Leaderboard

Yesterday, this post had over a hundred views and no responses after 6 hours, and this was a good thing. Then all it took was added bait from the second most ignorable poster on the entire forum, and you all had to take a bite. This was a great opportunity to leave him shouting into the void, and you failed. Every one of you should be ashamed.

Here is an interesting opinion piece in Scientific American. The author has been an ER and critical care physician for 7 years, and is also a professor in the Harvard medical school. He noticed that, despite the CDC's reports of annual flu deaths being between 25,000 and 60,000+, he could recall only one patient death due to the flu. He contacted a number of colleagues who also work in emergency medicine, and uniformly they recalled none or very few patients who died of the flu. This contrasts with CDC reports of deaths from car accidents or gunshot injuries or opioid overdoses, which the CDC reports in the same ballpark as the flu, ~30-40,000 deaths/year. All the ER doctors see patients die of these causes all the time. Something seems "off" about the flu numbers. In actuality, the CDC flu numbers are a statistical estimate with many assumptions about the numbers of people who die without being tested, and limitations in data reporting as the flu is not a reportable disease, except for pediatric cases. The number of cases in which a patient has a positive diagnostic test (which is the standard the CDC applies to COVID-19 deaths) varied over the last 7 flu seasons from ~3,500 to ~15,000. He compared the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in the 2nd week of April to the number confirmed flu deaths in each of the last 7 flu seasons. By that measure, COVID-19 is between 9.5 and 44 fold more deadly than the flu. Arguments that COVID-19 is just like the flu based on CDC number are highly misleading, because they involve comparing test-confirmed COVID-19 deaths (a large underestimate, because of very limited access to testing) to an inflated statistical estimate of flu deaths. In fact, the fine print on the CDC website indicates that the flu numbers assume that a very large fraction of pneumonia deaths are due to the flu, despite that fact that several different diseases can result in pneumonia. Why would the CDC inflate flu deaths? One suggestion is that higher numbers are more effective at encouraging people to get the flu vaccine, which unquestionably reduce the impact of the flu. From a public health perspective this is a good thing. And, of course, the statistical model may not be far off. Certainly many or most flu deaths are not diagnosed by lab tests, so the "real" number cannot be known, only estimated. However the same is true of COVID-19. Especially earlier in the pandemic, until quite recently, access to tests were so limited that most hospital patients were not tested, especially if they died before being tested, and many thousands of people who died at home or in nursing homes were never tested. At the end of the day, comparing lab-confirmed COVID-19 deaths to the high end of a statistical estimate of possible flu deaths is a highly misleading and ultimately deadly basis for decisions about risk from COVID-19, including when to abandon social distancing guidelines. Don

To anyone who says, "No exceptions because it's about SAFETY! ": The FAA is in the process of publishing a list of temporary exemptions for pilots -- especially commercial pilots -- who haven't been able to get flight tests to confirm their proficiency, haven't had enough current experience, etc. Over time, more and more pilots 'time out' from their requirements. Therefore, for those who condemn ANY possible change to USPA requirements, the USA's entire aviation system must now be declared UNSAFE. Oh, the humanity! From some FAA news bulletin: (Canada has already implemented many similar measures. "Blame Canada.") And now, back to a more reasonable discussion of what changes might or might not be appropriate in the USA for skydivers....

No, it hasn't. When the leader of the free world, being 100% serious, suggests disinfectant can be used as treatment via injection it deserves front page news. Why? It's not brainstorming, or coming up with new creative ideas or novel solutions. It's beyond stupid. And deserves all the derision, laughter, and scorn that it's received. Just admit it. Trump is an idiot conman trying to peddle any potential cure in order to look like the hero who saved the day. No wonder the US has become the laughing stock of the world. Kallend's post about the world pitying the US is spot on.

He's the only person who can defeat Isis. No-one knows more about trade deals than him. No-one knows more about nuclear policy than him. No-one knows more about immigration than him. He's like, really smart and a very stable genius. No president has ever been healthier than him. No president has ever been more presidential than him, except maybe Lincoln. No one knows more about the political system than he does. He alone can fix the political system. If you don't believe Trump is arrogant then you've clearly never listened to him speak. Ah yes, the true sign of someone who knows he has nothing worthwhile to say. I accept your concession of defeat.

?? Trump would have just refused to appear, calling it "witch hunt" "fake news" "hoax." Clinton sat through hours of useless testimony to prove her innocence. Clinton lived up to a far higher standard than Trump ever will.

It's a good video. I personally liked the graphics, not just for the quality, but for the visual representation of where he sat, and how the flight attendant was strapped in a seat behind him. I'd love to see someone do a video of the whole caper in that format, from walking into the airport in Portland, to walking down the aft stairs, including ordering the drinks, etc.

How was she arrogant? She was polite, but sure of herself. Maybe if she had been a man and had that demeanor it would have been OK, but she is a woman. Do you really think she behaved more like a ruling class than the current President, who wouldn't even cooperate with an inquiry, and who specifically instructed his employees not to as well? Wendy P.

She is ten times the man Trump is.

