JohnMitchell 14 #151 July 7, 2011 I spent those belly band years jumping a Racer with a pull-out.Now everyone grabs behind their back to open their rig. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mjosparky 3 #152 July 7, 2011 QuoteI think the solution to the belly band issue may have been as easy as increaseing the thickness of the webbing for the belly band webbing and maybe attaching a heavy duty plastic stiffner to the belly band to prevent the "unavoidable" twisted PC problem. Hank Asciutto of ParaInnovators came up with something like that. He had a wedge of ballistic cloth sandwiched between 2 layers of 1000 denier Cordura. About 2 weeks later one of the Latin Skydivers almost went in with a “twisted belly band”. At about 500 feet he fired a TriCon reserve into the mess and almost pulled off a stand up. Any changes the manufactures make for safety jumpers will find a way to defeat it. Remember Booth’s 2nd. Law. “The safer skydiving gear becomes the more chances skydivers will take in order to keep the fatality rate constant”. SparkyMy idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Krip 2 #153 July 7, 2011 Quote Quote I think the solution to the belly band issue may have been as easy as increaseing the thickness of the webbing for the belly band webbing and maybe attaching a heavy duty plastic stiffner to the belly band to prevent the "unavoidable" twisted PC problem. Hank Asciutto of ParaInnovators came up with something like that. He had a wedge of ballistic cloth sandwiched between 2 layers of 1000 denier Cordura. About 2 weeks later one of the Latin Skydivers almost went in with a “twisted belly band”. At about 500 feet he fired a TriCon reserve into the mess and almost pulled off a stand up. Any changes the manufactures make for safety jumpers will find a way to defeat it. Remember Booth’s 2nd. Law. “The safer skydiving gear becomes the more chances skydivers will take in order to keep the fatality rate constant”. Sparky Forgot About booth's 2nd. Law . I'm old I have a excuseWhat happen to basic rule # 1 Cause no harm to others. Of course it got broken jumpers are what they are but nothing like the last few yr's. I think I know the reason But I'll keep my opinion to myself. USPA and their GMDZ's are a lot smarter than I am we'll just sit back and see if things get better, worse or stay the same. In cali your were in the thick of it. Edgerton KS lots of fun just a little off the beaten path the latest and the greatest takes a little longer to get to us hicks in the sticks like a yr or two. For some reason in the sticks the directions seemed to be the same drive past the cemetery hang a left at the RR tracts. or was cross over RR tracks hang a rightI'm guessing the RR was their first than the towns followed the RR. eventually the civil war spread the cemeterys all over the place.To badI was in such a hurry to get to the DZ and never took the time to stop by the cemetery's and check out the dates. WAG R.I.P.One Jump Wonder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fossg 0 #154 July 8, 2011 I remember gas wars during the summer in Florida. Regular .18 gal. High test .24.... don't ask me what I had for breakfast Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpsalot-2 2 #155 July 8, 2011 Quote I remember gas wars during the summer in Florida. Regular .18 gal. High test .24.... don't ask me what I had for breakfast Quote Don't you mean " Ethyl " for $ .24 ? Life is short ... jump often. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fossg 0 #156 July 8, 2011 Ethyl went for 10 bucks on the corner (wince) your right. My dad always called it high test Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,048 #157 July 8, 2011 Hi jumps, Quote Don't you mean " Ethyl " for $ .24 ? Since this is 'Remember When,' a little story from my teenage years. A guy in the neighborhood was a Portland cop and he was a real cynic. His dad owned a gas station & he worked there on his days off. One day this old guy comes in with real dillapidated, beat-up car & asked for 37 cents of gas. So the cop asks him, 'You want Ethyl or regular.' JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpsalot-2 2 #158 July 8, 2011 And of course, she was Fred Mertze's wife...........Remember when..... Life is short ... jump often. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #159 July 8, 2011 Quote I remember gas wars during the summer in Florida. Regular .18 gal. High test .24.... don't ask me what I had for breakfast Remember when gasoline looked and smelled like gasoline? I remember those .18 gas wars, too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tbrown 26 #160 July 8, 2011 Quote Quote I remember gas wars during the summer in Florida. Regular .18 gal. High test .24.... don't ask me what I had for breakfast Remember when gasoline looked and smelled like gasoline? I remember those .18 gas wars, too. My dad used to pull into the Sunoco station and ask the attendant (no self service) for "a dollar's worth of 190". I remember when we had a milkman who brought milk in glass quart bottles. Our house had a milkbox near the back door, where we'd put out the empties for him to exchange for full ones. Our phone was on a party line, so sometimes when we picked it up, we'd hear the neighbors talking. Our brand new '63 Ford Falcon station wagon only had seatbelts in the front seats. And every Friday night, for two glorious years, "Ripcord" was on TV ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Krip 2 #161 July 8, 2011 Hi Sparky I remember when I used to have to walk to school in snow waist high, uphill coming and going.I do remember the ice man delivering blocks of ice for ice box's. It was always a big dude with a leather thing on his shoulder and he had to hustle the block up the stairs to the apts. Remember when the new fridge's had the funny coil on top. I still call the machines the ice box. Great idea for the envoiroment and the ecomomy we can put folks back to work making wooden ice box's and delivering blocks of ice.How about dual use replace the AC with another block of ice and a fan. More jobs!!! less energy consumption and dependence on foriegn oil.Anyone know how much energy it would take to produce block of ice? R.I.P. One Jump Wonder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thrillstalker 0 #162 July 9, 2011 Quote Quote remember when you had to push the little botton on the floor by the e brake to change the light from dim to bright in vehicles. i miss that What??? I had no idea that you were THAT old! Haha, I'm not. The first Vehicle I had was a 75 ford f100 pick up. I love that damn truck. My dad and I broke down on the way back from fl when I was 16. We changed the alternator with a pair of channel locks and a screw driver. On a new vehicle you have to take apart half the engine and have a computer science degree to do that"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nebug 0 #163 July 12, 2011 The fatality that I referred to previous post did not happen @LSPC: D.B. was an Omaha Skydivers Member. The accident happened after Omaha Skydivers went defunct(1975?). Jim Saunders started a commercial DZ up at Tekameh, NE. where that accident occurred I believe late 70s. Jim's operation lasted to early 80s. I did jump with Shorty a few times when LSPC was jumping at the old Arrow Airport in Lincoln and Omaha Skydivers was still at Wahoo, Ne. I don't recall Elmo so he must have come after me. Shorty was one tough dude, a really nice guy, a great rigger, but didn't put up with much nonsense. It would be nice to have MORE like him around today. Regards, Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
oldwomanc6 38 #164 November 13, 2011 We used the Dewey Decimal System?lisa WSCR 594 FB 1023 CBDB 9 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #165 November 14, 2011 Quote I remember when we had a milkman who brought milk in glass quart bottles. Yes! One of my abiding childhood memories is hearing the milk float come round in the mornings, and the clink and scrape as the milkman deposited the new bottles (pints in our case) on the front step and collected the empties. The bottles had tinfoil lids, and if you left them out on the porch too long birds would sometimes peck through them to drink. Quote Our phone was on a party line, so sometimes when we picked it up, we'd hear the neighbors talking. I'd forgotten all about that! Our first phone line was shared with next door as well. Our neighbour was quite the talker, and it would be frustrating for my mother to have to wait to use the line. And in those days everyone would answer the phone by saying their number: "Huyton 3945". And not only did shops not open on a Sunday, we had early closing on (I think) Wednesdays too, when they'd only be open until lunchtime. I'm spoiled now - it's unthinkable to me that I wouldn't be able to buy a loaf of bread at 3am. And, remember when a car's glove box contained exactly that? Back then steering wheels were hard, cold and slippery! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,122 #166 November 14, 2011 Quote And not only did shops not open on a Sunday, we had early closing on (I think) Wednesdays too, when they'd only be open until lunchtime. Oh my, that brought back a memory. 1977 I was bicycling in Europe; one day I was riding from York to Sheffield. Not that far, but I was doing it for fun and sightseeing, not for fast transportation. Pop. There goes a tire. I put on my trusty spare and kept going. Pop. There went the other tire (the only flats I had the whole time). So I hitchiked into the closest town, only to find it was closing day, and nothing was open. I was able to rent a car, go pick up my bike, go to the closest youth hostel and just walk around the rest of the day in whatever town it was that had the hostel (I might even have gone back to York). I never did make it to Leeds; ended up turning in the car and taking the train up to Scotland for the next leg in my journey. Driving in England, when you're an American, is best started in a low-traffic environment . Everything takes twice as long, because you have to look the wrong way first, then the right way. Wendy P.There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #167 November 14, 2011 Quote Driving in England, when you're an American, is best started in a low-traffic environment . Everything takes twice as long, because you have to look the wrong way first, then the right way. Yeah, and even as you guys get used to roundabouts (traffic circles), you'll still have to remember to go clockwise around ours. I think the real danger driving abroad isn't on your first day, because you're keyed up for it and concentrating hard. It's when you first start to relax. We once went on a road trip around Wales with an Austrian friend of ours, and he'd been driving in the UK for some time so he generally knew what he was doing. But we left our B & B one day and he just set off driving down the right-hand side of the road. It was a quiet road and early in the morning, so there was no other traffic around to give him a clue that he might be wrong. But I remember the look I exchanged with my other British friend: 'He's not going to realise, is he? Are you going to tell him, or shall I?' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 135 #168 November 14, 2011 Quote [I think the real danger driving abroad isn't on your first day, because you're keyed up for it and concentrating hard. It's when you first start to relax. that's why in Cyprus they have bright red (for danger) plates on rental cars. So teh locals know they must be worried. Don't ask me how I found out scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nigel99 144 #169 November 14, 2011 Wow this thread has brought back memories. Control line model aircraft, Mercurochrome, glass coke bottles with a deposit. kick start motorbikes, drive in movie theatre, belly mount reserve and sneaking out at night Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Abedy 0 #170 November 14, 2011 Quote I remember when we had a milkman who brought milk in glass quart bottles. Reminds me of a very interesting childhood memory of the early 1960s when I watched the "gas-lighting guy". He was dressed very much like a chimney sweeper and wore a black top hat (which impressed me deeply) and rode a bicycle. He leaned it to the gaslight-pole and started the gaslight with a long rod (there was sort of a hook or whatever at its tip) and whoosh, the warm light shone into my bedroom. I took comfort in this light and liked it much. I was sooo disappointed when we got electric streetlights in our street somewhen around 1969 or so. Yeah, we lived in the very outskirts of my Brandenburg hometown (Cottbus), gaslights were considered obsolete and quaint even in those days And then there's another memory most Americans might be unable to share: When we visited my grandma we walked past houses with holes from shelling in WWII. When we roamed the forests around there were a lot of bomb craters and even remnants of trenches here and there. (Mom was always afraid we might find blind shells...) Or mom, dad or granny telling us stories about the terrible time during WWII. Some of them so vivid I dreamed of it. No child should collect memories like that...The sky is not the limit. The ground is. The Society of Skydiving Ducks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JerryBaumchen 1,048 #171 November 14, 2011 Hi Mike, Quote And not only did shops not open on a Sunday, we had early closing on I arrived in England in Sep '61 ( RAF Sculthorpe ) and had been there 4-5 days when some of us went into the local village of Syderstone in the Norfolk area. We were having a few beers and suddenly this old guy comes out with a cow bell at starts ringing, this is at about 10:20 PM. I had no idea what the h*** was going on but the other guys said to drink up as they were closing. Do the pubs over there still close at 10:30 PM? JerryBaumchen Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #172 November 14, 2011 Nope - but even now Norfuck is 100 years ago (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #173 November 14, 2011 These daze... I've forgotten way more than I can remember (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MikeJD 0 #174 November 14, 2011 Quote Do the pubs over there still close at 10:30 PM? Haha, no! Or rather, they don't have to. 10:30PM was the Sunday closing time up until a few years ago (and you're right, they'd call last orders a little earlier than that, traditionally by ringing a bell). On other days it was 11PM, if I remember rightly. Either way, you had to finish your drinks within 10 minutes of closing time. The thing to do was find a place that would do 'lock-ins', where they'd just close the doors and keep serving - illegally, as far as I know. But anyway they've changed the licensing laws now, so many places are open at all kinds of hours. Having said that, after a brief flurry of all-night opening I think a lot of pub owners realised that the amount of business available 'after hours' didn't justify paying for the bar staff to stay on. So lots of them still close relatively early. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
muff528 3 #175 November 14, 2011 Quote These daze... I've forgotten way more than I can remember How could you know that? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
