mdrejhon

Perfectly good airplanes? Do they exist?

Dude -- those aren't high beams. Unfortunately.

I did a little web research, and yes -- 19th century dollars!! So, over $500 in today's dollars. No wonder incandescent lamps weren't practical until the late 19th century (after Thomas Alva Edison made practical improvements, and scale-of-economy manufacturing, that finally made incandescent cheaper than candles.) Compared to this, LED bulbs are a fair bargain -- but I've now seen generic brands of 40-watt replacement LED's for as low as $7.50 at Costco in the United States (during last year's year-end sales). So prices are definitely falling, fast...

$30 each in inflation-adjusted dollars, or $30 in 19th-century dollars?

I had an injury at CK in 2010, that was paid for by RBC Travel Insurance, covering the cost of a CT scan to make sure that I didn't have a spinal injury (it was stretched neck muscle ligaments from a slammer opening, was sore for 4 months afterwards.). I used to purchase CAA travel insurance, until they had a travel exclusion. That process itself -- was rather interesting -- The hospital was very lazy about collecting payment; and did not properly communicate to the insurance company: RBC repeatedly called the hospital trying to pay my hospital bill (a bit shy of $7K), but the hospital still sent a collection agency notice more than a year later. I faxed it to RBC, and finally the transaction was taken care of. Silly hospital for refusing payment from RBC insurance on some silly technicality (some bureaucratic paperwork technicality), from what it sounded like. The people at RBC itself was rather nice, having called a month after, to ask if I was okay and if everything has been taken care of. No questions or dispute. RBC Insurance, I believe, does not cover repatriation. After launching www.forsabine.com website in December 2011 (fundraiser website for our fellow skydiver friend that was injured at a big way I was at), I'm going to re-evaluate this. It can cost tens of thousands for a special flight/ride to take you home (i.e. paraylyzed and need to be kept continuously in a lying-down position, etc). Ideas?

To be fair, CFL's were at one time, $30 each too.

This webpage brings back memories. One of the oldest essentially-unmodified webpages on the Internet that's still at its original web address (19-year old web address, containing a 19-year old HTML document file!) 1993 - What's New (NCSA Mosiac Web Browser) http://home.mcom.com/home/whatsnew/whats_new_0693.html 19 years ago! I tried out that web browser 19 years ago at University of Waterloo on an X-Terminal.

Dude, we can already do archaeology on nearly 20-year old webpages. Example -- this page hasn't been changed since 1994 http://www.ornl.gov/sci/techresources/Human_Genome/publicat/93PROGRA/93PR_INT.HTML

This one is okay for downlights or halogen-replacements, or when you need to cast light in a specific direction, but I don't like these types for floor lamps and desk lamps. On this model, the heatsink generates an uncomfortable shadow below the base of the bulb. If you were happy with CFL and needed semi-directional light, this $12 bulb is now probably sufficient quality to become preferable over CFL, because your bulb is dimmable. Your bulb proves that LED bulbs don't have to cost $50 or $100 to be superior to CFL, and prices are still falling. I prefer the LED bulbs that shine omnidirectionally including the ability to light up the base. The Philips one I have is omnidirectional (AmbientLED A19, $30) and simulates the incandescent look so well, it's imperceptible to me (I can usually tell when light look "CFL" or "LED" style -- the white light looks different -- but this is the first LED bulb that tricked me into thinking it was incandescent until I saw the weird bulb shape!)

All Individual LED chips run at low voltages, somewhere between 1 volts and 5 volts. Although Wikipedia vary in quality, the specific article on LED has become very good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode You can power LED directly from mains current, by having enough bulbs in series (christmas lights), and a simple resistor. Unfortunately, with such raw power, LED will flicker noticeably for many people (with the 60 Hertz AC frequency - LED only shines light with current going in one of two directions of AC). LED are DC devices (direct current). They perform best as constant-voltage / constant-current devices. For high-quality LED Light, you need regulated DC current. One method if a specialized switching power supply inside the base of the LED light, that is current-regulated. (imagine a modified version of a modern high-efficiency AC adaptor built into the base of a LED light bulb.) However, most LED bulbs are transformer-less, using various designs of transformerless switching power supplies & voltage/current (amperage) regulators, since LED will burn out it you overvoltage them. The best power conversion being done is at least 90% power conversion efficiency, with a PF of 0.99+. The minimum standard, US Department of Energy (DOE) Energy Star program mandates minimum acceptable power factors or 0.7 and 0.9 respectively for domestic and commercial LED lights. Reference: http://www.ecnmag.com/articles/2011/08/application-solutions-PFC-techniques-in-LED-lighting/

The cloud recently saved my ass when my laptop was stolen (although I eventually got it back). I saved about 99.95% of my 20-year archive of data (only a few batch files and unix/bash scripts I made were missing, as they were in system folders, etc.) However, I'm not a member of the full cloud crowd -- I use a single paid Dropbox 100 gigabyte account to sync my entire digital life (excluding video) amongst all my computers. Dropbox lets me keep all my data offline and synchronizes when online, so it's a good compromise between "I want my data locally" and "I want my data on the cloud". I fall squarely in that old-school crowd where I demand my data locally, but I want my cake & eat it too. It's also great when I modify one file on one computer -- the modification is immediately copied to all my other computers over the Internet. Word document, Excel, a Visual Studio C#/C++ file, an edited html file, a dump of digital photos from my camera, etc. Once it is saved on one of my computers, it's automatically on my other computers in seconds (or minutes, if files are big). And if I accidentally delete a file permanently on one computer, I can undelete it from the cloud (Dropbox) too... One computer gets broken/stolen, I'm able to replicate all my data right back quite easily, either over the LAN or over the Internet. (Once Dropbox has a copy on the cloud, it can sync it over the LAN automatically) Or I can even just copy the files back on a thumbdrive, and let Dropbox sync any differences to the cloud (which often, is none if I make the local copy immediately) to save my time re-downloading the data. And it's Linux compatible too... To gain some application-versus-computer indepndence, I try to purchase off an app store that allow me multicomputer installs. Mac software off Mac App Store (multicomputer installs permitted), PC games off Steam (multicomputer installs permitted), Windows software a bit more tricky but I usually grab free stuff like OpenOffice (Word/Excel) & Picasa (photo albums look same on both PC/Mac) .... That way I don't worry too much about replacing/upgrading a computer and losing my apps anymore. Other times, I just attempt to install from the original disc on two computers -- such as Visual Studio, etc -- and Microsoft doesn't complain for these situations as software licenses are slowly getting more permissive to "1 user, multi computer" installs. I also like app stores because I can reinstall all my apps at one click, if I replace my computer -- very nice feature of the more mature brands of app stores. So my 100 gigabyte Dropbox account meets my needs: - My online backup program (on-the-fly realtime incremental) - My file replicator (keeps computers sync'd) - My platform equalizer (My Mac and PC documents folders are the same) - My paltform-independent time machine (roll back unwanted changes/deletes) - Fits my entire 20 years worth of computer files I've ever created (except video) - Allow me to randomly choose any laptop/PC that I own, and "know" all my data is already on it, even if I worked on a different computer the other night. - It's offline optimized. (I only need to connect briefly to let it automatically sync).

I have now stopped buying CFL's now that I really like the light coming from some of the newer LED's -- the Philips Ambient LED bulb actually outputs a nicer light than most CFL's (warm incandescent white), and is efficiently dimmable. They don't wear if you turn them on/off rapidly, either. Granted, they are insanely expensive, but I think in 10 years from now, LED will be cheap and practically replace CFL, because the light quality (from the *better* models of LED bulbs) is finally starting to become better quality than CFL, with more advantages -- including dimmability for some of the better models, and this one LED model shines both upwards and downwards (something not all LED does). Make sure you watch the lumens ratings though, there's a LOT of crap LED bulbs on the market. And make sure CRI is at least 80 minimum -- otherwise it looks crap. That's the current problem -- good model LED bulbs lost in the mix of crap model LED bulbs. I think GE LED bulbs are inferior than the Philips AmbientLED bulb, most of them are not dimmable -- I hate that. There should be mandated dimmability for all LED bulbs, since it now costs only a few pennies extra to add the extra electronics to an expensive LED bulb. A "version 2" of the Philips bulb is at http://www.lightingprize.org -- now THAT should be the new benchmark for an incandescent replacement, if it can be manufactured cheaply. A CRI of 93%, fully dimmable, only 9.7 watt with more light than a 60W incandescent, 910 lumens, 2700K color temp, and can these bulbs survived tests where all CFL's broke down (clicky with photos) ... this bulb is coming out in 2012 to replace the already-very-good current Philips LED "60-watt replacement" one on the market. We'll still need incandescent for various purposes, so there were exceptions for oven lights, etc.

