jimjumper

I've spoken a couple of times at our County Supervisors meetings as a representative of our local, rural, area. Once about marijuana and cannabis cultivation and another time about the zoning for a large development that would have impacted the local residents quality of life. On a day to day basis, the Board of Supervisors and Code Enforcement/Sheriffs are way more important than whose President. And because of the smaller scale, my speaking has much more impact than a letter or email to my Congressman.

I've found it to be more effective to be a member of special interest groups for things that are important to me. Plus, I donate my time as a local community group Town Hall Board member and as a poll worker.

We have mail theft around here all the time from that type of box. Sticky Mouse and rat traps on string work great for stealing from those boxes. Or you can just unbolt them from the ground and steal the whole box. That technique works great for the many box apartment style mailboxes.

Get a complete eye exam including depth perception and peripheral vision. There are techniques to improve landings if you have weakness in either area but find out first. Due to a weakness in one eye I have almost no depth perception (which is actually more common than most people know), and have learned to adapt. I'll never be a swooper but decent landings can be performed even with only one eye.

I did AFF and Tandems for about 15 years after I retired from the military. Almost killed my passion for the sport. Quitting students and getting a regular part-time job as a replacement was the best thing I ever did. Now, I get to decide when, where, and how many jumps and it's back to having fun with friends. I see Instructors fall into the trap of "I have to always be available!" and when they are burned out you don't see them anymore....

Didn't get a refund. 1099 employee that writes a check every year...

Rob, a bit off topic, but you did the diaper and kevlar mods on my 28' Phantom while you were working for Manley up at Cal City. I still have it and its packed in a Warp 3 container for storage. When it was recalled for possible acid mesh I went to a square reserve and a new Vector.

I gone over a year a couple of times. The SIM just says to make a jump under the supervision of an Instructor. The first time the Instructor watched me do a hop-n-pop from the ground. The second time, an Intrsuctor watched from the plane before dispatching his static line students. Technically, with an Otter, you could have an I do a group emergency procedures refresher and then he/her could watch 20 hop-n-pops on the same load and they would all be current.

I don't know of any factual data off-hand, but I wonder how much smoking plays into the overall severity or lethality of the virus....

The average skydiver only remains active for 7 years so a lot of times we "reinvent the wheel" because there is no history of what has already been done experimentally. I see and hear novices all the time using and doing things that they were told is the most modern technique without any clue of the actual mechanics involved. It is important to keep that information available. I no longer do any rigging or instructing (beyond a little impromptu coaching) but I when I see a novice struggling with something simply because they are trying to keep up with "what's cool" I am happy to point out any known solution that might already exist. Sometimes thats amusing, such as the time a fellow instructor asked to use my unpacked rig to demonstrate some things to his FJC class. My SOS, no RSL, bungee pilot chute, B12 snaps, equipped rig didn't quite fit the bill for what he needed to teach and he himself was confused with some of those features. For info this occurred in '99. There is a post on here right now, talking about lubricating the soft loop of the 3 ring to prevent hard cutaways. Ever since mini rings and risers came out, hard cutaways have been a topic of discussion. My last new rig, they called to make sure I actually wanted standard rings and risers and not the "cool" mini's. For a new gear buyer, I could see them accepting what their gear dealer recommends and not what is best for them in the moment. We are seeing it all the time now with jumpers flying canopies that they cannot land and the community response has been mandatory canopy training. Go out and watch a big-way land during no-wind conditions and you'll see from the circus carnage that that hasn't worked! But it keeps the jumpsuit repair people in a job. I recently had an old-time jumper, that was returning to jumping, ask me what happened to the days when you pulled down the toggles and the canopy stopped. He referred to it as the "golden age of parachute landings" and he was referring to the mid to late '80's when grass stained, dirty jumpsuits weren't the norm. I see novices with fall rate and tracking problems because they didn't learn the basic body positions before throwing in mega-booties, weight belts, and competition grips. I got my AFF rating without booties and am still one of the few at my DZ that does FS, up to 40 ways, without them. Yes! Keep offering your advice and opinions even if some may think they are outdated. If nothing else it will keep the "skygods" grounded in reality and points out the differences of what really works and what is the latest faddish technique. Sorry, long post. Rant over!

I think I'll stick with my large rings while you guys work the bugs out.

The snake shot is actually for rattlesnakes. Since 3 of my neighbors cleared land along the fence lines to illegally grow pot the snakes from those areas moved into my property. I shot 3 in the 3 years before the pot grows and then 5 this year. I can’t take a chance of my animals being bitten, it’s dangerous and expensive. Sorry, I don’t eat rattlesnake, they are a lot of work for not much meat.

Not in CA. Has to be shipped to a dealer and then can be picked up after paying a fee for a background check, and waiting however long that takes, and the dealers handling fee.

