mijnjiku

The mother had the choice whether or not to have sex and use protection. Be prepared for the risks (consequences) that come along with the reward (actions). If only decisions were all 1 layer deep. Why would you punish someone for making a bad decision by taking away their ability to make a subsequent decision that is better than the alternative? Two wrongs don't make a right. Let them turn their lemons into lemonade, so to speak. And anyone who responds to that analogy with some sickening reference to the late-term (or otherwise) abortion process can die in a fire. Fair warning.

So does this mean the nasty liberals get to call the nasty republicans traitors now? I sense a change in the status quo.

Not saying that there isn't a time or a place for everything, but depriving any human being of physical contact from others has a scientifically documented negative effect on their mental and emotional development (which can lead to physical deficiencies as well). They call it "touch hunger". http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/SEN/CH23.HTM#b10-Touch%20and%20Childhood%20Development Scroll down to the "Touch and sexuality" section to get to the meat and potatoes of what I'm talking about.

All the while taking away the rights of the woman. I can see where this is going: "WOMAN HATER!" "BABY KILLER!" I'm not getting into that. --Head There's nothing to get in to. You made a contradictory statement. You can't protect the "right" of an unborn child to live without infringing upon the "right" of the mother to choose whether or not to carry the pregnancy. If the child must live, then the woman must carry. If the woman must carry then she logically has no choice. Canuck was just pointing this out. You need to refine your statement because pro-lifers can't take shelter in the camp of protecting the woman's rights.

It's unfortunate this poll was created by someone heavily biased in the direction of the Pro-Life-at-all-costs agenda. I only say this because of the poll questions and the way they struck me. *Pro Life Its an unborn child *Pro Choice Its not a child until its born *Its a child but still pro abortion *Its not a child till its born but am against abortion *Undecided *There should be abortion for special circumstances only That third option instantly did two things in my mind. #1 It opened one of my cans of worms. #2 It pegged the original poster as a Pro-lifer with a good chance he/she carried the *at-all-costs* clause WITHOUT even needing to read the post itself. (I may be wrong on that "at-all-costs" part but pro-lifer shines bright) Here's why. Pro-Choice does NOT equal pro-abortion. You can over-simplify it that way when you set the propaganda machine to "spin cycle", but the reality is that offering a choice doesn't mean you have to support the choice that's made. I am pro-choice in the context that I support the ability of everyone to make the choice that they feel is best for them. But I am not "pro-abortion". I think abortion is an unfortunate result (or "consequence" specifically) of an unfortunate series of events and/or decisions. (I specifically say "events" because genuine contraceptive failure is a roll of the dice, not a "decision"). I also am at least a little abhorred by the concept and procedure involved in abortion. But the nauseating feeling in my gut while watching an abortion procedure doesn't cloud my ability to form a rational opinion. More than one person participating in this thread has mentioned abortion as a means to escape responsibility for one's actions. I find this statement to be personally inflammatory and generally ignorant. The fact of the matter is that for all actions we take or decisions we make, there are consequences. Some people may try to run and hide from the more negative consequences, but just because consequences have yet to be exerted, doesn't mean they haven't materialized. But less about the consequences for a moment and more about the things that lead to the consequences. Decisions fall, for the sake of discussion, into two distinct categories: #1 - Rational decisions which are made after evaluating the potential results and deciding based on one's perception of those results and one's ability/readiness to deal with those results. #2 - Decisions which are made with no regard or attention to the potential results outside of how said decision gains them instant gratification. As I think of it, #1 = good decisions, and #2 = bad decisions. Note that I'm not talking about any sort of moral compass when I use the words "good" and "bad". Now here's the deal. As far as "what to do with a pregnancy" goes, there can be a lot of different variables each with different consequences (negative and positive). So, as such, disregarding (temporarily) the events or methodologies that led to the pregnancy, a decision needs to be made that at least takes in to account these "after-the-fact" possibilities. An obvious "after-the-fact" variable would be the health of the mother. I was glad to see one person specifically point out the "physical" as well as the "mental(i'll add emotional)" health of the mother as both are just as important as her physical health. I think many mothers would back me up when I say that in many ways, pregnancy is a very emotionally (and mentally) intense experience. As such, we can't forget that we shouldn't be endangering the physical, mental, or emotional health of a woman to any extent that would lead to some very negative consequences (i.e. suicide [i speak of this one from experience] or self-inflicted miscarriage etc). Note that this "after-the-fact" variable can largely be influenced by NOT ONLY the context in which conception occurred (i.e. rape, loving or abusive relationship, planned or unplanned), but also by the post-conception environment (this is a broad term) that the mother is in. I'm getting a little too detailed here so I'll condense it down to this: When deciding what to do about a pregnancy, many more variables than just the binary end result (child lives or child dies) need to be considered. Given the breadth and depth of these other factors, I think blanketing anyone with the inability to make a "good" and rational decision (which may result in an abortion) for no other reason than to allow a 3rd party to have their way with the end result, is a DANGEROUS game to play. Remember, you're playing "god" with more than just 1 life. Also remember that when playing god, with great power comes great responsibility. So don't run and bitch about mommy taking out a welfare check after you forced her to have it a kid she didn't want in the first place Also note that your decisive infraction into the ability of an individual to make a choice that would likely lend itself to more positive consequences (for the individual and society as a whole) needs to be made from the awareness that, if she has a baby and can't take care of herself let alone the kid, you just created a liability that no one (i.e. society) agreed to. Hope you're making the decision that will lead to the most positive consequences for all involved. I try to avoid dealing in the matters of other people's lives.

