ScottMcC

some tips for learning freestyle: 1. obtain some videos of people doing freestyle, both free routines and compulsories. Dale Stuart is a good source. www.winddance.com 2. obtain a patient dedicated cameraman. 3. don't be afraid to do a lot of solos to learn new moves. don't be surprised when your cameraman can't keep you in frame at first either. 4. get coaching when you can afford it. Yoko's a fabulous coach by the way. 5. limit the number of moves you try on a dive to 1-2 at first, especially if you're trying difficult things. repeat those moves as many times as you can, but take a good hard pause after an attempt before restarting. after you get them down you can start increasing the number of moves per dive. 6. tunnel training for freestyle is difficult, because you have to complete the entire freefly progression before they'll let you try any freestyle stuff (or at least that's how it is at the Skyventure tunnels). so we didn't do much of that because we don't live near a tunnel and didn't have the time for the whole progression. if you have any questions, feel free to contact me privately and I'll help you as much as I can. I can't claim to be an expert on this stuff by any means, but my wife and I did go to our first nationals last year and we can definitely share our experiences with you.

how many times does it need to be said? if you have problems with your ears, you should see a physician trained in treating diseases of the ear! afrin and sudafed both have the potential for very serious side effects if misused. rapid pressure changes can have serious consequences for people with various ear problems. I won't even attempt to diagnose an ear problem over the internets, because the physical exam is critical for the diagnosis of ear disease, much more so than for other conditions. just see an ENT! seriously! blue skies, scott (ENT resident)

Women, upon seeing any kind of "gore," will put their hands to their heads and delicately faint. This would explain why there are no women nurses, surgeons, coroners, medical examiners, crime scene investigators....

In Freestyle there were more competitors than there have been in a long time (7 teams). Freeflying had fewer teams than in the past, 4 each in open and intermediate. VRW-4 way had a huge turnout, especially for being a test event. Skysurfing had 3 teams and a guest. So artistic events was kind of a mixed bag. Can't comment on the FS because I really wasn't paying that much attention. Oh yeah...we were stoked to get 4th in Freestyle!!!! Yay!

hey dudes, I managed to find a copy. now all that remains is doing a little editing....anyone feel like going through 3 tapes for me and picking out the best tidbits?

Hey video dudes, I have a problem. My copy of Adobe Premiere 6.0 just crashed, apparently unrecoverably. Trouble is, my install CD got stolen a few years ago. Anyway, I'm supposed to put together a year end video for this Saturday, but I'm severely unable to in my premiere-free current state. Anyone have any ideas of where I can find it, preferably for less than the $800 retail price? Thanks in advance. PS--no illegal/semi-shady copies, I'm not a criminal!

Swimmer's ear doesn't necessarily preclude jumping, but I would definitely think twice about it! If you can pop your ears, it may be ok, but I wouldn't chance it--if nothing else, you don't want to be distracted by pain, especially when putting on your helmet. As an aside, swimmers ear is an infection of the external ear canal, and doesn't involve the middle ear, so all the various sinus remedies aren't going to work. The key for swimmers ear is keeping it clean and dry...dilute rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide dripped in the ear canal and then a cotton ball on the outside (NOT IN THE CANAL!!!!) a few minutes later can help.

I'm gonna step in here for a second and put on my "I'm a doctor and you're not" hat. You're a student nurse. You probably know a fair amount about some things, but you are not a doctor. There is a specific set of things you can do to rehab a shoulder which has been dislocated, which varies according to the nature of the injury. Telling someone to just take some advil and listen to your body is just plain inappropriate advice. Youth does not protect a joint against permanent injury. Injured joints don't just magic their way better, nor will they probably just be fine in a little bit. For proper healing to occur, especially in the face of injuries such as dislocation, directed therapies, both surgical and non-surgical are required. So here's my advice, as a doctor, for someone who has injured a joint (doesn't matter what type of injury). Go see an orthopedic surgeon or a sports medicine specialist. They will be able to properly evaluate and treat you, which will include talking to you, doing an exam, and may or may not include imaging such as xrays, MRI, etc, and may or may not include physical therapy, surgery, medications, etc. None of the above can occur over the internet.

the easiest way to learn carving is to find someone who already knows how to carve, and for the two of you to carve around each other. learning carving around a fixed object is very, very, very hard. at least...for me.

Bartholomew. He was a saint. I don't use it much.

Congrats Greg! I hope all your wildest dreams come true!

take the salad off of your teeth before smiling wohoooo google image frogout... why does a picture of les claypool pop up for that? www.primussucks.com for those of you who don't know who he is... by the way, tips on how to be cool, learn to play bass like les. then you will be cool.

don't we have this discussion like every week? 2/3 of the people on this board have dislocated their shoulders, from what I can tell. here's my story, if you scroll down to the right hand side where it says "search," and then click "options," you have the option to search for all posts by a certain user. you can see my shoulder surgery story several times. previous post: How to dislocate a shoulder (don't try this at home): 1. Abduct the arm 90º (raise the arm out to the side, to shoulder height). 2. Externally rotate the arm maximally (assume the boxman position). 3. Apply a posteriorly directed force to the elbow (push the elbow towards the sky, assuming you're belly to earth). 4. Go see an orthopod. Muscle strength has very little to do with shoulder stability. Bony support has even less to do with stability. The main structures providing stability are the glenohumeral ligaments (the joint capsule) along with the cartilaginous labrum. So those people with lax ligaments or labral tears are prone to dislocations, no matter how strong they are. Even without the above, if you put your shoulder in a vulnerable position, you're at risk for dislocations, and in the process you're likely to create both labral tears and lax ligaments. So sayeth the dude who dislocated his shoulder twice in freefall without colliding with anyone, but who is now blessed with a reconstructed shoulder that works great. PS: my wifealso hurt her shoulder skydiving, although hers was not a full on dislocation, more of a subluxation, also without any contact at the time.

