tdog

Who? How much? I might need them... Dave posted once how much bandwidth was required... It was a lot. More than I could host on my network! Every hosting plan I know that has "unlimited" bandwidth manages this "unlimited" by making the pipe too small for any hosting site of videos... So users will take days to download videos when 20 are downloading at the same time! P.S. Please tell Youtube where they can get unlimited bandwidth... I hear Google is losing a crap load on youtube bandwidth right now, they have not been able to make the video hosting business cheap to operate, so they might want some of your bandwidth, espcially since their bandwidth bill is in the millions of space-bucks per month.

Why not post a photo of the camera enclosure. It is absolutely funny...

I tend to run every rig thru the washing machine after packing to add value to my services. When I do it, I remove the packing data card. When my customer's do it, they sometimes forget... I don't want to have to explain to the FAA why I did not properly document my services when packjobs suddenly wash away....

I just flew today... In an unnammed US international airport with a subcontracted security company running it instead of TSA, they did not even pull my rig aside. Normally they need a supervisor to inspect and swab it. It reminds me of pre-9/11!

Be careful... One of my customers is a world champion swooper... That means his rig gets wet in the pond every once in a while.... He called me a while back, "you dick wad, I paid you and you did not even sign my card!" Ok, he was a tad nicer, but since he was out of town, he was upset... I knew I signed the card with my stamp... It's on my checklist... So I asked to see the card, and it was just a tad red, all over... The ink ran. I thought the ink was a sure bet, but I was wrong.

Ok. I got real numbers. 21% increase. We got the notice emailed to our broker today for the upcoming renewal. Thanks reform! The largest in our company history... 15% was the old record!

They would have increased with or without the bill... The question is, how much. I will let you know in a few weeks as our renewal is coming up.

It was my understanding the public option was meant to be the insurance of last resort, not a cost effective alternative to provide competition. Look at USAA or other non-profit business models run by private corporations... There are alternatives that work. But you have to remove the red tape and government to make it efficient.

I was the first one to complain when the CEO of United Health made billions... I believe profit is good... Profit makes our world work. But greed is bad. And the system supported greed because only a few insurance companies were willing to conform to the regulations in our state... Anyone could, but few did. But, why do you think the insurance companies sat back and watched this reform occur without lobbying the government or raising arms with their customers? BECAUSE THERE IS NO REFORM to cause them to limit profits. Now they have customers REQUIRED to purchase their services! The letter sent to us was not a warning or call to arms, but an FYI as part of our policy renewal process. This could be the best thing that happened to insurance companies for which you hate!

I would support a non-profit, coop, like USAA does for home/auto insurance for it's members. Cheap, well run, honest, and pay's profits back to it's customers.... There is no reason why we can't make one now... Government does not need to make one.

Scare tactic. Premiums were going up anyway, just like they have in every recent year. Actually, the last two years have been rather flat, and one year we went down....

The most liberal/democratic/socialist/left/whatever you call it person I know, who is a canadian citizen, who lives permanantly in France, had to buy airfare to the USA, to visit her doctor, for an EYE INFECTION, because her Paris France doctor said 2 weeks before she could get an appointment and her Canadan doctor said about the same... It was nice because I got to see her, but I am sure she did not like the $1000 airfare bill to see a doctor in the states. She said the pain was very bad and was worth the money. I am all for reform... This one is not the one we needed... Let's not model our healthcare on failed systems of other countries.

I am just crossing my fingers we do... Although, we are now moving much quicker as a global economy. Argentina was the 10th richest world economy around 1910. It sunk very quickly over the next 100 years. Some of their economic policies, including public pension programs, helped with that downfall... We are not moving at the speed of "Rome" anymore...

I KNOW my insurance is going to increase. I KNOW because my insurance carrier already told us in a memo for our renewal citing "pending government legislation". I also was given a copy of an email, sent by a large insurance company, to their agents, explaining how "reform" would change costs - and it does not look good for anyone who pays for insurance. I have been told by people in the industry to expect 50% increases over the next few years, which will take our stripped down plan and make it the "Cadillac" plan that will get a 40% government tax, thus increasing our costs 100% or doubling or costs. One of the big concerns I have been told - the pre-existing condition clause. The problem is that anyone can take the "fine" for not having insurance and pay the government that fine - which goes into one budget (taxes)... But the costs come out of a different budget... When person gets sick who opted to pay the fine, and goes to their insurance company and buys insurance, the insurance company must pay the claims. That insurance company must not deny "preexisting conditions", but never received revenue when the person was healthy. Thus the risk pool is adversely affected. It would be like buying car insurance after an accident, where the car insurance would have to cover any accident before... Would car insurance costs go up? Sure they would. Everyone would pay the $50 fine to the government until they need the $500 insurance.... The solution was simple in my opinion.... Preexisting conditions that arise while insured would be covered by the current or future insurance companies. Conditions that occur while uninsured (by choice, not administrative error) - are not covered... Then people would be motivated to buy insurance or accept the risk. Oh, and doctors would not have to see patients who don't have insurance unless they prepay. Then people would find value in insurance and the risk pool would be the least expensive to insure.

--Robert A. Heinlein

I saw on a plane, where the DZO loved to brag about bending rules, a security camera (dome, waterproof) mounted to an inspection port under the wing. The wires ran into the cockpit where he had a memory stick recorder. No FAA approval, but it worked.

As I said - if they don't fit/sit just right - it locks up, so test your own rig. No atoms anywhere near me to test. Can you take a photo and post? Have the "skydiver" lay flat on a table wearing a rig with shoulders off the table enough three rings are exposed to free air. Pull the main out, pull the main towards their feet, lines across their back, as if they deployed head down. Pull hard with constant pressure as if it is tangled in their feet, Cutway. Does it release every time?

So say you were driving your toyota down a highway after knowing there was a recall... Say your car sped up... Two options: Scenario A 1) You reach down and try to pull the accelerator up. 2) You call 911 while your car is going 90 MPH. They dispatch a cop. After 20 minutes he gets to you. 3) You hit the brakes lightly, but hold them until they burn up. Then the cop tells you to put on both your ebrake and regular brake at full... 4) The cop pulls up to you and eventually gets in front of you and slows you down with his bumper. Scenario B 1) You put your car in neutral, turn on your hazards, and pull over. 2) When you forget to do that, when you call 911, they suggest it immediately. You go, "oh ya, that makes sense" and do it. Which one do you think happened in real life? http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-chp9-2010mar09,0,3699926.story?track=rss (P.S. If you own a toyota, like I do... Before each car ride, touch all three handles in the order you would use them... 1st, the brake. 2nd, the gear shifter, 3rd the key once you stop. Actually, no matter what kind of car you own, they can malfunction, so plan ahead.)

Ok, so SonicTap might just step up to the plate... I sent a brief, but honest email to them... They actually responded (product manager of the company) with more questions. Kind of cool that they appear to care. We shall see.... But I no longer give them an F. They get a C for effort. ;-)

I hope you are not "lol" too much about your lack of knowledge about your gear. I would do a quick test at home. Lay down on a table, arch, belly to earth. Have your head sticking off the table just enough that the three rings are not touching the table in any way. Have a friend pull both risers straight up, maybe about 10 degrees off plumb favoring your feet. Cutaway (making sure you don't disturb the risers by moving on the table, let them do their job as if in freefall) Do the risers separate from your rig 10 times in a row? I put a BASE canopy with reversed risers in a Vector for a few test jumps. I did the same test and 10 times in a row the risers were stuck until I either pulled them off with my hands, or my friend started changing the angle of pull to about 30 degrees from horizontal. One time he actually lifted the top half of my body off the table a foot or so... Your 3 rings need to sit on your shoulder just right to keep your 3 rings safe if you have the reverse risers. And, it's not just high speed mals (where you are belly to earth) that won't cutaway... Imagine you get tangled in your main and for some reason your foot is in a line. God forbid you are "head down"... You cutaway. Head down, even with the best reverse riser 3ring placement, it might not cut away... Normal risers will. It's rare someone gets tangled up in the canopy, but it happens.

Specifically, they are stronger. I don't think, but I don't know as a fact, that they were adopted in BASE due to strength. I think they were adopted because: 1) You never need to cut away under canopy unless you are in a tree or chased by a cop. 2) The lack of shiny metal is good for covert ops. 3) A BASE rig can look more like a backpack, less like a parachute, to the untrained, especially from a distance, if it does not have the "trademark" three rings. 4) SOP is to drag your BASE container while stowing lines in the tail pocket. Reversing the rings puts the fragile little loop in a safe spot. I think any extra strength is just a nice side effect....

Dear Neighbor, Why don't we average our electric bills then, since you get to use the pool too...

They dropped XM (which they own part of, ironically) for this SonicTap (I think they are officially called SonicCrap)!!!!!!!!!!! I miss BPM. I miss AREA. I HATE THIS SonicCrap "859 Dance" channel. IT SUCKS... I just called a friend who is driving his truck back from Florida from an event gig - and had him hold his cell phone to the speaker for 30 seconds so I could get a tad of good music... SUCK SUCK SUCK (pout, pout, pout) (I know someone who got DirecTV so they could have the XM stations. They won't let him out of the contract.)

I was trained by Bram too... Everything you say is a nice thought... Fundamentally, I disagree with your comment that they are repeating the jump. Every jump should be a step towards new learning, so if freefell went well, they should try new freefall skills on the next jump. What do you determine is totally blowing a canopy ride? Non-stand up landing? Landing out because they did the drills when the spot was borderline and should have flown straight home? Not doing the drills because the spot was long and they knew they had to get home first? Not looking before each turn, and how would you know other than honor system? How many students have YOU failed because of canopy - and what did they do specifically to cause the failure? In the last few years I have done a ton of AFF jumps for a weekend jumper. What I learned - it takes a special student to be able to work on many tasks on one jump, and at a large otter DZ, sometimes the spot is kind of far out or there is traffic and students cannot always fly the pattern you want them to. It is simply hard to focus on 15 learning objectives on a jump... No matter how much you focus on canopy, it gets in the back burner in the student's mind UNLESS the jump is a hop-n-pop or high pull where the only learning objectives are canopy related. I have had some fun high pulls with students and they are good tools! You and I are taking this topic off track - if you want to rehash this debate, there are 10+ threads on the subject... Find one, post, and PM me you did and I will be glad to discuss.

I am going to ask for more information.... I believe it is important to look at PROBLEMS and find SOLUTIONS - not to just make policies that make people "Feel good". Can you tell me examples of how this piss-poor job is a real problem (I know of problems at my home DZ working with students, but the AFFIs I don't think are on the top of the list). I can honestly say that the AFFIs I work with are great. Each has a personality, and flaws, but they all do a good job. Some are younger, some are older. Some have tons of tandems, some are weekend fun jumpers. So lets look at fatalities, per USPA: 1998 - 44 1999 - 27 2000 - 32 2001 - 35 2002 - 33 2003 - 25 2004 - 21 2005 - 27 2006 - 21 2007 - 18 2008 - 30 2009 - 16 HOW MANY OF THESE WERE STUDENTS (AFF STUDENTS, NOT TANDEM)??? I went to this site:http://www.uspa.org/USPAMembers/Safety/AccidentReports/tabid/81/Default.aspx and noticed the fatalities for people with less than 100 jumps are few and far between. I read each one... I see no smoking gun that the system is all that broken other than CANOPY CONTROL - which is not an instructor shortcoming but system shortcoming in AFF... (No dedicated canopy control jumps, no dedicated canopy control lesson plans... Just something that the instructor/student do post freefall). This tells me things/instructors are no better or worse then they ever have been... Maybe slightly better since membership/jump numbers have gone up most years other than the last few... And this is coupled with the fact aggressive skydiving canopies for people well past their AFF has become a leading cause to offset better gear. Can you point to an increase in incidents with jumpers with under 25 jumps where the AFFIs have control, or incidents post 25 jumps where AFFIs have clearly been negligent in teaching something (as opposed to the student trying to continue to learn, you can lead a horse to water, but drinking is.....) Ok, so give me details to support your claim. (I may or may not dispute them, but I will learn from them).