Zennie

I still agree that the lack of skydiving, which translates into canopy control fundamentals, is the primary issue, though her posts are now giving me pause on even that. Is it possible for a 17-year old to have the emotional maturity do do something highly dangerous? Sure. Jeff Gordon was racing 650 HP spint cars at age 13 (and hit the wall in his first race I might add). But he had also been racing since age FIVE. And even after winning multiple sprint car championships he STILL didn't start racing NASCAR until age TWENTY, and that was after taking Buck Baker's driving school. What Jimmy is doing is the equivalent of tossing someone behind the wheel of a NASCAR with ZERO prior experience and saying "Have at it. You probably won't die, but if you do, it was still worth it... to me.". It could be, but the fact is, he's putting her off short delay from a tower. So even his selection of sites is bad... notwithstanding what he says. If she has a 180 (or a 90 close to the guys) and doesn't grab her *cough* "seatbelts" immediately and deal with the situation correctly (which is highly doubtful) she's screwed. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

This pretty much sums up the issue perfectly and succinctly. At least we know they're on about the same emotional maturity level, so, hey ya know? It might just work out. There are LOTS of things I "want" to do... like beat the living shit out of my ex's boyfriend-now-husband. I'd love to trash his car. I'd love to do lots of things to that m%^&#@er. But I don't, much as I'd love to. And you know why? Because I understand the consequences involved. Therefore I exercise "restraint". It's a foreign word to many people's vocabularies, I know, but if you go to www.m-w.com I'm sure you can find the definition there. Hell. I'd love to hop behind the wheel of an Indy car and do a few 200+ MPH laps. Think any sane (or responsible) Indycar driver would let me do that just because I "want to"? I mean, hell, what could possibly go wrong? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No, what I believe to be the case is that a non-skydiver (throw out the age for a minute, I'm willing to drop it because that's secondary to the main issue) is not capable, by virtue of their lack of skydiving experience, of making an informed decision about the very real dangers of BASE. They also do not have the requisite freefall and canopy control experience to correctly respond to a sub-nominal situation. I've always felt, that with a couple of exceptions (i.e. a round off a bridge into water), putting off an inexperienced skydiver, let alone a non-skydiver, is irresponsbile, reckless and disrespectful to the person who has absolutely no clue what they're getting themselves into. If she wants to BASE jump and Jimmy wants to teach her, I honestly have no problem with that. But CHRIST give her the tools to protect herself before just hucking her off something merely because she wants to. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I never mentioned that at all. Somebody else did. For me it strictly is a BASE issue. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Just to echo other people's sentiments. Thank you Jimmy for posting this. You guys are a class act and it's why I remain a loyal customer.

Personal take, which I'm sure will fall on deaf ears, but in any event.... If you want to take irresponsibility to the next level and frap yourself in, hey man, have at it, it's your life. When your irresponsibility carries over into endangering the lives of others who know no better, you've crossed the line. What makes this particularly egregious (and heartless) is that you don't give a shit that it does. So you can say that you're doing these things for her and that you care about her. But your actions belie the truth. And the truth is, you aren't and you don't. As with everything else you're doing these things for you and you only... "IIIIIII don't care about anyone else but me. IIIIIII don't care about anyone." Prizes to anyone who names the BASE film that those lyrics came from. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Damn Shannon you're gonna make me blow my World Domination Budget here. *sigh* OK, I think where other evil villains have gone wrong is that they imprison people in such a manner that the person WANTS to escape. So I'm gonna have to fashion this so she'll never want to leave. Let's see... OK. You'll be placed into a custom-built GFD Den O' Sin on my volcanic Isle O' Evil which looks a lot like Taj'Mahal. I'll have to keep you drugged 24/7... your choice on the drugs. Guards will be a combination of genetically... um... ENHANCED... men and robot-guard-bartender-sex-toy doohickeys. If you attempt to make an escape, you will not be harmed, but my guards will subdue you in... um... other ways.... As a last measure of defense I'll have to erect an impenetrable plasmo-magneto force barrier around your Den that even *I* cannot enter just so you don't get any funny ideas. Supplies will be teleported in through an untamperable one-way portal. The things I do to keep people happy. Sheesh! Looks like I'm gonna have to go knock off Ft. Knox to pay for all this crap. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

You people all disappoint me. First off, each and every one of you spelled "villain" wrong. How on earth do you expect to dominate the world if you can't even spell correctly? I mean, come on, who's going to take your pirate televised world takeover announcements seriously when it's chock-full of misspellings? Second. Such a woeful lack of creativity being displayed by everyone. The future looks bleak for the current crop of aspiring villains. You must, I repeat... MUST... have AT A MINIMUM, an army of some sort. It can be robots, clones, genetically engineered laser-shooting-cyber-spiders... whatever, but you MUST have an army to carry out your plan of world domination. I chose GFD clones primarily because she is inherently evil and I think would really enjoy being a ninja. Of course, herself being evil, I could see her wanting to supplant me as Supreme Ruler of the Universe. Hence, the real GFD would be imprisoned in shackles (which she might actually like) and her clones would be genetically altered with an absolute obedience modification so that they wouldn't turn on me. If you want to brush up on your villainy skills, I highly recommend this book. Cut your own swath of destruction with evil glee but just remember, you will all ultimately bow to me. Peace out... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Any army of GFD ninja clones... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Can't do the Bee Gees (disco... ugh). But yeah the Doobies especially are great. Lately it's sort of been the other way around. I've turned my folks onto some of my music.