Actually, the idea of requiring a physical address is a good idea but, as noted above, the execution sucks. The reason its a problem for me is I actually have a P.O. Box. If I had rented my box at a UPS store, that shows a physical address similar to an apartment building and it would be no problem, which effectively negates the intent of the regulation. The difference between what lawmakers try to write into law and what bureaucrats execute as policy are 2 different things.

So the saga continues! I decided to purchase a new gun to get out of this mess, BUT! to purchase a handgun in CA you must show a valid CA drivers license or State ID. I live very rurally and have had numerous instances of mailbox theft (its a mile of dirt road to my box) so I opted for a P.O. box in town. My drivers license and vehicle registration has that as my address so my renewals aren't stolen. CA requires a physical address be present on the license to be acceptable. And a second proof of residence must be presented which is usually a vehicle registration. Neither of mine is acceptable due to the P.O. box address. Alternativey, a utility bill may be used for the second proof but I pay my bills on-line so I don't have that either. I will be going to the DMV and stand in line for 4-6 hours to change the address, then I can get a printout of DMV K4 "Driving Record History" to submit for proof of residency. I'll need to find out if a printed bill from the eIectric co. is acceptable. I have an e-mail in to the CA DOJ to get their opinion but I'll probably get the Bot answer I got the last time. Good grief, I am sure glad our government is taking an active hand in protecting us from gun violence...

Further update. I was approved after 3 days and I picked up my box of snake shot today. I asked the gun store salespeople how to get on the approved background check list and their solution was interesting. Buy an AR15 lower receiver! A polymer AR15 lower, which is the registered component of an AR15, can be purchased for $40. Since it is serialized, it has to be registered and a background check done for purchase. They didn't recommend buying the parts to complete the weapon since polymer recievers aren't very durable but it gets you thru the background check and on the approved list at the least possible cost. They said it makes an excellent and unusual paperweight. Seems that AR15 sales are climbing in CA...

I did some checking and you can also get entered into the background check database if you register a gun that was purchased before registration was required. I’ll just put that at the top of my “to do” list. I wonder what happens if your background check isn’t approved? Will the police come and confiscate it?

Effective 1 July, CA ammunition purchasers must pass a background check. It was intended to that an instant background check, at a $1 per purchase cost, based on the CA gun owners database would allow same time purchases. If an individual was not in the database a manual check would be done at a $19 cost and could take up to a week. So, of course, CA wasn't able to get it right! I tried to purchase ammo today and was denied since I am not in the CA system. No big deal, do the long check, get my ammo in week, right? Maybe. I just applied for the long check and discovered that the approval, even if granted, only applies to a single ammunition purchase! If you have not purchased a firearm in CA since 2014 you will not be in the database and an approval to purchase ammunition does NOT get you entered in the database. So each time I purchase ammo I will have to pay for a $19 background check irregardless of how much I buy. And what is the solution? Buy more guns! A gun purchase gets your background check info into the database and specific ammunition type sales are not matched to the weapon on file. I dropped my NRA membership years ago because I didn't agree with some of the things they were defending but this silliness has made me rethink my views on having a gun rights group represent me. By the way, I was only purchasing a single box (12 rounds) of .38 snake shot for pest control on my ranch. So far, my total is $14.50 for the rounds and $21 for the background check...

This is/was a big topic on the antique tractor forum I follow. Leaded gas was used to increase librucation on engines without hardened valve seats. A lot of older tractors didn't have that so it was recommended that a lead additive be used if the antique tractor was going to actually be used heavily. This increased the tractors engine life. Aircraft engines have always had hardened valve seats and heads so a lead additive usually isn't neccesary. I run regular unleaded gas in my '48 Ford tractor with no ill effects.

Linda and Jack. At my wedding in 1995. RIP

Did it last year, 4 weeks.

I believe The four-way is still at the San Diego Air and Space in Balboa Park. I haven't been there for about 10 years but it was hanging from the ceiling then.

Strangely enough, the first time I had escargot was in Pohang, Korea for a military exercise. The hotel restaurant had it and I was hooked. Love the stuff. Being stationed and visiting various places in the Far East, I have eaten a number of things, good and bad, that were a bit off the usual palette.

Hemet CA was $3.43 on Friday, down 5 cents from the week before. But that is at the cheapy place not a name brand. Still a slim chance that Prop 6 will pass on Tuesday and reduce the taxes by 12 cents a gallon but Californians love to tax themselves. Diesel was taxed even higher and is close to $4 a gallon. I work as a courier and the Prop 6 tax alone costs me $4.50 a week.

Meat Loaf-Bat out of Hell One of the bet produced albums going even if the music itself isn't your style. He also produced an album for his back-up singer Karla DeVito with the same stunning production qualities.