baronn

My Father also served in Korea. The pictures of him when he left said it all. He was a brave man but, he sure looked scared that day. Can't blame him. He never talked w/me about what happen there. We visited the Korean memorial in DC. A joke as far as I saw. H e was glad he saw it b4 he died. He passed on from lung cancer. Tough exit. I was there and the best I can say is it was like watching a fish out of water. Wouldn't wish it on my worse enemy. Thanx for the enlightenment. I'm gonna do more research. Always amazes me how the heroes are forgotten and the people that create these messes are honored. Seems wrong. Few people understand what is really happening in this country. I don't see a pretty future. Get all the jumps in you can. It's about to get a LOT uglier.

Certainly a tough situation.That pails in caomparison to the coming Tsunami of failures in the commercial real estate mkt. This where the real leverage is and w/ the failures in retail coming almost weekly. it's going to get a LOT worse before it gets any better. On that happy note, perhaps we can alleviate the shortage of packers. About those child protective laws........

The way a Jav is packed is to put that material under that flap. It's a little tricky to get it just right and have nothing show. Not as bad as it looks. Not right but, if it's like it is in the 2nd photo, it should be fine. Tell whoever repacks it take their time and accordian fold the material under the flap. Don't bring it to them and say "I need it tommorrw." That will eliminate the problem you see.

What is really so amazing about this whole subject is the basics of skydiving marketing are completely overlooked. Someone I know who runs one of the most successful DZ's once told me he believes less than 5% of those that could skydive actually do. I think that's about right. Just look at how the infighting and competitive nature between DZ's is and it's easy to see the worst enemy is not the market, but how it's run. Imagine if instead of all this internal backstabbing, there was actually a well-planned, executable mktg. campaign that increased the exposure in a positive way. How about instead of sueing Skyride, an alliance that changed the way they sell it and open the whole membership to their customers? When a new student arrives to learn, they don't get dinked around and ripped off? There are a few places that do this and are not seeing a reduction in their #'s. As a matter of fact, they're seeing an increase. I experienced all of this and in spite of that, I went on to get my license and a bunch of ratings. Now I run into the political side of the business of the sport and have had difficulty finding a place where I can be treated fair and rewarded for some hard work. Make it more condusive to getting involved , reward dedication, cut the backstabbing, add some cooperation and all the other problems will solve themselves. I doubt I will live long enough to ever see this happen.

As has been already stated, a series of problems occurred to allow this to happen. Had one of them not occurred, perhaps the chain could have been broken and changed it. Luckily it turned out well. I witnessed a similar event w/ the bridle being wrapped around the students foot. The instructor went head down and it came off. Uneventful jump after that. A little creative editing and it's still a secret. If you do enuff tandems, something weird will occur. Hopefully, you can learn from it and get better from the experience.

I just finished reading your article about the Sony CX100. You seemed to endorse it in the article. Seems like a great choice to me. Are there any issues with using this? More specifically, does it like our world up in the air?

Seems a bit hard to tell from the angle of the photo but, it looks like the tension from the baglock is on the left side. I'm not sure if the riser covers are released or not. Whether it's the angle of the shot or not but, that is WAY too close for comfort. It could have gone real bad. I still don't understand why the risers didn't release? Even with a collapsed drogue, it should have enough tweak to separate them. Please see about getting a definite answer here, I'm already scared enough.

Holy Crap! That is some scary stuff! Your camera person must have thought they were witnessing a double mal. Glad you got thru that OK. The real question here is, have you figured out what caused this? The mains not releasing seems like a big problem to me. the photos clearly show the cutaway handle out. I'd really like to know what UPT and anyone else has to say about this.

You can buy a HD weed wacker and install a blade on it. Make sure and get a pair of handlebars. This is very dangerous shit. A phenomenom known as kickback.happens all the time and it can take your foot off. If you go that way, you still have to dispose of the cut down crap. Best bet, hire a contractor with a brush cutter attachment. A tree service is where you will find this. Mfg. will let you demo but not if you're just a homeowner. After all they're looking to sell a machine. They can come in and mow this down better than you can do yourself. It'll be all mulched up and nice and flat. Better yet, it won't cost you an arm or a leg!

my bad, it's a new Macbook. It's got an Intel processor. Are there any digital video cameras you might recommend? Love the idea of downloading a file, instead of having to run thru the whole tape. You'd think the mfg. would be on this and come up with a fix.

