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Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/18/2021 in all areas

  1. 1 point
    Yep. And I would add that his work on parks and pools reflected that as well. The pools in white neighborhoods were sited centrally, such that they were accessible by walking and driving. The pools in black neighborhoods were generally accessible only by car, and lacked large parking lots or easy road access. The Moses highways themselves go mostly in straight lines, often bisecting mostly-black neighborhoods. There is one notable exception. A group of wealthy landowners convinced Moses to build a five mile detour around the Wheatley Hills section of Long Island. (Specifically the area near the intersection of Willetts road and Old Westbury road.) Thus there is an odd and very large jag in the Northern State Parkway. I was intimately familiar with that section, commuting to my summer job for years on it. It added several minutes to everyone's drive - but it appeased the rich. Again, this is not indicative that Moses was an evil, horrid racist. He was likely simply heeding the desires of the neighborhoods on Long Island. But the result was a further racial division on Long Island. Like you mentioned, understanding the roots of that division is important in overcoming it. (And, of course, is what CRT looks at.)
  2. 1 point
    You don't say if you passed the levels. What did your instructors say about how you did? Many jumpers experienced setbacks, less than perfect jumps during their AFF progression. Skydiving doesn't just come naturally to many people, it's something you have to work at to learn how to control yourself in the air. Just a guess, but your experience on your second jump may indicate you tensed up and were fighting the air, which isn't at all unusual. I think I was told I had to relax more after each of my first 3 or 4 jumps. Did you meet the goals of the jump? Were you aware of your altitude, and did you pull on time? If so you did fine. If not, it's common to have to re-do a level, or even multiple levels. You will progress faster, and have more fun, if you are in good shape so that is always a worthwhile goal. However you should be aware that if you take a long time off to get in shape you will have to go back a bit in your training. The point of having several levels to AFF is to build survival skills, and too big of a gap will interfere with that. If you are having trouble relaxing, maybe a tandem jump where you don't have the stress of performing can help you to relax and experience more of the fun, and help you get in the mindset to carry on with AFF. Also as has been suggested a better fitting jumpsuit could help you to fall faster and have better control without fighting a lot of flapping fabric. If you are very light, though, some added weight may still be needed so your instructors can fly with you. If you can't stop thinking about skydiving, and your instructors didn't give you the "take up bowling instead" speech, you can work past these very common early self-doubts.
  3. 1 point
    A few thoughts in no particular order: If you want it, go for it. Better fitness and flexibility are always a good thing, but there are some really out of shape people who jump and do just fine. Also some 'old and crunchy' types (including me) who do ok. Student gear sucks. It's big & heavy. It's "one size sort of fits most, but not really". Once you get through the progression and get your own stuff, it gets a lot better. The instructors should know what they are doing. The 'big & baggy' jumpsuit slows you down. The weights speed you back up. Part of the job of the instructor is to make sure that they can fly with you. From their viewpoint, it's easier to make you go faster and work to stay down with you than have you go slower and fight to stay up with you (it's easier to speed up than slow down). It would have been better to find a tighter suit and skip the weights, but that may not have been an option. Perhaps you can find a smaller jumper who is willing to let you use one of their suits. Most jumpers have at least a couple. I'm not surprised you were exhausted. Much of it was mental, rather than physical, but that doesn't make it less real. Some places have golf carts or similar to bring jumpers back from a distance. It's a nice thing, especially for early students who are often overwhelmed and exhausted, even if everything goes well.
  4. 1 point
    Most of what everyone is talking about is "Race Relations; not "Critical Race Theory." In my opinion, "Critical Race Theory" should be restructured into "Critical Respect Theory." Respect for all races, creeds, religions, genders (to include all the LGBTQEPS and gender identification). The starting position should not be all of the inequities of the past, but the way we will treat each other from today forward.
  5. 1 point
    Plus or minus six hours, there is no limit on the number of students, depends on the facilities. More people the longer the course will take since there will be more questions and more people requiring additional explanations.
  6. 1 point
    Silly woman! What do women know about the military! You know much better than she does! Oh -- did you know that Trigirl is career military? Wendy P.
  7. 1 point
    To the best of my knowledge, the first wingsuit tandem with a real passenger was done on Texel, Netherlands around 2004 for a TV show called 'Jules Unlimited' the host was the passenger, both TI and passenger wearing a wingsuit (birdman classic). No idea/memory of who did the 'stunt'. I've seen many variations over the years, most with experienced skydivers/wingsuit pilots as the passenger. I think the recent one Vincent posted are all experienced skydivers too as passenger as well. All variations (2 x WS, Passenger in WS, TI in WS) are probably not smartest thing to do with real passengers due to potential complications...
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