base311

I'd guess they'll get cleaned A LOT MORE OFTEN now!! Hah hah hah... Good onya Maxim. Gardner

Dude...goggles are retro. Doggie is out though. Now it's "from behind" I'm checking my palmasutra now. Seems there's the Accordian, Antelope, Bee, Cow, Crab, Elephant, Monkey, Scorpion, Seesaw, Semblance and finally good old Sodomy. Wow. Scroll down in your palmasutra there's three more you missed in the 'from behind' section.... I think the pic for the "wheelbarrow" is wrong. When the woman is facing down, it's called the "Gardener". When the woman is facing up it's called the "wheelbarrow". Still a neat program, though. doggie is out, though.. I prefer to take her from behind. later, Gardner

they're already in contact. you gonna be around? gardner

PEEPEE Complete Fuel System Cleaner ONE TREATMENT CLEANS ENTIRE FUEL SYSTEM!!! PEEPEE Complete Fuel System Cleaner: -Removes deposits -Save gas, cleans fuel injectors, carburetors -Reduce hard starts, engine hesitation, knocks, pings -Restore lost power and acceleration -Can be used with all gasolines, including oxygenated and reformulated fuels, and other STP fuel additives -Will not harm any fuel system components, oxygen sensors or catalytic converters -Helps clean, intake valves, combustion chambers, intake runners and ports, cylinder heads and piston tops

Yeah, I understand it can cut both ways. But it's still fundamentally an issue of fairness and equal access. (stuff snipped) Can you imagine all of us united? They'd be insane to take on the entire parachuting, climbing and biking communities. While it would be nice to see us united with the climbers (and there are more than enough examples of why we should be), I just don't see it happening. Mainly because the climbers already have access - so they've nothing much to gain (and perhaps everything to lose) through an alliance with us. Have you read some of the whuffo responses (sorry tom - I know you don't like that moniker but it exactly describes the mentality of some of those folks) on Jason's threads posted over on the geotopo site?? For the most part I think the resident hardmen understand, but there're an awful lot of weekend wall warriors out there who don't or won't (I'm talking about base as an acceptable means of descent as opposed to rapping or otherwise - or simply as a sport standing alone) accept that BASE and climbing go together like milk and honey. Realize that I'm not overlooking all of the folks we know who DO understand the relationship - it's just that an overwhelming majority don't. Gardner

Nevermind waiting for it to turn black before freezing it. Placing a green banana in the refrigerator will turn it black in a few hours.

80lb break cord breaks is 'calibrated' and tested to break at 80lbs of force, that is a single strand of the cord when you tie that single strand into a loop, you have distributed the force applied evenly to two strands of break cord, assuming it can slide a bit around the tie-in points to equalise the load therefore, 2 x 80 lb = 160 lb (stuff snipped) have fun! sam Man if I had a dollar for everytime I've seen this argument go down (btw, I'm with you)... have fun! Gardner

Yawn. I'd rather watch turtles mate. Gardner

if you have to punch in your PIN---> debit if you have to sign a piece of paper ---> credit

if you had to 'sign' your receipt, then you paid with your debit acting as a credit card. The communication between the walmart and the bank just checks for a rating - not even necessarily that you have sufficient funds. You sign the receipt, it appears to debit the amt., then later shows up the same amt. added back to the 'available' amt on the online account view. Wait a few days... it'll be there... happens all the time to me. you can pretty much count on it. gardner

Ah hell my three favorite things all in one spot!!! ...goes to check account balance.... Gardner

I talked to a guy named Rick at Keener (the mil-spec rubberband manuf.) today and - while he was unable to say _exactly_ how long it would take for a band to degrade, he did go as far as saying approx. 2-3 years. The issue for them is that their bands need to perform to a certain standard that is contrary to biodegredation. That said, he did tell me that higher UV exposure and lower humidity will accelerate the process, so (at least at the pizza rock and others) the process is quicker in the higher altitude, arid climes. As you mentioned, you had a hard time finding bands. I have looked before and found many many bands. I don't know if you were just looking in the wrong place or if someone (or some group) had done a rubber band clean-up day. Either way, the bands are rapidly (in terms of geologic time) reduced to clay and basic organic compounds in relatively short order. I am guessing your plan to plant flowers from Home Depot seedpacks is purely tongue-in-cheek. If not, and you did intend to do that to offset your guilty conscience, why not just go up and look around and pick up whatever bands you can find. Planting (possibly) alien seeds on public lands may not be such a good idea, from an environmental standpoint (and I don't purport to be an expert). Nice to know you care, though. BSBD, Gardner P.S. On the Keener Material Safety Data Sheet for natural rubber, I got tickled by the "Cleanup Procedures" To wit: CLEANUP PROCEDURES: Sweep, shovel, vacuum into container for disposal. Incinerate or landfill in accordance with all applicable environmental control regulations; not a hazardous material.

