Elisha

Sabre-120: 35 Crossfire-99: 40 On both I have nearly 400 jumps. I'm sure the scores on both would drop a little if I a) lost the weight I wanted to and b) it was summer with more jumping.

Pig farmer posted it and kept the camera. I've talked to a couple of jumpers who are regulars at that dz. Camera belonged to a TI that was only there for one day.

For two more anecdotal data points - I have a faint scar on one eye from a contact. Bacteria got between the eye and contact. This also happened to a former coworker. We both got LASIK, so no worries about that now.

Had LASIK just over three years ago. Don't regret it one bit!

One of the two vids I uploaded from the Nicaragua boogie has 1200 views now. That's the best I can claim. Now, if I had managed to turn the camera on when I landed in the Pacific, I wonder how many views that would have gotten.

Someone who used to fly camera there said it was from a TI that only lasted a couple days. Cloverdale is now only doing handcam vid for tandems.

I was rather sure it wasn't Jason's region - just saying that he's a lawyer.

The Pacific NW (or Norcal, don't remember the region name) RD is...Jason Putnam Gordon.

I've done it once, maybe again with the right opportunity/cost. MUCH scarier than skydiving. You have the quick ground rush combined with no control over the situation once you leave the platform.

Still fun, but not scary. I still think Space Mountain is one of the best rollercoasters of all time. If you took the track outside the mountain though, it wouldn't be much better than some state fair coaster. Ambiance can count for a lot.

Unfortunately, my dad who turns 70 next in 27 days, who has as Masters in Electrical Engineering, but a mother who was a nurse STILL thinks he can "catch a cold"....even when it is almost 80 degrees outside. He is simply unable to wear just a t-shirt or other short sleeves and shorts. He would have to go to some tropical destination and have my step-mom pack his bag for him to even attempt to dress appropriate for the weather. I've tried asking him what it means to "catch a chill" (as he says) and he can't really explain it - means something like a cold - but seems to be stuck on this old wives tale.

Which should itself be taken as some sort of proof it's fucked up evil straight from the eighth dimension. basic, pascal, and excel - not really the supporter you want. You can blast it, but the prevalent and wide use of Excel gives it a lot of credence. Doesn't matter to me - I can use != just as long as I'm somehow informed of the change.

And is valid in Excel.

It's all I wanted to do, personally. My life plan was pilot -> test pilot -> NASA. Family was very supportive, sent me to space camp, made sure I studied my math and science, even made the political connections to help get me a nomination to USAFA. Then when I was 16 I failed the vision test to get my license and found out I needed glasses. I'd never really considered the idea that I wouldn't succeed, so finding out that I couldn't reach my goal through no fault of my own was pretty crushing. Everything went downhill from there… Ahhhh, poor little grue. Here's a hug. O :)

I was in 5th grade. The buildings in my elementary school some type of hexagon or other polygon in shape, I think divided into 3 classrooms, but the dividing "walls" slid open. My class and another teacher's were kinda like tandem teachers - did a lot of joint activities together. Anyway, the doors were opened and both open that day and we gathered around the TV. We oohd and ahhd and then watched the Challenger launch. As it was coming apart, I was thinking, "This looks bad." Then, both teachers started crying. More understandable for the teachers. I was bummed out and a little sad, but not all shook up like the teachers and other students. I wasn't as emotionally invested to start with. Anyway, that's my 5th grade perspective. More interesting to later learn about the cut corners that contributed to the tragedy. May the crew's memory be eternal.

If I ran a DZ in the U.S., I would only consider a 16 or 17 year old who was the child of a long time, regular skydiver (or of someone else who'd been intimately involved in the dropzone operations). It would have to be someone who grew up around the sport, with a parent or parents who knew the sport and the level of personal responsibility and accountability required. The statements by the parents of the 16 year old in Oklahoma make it crystal clear that anyone else is a crapshoot in terms of whether they're likely to try to sue for a bad outcome. And of course, it's also a wildcard whether she'll do anything independent of her parents once she turns 18. Regardless of whether the lawsuit is baseless or not, the DZ will have to spend a lot of time and energy trying to make it go away. Not worth it to let a handful of teenagers jump. (Unfortunately, in the U.S., at least, the decisions have to be made based on liability, not on readiness, right or wrong...). +1

www.bayareaskydiving.com in Byron, CA. About 60 miles away. Jump plane is a King Air, which holds 14 and will get you to 13,000 in about 12 min.

Yup, but they are "not up to code" and the excuse is always that it will cost more to bring up to code than to build new.

Awesome.

I've heard of 5 in a 182 and 6 in a 206 here in Australia, to both of which I say "fuck that". I "grew up" at a Cessna DZ and 4 in our 182 and 5 in our 206 seemed plenty tight and slow. Dude, you're a big boy - not a 100 lb Asian female. Of course you'd say f*ck that! I've been in several loads of a Turbo 206 w/ 7 that was still getting 600 ft / min, but that place has been gone for a few years now.

Huh? What are you supposed to say when someone sneezes? gesundheit . . . ... While I am a person of faith, I say 'gesundheit' too, since a) it is in common usage, b) I speak some German and know what it means and most importantly c) the origin of how "Bless you!" came into usage for people who sneezed is very silly.

Oh, I certainly believe so (that it is hopeless). For example, for ONCE, I actually tried to ask her in one of her chemtrail FB posts WHY "THEY" would do such a thing (i.e. geoengineer the drought on the west coast). She just said because "they" are against "us". Uh...what? Then she gave me some conspiracy links. All I was looking for was a two sentence answer. I was honestly trying to get at her reasoning. I won't bother again and will just ignore the chemtrail posts as before. I can't unfriend her - I've known her in person for years and she really would nurse be back to health if something happened to me.

Is there a similar debunking out there for the chemtrail alarmists? Thanks. I did not read the whole thing, but chemtrails are easy and there are many more like this: http://contrailscience.com/how-to-debunk-chemtrails/ I've seen that before - thanks for the reminder. I know it won't help the crazy lady I know, but good to keep in mind.

Is there a similar debunking out there for the chemtrail alarmists? Thanks.

And then just a short step to evolve into Panem (world of The Hunger Games)?