bob.dino

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Everything posted by bob.dino

  1. Best answer in this thread.
  2. Fluctuates in about a 3-4kg range based on how much exercise I'm doing. Now that I no longer drink much beer, the beer belly isn't too much of an issue, and the wine-and-cheese belly is much less obvious.
  3. To echo a lot of others: - Hostels are cool. - Keep passport, credit cards, etc with you. And not in a "I'm a clueless American tourist" fanny pack. When you sleep, put them under your pillow or somewhere similarly harder to reach. - If you keep your wallet/phone in the back pocket of your jeans, you'll lose them. Front and inside pockets only please. - Be heads up - don't pull out an $800 iPhone in a dodgy area. - Don't be an arsehole. - Learn "please", "thank you", and "beer" in Portugese. - Condoms. - Have a heap of fun .
  4. Yes, but: - Ticket machines and similar automated devices may not accept it. - Tell her to bring a pen, as shops may not have them on hand for signatures anymore. - Tell your cc company ahead of time where she's going, so they don't panic and freeze the card. - If you want her to be able to take out cash at an ATM using it, make sure you have a PIN for it, even if you don't have the chip.
  5. The vast majority of AU is handcam as well.
  6. I've got you beat. 53 in a 50 zone on the Promenade des Anglais . 10 years of driving in Australia without a single speeding ticket. Two in my first three months in France. And then, for contrast, on the mountain roads: I'm doing 80km/h on a nasty, twisty set of roads, and I get overtaken by trucks.
  7. It's tough. Big hugs. We had our fella cremated, and my wife wanted to keep the ashes. So we did. It's a nice reminder of the good times.
  8. bob.dino

    Stuck at LAX

    Of course, he'd have to rent a car to get to them though. I hear they shoot you if you try to walk more than three blocks in any direction.
  9. Not that I would recommend this, but I did 105 jumps in the six weeks after rolling my ankle running. Hey, Nationals was coming up. Couldn't really stand on my left leg, but fortunately, outside centre launches off the right. Tracking was a fucker too; I couldn't point the toe for extended periods.
  10. bob.dino

    Stuck at LAX

    Of all the airports to be stuck in . I had a really nice time here: http://www.laxdayspa.com/
  11. Nigel: how much analog circuit design experience do you have? How much do you know about the drift in calibration of the sensors in the Crypres and Vigil over time? Can you quote the part number of the barometric sensor used in the Cypres? Can you tell me what guarantees its manufacturer provides Airtec? If you haven't been professionally involved in the field, you don't know enough to comment. Promise. I'm a computer engineer, and I've done a little bit of digital circuit design. My thesis was on Digital Signal Processing - directly relevant to this discussion. I know enough to know I don't know shit about what matters in guaranteeing the operation of an AAD. If you know enough on this subject to be qualified to comment, I'll donate $100 to the APF team fund.
  12. I've seen 17 year-old girls nearly kill themselves. I've seen 60-something year old men nearly kill themselves. And I've seen a hell of a lot of 20-something year old blokes try to out-tough the earth. I haven't seen a correlation between age and safety, except to note that guys under 25 generally believe they're invulnerable. Out of my personal top five "you're going to fuck yourself up doing this", one was under 30 and female. Plenty of high quality teenage packers / DZ gofers in the world, too. So, unless there's issues you haven't mentioned, why not be a 16yo fun jumper? As long as you're able to understand the risks, have fun .
  13. I have a friend who is 6'7" and weighs 200lb. He wears the same size rig as a former teammate, 5'3" in stature. I can't safely fit into either of their rigs, 'cause at 6'3", my torso is too long. It really bugs me the way people go "designed for a person 5'8"-6'1"". Get a rigger or knowledgable friend to measure your harness size. Then you can get a feel for whether you're short/normal/long and know by manufacturer what size you need. After all that, you'll know if you need to buy a new container, or if there's a bunch of second-hand containers on the market that might suit.
  14. Thanks mate. Much appreciated. Also a touch too easy to hit the tail, at least compared to a Caravan/Twotter.
  15. Will Vimeo do? https://vimeo.com/36713530 Discussion: http://www.dropzone.com/forum/Skydiving_C1/Instructors_F37/Small_Format_camera/AFF__P4147927/
  16. I'm no jump pilot, but I've hung off a few planes. I notice that the 750XL section doesn't mention anything about stalls with big groups? I've been in a couple that have stalled when a 12-16 way was the jump. With 5-7 outside and the rest of the divers near the tail, the pilot didn't have enough power/control authority to stop the thing from stalling. Shortly afterwards[1], the DZ instituted a rule that if anything bigger than an 8-way was being launched, the divers had to remain up near the pilot 'til the floaters left. Worth including? Or old, outdated info? [1] about 10 minutes, from memory.
  17. They don't exist... yet.
  18. Yup. Speaking as someone that used to live under Sydney's flight path, the A380 beats the pants off the 747-400. And the sooner UPS and FedEx get rid of their MD-11s, the better.
  19. All of that is awesome. None of that needs to involve the USPA or 'offical State records'. Create a Godfrog-type trophy, normalise the numbers needed to win based on the number of active jumpers in each State and make it an SCR/SCS-style thing. It becomes a rite of passage to have been involved, but not something where you have to be trying out for Airspeed to participate. Give 100-500-jump folk a target to aim at, and give the 10+ year veterans a reason to keep current and keep jumping. That'd be doing a huge service to skydiving, to the skill-level of the jumpers, and it'd help out the dropzones too. Off ya go .
  20. Sure, if someone I know or the DZ will vouch for your ability. edit: which is the same standard I apply to all packers, regardless of age.
  21. If you want the state record to be full of state jumpers, organise a record full of people from that state. If they're good enough, they'll get it. Job done. If not, well, better work a bit harder then.