TomAiello

I've got about 250k on a 94 Ranger, with the usual problems over time, but nothing too huge. I'm planning on keeping it until it needs to be towed to the junkyard, because it's cash value is near zero, and it's value to me is much more than that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No, it's not. I can see the removed posts. You (and one other poster) had replied to a post that was removed. The way the forum software is written, it's not possible to remove a post from the "middle" of a string. Everything after a removed post goes with it. That's what happened to yours. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've been very pleased with this one. I went through the same search a few months ago (when the Mac OS came out with the automatic backup utility) and this seemed the best combination of price/size/features to me. I actually bought two of them (as Shropshire suggests), and the second one only gets plugged in to make manual backups of critical files on another external drive (it's got all my media files on it) every few weeks. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How many of Joseph Smith's wives were under age? Just following in the steps of the prophet... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actually, more. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My wife worked with that team before we were married, and travelled to the Sydney paralympics with them. She also dated one of the players, actually. Watching that movie with her is like getting the in-depth directors cut with extras. Every 2 minutes she pauses and tells a bunch of extra story. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The hard drives are much cheaper than the units themselves, and fairly easy to replace (I'd say less than 10 minutes if it's your first time, more like 2 minutes if you're familiar with that model). Instructions for replacement (and tools, and replacement drives) can be found here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't know. Black Diamond has a reputation for keeping pretty close to their sports, and the level of participation amongst employees is very high. It's not a soda pop company--it's one of the world's leading climbing equipment manufacturers, and I think they expect their people to have more than a passing familiarity with how the gear is used. I don't know the particular guy being quoted, but I used to know a guy who was at a high level of management at that company, and that dude could do 10 or 12 one arm pull ups in a row. He once put up a world class aid route with a broken ankle. Soft corporate type in a cushy corner office he was not. Remember that Black Diamond was formed when Chouinard Equipment (founded and until then owned by one of the pioneers of modern climbing) was bought out by the employees, because they couldn't bear to see the company shut down. Chouinard had been sued after an accident involving their equipment (which was likely just as spurious as suing the manufacturer of your rig if you go in), and the owner decided it would be more profitable to focus on his "soft goods" (clothing) business. Chouinard spun off the gear business and carried on with his clothing business, which he named Patagonia. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yep, that's what I think too. If Georgia hadn't blown it at Tennessee, they would be in there instead of LSU. We can only dream. The game I'd have loved to see was USC-Georgia. But if the BCS had given us that, there would be a lot of people thinking the winner was the "real" national champion, and realizing the BCS is a joke. I'm really interested in next year, though. The Dawgs are only graduating a couple key players, and most of them either have replacements who are looking as good or better (Thomas Brown for Knowshon Moreno, for example), or are surrounded by returning players who can probably make up for the loss. The only holes that I'm worried about are Marcus Howard and Brandon Coutu, and even then I'm not very worried. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I don't understand why the press seems to underrate Ohio State so much. Just because they haven't been hard pressed doesn't mean they're bad. Just like Hawaii going into the Sugar Bowl. You couldn't say for sure they weren't going to do well, because no one had ever seen them up against a tough opponent. I don't know who's going to win. I'm pulling for LSU out of SEC loyalty, but I think most people have sold OSU short. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you afford the 4GB ipod nano (I think it's about $140)? The Nano probably has a lot more cool factor for a teenager, because it does video, and although it's slightly less tough (it has a screen after all), it's reasonably hardy (no hard drive=no moving parts). I had a shuffle for about a year. I really liked it for what it was (meaning, you can't pick tracks and such, because there is no selection interface, but it's super light and portable), but the durability wasn't all that (or maybe I was too hard on it--I do that). It died at Bridge Day this year (which probably gives you an idea of the use I was putting it to, which might not actually be any harder than the average teenager). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PC formatted floppies worked fine, back when Macs had floppy drives. I believe the last Mac I had that came with a floppy drive was sometime in the mid 90s, though. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There are rumors around the internet that the Macbook Pro will get an update in January, and possibly that Apple will release an ultra-portable (something like the 12" G4 powerbook I'm still using, but smaller and modern). I think I'm waiting to see if that materializes, and what the specs and price point are. I really like the 24" iMac. Have you thought about wall mounting it? My other option is a 24" on an extendable wall mount with wireless keyboard and mouse. Get everything off my desk except when I'm using it, and keep the computer on the wall to act as an iTunes station with the remote when I'm not using it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

