TomAiello

Hmmm. I can never predict where I'm going to agree or disagree with Yuri on politics (odd, since I agree with him on the vast majority of life issues, it seems). In this case, I'd say I mostly agree. The US trend toward statism in the last 100 years is very disturbing. The acceleration of that trend in the last decade is downright terrifying. Honestly, though, I don't think it's a Republican v. Democrat or Bush v. Kerry issue. I guess all I can say is that I think the article hits a lot of good points, and I agree with many of them. But I don't think the fix is so simple as voting for someone else, and, honestly, I think that much of the world is having similar problems. What was it Jimmy Rogers said in Investment Biker? "Statism is the great political disease of the 20th century." Maybe the 21st century will be better. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I worked on a university campus for several years. My general observation was that education (and intelligence, actually) were pretty much unrelated to consideration, thoughtfulness, or value as a person. In other words, the proportion of wankers who have PhD's is about the same as the proportion of wankers in the general populace. Somehow, I suspect that kallend isn't one of them, but I've never met him IRL, so your guess is as good as mine. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Gravitymaster, Kallend, Please try to be at least civil guys. No one enjoys reading long posts where every word is bolded. Maybe we could go back to discussing the article? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually read a study a long time ago that purported to reveal that the human brain worked better in colder temps. So maybe it's just that most of the IQ tests are given in winter, when kids are at school, and the kids in places with colder winters do better because they are having high efficiency thoughts due to climactic condtions? Ah, such a lark... BTW, have you seen the Economists Big Mac index? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sweet! I just moved from number 40 to number 48! I'm getting smarter all the time. Thankfully, they're both conservative states. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I do. I'll have a look when I get a chance. It's a great magazine. You ought to consider reading it. It might even be able to convince you (even you) that free market mechanisms are actually beneficial to humanity. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's so not right. Capitalism is a means of allocating resources. One of the odd facets of economic systems is that they grow. And the methods of allocating their products effects the rates at which they grow. In fact, over the long term, Capitalism is nice to poor people, because it's nice to everyone--it grows the total output more/faster. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've recently been perusing a variety of other boards (they're car boards, as we are buying a new car and I'm very excited about it). I've noticed that many of these boards give a title (shown just below the user's name on posts) to people who make donations to the site. Usually it reads something like "DZ.com sponsor", or "DZ.com Contributor" or some such. Anyway, since the PW titles have gone away and left some space up there, I wonder if adding a "financial contributor title" in their place might not encourage people to pitch in. Of course, there are plenty of considerations revolving around how people might view this ("you lousy scumbag, you don't even contribute to the site, and you dare to say _that_?!") and what the effects on the community would be. Just a thought. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I know that it's got a steeper angle of attack than the Dagger. It's also got valves on the bottom skin. I think it was Vertigo's attempt to capture some of the "low and slow" market, for people who thought the Dagger was too swoopy. I have a lot of respect for the technical skills of the folks involved in designing it, so I anticipate that it will be pretty good. Other than that, I haven't got much info. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey, Has anyone jumped Vertigo's new Rock Dragon? I've talked to both Jimmy and Chris (from PA) about it a little, but haven't really heard anything about openings. Anyone tried it? I understand Jimmy is bringing a demo up for Memorial Day, so maybe I'll get a shot at it then. On the other hand, his demo is a 240, so it won't be the best comparison (since I'll be overloading the canopy by a good bit). Kudoz to Vertigo for helping push canopy development forward. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If the logo is silk screened on (as I think has been the case with most of the BR logo canopies I've seen) it shouldn't be a problem in terms of canopy performance (plus, the silk screening will wear and fade over the the next few years). If the logo is sewn on, then you can see some very minor performance issues (from the extra weight on the canopy). Basically, I'd say it's no big deal. I wouldn't have done it, but it's not something to worry about. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Did you pay to have the logo put on? I've always thought it was a bit nuts that the manufacturers often try to charge people to give them free advertising. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Try PMing PerFlare. I know he owned an early Crossbow, and had some scary experiences with the cutaway handle problem. Perhaps he has some thoughts on how to fix it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It may have to do with "cultural" norms. I have the distinct impression that jumping in Russia is a bit, shall we say, "edgier" than in most other places. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. Very interesting. What kind of apparatus did you use to measure these numbers? Maybe i'd better go break out a spring scale and start dropping stuff off the roof... This may be a bad assumption if the jumper is using an upward PC toss. In that case, the numbers could be significantly lower. Do you know where the drag ought to hit 10 kg? I've never seen any rig measure more than 22 pounds of force to open. I'd definitely agree with that, based both on personal observation, and on what you've said here. I'm not sure about the 2.5 seconds, though, as the 39kg you measured (calculated?--not sure how you generated the numbers) is going to be far more than is needed to open a velcro container. I think that the really important thing to take away from this discussion is that velcro ought not to be used for ultra low freefalls. Since a pin can be adjusted (for example by using spectra loops) for very low tension, you can minimize the (very early) container opening hesitation, which will save you a significant amount of altitude lower down. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This seems quite counter-intuitive. Can you elaborate on what leads you to this conclusion? Thanks. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Huh? Second parachute? Is this an intentional cutaway or something...? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not my first choice, but I'd do it without too much worry if that was the only PC I had. I think there is room for some serious research into PC's. At those kind of moderate altitudes, the 42 will likely inflate faster, but pull slower, and it might actually turn out to be a complete wash. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes, but it's usually a pretty friendly exchange. There have been some notable problems (can you say "Scott Burke"?), but the usual interaction is pretty good. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just a word of warning. If you post GPS coordinates here, I'll delete them. Please send that kind of information via PM or email. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The link isn't working for me. Here's another one: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/05/17/iraq.main/index.html. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Here: http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/Releases.aspx?ID=3710 -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Try calling these people. I know they do custom colors on all kinds of other electronics gear. I bet they'd do a pro-track if you asked them to. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

One guy did one BASE jump and cost his health insurance company around $400,000. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

DJ made them. I'll PM you with his email. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com