Boogers

First off, my definition of "black sheep" doesn't necessarily mean "fucking up", as in doing things that are wrong. And perhaps you don't really mean it that way either since you put it in quotes. To me, it just means being different. And with that being said, yes, I am the black sheep in my family. Mom used to always say; "Why can't you be like all the other kids?" I've never wanted to follow the crowd. I make my own path in life, my way, and I'm happy doing that. Even if it's sometimes a more difficult path.

Why don't you tell us what kind of diploma that is - we can't read it from the photo...

Even if you're facing downwind, you're still being distracted from watching for incoming canopies by stowing your brakes and fiddling with your slider. And then there's the hook turn guys who, even though you're facing the landing direction, they will come downwind behind you and do a fast hook up above, coming into view only shortly before they become a danger. And that can occur in the few seconds you're looking down stowing your toggles. The guys doing long straight-in finals aren't a problem. I like to land near the beer line and then just take a few steps into the safe zone to get clear of all the high-speed chaos. THEN fiddle with my gear. I got hit by a swooper once, while standing in place and thinking he planned on just flying by me. Whack! Down on the ground. He didn't even apologize. He said it was my fault for standing where he wanted to land. Really. What an ass.

Or whether it exists now. It may just seem like a rising trend now because of the presence of so many cameras in society which now capture these things on video, which didn't use to happen. If it's on video, it gets more widespread attention than a written one-line entry in a police blotter.

That's what I'm thinking too. I'm always looking to get out of the landing area as soon as possible to avoid being hit by swoopers. I don't want to be standing there like a sitting duck fiddling with my gear.

Educate me - are there good reasons for NOT stowing the excess brake line?

What about the friction that is necessary in your rubber bands to hold your line stow bights? There are places where friction is needed, and a good thing. If your lines are too slick, you could get line dump. What about the effect it has on the slider descending down the lines? If the slider shoots down too fast, you're looking at hard openings. That doesn't mean shit when it comes to applying the knowledge to skydiving gear of which you seem to know little about. And many people have died over the decades experimenting with their equipment without proper knowledge. Seemingly simple changes can have drastic consequences. A lot of systems are carefully balanced with each other, and if you upset that balance bad things can happen. Good luck. I suggest spending a few years becoming an expert skydiver. Then spend a few more years becoming an expert rigger. THEN you'll be ready to experiment with gear.

This particular flight was from Cleveland to Cincinnati, and the team had a bus on standby to drive the players home. It's in the news story. Read about it.

That's clever, but what if four belly guys all go straight to their reserve thinking that their main is disconnected? I think you better run away real fast when you get to the ground... And even if they still try their main first, you've instilled fear and doubt in them, and I think that goes beyond a prank...

Rob a few banks for myself. Destroy the IRS computer records for everyone else.

I'm also shocked that you don't yet know how to spell "chute".

I believe that pro football players make enough money that they could rent a car and drive themselves home if they were scared of an airplane... No one forced them to get on it.

Define "mega structure"...

I think it was "60 Minutes" about a week ago who did a segment on him, and how popular his miniature high-quality cameras have become. He started out just wanting to build a camera for surfers to get better video of themselves "inside the tube" of waves. The guy has an amazing product, and deserves all the millions he earns off of it.

Prince Charles had line twists once and got similar hero treatment by the British press.

All good comments. It largely depends upon WHO is the prankster too. If it's someone I know and trust from years of jumping together, not a big deal. Some complete stranger I just met? Absolutely NOT!

How does a hawk fly through a dense forest without hitting tree branches? Watch this video to see how they do it. http://www.youtube.com/embed/2CFckjfP-1E Reminds me of the way skydivers tuck-up to squirt through a hula hoop on a hoop dive.

The hero prince needs to start stowing all that loose steering line above his toggles too. That crap is just asking for trouble. And what the heck is a "semi-professional skydiver"? Did someone pay him $5 once to pack their chute?

There was a story in the news last month of a teenage child who had managed to get onto an airplane by pretending to be with some family to whom he didn't really belong. He succeeded because no one asked those kinds of questions. So the airline agent was simply doing her job to ensure that the kid was a legit traveler, and not a stow-away. Example: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boy-sneaks-aboard-flight-minneapolis-las-vegas-article-1.1477715

That's why you have to spin around and face backwards first. So you use one hand to hold your risers to maintain a backwards-facing posture, then with the other hand you unzip and pull your underwear out of the way, and then with your third hand you pull it out and aim it. Don't forget to shake before tucking it back in.

But they have proof the a/c are dumping; They can *smell* it! I don't see how they can smell the jet fuel outside with all the cat crap and piss on their carpet.

Dad grounded me, so I climbed out my bedroom window and drove off in my car anyway!

Wow. So how did they do that? Where there really 49 different people each controlling one airplane? Or were they all tied in together somehow to maintain that spacing?

Chainsaws. I don't care how macho they are to wield, it'll cut my leg off.

"Time of Reckoning" by Walter Wager 30 years after WWII, A former Jewish POW camp survivor sets out to assassinate former Nazi prison camp officers, even those in prison after war crimes trials, making it look like natural deaths. It's time for his revenge... A U.S. CIA officer figures out what's happening, and hunts down the murderer. But when the CIA finds him, will they arrest him, or help him continue?