Taz

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Do a google search.

I am perfectly capable of doing a google search, thanks, but my point was not meant to be taken so literally. Electoral college delegates are actually empowered to vote any way they feel, even if the constituents they represent voted for a different candidate. In the beginning, this was not about preventing landslide victories but about the elitist dudes who wrote the rules wanting safeguards against the uneducated masses. Now, however, the electoral college system has (rightfully) become de facto an instrument of "democracy", and if a delegate voted outside of his mandate it would be seen as a huge abuse of the system.

However, all that is irrelevant to how Bush came to power. Bush came to power because the Supreme Court put him in the White House. And, reverting back to a very old traditional of elitist rule that doesn't give a damn about what most people want, he immediately began governing as though he had a mandate from a majority of Americans. Some call it "strong leadership", others see it as "abuse of power" and "disrespect of democratic principles".

Either way, it would be nice to think that the citizens of the United States will in some way determine the next four-year term, rather than the high priests of the Supreme Court.

The electoral college was never intended to act independently of the voters. Apparently, though, the Supreme Court was.

Hmm... yes, as a "really small girl" I get told a lot that things "generally won't fit me, ever". That has included RW (I'd have to wear too many weights to fall "normally") as well as jumpsuits. One time a guy at a gear store told me that there is no such thing as a tighter freefly jumpsuit for someone my size... that I would just have to learn to fly in a stand all the time. hee hee. Of course, neither of these things is true, and I don't think it's true of rigs either, although of course there are issues around squeezing lots of stuff into a smaller space.

I guess you have both answered my question... I have personally never needed a bungee on my current rig, which is not articulated but is slightly too big (bought used). I think I'll give them a try as long as there are bungees in the world. I do like the extra comfort on other people's rigs that I've tried.

Defining "getting away with it":

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in the sense that most Americans don't think of him the way the furners do, total and utter contempt and ridicule

I couldn't agree more with you, but the Biggest Balls award is for him (okay, and his team) for doing what they want and keeping their heads above water in the American polls.

Earful...yeah! I don't care how you spin the voting irregularity thing, it was a close election and no one can dispute that. But did Bush hesitate for just one second before thinking that he was also the president of all the people who didn't vote for him? No. He started signing hardline right-wing executive orders the day he took office. I have to hand it to the guy--those who say he's stupid are missing the point. He consolidated power quickly and decisively, and whether you agree with how he runs the country (and the world) or not, he gets the "Biggest Balls" award for doing whatever he feels like and getting away with it (in the sense that most Americans don't think of him the way the furners do, total and utter contempt and ridicule). I wish the dems would grow some balls, but there doesn't seem to be much hope on the horizon.

I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts!

I'm tempted to agree on general principle, even as someone who started freeflying at 35 jumps. I had a low pull before jump #50 because of losing alti awareness (nothing too hectic, just ground rush and a reality check). Where I jump now, you're required to wear a hard helmet and audible for freeflying. I think that's a good idea. Wish someone had twisted my arm to get an audible when I started.

That said, I got uninterested in RW very fast because of my weight (105lbs soaking wet). With low jump numbers and therefore a rig that was already pretty big for my frame, being piled with huge amounts of weight didn't help me to feel comfortable in the sky. It just made me look like a tortoise with a big shell dragging myself to boarding point. Not to mention the weights on my chest striving for the center of the earth on every landing, dragging me with. So for me, freeflying was an easier way to jump with others in a way that felt natural, instead of constantly being told I was "too small" to fly with other people.

Very true. I'm all for democracy (ie if the majority of Americans who voted, or even the majority of the electoral college, wanted the guy to be pres, I'd have to deal with that). However, the dude was basically appointed by the Supreme Court based on a majority of several hundred votes in one county in Florida. Democracy? Hmm....

52%...

I lived next door in college to the guys who started this website. That was the year they developed the purity test...and I can tell you, they did lots and lots of beta testing before it went live... We always wondered what the farm animals were doing lined up outside their room.

Everyone I know with hip rings who sit flies has to tie their leg straps together to keep them from falling off. My current rig doesn't have any articulation but I'm getting a new one and trying to decide whether it's worth it. Any thoughts on why/why not hip rings for freeflying?

-T

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Hey, maybe if I beat ya to it, I can teach ya...and then you can teach me the hundreds of things you've learned from almost 4,000 jumps, sound good?

This is what makes skydiving so great. Last year I wanted to learn CRW so I traded sitfly coaching for CRW coaching--we both learned and more importantly, it was fun as hell. I only have 450 jumps but I love that no matter how long I'm in the sport there will always be new stuff to keep me humble.

Heeeellllllll no.

Is it fair that I still get to vote but don't have to live there? After being outside the country for almost 2 years you can damn well bet I'll be sending in my absentee ballot. If it's anything like the last election though, IT WON'T MATTER WHAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS WRITE ON THEIR BALLOT. *sigh*

I first posted on July 19, 2001 about what to wear freeflying. It was right before my first boogie at Lost Prairie and I didn't have a jumpsuit. At the time I was just maybe sort of starting to think about the way skydiving had changed my perspective on what I was doing with my life: living in California, hated my corporate job, other than a few really special people jumping was the only thing that made me feel alive then.

