TomAiello

If y'all do it after Nov 1, I'll come out. Vegas is one of my favorite playgrounds. I might even make a skydive or three. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Dude! That's the end of your story?! No, no NO! Get your butt back down there and find her. Anyone who has that happen, then complains that he's still a virgin... Go forth and conquer, young man. "The world continues to offer glittering prizes to those with stout hearts and sharp swords." - F.E. Smith, Earl of Birkenhead -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm not an expert on altitude, or sinus pressure, but I can say that sounds like it would suck. If it were me, I'd hold off until you can enjoy the experience. I am, however, something of an expert on Vicodin (my Neurosurgeon awarded me a lifetime supply a few years ago). Vicodin (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) is a painkiller. It will do nothing to relieve your sinus pressure. In fact, deadening the pain (your body's natural warning indicator) might lead to permanent damage (in the case of head explosion or similar event). My advice: don't ever get in the habit of jumping on painkillers. It deadens the experience (quite the opposite of what most people want to do), as well as impairing your judgment and reaction time in the event of an emergency. Dude, stay home (or go to the DZ), grab a twelve pack, down a couple vicodin, and party instead. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Skydance in Davis, California has a rifle range just north of the main landing area. If you undershoot by a few hundred yards you're right in the firing lane. Cut-away canopies have actually landed on the range. I understand the regulars at the rifle range make jokes about "skeet shooting" every time canopies pass over. Needless to say, there is a big student field a fair distance away, and the DZO is pretty serious about forcing people to land there if he doubts their accuracy skills. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Read aloud in a totally innocent voice, with no discernible trace of sarcasm or irony: Oh, nothing. Since the National Park Service banned jumping there, no jumper ever goes there. I'm pretty sure that the NPS ban has been totally effective in removing all BASE jumping from Yosemite, and every other National Park in the U.S. (Hey! No sarcasm! Totally innocent!) I suppose it's theoretically possible to jump from El Cap. But then, it's theoretically possible to jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, the Eiffel Tower, and the Saint Louis Arch, as well. And you would certainly never see a law abiding BASE jumper doing any of those things. In all seriousness, if you were interested in doing such a jump, you would need to establish a fair degree of BASE proficiency, make enough BASE jumps to establish the skills for a reasonable likelihood of survival, then find the locals in the area and ask them for guidance. Please don't ever try to jump any object without contacting the local BASE jumpers first. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is the specific piece of the conventional wisdom that started me questioning it. I've never had a BASE canopy that I thought opened too fast (even with ZP topskin and secondary inlets). I'm interested in seeing what else we could re-examine to create snappier openings. I'm not sure that changing the lines would create faster openings (they might just be harder). But it's my lack of certainty (and basic lack of knowledge about micro lines in general) that have led me to start this discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

[ducking] Hockey... Is that the quaint sport with the ice skates and the sticks? Isn't it sort of somewhere between figure skating and curling? Or was that Cricket? It's so hard to tell those little sports apart. [/ducking] -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's the major concern with BASE lines. An out of trim canopy will have inconsistent (i.e. off heading) openings. Having a 90 degree off heading may be no big deal sometimes. Other times... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is my favorite DZ. Actually, it's one of my favorite places on earth. I think it's awfully special. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. But I already know the textbook answer. I like to question the conventional wisdom. My application is, of course, BASE. BASE canopies all (the exception is the Pooster, which isn't even worth talking about) use Dacron lines. I can think of all the stock "reasons" but I'm trying to think about other ways to do things. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can anyone give me a rundown on the pros and cons of using micro lines (Spectra, Vectran, etc) as opposed to thicker Dacron lines? Thanks! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Got a picture to post? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Definitely. Two votes for the mint chocolate chip. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Sorry. I didn't mean to offend with that comment. I think that spending 10 years on a university campus just made me oversensitive to that kind of thing. Apologies. As a somewhat humorous aside... I think the IMF is worth the amount of tax dollars spent on it just for the fact that it employs Outrager, one of my favorite people on the planet, and probably the world's top BASE wingsuit pilot. Fact: The majority of IMF loans have already come due. Fact: The majority of IMF loans have not been repayed. Fact: The majority of IMF loans have been either forgiven or re-scheduled. Fact: The large economies (primarily the U.S. and E.U.) continue to pour money into the IMF, and do not receive any kind of comensurate return. Opinion: The IMF looks to be far more interested in effecting positive structural change in the developing world, and stabilizing the world economy, than in collecting interest. I think that the "interest" is just the IMF's way of trying to use aid money as a lever to push reluctant governments into doing what is good for their citizens, and the rest of the world, in the long run. Nope. I think we're helping them because it is in our own interest in the long run to encourage peace, a stable international financial system, continued trade growth and interdependence, and a higher standard of living for all mankind. To paraphrase Keynes: Hungry people start wars. If we want to stop war, our best path is to improve the human condition everywhere. That is what the IMF is for. My opinion is that the IMF is basically an aid agency. It gives out money (with a rate of loss that would horrify any real banker or investor) to encourage growth and development. It is not some crazy conspiracy to economically subjugate the third world. We can rely on Coca-Cola and McDonalds to do that . -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What kind of jumping are you planning on? While it's a whole separate argument as to whether you ought to jump straight into freeflying, more and more younger jumpers are doing just that. I'm not saying I recommend that course, but your jumpsuit ought to fit your skydiving discipline, as well as your person. If you're doing RW, you're going to want a tight (lots of spandex--just what I recommend for every girl ) RW suit, so that you can fall at the same rate as your partners. I don't do much RW (or skydiving, really) anymore, but my RW suit was fairly tight, had big (competition) grips (easier for beginning RW, in my opinion), booties (just because that's what my JM recommended at the time), and spandex forearms (again, based on what experienced RW jumpers recommended to me at the time). If you're looking at freeflying, I think you ought to consider a reasonably tight freefly suit as well (so that you don't have as much trouble staying relative with a bunch of big guys). Other disciplines, I don't know about. Although I do recommend Style to you, as I think the Style suits look the best on girls . I found that the RW suit helped me a lot in the early going (when I was doing RW) but the transition from an "improvised" freefly suit (loose long sleeve shirt and super baggy pants--$25 at Kmart) to a real freefly suit wasn't that big a deal. This might have been because freefly offers a wider range of fall rate control in general, or just because I was a much better flyer (either way) by the time I made the freefly suit transition. Anyway, that's my relatively uneducated two cents. It might help other people give opinions if you could post some thoughts about what kind of jumping you want to do. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The US Army chose Hiroshima as a target precisely because it was surrounded by mountains on three sides (and sea on the fourth) to contain the blast. I believe the idea was to get an idea of the weapon's power without actually letting it loose on, say, Tokyo. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I got to play with a pair of the pants a while back. They're basically freefly pants with an inlet at the crotch (actually the pair I saw had cordura that allowed airflow), and directed vents at the ankles (sort of little jet nozzles for directed airflow). I think they're great for BASE (especially on big wall, high bust sites near me). I think they might do well as a pair of general purpose freefly pants with some extra fun factor, but I don't really freefly anymore so I'm not sure about that. If you're looking for max tracking fun, though, I'd definitely stick with a suit over the pants. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

People used to make the same argument about pure distance. "Why them damn Yankees are a thousand miles away. We'll never be united with them!" Continuously advancing technology is rapidly making this argument obsolete. Twenty years ago who (aside from Billvon) would have thought a group of people from all over the world could be having this discussion? I expect that the "distance naturally leads to separation" argument will be seen as quaintly trite within my lifetime. We'll be looking back and saying "remember when we though Paris/Tokyo/New York/Riyadh was soooo far away?" -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Dude. Let me guess, you're a college student? This sounds like a direct quote from one of those lame propaganda flyers handed out on the quad during a protest rally. The WTO's main purpose is to promote international trade. The main purpose of the Bretton Woods agencies (IMF/WB) is to promote a stable international financial system. This