bclark

I am officially breaking my DZ.idiots silence to back up the Utah Jazz as a damn good basketball team. Always have been. (Just not quite good enough.) They always play with a lot of energy, and rock it out to the last possibe moment. But then they choke on a big, giant, chicken bone. Forgive me the details, but I am from Utah. I don't want to remember great embarrasments in detail. GO JAZZ! >>

Cedar Valley, what a special place that was. Great DZ. (except for the dust devils.) Grew up 5 minutes from the DZ at S.L. #2 and made a few jumps there before they moved to Tooele.

I have seen lots of people who make their entire income skydiving who I would hardly consider "professional". I offer this alternative definition. Professional Skydiver: Someone who participates in the sport of skydiving as an instructor, competitor, or mentor in the long term. Someone whos participation is because of their love of the sport. Someone who perpetuates a positive image of the sport through their actions and example.

Should have been here for The White Christmas of 2004. At least I think it was 04. We had snow on Christmas eve, enough that there was STILL snow in shady spots the next day.

Although I live inside this trailer I know inside I am no failure, Although my house doth really suck out of an Otter I may huck. And when not hucking, if I can, I'll learn to fly the Caravan. Next week I am anticipating I'll get my multiengine rating. If you think my poetry sucks I don't really give a FUCK! (Yeah, I know it sucks!) Thanks for making me wax all poetic n stuff Yoshi. BTW Yoshi, what are you doing on this "gay website"? You don't even jump anymore!

As I recall Travis' USPA license and membership were revoked as a result of that stunt...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyy5jw_DRp8

Or how about one thread entitled: If you are going to do this shit, do it with people as dumb as yourself (not students), and at least be smart enough about it to keep your mouth shut and not publish photos on the internet.

From the videos I have seen, it is about tandem masters who are bored and want to turn a tandem into a fun jump. They want to have their friends out there tracking (or "atmonauting") around them. (Not saying there is anything wrong with qualified flyers around a tandem.) It is about an instructor who is tired of hanging from a drogue and wants to go freeflying with a student attached to them. If you are trying to teach the student anything, why would you teach them a tracking body position first? How hard is it to teach a student to arch? All this discussion about how stable the tracking body position is lost on me, because I have no problems with stability using conventional techniques. And what is the point, when you yourself admitted that the exit is conventional. Isn't this the time in the skydive that most tandems experience instability?

15 jumps this weekend. 14 tandems and a kick ass Santa / Elves demo into Moody Gardens Festival of Lights on Galveston Island.

Yeah, I know. It was a pretty cheap shot... I apologize for making fun of his grammar and spelling. But I stand by my other statements.

Then what IS he saying? Is he asking if I have ever seen a tandem rig other than a Sigma? ( a NOT Sigma? ) If so, yes, I am rated on Strong, Vector, and Eclipse also. I hope this guy can skydive better than he can write or spell.

Gee, I wasn't aware that UPT manufactures different Sigmas for Europe. Yes I have 5000 tandems on Icarus canopies. And I have enough jumps on the HOP 330 to know it is a piece of shit. So because I have jumped Icarus / HOP canopies that makes me open minded? FF ( I assume you mean freefly) is really cool, but not with tandems. Crossbraced canopies are really cool, but not for tandem students. Freestyle, whatever floats your boat. (I am sure you will be finding a way to do freestyle canopy landings on tandems next. Here's a move. How about the Kahuna, where you face slide your student in like a surfboard on that little crossbraced tandem canopy you are advertising?) I am not a tandem examiner. I track all the time with tandems. It is SOP here on tandem level 2. You can drogue track in any tandem rig. No shit you can't have a side spin with the drogue out. I am trying to come up with a way to tell you what an idiot you sound like without getting my post deleted for a personal attack.

It is STILL a tandem rig with a 3 ring drogue release, no collins lanyard, and flex pin closure. So it is TSO'd to a higher speed and weight. It is a stronger rig. That is the ONE thing you said that made me feel better about what you are doing. The Sigma has no Velcro anywhere (except for the main toggles). It also has a "sport" style drogue pouch, and corner bridle protection. Plus Sigma solves the out of sequence deployment problem. (Unless your closing loop breaks or pin(s) are dislodged with the drogue still in the pouch.) People have been doing this crap for years. Flip exits (many dropzones condone this even with old gear), drogueless, tracking. Show me how the Advance harness is going to prevent a side spin as compared to other harnesses. (a little more detail than "because you are one with your student" would be nice.) Also just because the rig is TSO'd to higher speeds and weights does not mean that you don't need to slow down before you deploy.

Ok, let me keep an open mind and let you explain to me what makes a BASIK tandem rig more "freefly friendly" than say, a Sigma? (Maybe it is just that the manufacturer is more friendly to people freeflying in their rig!?) Also explain to me why I would want to "evolve" back to a tandem rig with a 3-ring drogue release, with flex pin closure, and a Stevens Lanyard (which works great when you break that RSL side riser after a nice freefly tandem.) Skydiving is a progressive sport, and what you and your foolish friends do on your own time without risking students safety is your own business. But the BASIK tandem manufacturer not only seems to condone, but encourage this type of flying with students. So if what you say is true, and you do not support taking risks with paying customers or students, then why would you reference us to this website? www.tandem.aero/Tandem/The_Modern_way_of_Tandem_flying.html

This girl is like 16! Are you trying to get the poor guy thrown in jail?

Every balloon jump I have done has been from 3-5k. For me a balloon jump has nothing to do with freefall. It is all about THE EXIT! It is really cool to step off of a (mostly) stationary platform, and hear the wind noise change as you speed up. It is also fun because the balloon is drifting, so you are probably not landing where you took off. Balloon jumps are my favorite. I used to do them in Park City, Utah. It was beautiful up there in the mountains. We had a guy who would charge us like $36.00 each. His balloon held 8. I think I would have a hard time choking up $195+ for a balloon jump.

Heber J. Grant was the last church president to practice plural marriage. He was married once in 1877 and twice more in 1884. The church banned plural marriages in 1890. So yes, maybe not as "early 1800's" as I stated. The point that I am trying to make is, that whether you are gay or a mormon, society makes laws and passes them based upon the morals and standards of a majority. I don't blame the gays for wanting to get married. I just think they need to respect the laws of the land and the fact that they were outvoted. As we see in this discussion mormonism has almost as much prejudice and stigmatism associated with it as homosexuality. So I really doubt that the majority of people would let what a bunch of bigamist "non christians" say affect their decision.

Once again showing your ignorance. If you are a polygamist you will be excommunicated from the mormon church. Yes, Mormons used to practice polygamy in the early 1800's. But they also believe in upholding and supporting the laws of the land. And when polygamy was outlawed in our nation the church followed suit and banned it. To answer your question directly, Marriage can be whatever the law defines it as. And that is determined by the standards upheld by the society that makes those laws.

Yes. I am OK with this. Since the origination of the American nation marriage has been between a man and a woman. I like people who disagree. They are fun to debate. (I respect their opinions as my own.) Define cheating. Do you think that because Barack Obama put more money into his campaign he cheated? It is all about money and influence.

That is because they have been outvoted. Just for the record I am not against bay marriage.

Tell it any way you want. You got outvoted. I got outvoted in the presidential election. I am not going to protest and persecute on the doorstep of the people who voted opposite me. You can't love the democratic process when it goes your way, then hate and blame when you lose. It is Ok to have differences of opinion. The right puts forth propoganda to discredit and disgrace the left. The left does the same to the right. In the end, we vote. Someone wins, someone loses. It all comes down to sportsmanship. If you lose, deal with it and practice hard to win next time. Don't bitch and cry about it.

I will not deny the LDS church involvement in this issue. But I also believe that you cannot grant them sole responsibility for a majority vote. I have many gay friends, and would not deny anyone the right to the pursuit of equality and the pursuit of happiness. But it pisses me off when people express ignorance about the religion of my father and my family. I feel that the LDS church has the right to oppose gay marriage, (as most christian religions do). I think unhappy people are looking for a scapegoat.

Tom, it is obviously you who are not familiar with Mormon doctrine. They believe the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants to be SEPERATE doctrine from the Holy Bible. They also believe in the Holy Bible. They DO believe in additional divine events that are not recognized by the Bible. But they also believe in Jesus Christ as the son of God. The primary additional beliefs they have are that Jesus also visited the people of the Americas, and the Book of Mormon is intended to be documentation of those events.

Unfortunately, YES! Did I not say that I was a non practicing Mormon? But it is not the LDS churchs fault that THE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA VOTED AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE. If you want to get pissed and protest on someones doorstep, do it on the steps of California voters.