TriGirl

True. But... No. We needed the VSTOL version because we wanted it to replace our Harriers, which is our VSTOL jet aircraft. We already have missions and employment for this capability, so we still wanted the capability. They asked all the services what they needed in a replacement jet, and that is what we told them. They built it for us. Since we usually get everyone else's cast-offs, I for one was happy to see our requirement list get taken seriously.

This. Especially the thin ones.

http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/ahstephens2.html In response to bold portion: Because yeah, they had so many other options. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I would have liked to listen to a debate between Bush Jr, Kasich, Cruz and Rubio. Those four seemed to represent the Republican spectrum of ideas, and hearing them each discuss topics in the same forum would have (IMHO) brought to light better the good and bad points of each of their plans. Unfortunately we never got to hear them because the hosts of the debates didn't know how to handle the tantrum-throwing toddler causing a scene center stage. This movie scene kept coming to mind: "We have serious problems, and we need serious people to solve them. I promise you, [Donald Trump] is not the least bit interested in solving them. He's interested in two things: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections." -- Andrew Shepherd, "The American President" See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Well done you!! Yeah, I don't understand why NASA would say clouds are good, unless you aren't in the totality zone. I'll be in an 82% eclipse area, so I'm sure I'd like a bit of a cloud layer to supplement whatever other filter I'm using to watch. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Much better, thanks! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Well, you didn't write THAT!! You wrote "Sunday." And the FB page said Aug 20 (which is Sunday). That's what I added/fixed. So, where's the party Saturday night? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

My mother lives in Boise (only 8 miles from totality), so she's going to Baker City, OR to camp with her trailer at her friend's house (friend is having a house party all weekend for the event). She tells me "they are warning folks to have plenty of gasoline, cash, food and water because tons of people are flocking to the area. Not another port-a-potty to be rented in the entire state. Lots of worry about fires, road rage, etc." Also warning of empty ATMs. She also said libraries were giving out free welder helmets yesterday -- distributed 1,000 in just a few minutes. The host of the house party ordered 20 of them a few months ago. So if you're going up from San Jose, you may be far enough out that you could still pick up a few before you start your drive. Incidentally, the website someone else posted in another thread says clouds are better for watching. Fog would still let you see the sun high in the sky, as well as the corona at total eclipse (again, according to the NASA source quoted in the article). Just something to consider. Have fun! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

FIFY. Thought you meant THIS Sunday. I'll see you there, brother. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

All those pics of the freefall and canopy flight, and the one closest to landing still has him several meters off the ground. Then the "high-5s" at the landing area. Must not have stood up the landing. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

To the OP: everyone is different. I couldn't find a used rig that was 1) close enough to my size (would have spent the same $$ on used rig + resizing the harness), and 2) fit the sizes of main canopies I wanted. So, I ordered new. It's comfortable, I like it, and it not only fits the canopy I still use (170), but will fit one size smaller when (if) I'm ready to downsize. The main I have in it was bought used, but it was a demo canopy. Right around the time the skydive shops are getting the new model for demo, they'll have last year's demo for sale at a reduced price. It was about as close to new as you can get, and I knew it had been stored and inspected correctly by the shop. Also a good idea, but if you're not within the "average" sampling of height/weight, you may be waiting quite a while. It does take some work and time to find that used gear -- or some may fall into your lap. But everyone posting here has brought up some really valuable pros and cons (mostly pros) for being patient for used gear. Your situation, however, may vary, so take those elements into consideration. I wouldn't judge you just for getting a whole new custom rig, if you can afford it, and if it gets you just what you want. And now you realize the risks of lost value, but it's up to you. But yeah, there is some good stuff out there if you're willing to wait if necessary. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

No, you shouldn't face federal prosecution for being clocked going 3 mph over the speed limit by accident. Sec. Clinton no longer has access to classified information. And she herself said she had learned a lesson from it and would do things differently if she had it to do over. So, had she been elected, she likely would be much more careful with the handling of classified information. Like intel from Israel, and perhaps around Russians. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

See, that comparison between estimated spending on transgender medical care and how much we spend on Viagra and Cialis could have been the catalyst for a savvy Democrat to turn the health care discussion to prescription drug prices, and other reasons health care costs are prohibitively high. Quit talking about paying for health insurance only, and move the discussion to the COSTS of treatment. Figure out how to get that under control. Oh wait, sorry -- I was talking about elected federal legislators being rational and making sense. Sorry about that, I don't know what I was thinking. Belay my last. Please move along. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

