tbrown

Damn straight ! You (OP) go out and win the Nationals 3 years in a row + gold at the World Meet and you can make your own cover shot and be as "gay" as you want. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

They're still allowed & are standard issue at some dropzones for tandem students, because the TI's understandably don't want to hit in the face with a hard helmet. That said, I never wore the damn things even back in the day. All they're good for is keeping your brains from making a big mess after you're already dead. I personally knew one woman who BOUNCED after hitting her head on a door frame and knocking herself out in the pre-Cypres days of the 1980's. I also know & jump with a guy who was wearing a frap hat until he got bashed in the face so hard he almost passed out this summer. He now wears a full face helmet. I've even finally made the transition to a full "winshield" myself, which has already fended off a few feet & elbows. You're a grownup and this is America, you do what you want. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just stick with it and keep jumping. You know you want to. Skydiving is not a natural activity and you're facing up to a lot of your self preservation "fight or flight" instincts. Don't expect to learn it all at once. It takes time and it takes more jumps. But you'll get there. Welcome aboard ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Interesting question. I just switched over from a Mindwarp to a Mamba, after too many friends got bashed in their faces (me too a couple times). I have noticed a bit of fogging up myself, both on jump run AND sometimes after opening my canopy. If I'm fogging up after opening, the answer is simple, I just flip the lid up and fly on. So far has only happened on one humid day. Otherwise, in the plane I don't drop the lid until I'm approaching the open door. I do drop the lid down halfway, so that it's obvious to me that it isn't closed yet. Have so far had no problems going floater or in freefall. Interesting point about whether it's the glasses or not, as I wear glasses. It hadn't even occurred to me that it might be my glasses and not the helmet. I suppose a cleaning solution with anti-fogging properties might help ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

What else can you expect from a Court made up of so many father & son appointments ? Hell, they elected the son to the Presidency by a single vote.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm a longtime NPR listener who is deeply disappointed with Williams' ranting on FOX since he was fired. Okay, the guy got fired and feels pissed off. Been there, done that. But to go on a show with Bill O'Reilly and see which of them can shout the loudest, over each other, about how it's time to kill NPR is disgraceful on his part. Yeah, I listen to NPR. I don't watch FOX, because I think FOX is a lying piece of shit network. So I excercise my FREE CHOICE to not watch it. I don't go around ranting and raving about banning FOX from the air waves. That's the difference between NPR and FOX. NPR has a different editorial opinion. FOX wants to shoot anyone who disagrees with them in the head. Hell, they openly talk about "poisoning Nacy Pelosi". This kind of talk is threatening to our basic American freedoms. And now Juan Williams is wallowing in their FOX Party Line. Well, if they were paying me $2 million a year, maybe I'd be their bitch too, but it's shameful. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Rubbing one out in advance has long been recognized as a way of helping guys last longer. You wouldn't want her to think you're an overexcited little boy, now would you ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

This design, intersting as it is, strikes me as a "backup" device. the user gets to preserve his or her good looks, in hopes that sensors will activate the device AFTER the collision is already underway. Seems like a better idea to already have a hard helmet in place on one's head. You already know it's there and nothing has to be activated. Besides, people are used to seeing helmets on bicyclists by now and there are many sporty and attractive versions available. Plus the cops would always be pulling you over and ticketing you for "not wearing a (real) helmet". Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Both are great dropzones. Because of greater volume, you'd have better luck on a weekday at Perris, though even then the pickins can be slim. The two dropzones are only about 15 miles apart and it's easy to drive back & forth. HOWEVER, keep in mind the different field elevations (Perris 1420 ft, Elsinore 1250) and the fact that you must drive over a set of hills to get back & forth. So if you're going DZ hopping between the two, you MUST turn OFF your AAD and re-set it at the other dropzone when you arrive ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