SOP for dictators. They need to convince the populace that all their problems are caused by some other group, and keep howling about them. Else it might dawn on the populace that their problem is really the dictator.

responsibility, blame, whatever you want to call it. the buck stops here and all that. it doesn't really take a degree to figure it out, i actually ended up with a 2.72 gpa without studying much due to all the leadership courses from the military and my experience in management. that is why hillary is not responsible and obama is, and also why trump is now, no matter how bad anyone else in the administration screws up. he should have taken the course, in fact, it should be a requirement, at least a six month course or equivalent experience for any politician above county level, not political science, which is more manipulation and voodoo.

New word, trumps, not lies, trumps.

that's just whataboutism. just because one organization compromises their safety does not mean we have to do the same. when you start ignoring safety rules, people start dying. strange how that seems to work out. sometimes they get away with it, but it usually catches up.

It's for the judge to decide. Not anyone here.

Talking shit to make a point is lying. It might be OK (i.e. neither of my cats are probably the handsomest cat in the entire world), but when you double down and use an anecdote as data in making a point, your point and your credibility are destroyed when you're wrong and won't own up. Wendy P.

The real question is "how crazy are Americans who thought Trump would make a good POTUS?"

Turns out the 206 had ads-b issues so we were in the 182. 3 or 4 per run, visors down or open as little as possible, some wore masks while others didnt. Overall the vibe was "relief". We were all ready to jump and very much needed the air bath to cleanse our souls! It was somewhat busy, not packed (small DZ on a private airfield anyway), not the busiest i have seen it, but busier than it has been on many days. This DZ doesnt have a lot of fun jumpers on a daily basis since its small and only an hour from a DZ with two twin otters and a king air ... but we had about 12 fun jumpers taking laps in the 182 most of the day which is very solid for this DZ with no tandems. They were also fielding lots of calls and taking tandem reservations. They were the first to open in the state as far as i am aware and have stayed busy since they opened on Monday. I will be back there soon.

My parents have changed their tune. Die-hard Republicans for 30+ years. Both will be voting for Biden in November. Supposedly.

Local business owners we know here are saying they won't open yet anyway. They restaurant restriction of sanitizer dispensers, staff wearing masks, 25% occupancy are the most complained about rules we're seeing now. They say it's not worth the risk to not make the money to make it worthwhile. 25% isn't profitable, sustainable, or worth the risk of repeating the efforts of the last 30-60 days. But yeah, like the government says, get back to work. Nobody cares if you die, and if you refuse to return to work, you can no longer collect any assistance anyway.

Well, the Mango Mussolini needs a distraction from his disaterous handling of the pandemic. The documents that 'exonerate' Flynn are hilarious. It's an FBI memo trying to decide whether or not to tell Flynn what they already knew. As in 'Do we tell him that we have proof he committed a crime? Or do we ask him about what we already know and see if he lies about it?" The fact that the Trumpettes are latching onto it full force only goes to show how gullible they are. And how ignorant of the law and police interrogations (rule number 1 - I will answer your questions only after I have consulted with my attorney and have him present when any questions are asked). Edit to add: Here is one story I found. A search will find dozens of others. Choose based on your prejudices: https://www.vox.com/2020/4/30/21242695/michael-flynn-bill-priestap-notes-total-exoneration-trump-russia

Current social distancing is not sustainable for the long haul. Flattening the curve will not make the virus go away, it merely buys time for the health system to adapt. There will be several 100K deaths in the US and a proportional amount in Canada in the end. The end is more than a year from now. This estimate is down from the 1 million I first thought. The reason for that is the current estimate that more than half of those infected don't really get sick. Originally most people thought that number was only 20%.

Are you aware of where this website originated from?

When you've finished on Youtube for today could you get round to uploading your Edinburgh holiday photos? I'm looking forward to seeing what St Giles Mosque looks like these days.

But it all depends on understanding what the meaning of "no" is.

Because, after all, the only two choices are shit show and perfection. Wendy P.

They are quieter than G3s. The people I know that have them (in Belgium) are quite happy with it. They do have an audible pocket, and from what I remember, they have some sort of impact protection certification, similarly to G4s or TonFly TFX. To my knowledge, these are the only 3 skydiving full face helmets with some sort of certification. I don't know the details of the certification though. They get scratched quite easily though, so the shiny finish don't last long if you are not careful. And after heavy use the strap starts tearing up. I have seen that in one of the first batches, maybe they corrected that already. I have never seen that in G3s The protection they offer is mainly because of the padding they have, nothing to do with the carbon fibre shell. I don't know why people keep associating carbon fibre with protection. Some people even "show it off" by comparing how ABS shells buckle and how carbon fibre shells don't. That has nothing to do with protection. A steel pot doesn't buckle either, but you don't want that on your head.

Cypres-1: Cypres-2:

Thanks a lot DougH, really appreciated

I retook my level 2 yesterday and passed with flying colors. It went perfect, at the door the only thing I thought abut was my arch. As I slowly came around to a belly to earth attitude after exit the relaxation came naturally. I had my legs extended too far forward during the free fall which resulted in us moving almost 3/4 of a mile south of the airport. I still didn't get my stand up landing in, the wind was calm so I just continued with my slide in landing and that went perfect. We don't have much wind at all at my DZ, I would like to do a stand up landing in calm winds, I just don't feel comfortable enough to try that yet.