TriGirl

Damn. So sad to hear this. Met Andy at Fitz a number of years back and greeted him with a three-limb hug. I agree with so many on here that he was such a great mentor, whether in person or on here, to new jumpers. Solid, consistent advice, and patient as hell. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

You can vote McMullin even outside Utah. I'm told he's on ballots in a lot of states (I still have to check my absentee ballot). Plus, you can always write him in. Just so far reading what is on his website, he and his running mate have impressive experience in domestic as well as foreign service. I could also get behind their platform. I don't agree with all of it, but what's presented sounds good to me to a large degree. As for Johnson -- I thought another party needed 15% to qualify for future funding. Or is it polling at 15% gets you an invitation to the debates? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Kind of the same argument Trump supporters like to throw out there when confronted with the more outrageous campaign promises Mr. Trump has made ("oh, he doesn't actually mean he'll do that"). Not sure why it's okay to dismiss half the things Mr. Trump claims he'll do while touting the radical political shake-up he also claims. What puts one claim into the "well, he won't actually DO that" bin, and another claim into the "he's going to do such great things for this country!" bin? At least now we have the same assessment for beliefs about Sec. Clinton -- if they believe she'll try to take away everyone's guns, then why wouldn't they accept that premise being tossed into the "well, she won't actually do THAT" bin? (Yeah, I know -- the question is rhetorical) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I wouldn't say anyone wants to remove the 2nd Amendment. Just to apply it as written: "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." I don't take it in the common view, focusing on "Militia." Instead, I focus on "well regulated," regardless of the definition of militia. If you want to apply the second fragment of the article, "being necessary to the security of a free State," could be interpreted to say the well regulated gun ownership is exercised so the people can help keep the peace. The security WITHIN that free State, not just the integrity of the borders OF the State. That covers what many extreme gun fanatics claim they want to keep their guns to do -- protect their property, families, personal safety, etc. So how is it unconstitutional to impose and enforce the REGULATIONS for responsible gun ownership? So, Nigel, now you have another argument for your nutter coworker to talk him back off the ledge. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Generally when you walk out of a 15 year relationship the level of profound love is pretty low and easily replicated. Perhaps "connexion" is a more appropriate word? I just meant they want an instant relationship... But getting to know someone takes time. It depends on what they think they want in a new relationship (read: wife). I've seen that more as they're interviewing new job candidates, not developing a relationship with a person they may enjoy spending time with. These tend to be the kind of guys whose friends are only men, and women are the "other" they only interact with for specific purposes (e.g., they never seem to be able to connect personally with someone of the opposite gender). I worked with a guy a few years back -- we liked the same music, had some fun things in common. Mostly just friendly, since I take a while to get to know people before I'm attracted to them. He said I confused him when I kissed him after a concert one night. We hung out, went to different concerts together, stopped by each other's offices to chat once in a while. Suddenly, he stopped communicating all together. A few weeks later when I stopped by his office to catch up, I saw he had "wedding show" on his calendar later that month. He had met a woman online and was already engaged. They were attending a wedding trade show at the convention center later that month. He said she was really good with his kids, who already liked her. She was already living with him. That's when it became obvious to me he wasn't interested in becoming even friends with anyone. He was interviewing for his next wife and a mother figure for his kids. Personally, I blame RomComs for setting a poor example of how it's "supposed" to work. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

[eye roll emoji] See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Good point about how they got in, but once the nose was under the tent, the rest of the camel came in over the course of four more decades. I was trying to be a bit more concise in the beginning, as the rest of my post was quite long! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

The party needs to reestablish what its basic platform is: less government intervention/oversight, more personal responsibility and choice. Unfortunately, it was hijacked a few decades ago by the religious fanatics who wanted to make it about "morals" (or whatever). TEA Party tried to break away (Taxed Enough Already) and focus on the old ideals of the Republican party, but it was also overcome by incoherent messaging from religion-based control freaks, and the original message again got lost. I propose all elected officials from any party, agree that in all their messaging (e.g., on their campaign websites, etc), they will include this in their position points: After writing their position on an issue, the next paragraph starts with "how does this position support or align with the party ideals of XX?" Followed by that candidate's reasoning. The RNC and DNC chairs (and the chair of any other parties that form after this) should be able to enforce this by revoking the right of that candidate or person to affiliate with the party if they stray too far from the platform on too many issues -- and especially if their reasoning is wholly unsupportable. This way, the parties stay at least in the same ballpark, constituents get an easy reference for how their elected officials are sticking with that party's platform, and anyone with a different idea can form a separate party with their own platform. ETA: this would also make it much easier for a party to disallow any prospective candidate from using their party name to run for office, if they don't adhere to the party platform, regardless of the primary process. Sure, you're going to get senators who vote one way or another on a particular piece of legislation that may not 100% align with their party's platform (their job is to make decisions for the country as a whole). That shouldn't get their affiliation revoked. But it would make them explain publicly why they chose to vote a certain way, and how it would benefit (or be better for) America as a whole. A huge percentage of the population has better things to do all day than just track down all of the "facts" spewed out by elected officials or worse, candidates. With this little tweak to how the party elders could get back control of the parties, it would be so much easier for the general public to be able to identify solidly with those parties, AND be able to argue the positions they take when supporting those parties, since they would have references at their disposal. And of course, the sky in my world is not only multi-colored, but patterned and textured as well! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Oh, like those kids who didn't turn 18 until early October? They should have registered earlier? Or those who recently moved to Florida, who should have registered before they had an address, I guess. Yeah, our governor doesn't think a lot of things through before speaking. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Hi T :) dogs are definitely higher maintenance than cats. We are thinking when the 2 dogs we have now are gone we will be done with pets. Let's see how that works out

