winsor

A week ago I came across an energy drink at the Pribram drop zone in the Czech Republic. After I stopped laughing, I bought all they had to bring back. I have no idea how it tastes, I just like the name. SEMTEX

I support abortion until the fetus can vote.

I got certified to SCUBA dive in 1968, and a lot has changed since then. At that time there were very few people in the sport who weren't very fit, strong swimmers accustomed to the idea that if you fucked up you drowned. Sometime around the '80s dive shops realized that they would go broke serving the needs of customers like me. I get my tanks filled and inspected and/or hydrostatic tested when necessary, regulators overhauled occasionally, and pick up the occasional bit of gear, but generally have been set since I was in High School. By getting yuppies off the ski slopes and tennis courts, dive shops found a lucrative new market. Color coordinated gear with all the bells and whistles is now the rage, though I don't know what it does for people that my gear won't do. Since Muffy and Biff want to be assured of a safe environment in which to drop a lot of bucks, there are all sorts of gizmos such as electronic dive computers to guarantee safety, and reports of people screwing up and dying are actively quashed. The rate of people screwing up and dying does not appear to be greatly reduced from when I started SCUBA diving, but the availability of information regarding an incident certainly is. The skydiving community has made steps in the direction that SCUBA took, with magic boxes to guarantee safe operation of the color-coordinated gear, and many yuppie-friendly skydiving venues that charge for damned near everything, but the immediacy of the dangers inherent in skydiving may have kept this mentality from prevailing throughout the sport. It is still a given that a cold analysis of someone else's demise may well save my ass, so I limit my sentimentality to tears shed for friends lost, and try not to make excuses for the errors on their part that contributed to their passing. I hope that if I fuck up and bounce/drown there won't be anyone who pretends that it wasn't my fault. None of us are immune, from rank neophytes to world champions. Blue skies, Winsor

I'm my own rigger, and I don't drink. When I get a bottle from a save, I donate it to the DZ (I have nothing against the stuff, it just didn't agree with me). I have had heartfelt thanks for a number of saves, however. That counts in my book. Blue skies, Winsor

QuoteJust curious..those who are single and have been in relationships that weren't quite right...have you put together a "list" of what is important to you for the next relationship and what are red flags? My list is slowly coming together and I'm just curious if there is more I could include... So far...... 1. Is spiritual...believes in God. More of a nihilist than atheist - Orthodox Infidel - so a big no there. 2. What is/was their relationship with their mom? Get along great in small doses. 3. If there's an ex, how do they get along? First - fine, second - no contact (not sure if she's still alive). 4. How does he deal w/small dishonesty?character Q. No use for liars whatsoever. A lie is a lie. 5. Addictive personality? gambling, drugs, etc. 17 years without intoxicants, don't smoke or gamble. Way addictive personality. 6. How I rank? Are friends more important than me? It depends on the relationship - I'm a sex fiend. 7. Do they miss me after a week of being apart? See answer to #6. 8. Do they smile? Are they Funny? Truly sick sense of humor, so I smile a lot and think LOTS of things are funny. 9. Are they playful and know how to have fun? Yes. 10. Do they take care of themselves? After a fashion. 11. Are they self sufficient? Pretty much so (see answer to #10). 12. Are they a momma's boy? meaning do they call mom before making every decision? Not hardly. 13. Supports the fact that I jump from planes... If you don't jump, you don't count - unless you're REALLY good in bed. Blue skies, Winsor

I'm pro-death. I want a tee shirt to wear around RightToLifers that says "Thank God for Abortion." The back should read "Prenatal, Postnatal - Whatever." I'm sure that would go over big. Blue skies, Winsor

Bright blue skies...absolutely perfect temperature,,,wide open spaces, that particular growl of a Trabant...that special whistling sound of the wind coming over Vojvodina past the Carpathians...I'm playing at WORK...in SERBIA! On Saturday I'm going to bag it and spend a couple of days in the Czech Republic jumping a Turbolet from 4,000 meters before going home. Then I'm going to Cross Keys to jump whatever is flying. This being groundbound will have to give way to getting some altitude in. Blue skies, Winsor

