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But we do have nice things, for example the Ignore List. Unfortunately, not enough people make use if it.

Hi Nigel, Once again: That is why I blocked him. Jerry Baumchen

Yes, we do.

This is a comment from an article on avweb.com about passengers required to wear face masks. It may not be all that safe to wear a mask at altitude in an aircraft. "Using a mask (especially the N95 ones) require breathing in a lot more CO2 than you would be normally without the mask." https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/jetblue-to-require-passenger-face-masks/#comment-6318 Matt W. April 28, 2020 at 7:10 pm Not sure about any filters, but the pressurized planes I have flown have outflow valves located in the aft part of plane. Cabin air is replaced many times per minute when in flight. Not familiar with Boeing or Airbus pressurization systems. Per my company’s procedure I was wearing a mask when my charter passengers showed and during loading of baggage. Now I am far from being in top physical shape so after loading several typical charter passenger bags I felt a little “light” headed and took mask off and waited to catch my breath. Using a mask (especially the N95 ones) require breathing in a lot more CO2 than you would be normally without the mask. I found out on Google that this is a training method some athletes use to simulate a higher altitude for their competitions, giving them an edge in any competitions they participate in. Not trying to be offensive to any flight attendant, I have seen my share of those flight attendants (male or female) who are in just the same physical condition as myself or worse. Imagine one loading several passenger carryons then passing out from lack of O2 due to the mask. How about using a mask at cruise altitude (most airliner cabin altitudes are from 6000 to 8000 ft). The effects of higher altitude will magnify any hypoxia effects along with anyone who smokes. How fast can you take the mask off so you can put on supplemental O2 in a pressurization failure? This possible emergency was discussed at my company and procedure is once in the cockpit the mask comes off, period. With the FAA emphasis on pilots not having a beard when flying pressurized airplanes kind of makes me think the SAFO referred in this article is a cop out. Why does the FAA just come out and say without proper training wearing any face covering is not safe for flight crews? These same issues have been discussed at the 2 drop zones that I fly jumpers at. I will not fly skydivers if they wear any mask covering their faces during the climb to altitude. Sorry about the long response but there has not been anyone thinking about the issues that come up with N95 mask use in airplane cabins whether pressurized or not.

Then stay away from other people.

Hanlon's razor is an aphorism "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity", The media aren’t saying he said it with malice, at least not any article I’ve seen. They are saying you’ve got a dumb as a rock President whose too stupid to know better. It must be a scary thing to have the most powerful man in your country, dumber than the average 8 year old

I think it is much simpler than that. I think it just boils down to money. Religious groups and people are a good source of funds. Those same groups have religious objections to abortion they want to see codified for the rest of the country and will pay good money to get that done.

I suspect that, behind the facade of "caring" for the "pre-born", the real reason for Republican devotion to the "pro-life" mantra is a desire to use pregnancy as a means to exert control over women who dare to challenge their perception of the "right" (as in "correct") way to live. Don

The #METOO movement is primarily made up of women who have been sexually assaulted. They have to choose a party. Sadly, there's really only one option, since the GOP celebrates (and elects) men who have been accused of rape and sexual assault and who admit to sexual assault on camera. To paraphrase the GOP: "We believe you were assaulted; we just don't care." For decades, the democratic party has been the party of equality - the party that fights for the rights of minorities, gays, transgender people and women. It would be great if that changed. With Trump in charge, that won't happen for decades.

It's Trump's standard MO; he never directly instructs people to do stupid, dangerous or illegal things. As previously stated, he floats an idea knowing full well that his true believers WILL act on it. We saw this at his campaign rallies, we see this with his "I've heard it said..." and "people are saying...." ploys. Then he can play the innocent when the outcomes are negative. Surely you can see this.

On this subject they are telling the truth. You are lying about what they say for the purpose of creating drama and pushing your opinion.

To continue (and disguise the double post because I got a notification during the last one ). If you think the country's financial, social, and political path has been improved over the last four years, then I guess Trump is for you. I don't, therefore it's incumbent on me to choose the best alternative. In years when I don't care as much, or when my vote doesn't really matter a lot, I can make my statement by voting third party, even though they have no realistic chance of being elected to a nationwide post (yes, aliens could attack, too). But this year I won't. Wendy P.

