TomAiello

Ouch. Really? I couldn't stand Goodkind. So simply, candy-sweet. It didn't even have enough complexity to keep my amused, let alone interested. For good fantasy, try Guy Gavriel Kay. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

From here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think you're reaching for "a bientot", which means roughly "see you later." It's French. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you read the Integral Trees? My favorite Niven was probably a book whose name I'm forgetting . It'll come to me in a minute... I think I actually enjoyed Cryptonomicon a little more. But I found Snow Crash more thoughtful, so it's probably a bit higher on my personal list. Hmmm. Maybe I'll go get the new Stephenson series to read next. What's it called, the Baroque Cycle? Why not? Isn't that what we're here for? Ever read any Roger Zelazny? "For A Breath I Tarry" and "Home is the Hangman" are pretty high on my list, as are "Unicorn Variations" and "The Last Defender of Camelot". If I had my books here, I'd start looking over the shelves and trying to remember other favorites. Y'all are lucky they're still in boxes in California. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Well, in another thread I did say that my personal top book (of any genre) of all time was Time Enough For Love. The books that top my list tend to have high entertainment value as well as high thought provocation value (although entertainment-only books make my list, while thought-provocation only works usually don't). Anybody want to start a best Sci-Fi (or other) books list? Some of mine: Time Enough for Love (Heinlein) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Heinlein) Ender's Game (Card) Dune (Herbert) (another series that trailed off after a phenomenal start) Fahrenheit 451 (Bradbury) Foundation (Asimov) TEfL is definitely way out ahead, though, if only because Heinlein's personal philosophy resonates with me so much more than that of the others. I'm looking for something to read right now. Any suggestions? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Well, I think I knew that all along. But knowing what is safe, and acting in the safest possible manner are two different things. The order I did the jumps was S-E-B-A. I made my first jump (S) on September 1. I then had to wait about 4 weeks for my gear. Then, I made four more jumps from the same S, then went on a road trip to Bridge Day (from California) with my mentor. My next jumps were, in order, E1,E1,E2,E3,E3,S2,S2,S3,S4,S4,S4,S2,S5,B,A,E4 (where the numbers indicate different objects). What's the old saying about experience and judgment? Something about good judgment coming from experience, I think? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ender's Game is one of the best Sci-Fi books ever written. I thought the others in the series were good, but not in the same league as the original. Speaker and Xenocide kind of got preachy, too. I like Ender's Shadow a bit more than the actual Ender sequels. If you can find a copy, Treason is high up on my "pure entertainment value" list, as is the Worthing Saga. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

NO. Not even close, actually. The primary consideration here is the wind, and what it will do as it rolls around the solid surfaces surrounding your opening zone. Nine times out of ten, an object strike occurs not because of the size of the surface, but because the wind was blowing the canopy back into the object, or creating turbulence that took control of the canopy away from the jumper. On an antenna, the wind will pretty much just blow straight through. Turbulence created by the structure is minimal, and you can jump with a good wind at your back. This means that a smooth, friendly airflow will blow you _away_ from potential object strike, making a 180 a much safer experience. The best wind conditions for jumping an antenna are strong winds from behind--which make the object virtually unstrikable. The wind will blow over the top of most cliffs (some cliffs are more like pillars, so they need to be treated like buildings for wind, and some are in canyons, which have their own considerations). This means that a tailwind you feel at exit can flow over the top of the cliff and down, creating a downdraft at opening. A downdraft at opening, especially at low (i.e. slider down, i.e. those cliffs out in the desert) airspeed can be very bad. As your canopy expands, the downdraft can blow the expanded portions down through the still inflating portions, toward the jumper. This scenario can lead to all kinds of bad things, starting with collapsed cells, and moving up to tension knots and lineovers caused by lines going slack during the inflation sequence. The best wind conditions for jumping a cliff are zero winds. Failing that, crosswinds are generally safer than either head or tailwinds, but analysis of the individual cliff and surrounding formations is critical to understanding what the wind will do to the canopy during and after opening. The wind blows around a building. So exiting a building in a strong tailwind is actually a bad idea. Strong winds coming around the downwind corners will create rotors, which will roll back into the downwind face of the building, creating both turbulence _and_ a general relative headwind (i.e. blowing you back into the building) at opening. Analyzing the wind on a building is very tricky, and includes the shape of the building, the direction of the wind, and the locations and shapes of surrounding buildings. A cliff in a canyon has many of the same considerations. Ideally, buildings should be jumped in zero wind. If you must jump in wind, be sure you understand what's going on with all the wind, and all the things that effect it, both at opening and everywhere you could potentially fly (or end up after clearing a malfunction, or get blown by the wind) after opening. Just remember that you are skipping steps in your progression, and be cautious and aware of that. Antennas are far safer than cliffs and buildings. In fact, a good antenna with a strong tailwind can be safer than an intermediate bridge. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

