livendive

On 4/7/2021 at 3:52 AM, husslr187 said:

I bought a camera cage for my a6000 and mounted it to the flatlock. a lot more flexible with the amount of threaded holes on it and I was able to get the camera closer to centered with less overhang. did the same for the gopro as well. don’t know how well that’ll work with a canon though. one of the reasons I bought the a6000 was because the lens mounted on one side instead of centered like most cameras. I can make the setup more compact with the gopro in front of most of the camera except the lens.  camera cage is still a good idea incase you bump the door on the way out though 

Could you post a picture of your setup?  I've just been jumping a GoPro on my Fuel, but have been asked to add stills for more tandem video jumps. I already have an a6000 and figure I'll grab a 10-18F4 lens, just trying to decide between a dual top plate or single top plate for the stills with GoPro inverted in front of it.  Not sure that the cages you mention look like.

Blues,

Dave

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

jcd11235

***>scientific method => rejection of faith

So a father cannot have faith in his son and be a good scientist.

>Have a strong desire for one's son to be successful at some pursuit or activity is not
>equivalent to having faith that a supreme being exists.

Correct. But I said have FAITH in him, not just hope he is successful. Having faith is a part of the unconditional love that most parents feel for their children, even in the face of evidence to the contrary.

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

jcd11235

***In science there simply is no room for compromise.

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

turtlespeed

Money drives the "Green" industry.
Money is what makes all the climate scientists stick around instead of going into different fields.
Money is the corrupting factor in all this BS.

As opposed to the altruistic fossil fuel industry, where money is totally eschewed in favor of the good of mankind, amirite?

Blues,
Dave

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

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

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

rushmc

I did not make a claim one way or the other
I did questioned him about the other data sets

I did not say what he quoted me as saying.

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

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

naples

Plan on doing AFF at skydive southwest Florida. I say 5 total because not sure if previous 2 count as part of working tandems, pretty sure they do not. So my understanding part of program will be 3 working tandems as start of AFF and not include 2 previous. Honestly would be fine with me though.

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

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

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

TEB6363

Oh - forgot to mention.. Wear glasses the day of your exam instead of contacts... (my near-vision sucks with contacts too)..

My Doc lets me have the glasses off for all my near, color and depth tests.... Then I put on my glasses for the 20/20 test...

Your medical will just say "must wear corrective lenses", but does not say it has to be contacts

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

sundevil777

They are being a bit pessimistic.

I renewed mine at the beginning of June, it was processed and card delivered in 2 weeks. At the time they were also saying it would take 4 weeks.

Thanks, good to know, I was hoping that was the case.

Blues,
Dave

Thijs

***FoxPro, dBase, or even Access.

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

Currently a 4 week backlog to renew membership even without ratings? This should take 5 minutes tops. Someone should introduce them to computers, maybe even FoxPro, dBase, or even Access. My phone could do this it in a couple hours a day max.

Blues,
Dave

If she had reacted in a polite and professional manner, I doubt this thread would exist.

"Hey, can I get a discount?"
"No, sorry."
"Alright, it was worth a try."
doesn't really drive one to go troll the denizens of dz.com

Blues,
Dave

So you don't believe him for whatever reason. That's certainly one option.

Blues,
Dave

When one side of the story is anonymous, you can either believe the other side's version or not. In this case, that would mean believing:
A) he bought some gear
B) from a popular online retailer
C) for somewhere in the neighborhood of $7,000
D) which was full retail price
E) he then requested they throw in assembly and pack said gear
F) they were offended by this request
G) they articulated this offense inappropriately

Why would you buy A-F but doubt G, especially when G was the entire point of his question? Because online gear sellers have such an impeccable reputation for ethical and professional conduct? If you think the guy's lying, question the whole damn story and leave it be.

Blues,
Dave

If it never happened, what would be the point of making it up? I'm struggling to understand your argument. It seems to be something along the lines of, "You asserted many things in this story and I believe all of them except the one part that comprises the entire purpose of telling it." Either believe the whole thing or call him a liar and walk away despite him giving zero cause for disbelief.

Blues,
Dave

quade

***Freaking out on a customer for requesting a small discount is pretty unprofessional.

We still only have his word on that.

We also only have his word that he bought anything more than a closing loop or bag of rubber bands. It would be kinda weird for me to respond to any of the infinite possible stories he didn't post about, so I chose to go with the one he related.

Blues,
Dave

It seems to me he wasn't so much bitching about not getting a discount as about their reaction to his even asking. Requesting a discount is cool. Declining such a request is also cool (unless trying for exemplary customer service). Freaking out on a customer for requesting a small discount is pretty unprofessional.

Lesson? Don't buy from drama queens or companies that treat you poorly.

Blues,
Dave
(IBTL)

Early in my tandem career I took a terminally ill student who had lost all but the tiniest of stumps on one side and had a very fragile leg on the other that would soon be amputated. This was before release of the sigma harness. I did a bit of jury rigging to feel comfortable that his stump couldn't pop out but overall it was pretty cheesy. If I had to do it over, I'd want a sigma harness with a papoose sack like addition below the belly/back bands.

Blues,
Dave

I let all my ratings lapse last year and am thinking of renewing just the tandem rating (had all instructor ratings and ~1200 tandems). Based on the only excerpt of the IRM I can find, I'll need to go to a course and, take a written test, and make one jump. Does that sound right? My medical also expired last year and I have one concern, vision. My corrected (contacts) vision is fine for jumping, but uncorrected is borderline and near-vision is rough with contacts in. I have no safety concerns, as we rarely read maps or emergency procedures in the air, but rules are rules...any easy way around problems associated with "old guy eyes"?

Blues,
Dave