If you're reading that he isn't much better than Trump, then you're using your right-glasses again. He's a damaged candidate in the icky-sexual-conduct category (and possible assault). But is most of the ways of governance, many people think he'll be an incredible improvement over Trump. Because he won't be spending all his time drumming up his popularity, and engaging in popularity contests with people he sees as his competitors for the center of attention. Even if he doesn't take the country into a strong direction (he's VERY likely to be a one-termer if elected, regardless of anything), it'll be to some degree the same kind of thing as when Ford took over the presidency. Ford's main accomplishment was to return the country to feeling as though our political system could be trusted within its boundaries. Now that may have been optimistic, but those were simpler pre-computer days. That's why I'd rather have Biden than Trump, between those realistic choices. I don't think he's the last great hope for humanity or the country, but a recovery from a ruinous financial path (yeah, the stock market is good, but the debt is getting incredible -- it hasn't been paid off since Andrew Jackson, but trying to reduce at least the deficit during boom times is a good goal), a direction of "cooperation is better than dog-eat-dog competition" (that whole "united we stand, divided we fall" thing), those alone are a good start for me. Wendy P.

Sure she said it was friendly, but go watch the video again and tell me with a straight face that she was comfortable and happy with what he was doing. The whole thing happened very quickly and lasted about one second. She initially seemed startled until she realized that he's just giving her a quick shoulder rub as if pumping up your buddy for the big game. (After all it was her first G8 summit as chancellor) She then raises her arms like a champion and smiles/laughs it off. And not only did she say it was a friendly gesture, but also a kind gesture - and there is no reason to think anything beyond that, as if it made her feel uncomfortable and sad. Merkel Interview - https://youtu.be/4fTfd1TqmV4?t=815 Now if that was Biden, he'd take his time and slowly work his way down to her arms as he leans in to smell her hair and whisper sweet nothings in her ear. At worst, Bush was just being the awkward chucklefuck that he was. With Biden it's just creepy and weird.

I will vote for the lesser of two evils. Don't know how I can get any simpler than that.

Next to trump Moe, Larry and Curly. Are all rocket surgeons.

When Biden advocates injecting bleach, nuking hurricanes, raking forests, etc then your statement might mean something.

I'm unaware of any further accusations against Biden of sexual assault, just the wierdly inappropriate greeting stuff he does similar to when Bush goosed Merkel at the G8. Not great, but not in the same ballpark as Reade's accusation and all the accusations against Trump.

I'll see your Joycelyn Elders and raise you a George Carlin. 'If you're pre-born, you're fine. If you're pre-school, you're fucked'.

KInda funny how the accusations against Kavanaugh & Trump were ignored by the right. How the accusers were threatened, ridiculed and attacked. And how the right basically ended up saying "it's not that we don't believe you, it's that we don't care". And NOW those same people wonder why Biden isn't being roasted over this.

Randy was one of those guys you wanted to spend more time with other than the DZ. His zest for life, his fun-loving nature. We lost a great ambassador for the sport. My respect & condolences to family & close friends.

This was my first AFF jump, 2002!(Randy on the left) We had a few jumps during my training and he did my AFF solo clearance dive. That was a good one! His enthusiasm for the sport was contagious! Fly free Randy!