I don't do a lot of camera jumps, but that will change this summer. I have a TRV20 and a 10d for cameras. Ideally, I would love to have just 1 camera that I could use for video and pull stills off of. That not being possible, I'll keep a still camera up on top, but would like to add an HD video camera. I hear you can download videos like a file on some of the hard drive video cameras. I also understand these cameras don't like altitude. What about video cameras that write to a card? I have a Mac powerbook and I'll put my niece to work editing these while I go back up. Any and all help I can get with this would be appreciated. I'm not that great with this stuff, so please keep it simple. Thanx

Yeah, you are a DICK

The more I learn about the direction of our Gov., the more I want to MOVE! They wouldn't dare attempt this in China and they're a bunch of Commies.Those leaders know the masses would put them on a meathook in the middle of Tiannemen square! We need a revolution while there is still something left to save. Extracting money from hard working folks and giving it irresponsible banks and Ins. co.'s? What the hell is with that? This is simply another example of a gov.out of control. Our founding father's fought against this and it's time to do it again. We absolutely cannot tloerate this type of treatment and should protest every inch of the way. Who's with me?

Amazing how every other post in here has garnered more attention than this. The world financial situation is far worse than most people know or seem to care. This is kinda like the UK equivalent to AIG, but worse. The US has dumped 160B into that pig of a co. That is being dwarfed by this injection of capital. 250B pounds is almost 400B $! WOW! I don't think that will be the end of it. I've been telling everyone I know to get out of being long stocks for some time. I've been playing options into earnings season and doing very well. You could almost throw a dart @ a Wall Street journal and make $. I don't see any positives on the horizon. We may have a bear market rally here there, but the fundies are looking TERRIBLE. I will continue to prosper, but the world will continue to deteriorate. Great, just when I make it, there won't be anything left to enjoy. The treasury bubble is the next to fall. it won't be right away, but it's coming and will dwarf the internet bubble. Invest in guns and gold. That's all that's working right now.

The choice should not have to be made. They should both be treated. How can a world where we have the capability to overcome almost any obstacle, have to make such a basic decision? Everyone has an opinion until it might be them on the table. Funny how that changes it. This is not a problem in other countries. Health care has turned into a business that exists for profit. Is that really what it's about? How this country can spend the massive amounts of money on wars, pork laden projects and ridiculous benefits for elected officials is nothing short of criminal. We are quickly rushing towards a catastrophe. This is how gov.'s are toppled. And should be. Only when everyone unites will things change. The reason the chinese are doing what they're doing, is not because they're a bunch of kind-hearted commies. No, they don't want to end up on a meathook in the middle of Tiannemen square. Let's take a second look @ this and really consider what's important. How productive could we be if we didn't have to worry about what should be basic human needs? If a country wants to expand and prosper, they need to create a place where this can exist. Look at the success of Google and see how they treat their employees. Can't a country do this? An effective national healthcare program is long overdue and should be here now. Check out the movie"Sicko" to see how it really works in other countries. We have been fed a(nother) bunch of lies and are being led to the slaughter. Time to stop this.

Mike is and has always been an anamoly in this sport. He has understood what needed to be done by letting the job tell him what to do and not vice versa. If only some of the others that determine the direction of this sport understood this concept, we might be in a very different situation than what we are facing today. The cost increases in this sport have been phenomenal. No wonder the attrition rate is what it is. It will only continue in the current economy. Cudos to you Mike! I'd tell you to keep up the good work, but you don't need it.

Seems like any time you mention anything about Skyride that is positive, you're automatically going to stir the pot and generate a lot of negative response. Not very pragmatic. The case that went to fed. court didn't take a judge any longer than a half an hr. to rule in favor of Skyride. Like it or not, those are facts. If USPA had been on the ball, they could have developed their own version of Skyride and distributed the leads to the membership. They didn't and haven't. Doug from CSC is developing his own version. The idea is sound and effective. As usual, it takes sharp people like him to take this to the next level. Yeah, the #'s were up last year after having been down for a number of yrs. Set the bar low enough and it's easy to increase. Eventually, Skyride's reputation will kill them, it's only a matter of time. They're trying to squeeze everything they can at this point, but it won't matter. Just seems like all this hate towards the idea just hurts the organization. Less than 10% of the people in this country who can make a jump, have done it. As more exposure happens, that # will go up. This is marketing 101. I don't see the downside here, but I could be wrong.

makes Ya'wonder how it woulda' been handled if it was a dude. We've all seen that behavior @ a DZ b4. Unfortunate it has to happen. A word may be needed, but it doesn't have to be deroguertory(?) Nobody wants to get hurt. Simply helping a person understand this so they can make a better informed decision is what it should be about. No wonder the sport is losing so many people each yr. Who needs to spend as much as this fun costs and be made to feel like crap? Just a side note, if a student doesn't pass a level, who really failed, the instructor or the student?

