winsor

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Everything posted by winsor

  1. And FTS before that. I have an FTS 7-cell and an APS 9-cell.
  2. Valerie, Your comments are generally true for someone who is in a moderately stable environment, with demographics suitable for finding someone appropriate and available. The dictum "to thine own self be true" tends to be a good policy. Unfortunately, many women (quite rightly) have criteria that may be impossible for some guys to meet. I have been told "I want a guy who is going to be around," and that ruled me out. I have had work assignments in many exotic places, and have yet to come across a career option that would allow me to stay in one place. Another issue is that there are so few women who are worthy of interest. I've been told that the key is to lower one's standards, but that's hard if you know how good it can be. Mediocrity is not an option. On a cynical note, the guys that women bitch about are generally what they really expect guys to be. For example, someone married to a nine-to-five Joe-six-pack couch-potato once-a-weeker that fits a standard condom and lives an entirely predictable, boring existence would typically be put off by an ovesexed overachiever who doesn't watch teevee. Not always, of course, but all too often. In any event, there is a significant difference between men and women regarding love/sex and whatnot (I'm not likely to get pregnant any time soon, for one thing). If you look at the difference between "romance novels" and "men's magazines" you can get some idea of how different are the fantasies upon which each gender thrives. There really is no male analog to the concept of "don't touch me there! I don't touch myself there!" Blue skies, Winsor
  3. I would replace prejudices with preferences. I prefer to avoid: =>Democrats/Communists/avowed Liberals. =>True Believers or anyone obsessively dedicated to a cause. =>New Jersey natives. =>Lawyers. =>Therapists or anyone who patronizes a therapist (if you think you're crazy - you're right). =>Low libido types. Contrary to the contention that "there are no frigid women - just lousy lovers," there are women who have such a long goddamned fuse that it isn't worth the trouble. =>Dullards - brilliant women are MUCH better in bed. =>Timid types - if it takes a lot of cajoling to do something that's zero fuss in their absence, they are soon absent. =>Princesses - no matter how good looking they are, the high-maintenance attitude wears thin fast. These are not hard and fast rules, since I've broken every one of them at one time or another. Any time I have thought "I'm going to regret this," I've been right. Blue skies, Winsor
  4. winsor

