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Good question. It literally goes back to the French Revolution, when the fairly authoritarian president (who represented the king) presided over the Assembly. Those loyal to the King, and those who preferred to maintain the older religious monarcy, sat on the right (they were literally "at his right hand") and the revolutionaries sat on the left to stay among like-minded members. A deputy of the Assembly described it this way: "We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp." Thus the general divisions - the right supporting traditional authoritarian rule, slavery, religion and conservative social values, and the left representing "liberté, égalité, fraternité" - were established literally by where they sat in the Assembly. In the late 1800s the left took the name "republicans" since they favored a republic over a monarchy. This tradition took hold in the US as well, and during the Civil War, the republicans were what we think of now as democrats - the city people who opposed racial divisions, favored immigrant protections, supported organized labor and wanted to spend federal money on infrastructure (namely, a rail project to connect the East and West.) The democrats were the country folk who relied on slavery for their livelihood, and supported it for economic reasons. In the early 1900's, as unscrupulous carpetbaggers flooded the American South and needed to "fly a flag" they pretty much had to choose republicanism, since they had won the war. As they established their empires they adopted the racial divisions, religious fervor, states-right stance and respect for authority that made it easy to govern and control a racially-divided South without interference from DC. Democrats, meanwhile, started to support labor in bigger cities in order to court their vote. By the 1950's the two parties had completely reversed ideologies, and the new "republican right" in the US took on the causes of segregation, state's rights over federal rights, opposition to organized labor and respect for authority. That has continued to this day. So you have three axes: Republican vs democrat. This changes the most frequently as both parties adopt wedge issues to appeal to centrists. As an example, gun rights are an individual right, and as such are supported by "pure" liberals. But the republican party has adopted it and made it part of their core beliefs. Left vs. right. This is a combination of political party and philosophy and is becoming sort of outdated, since it doesn't describe anything unique. And it describes political positions that change with time. Conservative vs liberal. This is a philosophical axis that determines things like "should traditional tools and methods be maintained in the face of progress?" and "should individual rights trump government rights?" Nowadays we have three de facto parties - democrats, republicans and trumpies. Many republicans try to apply a litmus test to all their candidates; you have to support Trump to be a republican. But since he maintains so many stances that are opposite those of the republican party, there are more and more never-Trumper republicans out there who support the more traditional party values.

Clearly, this is not the place for reasoned analysis--and nor is pretty much any other place online, but is everyone really satisfied with their diatribes of "my side is right", "your side stinks..." or rather: you are "woke" commies (has there ever even been such a thing??) or racist fascists? Anyone interested in trying to figure out what's actually going on? Regarding inflation: I'd say it's completely valid to argue either side of "is Biden or the current government doing a good job reacting to the current economic situation?" Personally, I don't see neither genius, nor abject failure--but the real, scary truth for most people must clearly be that the all powerful president of the United States simply does not have much power to do anything about this. Here is a chart of current inflation rates, by country: The US is pretty much smack dab in the middle--doing a little better than the EU on average (again, in my opinion the most reasonable point of comparison). Who is most "successful?" China! So...we want to be more like them??? As for gas prices: Same applies here: They are up everywhere, but comparing them is even more pointless without a whole lot of additional information. I really wonder if most people are actually aware of the fact that these things generally don't mean sh..t in regards to which side is right, and just use it as cannon fodder anyway, because actually understanding stuff and looking for solutions is difficult and boring--or if most people actually think that this stuff proves their point...just like they write it. (seems hard to believe, to me) Another case in point: Ukraine: It's true that an invasion by a mentally ill dictator (Putin) cannot be tolerated and must be responded to in the strongest terms. It also seems to be true that the russian government is highly corrupt. Yet, if you just look back a little into historic articles--let's say in the New York Times--the same was true for Ukraine, and no: It wasn't just when the pro-russian leaders were in power...and yes: There were a series of articles about neo-nazi groups in the Ukraine, and their reach and almost popularity. These articles stopped right after Russia's invasion, because they don't fit the currently convenient narrative. These groups also seem to be very much involved in the resistance against Russia now. So: It's complicated, a complete mess, and never an easy story to be used to prove that MY SIDE IS RIGHT and YOU OTHER FOLKS ARE CRAZY AND EVIL. But, boy, is that a boring piece of information...

Here’s what I’ve learned: BSR for minimum opening altitude? Yep, some people died and USPA responded. BSR for wingsuit jumps? Yep, some people died and USPA responded. BSR for water training? Yep. ONE person died and USPA responded. Written recommendation for camera flying? Yep, some people died and USPA responded. BSR or written recommendation for maximum WL for A, B & C-license holders? Nope - even though it has been the cause of more injuries and deaths than all those mentioned above combined. USPA’s stance on WL regulation is “we’re all adults and can make our own decisions. USPA prefers education over regulation.“