A better approach is to see an otologist (an ENT who subspecializes in the treatment of ear disorders). He will definitely have some suggestions, provided you can describe what environments you'll be in (rapid pressurization after a relatively quick depressurization). One might be to think about putting in ear tubes. Oh and the real term is not failed eustacian tube, it's "Eustacian Tube Dysfunction." Blue Skies, Scott, MD (again, to reiterate--I am not diagnosing, treating, or anything else, just telling him to see a doctor in person for a full evaluation and treatment)

Elsinore should have a good canopy control course for you...and if not Perris definitely will. You might even consider going to a bigger canopy (170ish) but zp. But really, the most important thing is to get hooked up with a good canopy coach and getting your skills back/learning new skills. They'll be able to offer you good recommendations for the right canopy for your skill level and preferences.

What everyone else said. I've heard of a few people having problems with openings on their Vengeances, but I haven't had that problem at all. Every now and then I get a weird one, but no more often than any other canopy I've jumped. Maybe you should pay more attention to your packing technique? As for no bottom end, I beg to differ. I get great swoops with lots of lift at the end, and have never felt like I ran out of lift. But that's just me. But if you want to try out your demo near me, I'll be happy to provide medical care until we can get you to the hospital.

you should also buy Dale's book. It helps to have some pictures of the basic moves so that you can actually dirt dive. many of the basic moves start from a belly to earth or back to earth orientation. be confident flying in either position and then start trying some of these moves. and yes, flying camera for a freestylist is harder than it looks! and like everyone else said, coaching is invaluable. we did some with yoko and axel over new year's, and it's really helped us out.

I worked with Dr Holt briefly last year as part of an ENT rotation. He's a good doctor, and what he has to say about ears and sinuses in the article (and in general) is definitely spot on. and from now on, whenever I say "trust me, I'm a doctor," I'm not kidding!

Have you jumped a vengeance? Why so much hatred against it? I have put almost 500 jumps on my Vengeance, and I love it. and no, the recovery arc is not short, although it is slightly less than a katana (which is designed to have a very long recovery arc). that's like saying the Hancock building is short, relatively speaking, since after all the Sears tower is taller. as for a newbie jumping a vengeance, bad idea, even if he has lots and lots of coaching and flies well. the vengeance is a very agressive canopy, not for beginners. end of story. A 1.4 wingloading at 200 some jumps is pretty high too. Maybe a Sabre2 at 1.25-1.3 would be a better choice?

Gonna have to disagree with you Andy. I've got over 400 jumps on my Vengeance 107 (loaded about 1.7), and I absolutely love it. Long swoops, holds a dive well, powerful flare, and very stable in turbulence. For the most part the openings are excellent, but I've had a few scary spinning ones that I managed to recover from. As for pack volume, it's slightly higher than a same-sized stiletto, but my rig is pretty small so I really don't care. I can pack it in under 8 min, so again, plenty fast. Compared to a same size stiletto, it will dive longer, dive harder, and give you a slightly more powerful flare. It also has a slightly steeper glide in full flight. I personally don't think the recovery arc is short at all, but that could just be me. I start my turn pretty high, about 600 ft, and try to make a long, slow turn with a smooth start and finish as opposed to a snappy turn. I'm not exactly a pro swooper though so ask the big boys more about that stuff. Anyway, the Vengeance is not for everyone, but it can be a great canopy for some people. Here's PD's article about it's flight characteristics--I tend to agree. http://www.performancedesigns.com/docs/Veng_Flight.PDF

I had a Kenko .42 that vignetted pretty badly. I now have a Royal 0.5 that does not vignette at all. It was worth the money.

but shockingly, most tandem instructors are horny dudes, and will let just about any chick do a naked tandem, provided she is so inclined. some of them will even give her the jump for free.

cameraflyer advice: you want your head to stay stationary, while your body rotates around it. this is hard to visualize on the ground, but it involves bringing your legs and arms in (get really small), a quick rotation around your head, and then jamming your legs down into headdown (if you're stopping there) or back down into sit if you're doing a full cartwheel. throughout the entire move, focus hard on looking straight at your subject as it rotates through your field of view. please note that this version of the cartwheel is not very pretty for other people to see, but your video of everyone else will look super smooth, and they will just rotate without jostling around.

This was discontinued several years ago, but does anyone know if there is anywhere I might still be able to get some? A mom-and-pop grocery store, a close-out store, some underground peanut butter secret society? Has anyone seen any recently?

The gene is stathmin, and the expression of it is enriched in the amygdyla. The Reuter's article muddies it some. To put it another way, even though every cell in the body has identical DNA, certain genes are more active in different cells of the body, which is why a liver cell is a liver cell and not a brain cell or a lung cell. Turns out that the gene stathmin is not only most active in the amygdyla, a region of the brain already known to be involved in fear, but that when you genetically engineer a mice to not possess that gene, their fear conditioning responses are not present, but that otherwise, they appear largely unaffected. (and just so you know, I pulled up the original article in Cell, so I'm not just making this up. As to whether the protein is found in the blood, I don't think so. It's very much a brain protein, and what with the whole blood-brain barrier, most brain proteins don't make it into the periphery. But this is one of those areas where "further study and clinical correlation is required."