livendive

I've mostly been a frap hat guy and let all my ratings lapse for the last few years. I'm going to get a couple of them back to help out a couple of friends, starting with tandem. It seems like full face helmets have become pretty standard during my absence, and with the proliferation of handcams, I see why. Sooo... Which one is best for ease of use and communication with your student? Blues, Dave

Your insistence on the use of faith in that context is nonsensical. It's meaning is different from how faith has been used in the rest of the discussion. So let's try another context. Every time I go out to dinner, I accept on faith that my server has not spit in my meal. I've probably been wrong on occasion, but to doubt it routinely would seriously undermine my opinion of restaurants as a reasonable dining option. Does this mean that I and all the other scientists I've worked with over the last couple of decades should quit our jobs and find other employment more suitable to our limited skillsets? Where I think the real discrepancy in definitions lies in this argument is your definition of scientist. I would not call someone who does impeccable research a bad scientist on the basis of how they spend their Sunday mornings. I would judge them on the quality of their actual work. I've worked with scientists of many specialties on a daily basis for about 22 years. Biologists, chemists, epidemiologists, mathematicians, geologists, chemical and nuclear physicists, environmental scientists, even laser nerds. Many of these scientists (admittedly a smaller fraction than seems present in the general population) have also been religious. Yet they seem no better or worse at quantifying or remediating pollutant plumes, predicting and mitigating biological effects of radiation or toxins, testing hypothesis on particle dynamics, or shooting ridiculously overpowered light beams through things. Sure, an archeologist or evolutionary biologist might find some conflicts between their faith and their profession, but for most branches, religion is simply not a factor in the application of the scientific method to a particular problem or question. If someone who gets paid to do the latter does it well, I consider them a good scientist. Judging them based how they spend Easter seems as relevant as judging a chef based on what he prepares for himself at home, or a novelist based on the quality of his emails. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Exactly. Religion is about embracing faith. Science is about rejecting faith and applying logic and reason. On cannot be a good religious person and a good scientist. Completely disagree. I am not Christian, but if I were, I would likely believe that God commanded us to be good stewards of the earth. How would that be incompatible with my work as an environmental scientist? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

As opposed to the altruistic fossil fuel industry, where money is totally eschewed in favor of the good of mankind, amirite? Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

I won't vote for either of them, but I would certainly prefer Hillary more than Trump. She'll at least try to do some good, and likely fail miserably. He won't even try. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Mine were trashed at C3-4, C4-5, and C5-6, but 5-6 was the only one with increasing radiculopathy. After weighing the options and discussing the risks and benefits of arthroplasty with my surgeon who believes artificial discs will not be as strong in a whiplash type injury, I opted for ACDF at C5-6 last year, while also replacing both hips. I didn't get back in the air till yesterday, mostly because of other reasons (family matters then winter), but it felt fine in the couple jumps I did. If it ends up causing adjacent segment deterioration at C4-5, I'll probably opt for an artificial disc there, using the Mobi-C, which is the only device approved in the US for multiple adjacent cervical arthroplasties, that way I'm covered if C3-4 follows suit. However I'm pretty sure I wouldn't skydive again in that situation. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Both parties still require participants to swear they have not and will not participate in the other party's nomination process. As for your other question, I'm not sure. The House & Senate stalemated last year on a couple of bills that would have (among other things) moved the primary up to just a few days after the caucus, thereby minimizing any discrepancy between results. I don't think anybody opposed that part, it was the other elements they couldn't agree on. If I remember correctly, the Republicans wanted to force the Democrats to select half their delegates in the primary, and the Democrats wanted to simpy de-fund the primary and force the Republicans to use just their caucus results. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

You said, "Yep. The newest instruments we have are not to be believed. " That is a claim, not a question, and "the data are wrong" is a reasonable paraphrase of it. You could theoretically take him to task for the grammatical error of using quotation marks on a paraphrase, but it certainly doesn't rise to the level of "liar." To justify that pejorative, he'd have to have said something dishonest, maybe like stating that a claim was really just a question. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Democrats will select delegates using just the caucus results; Republicans will select delegates using just the primary results (but both parties also have some fixed delegates). If you're a Republican and your only interest is in voting for the nomination, you can ignore the caucus. I'm not sure how much the Republican party uses the caucus to inform their platform, but if participating in that process interests you, you'll still want to attend the caucus. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Talk to your DZ, it sounds like they have a TDM ~~> AFF progression which likely has specific performance goals. In all honesty, even if the first tandem is designated as "working", not a lot of work actually gets done on them outside of settling some nerves and developing a much greater understanding of the process. It's possible that two more tandems could be sufficient to knock out the performance objectives for their transition to AFF, but the instructor will be key to that decision. For a more traditional AFF system, I agree with what Chuck said...while a tandem isn't specifically required, it definitely improves performance on your first AFF jump. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Looking for a neuro or ortho who could PM me to resolve some conflicting opinions I've received and help settle some unease related to life in general and jumping in particular. The questions are related to cervical fusion vs artificial disc replacement and single vs multi-level. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

As a weekend warrior with a desk job, I went through a phase a few years ago in which my tailbone was giving me trouble. I got a new chair at work with a cutout that lets the tailbone hang free and put myself at the front of the plane every load for a couple months so I could hang my tailbone off the front of the bench or bring a homemade "donut" made from foam pool noodles to keep that aluminum straddle bench from pressing on the bone and the problem was resolved. Shoulders and hips are the bigger wear items in my opinion. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Thanks, that thought occurred to me after I made this post. I have bifocal glasses, but usually just take them off to read things, as I haven't gotten the hang of looking through the bottom of them. That said, I realized if this thing is going to test me as if I was flying a plane instead of freefalling, I might as well dress like I'm going to fly a plane instead of freefalling. With my glasses on, I should be able to pass both near and far corrected, then I'll just wear contacts for jumping like normal (I have had to land a few times after losing a contact and it's not a big deal). Now about avoiding white coat syndrome on my BP... :-) Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Thanks, good to know, I was hoping that was the case. Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)

Dude, it is not 1990 anymore ;-) That was kind of my point...even 1990 technology would be better than 4 weeks for a membership renewal. ;-) Blues, Dave "I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!" (drink Mountain Dew)