As to your pattern objectives, which are commendable, you don't need 4000 ft to accomplish them. Pulling at or below 3000 ft is not "low", or an unnecessary risk. Now true, I came up "back in the day", when we were dumping rounds and fast opening early generation squares at 2000 - 2500 ft. In those days, I usually dumped at more like 2800 ft and caught flack for "opening high", because I'd be sitting in and opened at 2500. Nowadays, on smaller loads (less than 10 Way), I'm usually going through 3 grand at line stretch, with a snivelling canpopy. I like it that way. On larger loads, or if things have gone to hell, I'll stay in my track until my pull alarm sounds at 3 grand, or in the worst case, until I see everyone around me has pulled themselves out of the picture. But all things being equal, I like to dump slightly above 3 grand and am by no means pulling "low". In the old days, when I was pulling between 2500 - 3000 ft, I once had a full blown streamer mal, cutaway, and deployed my (round) reserve, which was fully opened just a shade below 1800. When I jumped off El Capitan in 1980, my 7 cell main was open at about the same altitude. The lower you go, the quicker you do have to commit to acting if things don't look right. My hard deck alarm is set for 2 grand, though I'll go with a visual fix of 1800 before letting the main go with a "low speed" mal - if it's a total, baglock, or streamer, forget it, it's gone. To me, the bottom line is to have Plan B IN MOTION , i.e. being ACTED upon, above 1500 ft. Ultimately, we can jack up recommended or required pull altitudes forever. Why not 5000 ft ? It begs the question: since you're still falling out of the sky, is this really the sport for you ? We have to be able to assume a certain amount of risk. It's not a question of whether to cop an extra few seconds of freefall - it's whether you're comfortable being there at all. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

So what do you expect from a Court packed with father & son appointees, which in fact "elected" the son ? Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Lisa, sorry to hear you're leaving, but understand - and respect - all your reasons why. I don't think the climate has really changed all that much from what it's ever been. It's just that the balance of your own personal equation has finally tipped the other way. And I respect that too. There really IS life off the dropzone - and it's a very full life too. And what you have from your years skydiving is something nobody can ever take away from you either. Nor can they take away what you have learned and added to yourself as brass plated bitch from the experience ;-P. Live long & prosper, etc, etc.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Purely speaking, yeah sure, consenting adults should do what they want. I AM concerned about the human trafficking that goes on, with women who have had their passports confiscated and their children back home threatened if they don't put out for the pimps who brought them to Europe or America. Or the corrupt Thai officials who routinely sell children into the brothels of Bangkok. There is A LOT of money passing hands in this business. I have no problem with the women (or guys, I suppose) who want to rent out their bodies for a bit of fun. They are not the people who should be arrested or stigmatized. It's the people at the top of this food chain who need watching. But as far as the frontline "players" who are offering their bodies, I would offer only protection, whether in the form of rescue, or legalization and taxation of their wages. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just said a prayer for your dad now and will keep him there for long as it takes. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

This has to be the best feel good story of the year. Hats off to the Chilean people for pulling together and for their unwavering devotion. Hats off also to the NASA guys who helped with the nutrition and psychological advice. While I have routinely seen 23 people extracted at a time from a Twin Otter, from 2 1/2 miles above ground, I have to admit this rescue really does make me feel very happy and deeply impressed with the professionalism all around. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I feel for you. It's been 18 years since my brother Mike died of metastisized testicular cancer. The lesson from his death is DON'T DELAY seeing a doctor if you think you see something is going wrong. My brother got paranoid about losing a nut (you do have to lose the bad one - or both - but testicular almost always happens in just one). By the time he finally couldn't put it off anymore, the doctor's first words were, "Holy shit Mike ! How long have you had this ?". Fuck cancer ! I fuckin' hate it !! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Recently, while my daughter ran off to join the circus (she did too, with Barnum & Bailey), I read her copy of Sara Gruen's "Water For Elephants". Great story about circus life during the Great Depression. Somebody else mentioned Tolstoy's "War and Peace". Don't be intimidated by the size. though it's about as big as The Bible, it's also broken down into bite size chapters of 2 - 12 pages apiece. The style is VERY readable and it's a fantastic story. By the time you get near the end, you'll wish it was still longer, because you'll hate to finish ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I started out, long ago, with static line. I was scared and nervous to some degree on my first jump, but did just fine. On my second jump, I was REALLY scared, much worse than the first time. But again, I did just fine. After that, things improved with time, until I felt confident. Then I took a break for 22 years. When I came back, I was dry mouth scared shitless all over again. and again did just fine. Skydiving is not natural. We are born with only two instinctive fears - sudden loud noises and falling. Both fears are inborn to aid in our survival as a species that does not enjoy winged flight. We skydive from airplanes with noisy engines, tearing through a lot of noisy air, plus the plane rocks like a boat on the ocean of air. It's all quite disconcerting if you haven't done it before. But over time, you will get used to it, gain confidence, feel comfortable, and even start to enjoy it. Even now I feel a bit edgy on the first load of the day, especially if I haven't jumped in a couple weeks. But once the door opens, it's all about the business at hand. The rest of the day the ride up is relaxed, minus the occasional fart in the cabin or some of the WORST jokes you will ever hear in your life. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You did just great. Your main was plainly spinning you around, which means you were going down FAST ! You don't have enough time or altitude to sort out something that's gone that far out of control. There will ALWAYS be some a-holes on the dropzone who will tell you, "dude, you didn't have to chop that". They're full of shit, plain & simple. It's your life, your choice, and why you wear a 2nd parachute. If you hadn't chopped when you did, you'd have been down through a grand in mere seconds and THEN things would've got "sporty" for sure. Congratulations on making the right call. Plus, now you know your EPs really do work ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I doubt it, very sincerely. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

First of all, I am totally on Molly Norris' side. TOTALLY. The danger she is in is real, just like Theo van Gogh, who was murdered in The Netherlands. It pisses me off to have to say that she needs to change her name and hide in her own country. In OUR country. But she does... BUT I am not going to go on the warpath with all AMERICAN Muslims over this, because I know they're not all behind this. Not anymore than all Baptists are behind bombing Planned Parenthood Clinics, or sniping at doctors through their kitchen windows in the dead of night, or walking up to doctors and shooting them in the middle of Sunday morning services. All of which have happened in America in the last ten years. While I have been guilty of some really hateful anti-Muslim statements in the last few years, I have also privately thought that the murder of doctors should be responded to with the killing of preachers in the pulpit on Sunday mornings. Or that the assholes who picket Planned Parenthood should be whipped across their faces with coat hangers. But this kind of hatred is just the root of the problem and I renounce it. Even if other people can't. Even if they want to continue the cycle, I won't. We have ways to protect Molly Norris. We have ways to prosecute terrorists. Timothy McVeigh, the white American veteran terrorist who blew up the Federal office buildings in OK City is DEAD. He had a FAIR trial, with a GOOD lawyer, was found guilty, and got the needle for it. Went to his death without a final statement, probably for the better - he didn't have a good word to say, so FUCK him. Our system DOES work. We don't need to persecute our fellow AMERICANS who choose to follow a different religion. If they break the law, we're more than capable of getting them for that. Wake up people ! You're bing MANIPULATED by the people who brought on the economic collapse. They have NOTHING to offer you, but fear itself ! Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Just one more strike against Benedict personally and Papal Infallibility in general. The phrase "Power corrupts, but absolute power corrupts absolutely", was actually an editorial response in 1870 (or 1871) to the First Vatican Council's proclamation of the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. Benedict, or Cardinal Ratzinger, or "the Rat" has been a problem all along. He's been the watch dog of the Church's ideology for the last few decades under Pope JP II. He is the ONLY Pope to have ever served in the Nazi Wermacht. Though to this defence, I will say Ratzinger (his real name) stayed out of the Hitler Youth on a concientious objection. He was drafted at age 16 as a Flakhilfer, helping to load flak into anti aircraft guns protecting an industrial site - across the street from the Dachau concentration camp, which supplied slave labor to the factory his flak guns were protecting. A 16 year old of his considerable intellect simply had to know what what was going on with the work force in the factory he was protecting. By the time he was drafted at age 18, he was still in boot camp when Hitler shot himself and the Nazis surrendered. But on these counts alone, he should never had been elected Pope. So much for the claim of guidance from the Holy Spirit. So if this guy could load shot into flak guns protecting a factory that used slave labor from the Dachau concentration camp, is it any suprise he could cover up and sidestep charges against Catholic clergy accused of RAPING children ? He should be seen not only as a disgrace to his Church, but as a good reason to finally cut the bullshit about absolute Papal authority. And I say that as a recovering ex-Catholic. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'd like to know where you get these figures from. To be perfectly honest, they sound like you made them up. And all this after one year in the sport with 11 jumps. Please don't think I'm flaming you though. I AM questioning your stats and your limited experience to make such a statement as if it were fact. But read on. In the old days, many dropzones used AADs like the Sentinel for student rigs. They required recalibration before EVERY jump and would sometimes fire high anyway. Regular jumpers did not consider them reliable enough to use for relative work, so we jumped without them. We used to say "they're a great idea, and I'd use one if they were more reliable". Well, beginning in the 1990's the Cypres kicked off the next generation of much more reliable AADs. Since then, most of us now use them and "low pull/no pull" fatalities are no longer the leading cause of death in our sport. But you suggest that modern AADs have a "failure rate" of 50% and I have to call that patently absurd. There are a number of factors that can "fool" an AAD and sometimes any device will just plain fail, but I know of no statistic that even documents a 1% failure rate of these devices. Your next stat suggests that raising the firing altitude by 500 ft. will increase the success rate to 90%. Again, I am confidant that statistics will show a successful deployment rate more like 99+%. I know six people who have personally had AAD fires. Two of them were injured in such a way that neither of them could use their arms to reach or pull any of their handles. Two of them simply lost altitude awareness and their AADs fired as they were deploying their mains well below 2000 ft. It is worth mentioning that both of them, as low as they were, reflexively went for their main pilot chutes - which seems to be a human failing, as there often IS a difference between what we're trained to do and what we WILL do out of ingrained habit, even if it's the wrong move to make. The fifth person had a pilot chute in tow. I'm not clear as to whether or not she pulled her reserve ripcord herself or not, but her Cypres2 fired. The sixth person had a Cypres fire as she was struggling with a pilot chute that wouldn't come out of its pouch. She was so severely injured on landing that she doesn't remember any details of the accident. But without her AAD she would have simply died on impact. We've also had two fatalities where an AAD "fired too low". In one case the victim turned the device on at her sea level home, then drove to the dropzone, which is at a field elevation of 1450 ft, effectively "fooling" her Cypres into giving her no protection at all. In the other case, the reserve pilot chute was seen leaving the victim's back at 100 or so ft above ground level. Her mother is now suing Airtech, SSK, and Square 1 for the "failure" of the AAD. A number of questions suggest that the design of the container, the fit of the reserve canopy in its container, possible pilot chute hesitation, and finally the victim's apparent distraction in trying to remove a glove from her hand may all have contributed to her very public and ghastly death. But the mother's lawsuit could make the manufacture and sale of AADs too risky for the manufacturers and thus restore us to the good old days where too many good jumpers died for reasons known only to themselves. I will say one last thing, which is that ripcord deployment is a lost art in our sport. I started jumping just two years before the first hand deploy rig came out. But in those days, ALL jumpers understood pilot chute hesitations - because we'd all had A LOT of them. It was a fact of life we lived with. We learned how to make a good p/c launch and how to get a hesitant p/c off our backs. It was just a part of our sport that had to be mastered if we wanted to survive. But hand deploy worked so well it replaced ripcord deployment almost overnight and we've never looked back, and that's mostly a good thing. But the downside is that we've produced two generations of skydivers who have never pulled a ripcord - until they're already in trouble and trying to launch their reserve to save their life. Even so, it still almost always works. But sometimes it just doesn't. Our sport is mostly as safe as we choose to make it. But it will NEVER be completely safe. That's just the nature of the game we choose to play. Nobody's making us do this. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[They will recieve a life sentance for murder when they went to a max for pot. Then they take the max inmates and classify them to med security to make room for non-violent felons! It will never end. If the above crimes in caps where put to death with only one appeal......that would make room to classify inmates correctly and hopefully start to do something about our overloaded prisons. Something else we CAN and hopefully will do this November in California is to LEGALIZE the possession and recreational use of marijuana. then we can TAX and regulate its sale and use, the way we already do with alcohol and tobacco. Then we can deal with the health problems that some people do have with its use, eliminate the whole criminal enterprise that currently rules its cultivation and distribution, and keep a lot of innocent users out of jail altogether. The drug laws are why prisons are too overcrowded. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In this case: The DNA evidence consisted of only two samples, they were from the victim and the defendant. The defendant was "ratted out" and apparently confessed to the crime to his cell mate. There was video evidence of the defendant using monetary items that could only have been obtained after the incident. As I understand it, Lee was stabbed, and beaten with a shovel. Somehere in the time line, forced into a closed trailer, driven into another county, and then expired after a struggle and because of blood loss. The trailer was set on fire. Then, he showed up to the victims house professing to be a friend, eating their food, drinking their liquor. He was arrested down the street from the victims house after his second visit. Actually, this is exactly a case in point that I have no sympathy whatever for the bastard. This is a very emotional case, the victim was known to many of us here on this forum. I never met him, but knew him somewhat as a fellow skydiver and dot.commer. In this case, I agree there was more than ample evidence, and given the pride Florida takes in its death penalty I don't think this guy has - or deserves - much more time to live. But I'm addressing the broader overall picture. I encourage you to read "The Thin Blue Line", by Randall Adams. Adams was a no-account, pot smoking drifter, who one night hitched a ride from some young kid. He and the kid fired up a joint and the kid drove off into the night. That night the kid got pulled over by a cop and shot the cop dead. To make a long story short, Adams was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for the murder. Guess who the star witness for the state was - the kid who actually committed the crime ! Adams was indigent and was given a useless lawyer who failed to challenge any of the evidence, any of the testimony, or any of the procedural errors. There is documented proof that prosecutors witheld evidence from the defense that they were required by law to share. There is documented evidence that several police officers rehearsed and gave perjured testimony. Adams met with a state psychiatrist who pronounced him a "vicious psychopath" in front of the jury. This psychiatrist was in the habit of giving the same testimony in every case he ever testified - the state paid him handsomely and the jury believed him - after all, he WAS a doctor. Adams came VERY close, within a day or two, of going to the electric chair. Someone took an interest in his case and pointed up enough procedural errors that his sentence was commuted to life without parole. Eventually, years later, his conviction was thrown out and the state declined to re-try him. (The kid finally admitted in court to "having seen the whole thing", as well as admitting he was the only person present. He was clever enough to never admit actually pulling the trigger.) This was a clear case of misconduct and abuse by authorities who weren't even interested in finding the real killer. They only wanted to look good by nabbing some "worthless bum" and frying his ass. Randall Adams was not an isolated case either. He was part of a pattern of the abuse of power that our Constitution is meant to protect us all from. All power corrupts those who have it. If we give the power of life and death to the state, they WILL inevitably abuse it. And in too many cases, some famous (Sacco & Vanzetti, et al) and too many unknown cases, they have repeatedly done so. It is a power we should not allow the state to have - there is NO effective safeguard against its abuse. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !