packertom

Members
  • Content

    116
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Feedback

    0%

Everything posted by packertom

  1. i'd think it would be common sense to anyone living in modern America that if you are in a public place and are capable of being captured on film.. you may be.. and with the world the way that it is.. said image is liable to show up on the internet. Does the word "Rodney King" ring any bells? if you are in a public place that does not specifically have signs up stating that photography is not allowed... people will say.. hey! you can't post my pic, I didn't sign a release... it has been upheld in courts around the land that you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a private place, but when in a public place... well, that is another story. if every person shown in a photographic medium has the right to refuse because they did not sign a release.. the Enquirer would not be in business... and not the largest circulation magazine in the nation.. which brings up another point... wtf is wrong with this country... I have to go home and take care of my alien bigfoot babies, the misses is going out to a grassy knoll conspiracy reunion tonight and I'm not invited... just me and little hairy sitting at home with our foil beanies on.... tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  2. guys... obviously you all have a lot of time on your hands. as to asking permission... I think I told people at least a thousand times that the pics would be up on our website and even handed out cards so that people would have the web address... no one, and I mean not one single person said anything at all about "I don't want that pic on the internet" I spent a considerable amount of time showing the pics I just took to the subject and telling them that it would be on the internet and generally I got a response along the lines of "what's the address?" and "COOL!, whats the address?" I've had a couple of complaints, funny thing is the complaints we've received were not from the people in the photos!?!?!?!? that kind of boggled my mind.. we've not received one single contact from anyone in the pictures who wanted their pic taken down.. if we would've , we would have of course honored their wishes... we've had two.. take them down and over 100 "that's awesome" and quite a few, can you send me the hi res version of that pic? one of those being a request from a girl in the wet T-shirt contest and even one, you didn't catch my best side.. can I send you a really good pic of me topless to put on your site? ....how far do you think I'd get if I emailed or called the moderators of Dropzone. com or say , the perris valley website and told them that I didn't like something on their website and that they simply must take it down immediately? if the world worked that way, there would be nothing on the internet at all... all of that being said... over half of the pics on our website weren't even taken by us.. we swapped cards with other photographers... the guy doing the compilation video got our pics too and mentioned adding a slide show to the video.... if you are at a NASCAR race and someone photographs you in the crowd from Sports Illustrated.. how far to you think you'd get in asking them to recall an issue because you were drinking a beer in the pic and you thought that your wife might not like it? I'm not trying to be argumentative, just bringing up some points... these pics weren't meant to hurt anyone and if anyone would have complained or asked that they not be put on the web.. they wouldn't have been.. noone said a thing this year.. last year, one girl did specifically ask that a pic of her doing something embarrassing in the hot tub not be put on the web because her bf might see it and the person that she was with wasn't him... I showed her the camera and deleted the pic right in front of her... that's just proper ettiquette. These pics are just a visual and photographic representation trying to capture the essence and experience of the social aspects of Couch Freaks... everyone is focusing on the less than 5% of the photos that involve some form of nudity and I was being generous in that count... come on guys.. it's not that big a deal... okay, having said all of that, it's a moot point anyway because we pulled down all of the pics and are changing our banner ads, that deal has run it's course and everyone that wanted to see them has seen them and now we are focusing on the Christmas Season. ya'll have to ask yourselves if a few years ago when dropzone. com ran that ad with the woman in the bathtub with all of the weenies that we all laugh at now and can't believe that skydivers would have freaked out over it...if you would have been someone at the time writing in to parachutist and complaining.. or in today's world .. posting here? and then several years later kind of getting quiet when others were laughing at the fun police who complained about something that , in hindsight, just wasn't that big a deal... my 2 cents for what they're worth. tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  3. okay guys.. pics are finally up on our site at http://www.velocitysportswear.com so you can stop calling and emailing me... impatient fuckers... coding html is not my forte... hope ya'll enjoy... thanks to everyone for all of the awesome support we got at couch freaks.... blue skies, Tom (the T-shirt guy who liked the company so much he, well, owns it) tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  4. okay guys.. pics are finally up on our site at http://www.velocitysportswear.com so you can stop calling and emailing me... impatient fuckers... coding html is not my forte... hope ya'll enjoy... thanks to everyone for all of the awesome support we got at couch freaks.... blue skies, Tom (the T-shirt guy who liked the company so much he, well, owns it) tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  5. we thought about talking to the guy with the ultra light at the end of the run way.. problem is the corn is very, very thick and about 8 feet tall.. the canopy is at the bottom and they've been looking for it on every load since.. you really can't see more than about 6 feet... wish it was that simple... but it's just too thick and by the time that the corn dries out and you can see to the ground.. it will be too late for the canopy... i hate corn.. why can't people around here grow potatoes? tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  6. hey all.. Kim Schuette and someone had a canopy collision at the JFU boogie at skydive dallas and I was looking for her canopy yesterday.. my partner and I spent almost 7 hours wandering through the corn.. did anyone see about where the main landed? I'm freaking exhausted and really would like to find it for her, she's a great lady. she found her freebag in line with the right (east) edge of the huge pile of haybales and the left (west) edge of the clump of trees.. we were looking west of that wind line figuring that the canopy travelled farther.. now we're getting some reports that it may have landed to the east a hair.. any reports on what you may have seen would be helpful... thanks. Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  7. you left it on the velocity sportswear table and I looked for you but I guess you'd run off... so I made sure it got mailed to you.. luckily you had your name etc.. in there... blue skies.. glad you had fun. Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  8. I've been busy, busy, busy... there is a lot more that goes into this than you'd believe... we're rocking along, registration is going well and it looks like I'm going to have more people than I initially planned on.. we're printing shirts as fast as we can and in the process of building the bar... got my bad ass polyester in the mail finally.. DO NOT FORGET!!! SATURDAY NIGHT IS THE POLYESTER PARTY... DRESS UP FOR IT OR LOOK LIKE A SQUARE!!!!! got to pick up the rafts tomorrow and the margarita mix... got a liquor store to sell to me by the case so I'm stoked about that... food is taken care of.. we're just about on auto pilot now.. if you can pre-register it would be good.. there is going to be a traffic jam at the gear store in the morning.. I can see it now... we'll have a separate table for VIP inprocessing of those who pre-registered to alieve some of the glut.. sorry for the lack of updates.. I've been swamped like you just don't know... HOPE TO SEE EVERY SKYDIVER IN THE WORLD AT THE BOOGIE.. this is going to be a hoot! blue skies, Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  9. this spot empty. tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  10. has anyone else had this same failure mode present? or is this just this one guy?... I'm wondering why sunrise would throw out an SB even though it's only recommended because of this? I've never heard of this being a problem on a wings before.. maybe they have been a rash or them or something and I didn't notice it.. I'd probably look at this one guy's packing and stowing technique ... just seems a bit odd to me.. thankfully this one isn't mandatory.. any one else wonder how exactly to cut a line with scissors, excluding the binding tape, remove the stiffener and reattach the piece of cordura without it looking like hell? tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  11. tony the tiger... I think we're on the same sheet of music.. we're going to reinforce with a cordura core... just worried about the wear and tear on the grippers so far as losing fur etc.. tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  12. awesome, thanks Bill, that's about what we were figuring with the raw numbers we were running... we're going to do a few tests tomorrow to see what it's doing at lower speeds...not sure if it's scalable, but at least I know that our first whack at the numbers is close.. Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  13. I'm hunting for some numbers on snatch force and constant pull resistance of a 26 inch ZP pilot chute.. I'm sure that someone has run this all through some tests at some point and it would save me the time of setting up a fixture.. hate to reinvent the wheel on this data..if you have it in newtons, that's cool, I can convert. thanks, Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  14. btw... dude.. lose that bungee on the reserve flap.. that thing is a fatality report waiting to happen... seriously.. if it's that big a deal to you, get a removable slider, but anchoring your main to your rig regates the entire cutaway system.. it's dangerous and unnecessary.. every time I see one it gives me the willies.. do some research.. I know of at least one confirmed fatality where this type of modification was the proximate cause... think about it.. you stow your slider there, then for some reason you have to chop... now your main is trailing in a pile of shit directly above where your reserve is trying to launch from... my advice, take it or leave it.. get rid of that bungee and either pull the slider behind your head or get a removable system... or I could be wrong.. what do I know anyway? tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  15. a lot of mirages will come out with wrinkles.. it's kind of the nature of the reserve tray and a product of the pretty deep wedge shape that the design requires ... once a rigger learns the tricks of packing a mirage the wrinkles tend to go away... the lump of the AAD is a result of a tight pack job without a "slot" being dug out to fit around the AAD.. this is once again a technique that comes with practice.. he's a new rigger and some of the cosmetic nice to have skills will come with time.. an ugly pack job is not necessarily an unsafe pack job... pull the reserve out and look at the stows, look at the lines, and look at the folds.. that's where it really matters... if you have a problem with the cosmetic appearance of the rig that's cool-- address it with your rigger... thankfully you didn't bring up his name here.. but if I were him, I might be a bit perturbed with you calling him out in a public venue without giving him the chance to first defend himself or clean it up for you.. just my 2 cents... having said that, in all fairness, it is a little ugly and does have some room for cosmetic work.... the D-ring not being seated isn't really a big deal.. if you see it hanging out.. stick it back in... you should be able to figure out how to do that without a rigger's help... I have on occasion forgotten to mate the D ring to the harness during the sealing/docmentation stage of the pack job.. always inspect a rig thoroughly when you get it back from repack.. one thing that you should always and I mean always check is that the reserve ripcord is routed properly through the RSL rings if you have an RSL installed.. I don't think that there is a working rigger out there who hasn't at least once inserted a