ematteo

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Posts posted by ematteo

  1. CREE makes good LED downlights (CR6). They are expensive (~$53) but last forever (50,000 hours) and use 10.5 Watts for an honest 65 Watt equivalent. At San Francisco energy rates, that is about a 1 year payback on lights that are on most of the day. Color temperature is nearly identical to incandescent at 2700, and they dim to 5%. Retrofit into a standard 6" can in about 2 mins.

    http://www.polar-ray.com/Cree-CR6-Series_c_118.html

    Lucky folks in Massachusetts had a utility rebate that brought them down to $19.99. Still being resold on ebay for about $40 (with Home Depot EcoSmart rebranding).

  6. Pilots who don't need to build hours don't fly DZ jobs (at least not purely for the pay). Pilots who get benefit from the hours set the pay scale. That is the way a market economy works, dude.

    What is the hourly wet rental cost of a turbine airplane, for purposes of building hours?

    E

  9. You can probably pop the glass piece out, then back into your mirror housing.

    I hit an in credibly unlucky seagull with my mirror a year ago, while driving Highway 1. It made a mess on the front of my mirror, and the glass popped out. I couldn't do much about the bird, but went back on the road, found the (undamaged) glass and popped it back in. Still works.

  11. Thanks. The LEDtronics look closest to a replacement for my 65W R30 floodlights. Price notwithstanding ($118 each), I am surprised that they claim equivalence to a 65W bulb. Only 192 lumens v. 755 for GE incandescent. But cool that folks are going in that direction. My dad can't put down his LED flashlights. Those suckers sure are bright.

  13. Are there dimmable LED light bulbs that are commercially practical?

    I have several circuits of 65W recessed lights in my home. When we went to dimmers a couple years ago (Lutron), the bulbs pretty much stopped burning out, due to the "soft" on-off, and energy consumption went way down. I would consider LEDs as an improvement but most CFLs are non-dimmable and would be a step backwards IMO. Anyone got info on LED bulbs?

    Thanks,
    Evan

  17. $1300 gets you a studio here (SF).

    Credit crunch has really increased rental demand. Given the really tiny rental supply here in SF (exacerbated by rent control), asking rents have been shooting skyward.


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    Financially, sure. Wait. But I'd go crazy if I had to cram my growing kids into a rental apartment...and 2-3 years in an owned home is worth the higher debt to me.



    Don't have to rent an apartment... can rent a nice house too!

    In our recent rental search we passed up a 2500sqft house in a gated community asking $1300/month rental (or $370k sale). Kinda funny how out of whack those two numbers are.

    We didn't want to rent that place because it's just way too much for 2 people.



    $1300 might get you a 3 bedroom apt here.

  18. H3 is a drinking club. What is this "running team" reference?

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    Figured who better than skydivers to ask?

    Anyone make patches? My running team needs them...

    Specs direct from my running team's President:

    Do you have any connections who might be able to make up some embroidered patches for the Harriers? What I’m looking for is very simple: a small (maybe 1.5”wide by 2”tall, all-black patch, sew-on or iron-on, with white stitching. The design would be either (a) totally simple, just a rectangular black background with a capital H in white, sans serif font, or (b) something more like a shield-shaped design, with a very small “NY” across the top and a much larger “H” below that. I’m hoping to order perhaps 50-100 units, and would prefer to keep the costs down around $1 per unit or lower if possible. I’d like to have them by mid-November


    Anyone? Anyone? Would love to give the job to a jumper, if I could.

    -Peter

  21. I purchased life insurance two years ago and found the USPA-referred company's rates non-competitive.

    Using a broker, I found a carrier that charged $2.50 per thousand additional for skydiving. I disclosed that I do tandems. There was no apparent ceiling on the amount of coverage available.

    YMMV

  23. Quote



    >Education is the answer.

    I don't think so. Education would not have worked for Danny. He knew what he was doing.



    Rules (local or BSRs) work for the majority that follow the rules, not the corner cases. Banning / grounding works for the corner cases.

    If the guys you want to "fix" are renegades, no BSR will fix that. Only someone with direct power over a person ("you can't get on my plane" or "you can't get on my skydive") will make a difference.

    For the majority of jumpers, education and well-thought-out local rules tend to work. And yes, there is a lag while the education standards and local rules catch up to advances in the sport. Then we catch up and mostly solve a problem and wait for the next one to emerge...

  24. Bill,

    Can you post your current definition of "High Performance Landing" ("HPL")?

    Thanks,
    Evan


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    > Can somebody post the latest BSR revision, as it stands?

    Here are our proposals. Definitions of "standard pattern" and waiver notes have been omitted for brevity. The one we are favoring is bolded. Note that we are NOT advocating that any of these get used as-is; the board (and membership) will likely decide the final wording if any such BSR is implemented.

    OPTION 1:

    Every drop zone, where high performance landings are permitted, will separate the landing traffic geographically, or by time, so that no one in the high performance landing pattern area can interfere with a landing in the standard landing pattern area.

    If a jumper intends to make a high performance landing, but cannot get to the HPL area, then a standard landing pattern will be performed, regardless of location.

    If a jumper intends to make a standard landing, they will avoid using the HPL area. If they find themselves in the HPL area, they will avoid the center of the area and land on the edges.

    OPTION 2:

    Once a standard landing pattern (SLP) jumper enters the pattern area, NO high performance landings (HPL) can be made in that area.


    OPTION 3:

    Drop zone operators are required to establish safe separation procedures for landing traffic to ensure SLP and HPL traffic do not conflict with each other.

  25. The line dividing the dedicated swoop zone from the (much large) main landing area at Davis is officially called the "line of death." The implication is, if you cross that line below 1000 ft and you are not swooping, you might die. It actually works pretty well at preventing conflict.
    BTW, I don't consider myself to be any kind of god, swoop or other. I just want swoopers to have a safe place to do their thing. I have no problem flying a box pattern on a big way, or when showing a CATB tandem how to land. Why do non swoopers have a problem staying completely out of a swoop lane?
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    You started out faairly well and then hit on this:

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    ...
    A key element: there should be no expectation of right of way for a non HPL flier wandering into the HPL landing area, even if they are the "low man."


    Wow.
    Man, this is exactly the swoop-god attitude and lack of education that is getting people hurt.
    Hopefully that is not the prevalent attitude at Davis.
    Think students and youngsters and plain old shit happens people!