skypuppy

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Everything posted by skypuppy

  1. didn't look like murder to me. maybe manslaughter or negligent homicide, but the cop was in danger, so I don't think he set out with any intent to murder someone on that shift. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  2. From Page 1: So everyone should just submit a complimentary comment after every jump to make sure your positive experience is included in the city management's analysis Honestly... that is not a bad thing to recommend. Flood them with how great the airport is, how glad you are that its not as loud as living by some airports could be. Maybe talk about how nice the gentlemen and ladies are that parachute from the planes way out of earshot... lots of good things talk about how you enjoyed the experience so much, you rented a room in a hotel, went out to a restaurant and bar, and then returned to the airport the next day for another experience. And you may repeat that next weekend, too. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  3. Freely joined and freely left the Union. There was never any attempt to overthrow the Federal Gov't. this is true. if the northerners hadn't attempted to reinforce Fort Sumter the South would never had had to fire upon it. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  4. bingo. And the US welcomed texas to the fold from mexico, and supported their revolution. But not the southern states when it became clear the northern states weren't happy with the devolution of powers their loose amalgamation of states was set up with originally... They wanted a centralist governance rather than equal partnership... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  5. and you know it's typical because.... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  6. I treat them with the same respect they treat me. In this case, none. Frankly,I never replied to you. So I have no idea how you get off saying I treated you without respect. In fact you're response is indeed arrogant. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  7. The UK could have made peace with Hitler in 1940 but chose not to. Does that mean Churchill was responsible for the deaths of half a million Brits to prove a point? Hitler was known to have started exterminating Jews, gypsies, and Jehovah's Witnesses before the war, and had invaded sovereign countries before Churchill announced war. So while you could say that Churchill was responsible for going to war, you can see why he did. Also, the safety of Great Britain after the rest of Europe fell to an already aggressive enemy gov't was pretty sure to be forfeit, if they didn't defend themselves.\\ No such circumstances existed before Lincoln decide to reinforce troops at Fort Sumter, which was pretty much an antagonistic move on the autonomy of the Southern States. As has been pointed out, no other country had to kill 3/4 of a million of its citizens to eliminate slavery - slavery would have ended within 20-25 years anyways. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  8. from an article in the ny times... For 110 years, the numbers stood as gospel: 618,222 men died in the Civil War, 360,222 from the North and 258,000 from the South — by far the greatest toll of any war in American history. But new research shows that the numbers were far too low. By combing through newly digitized census data from the 19th century, J. David Hacker, a demographic historian from Binghamton University in New York, has recalculated the death toll and increased it by more than 20 percent — to 750,000. The new figure is already winning acceptance from scholars. Civil War History, the journal that published Dr. Hacker’s paper, called it “among the most consequential pieces ever to appear” in its pages. And a pre-eminent authority on the era, Eric Foner, a historian at Columbia University, said: “It even further elevates the significance of the Civil War and makes a dramatic statement about how the war is a central moment in American history. It helps you understand, particularly in the South with a much smaller population, what a devastating experience this was.” Hacker's estimate ran as high as 800-850,000 soldiers, he has picked 750,00 as the mid-range estimate for soldiers killed. Then we have the civilians killed during the war - which can be estimated as 200-250,000 by dr. William ellis on civil war talk, for one discussion. So if we have about 750,000 soldiers, and 200-250,000 civilians, that is around 1 million, by my count... You're right about \Lincoln too, he did it to keep the revenue from seceding states coming in to the federal government, not just to prove a point. Although, The States themselves had just recently seceded from Great Britain, and they had accepted the area of Texas being able to secede from Mexico in the previous 30 years or so, suddenly no one was allowed to secede from the Union If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  9. And Lincoln didn't wage a treasonous war against the USA in support of his views. Lincoln was just responsible for the deaths of a million Americans to prove a point... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  10. yes, I do If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  11. This has always been my point about that flag. It represents a group of states that wanted to secede. Isn't that treason? To me it symbolizes the group of states who advocated treason. Or if the state is flying the flag today, it's by default saying it wants to secede (form another Confederacy). The founders in the 1770s got away with treason because their declaration and campaign was successful. Why would any member of the Union (today) want to cling to the membership of another (no longer existing) country? So, that's my argument on the subject. I really don't like the informal polls that are asking people whether the flag symbolizes heritage or slavery (only two choices), when there are so many other nuances to consider. the confederate states decided to get out of the union because the union was set up as a confederation of largely autonomous states, and the gov't unilaterally decided to decrease the autonomy of the states to run things the way they wanted and to impose their governance from Washington. They created some extra democratic territories in order to swing the votes their way. When the southern states realized they were losing the original powers to govern themselves, they quite rightly decided they hadn't signed up for that... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  12. are you saying you exited at 500, and he landed, or you stayed in and he landed. I was once in a 182 with engine out at 600. Pilot managed to get turned around and brought it in dead stick on the runway. Happens fast when it happens... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  13. In case you didn't get the memo...nine of our own were murdered by one of our own. Nine AMERICANS died at the hands of another AMERICAN. In the ongoing effort to "form a more perfect union" it sometimes, tragically, goes off the rails. And we keep seeing this everyday right now in Americans killing other Americans. Evil is evil and ya don't need to throw the race card into something that by it's very definition and evidence through millenia plagues us to this day irrespective of who or what or how. It's wrong clear and simple and that's the best you're going to get from me. I don't drink the bullshit Kool-Aid of racial politics. I spent 22 years in the military defending ALL COMMUNITIES in this country NOT just a select few. In my substantial international travels, I like to think I did my best to be respectful of what ever country I was in and not be an ugly American in spite of the fact that on every trip, I'd hear some criticism, vitriol, whatever about MY country and the bulk of the crap I had to listen to and keep quiet about and just let it go is when I was in YOUR neck of the woods. You're entitled to your opinion but like anal orifices, everybody's got one and you've displayed yours quite well. In the meantime, I gotta go buy some beer for you are the first I ever said this to and here goes. YOU validate the reason we kicked your asses outa here over 200 years ago and quite frankly, you got enough problems on your side of the pond to keep you very busy for a long time. So I would thank you to leave us to mourn and bury our dead. OMG, I'm in tears. How emotional.... ...and how hypocritical. germans are so much better... https://news.vice.com/article/asylum-seeker-murdered-amid-anti-immigrant-sentiment-across-germany If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  14. in your observation balloon section, you sort of skipped the civil war. Some of the balloonists from the civil war purchased to took some of the surplus balloons to begin careers as exhibition balloonists across America, something to which they later added parachuting to spice up the show as more people become familiar with balloons. The Allen family comes to mind as one of the dynasties following the war. http://www.balloonlife.com/webarch/allensmoke.htm There;s a working replica of one of the civil war observation balloons at Genessee Country Village in new York. A list of the balloonists for both sides, yankee and confederate, is on a monument at the aviation museum in Richmond Virginia. The Allen Flying History So just how long have we been flying? The Allen's were pioneers in the balloon flying business. The flying originates back to the Civil War. The two main observation balloonists for the Union Army were Thaddeus Lowe and James Allen. James Allen was distantly related to the three Allen Brothers, Ira, Comfort and Martin. Ira observed the Union Army balloons while serving in the Calvary himself. When the war was over Ira started ballooning with his younger brothers for "recreational fun" and profit. Ballooning was not the same then as it is now. Certainly not as safe. Balloons were filled with hot air by holding them over a fire. The hot air from the fire filled up the balloon for flying. Heavy smoke from the fires sealed the porous cotton fabric used for the balloons. These aeronauts did not ride in a basket, they soared aloft hanging from trapeze bars. At altitude they would cut loose and float back down to the ground on their home made parachutes. "The Flying Allens" performed this act for spell bound crowds nationwide. The next generation included two twin brothers, Edward and Edgar Allen. Edward became the most famous o all the flying Allens by making over 3000 smoke balloon ascensions and parachute jumps, over his 60 year career. He was also a Montgollfier Diploma recipient: the highest ballooning honor given in the world. Edward's children, Eddie Jr., Gloria and Florence, continued to thrill crowds, from the depression era, until the 1950's. Eddie Jr.'s son, David continued in his father's footsteps, however not in the traditional smoke filled balloons. Our Pilots prefer to fly modern hot balloons as we know them today. The rest as they say is history. Enjoy your flight. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  15. a pirate or brigand brought up in Somalia who thinks nothing of killing people is not crazy - that's the way many of them are brought up. It's 'normal' over there. They're not crazy. But they are evil if they do it... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  16. his posts are absolutely intelligible. Just because you disagree with them doesn't make them any less valid. Just as your views might be valid. Although you don't seem to live in the US If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  17. my understanding is that all those cops armed to the teeth ended the threat without any 'good guys' getting hurt, so while it didn't prevent the attack, like I said, it 'ended it' successfully... If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  18. The boers were german, no? or were they dutch? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  19. I would think 18 or 19, maybe 17, and I don't think it's a real common phrase, at least not where I live. Aren't we done with this yet? If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  20. I still disagree. I don't think of a 20 year old as a 'kid' - pretty much ever. Unless maybe they were developmentally delayed - and when I say that I mean actually diagnosed mentally impaired. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  21. I'm not kidding at all. I might say they were 'acting like kids' but a 20 year old is not a kid. And an 19 or 18 year old isn't really either - in many places they can drink, vote, join the army, etc.... That's an adult. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  22. As stated in my reply to your previous post, the premature deployment was not an AAD misfire. It was the guy's main. His leg strap mounted pilot chute crawled out. As for the story about the AAD being turned off in the plane because of a calibration issue, take that with a grain of salt. Tom was very old school. He never jumped with a helmet or shoes and word on the DZ was that he never turned the thing on. FWIW, I have never heard first-hand info on it either way. I never heard of the aad being turned off in the plane. I have heard he told Laidlaw he forgot to turn it on once they were off the ground. I have never heard that he wouldn't have normally turned it on. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  23. OK, fair enough. 1) As has already been said, they can misfire. I think the odds of this happening are remote, but it remains a possibility. It could also fire during an aircraft emergency (again). 2) I'm a firm believer in KISS. I only like to add complexity when necessary. It could cause a one in a million unforeseen conflict w/another component. 3) They're hard metal boxes firmly strapped right across one's spine. Poo Happens. If there's a canopy collapse while landing, or a hard free fall collision. That small metal box could snap your spine, transect your spinal cord, & leave you paralyzed. I've already been in a situation where I couldn't re-orient my body prior to impacting the ground. It's not a good feeling. Had I landed on my back, I probably would've been left paralyzed. It was a student jump, w/an AAD. 4) A Cypres2 would run me about $1800, including scheduled maintenance. While easily do-able for me, it's still a fair piece of change. 5) When I look at the Save Lists of the two major players, I'm not sold. Vigil's list has a number of repeat incidents listed. They're double-counting some of their saves. I haven't noticed that on Airtec's list, but it's beside the point. What I have noticed is almost all the saves are of students. Student jumpers making student mistakes. Even a fair number of the experienced jumpers' saves are of the same cloth. For example, one guy was uncurrent from a winter, & sucked it all the way down to activation altitude without realizing the ground was getting kinda close . They also include multiple jumpers who did pull silver, but their units still fired. Those people did save themselves. 6) Surprised to say, but there is also the enjoyment of "Jumping Naked". I've got absolutely nothing against anyone who jumps w/an AAD. Comments about their not being real skydivers were asinine, & not made by me. When I rode motorcycles, I always wore a full-faced helmet, & full body protection. I would've been a nervous wreck not to. But, in the air I feel a purity of knowing I have to pull or die. I'm not a reckless person, but do enjoy this aspect of the sport. Perhaps swoopers feel a different version of this? Dunno. We average a little over three million jumps per year in the US. I'm guessing Europe does the same amount, or even a bit more. Out of six million-ish jumps per year (not counting the rest of the world), the lists show maybe 3-5 legitimate LOC saves. Almost all of those are from higher risk jumps like tracking dives. Last year, I think only one person got taken out from behind by someone swooping into them in free fall (non-tracking dive). The report was unclear as to the circumstances. That's one jump out of six million (plus, Asia & down under) jumps. I think those odds are so remote that it's more likely for me to have one of the other problems I listed above. When an incident like the one that prompted this thread occurs, it gets everyone's attention. That gentleman had more skill & experience than I'll probably ever have. Everyone who knew him has no idea how this could've happened to him. A health emergency? Bird strike? We'll probably never know. Clearly, it was something extraordinary. How often does someone of his caliber go in, though? I can't remember a single instance that wasn't explainable by some factor like a mid-air collision. A lot of injuries in this sport go unreported, but not the deaths. The odds produced by those save lists don't make a compelling case for me to strap an AAD onto my back. I limit the types of jumps I'll do, & keep aware of whom I'm jumping with. I think I'm better off without one. I was taught years ago that everyone has their moment, no matter who they are. That's very true, but I still can't see myself not pulling unless I'm unconscious or seriously incapacitated. I do think the proof is overwhelming in support for AADs being mandatory for student jumpers, though. P.S.: After having listed all of this out, if I am that one in six-ish million who gets knocked out & goes in, next year? I'm gonna come back, & kick the piss out of you, Krisanne . at one time I went over the cypress and vigil sites to breakdown the stats. It was interesting - I don't have the breakdown here but it was sort of like - students, then cameramen, then un-current or lowtime jumpers. What it did demonstrate to me was that the chances of an experienced and current jumper needing one was not that high. Yeah, there's a possibility of an injury incapacitating one, but remote. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  24. I don't generally call someone who's 20 or older a 'kid'. Maybe if they're 18 or 19, but definitely not 20 or older. If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone
  25. In reality that is pretty subjective. Location, circumstances, body language all fall into it. and the fact someone had called in a gun call If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead. Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone