MWGemini

I was pretty into it when I was in high school, but haven;t played since i broke my arm. At the time, I had a Tippman(I think) 68 carbine with a custom rifled and ported extended barrel, collapsible stock, and flip down front handguard. My air tank was a remote system with a expandable coil hose. I wore the tank and extra pant in a vest on my back. Taking the weight off the weapon itself made it easier to carry and improved accuracy. Even at the time I was into it, Spyder's were generally thought of as a superior weapon, but I thought otherwise. I think the top end at the time was the Autococker, but I'm sure they have a newer model out by now. Hope that helps. Mike

/me makes mental note to bring camera.

I'm not sure how close it is to Athens, but I've always wanted to go to Thermopylae. It is the site of a famous battle, where 300 Spartans and a few thousand of their allies held off over a million advancing Persians for one week. The last day, the Spartans sent their allies away, and covered their retreat. They fought to the last man. Apparently it is a mountainous pass with natural hot springs, and there is a memorial to the battle there. Mike

Heyyyy! It's Dixie Mike! How's PR? I've still got your weight belt, by the way. Had to add a few more pounds to it though (it was 11, 15 now). When will you be back? Mike

Yeah, it's good advice, but I just have no motivation to actually follow it. I'll probably do it, I'm just procrastinating. Mike

I'm on spring break, with two papers to write, and I don't feel like doing either of them. To make things worse, the Easter Boogie started today and the weather sucks, so going to the DZ would just be a waste of time. Ugh. Damn rain. Mike

Ooooh- a moat. Does that mean your trailer is the castle keep and you're the Queen? Mike

Yeah, promises. I'l believe it when I see it. Seriously though, if we're going to do it, we should find out who wants to attend so we can plan how much and what food to bring. I decided to stay home and work on my papers today since the weather sucks, but I'll be out there tomorrow for sure. Mike

I'm going to attempt to answer this, but look at my profile and see that I'm not the most knowledgeable person on this board. I've only got 56 jumps and started 2 years ago. With that said, I think the biggest main categories of suits are freefly, RW, camera (usually having wings under the arms to catch more air), and wingsuits. The separate piece ones fill a niche market, but I'm not very familiar with them. In each of those categories, there are sub categories. For example, there are freefly tunnel suits, freefly sky suits, etc. RW suits can have booties or not, big grippers or not. Not exactly a sub category, but options for customization. Camera suits have wings of varying sizes and serve to give the wearer a wider range of fallrate, which they can use to move around their target with less work. The separate piece suits I've seen are either tracking suits (Phoenix Fly) or camera jackets, with small wings. I think the need for separate pieces is so the user can customize fallrate, fit, and comfort issues, plus they are cheaper. Hope that helps. Some (or all) of this information may not be accurate. Ask around at your DZ why people fly what they do. Mike

I'm sure Paige wasn't being gender specific. If so, I would have pointed out that I'm the only guy on the team. Judging from the responses I've got so far, looks like 2 ways will be our best bet for now. We just have to come up with the time and money to get down there. Mike

I've convinced a few friends and former coworkers to come out for a jump with me. I always enjoyed reminding them that the scraggly looking guy with the mountain man beard is the one who designed most of the equipment they will be entrusting their lives to. I love the look on their faces after that. I met him once in DeLand. Seems like a pretty nice and VERY smart guy. But that's not as fun to tell them . Mike

Hello, I've done 25 minutes in the Orlando tunnel and have recently joined a beginner 4 way team. We would like to schedule some tunnel time later on this year when our schedules and finances allow. My question is: what experience levels are required to be able to do 2 ways and larger in the tunnel? I highly doubt we could get all 4 of us in there at once, but definitely 2 and possibly three. In the 25 minutes I have flown in the tunnel, I've done a few 2 ways, but nothing larger. I currently have 56 jumps. The other members of my team are approximately the same skill level. The most experienced has about 70 jumps and one hour in the tunnel. The least experienced has about 40 jumps and no tunnel time. We want to share the time so that we can share costs and also train together. Your advice is welcome. Thanks, Mike

Interesting, but in the last 20 minutes while reading this thread, your jump numbers went from 6 to 15. ASC must have aircraft the put Mullins's King Air to shame. Mike Edit: typo

Glad I could help. I realized after I signed off that the numbers I gave you for converting the angle based on quadrant location would need to be changed. My math was based on the circle being 0 to 2pi radians, but Javascript returns the value in negative pi to pi radians. Glad I could help. Mike

PM sent. Mike

Actually, that one is from Dropzone. Wesley Snipes, not Charley Sheen. Mike

I'd love to ditch class and come out there, but I doubt I'll be able to. I've got at least one exam. Maybe others I don't know about. Next week is spring break though, so I should be at the DZ most of the week. I might be able to come out tomorrow after class though. When are we gonna do the fondue thing? Also- do you know what day the balloon jumps will be and what the cost is? Mike

Now that's funny! I used to get upset when my cats would claw my chair, but it isn't really that big of a deal. We just had to start clipping their claws every once in a while, and the damage was minimized. Even moreso when we got covers for the chairs. But training your dog to train your cat- that's genius. Post pictures . Mike

My wife and I have two indoor cats, neither are declawed. The only thing they ever scratch is our office chairs, but we bought some cheap car seat covers so they don't get ruined. Usually they use either their scratching post or the carpet on their cat condo (it stands about 5 feet tall and is covered in carpet and has a built in scratching post as well). I don't see a need to declaw my cats, and I don't see why anyone would want to do that to their pets. It DOES hurt them, and it is not really worth it. If you can't train the cat and love it the way it is, give it to somebody who can. Mike

Twenty minutes. A bit longer than expected, but research is done. Check my previous post. Edit: With www.google.com, all things are possible. Mike

I'm not a pilot, but from what I know and have read, I'm going to GUESS that the answers are: 1:B - The DOT doesn't control the air afaik. 2: Read this:http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Commercial_Aviation/Brown/Tran3.htm 3: Obviously not D, CNN has nothing to do with it. I would guess the FCC isn't it either. That leaves NTSB or FAA. Should be simple enough to research. Give me a few minutes. Mike Edit: Looks like #2, the Kelley act regulated price per pound, Option C looks to be correct : (http://www.prrths.com/Hagley/PRR1934%20Aug%2004.wd.pdf Check June 12th, 1934. Edit #2: Number 3 is the FAA. check here: http://www.fbodaily.com/cbd/archive/2001/01(January)/18-Jan-2001/spmsc012.htm Done. That wasn't that bad. Give me harder ones

I've been running Win2KPro since it was released and have had no problems with it. Ever. It networks fine with both my linux machine and my wife's WinXP Pro and WinXP Home laptops, both wireless and wired. Mike

Probably? Eric, you'll jump every chance you get (can't say I blame ya). Hopefully the weather forecast improves, but for now, it looks like Sunday is all we're going to get. I'm sure you'll still be on the 4kH&P in the rain though... Mike

Do you think it would also do well with freeflying, particularly in sit and head down positions? I mainly just do RW, but I'm slowly getting into freeflying and want to be sure the Mamba is well suited for that before I purchase it. Thanks, Mike

I'm probably mistaken, but I thought the 105 had a 35mm, 109 has 30, and 42 has 25. I guess I'll have to double check. I'm not looking to purchase it right now, just trying to figure out which is a better choice. Thanks, Mike