larsrulz

Not that I know anything worthy of mention, but isn't a simple loop tied around the object thereby hanging the break-cord-tied-off-bridle completely free of any minuscule chance of snag ever-so-slightly-safer than the carry-on static-line, whereas the carry-on static line has an ever-so-minuscule chance of snagging some part of the object and potentially leaving you hanging if your tied off close enough near the base of the bridle? If I were jumping the potato bridge and was concerned about this slight risk, then what's wrong with jumping a non-carry-on static-line if I intend to climb back out and untie it? This certainly sounds like a "you shouldn't be jumping if you are worried about this slight a risk," but then again I'm sure everyone has a "I once saw random base jumper have such-n-such an opening, so now I do so-and-so with the nose when I pack"; no reason this couldn't be a "I once saw random base jumper have a scary static-line launch, so now I tie off the bridle directly to a loop on the object, whereby eliminating the possibility of snag." We all have our peculiarities. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

That would be wonderful if you can ask him to check this out. When the WFFC was about 20 miles away I was much more able to attend than when it is 20 hours of plane rides away. Perhaps next year vacation will match up better. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

When I had 30 jumps, I showed up at the DZ early on a friday and didn't have a whole lot to do. The DZO and another instructor gave me a copy of Kinesthesia and Skydive 499 to watch in the video room. Both were excellent training tools in my opinion. Certainly neither was a "kick ass video" to watch at the DZ during a weather hold, but both were extremely beneficial for RW progression. This was over 2 years ago now, but I still remember pointers that I learned therein. btw, I think both are still available from ParaGear, although certainly need to call and check. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Looks like my company is sending me to Paris (Melun to be exact) in September/October for about 6 weeks. Any good dropzones nearby; particularly if there are at least some people who speak English, but not necessary (I've managed to make my way around Russia for the past year without much Russian) I don't mind having to take the train or whatever, but just want to do some jumping somewhere! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Let me know the trick to summoning Brian on demand! Excellent response! 4th one is a new idea I hadn't really thought of! And here I was thinking you should try for the perfect setup and approach each time.

When you make a martini....crack the ice. Use neither cubes nor chopped ice. Either will ruin a perfectly good drink...the secret is in the ice! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

