agitator

Hey, Sebazzz and myself are going clubbing later! Anyone wanna come? You need to supply your own club, and we'll supply the harbor seals (and the puppies)!

Well, by "us", if you mean the continental U.S., don't worry, he has no ICBMs. yet. If you mean our allies in the region, well.... I think he knows if he attacks Israel, he can expect a devestating reprisal from... Israel. I think Saddam DOES care about himself VERY much. He does not appear to be any kind of martyr, just a greedy fu(k. I think we can ALWAYS count on him to do what is best for Saddam. later

I say, yes, a war for oil! [if necessary, which I don't think it is right now] parachutes are made from nylon, which is made from....oil (indirectly) do you enjoy driving? do you enjoy affordable food? affordable clothing, affordable anything? face it folks, our entire economy (and well being as people) is based on oil. do i advocate that people fight for a viscous (sp?) brownish liquid? no. do I advocate that people fight for a substance, the free flow of which drives our economy, puts food on our table, clothes us, makes jump tickets affordable (well, sorta affordable), etc. etc. Hell yes! Now, does this war, have anything to do with oil. Doubt it. Nukes? Doubt it. If he get's a nuke, he is gonna wanna hold onto it to make himself more of a player in the middle east. he ain't gonna give it away to crazy terrorists. you think he is gonna spend untold billions of $$ on a bomb or two then give it away? heck no. Naw, Bush just wants a war. They haven't convinced me of any immediate danger yet....

OK, I am quoting from memory, so it may be kind of unfair to Mr. Booth, but I think it was something to the effect of..... .....what happens when a 16 year old girl says "that big ugly man touched my breasts", inciting her parents to sue over what an older woman would construe as "flirting"? Again, that is from memory, so you may want to look up the actual letter in fairness, but this morning I was like, wow, I haven't been "flirting" very effectively at all!!!

Hey, I was up early pooping this morning, reading one of the Parachutists I have by my poop receptacle, when I came across a letter written by Bill Booth in the March 02 issue. I was struck by what he considers "flirting." I am relatively new to this forum, so maybe this was discussed much earlier (in which case I apologize), but doesn't that comment seem a little weird to anyone?

Yes, it does appear that Cypress saves.... idiots (except maybe for that Dortmund, Germany chick). However, there have been a couple honest to goodness "knocked in the noggin and now I'm unconscious" saves, one of which happened to a good friend of mine on a 232 way attempt in Lake Wales FL a few years back [someone decided to dump a bit early and he ended up breaking his femur on my friend's head]. These never seem to make any list of Cypres saves I have ever seen, and I am always curious as to why. To the main point, yeah, go ahead and jump that thing. Myself, knowing a guy who is alive because of one, and also knowing a guy who is dead because he didn't have one, I would not make a habit of it, but a few times using your discretion.... you should be OK.

awesome. thanks for the input folks. anyone else got any comment?

Does that futon squeak a lot?

Hey, I have a quick query re airlocked canopies: What is the common wisdom/experience regarding airlocks and turbulence? Is there any credence to the theory that the airlocks make canopies less susceptible to collapse, etc. in bumpy air. I can see how it might, but then it may seem like it wouldn't make diff. I am contemplating an airlock canopy. I need to figure out if the extra pain in the ass brought on by trying to collapse the thing after landing is offset by any kind of warm and fuzzy while hooking through turbulence..... thanks!!!!!!!

Yeah, when I was in the army, I was a member of the 82nd Airborne club. We got a LOT of rides up in Blackhawks. We had a real cool pilot who always brought it to a hover (I don't think he was supposed to for some reason, but he did anyway). We probably have more subterminal experience than anyone out there, except for some of the BASE jumpers. One thing you want to watch out for is the lack of relative wind. Once it took me like 4000 feet to get stable after a somewhat unstable exit (I only had like 300 jumps at the time). So make sure you have plenty of altitude to recover. Also, make sure not to jump UP too far. My squad leader got a bad concussion from a blade strike. The medics were amazed. He managed to just barely get tapped. One millimeter higher and the force of the strike probably would have killed him. An inch higher and he would have has the top of his noggin sliced off. We called him Ray Liota after that, because if he had not been really lucky, he would have looked like him in Hannibal when Lector saws the top of his head off. He was wearing a pro tec, BTW, which is why I always wear a protec on helicopter jumps. Otherwise I don't. Be careful out there folks!