And won.Now. I'm not a real fan of Skyride, but at what point is the USPA ever gonna wake up? Here's an organization that has a very effective marketing system that gets people to come out and jump. As much as you might disagree with their methods(many are deplorable) it can't be denied that it's also effective. Instead of suing Skyride, why not build an alliance and use their marketing to benefit every DZ in the USPA? It would certainly be a stretch and require a whole lot of people that hate each other to get along, but it might save the sport. There is no unity in this organization and if it continues as it has in the past, never will. History has proven this to be a disaster. It's time to evolve and move forward. As long as we have these selfish, I'm gonna keep it my way or the highway attitude, we as a sport and an organization are doomed to repeat the mistakes that have been so ineffective in the past.

Thiough I feel the new Prez. has done quite few things right(an absolutely brilliant campaign) the left attitude towards gun ownersip is going to change things in the future. Smith and Wesson will be a big benefactor of this and one might consider buying their stock b4 earnings.

Of course we can all vote by avoiding the situation. I realize I'm probably the only instructor on the planet that has been given a bunch of promises and had most or all of them broken once I committed. I don't need to "whine " to anyone. I just feel it would be beneficial to know if an operator is a trustworthy person or a place avoid. Most operators realize how important it is to have good staff and treat them accordingly. If you've been in the bus. for any length of time, you have an idea of what to expect. It's the few jerks out there that make something like this worthwhile and letting others know ahead of time could be a big benefit. Pointing your insults in the wrong direction does nothing to benefit the situation. I'm not trying to create any more drama, just avoid it.

Allow me to clarify my point. The US has "0" gov. prescence in Iran and the gov. there led by Achmidinejad (or something like that) has no love lost for the US and I would bet he is not alone over there. If a problem were to arise(Looking at someone's wife the wrong way, drinking, saying anything that could be deemed inappropriate...) One could find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Iran has the largest per capita population under 30 yrs' old. I'll bet they do have a LOT of friendly, warm and wonderful individuals. But, these folks are not running the country and won't be for a bit. I have never been there so, I don't know this personally. I do like the Youtube videos i see out there and it looks like these folks are ready to bust loose. Till the gov. Loosens up a bit, I'll stay a visitor and wait for the change that is inevitably coming. Freedom for all!

349' Freestander in the snow. Felt so good, I hated to throw.

No doubt about it, there ar a LOT of things you'll find out the hard way. A few prime examples: How fast you pass AFF will be in direct proportion to your bra size for most instructors. A LOT of instructors(mostly full time) do not care about your time,energy,money or feelings. You represent a dollar to them and that's all. Developing a new generation of skydiver's is the last reason for what most instructors do. Anyone new and ambitious will represent a direct threat to their small and pathetic existence and they will try to prevent that from ever occuring because they have absolutely nothing else happening with the rest of their lives. Once the money train you represent to them ends, it is highly umlikely you will ever get anything from them without paying dearly for it. Going in with the understanding all of the above is true, find an instructor that does this NOT do this as a living and is therefore motivated for other reasons. It is worth it. I've met a few in this league, but I will emphasize few. Good Luck. You won't regret the decision

I spoke with Dean who is supposed to be in charge of the place. He hasn;t made a jump b4 and it's a very startup operation. He couldn't provide me with many details and was real anxious for me(to pay my way) to get over there. This just didn't add up in my mind and after some careful research, I decided against the idea. he then wanted to rent my gear from me and asked if I would be interested in becoming an investor. Makes Bernie Madoff sound like an investing genious. I declined and would recommend anyone considering this to be very careful. Iran's economy will be in the sand with these oil prices and the place isn't very friendly to outsiders to begin with. Check out the State dept. travel website for more info. I really like the idea, but this guy has little to any experience in this business and things could go very badly in a lot of ways and well in very few. Hope this helps