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That isn't cool Bill, you are selling him short on the resume. You forgot racist, rapist, con man, and failed business man.

How is it that everyone does not see this? The fact that Luke has not resigned already means that he’s putting it on the organization to take the action against him. He should do the right thing and just resign. NOW!!!

Exactly. Here in the US, no one would be stupid enough to elect a reality-TV show actor as president.

The right wing doesn't have any problem with the concept of Sharia Law; They are just jealous that it is based on the Quran instead of the Bible.

The Putin troll farms are active again. Using outdated software from 2010. But they are more advanced than the security training of Russian generals. They must have filled the last position on Truth social.

Just like the ruble's real value... (which is probably what they're paid in)

Holy cow. So many memes, so little content. Wendy P.

That's obvious and simplistic. We who do this are all, generally, open to risk. But that's not what is the problem here. The problem is that an official of the United States Parachute Association whose family operates a large DZ asked the Federal Aviation Administration for a waiver from the Federal Aviation Regulations to perform the stunt and was denied in writing. He then ignored that denial and went ahead with the attempt over United States soil. That is bad for skydiving and skydivers in America by making us look like scofflaws at the highest levels of our organization. That's the problem.

Welcome to skydiving... Yeah, that's the way it is. And when you have enough jumps to jump in any winds, consider who else is jumping -- if it's all people who just got cleared to jump in all winds, stand down, like the more experienced jumpers, who don't want to get hurt. There's no guarantee that you'll get hurt if you jump on one windy day. But the odds add up for most people,,, Wendy P.

An excellent example. By reframing the Civil War as a "war of northen aggression" having nothing to do with slavery, whites in the south could avoid any residual feelings of shame associated with the position they took on slavery. They could instead take pride in their ancestors who stood up to an evil north, rather than trying to reconcile their heritage of slavery with a more modern view of civil rights. We are seeing the same thing happen today with the attempted cancellation of both CRT and the 1619 project. These studies of history make many white people feel bad, because it reminds them that a significant part of this country came from the labor of slaves. This make them feel - not bad, exactly, but like they cannot be as proud of their history as they otherwise could be. "Make America Great Again" doesn't work if those halcyon days included slavery (or enforced segregation, or redlining, or any of the other structural racisms that the early and mid US incorporated.) So they try to ban it. They realize that banning history is something of a bad look, so they dress up the ban in flowery language and mix in a few "won't someone please think of the children" memes. We've seen these a lot lately - "why are teachers teaching our children to hate themselves?" CRT teaches kids "to be ashamed that they are white." One theoretically real child tearfully asked her far-right mother "Why am I hated so much?" - and then supposedly needed therapy to overcome all the damage that CRT did. (How fortunate that that child did it just in time for Marsha Blackburn's political campaign.) Others spend thousands of words trying to define CRT to mean something other than CRT. It's an "unremitting attack on Western institutions." It teaches that "America is systemically racist and must be dismantled." It was created by Karl Marx to destroy democracy. It is a "monstrous evil" that gives black people "the whip handle" over white people. (That last was from Pat Robertson; what a fascinating metaphor to use when one is advocating ignoring what slavery did to the country.) Underlying all this blather is a simple belief common amongst the right - that education can and should be curtailed because it makes some people feel uncomfortable or threatened. We have seen several examples right here on this forum. George Orwell once said that "he who controls the past controls the future." Conservatives are trying to take control of the past and alter it to something that works better for them. The question is - will we let them?

Hey there, in 2020 I jumped jfx 109. I got consistent soft openings until I replaced my PC with a new one (original PC and Bridle from Paratec, some buddys from my DZ are jumping exactly the same). Since the replacement I got some really hard openings. I tried different packing techniques and my openings became better but not like before. I buyed a Velo 96 and my openings were perfectly soft. Not a single hard opening, endless snivel (ok, sometimes things got a little wild) but always soft. Unfortunatly the lines had no much life left, so I replaced the lineset (500 Vectran). With the new lineset I got painful openings on hop&pop jumps. I tried one at terminal and got to the hospital. Checked the lines, checked everything, nobody found something wrong with the canopy or the lineset. Ok fuck it, new canopy. Got a comp velo 90 (500 Vectran). Tried it last weekend at hop&pop-jumps: Perfect openings - nice. Tried one at terminal: BOOM. Ok, repack - as soft as possible - BOOM. Can't turn my head without pain now. I spent hours to think about it. Can the pilot chute cause these slamming openings? Maybe line dumps (the new lines on the 96er got easier out of the stow-rubbers as the old ones?), but I always double-stow. Some ideas? My neck has no much space left for experiments.. Thank you in advance

Wow! People were secretly getting the vaccine in early 2020? Maybe they were secretly getting vaccines from Fauci! That must be it. Fauci is responsble for COVID, AIDS, chickenpox, bad breath and pet rocks. He's also the fifth dentist. He paid a lot for that muffler. He shot JR. He left someone ELSE's heart in San Francisco - after he killed them. He was the second gunman on the grassy knoll. He faked the Moon landing. He ran that secret pedophile satanic sex ring in the basement of a pizza place in Washington, DC for Hillary Clinton. He voted illegally for Biden. He forgot to change that O-ring in the Challenger's SRB. He is even the one who leaked the Supreme Court decision! He is more destructive than even Concrete Rebound Hammer. So I am Jewish, have AIDS, have been kidnapped, and am "compromised with debt?" Surely you can add that I am a rich elitist and so poor that I am jealous of Trump's success. Tell Vladimir I said hello!

Hi Peter, Back in the 70's, RWS could not keep up with the production demands. So, they entered into an agreement with Guardian Parachute ( subsidiary of FXC Corp ) to build rigs for them. Three employees of Guardian stayed late at nite & built bogus rigs; these rigs were never entered into the production documents. They then sold the rigs out of their cars at various dz's in SoCal. When Guardian found out, all three were fired immediately. This was told to me back in 1978 by Chuck Embury, one of the three. Jerry Baumchen

Looking at their practice I absolutely agree with you. But when they're called on it they cry "religious persecution!" I like to say it out loud as often as possible.

Just hit the ignore button people.

We already have enough identified trolls, do we have to suffer through this anonymous sock puppet too?

When your generals are all lying in zinc coffins. Its hard for draftees from the Urals with a grade eight education to decide what to do. Even though Putin has lost his super yacht. He still has his Black Sea estate...er mold palace Mold and rot. Just like Russia. So its conscripts might as well die for it.

I got harder openings from a larger size PC. At one point I had two canopy setups that I juggled gear between and same canopy with a newer larger PC consistently opened harder. It's definitely a factor.

Yeah it's always great to soak up info, especially with (limited) experience because things start making more sense. I liked how one of the instructors said "Don't be afraid of a malfunction, embrace it, and react". Always next time to jump in better conditions.

Yes I am. Are you standing with Putin?

My 2 cents... There is no snivel anymore. Your PC is probably the cause. I would compare both PC sizes, apex retracting lines lengths and fabric porosity. Maybe there are differences, this parameters creates too much drag compare to the old one. I understand that some have exactly the same configuration, but openings are about physics and Art I would also ask the manufacturers (PC and parachutes) for advices and use only manufacturers parts. Good luck and be safe.

Yup. Get used to it. The old joke that, as a student, I spent more time sitting on the picnic bench bitching about the weather than actually jumping contains 'more than just a bit' of truth. Depending on the culture of the DZ, wind & weather holds can be very educational. At the bigger DZ I jump at (lots of students) the instructors will gather up a group of students when jumping isn't happening, and sit and discuss/quiz all sorts of stuff. It's also a good time to get to know the rest of the community. The DZO there is a BIG promoter of the fun jumper community (cookouts, movie nights, competition events - The Hamm's Rigging Relays are hilarious - all that sort of stuff). Getting to know who folks are is a big step up for when you get your license. To echo and expand on what Wendy said (for when you get your license) - If the 'young hotshots' are still jumping and the 'crusty old guys' are sitting down, thing about it. Think hard about it. If the 'crusty old guys' are grabbing lawn chairs and cameras and heading out to the landing area, REALLY think about it. "Where are you guys going?" "We're gonna go watch the young'uns get some experience" If you sit it out today, you can always jump tomorrow. If you have to jump today, you may not jump again for a while. If ever. Last, but not least, BEWARE THE WEATHER HOLD!!! There are few things in this life more dangerous than a bored skydiver. A few years ago at SDC Summerfest, weather hold games included 'creeper bowling'. 2 person teams. One pushed, one rode the creeper at inflatable bowling pins. Standard bowling scoring. 5 frames for a game. Silly but fun. After it was all done, I heard Donavan (TI & airplane manager) remark: "Wow. Weather hold shenanigans and we didn't need an ambulance. I'm impressed".

I talked to the guy with the Outlaw who had the slider off tension knot. It’s extremely rare and has yet to be recreated. The other factor of the incident is the Outlaw was packed for 6+ months before that jump. Here’s the paper I mentioned.

I'm pretty stocky too - 5'4" and a little on the heavy side. I'm also a pretty damn good skydiver. It's much more a mental game than physical. Join us!

Parapack was one of the first nylon fabrics specifically designed for parachute containers. In the right application, parapack wears like iron! I have seen many old parapack Racers that were faded, frayed and filthy, but their parapack was still air-worthy. This shiny, slippery fabric is still popular for making backpads and lining leg pads. Most of the parapack used in the parachute industry is about 400 denier. Nylon Cordura is now the most popular fabric because small scratches are not as obvious in its rough weave and Cordura is more abrasion resistant. The most popular weights of Cordura are 500 denier (most sport harness/containers) and 1000 denier (student containers). Don't confuse parapack with the other shiny fabric: Antron. To identify Antron, rub your finger along the fabric. Antron will feel smooth in one direction, but rough at a 90 degree angle. Rigging Innovations built some Talons and Flexons out of Antron during the early 1990s, but they had problems with inconsistent quality from the weaving mills. When I worked at Rigging Innovations (1994 - 1997) I repaired a lot of Flexons built from sub-standard Antron, but half the time, we just built them new containers at no additional charge.