Round up a Posse and go liberate your gear from that asshole. Gardner

something I've done in the past (and this is without anyone else's input so your mileage may vary and the reaper may lurk nearby, dunno) is block out some of the velcro by cutting myself short lengths of 3/4" velcro loop and placing them onto the hook along the container flaps... depending on how many of these pieces you put on, you can effectively block out a percentage of surface area of velcro attachment. Use a contrasting color so you don't forget them when you're packing for a terminal jump in a drunken stupor. gardner p.s. make damn sure you have plastic-reinforced flaps... else you may do yourself in on the low stuff. some of the early containers were manuf'd without reinforced flaps... this has sometimes resulted in a towed PC 'til the airspeed picked up; you won't have that luxury @ 270'

Who cares??

it hangs on banana edited to add: okay maybe it doesn't

Earl Redfern used to say, "Parachutes are like women... if you show 'em too much attention they'll fuck you every time." glad you were at the potato bridge. Gardner

I completely agree with you on your first statement. I think it happens all of the time most of us just aren't viewing it in a frozen state. What I'd like to talk about is along similar lines... and I'm also wondering if we might need new nomenclature: eversion and inversion. We talk about tail inversion all of the time. In fact when people first started talking about it I was a bit confused because they seemed to be using a term that didn't really describe what they were talking about (at least for me). After reading several posts about it years ago, someone finally posted a photo describing the phenomenon. A basic way of describing it would be this: If you're observing an opening canopy from above, you'd basically be able to see the bottom skin of the tail in a "tail inversion". This makes sense, but this instance of inversion is much different from what one knows to be an inversion in a round canopy... well... sorta. Anyway, I'm wondering if that wording should be renamed "Tail Eversion" and if we should reassign the words "Tail Inversion" to denote what we see in aidclimber's original photo above. Let me see if I can explain. I've seen this several times now (and experienced it once myself), and more noticeably since the advent of the tailgate (in fact perhaps only after the common utilization of the tailgate): look at aidclimber's photo (all references to the canopy are from jumper's perspective). Notice how the right side trailing edge tail fabric (gray in this instance) is caught, or being held up by wind forces, up in the region of the a/b line attachments? That, to me, is a true inversion. But I believe this inversion may be _caused_ by the use of the tailgate. In other words, I don't think that fabric would normally go there if it weren't for the tailgate. I experienced one of these after a short delay from the pizza rock with a 3-wrap tailgate (different time, diff. discussion). Initially I thought it was a TG hang-up because I was concerned about the numb. of wraps prior to exit (when, at the exit pt., it was decided I'd be high guy on a 2-way). The mess cleared virtually before I could figure out what was going on. But after an on-the-ground-jack-daniels-drinking-self-debrief, I realized that it was not a TG hangup because I saw lines on the left side of my canopy distributed in a completely normal configuration, but that the whole right-rear corner of the tail had managed to work its way up into the fore and aft space between the lines of cells 5/6, and was momentarily trapped beneath the bottom skin of the canopy until the forces of bottom skin inflation were weak enough to be overcome by the internal pressure whereby it quickly corrected itself and popped out with a "thump" (you know how fabric thumps). I fully believe that had this been a round canopy (obviously without anti-inversion netting, etc.) it would have been at least a partial inversion. I recall seeing the whole right rear corner being trapped there... then the whole corner flipping itself back out nearly instantaneously. Notably, it was also a dead on-heading opening as was aidclimber's. Has anyone else experienced this or witnessed someone else's canopy do this? And I'm not talking about the crappy looking wad of canopy just before the TG releases... I'm talking about a tailgate that has obviously released, but with the T.E. fabric still trapped underneath the bottom skin. ANyway... call me crazy. Nomenclature? I call what I had a tail inversion (I know that's contrary to popular conventions). I call what is normally referred to as "Tail Inversion", a "Tail Eversion". In any event, I believe what you experienced (and some of what we can see happening in your photo) is exactly what I experienced, but your photo is like mine but taken just before the TG released. later, Gardner

check out: DBSinsert.pdf at cr's page (better get yourself a copy of all that good stuff b4 they take it down (don't know if they will)). later, G

I heard he uses an ordinary household iron set on "low" Gardner

So you're saying a round parachute doesn't open by air forced into it from beneath? Rather, that the fabric is "sucked open" by airflow past the fabric on the outside? Where does the air that ends up inside the canopy come from and how does it open this way if it does not fill the inside from below? Just trying to better my understanding of how rounds open. Gardner

From http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Virtual_Tours/Splendid_Hall/artifacts.html The Mace The Mace of the U.S. House of Representatives is one of the oldest and most important symbols of our nation's government. In one of its first resolutions, the U.S. House of Representatives of the 1st Federal Congress (April 14, 1789) established the Office of the Sergeant at Arms. The first Speaker of the House, Frederick Muhlenburg of Pennsylvania, approved the Mace as the proper symbol of the Sergeant at Arms in carrying out the duties of this office. The design of the Mace is derived from an ancient battle weapon and the Roman fasces. The ceremonial Mace is 46 inches high and consists of 13 ebony rods – representing the original 13 states of the Union – bound together by silver bands. Atop this shaft is a silver globe on which sits an intricately cast solid silver eagle. -------- gardner edited to add: emphasis (mine)

Jesus Christ Tree when did you turn into a fascist? Now that you're manufacturing BASE rigs, maybe you can use this attachment as your company logo. Gardner

93% here... whew... what a ride!!!! Gardner

Chris I'm sorry we never got a chance to jump that tower. There I was making the decision that the winds were wrong and thinkin' we'd have a chance to go back and hit it another day. It's not going anywhere, I told you... and you agreed. If I'd known then - what I know now - I'd have made you grab your rig and we'd have gone up there and done it anyway. More than likely we'd have been alright. Then again, hindsight's always crystal. Godspeed Chris! Gardner