By November 2001 I had decided I couldn't do it anymore: I couldn't keep with the jobs I hated and work to skydive indefinitely. So I packed up everything I owned, sold most of it, put the rest of it in my car, and drove east until I hit the Atlantic. Then I got on a plane to South Africa, where I had no "real" job lined up, no friends, just a plan to volunteer and see if I could translate my desire for an ethical career into making a difference for a few people who needed it. I had studied African history and had been to the continent enough to know I already loved it.

Within three months I had been robbed blind, attacked on my way to my volunteer job, and lived the most fulfilling and exhilarating days of my life since I could remember. I ended up finding a new home DZ in Joburg, thanks to DZ.com and Tonto, who insisted he was not an axe murderer when he offered me a ride to the DZ via email
I've downsized from a 135 to a 109. I can pack for myself without worrying about getting it in the bag. I've done more naked jumps than 100th skydives and more night jumps than I ever thought I would. I'm coming to Arizona this year to skydive in the USA again!!

Next year, I will learn high performance landings. I will try a Birdsuit. I will get better at flying my camera. I will be able to take solid docks on my head.

In five years, I want be a more well-rounded skydiver. I want to have had enough experience flat flying to become an AFF instructor when I get the jump numbers (almost exclusively Freefly now).

Hopefully I will still be alive, both physically and mentally. Life is no fun if you're not living it.

-T

Good to be here!

Blue ones,
-T

You've posted twice about feeling unsupported in your jumping--there are lots of skydivers here who have been through it. In fact, almost all of us in one way or another.

I was dating a guy who was unsupportive when I went through AFF. Came out to the DZ for my L2, sat inside and read a book while I landed, refused to do a tandem, and basically thought I was crazy. Well, you have to decide at some point what skydiving means to you. I knew I would never be able to give it up without living the rest of my life feeling bitter. So it didn't work out with the whuffo.

Maybe you are in a more committed relationship--figure out what's important to you and then deal with it. You may have to be patient in helping him come around. It sounds like he is just very worried about you. Then again, there are lots of divorced skydivers out there. I'm thankful I got a rig on before I made a decision like that, or I'd be one of them.

If someone demands that you to give up something you love, they don't truly love who you are and the relationship will never work in the long term. They love who they want you to be. You can figure that out now or later, but the result will be the same.

People always tend to get upset when someone they care about breaks out of the Matrix and decides to fly, or do something a little closer to the edge than they are used to. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so I throw mine out of the airplane every weekend!

With so many people sending vibes, I still want to add mine to the pile of goodness, faith and hope in her world that Michelle so beautifully said she believes in. There's so much here for you, courageous woman!

-Taz

My first sitfly attempt was on jump #31. It was a three-way with my then-boss (who had as few jumps as me) and Roger Nelson. I beetled it, legs and arms waving the whole way down. As soon as I figured out that freeflying didn't require me to wear 100 million pounds of weights just to fall like a "normal person", I was hooked. I wished I had found a way to do some more flat flying, and every now and then I go out for some 2-way. Still, just got really tired of hearing that I'm too small to keep up... hookitt was the only one who could stay with me during AFF without the equivalent of a piano and three large cows hooked to my waist

Sadly, there are racists everywhere. My response was to laugh this off. Gotta pick your battles. My working hours are all about fighting for social justice, but I hate engaging with it when I'm trying to procrastinate by hanging out on dz.com!

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if the proper maintance isn't done and proper gear checks aren't done, shit can and will happen.

That is an excellent point. In the last month or so at my DZ, we have seen all kinds of preventable incidents. A jumper with over 300 dives nearly boarded a plane with his 3-rings misrouted. Last weekend there was a cutaway because the jumper did not inspect his own new gear before getting on the plane. Skydiving is a gear-dependent sport, but lots of people take it for granted that their gear will be fine or that someone else/the packer will tell you if something's wrong. Once you're off student status, you're on your own. Even when I don't pack for myself I save the last pack job of the weekend and take time to inspect my gear. If I'm unsure, I ask. This is the best way to avoid shit.

That said, some rigs are easier to maintain than others. I've only owned two cars in my life, one was a new Toyota Corolla (never even changed a tire on it) and the current one is a 1994 Opel Kadett. I have learned a lot about car maintenance from the piece of shit I drive now--also, it was cheap. But I want my rig to be a Toyota or a BMW rather than a cheaper but higher maintenance burden. Hence, my Mirage. And my need to drive a shitty car to finance such luxuries!

Yee ha, dude! Can't wait to see your new Mirage--we'll have to give it a test drive before I head to the States if you're around.

I'm a big Mirage fan. I've had one since I got off student status and now that I'm downsizing I'm getting another one. I almost exclusively freefly and while all of my jump buddies have gone through premature openings and risers flapping down their shoulders on other rigs (including Javelin) I've been incident-free in that regard. Best pin protection in the universe. Not cheap, though. You get what you pay for.

Dad's dad was a MOT, Mom is Lebanese. Now we're all American, but I can definitely haggle, I've got all the right genes. I just wish it actually worked at my DZ!

Hey, thanks much. I'm very excited about the prospect of coming to AZ and jumping all my money away in under two weeks! It feels like I've been gone forever. -T

How could I not? I jump at the Johannesburg Skydiving Club (JSC) when I'm not on assignment somewhere more remote. Things have definitely changed from when I first got here--the Cessna gave way to a Porter and I'm not the only one who freeflies anymore!