ernokaikkonen

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Posts posted by ernokaikkonen

  1. Quote

    Hi Erik



    Who the hell is Erik?

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    If you're talking to residents of Auchenblae, perhaps you should begin by explaining about "E-Lec-Tri-Si-Tee"



    I prefer talking about "the invisible magic fire that makes things go". Less difficult words.

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    Start by saying; "In The Civilised World..."



    What do you know about The Civilized World?:o You're from England, aren't you?

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    Quality of house construction is directly linked to availability of alcohol! Aussies have their Barbie-Fires to keep them warm... Their "Beer" to keep them cool



    Alcohol is rather widely available in Finland, so it can't be that. I suspect there's something in the Australian "beer" that affects their common sense. I should know; I've done plenty of hands-on research in the subject.:P

  2. Quote

    Aye, but thats with the sauna switched off. I looked into fitting a sauna recently and the smallest heater for one of those is around 4.5kw.



    That's a 2.28kW average for the whole year in an average house, and an average Finnish house has to include a sauna. I suspect it's a rather minor point as you rarely keep the sauna going 24/7.

    In any case, if you want to heat any part of your house with firewood, sauna is the place. The löyly from a wood burning kiuas is much softer than that from an electric one. You can make a decent sauna with an electric kiuas, but the rest of the sauna needs to be well built. I suggest hiring a Finnish contractor to do it.;)

    Hmm. I thought we'd only need heating for about 9 months of the year, but now that I think about it summer is the time when everybody is heating their saunas during their summer holidays...:SB|

  3. Quote

    In mid winter, cold and damp Auchenblae I need about 6 kw just to heat the living room, good job I run that on renewable wood!



    Ach, but that's because you live in a house built by British standards;). Some decent thermal insulation and triple glazed windows would do wonders.

    According to a site by a Finnish power company, a 120 square meter house should consume around 20 000KWH per year. My math says that's 2.28kW all the time. In Finland.(25000kWh/year, 2.85kW for a 150 square meter house.)

    This seems like a good place to rant about something I've wondered for a long time. I've spent quite some time living in Australia, and it amazes me how badly the houses are built. No thermal insulation, single windows, draft blowing through every corner. And then they run aircon half the year and heating the other half. Just doesn't make sense to me.:|

  7. Someone's comment in a related thread got me curious about the way people use their audibles. He suggested setting the alarms higher, to get an advance warning of the altitude that's coming.

    Personally, I don't have an audible, but when I get rich and can afford one, it will be set below my break-off and deployment altitudes. I want to keep my altitude awareness and use the audible strictly as a back-up only.

    What are other people's thoughts on this?

  8. Quote

    Good move. Make sure you set it for higher than each altitude you want to know.

    It's like this, you're better off with it reminding you, 'Break off is in five seconds' than letting you know right at breakoff. It keeps you ahead of the skydive, ready for the changes. You know whats coming before it happens.



    I think that's horribly bad advice. That kind of audible use is exactly what causes device dependency. "Skydiving until you hear the beeps" is really, really not what I want to see in the sky.

    Learn to gauge the altitude with your eyes.
    Look at your visual.
    Use the dytter as a back-up to remind you that "hey, you fucked up, pay more attention to the altitude next time."

  9. Quote

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    evidence... wheres that?? there is none .. thats why its called "faith"



    a common misconception. Think of someone that really has your trust. What do you base that trust on? Just a hunch about the person, or a warm fuzzy? Or do you have trust in the person because of what you KNOW and have learned about him/her?

    It's no different in a relationship to and with God.



    There indeed is no difference between such a relationship and believing in a god; both are based on faith rather than knowledge.

    Someone that really has my trust has demonstrated by his or her actions that they are worthy of my trust. Such actions can be physically perceived. Even with this physical evidence, the person's trustworthiness is not 100% certain the same way that gravity certainly affects all bodies in space.

    I just believe this person to be trustworthy.

    I know gravity sucks.

    There is no physical evidence supporting the existence of a god. Without evidence, no-one can know there is a god. They can only believe. This is more or less the definition of religion; if you don't need faith it's something else.

  10. Quote

    Yes, I have come to the conclusion that the belief system that I have practiced for more then 30 years (i.e. my entire life) is no longer valid.