What did you get? I'm mac shopping right now, myself. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My analogy is: "Remember when you were a little kid, and you went to the swimming pool, and just played with your friends? You got to swim all around each other and just have fun? Skydiving is like that, except that now you and your friends can all fly." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think he was actually trying to make a funny, which is why he has that expression. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you think that BASE jumpers make even a fraction of a percentage point difference in the bottom line of any doctor in Twin Falls, you're completely mistaken. The medical community generally, and physicians specifically, in Twin Falls, is very pro-BASE. This mostly has to do with personal relationships of a couple local jumpers (one is married to a doctor, one is the son- and brother-in-law of two doctors), and various charity efforts organized by jumpers (to benefit the hospital foundation and the local emergency response workers, in particular). It has nothing to do with "Dollar Signs." -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Best new feature: Time Machine. Simple, seamless backups that work. Awesome. Worst new feature: Stacks. I used to leave folders in my dock and use them as click-through menus to get into the sub-folders. Stacks eliminates that functionality, so now I'm stuck downloading 3rd party patches (like Xmenu) to try to do the same thing. The under the hood upgrades to spotlight are very nice. I can now use it as a launcher, and it's faster than almost anything else--even having already put something into the dock. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, huh? All new Macs come with Leopard, starting last Friday, so it shouldn't change your decision. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I got it from Fedex about noon on Friday. I bet while you were waiting in line my install was already finished. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Any information on Glide Ratio? Have you put any BASE flights on it? If it's a BASE suit, none of that matters very much. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. Especially if you are normally using a collapsible PC with that canopy (while skydiving) there's going to be a substantial difference. I don't think it's going to be the kind of thing that kills you, and for just one jump at Bridge Day it should be ok. Pretty much all the bad things that could happen are survivable over deep water (which you will be) and if you're flying the canopy and decide the flare is different enough, you can always ditch into the water. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes, you _could_ use it. What kind of delay are you planning on? Slider up or slider down? As you take more delay, the larger PC is going to deform your pack job more during extraction. On a slider down canopy, especially at Bridge Day (lots of altitude and nothing to hit) I don't really think that matters too much. But if you go slider up and take a deeper delay, I'd start to worry about the pack job deformation potentially (we're still talking single digit percentages here, but why take the chance) leading to more serious problems (tension knots, line overs, etc) with the slider making things worse/harder to deal with. Are you really so hard up that you can't just buy a 42? There are tons for sale at Bridge Day itself, and I'm 100% certain they are in stock in at least 4 places. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Charity donations aren't exactly payment, and since you'd probably end up paying more than a thousand dollars for this course if it were done commercially, I don't feel too bad about it. Participants are asked to make a donation, not commanded. I've never told someone they couldn't come if they refused to make the donation, nor have I insisted that they do so as a condition of participation. Interestingly, I've never had someone not volunteer to make the donation (on two occasions I've forgotten to ask them, and the students reminded me both times), and I've also had several people voluntarily make larger contributions. The charity I've had students donate to this year is Magic Valley Safe Kids, the local branch of Safe Kids, an international organization devoted to childhood safety. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Snake River BASE Academy will host Fall Death Camp 2007 from August 27th to September 2nd, 2007, in Twin Falls, Idaho. Death Camp is offered twice each year, at Memorial Day (the 3rd week of May) and Labor Day (the first week of September). Death Camp is free, and admission is highly competitive. Typically, we receive approximately 30 applications for 5 places. Admission is offered based on evaluation of student applications, reference checks, student preparation and class composition. Death Camp is the most comprehensive introduction to BASE available today. The course will focus on fundamental BASE skills, with an additional emphasis on the history and ethics of BASE, and the teamwork necessary to many BASE jumps. In addition to standard First Jump training, the course will cover appropriate brake settings, advanced packing techniques, object avoidance techniques, object evaluation, and landing skills. Time and jumper aptitude permitting, we will also cover unpacked jumps, particularly as used for emergency situations, and multi-way jumps. The Death Camp curriculum assumes that students begin with no previous BASE jumps. However, applications will be accepted from anyone having fewer than 20 BASE jumps. To Apply for Death Camp, please provide the following information, or submit the answers to these questions via email to tom@snakeriverbase.com or submit the answers to these questions via mail to us at Post Office Box 2493, Twin Falls, Idaho, 83303, USA. Please do not send private messages via the forums. All answers are optional, but providing more information will improve your chances of admission. (1) Name: (2) Age: (3) Place of Residence: (4) Number of BASE Jumps: (5) Primary Skydiving Disciplines: (6) Home Dropzone: (7) Number of Skydives:(a) Number of CRW jumps: (b) Number of Accuracy jumps: (c) Number of Demo jumps:(8) Any rigging certifications: (9) Other relevant experience (paragliding, climbing, rescue, etc): (10) Name and telephone number of any BASE jumpers who know you: (11) Name and telephone number of a BASE jumper who has agreed to mentor you: (12) Name and telephone number of any instructors from other related disciplines who know you: (13) Name and telephone number of your home dropzone S&TA, Chief Instructor, or both: (14) Mailing Address: (15) Telephone Number (mobile preferred): (16) Emergency Contact Name: (17) Emergency Contact Telephone (mobile preferred): (18) Emergency Contact Address: (19) Emergency Contact's relation to you: (20) Are you married? (21) Do you have childred? (22) Have you discussed BASE jumping with your family? (23) Explain why you want to BASE jump: (24) Tell us something about yourself that is unrelated to parachuting: Admissions decisions will be made with many criteria, but be aware that a recommendation from a BASE mentor whose judgment I trust will be weighed heavily in favor of applicants able to provide it. More information, including a course syllabus, can be obtained by emailing tom@snakeriverbase.com. Course application and syllabus can also be found at SnakeRiverBASE.com. Admissions decisions will be made beginning July 9, 2007, and continue until all spots are filled. Applications completed before July 2nd will receive priority consideration. Students will be asked to make a $100 charity donation as part of their participation in the course. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com