actually costs the first world (mostly the U.S.) a very large amount of money. Everyone benefits from a stable financial system. Are you following the news in Brazil (IMF bailout, etc)? It looks to me like the Brazilians need help, and the Bretton Woods agencies are stepping up to the plate. Although this is partly motivated by self interest in the short term (stability and trade benefits us right now), it's mostly intended to maintain international stability (which translates directly to international peace) in the long term. The Bretton Woods agreement was not an attempt to subjugate anyone. It was an effort to encourage economic cooperation and interdependence, and thereby reduce the factors which had led the world into the second world war. I encourage you to read a good history of the postwar economic order. It sounds to me like you've been thoroughly snowed by some second rate propaganda. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Last time I talked to a Bird-Man instructor, it was 500 to make the jump on your own, and something like 200 if you had proper instruction and coaching. I made my first Bird-man jumps when I had around 250 skydives. However, I had a fairly good relationship with some experienced wingsuit flyers for guidance and instruction, as well as an additional 300 or so (non-skydive) parachute jumps. Maybe one of the Bird-man instructors can give the "official" answer here? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What is your definition of government? I tend to go with the George Washington definition. "Government is force". To me government is the thing recognized by society as having the power to force adult humans to obey it's wishes. If it can't force those living under it to do things, it isn't a government, it's a forum for discussion. I'm not saying we shouldn't have forums for discussion--in general I believe that discussion is more valuable than government (that's my libertarianism talking). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is a fairly good re-statement of the Manchester Creed, with one exception. It doesn't take a world government. Pooling of resources, interlinking of economies, and generally increasing interdependence are all happening, and will continue to happen, whether or not there is an over-arching "world government". Until the individual states making up the larger body "converge" in cultural and economic senses, I doubt that a central government will prove effective. I do not believe, for example, that the European Union has caused war in continental Europe to be less likely. Rather, I believe that the European Union has come about due to the same cultural and economic convergence which made war in Europe less likely. Attempting to impose a top-down world government on cultures and peoples with massive dissimilarities, is, in my opinion, doomed to failure. People with cultural and economic similarities and interdependence, on the other hand, will have little need of a unifying government. Does anyone think that war between the U.S. and Canada is ever going to happen? Would a unified U.S.-Canada government make war less likely? It is my belief that the world is moving toward a greater state of unification, interdependence and peace. I do not believe that the United Nations has much effect on this progress (some, but not much). The expansion of global trade, which brings people closer together in a way that counts (their pocketbooks), is a far more effective peacekeeper. In case someone thinks I'm having an original thought here, I'm basically just paraphrasing a bunch of English economists from the early industrial period. I happen to think they're right. The development of common interest is a far more effect unifier than the imposition of common laws. Ach! I've just realized this is supposed to be a skydiving board. We're supposed to be talking about boobies and beer! What weird alternate universe am I in? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't know. I don't have any real power over Kato. That college instructor did have real power over me. I think that's an important difference. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Really? You felt threatened? As if your life was in danger? Threatened. As in threatened. It's not always physical danger. For example, let's say that I told you I was going to get you fired from your job. Would you feel threatened? Even if your life wasn't in danger? What if I told you I could make sure you never got another job? Never got into college? Never got into graduate school? Still don't feel threatened? What if I could pass a law outlawing skydiving? Threatened yet? Maybe we ought to be discussing what a "threat" really is. I don't think it has to be physical. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I felt very threatened one time when someone called me "honky". That someone was a college instructor, telling me that I wouldn't be allowed into the section of Calculus I wanted because I was a "honky." Seems that section was reserved for the privileged elite--based on their skin color. Her manner of informing me of this had some very negative impressions on me. Let's here it for "affirmative" action at the University of California! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com