    Have you just lost faith in the supernatural, or do you also now think that all the teachings of your former religion are wrong as well? They can be two separate things, I think. For example, I'm not religious, but I still think that many of christianity's teachings make sense, like "treat other people like you would like to be treated" and that stuff.

    Of course I disagree with many of the beliefs as well, but so do many christians; everyone just seems to pick the bits they want to believe in and choose their church accordingly.

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    wouldn't that bother you?



    Well, in my case it would mean abandoning nearly 30 years of atheism. Most of the time that happens to people they tend to be rather happy to have "found Jesus". I guess it would bother me for a while.

  11. Quote

    I find curling quite entertaining to watch. I haven't a clue why though :D



    I know! It's really odd. It should be horribly boring to watch, but it just isn't. It's weird and I like it even if I don't understand the first thing about the tactics and stuff.:SB|

  14. I went to a shooting range yesterday to fire a few rounds after nearly a decade of not firing a single shot. Unfortunately they were out of .22 ammo, the price I would've paid was more than twice what was displayed on their price list and the guns looked like leftovers from WWII.

    I didn't need to shoot that badly. I'll try again in another 8 years. :P

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    Teathering a balloon high enough to jump from hasn't been tried



    Sure about that?:P



    If it has I have never heard of it. that's not to say I would know 100% fact. got info on it?



    You may want to see some videos published by the Australian BASE Association. ;)

  17. I'm also not quite sure what you mean, but I'll hazard a guess. Here's a picture I made. Two questions:

    1) Is the configuration of the MLW and the lateral strap on your rig similar to that shown in the picture? (On some rigs the lateral attaches directly to the MLW instead of the hip ring.)

    2) If the configuration is similar to the picture: Are you concerned over the seam shown in red in the picture?

  19. Quote

    The definition of an alteration to a parachute or parachute system, as defined by the FAA, is a change from the original configuration from which it was manufactured.

    see below...

    B. Any change to the configuration, method of
    operation, or method of packing the main parachute, up to
    and including the main canopy attachment links or the male
    end of the quick release fittings, is a main pack alteration.
    Any main parachute alteration that affects the strength or
    operation of the auxiliary parachute, including the harness,
    must be regarded as an alteration of the auxiliary parachute
    and handled accordingly.



    What?? So it's an alteration if I swap my French links for soft links? Or if I take a student rig and re-configure it from S/L to ripcord operation or hand-deploy? Or if I install new main risers?

  20. Quote

    How clear it looks... Really nice as for me...
    Is there any drawback of such design - for throw out PC?



    Like someone mentioned, packing takes a few seconds longer.

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    As I see - there is no way to open container like this in wrap-aroud style design?



    Why not? Although usually "wrap-around" rigs are modified with the much more simple "open-corners" mod, where the bottom corner seam is simply opened without adding the triangular bits of the "dynamic corners"

    This thread has pictures of my "open corners" modified Atom Legend.

  21. Quote

    Do you have some pictures about a Javelin with dynamic corner mod?



    No, sorry.

    Actually I can't find any reference to the mod on the Sun Path website or the Odyssey order form. I saw the dynamic corners on two PD swoop team rigs so maybe it was some prototype version or something?:S

  23. Quote

    There is nothing "frivolous" about closed lower main container corners. The closed lower corners were and are still are an important step in main parachute deployment allowing for proper "staging" of the parachute deployment system. It's called "friction staging".



    But nowadays many manufacturers offer open/dynamic corners as an option on their rigs. Is friction staging not necessary with these rigs?

    Are there cases of deployment problems arising from open/dynamic corners?

    (Speculation follows, just thinking aloud:)
    Reserve containers are differentas are, of course, mains deployed with a spring loaded pc). With them, the container is already open when the pilot chute is deployed, and therefore friction staging is necessary to keep the bag in the container while the pilot chute is deployed. With throw-away pilot chutes on main containers, the pc is already inflated and the bridle stretched when the container opens. No need to keep the bag in the container at that stage, right?

    How pull-outs would fit in this I don't know. Pull-outs are weird.

  24. Quote

    You cannot tell the difference from the outside, you have to see the opened main tray to see it.



    That's true with containers of the "wrap-around" design, but a Javelin with the "dynamic corners" mod, for example, does look a bit different than a regular Jav.