Yep, you're right as well. That said, the physics also still apply here. There are variables such as the amount of drag, the mass of the skydiver, etc. Depending on how low or high speed the mal is, it might be low or high effort to bring the two masses together (the skydiver and the ball of crap) there's a large difference in drag leading to a bigger force pulling the two apart. The bottom line is that there's still a reaction to every action. Let's define the frame of reference as the average fallrate of the whole assembly (skydiver and ball of crap). Regardless of the drag, any climbing or pulling together would still mean the ball of crap briefly falls faster, and you briefly fall slower -- even though the balance may be different (i.e. very slight change in velocity of skydiver while bigger change in velocity of ball of crap, or vice-versa, depending on drag), if there's gradually decreasing distance of any kind between skydiver and ball of crap, that automatically means there's velocity difference (however little) between the two. And then consequently, direction of velocity ("up"/"down") all depend on frame of reference, as in my original post. It is also worth noting that the frame of reference of arm muscles (alone) isn't necessarily convertible into a definite "up"/"down". If you weigh 150lbs, and you've got a big helium balloon on a rope, trying to exert an upwards force of 140lbs, you can still pull it down towards the ground (slowly). Even if it feels like climbing. This is dee-zee-dot-com, so...

From the "For Sabine" Facebook Page: "Sabine left the hospital In Daytona with a small aircraft to Miami. Initially it was planned as a 4-5 hour drive to miami in an ambulance but they cancelled that last minute. She boarded the KLM flight KL 0628 direction amsterdam and arrives at approx 12.25 local time on thrusday 8 dec. We'll let you know when she has arrived at destination Ghent. She was looking forward to the trip when we spoke her yesterday evening. "It is time to start looking at a different ceiling than the boring one from the hospital in Daytona and i want to do more revalidation exercises".

Re: Climbing the lines towards a ball of crap (main-reserve entanglement) As a physics question involving gravity and drag, both answers are wrong. However, you can define either answer as correct, if you define a frame of reference to "spin" the answer. Scientifically, it is all relative. Both the ball of crap and the skydiver are falling. However, everytime you climb up the lines, the ball of crap briefly falls slightly faster and you briefly fall slightly slower. Temporarily. When you yank on the line, there's a reaction to every action. As you climb upwards, you're loading the lines slightly more for that moment. Thus, for a brief moment, you fall slower and the crap falls faster (both fallrate changes happens simultaneously. The average fallrate remains the same -- assuming average drag continue to remain the same), when they get closer to each other. Alternate Explanation -- Different fall rates? Don't believe me? Here's another way to explain. If you're climbing, you're not stationary relative to the ball of crap. Let's say you're climbing 0.1mph towards the ball of crap. That forces a 0.1mph difference in fallrate while you're climbing. Bingo, eh? The correct answer, requires defining a frame of reference.If the frame of reference is the average fallrate of the whole assembly, you ARE climbing upwards (temporarily reducing your fallrate slightly) while the ball of crap simultaneously coming downwards. If the frame of reference is the fallrate of the skydiver, the ball of crap is coming down. If the frame of reference is the fallrate of the ball of crap, the skydiver is coming upwards. If the frame of reference is the ground, both skydiver and crap are coming downwards. (Note -- "upwards" defines towards the sky away from the gravity vector, and "downwards" defines towards the ground along the gravity vector, regardless of frame of reference) From a pure scientific / physics standpoint, the answer depends on the frame of reference.