SDC is pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So catching any bus directly from SDC just isn't gonna be possible. Actually I don't think there are any bus services that stop in Rantoul anymore (I could be wrong here). The two bus options (from Ohare area) to Champaign are LEX and SEX. You just need to convince someone to give you a ride from SDC to a bus pickup point and then from Champaign up to Rantoul. You should be able to get a taxi van from Champaign to Rantoul fairly cheaply, but Ottawa (where SDC is) is a long way from anything. Just call up the two bus companies and see what they have...maybe they can drive you from Ottawa to a bus pickup point for a decent price if you have enough people. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Samurai. I'm loading up a tad less, but I'll second the samurai. I definitely like my samurai over the mamba I jumped back when it was still called the aerodyne experimental canopy at the WFFC last year. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Wasn't asked to me, but I'll help anyway. If you want to think about the best lifting body out there, it is going to be a single wing aircraft, not a flying wing or a helicopter or anything else, but a rigid wing aircraft with a lifting point slightly ahead of the center of gravity (not trying to get too technical, but this is important for this question but moreso for the original question). So now, think about what part of the wingsuit creates the most lift (not air deflection but actual lifting force). Unfortunately the center of a wing doesn't create as much lift as the leading edge (per length of wing), so the arm wings will produce considerably more lift than the leg wings (not to mention they will also produce more air deflection (2 wings vs. 1) which increases force on the arms more). Just like an airplane, think about the load applied up at the tip of the wing (since we are flying forward and down, then it is actually up and back, but the up is the important part). The best way to simulate this is to lay on a bench and put half your weight in each hand holding your arms straight out. This puts all that weight right on your rotator cuff. The one thing we do in wingsuits is to drive your elbows forward (not sure hot to put this well, but hopefully you know what I mean), which puts some of the load onto the pectoral muscles, which is a much better thing for our body, but that will deform the wing (if you are interested in maximizing lift this is critical not to do). Obviously we don't currently hold 100% of our weight on our wingsuits, or we wouldn't lose altitude, but as we increase the efficiency/size/skill/whatever more and more weight will go onto our arms, which will end up being the limiting factor in the long run. I have no doubt that there is plenty of improvement left in the wingsuit world (just watching videos of awesome fliers in flight shows a lot lacking in the design), but there are probably only 3 people in the world who actually need (and could make use of) the increases that an honest-to-god aerodynamic design of a wingsuit would give, and unless one of those three is fabulously wealthy and willing to throw money at it, then we'll just have to continue at the current pace of slow, emperical improvements of wingsuit design. Now if one of those three is willing to throw money at it, then let me know, cause I'd love to put my aerodynamic background to use. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Checking my bookshelf, the ones I really learned something from: Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - This is a bit philosophical as it's written by a pork belly trader in the 1920s, but this guy knows more than anyone I've read about the psychology of investing. Sane Investing in an Insane World - I'll definitely support that one! Stan Weinstein's Secrets For Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets - Good book on how to read the market both on stock and industry level. Good for starting out and learning how to invest. How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad - Probably the best true starter book of the lot. Goes into earning statements, indexes, and the likes. Good for learning how to invest in the market. That is a good start, but there are certainly more technical books which go into how to value a company, but you need to know the basics first. Someone mentioned the Motley Fool which is an excellent resource and has some posters on their message boards that have some wonderful information and would put the PWs on here to shame! It's like dz.com for investing! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Everyone has heard of Warren Buffet (maybe not everyone, but he's the second most wealthy man alive, and probably the most intelligent investor in the world). His mentor was a man named Benjamin Graham. Graham had a quote that couldn't be more appropriate here: "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." If you don't see what he's saying, then short term you are voting for which stock you think will do well. You have no control over how your investment will do short term (assuming you have no insider information). The market today has already taken into account what is influencing today. Whereas over the long term, you can find a stock that is undervalued that will inevitably go up over time (although this time could be days, weeks, or months). This is how people become wealthy on the stock market. That or if you can sit around all day having computers analyzing the market and telling you when to buy and sell; that is how day traders make money, not by gut instinct. That said, I do dabble in some short term trading (practice what you preach, right), but very cautiously and with the bulk of my money in long term positions. My best advise is to find a group (5-10) of stocks you like and get to know them well. Figure out what price you think the stock is worth. Watch for short term drops in that stock (particularly if it's due to market emotion and not fundamentals of the company) and this is a good point to buy. But if you do a "buy the stock when it drops" game then you had better know why the stock dropped if you plan to buy. Ask people who lost 90% of their money on Lucent about this! While NoRules makes a good point in the last post about the key difference between gambling and the stock market: "So all that money that people lose in the market... well, others make that much." In fact this is the difference between trading options and trading stocks. In options, the money you make is literally money someone else lost and vs. versa; whereas with stocks, when your stocks increase they take wealth from no one, in fact they increase overall weath of society at a whole! The value of the company you own goes up! As far as where to trade money, there are deep discount brokers that charge $1, but they are definitely suited at more professional traders. If you have $5K to invest, Izone is a good trader at $5 a trade. Scottrade is definitely good for an easy broker, but you can beat the $7. There is definitely no reason (unless you have lots and lots of money) to pay more than $7 per trade. Also, if you go with Scottrade, ask around to find someone with an account and if they give you a referral you can get 3 free trades to start out, which $21 free ain't bad! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Congrats on a new addiction! I fly a samurai loaded a bit lighter, but I definitely have to harness shift it through opening or it has a mind of its own. My samurai likes to go into a diving turn on opening if I just sit in the harness. I did my first 5 or so flights on a demoed pilot at the recommendation of my BMI, but after that I was jumping my samurai on each of the remaining 30 flights I have done. I was lucky to only have one diving turn (no line twists) on a flight, but my take on airlocks is they add more to the situation than ellipticity alone, so my best advice is to be ready for a harness shift to react to whatever your canopy starts doing on opening. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I'm just hoping my employer doesn't see this! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I work international for a oilfield services company. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

That's funny, I thought we spend 4% GDP on military expenditures. And the US has compulsory conscription; oh wait, that's Iran. I also remember when Bush said he wanted Iran "wiped off the map;" oh wait, that was Iran talking about Israel. If you hold what politicians do in the US against the citizens of the US, then it certainly holds that what Iranian politicians do is held against the Iranian citizens....neither seems particular fair. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

This list is total taxes paid, not total income taxes. In the case of say Alaska(really a great state...no income tax or general state sales tax), they get half their tax from severance tax, i.e. tax on oil. Whereas Texas (also no income tax), gets 80% from sales tax and 5% from oil...hmm...who is more oil friendly! I'm just glad I'm not paying some crazy California 10% tax rate...and I thought IL's 3% was high when I lived there! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

If you want to do 1 or 2 trades a year at most, you really can't go wrong with scottrade. $7 for a trade is hard to beat. In fact, they currently give 3 free trades when someone else sends you their little invite ($500 account minimum). I stopped using them when I started trading options, but my coworker has an account, so PM me if you want an invite. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Probably far more technical than you want, but hey....you asked for it and I'm bored at work! For all intents and purposes, it will take the same amount of speed to reach terminal velocity as everything (density, temperature, pressure, etc) is changing enough to make any slight variations null and void for your average skydive, if you don't like numbers then stop reading now... but if you go through the equations to calculate it out (assuming an 180 lb person whose terminal velocity is 120 mph at 5000 ft with a static temperature of 0 deg C from surface to max altitude--mind you weight/terminal/altitude/temperature chosen will not influence the final outcome only the numbers used in this particular calculation) you get the attached spreadsheet. Just ignore the miscellaneous information, unless you want to see that I'm not just pulling this out of my ass, but if you compare 5K, 10K, 15K, and 20K exit altitudes, you get 11 sec, 11 sec, 12 sec, 14 sec (rounded to the nearest half second) respectively to be within 2% of terminal velocity. Like quade said above, the higher you go the more serious it gets, but even a 30K exit only increases time to terminal to 17 seconds from 11. The main reason for this is because (while it appears to be near sea level) air density vs. altitude is not linear, so the further away from sea level you go the more influence another 5K feet will have. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I certainly agree with everything you said, I was merely disagreeing with the "at 56 jumps you are landing with rear riser input?" comment. I assume that his problem was that someone with this level of experience is doing rear to toggle transitions, particularly trying to get advice from an online message board to do it, and not with the fact of possibly using rear risers for landing, because I believe that learning to land on rears is very important, particularly when I see on here how many people mention that they would feel uncomfortable in breaking a brakeline and would probably cut away. It's definitely not as dangerous as someone deciding to start teaching themselves to swoop at 60 jumps, but someone shouldn't think that they have to keep their hands only on their toggles until they have 200 jumps, as that can be very dangerous for them. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I agree with your general idea that transitioning from rears to toggles is definitely an advanced manuever for someone with his jump numbers. Hell, I don't even feel comfortable transitioning, but that said...there is nothing wrong with someone with his jump numbers "landing with rear risers input". In fact, I think everyone at that level should be able to. If he has a broken brake line on his next jump, I would prefer he know how to land it and do such, than to just cut away a perfectly functioning main. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

That doesn't make any of the above right...in fact, they are all absolutely unacceptable, and I would recommend to the original poster that his friend contact the Better Business Bureau and report this. Call the owner of the dropzone visited and be sure that he knows what happens and this is how he intends to run his business. That is unacceptable business practice in my opinion. It is no better than if a camera man had said "sorry, I forgot to turn the video on when I left the airplane, but I got your landing....$70 please." And the jumper shouldn't have to pay for the videographers slot either. I certainly wouldn't pay for the anesthetic if I went to the dentist and he forgot to take out my wisdom teeth like he was supposed to. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

I think they are both members and both have admitted to this. To say that it is an occult organization is a joke. It's no different than a fraternity with very powerful members. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Came across one in Wyoming backpacking last summer and the guy sounded like he loved it and it sure boiled up some water quick. Just remember, canister fuel can't be obtained everywhere in the world, and you can't take it with you on an airline. That's the reason I choose my Primus OmniFuel....it burns everything from canister to kerosene to Jet A! I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

What about the actual ring sight. Does anyone have any experience with the different quality sights? Is a higher quality one worth the extra $50? I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF

Trains experience huge pressure differences. Not to dispute you, just that I would doubt that much pressure is exerted by a slammed trunk, given that they aren't sealed. I got a strong urge to fly, but I got no where to fly to. -PF