I agree with Tim that Brian Germain is the best one to ask, but I do have a fair amount of time under airlocked canopies (PD Vengeance, BAS Jedei & Samurai) to say that the definitely DO make a big difference in turbulence. I've flown through turbulence that gave me maybe a minor bump or two and was wreaking all sorts of havoc for folks under non-airlocked canopies. Turbulence is turbulence, and all airfoils will experience the negative lift effects from it. The difference, I think is how negative the impact is. With non-airlocked canopies, in addition to the straight loss of lift caused by turbulent air, you also have the side effect of cell depressurization... end cell closures in particular. Thus, in addition to losing lift, you also lose part of the flying surface. Airlocks prevent the de-pressurization side effect, and thus all you have to deal with is the temporary loss of lift. Non-airlocked canopies have to deal with the loss of lift, PLUS the loss of part of the airfoil and then recovery of the airfoil and normal flight. That said, airlocked canopies are a ROYAL pain in the ass to gather up... especially on windy days. On particlarly bad days I literally had to stand on the bridle and then walk up up it just to get TO the canopy to gather it up and deflate it. The airlocks definitely do what they're supposed to do. I tend to agree that the primary benefit of airlocks in the BASE environment... maintenence of cell pressurization in the event of an object strike, is adequately addressed through bottom skin inlets. I have video of a wall strike by a person flying a vented Fox and the canopy stayed pressurized during the entire episode... thus allowing him to turn around away from the wall and land (though the landing, given the terrain, was almost as scary, if not scarier, than the strike itself). - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

How virgins stay virgins.... pussy goes on the BOTTOM silly! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Tibet's been long gone. If you want to see a movie on the Chinese atrocities in Tibet, watch "Kundun". It's the story of the Dalai Lama's life. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I third it. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

BASE isn't skydiving. The only thing in common is a parachute. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I honestly think this is mainly an economic relationship. More for Russia's benefit than China's. Russia's economy is still weak and keeping China on as an arms customer is pretty essential to them. Both countries have problems with insurgency/terrorism in breakaway areas. So I think the stated reason is probably the case. Still I agree that it is somewhat disturbing that China could be viewing it as "Taiwan practice". - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

There are two basic forces at play when you talk about changing government policy (and I'm talking at the agency level here). 1. People are the same everywhere. No one likes "outsiders" making their job more difficult. If anything it just makes them more resistant to change. 2. An agency will change only if it has more or less been ordered to. Related to the first principle, is if you have a problem person or group of people, you use the system to make their lives so miserable that they eventually get tired and go away. I personally think the present situation is related to that. In other words. If you want real change, you need to bring it about from the inside, not the outside. Media campaigns only work where the situation is so scandalous that the higher-up politicos feel the heat and thus put heat on the offending agency. With the NPS ban in general, I don't think you have that. With BD, it MIGHT be a little bit more effective because now you have real people, with real business, who vote, ALSO getting the shaft if we pack up and leave. So you might be able to get some politicos (i.e. a certain extremely powerful WV Senator) to turn up the heat and get the NPS to back off. My personal take on the who NPS problem is that we really need to get some politcal heavy hitters in out court. The WV Senator would be one. If we could get some in the areas we jump... Congresspersons/Sentors from CO & Utah (a certain extremely powerful Senator also hails from UT)... we might be able to get some results. Be it through legislation (which the agency has no control over and can't ignore) or just the standard politcal heat. 460 has some ideas for maybe getting some help in our area as well. I'd also add that finding an established lobbyist with a proven track record in DC would also be EXTREMELY helpful. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

What Rhonda said. I've worked for The Man in a previous life as a government attorney. You might be able to get some temporary satisfaction sticking it to him. But The Man has the resources to stick it back to you ten times worse. Too many folks around here seem to have a Ready Fire Aim mentality... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Good. Jeb is infinitely more talented as a jumper and just a genuinely great guy. He's a much better example if you want to show a whuffo what BASE is all about. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I've always gotten the impression that Vegemite is the Aussie version of Spam. Yuk.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Shanghai. Lotsa empty buildings there... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I was impressed with them coming up and taking them out of your toes. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Well now that the cat's out of the bag, I'll vouch for her when she says she's a hottie. *waves to mina* - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

What if I think they're trashy-cool and don't give a damn that they are? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Just to sort of expand upon what NWFlyer is saying and clarify a bit what I was driving at. By "only way out" I don't mean to say that it actually is. It's just that's the way the person sees it. I know there are folks here (and a certain Scientologist actor) who will disagree with me, but counselling, coupled with anti-depressants, have a HUGE impact on managing severe depression. I'm sort of in the school where anti-depressants at least get the brain chemistry back to where you're thinking semi-clearly. Counselling then helps you sort through the various issues and cope with the condition. In my case I've reached a point to where I don't need the anti-depressants anymore. But I do know myself and I'm very aware of my moods, which still swing back and forth. It's just that they are more manageable now. I also don't delude myself into thinking I'm somehow "cured". There may well come a time when something happens which will require me to go back on the meds and get more counselling. That's just the nature of the condition. I've never viewed mental illness as a "weakness". Unfortunately, this mindset still does exists with some folks and it is what prevents some people from seeking help when they really need it. Mental illness is a well-documented bio-chemical condition. It is treatable with therapy and medicines just as the diabetic needs insulin to treat their condition. And, just like diabetes, you may not necessarily be born with it. Life events, particularly stressful ones, can precipitate the condition. And, again like diabetes, once you have it, you'll probably have it for the rest of your life. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon