Deuce

He was watching Baghdad Bob. Let's not get political. How bout this one? "I LOVE YOU MAN!"

It's a joke sweetie. I have all five of my important Man Merit Badges: Big Man, Macho Man, Hero Man, Husband Man, and Dad-man. Shot At By PhillyKev Man would be like an Oak Leaf Cluster on the Macho Man Merit Badge, but not necessary. I'd kind of like to see the presentation, though. "For amazing testosterone-induced stupidity in the man-over-40 category, the nominee for Macho Man With Oak Leaf Cluster goes to....." I'ts me, Leese, relax. I haven't been shot at in years.

What if I double dog dared you? I'm in. Pistol ammo, right?

Congrats, Jeff. She's beautiful. When's the date? And do the dogs sleep in the bed with you? Hey, at least she doesn't have cats!

I have a friend, Carrol, who very nearly died as the result of an ACCIDENTAL collision in the pattern. If I came up against the scenario you describe, and couldn't leave the DZ for some compulsion, I'd open the guys container on the way to the plane. Every time. I'd continue to do that until we either came to a meeting of minds, had a stellar fistfight, or one of us left voluntarily or by compulsion. I'd do just about anything to not have to run out into the landing area thinking "I knew he was going to kill somebody". I have some leverage, though, I make the DZ some money. If it's me or a swooper I'm more likely to win the argument. If my DZ ownership/management was that disdainful of safety, I'd rather jump somewhere else anyhow.

I'm disappointed in mine. I'm on my second one, and it went nuts just two weeks ago. I'm on the ride to alti and it starts displaying altitudes from 35,000 to -35,000 and everything in between. Frankly, I think we are beta testing the thing, and even if the customer service is great in replacing it, that doesn't help me when I'm taking a tandem up and it craps out. I have had no problems with either my digitude or my Pro-track. That the neptune combines the best features of both is cool, I've just had execrable luck with mine.

Hey TIMMAE! Could you clear up who can pack the "first reserve" in the main-"reserve" container? Does it have to be a rigger?

I thnk the 1000 jump rule is a good one. I had about 920 when I got mine, and would have had 1000 when the course was offered up here in NorCal, but I'll be out of town then, and the Skydive SoCal course was convenient to the Memorial Day boogie. What's wierd is the discipline thing. If somebody gets their A, and goes Darkside (freeflying) and never even owns a gripper suit, at 980 freefly jumps, they will likely not pass the AFF course. Cause we teach the course on our bellies. I'm current in belly, sit, camera and birdman, but really only about a third of my jumps are inside RW. The experience of 1000 skydives is a good thing, but not all types of skydiving are all that relevant to AFF instruction. So, I think the number can be lower, like it is in the US, so long as the AFF-I course is hard. Half the guys in my AFF-I course washed out and were invited to complete at a later date. Like any other skill, really, it's all about "show me".

Isn't that the 'baddest part of town'?

I am laughing so hard. Funny stuff! How 'bout this one? "Both of you! Come here immediately and pull grampa Saddam's fingers!"

Ah, maybe so. But it's funnier than politicallier. "No, Achmed! You da man!"

All I could think of when I saw this picture. YOUDAMAN!

You know, between the new tunnel and the amazing collection of talent at SDA, every skydiver, at every level, in every discipline will come away from this event a much better skydiver. If they take advantage of all the goodies.

Look, I admire the skyhook. That picture of Aviatrr is on the RWS website, and I've flown behind two of those tertiary deployments, eg; the pictures. But, it is essentially a test-pilot kind of thing. The main is a giant POS, I think it's an old PD210 or something, and the reserve is something fairly docile as well, if its the same setup that Mike and Timmae jumped. The secondary canopy, the "first reserve" is not packed and sealed, necessarily, by a rigger. The "last reserve" the belly wart, is. So if that "first reserve" malfunctions at opening at 250 feet, it takes some human timeframe to figure out its a malfunction and not a problem, and the jumper then has to defeat his muscle memory training in getting that belly reserve out. A very big fucking deal when stressed. Sorry about the language, but this is like a guy who regularly trains with a semi automatic pistol going into a firefight with a revolver on purpose . The hands need to move without thought. That only happens through practice. The muscle memory necessary to effectively cutaway the "first reserve" and effectively deploy the belly reserve is just not going to be there, but for a handfull of jumpers who have hundreds of tertiary deployments. I think a 250 foot high speed malfunction opening coupled with one whiffed attempt to cutaway and deploy the reserve where the hands have been trained to reach when faced with that choice could very easily result in catastrophe. I really couldn't give a shiite about whether it pisses off anybody at USPA or the FAA, or AARP.

I'll be in London Sunday afternoon, August 1, flying back in to Stanstead. I'm flying back to the States on the 6th. Any skydiving during the week going on?

Henri at Wings threw a great Pizza party at last years Byron Boogie. Heck, he wasn't even there!

Bah! I know you care about children. Your suggestion of a double-blind psychological test with my twins is clear evidence of that. I spent about 13 years out on the streets in Oakland and San Francisco and was exposed to lots of underprivelidged folks. The one's on unemployment or some sort of aid had access to Medicaid and Medical. The one's who were in a bind were the ones who worked two full-time "McJobs". But even those folks could get coverage through a bunch of subsidized government programs. I'm not saying it's the best, but I don't think the US system is the evil corporate meatgrinder it's made out to be. Here's what's available in my County: The webpage: http://search.netscape.com/ns/boomframe.jsp?query=contra+costa+county+health+services&page=1&offset=0&result_url=redir%3Fsrc%3Dwebsearch%26requestId%3D5aa148883ac9a1c2%26clickedItemRank%3D1%26userQuery%3Dcontra%2Bcosta%2Bcounty%2Bhealth%2Bservices%26clickedItemURN%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.cchealth.org%252F%26invocationType%3D-%26fromPage%3DNSCPIndex2%26amp%3BampTest%3D1&remove_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cchealth.org%2F As "Pampered Professional Middle Aged White Guys" we don't have much call to research the health care system that we'd have to use if things went south. It's easy to just mirror the general disdain for our system that is pervasive. I just don't think it's deserved. And I'm not mocking any of the other systems. I just don't think the US system deserves the contempt it always seems to get.

Exactly! I have air-to-air photos of the skyhook working, and a photo where it DID NOT work, as it had been stitched into the rig incorrectly. It's a nifty device, but it is a backup. There's simply no way that RWS approved that stunt. How Fucking Stupid.

No disagreement with that, but there's this overarching disdain for our healthcare system worldwide. Heck, a South African told me I was "fucked" just a few posts back, and I suspect he hasn't been treated in a US hospital.

G-money, my plan costs $600 a month, for the 4 of us. I negotiated that deal as part of my forced retirement. Kaiser is reviled as one of those "Evil HMO's" but having spent a great deal of time getting patched together there during my life, and having a great deal of prenatal care for my wife, pediatric care for my chirruns, and occupational health for crashing cop cars and fighting crime, I just don't see the evil. My Mom has a similar plan that she bought through AARP, it's more expensive cause she got it later in life, but that's no different than life insurance. Yikes, got anecdotal by discussing my Mom. As to the legions of uninsured kids, I don't have any, and you don't have any, so where are they all? Our news media would be all over some UNICEF american kids with flies on their faces.

Clinster, this person is not only reacting to bad situations, they are CREATING them. We;re not talking about downsizing, we are talking about midairs, and they tend to critically injure and kill people. Throw a fit.

Tell that to the people in the foundation of my swimming pool.

Thanks, and it's Kieth Meyers who did the updated web page.

Healthcare system stories always seem to be about "somebody else". Without resorting to statistical crap, or anecdotal stories, how is your health? I, for one, think the US healthcare system is fine. My taxes are substantially lower in this country than my HMO premium, and my kids were born in the same hospital I was (Kaiser HMO). So why all the moaning about US healthcare in particular?