I can fill in a little more of the history. Skydive Arizona moved from Coolidge to Eloy in April of 1991, and that's when I became increasingly involved in management and Safety and Training. There had already been some experiments with skysurfing, and I put together the 1993 meet because I realized there were enough skysurfers out there, and why not do it? We were trying to raise our profile; 1993 was when we hosted our first World Championships in FS, too. I had already met Pete McKeeman, who had started the World Freestyle Federation. His main goal was to get skydiving on TV and he succeeded to some extent with the WFF. He had word that ESPN was looking for sports to put into a new extreme sports show and was trying to sell them on Freestyle. At the '92 WFF meet in Eloy, Bob Hallet put on a display of skysurfing. The ESPN guys were kind of funny, they looked like college football coaches and knew NOTHING about skydiving. But they liked the look of skysurfing! Pete took me on as safety/loadmaster/cat herder for the X-Games, and I worked five out of six of them. (The first one, over the spectacular setting of Newport, RI is one of the best skydiving memories I have, and I've got a lot!) Don't forget that the X-Games Skysurf team was awarded an Emmy for the aerial photography one year. Besides the team camera flyers, a lot of the jumps had outside freefall camera, and the Eagle Cam chase helicopter delivered more spectacular footage. When skysurfing was cancelled, Pete gave us the word like this: "The executives say we're the best team they have worked with, but we just don't sell Slim Jims and Mountain Dew." Skysurfing was driven almost entirely by television. The famous Pepsi Goose commercial, shot over SDAZ with Troy Hartman, made it all the way to the Super Bowl. Almost everyone taking it up hoped to score on TV. But it never became popular with skydivers in general. I once took a phone call from a journalist looking for a story on skysurfing and she asked me how many people did it. "Oh, worldwide, maybe thirty." "What, I thought it was really popular! Is the small number because it's really hard, or really dangerous?" "No. Most skydivers see no reason whatsoever to tie their feet together with a stick. That really interferes with what you can do." I'll end with some safety comments. In all the jumps I was present for, the only serious injury was when Patrick de Guayardon and Eric Fradet did a tandem board jump. It got a little sketchy, so they decided to cut away. One system released slightly before the other, then the second system only released one binding, which pretty much tore up the knee of the victim. But he eventually got away clean. The biggest concern was boards falling on something - farmers, airplanes on the ground, cars, whatever. Not as bad as a skyball, but they would definitely do damage, even with a pilot chute to slow them down. But the perception was interesting. At the X-games immediately after that year three competitors died in non-Skysurf accidents, the whole crew was taken into a meeting by Pete, saying we would be asked about it. He made it clear that he couldn't tell us what to say, but he asked that we try to explain the circumstances did not involve skysurfing. But it was kind of weird. When we mingled with people from other events and they found out we were from the Skysurf unit, they were like "Wow, these guys are REALLY extreme. I only broke my arm in the half pipe." When the X-Games dropped Skysurfing, recruitment largely stopped. The media moved on to other fads for commercials. You can't run a Nationals or World Meet without at least 30 plus competitors in an event without losing a lot of money, so I was one of the voices begging USPA and the IPC to drop it. They did, and that pretty much killed Skysurfing. By the way, at the World Championships in Eloy where Eric Fradet won gold (after being second so many times in so many meets) I checked with the French Head of Delegation about something I suspected should be brought to the attention of the crowd at the awards ceremony. He was then, and still is as far as I know, the only person to ever win gold at the World Championships in two totally different events: 4-way Open and Skysurf. Bryan Burke, now retired from SDAZ

If the situation is still severe enough, if the infection rates are still high enough, if it's still bad enough that social distancing is still highly recommended, then no. I'm not going to get that close to that many people for that long 'just for fun.' MAYBE if it's people that I know have been well isolated, only 4 of us in a 182, maybe. However, several of the folks I regularly jump with are working in essential fields, interacting with numerous people daily, clearly at higher risk. A couple of them are being very casual about their behaviors. Getting close, no mask, just not taking it all that seriously. A couple others work in hospital settings (not actual health care workers, but at the facility). I wouldn't want to be on a plane with those people. And, on 'the other side of the coin', if hospitals are still dealing with a lot of Covid patients, even if they aren't at capacity, I wouldn't want to risk a jump. The reality is that getting badly hurt is possible on any jump. Risking ending up in a hospital with a lot of sick people (and potentially sick health care workers) 'just for fun' is not a risk I'm willing to take. As I've heard it said to people who are thinking about taking a break from jumping for whatever reason: The sky will be there. I think I'll wait until the world is a bit less dangerous before I add the risk of jumping back into the equation. Note: This is my opinion and evaluation of the situation. Others will have different opinions and evaluations. As long as they are based in science & reality, they are entitled to them and I won't argue. If they are saying "I wanna jump!! This is all a hoax!!!", then to hell with them and their idiocy.

Food for thought! As far as wing loadings go, the size of the Micro-Ravens are not sized as the rest of the canopies out there. They are smaller. You can lay a 150-M on top of a PD143R and it is considerably a lot smaller! I have ridden a Micro Raven 135 five times, enough to evaluate the flight characteristics. I would not recommend them to anyone.. We actually will not pack them any more as of about 2 years ago. I have seen more experienced skydivers land on their backs more than their feet just like it is stated in Parachutist. The article in Parachutist pretty much sums it up from my viewpoint. MEL Skyworks Parachute Service, LLC www.Skyworksparachuteservice.com