow. I think (subjectively) that it has a bit less top speed than the Ace/BJ, and about the same sink rate. It's much better at penetrating than the FOX Vtec, and has better flare, but sink rate appears slightly worse. I've been pleased with the openings since adding the MDV to my canopy. I've used the canopy at altitudes down to 180' without major issue (or at least, without issue that couldn't easily have occured on any other canopy). You can reduce the "skydiving-like" characteristics (harder response to toggle input, shorter control stroke) by removing the fifth control line. This mostly depends on personal preference (and how much you skydive) in my opinion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Feel free to name names and give specifics. The cliffs in Twin are all legal, at least they were the last time I asked the Sheriff if I could jump from one of them. The cliffs away from town are on BLM land, so they're pretty much in the same legal areas as the cliffs down in Moab. That said, I agree with Hookitt that jumping the cliffs around there is scary, and silly, and you're way better off to find some safer and easier cliffs, further away from such a nice legal span. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This totally depends on the particular rig. Some rigs need it, some don't. In fact, some rigs should be packed with the flap closed every time, even at low altitude, because the flap causes no inhibition at all (mostly the "crossover" rather than "around" style 2 pins, and the Prism). Call the manufacturer of your specific rig and ask them. Or post the model of your rig and we can discuss it here. I do it. I do it on all my slider down jumps, and anything where I'll pull low. The only jumps where I don't do it are wingsuit jumps, or terminal aerobatic (backtracking, for example) jumps. My closing loops stay the same length. I only adjust them for different canopies, but since I don't swap canopies between rigs that often, it's no big deal. I do change out my closing loops for loops of different material (spectra) but the same length, for ultra low (sub 200') freefalls. The Gargoyle and the Prism 2 are my favorite pin rigs. I slightly prefer the Prism 2, but I think choice of rig is really personal preference. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm also going to leave a pointer here and move this thread to Gear and Rigging, to see if a real rigger over there might provide some guidance. What kind of canopy is it? Since it's a BASE canopy, I'm assuming 7 cells, F-111, Dacron lines. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I might consider relining the whole canopy, but that may be a bit overboard. Have you called the manufacturer to ask them? They ought to be able to answer with better specifics. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Several years ago, I had an experienced that was important to me. I described it here in these words: The thing I learned that day was not that you can freefall a vented canopy from 150'. Nor was it that if you do such a thing over hard earth you'd better be prepared to PLF. In fact, what I learned was that when the whole world stands against you, the measure of your friends is that they will stand behind you. It's not that they aren't friends with everyone else. It's not that they wouldn't stand behind those other people, too. It is, quite simply, that at that moment, you need them standing behind you. Doug, I'll stand behind you. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's a gem if I've ever seen one. I'm going to address this particular, nasty rumor that I keep seeing floating around the BASE world. Doug Spink was not "in love," in the romantic sense, with Dwain Weston. Karin Sako did not "steal" Doug's boyfriend. Doug was not jealous of Karin and Dwain as a spurned lover. Doug did not make any kind of romantic or sexual advances toward Dwain. I base these statements on (a) in depth conversations on this subject I had with Dwain shortly after he had moved to L.A. to be with Karin, (b) my knowledge of Doug and his psychology and sexuality, and (c) conversations I have had with Doug about the nature of his relationship with Dwain. All of these conversations were had at times when none of the parties had any reason to lie to me about the content of the discussions. All you vultures who think you've figured this all out and that's what's going on here, you're completely wrong. Please leave off. You are radically oversimplifying the complex relationship between at least two facinating people, and doing a disservice to those left living, as well as the memory of those who have died. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Am I first? And does it count as guessing if I already knew the answer? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As far as I know, you are the only person that thinks it's a suicide. Never be sure you know what everyone thinks. Anyway, what difference does it make? Dwain is gone. We can't bring him back. All we can do is each deal with his loss in the way that is best for us. That's going to be different for each of us. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com