Standing by! Not on FB, so I'll keep checking here. Have a safe trip! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

What kind of shape is your liver in? Vader, I live in New Orleans currently. What would you like to experience? I would say it's a great place to visit once . I can help line up some stuff to do/see. I don't know of anywhere to camp, but I have a spare room with no furniture, with a private bath, if you two have no other options. I live on the North Shore of the lake, so it's about a 25-min drive to get downtown (I'm happy to shuttle as I go to and from work). As long as it isn't a weekend, I can help out. Shoot me a PM with at least a week advance notice if I can help. Although, might I jump on with the rest here and suggest you stay to the east? I second the recommendation for Raeford. If you're on I-75 north of Atlanta, make a stop at Chattanooga, Tennessee. I can vector you to camping on the river a short hop to the west, and I highly recommend a tour of the first legal distillery in Tennessee since prohibition. Cute little place with excellent whiskeys. T See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Congrats, sweetie!

It's about damn time they recognized you had some great wisdom to share! Three issues in a row? Hmm... sounds like to me!! Oh, and I'm in October, too. But I'm just buried among the other two people who earned FAI judge ratings.

Adorable, the both of them.

Or it's the section that goes through a residential area, with heavily-used exits and on-ramps every mile. I hear where you're coming from, but in that case I see no problem with people treating it like it's a 2-lane highway. Middle lane is treated like the right lane, left lane is left lane. Right lane is just for those transitioning onto or out of the freeway. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

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

[snicker] "4 skins" [snort] See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

On this day in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation establishing the Marine Corps Reserve. Yep, USMCR has been around for 100 years. **it isn't "happy birthday" because the Marine Corps only has one birthday** We kicked off the Centennial celebration in New Orleans last week, and have been showing the banner in New York all day today. For some motivating video, check out our Facebook page. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Seriously? Cursive writing is imperative to fluid thinking. when you learn to write in letter style you process the words by letter. Cursive writing allows the brain to operate at a different level. More fluid it helps a lot with thinking processes, especially when you are writing narratives and forming written opinions. It matters less if you are merely copying text, but it's a key stage in development when writing conscious streams. +1. +1. I've been trying to show my brother's kids the value of a hand-written note, too. His youngest just graduated high school, and was the only one to send out announcements. Not the greatest attempt, but at least he took on the project and sent them out (yes, through the post). Therefore, he was the only one to get a congratulatory card from me, with a small contribution to his college fund. But in addition, I penned a 3-page letter with some "what I've learned since being your age" advice and included it (three pages of personalized stationery, of course). Unfortunately he has a habit of failing to read personal notes in cards. I hope he not only reads it, but appreciates it as a hand-written letter offering life perspective. Somehow, I doubt it, though. I know he cashed the check, but he has made no mention of the card or letter, nor have I received a "thank-you" note. Not even an email. I blame his parents. (and to BIGUN -- how do they teach kids how to sign their names if they don't teach proper handwriting?) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Yep, this was my problem. I was actually taught to "look over [my] shoulder," meaning turn my head to the side. The logic was that this would also displace any possible burbles that might be on my back at deployment. I didn't think much of my 2-3 line twists that resulted every time (I started on a Spectre -- rental gear -- and moved to a Storm) Watched a video of my deployment sequence with another friend/coach in slow motion, and he showed me where that move caused my line twists. Now I throw, count up to 3 (I feel the tug earlier than that), then look up once it's actually filling with air. Beautiful on-heading openings every time now.

And all should keep in mind as well that we have a new accuracy category at Nationals: sport accuracy (not to be confused with zone acc for the swoopers). For the 2014 poster who talked about a sport canopy to get within a few meters -- you should see the sport acc competitors. We had a jumper at Collegiates (Joe Gerner) who hit seven consecutive dead centers (it's a 12" disc) just at that competition. I believe his record was 53 or 56 consecutive dead-center landings, on what I recall was a 150 (don't recall the model). The rules of sport acc require that a competitor perform a controlled landing -- e.g., stand-up, contained within the designated landing area (15m radius circle). Any extra touch on the ground (knee, hand, etc) gets you a 15m penalty, and a landing outside the circle also results in a 15m penalty. It is possible to have a score of 45.0 on a single jump (15m from the center, plus going/landing outside the circle, plus taking a knee or sliding in). Dead center is still 0.0. Therefore, this kid landed with first touch on the center disc at a competition seven consecutive times, and only took 2-3 steps after first touch each time. So yes, being within a few meters of your target each time you lane -- yeah, I'd say is the sport canopy level of accuracy. But actually being able to control your landings to within a few inches of your intended landing area is also perfectly legitimate with a smaller sport canopy. YMMV, of course! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

You're both wrong. He said that if it were someone in similar circumstances, they likely would be subject to security or administrative sanctions. That means security clearance is suspended and under review (security), or they are asked/allowed to resign (administrative). Trust me, that's not being fucked. Similar circumstances: willfully passing classified documents and information to an uncleared civilian (American) with no intent on espionage. Ex: Petraeus. He was allowed simply to leave his job (administrative sanctions). As the CIA director, and thirty-plus-year military officer, I know he knew what was required of handling that information and who should be allowed access to it, in my mind making his actions much more reprehensible than hosting a personal server that ended up storing information that ended up classified. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Not if she replaced her own divots. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Is America finally ready to talk about guns? Texas is just crazy about their guns See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!