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We'll miss you, my Cousin from Boston.

Very sad news today, it seems that Tom Noonan from UPT, passed away suddenly and very much unexpectedly. Its reported he had a medical episode that he did not recover from. I had the please of meeting him on several occasions and what a great guy. Fly free Brother and RIP My deepest condolences to Julie and his family and all his friends around the world.

IIRC, there were legal sanctions in the wake of Dwain Weston's death at Royal Gorge. I'm not going to go look, but there's a hell of a long thread in Incidents. Edit to spell Dwain's name correctly (Dwain, not Dwayne)

Tom was a good friend and an ambassador of Skydiving. His organization of Mt. Everest jumps was a hallmark of his career.

I can't believe he is gone..... He is one of the great one that left way to early. I'm going to miss him!!! RIP my brother........

Of course! The Google knows all. And it comes from authoritative sources. Here's what Dr. Steve Beito posted recently: (remember he's a REAL DOCTOR) - "So you want to mandate a vaccine aimed at the Alpha variant (which is now only 7% of COVID) that doesn't stop infection/transmission of SARS COV2 for which natural immunity is better than vaccine acquired immunity? Madness." That's a REAL DOCTOR saying that, not a fake doctor with a degree in Imam-ology. (I mean, Dr. Beito died of COVID, but it's the meme that counts.)

The ‘my uneducated skepticism is just as valid as truth presented by experts’ is yet another bullshit argument by people trying to empower their own ignorance. I’m sorry - but if 100s of thousands of trained experts around the globe say one thing, and someone calls it The ‘Truth‘’ like it’s even possible to be some sort of conspiracy theory then they’re not a thinking skeptic - They’re an arrogant asshole. Equating their own ignorance of a subject with the weight of not only numbers, but years of specific and dedicated training and experience in the subject. It would be like me stating that my take on aircraft safety procedures are just as valid as every check-captain because I’ve taken one lesson. See? That would be me being an arrogant Asshole. Dressing that arrogance up in language to make your argument appear smarter is nothing more than a con-trick. An old one. You want to explain your position and get numbers of normal people behind it then you explain in the simplest terms because not everyone is an expert… Yes. Humans suck at complex problems. That’s why we invented computers. They also suck at generational planning of projects. Both are a function of our biology. But sometimes simple solutions are the best because either ‘they’re just the best’, or even if they’re not them it’s a hell of a lot easier to roll out a simple process and have some benefit than it is to roll out a mathematically perfect one that has no chance of adoption because it’s so complicated. It’s the same argument second amendment fans use - if you can’t come up with a single solution that fixes everything in one go, even fringe cases, then it’s best to do nothing. If the covid vaccine and lockdowns had been implemented properly then there was a very good chance we could have beaten covid - at least temporarily and nationally which would have bought time for further research. It wasn’t, and over 700,000 people in the US are dead because of it. The reason heretics should be burned is BECAUSE THIS SHIT MATTERS. It’s not philosophy - people are dead because people like you weaken the arguments for safety and you might convince others which can potentially end up hurting me and mine.

What a shock. Such a great loss for the community. A very happy and helpful comrade.

We've removed several posts from this thread. And while we can respect why the discussion took the route it did, please keep this forum tied to preserving the memory of the individual, instead of berating their choices - no matter how bad they may be to your eyes. You're welcome to take Covid/Anti-Vax related topics to the Speakers Corner - but this isn't the place for us to try use someone's life choices as a lesson, or to berate them.