BASE is continually evolving. I sure as hell don't know where it's evolving to, and I doubt anyone else does either. I do think it's evolving in lots of different directions, though. It'll be neat to see where they all go... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In general, I do agree that most BASE jumpers put too much emphasis on getting the video. However... You might amend that to eliminate the "these days" part. I know an old timer who tells stories about trying to sneak out and jump without his friend Carl, because Carl always used to make everyone wear a bunch of camera gear, and he and his brother just wanted to go jump. The Carl in question? Yup, that'd be Carl Boenish. I'm guessing he'd be psyched to see the number of cameras festooning BASE jumpers these days. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I prefer top mounts. BASE risers are wider than skydiving risers, and BASE canopies open faster/harder. The net result is that a riser strike on a sidemounted camera can be quite brutal. I've seen two side mounts ripped off on opening. I've often wondered how bad that would have been if the mount hadn't broken. Talk about some serious whiplash... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No, no, no. It's "The Smoking Man." Like in the X-files. I made the name up after he put the X-files theme song onto my phone, as it's ring tone, one rainy day at the TV campground. Smoking Pants + X Files = The Smoking Man. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Worked for Kenneth Lay, Bernie Ebbers, and countless tobacco executives. The other way around seemed to work pretty well for Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin and several other communist leaders. It did not, however, work so well for the hundreds of thousands of people who starved to death under their rule. Profit incentives yield efficiency. Not allowing farmers to make a profit is a good way to make people starve. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd prefer that every important decision was made by someone with a large personal financial stake in it. That kind of thing encourages caution and good judgment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nope. I've seen it, though, and it looks like fun. You can set up a similar one across the way, too. Hmmm. Maybe I'll have to give this some practice... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What's the old saying about power and corruption? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Ah, here it is at http://www.basenumbers.org/. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Craig had a web site up trying to do that. He was working on voluntarily contributed data, though, so it wasn't a complete sampling. It'd be quite a project to do a good analysis, and I don't think RH is going to let anyone have the raw data, since it's confidential. Let me see if I can find Craig's web site... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. I've used it a couple times to jump walls that had domey tops but vertical faces below them. Generally, you rap down until you find a good place to exit from, then set up the ledge to provide an exit platform. I've considered trying to exit by rapping off the end of the line, which might allow some good extra launch velocity, if you used the line as a pendulum. I haven't summoned up the testicular fortitude to give it a shot, as yet, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. I generally agree with you, but I'd have to say the democrats have been far more guilty of that kind of thing than the republicans, on balance. Remember how FDR used to have the IRS deliver tax returns of his political enemies to him so that he could gloat over how much he had punished them with taxes? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sorry. I had meant it as a joke. And what do you mean you remember? I sure don't, probably because I was sloshed out of my mind to the point of alcoholic blackout. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I was more discussing the general principle of child "ownership" than trying to extrapolate to abortions. I'm not sure about fathers. I realize that in the real world the two parents aren't going to see eye to eye in every case. It's a tough question, but I do think that they are really the only two people who ought to have a say (if they want it) in how to raise the child. I don't think that grandparents ought to have rights in a grandchild born to a non-minor parent. In the case of a minor parent, I can see some carryover "ownership." I wouldn't go so far as to say that a parent could force their minor child to abort a pregnancy. Don't know. Tough questions. As I said, I was more digressing than trying to apply this to abortions. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Should be ok to bring it back up on skydivingmovies.com, now, if anyone still wants to see it but hasn't. If anyone is curious, Espen's told me via email that he was more embarrased than proud of the jump, because he came so close to the edge. He also said that he could see that his flight path would clear it well before he approached the lip. Espen is apparently planning some good stuff for this year. Can't wait to see that... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I guess what I'm saying is this: You get to choose which people in your life you will "belong" to. At some point, you were too young to select which people you wanted to "belong" to. How was that decision made before you made it for yourself? I'd argue that the only reasonable way to make it would be to assume that you "belong" to your parents until you reach majority, at which time you can decide for yourself who, if anyone, you "belong" to. I'd think any other way of determining who you "belong to" (i.e. who gets a say in determining your life direction) prior to majority would just be inviting meddling from governments, sociologists, and other villagers. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You must have missed his sig file on another board. Judging from that, his list is: 1) Made by Bird-man, inc. 2) Able to make love. Seems pretty simple. Maybe somebody ought to give Robert a call and see if he can get started on the next generation wingsuit. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com