RedBull

http://www.4degreez.com/misc/dante-inferno-test.mv Looks like I'll be spending eternity in Level 6 -- the City of Dis (for Heretics). You approach Satan's wretched city where you behold a wide plain surrounded by iron walls. Before you are fields full of distress and torment terrible. Burning tombs are littered about the landscape. Inside these flaming sepulchers suffer the heretics, failing to believe in God and the afterlife, who make themselves audible by doleful sighs. You will join the wicked that lie here, and will be offered no respite. The three infernal Furies stained with blood, with limbs of women and hair of serpents, dwell in this circle of Hell. No mention of free beer.

(in no particular order) The B-52's - The B-52's Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power Mudvayne - L.D. 50 Slipknot - Iowa Soul Coughing - Ruby Vroom Alice in Chains - Dirt White Zombie - La Sexorcisto White Zombie - Astro Creep: 2000

270:1 Lost hackey, just off student status, first dozen or so jumps w/ my own gear. Needless to say, I check the hell out my hackey before exit now. I had sat on it in the plane and shoved it way into the BOC pouch -- I never would have found it. Remember: try twice and go for silver -- it saved my ass!.

Motto for Ashland, Ohio: World Headquarters for Nice People

At 5' 11", 220 lb. (all torso), I've always struggled with my fall rate (RW). I can't tell you how many formations I've viewed from underneath. This suit has made it MUCH easier for me to dive with my buddies, even the petite ones. The order process for the Crater suit includes you weight, measurements, and you give them an idea of how fast you'd like to be going. I chose "fast recreational skydiving", which has worked out great for varying sized RW groups at my DZ. Using these data, they calculate how much extra material you need under your arms. All suits also come w/ complimentary swoop cords, which can be a great help in larger groups (I need them in groups > 4). The suit CAN become a little pricey, once you add all the grippers (and stripes), booties and a color pattern. I was all VERY worth it for me. Who wants a reputation at the guy who goes low all the time? Because of a screw up I made on my order form, they need to call me to verify a measurement. The woman on the phone was extremely pleasant, and my suit came right on time, and fitting great. If you're a larger skydiver who'd like some help staying back w/ the featherweights, I think you'd do well to look into the Crater.

This post in Safety and training dicusses the blood donation topic. I seems that plasma donation is safer, since no red blood cells are lost. I gave blood often before I started skydiving, but never plasma. Anyone donated plasma before? What's involved? Is it much different from giving whole blood?

Chainsaw fun Nun fun

I not positive, but I think the women set two VA records: a 3-point 17-way and a 31-way sequential. I was drinking a lot this weekend, but I think that's what I heard. SpeedRacer, it was great jumping with you. I hope to share some air with you another time soon.

July 18 - 20: Skydive the Point (West Point, VA) turns 40 this weekend! We'll be a Casa and a Twin Otter, as well as as bi-plane and powered parachute jumps. Roger Ponce will be organizing 4 point 40 ways for POPs members, and Kate Cooper and Carol Clay will be organizing a women's VA state record as try-outs for the women's world record in Perris Valley for Jump For The Cause. AND a "Hit and Chug" Competition on Friday night for the sunset load! So, anyone within travelling distance of the Old Dominion State should come on out. It's going to be one helluva party. Go to http://www.skydivethepoint.com for directions and info.

0:14:4 First sit-fly (attempt) First hybrid dive (I was one of the belly fliers, of course) First tube dive (twelve bodies rolling out of the Casa in a configuration resembling a cheese log) First raft dive (I did one inside the raft and one as an anchor. Cool as sh_t!) ... and some fun and productive RW. The Memorial Day boogie at Skydive the Point was a blast, and the weather couldn't have been better. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

Think of an example using two cubes falling w/ one side straight to earth. A 1 inch cube would have a volume of 1³ (1 x 1 x 1), and a presented surface of 1² (1 x 1). A 2 inch cube would have a volume of 8³ (2 x 2 x 2), and a presented surface area of 4² (2 x 2). So, as we've made the second cube twice as large, the volume has increased by 8 times, but the single side surface area has increased by only 4 times. Scale matters. This is why elephants need radiators on the sides of their heads. Their surface area (for heat dissipation) is out of whack with their bulk. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

Here's one... In /dev/null, no one can hear you scream. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

I don't recall the name. It was an small instrumental band that featured a tuba. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

4:0:0 No jumps, but an interesting weekend: I saw the guy who played cousin Oliver on the Brady Bunch. He was in a band called The Mockers that played a bar in Norfolk, VA. He looks the same, except for he now has magenta hair. Some friends and I rescued a baby racoon abandoned by its mother. I'm not a fan of PETA, but they came through with the number of a woman who raises these sorts of animals, teaches them how to survive, and releases them. I went to an Ani DiFranco concert. I'm don't really agree with her politics, but she is an amazing performer. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

I appreciate all the responses. I should have been more specific. Pain is below, not under, the patella -- at the top of the tibia. More on the inside than the outside. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

So, we're launching a 7-way out of a King Air last weekend, and I'm rear-floating w/ 4 people out the door. Being the newbie that I am, I place my right foot in the aircraft as I always have w/ Otter exits. Once all four were out and I was in the wind, my torso got turned 90º outward while my foot, of course, stayed put. The knee pain isn't too intense, but I'm hoping to treat it right so it'll heal quickly. Pain is below the kneecap, both sides. What should I be doing to/for it? The exit went fine, BTW. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

0:6:0 Six fun and productive RW jumps -- five crappy landings. I'm getting rid of this freakin' Safire as soon as I have the money! "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

Yessir. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

1:3:0 Can I just say something about weather forecasts? Worthless! I'm completely convinced that they just make those things up. If I'd known is was going to be such a beautiful day, I wouldn't have drunk so much, slept so late, and I could have gotten more jumps in today. Idiots. If they don't know what the weather is going to do, they should just say so! I'll know better next time. "Audentis Fortuna juvat." - Virgil

It's this sort of thinking that lead to the organ donation problem that Freebird shared w/ us recently. There would be no organ problem if our "ethical" government allowed the families of the deceased to be compensated for their relative's parts, just a doctors and hospitals are allowed to profit from implanting the organs. People would be a lot more likely to sign up to donate if the burden of their funeral expenses were lifted form their survivors by the gesture. Not related, but an example of how government ideas of morality screw regular people. As for cloning -- who cares? Luddites protested when in-vitro fertilization was developed, and now it's proved itself as a fantastic technology to allow infertile couples to conceive, and the resulting people didn't turn out to be freaks or soul-less zombies, as many probably feared. Research to aid in the prevention of disease and repair damaged tissue should obviously be allowed. As far as reproductive cloning -- that doesn't bother me either. Big deal, a much younger twin of someone already living is created. Yawn. And another thing, I'm looking at a copy of the U.S. Constitution right now, and the chief executive's duties don't include "Morality Meister". BTW. Evolution is not a theory. Natural selection is a theory, devised to explain the fact that species change over time (evolution). "Screw you, fat guy. Get your own damn coconuts." - Beavis

Sweater Meat! "Screw you, fat guy. Get your own damn coconuts." - Beavis

3:3:0 The first jump was the coolest. We had dirt-dived a 7-way with a chunked exit. However, once we got on jumprun, our resident organizer got in the the door, shouted "Speed star!", and hopped out. We stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds, then someone shouted "Go!", and we set out to chasing her. We all managed to get together by 7500 ft. and even turn a few points before break-off.

July 25th; Leo

0:4:1 Finally got to jump the new rig after 2 weeks of crap weather.