kimemerson

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Everything posted by kimemerson

  1. This was a vide/slide show Andi's eldest son put together for Andi's funeral. I just contacted him to find out. It is in Italian. The song is called "Dune Mosse" by Zucchero, an Italian singer. The second is called "Siamo Soli" by Vasco Rossi. I don't know what Dune Mosse means but Siam Soli means, "we are alone". Both songs are in Italian.
  2. Endocrine cancer. Oct 22. https://mega.nz/file/QZ8FWTwa#DHYmFHEPgBoYKOHXIKAVvkjuhfFigrccq0RfqWuxhwM
  3. Airspeed's video guy? That John Lemming?
  4. We just wrapped up our 4th annual Ranch Film Festival, coat-tailing on the too fabulous TSK Festival. The RFF has grown and matured a bit in four years. Have a look. Your choice: You Tube or the RFF web site
  5. The Ranch Film Festival of 2018 has come and gone. Here is a link to the RFF.com site and the page with this year's films. https://www.ranchfilmfestival.com/films-of-2018
  6. For the record, Cruise didn't have the DZ catered. That was the work of Four Stars catering whose owner, Frank, was/is a skydiver. He simply billed Paramount more and fed us quite nicely for about two/three months, Daily. Cruise had nothing to do with it. Cruise kept to himself and most of us never met him.
  7. Mike Mcgowan pretty much sought the same input on his Facebook page and there are now well over 200 responses. The conversation has been quite lively over there. Of those 200+ responses there might be 1, maybe 2 people who think it's a good idea. The others aren't on the fence on this one: They're pretty adamant. And fired up to a degree. Seems like no one has to think much about it as if to them it is black & white. If the tenor of the conversation is any indication of the general membership, it would then behoove USPA to steer clear of this.
  8. It seems Barry had a kidney transplant in July (?) and it didn't go well in the long run. I don't know anything else or even how accurate what I just said is. It's on his FB page. Anybody who knew Barry is probably picturing him either with a hugely infectious smile, or the smile run amok and blown into a full-on laugh. Gifted artist. Wonderful man. When it is said only the good die young, Barry's death confirms it.
  9. I recall that after Sept. 11 all flights (except military) everywhere were grounded. The skies were eerily quiet. While most had to wait two and three weeks before resuming flights, we USPA skydivers were back up in 9 days. Well ahead of a lot of others. The FAA did not simply call up the USPA and graciously give us a gift. Nope. USPA went to the FAA and made our case for us. Off the top of my head I can't think of anyone else who could have pulled that off for us. USPA's hugely beneficial relationship with the FAA alone makes having USPA around worth the annual dues.
  10. It's a wrap. The RFF16 came and went, kicking off the 3rd annual TSK Boogie on Friday night. And what a great success it was. Loads of thanks to everyone who entered a film, those who came out to watch, all those who donated and all those who helped. Have a look at some of the films entered. And while there, have a look at the rest of the site and get an idea of how, typically, the Ranch Film Festival is doing it a little differently. http://www.ranchfilmfestival.com/rff16-films
  11. Read a little - very little - about it here. http://www.si.com/edge/photo/2016/07/25/skydiver-sean-maccormac-surfs-thunderstorm-clouds-redbull#
  12. Not so fast. That's not a BSR. That would strictly be up to the individual drop zone. Once you have the A license there are zero requirements for returning after a layoff of any length. None.
  13. A refresher is not a full AFF FJC. It's a review. The more you know or remember, the less the Instructor has to teach. The less the Instructor has to teach, the less the refresher looks like a full FJC. The less it looks like a full FJC, the shorter the time it takes to get through it. If it takes a while to get through a refresher course, it it highly likely it was needed. And if it is needed, better to find out through a little Q&A than when the shit hits the fan for real. As for doing a check jump... It's a skydive. One. Live it up. Jump through the hoops, show off, prove your shit, give them reason to trust & believe. Then get your damn A license and avoid this in the future.
  14. A refresher is not a full AFF FJC. It's a review. The more you know or remember, the less the Instructor has to teach. The less the Instructor has to teach, the less the refresher looks like a full FJC. The less it looks like a full FJC, the shorter the time it takes to get through it. If it takes a while to get through a refresher course, it it highly likely it was needed. And if it is needed, better to find out through a little Q&A than when the shit hits the fan for real. As for doing a check jump... It's a skydive. One. Live it up. Jump through the hoops, show off, prove your shit, give them reason to trust & believe. Then get your damn A license and avoid this in the future.
  15. I have always said, skydiving saves more lives than it takes. If you take one season and ask around on just one DZ, you'll probably find more people who will say it saved them than there are fatalities in all of USPA that same season. So many of us feel as though we probably would have ended up dead, in jail, wayward & lost, drugged or drunk all the time... By any definition, a downward trajectory. I include myself. Skydiving... my savior. Can I get an 'Amen'?
  16. Yep. Photos of people jumping shoeless, helmet-less, altimeter-less... Not that these things really matter much to me. I've jumped plenty of times without any of these items. I sort of think that if it were me trying to tell people what not to do that at least I wouldn't promote through full color photos those very practices I discourage in policy. Personally I couldn't care less about that photo. If it had been in Blue Skies I doubt it would make the same impression on me. I appreciate and respect consistency in people, politicians (dream on) and others. At times it doesn't even matter whether I agree with what anyone says, so long as they remain true and consistent with themselves. My head gets a lot of scratching courtesy USPA.
  17. So have I but I sure as hell work on a solution and do my best to never have it happen twice. And there are solutions to this. No real need to have it happen at all. Part of me is just confounded by USPA going to press with this particular photo. They could have done better as I'm certain there's no shortage of USPA compliant photos out there.
  18. I wouldn't go so far as to say the Main side Instructor is wrong per se, but if that's a U.S. AFF jump then it is not what we are taught or expected to do. And if not doing what you are expected to do can be considered "wrong" then there you have it. But the thing is is that this "wrong" photo is a featured photo in the publication of the association that teaches not to do just that. And no one has even mentioned those damn flapping straps not stowed away.
  19. Obviously Chaos cares and it's important to him/her. Did you really have to slam this desire? If that's how you operate I'd suggest not mentioning anything important to yourself here. I mean, who cares? That was a cold thing to say.
  20. Telling who you are is not your story to tell? Who should we get, then?
  21. For reference for anyone who does not know about Perris '92. This is the incident which prompted the FAR on seat-belts and the practice of securing helmets on takeoff. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/23/us/16-die-in-california-crash-of-plane-full-of-sky-divers.html