See, that comparison between estimated spending on transgender medical care and how much we spend on Viagra and Cialis could have been the catalyst for a savvy Democrat to turn the health care discussion to prescription drug prices, and other reasons health care costs are prohibitively high. Quit talking about paying for health insurance only, and move the discussion to the COSTS of treatment. Figure out how to get that under control. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I don't know if someone else addressed this, as I've only made it to your post in reading this thread so far. The raise in dues (as you would also have gathered from reading Ed's letter) includes being able to pay the employees of USPA. I would like to know how much each director and each employee is paid. I do know that most of them cannot afford even to live in that area just on what they're making at USPA. I wonder whether the board even knows what each employee earns. Employee salaries are much more of the expense than what it costs to have one more board meeting per year. And the purpose of moving the BOD meetings around is so that members are more likely to be able to attend one near their home at some point. I went to the last one, since it was sort of near me. I encourage everyone to plan to attend one sometime. Really want to know what they talk about? Go there and listen, meet your regional director, express your concerns, and make your voice heard. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Yeah, good point -- except for the paragraph that followed. The interpretation taken in the news story was that official business was only ever done via his work email. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

That sucks!! I remember one Halloween party at ZHills. He brought his adorable little girl in her tiny wing suit costume. He taught her correct body position, which she would demonstrate when asked.

From the article: Lock him up!! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

She claims the time she spent researching, and re-researching, and confirming -- then selecting that particular seat was worth thousands of dollars, based on what she bills per hour. Um... okay. If she makes so much money, and flies so often, why didn't she 1) purchase the upgrade to First, or 2) cash in some frequent flyer miles to upgrade to First? I don't make anywhere near that amount, and I can afford on occasion to purchase from the beginning a First Class seat on certain flights. Often I can cash in miles to upgrade, but most of the time I can get the complimentary upgrade from my FF status. And I don't fly nearly as much as she is reported to fly. So yea, special snowflake wanting special snowflake status. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Instead of saying particular groups, whose members have had higher incidents of behavior that hurts the property, post instructions that certain behavior is not allowed in the property: -- I like the toilet instruction idea -- smoking of any kind is not allowed inside the home (also include a butt disposal of some kind for safe collection outside, and to encourage the outside smoking in a certain designated area) -- please no cooking of certain foods (at all) I would also recommend the tour agency that booked the property be fined at the time of an infraction every time. They'll start informing their patrons of the rules up front, and then later pass those fines to the offending patrons. It's a matter of personal actions, not the fact that those committing these actions have in the past usually come from a particular source. You can't penalize every person in a subset for actions they have not committed, or for behavior of others that they cannot control. That's unfair. Next thing you know you'll have a particular group of European tourists doing at least one of those offensive things (smoking all over the house -- sometimes cigars), plus perhaps other habits of which you're not aware. Instead of selectively excluding particular groups, just make the list of prohibited activities longer as necessary. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Or a better analogy I heard on the radio this morning: [paraphrase] A guy gets invited to an orgy. He goes there and finds what was really going on was simply a book club. He cannot say to his wife that he he wasn't cheating [/paraphrase] Although the one I like better was describing a drug sting. Someone offers to sell you cocaine. You say, "sure, I love it!". You set up the meeting and go, but the person gives you a cookie. You can still get busted for trying to buy illegal drugs. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Hear, hear! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

You can find our press releases on our website: www.marforres.marines.mil See the "honoring the fallen" link toward the top. All my releases are posted there. We're also on FB and Twitter under MARFORRES Yeah, there is info out there from some of the other agencies, plus some of the families have identified their fallen loved ones, that we won't have available. Speaking of those agencies -- everyone has been so great helping us out there! Can't stress how appreciative we are for those other agencies. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

^^^this^^^ Disclaimer: the following is an opinion of a multi-rated judge: I understand the other issues/concerns posed in this thread. However, the comments about money being the motivating factor are cheap (no pun intended). Randy Connell is the director of competition. He's in charge of how competitions are run and how they are judged (and qualifications of said judges). If you look at his question from that point of view, and by what Chuck mentioned regarding FAI rules for international competition qualifications, I hope you all then can see the purpose behind the honest question. I've seen what both DZOs and tunnel managers have to try to facilitate to host a competition as well, so having a standard of judge training and an established pool from which to invite helps the competitors. Competitors love to complain about the judging, but they don't see the hours spent in seats looking at video. And when they're taking a year off, don't want to get a rating and help out in the "fishbowl." So those who still want to have competitions, indoor or outdoor, and want the opportunity to represent the US on the international stage, please consider the limits the FAI have put on USPA and re-consider what you may or may not choose to reply to Randy. He's trying to represent the members to the FAI by either figuring out how to incorporate tunnel flying, or really starting a huge fight against FAI's edict. Can we have a productive conversation about the issue? [/rant] See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!