pin and noticed later that they'd missed the RSL rings... anyway just my 2 or 3 cents... tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  16. actually.. a one week shake and bake course is a certain level of committment.. someone who is willing to come in consistantly once a week for several months and do all of the requisite studying in their own time is another level of committment altogether in my opinion.... I personally learned the old fashioned way.. I had a couple of riggers who supervised and taught me what I needed to know over a 6 month period of time... there are different ways to skin the cat.. the important thing to remember is that anytime someone wants to learn more about their gear or wants to actively pursue their rigging ticket in an effort to better themselves and the sport it is incumbant upon any rigger to actively suport this desire regardless of monetary gain... we all need to give back to the sport and more jumpers with rigging tickets is a way to improve safety for everyone.. just my 2 cents tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  17. I'm looking at adding tiger striped grippers to an RW suit.. anyone done this? I'm trying to decide what fabric to use.. anyone have any suggestions as too a "fuzzy" tiger stripe fabric that would wear well? any suggestions would be helpful.. and no.. it isn't for my jumpsuit to forestall all of the jokes... Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  18. additionally, I'm sorry it took me a while to see this post.. if you ever need to get in touch with me it's probably more direct to call me or use the email address on our website.. I don't check the forums here that much... luckily a a wonderful girl happened to see the post and texted me or I might not have seen it at all.. tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  19. thanks for the message.. We'll get your order reshipped asap.. I'm going to send it signature required this time... after I shipped it the second time I thought it was a done deal because I hadn't heard any more about it. I'm sorry about the inconvenience.. please call me when this one gets there.. I'd like to put this to bed . blue skies, Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  20. This is Tom from Velocity Sportswear... could you email me at tom@velocitysportswear.com or packertom@dropzone.com and give me the details. We had several orders go missing around the Christmas time period and we'll certainly reship any order that you didn't receive. I'm not sure who you are or which order you refer to... please give me the pertinent details and we'll certainly get this taken care of asap. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused you. The only order that I can think of that might still have an open ended status is one to a girl, I don't remember the details, I'm not in the shop, but we've shipped that one twice and I haven't heard if the second order arrived or not... Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  21. hmmm.... like the way you think... I'll bring it up in the staff meeting and see what we can add to the list of events.. we're working on the list of events and pairing up organizers right now... we'd talked about some crw stuff and maybe a mini-swoop meet... I'll announce the updated list of events soon.. thanks for the input. Tom tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  22. JUST FER US BOOGIE SKYDIVE DALLAS 12-15 JUNE 2008!!! Okay kiddies, this is the first public announcement I'm making concerning this boogie... We've been doing this for 5 years now and we're going BIG this year... Basically, it's called the Just Fer Us boogie because it's planned and run by the skydivers for the skydivers.. here's a basic look at what we currently have planned... We're bringing in a Casa and we already have a Super Otter and a Grand Caravan. Currently we have Larry Henderson, Guy Wright and Larry Clapp organizing big way stuff and the Dallas Organizers Group handling the rest. We'll have dedicated organizers for track dives, pylon races, SCR jumps, high altitude jumps with oxygen, raft dives, toy dives, ball jumps, hybrid dives.. well you get the idea.. we'll be feeding on thursday, friday and saturday nights... there will be an open bar with domestic on tap and mixed drinks as well as blended margaritas... we'll have a DJ and music and we're working on a band for Saturday night.. Polyester party on Saturday night with contests etc... and ya'll know what that means The Texas Headdown State Record will be going on concrurently. We're working on the math for boogie fees etc and I'll post them as soon as we figure it all out.. this is going to be a monster.. we are aiming to make this the biggest boogie that Skydive Dallas has ever seen! Velocity Sportswear is sponsoring the event and for all who met me at Couch Freaks this last year... you knows I likes my parties We're working on getting a webpage up for the boogie but for the moment you can get information from our myspace page at http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=316594019 or on the velocitysportswear page at www.velocitysportswear.com Hope to see every skydiver in the world there... more to follow :-) tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  23. Guys, slide rebound exists.... basically the slider is caught perfectly in your burble and slides down the lines without catching wind, with only the resistance of the lines on the grommets slowinging it down.... the slider works only because in the opening sequence it must remain dominant over the main for the longest period possible... if the main becomes dominant over the slider too early in the process, bang, you have a hard opening.... it happens, it is rare, but it happens... I've seen hard openings on normally docile canopies like spectres and safires have violent openings for no reason... this is what I believe is the reason.. it's a phenomenon kind of like the loch ness monster... we can't really catch it on video.. but I believe it's there... slider rebound.. not the loch ness monster... tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  24. just a small hole on the bottom skin, his rigger has already repaired it with about a 3 inch patch... tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?
  25. tent boy is a guy from Dallas named Scott Levy... no injuries... just his pride :-) tom@velocitysportswear.com www.velocitysportswear.com What's YOUR Zombie Plan?