    How to get men

    1) I don't drink, so you can keep the beer. 2) People who look better clothed should keep clothes on. Women who look better naked are welcome to be naked in my presence.
  5. Given its fuel, "Plastic Fantastic" kind of applies. Old surfboard maker, and part of a Jefferson Airplane title, but what the hell.
  6. My parents had a co-op on the 31st floor of the Connaught Tower on 54th St. in Manhattan in the late 70s and early 80s, and I was in and out of the place a lot. One day I got on the down elevator with my father and there were a couple of guys on it already, one tall and one short, both kind of mulatto looking. They were speaking to each other in another language that was like Spanish, and I guessed it was Portuguese. Since they didn't look like the Portuguese guys I knew, I guessed they were Brazilian. Wanting to verify the acuity of my powers of observation and deduction, I asked them "where are you guys from?" Sure enough, the short guy grinned and said "Sao Paolo." I told him my roommate in Germany was from Sao Paolo, he said that was very nice, and we left the elevator. As we walked away, my father said "you know who that was, don't you?" "No, who?" "Pele." "Jesus Christ! You're right!" So much for the keen powers of observation...
  7. Not according to what I was taught. I was taught, "Regardless of the malfunction...look red, grab red, look silver, pull red, pull silver." Period. I was told ALWAYS to cut before pulling reserve. (ONLY exemption is an out of sequence deployment, where you pull the PC out before beginning EP's).. That's what most students are taught in their first jump course, primarily because it's best to teach one response to any malfunction to someone who has no experience. Opinions differ on whether someone who is not a student should take the time to cutaway before pulling the reserve on a total or not. If I have initiated deployment, I always pull the cutaway when going for silver. I use the one-hand one-handle approach, and have successfully executed a gunslinger cutaway (deploying the reserve simultaneously). If I'm rolling out of an airplane that had an engine detonate down low with the pilot yelling "get out of my airplane!," I'm doing so with reserve deployment only. Otherwise I'm going for the main first, and cutting away the main when going for silver. If you make your decision above your hard deck, you should have plenty of time to use the two hands par handle approach, pulling both handles, for any and all emergencies. In any event, having one procedure that provides the greatest likelihood of success beats the hell out of blowing altitude deciding which approach is appropriate. Blue skies, Winsor
  8. Oh, I guarantee you can outdrink me. I was given a waiver on the initiation, because the last thing I drank was tequila - in 1987. Gonzo
  9. The post was a definite brain-exerciser. And while Jan is one of the most qualified in our sport to comment on most any aspect of it, I don't understand how she can presume to know it was someone's "pride" that was the contributing factor to someone's bad decision. They are dead and they are the only one able to explain their actions or lack thereof. This is wild, broad speculation at best. While trying to figure out ways to make the sport safer for all of us, let's try to focus only on the things we know, not guesses or presumptions. Blue 111- Jeff I know what she's talking about, because I know people who barely survived who did exactly what she described. In the case of some people who did not survive, their stated and observed attitude before bouncing was entirely consistent with this observation, so it's a good call. Blue skies, Winsor
  10. Val, Your question is much more complex than it might appear at first blush. My mother was once complaining about how men view women as objects and whatnot, so I asked her what the most attractive part of a woman's body was. She knew better than to fish, so I told her - a radiant smile. Be advised that, given two women with equally warm smiles, the choice is going to be the one with the fantastic body. There's only so much for which a wonderful personality will make up. However, the observation that lawyers' preferred means of birth control is their personalities has some basis in fact. I have known women who might look good in photographs, but were truly repellent in person. The idea of giving them pleasure was entirely unacceptable. Other women might seem entirely unremarkable in a picture, but are truly radiant in person. As far as intelligence goes, smarter women are better in bed. Sensuality is more cerebral than physical, and a woman who shows the capacity for ingenuity and creativity - as well as adventurousness - is a hell of a lot more interesting than one who treats sex as a chore. So it isn't all one way or another. Looks are important, but don't make up for someone who is stupid, nasty, neurotic or some combination thereof. Staying away from booze is helpful. In the days that I drank, I found it too easy to wake up with someone and realize that we basically didn't like each other. The biological part of the deal works just fine, but being around someone you can't stand out of bed wears thin pretty fast. So yeah, there is definitely a threshold of attractiveness before going further is a consideration, but personality is critical for anything more than a one night stand. Blue skies, Winsor
  11. Okay, so attention deficit rears its ugly head. I missed it.
  12. I'm grateful for every minute I get to spend with my father. He was a Gunners Mate in the Pacific, 1943 - 1945. He and his friends are simply marvelous people, and I was extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to grow up in their presence. If your grandfather was of their caliber, his loss is irreplaceable. Blue skies, Winsor
  13. I'd guess less than 0.1% of first-time tandems go on to be licensed skydivers. This is based upon observing places where they routinely turn out thousands of tandems but have someone make it past student status only once in a while. In addition, a pretty significant percentage of A license holders never get the 200 jumps that used to be required for the D license, and now rate a C IIRC. If you want to do it, there's generally no major impediment. Most people, however, change their minds. Blue skies, Winsor
  14. Popcorn popping. Seriously. If you're hit with the first shot, you'll likely never hear it. It's Mach 2+. Blue skies, Winsor
  15. Uhhh....I'll beg to differ. They fit us skinny well hung guys too. I didn't mean that if you put them on you instantly became a porky needledick, it's just that they are engineered to accommodate shapeless bulk, and the fly is useless for anyone who increased in size significantly after hitting puberty. I haven't worn the damned things on a regular basis for over 30 years. I keep a pair on hand so that I will do laundry before I get down to that point. Blue skies, Winsor Blue skies
  16. Neither - I stick with basic low-cut cotton briefs without the weird tighty-whitie fly-thing on the front. I can't stand either tighty-whities or boxers. Tighty-whities are designed for flabby guys hung like hamsters, while boxers bunch up and don't provide support. Blue skies, Winsor
  17. I have put together an Excel spreadsheet to compare the results of considering groundspeed (such as you'd get from a GPS readout) alone or adding the headwind component at opening altitude in the calculation. The delay using both groundspeed and headwind at opening altitude is that which will give you the desired separation between groups at opening altitude. The final column, "Separation at opening altitude, groundspeed calc.," is the actual separation between groups that results if treating the headwind at opening altitude as zero. I have picked 1,000 feet as the fixed distance between group centers as a basis. In the time between breakoff and pitching, it is quite possible to track 500 feet from the center of the formation, so people from formations 1,000 feet apart would just reach each other by pull time. Thus, I consider this to be a bare minimum between groups. The values in the first three columns can be changed; feel free to plug in different numbers to see what is the result. Blue skies, Winsor
  18. My top 10 results are 1. Bahá'í Faith (100%) 2. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (100%) 3. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (100%) 4. Jehovah's Witness (100%) 5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (100%) 6. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (66%) 7. Liberal Quakers (50%) 8. New Thought (33%) 9. Unitarian Universalism (33%) 10. Nontheist (26%) I'm an Infidel. Go figure.
  19. The very definitions of the various deities are absurd, and not worth serious consideration. I would as likely discuss what powers Mighty Mouse has, and whether was a greater superhero than Underdog. We"re talking fanciful constructs in either case, and I question the sanity of anyone who appears unable to distinguish between cartoons and reality. The same goes for religion. To my satisfaction, yes. I don't consider it my job to convince anyone else, since it should be pretty obvious to anyone with a clue. Blue skies, Winsor
  20. I'm an Orthodox Infidel. I have precisely the same level of respect for gods ranging from Allah to Zeus, which is to say that it's hogwash coming and going. I consider religion to be a socially acceptable form of psychosis. If someone is walking up the street talking to invisible people he's a candidate for a padded room - unless the name of his invisible friend is a recognized deity, in which case he's just very religious. Same difference. I find it dismaying that people find these fantasies necessary. It's also somewhat frightening living amongst so many people who are certifiable by any objective standard. Blue skies, Winsor
  21. Shoot? Nah, lacks creativity. The scenario I like is where you tell him that he's getting executed like any common criminal does in the US - by lethal injection. The only twist here is that he wakes up a little later to find out that he wasn't killed after all. However, while under anaesthesia he has become a she. After the sex change, he/she is released to live a long and happy life as a woman. I gather he is rather tall, so he/she won't be able to buy a burka off the rack... Blue skies, Winsor
  22. Yeah, but it's a bad idea to keep doing the same things while expecting dfferent results.