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Hi folks, I am of the opinion that this recent prisoner swap is the perfect end of a quite decent political career. Good for you, Joe. Thoughts? Jerry Baumchen

Hi Joe, Re: you have a lot of skin in the game An opinion, not a fact. Re: you are hoping that we who have less or none will pick up the slack I do not believe that I have ever hoped that someone else would give money to a candidate. Until the disaster of the debate showing, I was giving Biden $200/month; and a local candidate in a congressional district race $100/month. After I concluded that Biden could not win, I terminated my donations to his candidacy. I have and will give the same $200/month to Harris; as well as the same $100/month to the local congressional candidate. If you think it is too little: Tough shit. Jerry Baumchen

Oh really? I couldn't tell.

I love sarcasm. But it often falls flat here.

Hi Joe, Re: you have a lot of skin in the game An opinion, not a fact. Re: you are hoping that we who have less or none will pick up the slack I do not believe that I have ever hoped that someone else would give money to a candidate. Until the disaster of the debate showing, I was giving Biden $200/month; and a local candidate in a congressional district race $100/month. After I concluded that Biden could not win, I terminated my donations to his candidacy. I have and will give the same $200/month to Harris; as well as the same $100/month to the local congressional candidate. If you think it is too little: Tough shit. Jerry Baumchen

I was meaning to ask about the Tina movie's title "Nod if you understand" and whether that was in the 302s anywhere....you covered it in this episode. If it winds up being what Tina says that the Cooper said to her or one of the other stewardesses, that's intriguing in the sense that it makes me wonder what else we might get from the movie.

In a relay race a smooth handoff is needed to win. In Kamala Harris's first week she raised $200 million and signed up 170,000 volunteers.

Can't say that I blame him. You know of anyone that ever won an argument against an older angry black woman? If she takes her shoe off - you're in deep shit.

You are welcome! What I forgot to mention is that the average jumper spends 5-7 years in the sport which means that that rig will have 2-4 owners over its lifetime.

Ah, now we're getting somewhere - so there's nothing about wokeness itself that you think is remotely Marxist, you're just worried about destabilisation being a Marxist ploy? Well ok then: First, WW1 wasn't started by Marxists. Second, German society was pretty well destabilised too, and they didn't turn to Marxism. So why pick Marxism as the inevitable result of any destabilisation? Third, they're not trying to destabilise society anyway. On the other hand, Maga is definitely trying to destabilise society and on Jan 6th they almost succeeded - so is Donald Trump Marxist? His anti-woke VP pick JD Vance thinks the government should seize the assets of politically undesireable companies and redistribute them to the people. That's more or less the dictionary definition of Marxism. So why are you worried about the other guys? Apart from JD Vance, who does need them?

OK Jerry, I'll give you a very broad breakdown on what I would expect. Today I closed my 6000th reserve, so I consider myself experienced enough to have an opinion based on experience. Let's have a look at a brand new H/C system, 9 cell ZP main, and a PDR. The system is going to be used in Central/Northern Europe and it won't be abused with bad landings, packed outside, jumped next to the sea etc. around 200 jumps the kill line will need replacing 400-600 jumps a reline is expected. At the same time, a new PC and risers might be needed and maybe the chest strap will need to be replaced 700-800 jumps a new Dbag will probably be needed and maybe new leg straps and kill line. 1000-1200 jumps second lineset and again maybe PC, risers and chest strap 1500-1600 jumps, the main will probably be done at this point and the overall condition of the harness will be to the point where the MLW and/or reserve risers will need replacing too. If the harness is replaced, the cycle can continue. About 3000-4000 jumps is where the container will be worn out as well. And at that point you can sell it to a CReW jumper and they'll happily double that number! Just joking guys.... kinda. So without too much maintenance, I'd say 1500-1600 jumps is the useful life of a rig. 80-100 jumps a year for the average jumper equals 15-20 years. In those 15-20 years if you pack the reserve every 6 months on the date, and have 2-3 reserve rides, you'll be very close to the reserve needing factory check, so that sums it up I guess. I hope that answers you question.

Joe ... Perhaps I adopted "when in doubt, be polite" so many decades ago that it is my standard practice and I just do not understand why anyone would waster time chewing out others for ......... For a few years I relished the thought of chewing out lawyers, but now understand that lawyers are beyond hope ... er ... lawyers are too narrow-minded to understand the bigger picture. Lawyers are not bright enough to learn from experience. Lawyers are far too self-centered to care whether the wounded live or die. Me chewing out a lawyer would no change their world-view .... BUT ... it might cause me to "stroke out."

Well, having regularly jumped, and had inspected, gear that was older than that, I'm not sure I do. I sold a rig in 2017 that had about 1500+ jumps over 15 years, that had been bought used in the first place; it was a 1997 Javelin. It was sent back to the factory, who checked it over and replaced some of the flaps. That's the "depends." I'm probably better than most at taking care of my gear, and have some understanding of it. Why the limits beyond individual inspection? Wendy P.

Hi Larry, The World Meet held in Tahlequah was in 1972. Jerry Baumchen PS) Hey, Larry; I just found this: Throwback Thursday: Rare Footage of The 1972 World Parachuting Championships | TEEM (jointheteem.com)

He should be ashamed for attacking Joe because Joe has a disability and can't have kids. A respected veteran and all that as well. Politics is poisoning everything thats good and right in America. I'm a bit confused though about republicans poking fun at the rich. Aren't the rich to be celebrated and whoreshipped in the US?

You don't think that he was being the tiniest bit facetious? If someone "identifies" as something or another, opinions vary as to the extent to which one should humor them. The NAACP bigwig that took a lot of flack because she had 100% European bloodlines had at least as good a case as someone who "identifies" as a sex other than the one revealed by a basic blood test.

Because decent human beings care. It should need explaining. Unfortunately some people need to have basic human decency explained to them.

Although there are a few countries in Europe with that 20 years lifetime of the gear, majorly of countries doesn't have limitations. And because EASA doesn't want regulate skydiving gear (and rightfully so) every country has it's own rules. So pretty much everything you say after "the Europeans" in regards to skydiving gear, will be incorrect.

Well here I am, almost 2 years later, on a Sabre 3 107 at 2.0. It’s definitely faster and longer recovery than my S2 120, as to be expected. openings are marginally better than the 2’s. good flare power. Good canopy. I’ll be on this for a while.