panzwami

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/pentagon.htm

I can think of ~62 million people who might disagree with you.

Voice Guy: "When do I get paid?" Internet Guy: "In 2012."

From Boortz.com: "She also said she was captured in a blue van. What about all the owners of blue vans being offended?" I've never had a blue van, but I've had a silver one, so I'm halfway offended. Think they'll let me join the blue-van-owners-class-action-lawsuit that some ambulance chaser is currently cooking up?

yep, I call those days "weekdays".

Le Pont de Luttre Brussels, Belgium I'm still trying to figure out how to get them to deliver to Atlanta. A three-week old pizza from this place is still ten times better than the stuff I can get fresh around here.

hmmm, your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

yeah, it's a great song, but very somber and from a rather depressing movie.

"Colorblind" by Counting Crows.

so...how exactly do you "dogfood" something?

Just to clarify, do you mean that the landing direction was agreed to by the jumpers on that load, prior to takeoff? If that's the case, I would think those jumpers who landed in a different direction would have been in the wrong. It shouldn't happen, but it's still something that you have to watch for. (Not that right or wrong really matters, because a collision is still a collision, regardless of fault.)

http://www.snopes.com/humor/letters/takekids.htm A little extra background.

forget the "what ifs". You got yourself and your passenger to the ground safely. That's good enough for me.

Back in high school, a couple friends and I once thought about beating someone up with a textbook to see if we could create enough outrage to get the school to ban those too.

Skydive Atlanta is the safest skydiving operation around. The JM's provide training with the highest regard for safety. They have an outstanding safety record which serves to highlight their excellent student training. Because of our desire to provide the highest level of safety for our students, the Georgia Tech Sport Parachute Club is proud to call Skydive Atlanta home.

There are a ton of threads dealing with wingloading and skill levels. Try searching.

Happened to me twice. First was a high-tech company that took 8 interviews (including one full-scale mock sales pitch presentation) over two months before they said no. The other took 7 interviews over 8 weeks and was still in process when I accepted my current position. They say they don't have time to interview because they are so overworked, but they're so overworked because they don't have enough staff. Nasty little cycle.

I would think it would be pretty hard to do any of the release moves with a board in the air, kickflips, etc. Also keep in mind that you're at terminal, so as the air rushed by, any changes in the angle or attitude of the board will have a direct effect on the jumper and can easily become very violent if not precisely controlled.

Another poster brought up something that I've always thought was strange. When I was just getting into skydiving, I remember on several occasions people that I otherwise respected at my DZ talking about others' landing problems as though they were some sort of joke. One in particular concerned another jumper from my school and the problems that he had when he bought a canopy that was too small for him. At the time I didn't know anything about wingloading or canopy size so I didn't think anything of it, but thinking back now I'm rather surprised that they would have had so many laughs at his inability to land a canopy he shouldn't have been flying at all. Anyone have similar experiences?

So I was strolling through Paris this weekend and spotted this little beauty parked on the street. I tried to calculate how many jumps it would cost me to get one for myself, but I stopped at 10,000.

If I understand the rule correctly, there isn't even a requirement that there be a vote for nominees. AFAIK, it says that the Senate must simply approve the nominees, and some have suggested that such a thing could be done simply by 51 senators signing a letter saying they approve and sending it to the White House. Filibuster this.

it's OK, except the stripes are all crooked and it's missing a few stars....

wicked. Don't you feel so much smarter now?

hmmmm.....your ideas are intruguing, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Biggest point is always to err on the side of caution. Talk to instructors who know you personally to make sure the gear you are considering is safe for your exit weight and skill level, and is not too small, too fast, etc. Don't ever buy gear out of your skill level simply because you got a great deal. As for the condition of the gear itself, always have it inspected by a rigger of *your* choice that *you know and trust*. Don't ever let the seller tell you "it's OK, my rigger already looked at it and it was fine." Ask your DZO if you can use the DZ as the escrow agent, and have the seller send the gear to the DZ (not your home) for you to inspect before buying. Some sellers might not be comfortable with one or more of the above policies, and that's fine. By no means does it automatically mean that he/she is trying to pull one over on you. But keep in mind that you are putting down a crap ton of money on something to which you will be ENTRUSTING YOUR LIFE, so don't ever let anyone convince you to compromise your standards. You can always find other gear.