TomAiello

This criteria for a "just war" seems beyond insane to me. If you are going to lose, than your war is not just? So, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising (a few doomed Polish Jews, mostly unarmed, fighting to avoid being sent to death camps by the the vastly superior--in a military sense--German army) was not "just"? Resistance was futile, so they should all have just marched off to the gas chamber, like good little boys and girls? Sorry, I just can't swallow the criteria. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hi Jim, You were the first person to suggest a double direct stow (one stow on each center C, with both holding the slider) to me, sometime last year, when you were using that method. Can you explain what you found when you did that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I doubt very much that CR is selling a canopy with a designed in left turn on opening. In fact, I think it would be very hard to design such a canopy. You'd have to purposefully create some weird assymetry in the design. And an off-heading resulting from the design would be the only thing I could think of that would create the phenomenon you're suggesting (that all Aces open off heading to the left). Saying that CR has designed a canopy that opens left every time would imply that they (a) have some nefarious reason for wanting it to open to the left, and (b) are so good at canopy design that they can call an opening direction, based only on canopy design. While I have been generally impressed with Adam's design skills, I don't thing they are quite that advanced. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Besides, then he'd have to pick some irresponsible, cheap beer swilling, college skydiver to moderate it. AggieDave a greeny?! God help us! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It happened to me. It turned out to be some tiny broken widget. It cost me around $200 to fix: 2 bucks for the widget, and $198 to take the camera apart and put the widget in, then put the camera back together. I only did it because the camera started eating (i.e. tearing in half) tapes. I'd recommend doing it before that. I lost some relatively irreplaceable footage. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Are you certain that you are stowing the slider from the center (i.e. is the bight of mesh being taken from the exact center of the slider)? I'm not sure if this would make a difference in practice. In theory, if you take a bight closer to one side of the slider, the other side could expand more, at an earlier point in the inflation sequence (before the slider begins deploying). This inflation "head start" could generate an off-heading. This line of reasoning would seem to fit the observed facts in your case. With the stow band on the left side, you are more likely to take your bight slightly left of center on the slider mesh, which might constrain the left side slightly longer, giving the right a head start, and generating a turn to the left. It sounds good in theory, but I've never seen appreciable evidence that this happens in practice. Personally, I prefer to mark my sliders' exact centers, just to be sure. Another thought: What kind of rig are you using? I've seen consistent off-headings on two pin rigs generated by closing technique. If you are using the leverage of the pull up cord to bring the side flap in when closing, that can twist the pack job a bit, and generate consistent off headings. So, if you're on a two pin rig, I'd look at your closing technique, as well. This ought to be less of a concern with velcro, and is pretty much not a factor with a Prism. Yet another thought: how many jumps are we talking about? I generally ignore trends like this, for my own jumps, unless they are happening consistently over an intermediate term (say, 50 or so jumps). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

