Andrewwhyte

Bullshit. I hate packing with brand new ones. If it is such a good system do you have your personal gear that way? It may have served a function when people were packing 520s, but with the 366 it does nothing but slow down the work.

Ya I was just poking you. I know what you are saying. From an outsider's point of view we are always amazed at how every issue in the US seems to be seen through race based lenses. Up here it tends to be language/ region but never as intense as you guys have it. Personally I thought the GOP blew the last presidential election by focusing on Obama's race rather than his economic policies.

I think you just have to set it up for yourself. I am sure the CinC will be happy to introduce it just like he did the other one.

Fuck you Dave. I did 19 tandems and packed 22 on Thu-Fri in Medicine Hat.

I gave a guy the bowling speech last week. It was the second time I have done it in 20 years as an instructor. It is not an easy thing to do. Before I talked to him I discussed it with the other instructor from the last jump as well as with the DZO. The decision was not made from just that jump, but also his feedback during the ground-school as well as his first jump. We did not send him away because he was not learning fast enough, but rather because we were worried for his life. It turned out he recognized the reality and was angling for a partial refund on his program (which we gave him). The only other time I gave the bowling speech was after a woman needed to be dumped out three times through level 5; twice by me and once by another instructor. That one was very hard as she was seeing an experienced jumper and was clearly already one of the family. She didn't take it well and asked if she could do some tunnel time and resume training. I said yes out of moral cowardice rather than from the belief that it would help her. Over the winter she went to the tunnel and resumed training at another DZ. I think she has retired now but went on to make several hundred jumps without serious injury. We have remained friends. Was I wrong to give her the speech? Is her successful career proof that I was wrong? Hell No! Just because someone doesn't go in doesn't mean the decision process was wrong. How many 'mad skillz' canopy pilots get told they are going to die and are just fine? How many tandem masters use the drogue for stability and never get bit by it? How many drunk drivers get home perfectly safely? Decisions are made based upon perceived risk. Just because the 'higher than acceptable chance event' does not obtain doesn't mean that the risk was not there.

Does anyone actually pack using the velcro? We got a new rig last week and didn't have time to sew it shut before it went into service. What a useless pain in the ass.

Clergyman.

The most obvious evidence of evolution in our daily lives is the evolution of anti-biotic bacteria over the last 50 years.

Where do you get that the TI was unrated? From the comments above he had his rating pulled after this event. There are other comments that he was not a USPA rated TI, but since The Parachute Centre is not a USPA DZ that is irrelevant. There is plenty to criticize here, but try not to make stuff up. Why not point to all the tandem fatalities that have occurred there over the last 30 years. It is a very high volume DZ so the odds must have caught up to them several times by now. Haven't they?

However the fact that a victory tonight will get them to the finals in only 14 games will be very much in their favour. Everyone is running on fumes and tensors by the finals.

None of the above.

Not in politics they aren't.

,...because it was not lawfully passed as it contravened the superior constitutional law under which the democratically elected representatives of the people were constrained.

So much of the cost associated with these venues goes to the "Major league quality" stuff that other users of the venue do not use. The Luxury suites by and large are not viable for any other events. The "world class" facilities for the officials, the "second to none" AV infrastructure is simply not needed for the state high school championships or the U2 concert. I remember when the voters of King county Washington rejected the idea of building Paul Allen a new stadium they went ahead and built it for him anyway. We are going through that in Hockey right now. They have already started building our new arena in Edmonton with a $100million shortfall 'to be contributed by senior (Provincial and/or Federal) levels of government. Both levels have said no chance. With the feds having lost a bunch of seats near Quebec city because they refused to pony up there, I can't see it happening. The arrogant bastards just assume they will squeeze the province; I hope they are wrong. The city already bent over. The team insinuated they would leave town. Uh huh. Where they gonna go? Atlanta? Kansas City? Like others have said before, it's a racket and corporate welfare at its worst. I am in favour of governments building sports facilities, for kids.

The closest DZ is in Oliver, BC. You might want to call to see what kind of activity there is. West Plains might be a busier place.

Well it does bring the need for balance into stark contrast. Personally I have always had a bit of prejudice against desert creatures. Of course there aren't many of them, they live in the freakin' desert. Their habitats tend to be small and isolated. Are desert tortoises threatened worldwide or just this one species that only lives in this one area but is not so differentiated from the next species in the next patch of desert over?

Not sure that is true Ron. If I am not doing a tandem I am likely going big on my landing; probably more dangerous than my next tandem.

As an atheist I particularly liked his take on religion in America. I wish more evangelical protestants had similar views.

No. There is, however, audio of him telling the 911 operator that he was following him. Whether the gun was in hand or not is irrelevant, who initiated the conflict is clear. What if the unarmed individual encourages conflict with someone he doesn't know to be armed? He is still the aggressor. It may turn out that a measured response includes an armed component. For example if the "defender" escalates the conflict from armed to unarmed.

Within the "Stand your ground" philosophy is contained various response options. To pidgin hole the two use by national defense writers one can ingage in "measured response" or "massive retaliation." I, for one, have much sympathy for massive retaliation provided the defender is 100% innocent within the scope of the encounter. In the case in Florida, the (alleged) defender does not appear to be so. If an armed individual encourages conflict with an unarmed individual then "massive retaliation" does not seem so reasonable.

This argument is the same one used against Warren Buffet. They are both advocating for a rule change and their critics pillory them for not being martyrs. I have no problem with anyone, the president included, using the tax code to their advantage. The problem is with the tax code, not the tax filers. To draw comparisons: The problem is with the liability laws, not the litigation lawyers. The problem is with the political fundraising legislation, not the contributors.

One of the benefits of free trade is the mobility of skilled workers. If you are an engineer we have a job for you in Alberta. Yes it's true that Fort McMurray is not quite as cosmopolitan as NYC, but the wages are high and the hunting is good. The stories in the news around here is always about the labour shortage crisis.

Is this not a thinly disguised non-tariff barrier to interstate commerce? If the vendors have to be federally licensed what other purpose can the in-state limit serve?

Don't silencers reduce the effective range of a weapon? Why would you use one while hunting?

I got my first jump of the year in yesterday too. Unfortunately we woke up to 10 or 12 cm of wet snow. Winter is not quite done with us yet.