At this stage, it's not standardized student instruction. It is best to listen to your instructors in this case. Under huge canopies that student typically fly, there is a lot of time to undo linetwists. There are sometimes several techniques for successfully doing the same thing. So for a student progression, you should always listen to your instructors -- even if someday a better technique may eventually get the SIM modified. When you have 300 jumps and starting to fly something exciting enough to warrant this technique, this is where the finer details like these start to become useful. :-)

Sabine Gijzen needs your good vibes. Her name was in the public in the dutch gossip news media, and Tom Claeys has given permission to post updates. Sabine would like to hear good vibes from you.... Original Incident Forum thread: Serious injury - Deland, FL - Keleidoscope - Nov - 2011 (Discussion about the incident and what-ifs/what-shouldve should go over there instead. The moderators here will make sure that this is a "good vibes" thread only) Tom is going to post updates on the "For Sabine" Facebook page. "Sabine her surgery went well and the physiotherapy has started. She is very strong and her motivation is very high. She's a fighter and most of you know how tough she is. We are working hard to get her home soon. Your wishes and offers for help are much appreciated..." "Good news : Sabine is coming home ! The docters say she's fit enough to travel. Sabine says she wants to come home to her family and friends in europe. She is exercising hard to be fit for the trip. The revalidation centre in Ghent says she's wellcome. Thank you eric. The insurance says they pay the revalidation but NOT for the flight. Her brother Jeroen has taken the lead in analysing the options. From private jet to diplomatic services, we found no alternatives. Her family decides it is time for her to go home..."

Nope, that's a frustrated persian, at worst. Doesn't count. Well, yet. Until there's damning evidence.

Yes, Steve. Came to Rainbow Boogie 2009. The obituary here (and reposted in this thread) mentions his marriage to his partner. Fly free, Steve!

Another winner. Surprised I've never noticed him even back to Rainbow Boogie 2006 days. There's several people who have declared themselves as bi and trans, but those posts are somewhat unclear... Plus, there are closeted people who actually come to Rainbow Boogie (including a DZO of a North American dropzone) But I found quite a few clear ones, and know they're out elsewhere. Come on, all of you can do better! Here is plenty more: BlueEyedMonster (here) maggott (here) Jayruss (here) JohnnyMarko (here)

Both. Most of my house is tile with small throw rugs/sections of carpet. Hmmmm. We have 3 large dogs, 4 cats, and a rabbit downstairs. I sweep at least once, usually twice a day. Today I spent 3 hours hand scrubbing the tile. If the Roomba saves me even a couple of hours of work a week I'd be delighted. Might be worth looking into. Thanks for the info. Get one per floor, or one per large house section -- it'll be even better, and you'll have a backup if one of the robots fail (which they might in a year or two from now) so you have a spare while you get the original repaired or replaced. For a household like yours, you'll like it so much that you don't want to be without it. It's a big timesaver, as long as you have the budget for a couple of robots, and it's cheaper than paying a maid.

It, however, does increase your chances at being invited to other big ways, that eventually get you invited to the record teams.

Link to the original post please -- we don't wanna out people who don't want to be outed. Till then, uncited names will be presumed heterosexual Hey everyone! I'm a guy. I'm not a POPS yet. I'm a deaf skydiver. For those who announce they're girls, there's a Women Only forum. For those who want to say they're deaf, they can go to Skydivers with Disabilities forum. Some of us do want to announce sexuality, too. Or that they're a Native American. We don't have a Gay Skydivers Forum here on dropzone.com but that's okay -- a few Gay Threads is fine with me.

Only those that have outed themselves intentionally, so links must be provided!

Who has ever officially outed themself on dropzone.com? I know the following: myself (obviously!) skydiverbrian (example) narcimund (marriage announcement) (retired?) Keith (here) (retired) labrys (here) SkyDaemon (here) (retired) britboynz (here) freakyrat (here) A_Hansen (here) (retired) 4WayXena (here) I know there's several others, it's such a scavenger hunt searching dropzone.com .... Your turn!