This is not to be taken as advice on your timing at all. I'm just a student. All I know is I watch just about every other student landing and see how they flare, where they flare, and the end result pretty carefully though not too analytically. I just look at the overall picture in how all those things work together. The time it takes for the flare to complete combined with your sense of depth perception and your awareness of the sum result of these two things put together is... i suppose... part science and part finesse/art. I've only bit it once when I flared too high. That taught me when NOT to flare. The other 7 jumps have been stand up landings. I love my thought process though right before flaring. "way too high.... not yet.... not yet.... almost... not yet... ready.... here's where i screwed up.... not yet... NOW *flare*"

As long as there are planes to fly, fuel to power them, and people to fly them, there will be people who jump out of them. But people are a funny sort. While there is obviously some consistency between those who participate, even in my limited exposure to the general skydiving populous, there is a vast amount of diversity between them. Doctors, lawyers, college/high school kids, older, younger, retired, unemployed (at least as far as a W2 is concerned haha), wealthy, not-so-wealthy, married, single, parents, reserved, boisterous, rebellious, regimental, religious, non-religious, friendly, alienating.... the list goes on and on. But despite all these different traits or combinations thereof, within everyone who participates there is that desire to jump out of planes. Some really do take it as a lifestyle choice. For others it's simply a hobby. I mean, the fact is, skydivers don't just have a diverse background, they have diverse motivations for jumping. Within this very simplified spectrum of people, those who stay for life are always going to outnumber those who just stop by the sport for a time. Again, for some, it is their life. For others, it's an add-on to their life. Neither one is more right or more deserving in their reasons or ability to continue jumping. All that matters is that, at any given time, there is this collection of people in the world that wants to jump out of planes. Even the one-shot carnival ride tandem passenger has a tiny grain of that desire. You can't do very much to guarantee retention. The seeds of a life filled with skydiving take a different type of soil to flourish in than what the overwhelming majority of people have in them. You can plant a little seed of desire in just about anyone you meet. But not every seed will germinate. Very few people I've met and mentioned skydiving to haven't been horribly intrigued by it often stating that they wish they could do it. But there's a lot between wanting to do it and making it happen. Look at the barrier to entry? I've personally spent $2400 on training so far and I'm not even through with AFF. Sure I went a little crazy and bought 30 minutes of tunnel coaching after 2 failed level 3's, but I still did it. Think of the personal difference between the average Joe Tandem who might even feel a little guilty after dropping $250 on 1 jump plus video, and a person like me who is willing to whip out that credit card to get in and get settled as fast as I rationally can. You can't instill that kind of behavioral attitude in everyone or even anyone at all. But not having it doesn't stop Joe Tandem from doing a jump. Simply put, you're never going to see the retention you might think you'd love to see. Sure more retention is good for business, but a lot goes in and comes out of higher retention than what you can necessarily want or deliver. It's a niche sport as far as the sport is concern. It may be considered mainstream as a "recreational activity", but it's not a mainstream hobby or lifestyle. Almost anyone will ride a carnival ride, but not just anyone will travel with the carnival.

Let it be known, in-air stability is hard to come by when there is very little air to keep you stable.

Yay for quick/concise responses! I have a feeling I'd be going to him instead of the opposite. Probably wouldn't be the worst idea in the world to have him come to our area. I'm not really aware of how many skydivers call OSC home as I've only been there for 2 weekends and seen 6 who weren't staff. I imagine the traffic from SDA would be keen as well. Hell SDA might even be a better place to host it (closer to the surrounding states). But there is the challenge of getting everyone sync'd up financially to be interested at the right time... Oh well... not like I haven't driven 1000 miles for 30 min of tunnel time

I have it in my sights for right after I get my first rig. Just planning ahead.

So assuming you are of the proper experience level for doing a balloon jump, what stops you from making a jump wherever the balloon may take you? I assume nothing. Is there anything that would stop you (save the weather) from making a balloon jump into your own (very large) backyard? Are there FAA-related things that need to be tended to?

With the exception of pull-time stability, the dive went great. It was the difference between night and day from my previous 2 attempts. Got the legs out signal once before being released, and one more time after release which got me locked in to a wondefully stable and on-heading freefall. I finally got to feel what the right leg position actually feels like when I didn't have the tunnel for a point of reference. Only thing that needs work is my pull. I need to make sure I stop trying to move my body to pull and just move my arms. I think I almost flipped myself at pull time but I'll consider that a fluke as previous jumps have had good pulls. Finally though... a solid and controlled freefall where I maintained altitude awareness AND stability throughout the dive. The tunnel time was worth it.

Exactly. I know it will relax a bit, it's just adjusting to the new situational environment. But I don't want it to go away THAT much. It's a good check for complacency.

My instructors were saying that our student rigs are detuned by nature to make them less aggressive. From the first controllability check I did, I was quite aware of their killer potential even being "tamed down." When I put the toggle down with prejudice to do anything higher than a 90 (and even the 90's for that matter), it definitely went into kill mode. Of course, I'm a conservative person in many aspects of life, so I don't think you'll ever find me under a pocket rocket during my involvement with skydiving. So besides my obscene lack of experience, I am biased towards having a strong respect for the killing potential of any canopy, given what I HAVE experienced with these "gentle giants". But I'm just sayin...

Spent the past week and a half having increasing sensations of "this isn't the smartest idea." which started after my first level 3 dive. Of course I understand the biological reasonings and have a solid foundation of respect for what it is I've started doing. So I am able to promptly follow it up with "Yes, mind, I am aware of the fact that it is dangerous. Thanks again for reminding me, but I will not stop." Besides the fact that I am talking to myself as if it is a seperate entity, I am aware that this is normal and healthy behavior. I understand it's use and the smart part of me doesn't want it to go away, but it definitely is a killjoy during this short period of downtime. I hate being self-aware because it makes things like this thread all that much more pointless.