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He wasn't discharged due to an injury. He just didn't fit in. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_hendrix#In_the_Army JAKAL

Read this: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/09/somalia.pirates.sirius.star/index.html Check out image #2. That's a ram air with a guy in an orange jump suit. The pirates released the Saudi tanker shortly thereafter. Questions (please use separate replies for each question): 1) What kind of license/rating do you need to make a ransom jump? 2) Since it's not in the U.S., the can the USPA still threaten the jumper's membership? 3) What's the going rate for a jump like that? 4) How many bonus "cool points" would the jumper earn if he can get a pirate to sign his log book? 5) Look closely at the jumper - isn't that Guy Manos? 6) If it isn't Manos, who is the jumper? And don't tell me it's DB Cooper, either. 7) How much does $3 million (in hundreds) weigh? 8) In the event a pirate gets twitchy, how many bills does it take to stop an AK-47 round fired at 100 meters (hello - Myth Busters...)? 9) The photo shows the guy in mid-flight. What do you suppose is going on in his mind at that moment? and... 10) How long will it take before we see this guy on Letterman? JAKAL

No full face. Communications can be critical. Faces were designed to be bashed in (but you've got to protect your brain bucket). Besides, you might miss a phenomenal photo-op post-landing. If you've never seen someone's face after bleeding at terminal, you just haven't lived. A simple nose bleed ends up looking like a few rounds with Mike Tyson. It's a sight to behold. JAKAL

I'm thinking this thread isn't complete until someone writes up "Operation Gallant Eagle" back in '82. It's not my story, so I won't tell it, but the men deserve remembering. Here's the link for those who can't wait for a "no shit, there I was" post: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,922840,00.html?promoid=googlep?iid=perma_share It's great to hear about the low injury counts these days. Back in '84, we filled a deuce-and-a-half up with jumpers who couldn't walk after their first jump. Our class motto: "Where's the Beef?" We jumped T-10 and MC1-1B. An airborne rigger friend of mine says their jumping MC1-1D's now.

Leave it to the media to report "10 skydivers on board, 7 bodies found, all feared dead." Heellloooooo. Would anyone here ever consider jumping from a perfectly *good* airplane? You'd figure that even the media might sort out the notion that the missing skydivers might have jumped. JAKAL

Interesting question - one I haven't given much thought to until now. I've been to a lot of DZs. I've attended a few boogies outside of the ones at my own DZ. I always enjoy visiting other DZs, but I've never really enjoyed boogies outside the ones at my own DZ. I have two main reasons: 1) atmosphere 2) safety On the atmosphere side - it seems to me that boogies invite clashes of the "Titan Egos." That is - too many skygods trying to out skygod each other. On the safety side - it seems like too many people want to cut loose from the rules they have to follow at their own DZs. Combine that with a huge mix of experience levels and an unfamiliar LZ, and the injury/fatality rates go up. Compound fractures, etc., are a real downer, even if they aren't my own. I think I like the boogies at my own DZ more than the others because its easier to avoid the clashing skygods and folks attempting stupid stunts. For example, if we've got a 16way plus video going up in an Otter along with a tandem or two, there's no one left to screw up the landing pattern, etc., on our load. Will I attend boogies outside of my DZ in the future? Probably. Boogies are great places to meet up with old friends and jump specialty aircraft. But I'll cool my jets after a few days so as to avoid tired/hung-over, etc. jumpers. JAKAL

Actually, a tsunami's period can range from 3 to 90 minutes.

I'd call the police. If you're over 18, people aren't allowed to force anyone to do (or not to do) something against their will ('cept the illegal stuff, of course). JAKAL

Actually, that's a good case in point. The photographer who shot that had his camera set on auto - there's about 8 frames in the sequence that spans about 4 seconds. Ya don't see the frames with the brains flying out all that often. The police chief (doing the shooting) had just learned that the prisoner had killed his wife and child in a bomb attack on his apartment meant for him moments before. The chief now runs a hot dog stand somewhere in N.J. last I heard. I dunno what the photographer is up to. JAKAL

MSNBC has a feature called "The Week In Pictures." This week's list of candidates includes a rather stunning photo of a skydiver under canopy silhouetted by a huge silver cloud at the WFFC. If you go to the WiP home page, you can check out all the candidate photos for yourself. http://www.msnbc.com/modules/theweekinpictures/default.asp?0ql=cmp I suggest sending this link along to all your friends and family and suggest they "vote" for this photo. I think it would be great to see skydiving promoted in this way. JAKAL