Winsor, with all due respect, thats incorect. You can still have a horseshoe with a POD, as any part of the main canopy assembly having contact with the jumper's body is a Horseshoe. You do eliminate one way for a HS to happen, but its still possible to get, say, the PC to hook itself on a arm, a leg, a grommet. I cant find it right now, but there's a discussion between Bill Booth and someone lese that was posted on the forum on POD vs throw out. I'd link to it as a counter agrument of your preference to POD. You are, of course, right. I was unclear, since I was thinking specifically of horseshoe malfunctions related to premature opening of the container. With a BOC throwout, it can be nigh impossible to locate and extract the pilot chute by means of the handle without the D-bag in place, though it may be extracted by means of the bridle if packed properly. If a closing loop breaks or pin is dislodged with a pullout, it generally results in an inadvertent deployment at a higher than expected altitude. Agreed, there are pros and cons with each system, and neither is perfect. I have been impressed enough by the potential for disaster presented by a prematurely open container that I wasn't addressing the other horseshoe modes. FWIW, I have rigs with both systems. I generally lean toward the pullout, but think both are just fine if properly maintained and implemented. Blue skies, Winsor

If you mean PUD, then by all means go for the pullout. Hackey (by which I assume you mean throwout, likely BOC) is capable of hoseshoe malfunction. This is not true with a pullout. Blue skies, Winsor

I got a legitimate 247. If I still drank and took drugs I'm sure it would be a tad higher. Yes to everything was 276. Blue skies and eternal damnation, Winsor

"Old soldiers never die. Young ones do." General Douglas MacArthur

My Master's is in Electrical and Computer Engineering - an MS. Undergrad is a BS in Chemical and Mechanical Engineering. Having hired rather a few people for computer-related jobs, I advise strongly against taking any kind of a watered-down curriculum. There is a big difference between someone who achieves their results by means of brute force and someone whose solutions are elegant. Familiarity with mathematics has often been a make-it-or-break-it issue in my career. I have been able to tune controllers to achieve "impossible" results because I could derive the appropriate control law on the spot and use either continuous or discrete transforms. Even though people are spoiled by computers with fantastic speed and memory these days, there is still a difference between a hack and a kluge. Someone who is intimidated by the fundamentals is much more likely to author a kluge. If you can make it through the math at all, you are better off going for the BS if you intend to work in a technical field. It is better to work for someone who knows the difference, and sometimes the degree path you seek says it all. Blue skies, Winsor

I have a rather thick skin when it comes to hurting people's feelings instead of letting them hurt or kill themselves. I have been the one elected to give someone "the talk," and let them know that they had best take up another hobby. This sport is not for everyone, and some people simply don't have the attributes that make it likely that they will develop survival skills by the time they need them. Better to need a band-aid at the bowling alley than a life-flight at the DZ. I have seen one too many people get hurt or killed where I had already thought they were a crater looking for a grid reference, and my goal in pointing out the error of their ways is not to be able to say "I told you so" later. The biggest problems I've seen are arrogance and denial. Like any aviation-based activity, the ideal balance is to have sufficient ego to take off and enough humility to routinely effect a safe landing. Skydivers, like pilots, have a tendency to mistake luck for ability. As a pilot and skydiver I'm no exception. Some years back Mike Mullins gave me hell for pushing my luck flying around weather systems, and I owe him for that. I trust Mike's judgment, and appreciate him showing enough concern for me to let me know that I'd already had my share of dumb luck. I had someone call me from across the country after witnessing a near-death-experience of mine that wound up on videotape, to the effect of "You ASSHOLE! Sure, you made that look intentional, but I know you FUCKED UP! If you bounce, I'll never forgive you!" I've had people look out for me, and my real friends have paid more attention to my safety than my feelings. Since I'm alive and in one piece as a result, I show my gratitude by trying to pass it on. Blue skies, Winsor

Pinto.

It is a fool's quest to attempt to legislate safety into existence. The USPA should follow in this instance (if they do anything at all), and codify the results of hard-won experience. The last time they had say regarding wing suits, they banned them. Not exactly a visionary approach. Blue skies, Winsor

QuoteWhat level should someone be before they jump with a camera?Quote The critical level isn't numbers of jumps, it's skill. There's a big difference between a thousand jumps and a hundred jumps ten times. If your flying skills aren't entirely automatic, you would be advised to focus on them before putting a camera on your head. The people who can't get anyone to jump with them because they aren't very good, and figure that jumping camera will at least get them on the load, are inviting disaster. It is useful to have extensive camera skills as well before you jump camera. If you don't know the difference between a snapshot and a photograph, you would be advised to leave camera to someone who does. If you are aware of lighting and framing and composition without giving it conscious thought AND can maintain your relative position and heading reflexively AND have your deployment and canopy procedures WIRED, you may be ready to jump camera. Be advised that on a camera jump your likelihood of injury or death is an order of magnitude greater than on a fun jump. It is not just another skydive. Blue skies, Winsor

Maybe. Then again, my father is Dick Naugler; I'm named after his brother & uncle, from whence comes the Winsor Naugler III. In any event, when someone is doing something that has cost me a friend or two, I try to point out to them what was the mode of demise of the jumpers in question. If I see someone doing something dangerous, I have no qualms about telling them - particularly if it threatens someone else who is not part of their game plan. I don't care if they are world champions, since I can list many world champions who were maimed or killed by similar actions; NONE of us are immune. I have been to too many funerals, and would prefer that they put off their ash dive until much later. Regarding camera, my first camera jump was in 1972 with a Instamatic Super-8 movie camera duct-taped to my helmet and a Konica 35mm stowed up my sleeve. I'm not the most experienced camera flier out there, but I pretty much know the people who are, and can pass on the recommendations they gave me. In this case I don't think it's the camera in particular that is the problem. It sounds like the kind of attitude problem that can be tough to survive in this sport - the wake-up call is often fatal. When someone responds to advice with thanks for looking out for their well-being, I think there is hope. If they try to explain that they had everything under control, I am concerned for their continued well-being. I have had people who took offense initially, but thanked me years later for taking the time to warn them. Sometimes it works, and that makes it worthwhile. Blue skies, Winsor

Not a lot. It's about 12 kilometers from here, but what I've seen from bicycling across the border to try to find coffee is not likely representative of the country. There doesn't seem to be a lot of aeronautical activity in Romania near the border with Serbia, so I don't expect to find much in the way of DZs nearby. I'm also dependent upon Serbian transportation for anything beyond bicycling, so I haven't explored the possibility extensively. As far as females go, that's mostly academic. I'm stuck with English, German and a little French, which rules out much socializing. In addition, most of my contemporaries of the opposite sex (I'm 50) are either married or uninteresting. If you know of a DZ somewhere near the Serbian border, let me know. I'm going to be here for a while. Blue skies, Winsor

The rate at which I look at the ground and my altimeter increases as I approach breakoff altitude. I am usually paying more attention to altitude than the skydive at that point. If my indicators show me at the agreed breakoff altitude, I'm gone. If people want to make one more point, it's going to be a missing-man formation, since I'm history. If someone leaves early, I may take the last grip before going. If it works out to be just a little high, may just leave then myself. Avoiding the temptation to suck it down has saved my ass on more than one occasion, and I know (knew) people who pitched just a little too low. It is my policy to stay the hell out of the basement, and it has served me well. Blue skies, Winsor

If it's who I think it is, that would be "Buzz." Blue skies, Winsor

I couldn't care less about looking cool, and am amazed that anyone would give it all that much thought - not to mention time, effort and money. I have one rig that's pink, but it fits fine, works great, and nobody is going to walk off with it by mistake. It does make it hard to argue that it was someone else in the wrong slot on the video if you brainlock, though. I'll take mismatched colors and airworthy to chic and mechanically iffy any day of the week. Blue skies, Winsor

A set of David Clarks is a good start.

I don't use packers, and pack my own reserves. I pack pretty much anything in around 6 minutes or less, and would rather take part in getting my rig ready for the next jump. Blue skies, Winsor

If you're gone over this issue, there will be others for sure. Don't let the door hit you in the ass.

Holy Moly........15 rigs? You must be RICH! I probably would be if I didn't have an airplane. As far as rigs go, I'm not talking brand new CYPRES-equipped Voodoos with Xaos mains and 21st century technology reserves. I said "airworthy." As a rigger, I wind up collecting and maintaining orphan gear. Mostly I have Racers of various vintages, from SST to Elite. I also have a Vector, a Javelin, a Mirage and a Corsair. My smallest reserve is a Swift 177 and I have a lot of Raven IIs (they open and fly GREAT!). My largest reserve is a G3R (figure Wizard) Golden Knights cast-off. Mains include a couple of EXTreme FX 99s, two Blue Track BT-50s, a BT-60, a Cruis Air, a Bogy 9, a Pursuit 215, a couple of Cruis Lites, a Laser, a couple of Raven IVs and a Laser 9. For serious fun I have a couple of Mini Systems with ParaCommander MK-1s, a couple of WonderHogs with one each Lightweight RW ParaCommander and Sierra mains. The Wonderhogs have 26' LoPo type reserves. It's all fun, and the ParaCommanders are every bit as much fun as the FX99s. The EXTremes are, however, a lot easier to pack. Some people are too cool to jump a 282 square foot F-111 7-cell, but I find that it is anything but boring. I don't jump them all regularly, but I do jump all of it. Blue skies, Winsor