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No one needs skydiving, airplanes, or summer cars, either. No one needs vacation homes, RV’s, or anything more than basic comfort. We don’t need to eat anything more than very basic home-cooked foods (and few of us need meat). Most of us on DZ.com have more than we need. Greed is a tricky thing to judge, especially in others. Most of us have a pretty good idea, but most definitions of greed are subjective. Wendy P.

That would be fun, I'll buy.

With your permission, like I actually give a fuck, I'm giving you a rep point for what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did to brighten my day at the NATO Summit.

Joe, it's so inconvenient for people when you spot obvious BS and call it out. Maybe he pays $30 per log hour. Which of course would normally be less than minimum wage in real hours spent at the place of employment.

Madigan... I'm over 50... and one of the things that makes me most nervous is listening to someone tell me how they have it all figured out. Do you know what you can teach someone who's got it all figured out...? Not a damn thing. Where as someone who is teachable, never has to stop learning. If I thought there was a trick to all this, I'd say the trick was to learn to love learning. I had to put booze down about the time I was 24. It was a problem for me. At 24, I wasn't a grownup and I wasn't a man. Not by any definition of those terms that I was able to articulate. I'm past that now and that particular story is perhaps long and boring to anyone not in a similar situation. The point of THAT... is I believe I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I believe that today. I also believe that I'm gonna be fine. As long as I remember a few things. What those things are might vary a little from person to person. What they are for you, I don't wanna speculate, since we don't know each other. But I don't think you can't go too far wrong if you start with these 3 things; 1-try to remain teachable. If you have an interest in skydiving, I'd say that's a good start. Not because skydiving is great... tho I think it's pretty great myself and I'm pretty new to it. But because I THINK there's a LOT to learn about it. 2- find the willingness to ask questions. There is nothing wrong with the answer "I don't know", and it's not a bad way to find out what you don't know. 3- happiness is an inside job. If I can't find a way to be happy on my own, no person and no thing is gonna do the job either. Last thing I'd like to say. I'm not sure about other families, but in my family I'd guess that what they find irreplaceable about me isn't any THING I'm outstanding at... except for maybe being me. No one else could do it nearly as well. Blue skies sir. Hope to meet you up there sometime.

Now that's industry odd. So is that an actual hourly wage where they are scheduled for a certain number of hours per day or week and get $30 per hour for their scheduled shift, fly or not? Or is that $15. per load in a 182?

Love it. Years of both Harley & skydiving shit would go in mine. The "Last Load Lounge" would HAVE to have the requisite cable spool table for ambience. My only question is - Where ya gonna put the stripper pole?

Since you lack a background in economics or business I will be patient with you. What economists consider "full employment", is around 5%. It is unremarkable that unemployment dropped from 10% to 5% under Obama, that is just normal business cycle stuff. What is remarkable is the move from 5% down to 3.5%, with low inflation. It has economists everywhere scratching their heads, and is redefining what is considered full employment.

I would second this ... especially as a new skydiver like me. You already have an altimeter, get an audible. My Brilliant Pebbles is set up for break off and track (5500)', pull altitude (4000') and then a single beep at 1000', 600', and 300' for my landing pattern. But those beeps are just there to remind me of my altitude ... my main gauge is always visual. Case in point: on my last jump there was a low pressure system coming in and the winds were howling East above 4k, very confused and gusting up to 14mph below 4k. My 2-way was first out the door and from pull time to landing I made exactly 1 flat turn of approximately 120* around 400' to land. Dont rely on a set pattern ... rely on your eyes. My partner, on the other hand (new skydiver as well) mis-judged the wind and had to land downwind (Not enough altitude to turn-in) which was no fun for him. Since we are newer skydivers, we cant rely on the experience we dont yet have ... but you should rely on your eyes more than a set altitude. I have a digital altimeter, and I really only use it as a guide under canopy. On top of that, two altimeters are better than one, it is always nice to have a backup. With that being said, I do like the digital altimeter under canopy as it lets me play with my canopy and see how my altitude is affected. I did always find it tough to judge the altitude loss in a turn with the sticky old analogues .... again, because I dont have the experience of 1000 jumps to pull from so I do need the information laid out easier for me.

Yes it will be cold. Multiple thin layers is best. I won't go up if it's below freezing on the ground (I'm getting old), which can be as cold as -25F or -30F at altitude. If it's cold, I usually wear thermal underwear under jeans and warm socks. T-shirt, thermal shirt, long sleeved T-shirt, pullover sweatshirt (no hood). Jumpsuit over all of that. Neck buff (gaiter, warmer, whatever) and gloves. Gloves are critical. Too thick and you lose dexterity. Too thin and you lose sensation. I've used mechanic's gloves, baseball batting gloves and the 'skydiving gloves' you can get at the gear store. Some folks put latex surgical gloves under those to keep the wind out. On the flip side, you are only in freefall for a minute. Then under canopy for a few minutes. Then back in the hangar, which is hopefully heated.

I'm thankful all the facilities I was stationed at were classified Top Secret - No Foreign. Does that classification still exist? Seems to me any foreign support or training areas should be classified in a more segregated, secure area away from the primary facility. More so given the past few years of events.

