BlindBrick

Catbait?

What's really cool is ifd you look at how those movies were made, and who made them, you see them as the prototypes for Hercules and Xena. FWIW, rumor has it that Bruce Campbell was approached about playing Ash in one of the upcoming Freddie vs. Jason movies. Word has it that New Line balked when Campbell insisted on a rider in his contract that Ash be the clear victor at the end of the film. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Everyone? What about that fraction of the world's population that didn't grow up watching US TV shows, chewing US gum and drinking US soft drinks? Hey, We're Americans. If we are not vacationing in it, outsourcing to it, or just bombing it, the world ends at our borders. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Sound's like Olav's contract. He, and his freefly group, do an annual freefall modeling gig, but I can't remember what brands are in it. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I was diagnosed with Hyperactivity Disorder back in 1978 at a Indian Health Service Hospital. ie, it cost the government money to treat me and the doctor was on a fixed salary. Where's the incentive there?. Do doctors overdiagnose and proscribe stuff for ADD/ADHD, yeah probably but please don't marginalize all of us, that have to cope with the real effects of this real condition everyday of our lives, just because of a few bad docs. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

But, But, I'm only 1/2 Cherokee! The other half is a mix of Commanche, English, Scottish, Dutch, German, and Irish. Sending me back to the land(s) of my ancestors could get really messy. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Ah, come on guys let's be honest and drop all this subjective crap. She's either a 1 or a 0, ie you would or wouldn't do her. Considering all the crap I've see skydivers jump, she'd be a 1 as long as I had a steel-belted tri-ply condom. Of course this is advice from a guy with a screen name of Blind, so YMMV.

I've got two. 1. Jump # 63. When I began skydiving I had a degenerative eye disease known as Keratoconus. The main effect was that my eyes lost most of their ability to focus. Everything was a blur to me and my depth perception was pretty much non-existant. Because of that, my landings always sucked. 63 was my first stand up landing 2. Jump 109. Another effect of the Keratoconus was that I was effectively night blind; however I did not want to get restrictions on my D liscense when it came time for one. To be honest, I was beyond scared shitless, way more than I ever was as a student and I had some positively fucking terrifying moments as a student. I was scared bad enough that I called my family and girlfriend to let them know how much I loved them in case I didn't walk away from the jump. When I came down from that second night jump it was one the most intense feelings of achievment I have ever known. I knew that I pushed my self to the extreme and not been found wanting. And looking back, I think deep down I felt like when I finally do achieve my D, people will say "He's a decent jumper" rather than "He's a decent jumper for a blind guy." -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm guessing that it's a natural part of the whale's digestion process. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

That is a cool boss!! He supports your swooping by helping you out wingloading your canopy.. Yep, that's my home DZ's motto "Don't downsize, Supersize!"

Considering the FAA kept my file in "Reconstruction" for nearly 51 weeks, I'd have to say that's pretty dead on.

No problem, you asked for opinions and if I was willing to offer one, I should be willing to listen to your reply. Hmm, hadn't thought of the one-stop shopping idea. thanks, Hee, hee. I'm a non-traditional student so I'm not really working under those assumptions. The vast majority of what I have, I've earned the hard way. I gave up my $30k+ a year job to go to school and now squeak by on $300 a month, like you said nothing is handed to you. It's nice to know that Aerodyne is willing to work with college teams, and I appreciate you taking the time to break this stuff down rather than just blowing off my opinion as "not feasible". -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

[edited because I didn't fully read Skymonkey's message] I never said, and do not feel, that sponsoring college teams is /more/ important than an instructor's program. I merely said that I believed that college teams should receive more consideration. I will reiterate these reasons below. 1. College jumpers tend to be younger and thus form brand loyalties earlier and tend to purchase thigns for a logner period. ie. For argument, you have an average jumper starts at ~28 y.o.(an arbitrary number) and a college jumper starting at 18. Now assuming that everything else is equal and that they leave the sport at the same time, the college jumper will have a decade more of slydiving-related purchases. 2. College students are influenced by the info given to them by college students who jump. This applies to tandem as well as personal gear. If a whuffo student asks me about two dropzones and I say DZ:A uses brand X tandem gear which is crap, and DZ:B uses Brand Y which is OK, which DZ do you think they might be influenced to go to? Finally, something that occured to me as I was typing this was your comment about college teams being inexperienced. This in and of itself might be important. When you watch a team like the Knights or Majik, you are struck not only by their skill but the amount of sheer dedication and talent it takes to get to that level. Honestly, that's a level that the vast majority of skydivers will /never/ attain. They serve more as an high ideal to strive towards. College teams, OTOH, represent a level of advancement that is obtainable is the relative short term. In that way, they can be as inspiring as the big boys. Turning this back to the topic at hand, the people most likely to be inspired by these "inexperienced" teams are probably relatively low time jumpers, ie people who are very likely looking towards their first new gear purchase. If the gear company can make a good impression on these people(ie through spponorship of college teams, ect.), they are likely to form a brand loyalty that will span these jumpers entire time in the sport. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Not really, the tab is such that the rounded button part is what lays against my shin when kneeling like you mentioned. I am a very big guy and while you know the tab is there(it feels different for lack of a better word). it is never been uncomfortable. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

First, let me very freely admit that I am biased on this, but regarding sponorship I believe that there should be a lot more emphasis on college teams/clubs. It's been my experience that generally our "sponorship" is just the bulk discount price. I feel that this is a missed oppertunity because 1. a quality sponorship is likely to form lifelong brand loyalty which is not an inconsiderable thing when you consider that college jumpers tend to be younger(ie have a longer purchasing lifetime) and 2. College teams have an enormous impact on a large pool of potential customers, other college students. Though most of my team(myself included) are relatively low-time, the whuffo's on campus put a lot of stock into our opinions. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I got my suit from Gotcha covered and asked them about some velcro inside the legs to secure my booties. They went one better. The shipping company they use had did some cosmetic damage to my suit when they packed it, and Kris too it back to make repairs. At the same time, she sewed snaps on to the tips of the booties and sewed a couple of tabs with the other halves to the inside of the legs. A really nice, quality mod that she threw in for free. Talk about customer service! -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I'm 285 sans gear so I'm probably exiting at 320. Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Because some have trouble accepting the truth when it's that far fetched? Don't know, I won't claim to have saw it personally(was before my time) but my DZO and S&TA are two of the straighest shooters I know and they just don't strike me as the type to lie. They said it was in Parachutist so maybe a search of back issues before april 2001 will yield some prof. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I think I know where this one came from. At my DZ, we had a student pull very low to try to impress his girlfriend. He ended up with a two out and failed to chop it when it went into a downplane. He survived because he happened to luck out and come down at a water hole favored by the local cattle. The combination of mud and manure almost certainly saved him from being a fatality. Not really thinking anything about it, the S&TA wrote up an incident report for USPA, noting that the manure had likely saved the student's life. Much to everyone suprises, USPA printed it in the Parachutist, complete with the manure save part. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

If you're just going for a look, just sew up a false pack and save yourself the risk of something going wrong and killing you. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Once I hit the track I am fine, but it does take a small bit of time to enter the track and then you come out and wave off and usually in those times I go lower than most evrybody else. Plus I think it's a bit of the anchor effect too. In grips everybody else is slowing me down a bit while I speed them up so when we break they all begin decel while I begin to accelerate. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

At, one thign us anvils have got to be careful about is "timed" opening altitude advice from lighter people. They often forget that we fall so much faster than them and things like "track for 5 seconds after break off" is going to put us several hundred feet lower than anybody else. I usually just remind them that I am an anvil and that anything timed is going to put me lower than anybody else. Everyone I've jumped with has always made the neccessary changes without complaint. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

The website is FLASH and has a Trippin' boardgame on it. Beat the game and you get to watch the short. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

I really don't think that type of person is really suited to be president. International politics is a nasty, dishonorable and usually immoral business. The person I want for prez is the one willing to lie cheat and steal to put my country at the top of the heap. The hard part's finding someone who is willing to plant a knife in their own mother's back if neccessary but not yours. -Blind "If you end up in an alligator's jaws, naked, you probably did something to deserve it."

Dude, I thought that was me!