...one thing I always do is attach a rubber-band to the left inner C-line and then take a bite of slider mesh to keep it up on the stops. These are two different things, but your point is still valid. The technique that Mac266 is talking about, and which CR discarded, involves a tab on the trailing edge of the slider. A loop of the control lines is taken, and placed in a band attached to this tab. Your technique (generally referred to as Direct Control of the slider) involves taking a bight of the slider mesh, and stowing it in a band attached to a line attachment point (usually a center C line). Direct Control is recommended by CR, and is probably used by a majority (but a thin one) of BASE jumpers. I do know a few jumpers who put stows on both center C attachments, and pull two bights of slider--one to each side. I have generally found that the slider placement of the Ace/BJ makes it difficult to do so (there just isn't enough slider mesh for both bights). You might try this technique. What kind of delays are you having trouble with? Are these terminal jumps? Maybe we ought to start another thread about slider up heading. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Adam at CR told me that he stopped putting that bite on his sliders several years ago. He felt that this technique compromised opening heading. I'm pretty sure that Vertigo is the only manufacturer still using this technique. The consensus among the other manufacturers appears to agree with CR. We did discuss some alternatives (like attaching a tailgate through the bite, then tailgating the lines with that) that might not be so detrimental to opening heading. As far as I know, those ideas never got further than the discussion stage, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Darkness at Noon (by Arthur Koestler) is very closely based on the facts of the Laszlo Rajk show trial. Here's a quick historical link: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9525 Let me try to find a better one... Edit: Still trying to find a source about Koestler's research into the Rajk trial. Here is a pretty good summary of the Rajk case, though. It's drawn from the official indictment. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There was a case a few years ago, where the judge ended up throwing out confiscated video as evidence. The defense attorney argued (successfully) that altering video is easy enough that any video could easily have been shot anywhere, then changed (by the jumpers, prior to confiscation). I think it would totally depend on the situation, and the particular trial. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Huh? The air force locator that Indyz gave first looks like they'll find people for anyone. It looks like they just ask the person if they want you to know where they are (that bit about consent to reveal your request to the member). Other than that, it's just an "unofficial" request. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I have a friend who lives in DC and jumps at Orange, Virginia. You might just try posting your inquiry in the "Places to Jump" Forum. I'm sure someone will know better than me. Welcome to the forums! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure what Sangiro's thinking was. My thinking is that by seeing all the forums, we encourage more of a "community" feel. We're more likely to just pop over to CRW (for example), and have a look. That way, we all pull together more, rather than having this place end up segmented between various types of jumpers, with each group hovering around their own forum, and never really meeting the others, or getting exposed to other disciplines. I like keeping everything visible, just as a community building tool. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe Sangiro actually consciously decided not to make that an option. See his response to the same suggestion here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you post this on BLiNC I bet you can get JJ to answer it himself. But, in brief, the JJ mod has wider top and bottom flaps (that eliminate the occasionally annoying Prism "slop"), and extra stiff side flap stiffeners (to eliminate the "hourglassing" with hasty pack jobs or aging stiffeners). It's obviously a drastic improvement to the rig, and I wish BR would clue in and just replace the standard Prism with it (they don't want to because it's extra work to make). If they'd make a JJ mod with open corners, it would pretty much rock. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A different browser altogether. If I open IE, it's fine. But, now it looks fine in Safari, too. Weird... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Definitely go with the new one. You look about 12 in the old one. How are you going to pick up DZ.com hotties with a mug shot like that? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It just started. I've quit and re-started, cleared cookies, etc. If I open a different browser, the problem goes away. I'm using Safari (Apple's web browser). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

When I view the Talkback forum, this header appears above the page: Just thought you'd like to know. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not sure if this has been posted before, but check out the second news story on this page. Now that's heroic. You'd never see this kind of recognition in the States. Around here, you'd just here a bunch of people saying "yep, serves him right--durned crazy skyjumpers..." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Prism, JJ mod MDV Troll with 5th Control line 38" F-111 PC Bird-man S3 (since I don't get a reserve, I'll take the wingsuit) Now that's a rig... Hey, since I can't get a cypress, can I get an airline ticket to Norway instead? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Note that the post you replied to was made by Outrager, also known as Yuri Kuznetsov. I would strongly suspect that he is the guy with 1:34. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The scariest skydiving video I've ever seen is exactly that situation. Pillow reserve sucked into the suit, with gloves on. Note that this was on an old prototype Crossbow, so the problem has pretty much been eliminated. Warning: not safe for the faint-hearted. I use a pillow reserve and have used it with the suit with no problems. I never jump with gloves on, though (gotta love California weather). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Thank you. There is already a big enough hub-bub about that in other places. Thanks for answering my questions, Quade. I didn't find the lecture boring in the least. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I heard that Muff Brother #1 did a similar stunt. He took a non-jumper, and got him BASE in 5 parachute jumps (one tandem from a plane, then the four qualifying jumps). I don't believe it was done in a day, though. Sure it can be done, but you'll get a lot more personal satisfaction if you take the long road, I think. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com