Jingleballs

I know this is kind of the opposite of BASE jumping, but I guess you could still pull low if you wanted to. :-) http://blog.scifi.com/tech/archives/2007/06/26/diving_from_spa.html http://www.popsci.com/popsci/aviationspace/3c082d2daa463110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

Happy to help. I've been searching for more news in Google.fr, and if a longer article with more detail appears, I will translate that too. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

I'm sorry to hear that... The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

Here you go: Base jumping specialist Jean-Marc Mouligne died by drowning Saturday in the Verdon gorges after a jump in La-Palud-sur-Verdon (in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), according to police reports. Base jump is a dangerous sport which involves throwing oneself off a cliff with a parachute. Jean-March Mouligne, 57 years old, was known as the human catapult since he learned how to catapult himself more than 100 metres from the ground before opening his parachute. According to the police, he had made a jump, and it was on landing that his parachute, falling into the water, pulled him to the bottom. His body was found at the end of the morning by practioners of white-water sports. He was removed by helicopter at the end of the afternoon. Jean-Marc Mouligne was originally from Romainville in Seine-Saint-Denis. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

Geez, it isn't free either if you have to pay for your own flight to Idaho. Somehow I doubt that anyone who is willing to buy a BASE rig, a flight to Idaho and accommodations for a week is going to balk at donating $100 to a charity. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

As requested, I'm commenting without voting. The options you have presented in the poll are incomplete. You give people the option to indicate whether or not they think the case has merit, but only if they vote in a certain way. A person who votes yes (willing to be a party) does not necessarily want to imply that the case has merit -- it might just be a show of solidarity. Another person who votes yes might very well want to show a believe in the merits of the action. So those two cases should (in my view) be separated. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

Thanks! Now if it would only stop raining so I could go for a long bike ride in the country... The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

It has been 3 weeks since I made my first skydive. I'm sure I will look back on this month as one of the most positive times in my life. Since I started preparing to jump, my life has changed for the better in many ways. I am in the best shape I have ever been in. I exercise and eat better. I have lost 10 kilos. I fit into clothes that I bought years ago and have never worn. I got rid of my television. I bought a bicycle. (Actually, I bought two.) And, I learned to skydive. I wish I had done this years ago, but I don't think I would have been able to. Because I injured myself on my first skydive, I won't be jumping again for at least another month. I may never jump again. But I'm glad about what I have learned, about jumping, and about myself. I have lost one friend. But I have met many new people. I don't know where I want to go with skydiving. I'm taking it one step at a time. I doubt that I'll ever be a BASE jumper. But I am posting this here, because I would never have been able to jump, or even have had the idea to, without encouragement from some very supportive folks who regularly post here. I want to thank you all. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake

I had a similar injury on my very first jump. I was on radio instruction from the ground, they had talked two previous jumpers to the spot, and they were doing a great job of controlling my canopy flight, so I basically stopped thinking and just followed instructions. I came down faster than they expected, and at the last minute realized that I would not be clearing the barbed wire/electric fence between me and the landing site. Only then did I start to flare, much too late. I landed hard and injured my right knee. I didn't realize it was going to be a hard landing until I was a couple of feet from the ground, so I didn't think much before the injury. I remember falling over, and then I was crumpled on the ground, feeling pain in my right leg. I don't think I ever thought it was broken, but it hurt more than it should. I decided to stay put until the ground crew could clear the two small fences separating me from the landing spot. They asked me to give a thumbs-up, so I did. By that time, the initial pain was subsiding, so I changed my mind about staying put, got up and hobbled over to the fence, which I was able to climb under. I think at this point, what was in my mind was that my first response of "oh, no, I'm injured" was an overreaction, and I was being a bit of a baby. After that, I was hobbling a bit, but definitely able to walk. So I figured it would just clear up. I took a bus home, walked a few blocks, and put the leg up. By about 8 hours after the jump, the joint was swelling and I could no longer bear weight on the leg. I decided to go down to emergency, where they took some x-rays, diagnosed it as a sprain or tear of the medial collateral ligament, and gave me a full-leg brace. They said it would heal up in a matter of days if it was a sprain, and weeks if it was a tear. So, I wasn't worried at any point that I had injured myself permanently to the point where I wouldn't be able to walk, or anything like that. However, I think at this point I was already beginning to wonder whether this meant I couldn't jump again. But I can't remember whether I asked that question out loud at emergency, or whether I asked it a few days later when I saw a specialist. I was told that I could probably jump again in two months, but that I should probably wear a knee brace when I do. Now it is about three weeks later, and I'm still limping, although my physiotherapist says it is basically all in my head at this point. I'm going to wait for the two-month point and see whether I still feel like jumping. Today, I do. But I don't know how I'll feel in the future, so I'm not setting myself any targets, other than to do my physio exercises, stay in shape, and practice walking normally! By the way, I was very glad to read in your post that you planned to see a doctor. I wish I hadn't waited 10 hours before hauling myself down to emergency. Hope this helps. The world is one giant drop zone now, Bonnie! - Seth Blake