Yes, but the entire "left versus right" lens is not very useful and again, looks at the entire thing as if it was a competition between 2 sides (like a duel or a sports competition) where we are only interested in which side WINS. For example, there are interesting things to find, even in the trumpist camp, that could actually lead to useful explorations, even for a super-lefty like me. Take their extreme distrust of large corporations (well, at least pharmaceutical and tech companies). Something that has been championed by the left for some time. We could actually find a way to sort out in what way we agree here--but it's completely impossible to talk about, because when righties bring it up, we accuse them of being covid deniers (in case of pharma companies) or people who use "free speech" to hide their desire for saying racist stuff (in case of social media/tech companies) and when lefties bring it up, they are accused of wanting to implement an anti-capitalist system (which of course would have to look like the soviet union or north korea--because, naturally, they are the ONLY alternatives to completely uncontrolled capitalism). In reality, both sides have an intuition that we are being screwed by these companies and the people controlling them...but we can't really talk about it properly. To come back to "left" versus "right": What EXACTLY do these terms actually mean? I can think of at least 3 different ways to define them, that each would make up a different axis of political orientation.

We don't turn off the AAD on our student rigs - we just tell the pilot to descend slow enough. I don't see the point of chopping the main. It just creates opportunity for someone to forget about the RSL and deploy their reserve accidentally. Main thing is that it doesn't go out of the door! Edit: I suppose an aircraft emergency could develop and it'd be easier to get out not holding your main in your hands. If you're ever in freefall holding your d-bag, you're having a bad day...

Hanlon's Razor reminds us that "if an act can be equally attributed to cruelty or stupidity, stupidity is the more likely answer." Mind you, if I ever have to use Hanlon's Razor to analyze someone's actions, I will never do business with them a second time.

Hah! Hah! That reminds me of a conversation with a junior jumper as to why it was unwise for him to do "X" with less than 200 jumps. Me: "Would you like to hear the half-hour explanation?" Junior jumper: "No, never mind, I'll just wait a few more jumps.

Sure, but that isn't an inherent distrust of large companies. Why else would they support a leader who constantly will tell you what a large company he built. I have also not seen a single Trumpist call for the dismantling of oil companies. In stead they blame Biden. So no, I don't see a true distrust of large companies. I see some large companies being used as a boogeyman. And some companies large and small are indeed evil.

Good question. USPA has so many BSRs now that the meaning of the word "basic" has been lost. The only reason I can see is so that DZOs and instructors have something to point at when they disallow low experienced jumpers from wingsuiting. Which they would almost certainly do as it is a de facto standard.

Can you use planetary gear to jump on Mars?

It worked up until MAGA-trump moved into the discourse. It moved out with the exit of John McCain, John Kasich, Adam Kinzinger, Jeff Flake. With the defeat of Liz Cheney. Up until four years ago there was discourse.The discussion of facts and compromise in public by political leaders. Public and private. The democratic party has no had a purge of any sort like the republican party has. The result has been a dramatic swing to the right for republicans. and the facts bear this out. But as you state, fact matters little. Facts are boring.

The 200 jump number is a fairly common one. C license, wingsuit, camera, also lots of boogies require it (either the number or a C) for specialty aircraft. Most BASE FJCs require 200 jumps too. While it is a 'consensus number', it's not just one pulled out of thin air. It's been a fairly common standard for a while. The general idea it that with that level of experience, the skills are developed enough to try extra stuff. And there have been a couple deaths in wingsuits with less than 200 jumps. One guy opened up on exit and was put into the tail (I don't remember any other details on it). Another had a bit over 100 jumps and went 'instructor shopping' to find someone who'd give him a FFC. He got turned down a few times, but found someone at the Sebastian Invasion. He neglected to route his legstraps properly and fell out of the harness on opening. His name was Dan. It was discussed in depth on here.

:) We ended the license agreement with him in 2016 after years of avoiding payment for our royalties. In 2017 he started a new company named Icarus World.

I don't think we should blame the victims. We are all victims of the troll's posts, and managements decision to continue allow the troll to remain here as detractor to the forum experience, and a interloper. Sorry Mod's, but it is true. Grandma shouldn't respond to that email about the Nigerian Lottery, but she isn't the true perpetrator.

The 200 jump minimum was written by wingsuit manufacturers about 20 years ago, back when wingsuits were rare, few second-hand wingsuits were available, manufacturers certified all the wingsuit instructors and manufacturers had some some say in who could buy wingsuits.

I have no objection to muskets having no serial number. Or cannon.

This is helpful: (Reuters) - A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that a federal ban on possessing a gun with its serial number removed is unconstitutional, the first such ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically expanded gun rights in June. The brilliant and unassailable logic behind the decision is that when the Second was drafted guns didn't have serial numbers so banning the removal of serial numbers which aren't inconstitutional now can't be unconstitutional. I'm thinking we're now free to tear those do not remove tags off our pillows.

You get that little oxygen issue figured out this time? Or are you still running trial and error?

In a DC3, it might have been long enough ago to have been a spring-loaded pilot chute. A little more sporty, that. Wendy P.

What I find most disturbing is the tandem fatalities this year. If that were to keep up, it would not be good for the sport. Yes every skydive has risk, but at least experienced jumpers have a chance to mitigate those risks.