Kell.nl

A friend wants to do a tandem jump, but she just had a root canal done and now has a temporary crown. The trip for jumping is planned before she has her follow up appointment for a permanent crown. I know for scuba diving it is recommended not to dive with a temporary crown, as with temporaries it's possible there is a little air pocket and the pressure change might pop it off or cause a lot of pain. Of course scuba diving deals with a much bigger change in pressure. So how about skydiving? Not a problem? Or advisable not to? Or at most some discomfort? Of course the best way is always to postpone, but since this will be a weekend road trip with 8+ people, postponing isn't really an option. So only options for her are to jump or not jump on this trip.

Moved to Colombia a few years ago, but I haven't jumped here yet. Time to change that! Unfortunately the info about Colombian dropzones on here is very old, so I would love some more current information. Especially since it seems like the dropzone that was closest to me went out of business during the pandemic. So what would be the best dropzone in the country? Planning to do a weekend roadtrip with a few friends. Looking for the following things: - Tandem for my friends. Would be great of 3 or 4 tandems can go at the same time, but not a requirement - Gear rental for me (sold my gear due to not jumping enough to stay at that wingloading) - A coach for a refresher jump. Got my D license, close to a thousand jumps but haven't jumped in a year - If the tandem instructor(s) speak english, that's a pro, but not a requirement. Most peeps that are coming can speak decent Spanish (or perfect for the Colombian friends ^^) And of course all the "regular" stuff as good safety record, maintained airplane(s), nice people etc. From looking around, it seems Xielo ( https://xielo.co/ )might be the best place to go, but would love some feedback. We live in Medellin, but anywhere in the country is fine.

I jump at Skydance also and I can do coach jumps with you for sufficiently awesome high-fives and my slot if I like you. And luckily it's easy for me to like people, so if you're not a total asshole, we should be fine. One thing though, I fall fast, so it does depend on your body/arch whether or not I can do coach jumps with you. If you're long and skinny or a floater, then unfortunately it wouldn't work out. In that case I can do your hop and pops :P I am usually there Saturdays or Sundays. I'm easy to spot. Just follow the purple.

And to save you a call (if you haven't made it yet): SkyDance doesn't offer static line either.

I got the FlySight yesterday. I am looking forward to jumping it. I played around with it today in my car (I set the mode to automotive/horizontal speed). Very fun :) I attached some pictures showing how I mounted it. I mounted it on the back of my camera box on my camera helmet. I used 3M Dual Lock (bought it at Radio Shack; it is call super lock there) on three quarters of the FlySight. That way I can still open the camera box without any problems. And it feels very sturdy. Definitely not coming off unless something really goes wrong (in which case the FlySight is probably the least of my worries). I did read that 3M Dual Lock can't be mated/unmated as often as velcro before it goes "bad". But hey, that's what long USB cables are for, right I used the suggestion on here and bought in-helmet speakers. 25 dollar was the cheapest at the local motor cycle store, so not too bad. I opened one of the speakers, ripped out the cable and soldered a new cable on it with a bend stereo jack on it. I kept the cable very short, so I won't have much excess in the helmet. The speaker itself uses regular velcro (came with the speakers) to keep itself in place inside the helmet. The volume sounds very loud inside the helmet, so I don't have a doubt I will hear it during jumping. I probably will turn it to a lower volume ^^ Now let's just hope the stupid wind here stops blowing so hard so that I can test jump the FlySight!

If you want the altitrack (don't know about the protrack) to record hop and pops, put it in student mode. I always have it in student mode (hop and pops and normal jumps) and it records all jumps. Only drawback is that if for any reason you have to ride the airplane down and the plane does this fast, it can log a jump.

Not sure if it is the same for the Pro-Track, but I have an L&B Alti-Track, and the original usb-serial cable that came with it did not have support for 64 bits Windows 7. After emailing L&B, they send me a newer cable for free that is supported. Even if it is different for the Pro-Track, send (or call) L&B an email. Their support is stellar!

A different approach that I used, and not only for skydiving, is using night lenses. These are lenses that you wear while you sleep but take out when you wake up. They shape your cornea and then you have good vision during the day. I can even go two days without wearing them and still have 20/20 vision (actually 20/15 on one eye, so even better ^^). These lenses are called ortho-k. I decided on this because my normal eye sight isn't too bad so I didn't want to risk surgery. With ortho-k (provided you follow hygiene guidelines), there is almost no risk. If you stop wearing the lenses, the cornea eventually assume their original shape. But of course always check with your eye doc instead of believing a random stranger on the internet :P So now I wear regular goggles for skydiving. For more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthokeratology

There is no such thing as being too much color coordinated! All my gear is purple and black including, but not limited to, my jumpsuits, rig, main, shoes, helmet, gearbag, dragmat and logbook cover ^^ And that's just the skydiving part

In that case check which server you are using for outgoing mail. Chances are you are trying to use your old provider's one. I don't have Thunderbird running here, but look for something called SMTP server, outgoing mail server or something similar. Your old provider might see any mail as spam if it is not sent from one of its own IP addresses (on that server, that is).

rblsmtpd is a deamon responsible for blocking spam mail from known spam IP addresses, which is running on the server you are trying to use for sending email. So it might be that from your IP address (your PC, or any other behind your router), someone has been spamming and made it to a blacklist. I would strongly urge you to run virus/malware scanners on your pc('s) and make sure noone is using your wireless connection if you have one. Getting of blacklists (you're usually on multiple ones...) is not always an easy task. I would try to get your ISP to do it for you, or have them just assign you another IP address (you can try to refresh your current one, but most providers will give you the same one). But both options only after making sure you are really not spamming! Of course, maybe someone just screwed up with rblsmtpd and misconfigured it. It may just work again after a while, but I wouldn't count on it.

Odd, I never thought you were a bully...

Quade is right that probably the best way is to have a spare laptop stationed at the house for a while. A laptop shouldn't be too hard to hide, including a cheap small webcam (I picked up a few for 6.99 at Fry's a while ago). There is software available that turns the webcam(s) into a motion sensor. The software can be configured to start recording as soon as motion is detected, and then send pictures to your email address, store the video on an external server, etc. I don't know if there is any good free software for Windows, but if you (or any of your friends) is a bit decent with Linux, a good and free tool would be Zoneminder. Biggest "problem" here is whether or not you have a laptop you can station in the house for a while.

I only met Wes once; He was a cool guy. I told him I would visit Skydive Tahoe as soon as I would have more skydives and would be more confident jumping at a dropzone with a high elevation. I regret I haven't gone earlier BSBD

Yeah, that makes for a nice story to tell whuffos. "I was violently spinning, so I had to release my risers"