Trickle down STILL working. Jobs up, wages up, unemployment down and the record breaking economic expansion continues. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=12&ved=2ahUKEwjPt7SH3KHmAhXltlkKHcnZDjsQFjALegQIBBAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fnovember-jobs-report-us-economy-266000-jobs-added-unemployment-rate-2019-12&usg=AOvVaw27ao_4sriXZPicxYIfsn0C

An old parachute hanging from the ceiling if it's not real awesome looking. If you're really bored, you can make macramé coasters out of the lines. A little fridge, and a little cabinet to put chips and/or healthy food into. A bowl on the bar with some fruit, to encourage eating it. Some comfortable chairs to hang out in. I find that the folding patio chairs with cushions (like this one ) are comfortable, store easily, and are dirt cheap at places like Odd Lots. Enjoy it! Wendy P.

or what it would have in it Hi sky, I don't care what Prof. Harold Hill says, my game room ( with enough actual room ) would have a pool table. Jerry Baumchen

I have a high top table, a dart board (steel) ,a ping pong table and a big tv in mine. It is decorated with a bunch of Harley paraphernalia. After the 1st of the year we are going to start building the bar. It works good for us because it has an outside entrance and a half bath. So my drunken friends can come in from the outside and hang out without disturbing my wife's watching of the scifi channel :).

Well, my personal idea of a 'game room' would include a drill press, metal lathe, drilling & milling machine, shop press, several tool chests, air compressor... You get the idea. But that's not what you are after. Sooooo... Bar. Doesn't need to be fancy. Basic 'open in the back, closed in the front, decent top, kind of thing. Plans are readily available, materials won't run too much. Running water would be nice, but spendy if you don't already have it in the building. Bar stools are cheap at thrift stores. Card table. The octagon ones with recesses for chips and cup holders. Make it yourself or find a cheap one on C/L or at a thrift store. Video game. Console or computer, bigger screen for groups. A couch or a couple big chairs. If you want to go 'all in', old stand up arcade games & pinball machines are out there. Not cheap, but really cool. Dart board. The basic electronic ones can be found cheap on C/L or at thrift stores. You could go 'old school' and get the kind that use metal tipped darts. But drunk skydivers and sharp metal flying through the air can make for... Interesting outcomes. And on the 'sharp metal flying through the air' theme, a throwing knife target. That can be as simple as sections of 2x4 edge glued together to make a 3' square face. They get chewed up over time, but are simple & cheap. A set of knives is not expensive. It's an interesting skill to develop. Make sure the target is NOT near anything breakable or valuable (guess how I know this little tidbit).

Skydivers are so cute when they're puppies.

Good questions; and ones that I have been asking myself for a while now lol. Because the sport AAD hardware and software will piggyback on the military free fall AAD it’s evolvement time period should be accelerated and I want to be jumping Beta sport AADs this spring. Now I know I have said that in the past, however the opportunities to apply our technology to the military applications swooped in and we pushed the sport AAD to the side. Now that both military AADs are at a point where we are tidying up things, the sport AAD is front and center. I made the decision some time ago to self fund instead of taking on additional investors or outside money because I wanted to be able to take the time I feel/felt is/was necessary to achieve the level of performance and quality that I want before I would trust it on the backs of other jumpers and I put my name behind it. I decided that it makes the most sense to get all three AADs to a demonstration level to prove they can do what I say they can, and see what opportunities, if any, can be identified that would be beneficial to my team and investors, which is where my looking at different business models comes into play. How we sell them may very well be dependent on a strategic partnership yet to be identified; for example, Bill Booth has Vigil America, SSK has Airtec, and Alti-2 jumped on Mars. Is there someone else that wants to get in on the next generation of advanced AADs and snatch us up? Time will tell, but for now I am focused on getting an airworthy sport AAD in the air. The right partner / backer could greatly accelerate the path to market for the sport AAD once it is ready. The exciting part is we are a few months away from getting in the air. I know that doesn’t answer your questions, and I don’t mean to make excuses. If you are asking about a release date because you are looking for a new AAD, my advice is, if you want an AAD to not wait for mine to come out and get one of the three currently available, which you can sell once mine is available : ) Although this AAD will work fine for “Traditional” skydiving disciplines, the target markets will be Wingsuiters and High Performance Canopy Pilots as it will operate in all phases of those jumps without compromising performance at any point between the plane and the ground, and will not need/use any peripheral devices, such as an audible. Keep an eye on this thread as you never know what tomorrow may bring!

Canada is in a major political and regional battle over the new carbon tax. We're as divided as America, but our national government is far out in front of yours. But of course a lot of it is ineffective show. California is and will remain a major economic powerhouse with an outsized influence in America. Until the big one and the 500 year tsunami hits I guess.

Haven't we had enough rich old white men mucking things up? Personally, I think his views on a few issues have already doomed him.

Perhaps it would help were you lucky enough to have made almost a billion dollars just writing and performing music. "Capitalism" and all that. I must wonder what "aid" he received in advance of actually producing his successful "work". Seems an odd comparison to entrepreneurial capitalism to me.

I'd start with a different news source first. Your claims are highly inaccurate.

Every member of Gallagher’s Navy Seal Team testified against him under oath. Yet Trump fired the Secretary of The Navy???

I prefer to not fire military leaders that understand and honor their oaths. More so when it's in support of proper military legal prosecution of a war criminal.