I didn't say I was the one that did the balls thing. It was some other JM. Learn to read dufuss! And yes, maybe a little military discipline is what this sport needs. I learned the fine art of being a jumpmaster in the army, and we didn't have to put up with that kind of crybaby crap there. Why should we have to here? If they didn't want to jump when they got up in the AM, then they should not have come out to the DZ. I operate on the assumption that they really want to skydive on some level, and do my level best to accomodate them. I mean, c'mon, it's not like we're clubbing harp seals or something. We are just facilitating a first jump student's learning. Some need more help than others, but we owe it to them to help them get out in the air. Out of all the people I have seen "coerced" into getting out of the plane at my DZ, only a couple have not thanked us for booting them the hell out of the plane. Later. BTW I am not a whuffo. I have 2300 jumps, and have been jumping for 5 years at various CA DZs. So as far as what DZ I come from, take your pick, I been to 'em all. Later folks

Hey, this is entirely appropriate. Sometimes a little negative reinforcement is very necessary. The student is relying on JMs to get them their money's worth. If calling someone a "baby", "crybaby", or "p*ssy" will get them out of the plane, it is well worth it. If they still don't get out of the plane, then F' em! They are not hard enough for the sport. Yo this sh*t is life and death yo! I remember once this girl balked in the door on a static line I was JM on. Would not climb out, and was starting to tear up. I called her a "whiny b*tch" and made her climb out. She had a great jump and thanked me later. I also saw a jumpmaster smack a guy who was balking on an AFF in the nuts and ask, "You got anything in those or what?" He went. Didn't have the greatest jump, and has never come back, but that is probably for the best. He was like 45 and would have been a crappy skydiver anyway. Harden up people! This is skydiving, not bowling.

don't be fooled. the WFFC convention is just a money laundering operation designed to cover the organizers' illicit trade in puppy-stacking videos produced in Singapore. don't let them entice you with a 727! wake up people!!!

ok, let me clarify. I did NOT mean it as a joke. "USA - love it or leave it" has always been one of the more asinine and white trash-ish attitudes around, one that is distinctly un-American. However, I will not engage in personal attacks anymore on people engaging in free speech, rather I will merely comment on the underlying attitude as I have done in the above paragraph. However, I do stand by MY attitude that far more harm than good has come out of organized (and un-organized) religion. Crusades, Inquisitions (are those two the same thing, BTW?), India, Pakistan, Israel, Palestine. Can't think of any more but I am sure others can chime in. Most of the people killed in the above have been whacked in the name of religion. Not to mention all the whackos in this country who have 10,000 kids and then drown them all, because dog, er, god told them to be fruitful. OK, it was only one person and only like 4-5 kids but what the heck, you get my point. However, this whole thread is entirely out of place in this forum so I will shut the hell up on the subject.

don't worry buddy, they are all just big dummies who probably still believe in santa claus. they can stay in our country because they are otherwise smart enough to contribute something to our society. we athiests will be proven right, when all the other folks die and panic that there is no white light leading them somewhere. yee haw, worm food time!!!!

yeah, you're correct. We should never change anything about our government or traditions. All the changes we've made have been bad... I mean, if we would just have left everything alone, then we could still be living in a Eutopia where blacks and women don't have the right to vote. Black folks would still have to sit at the back of the bus! It would be great if it were not for those meddlers!! USA, love it or leave it huh? What a dick you are. I AM an athiest, and the reason we should get rid of "under god" is not because it offends me or us..... I frankly could give a crap if the rest of you dummys want to believe in god, and it never killed me to say "under god" when I was in school, I just chalked it up to everyone being more stupid than I was. The reason it has to go is because it is so ridiculous to assert that this "great melting pot" is composed entirely of people who believe in a Christian god (and let's be honest, the word "god" is NOT meant as a "blanket" god that covers all religions, it pretty clearly means the Pope-type god), especially with such a shifting demographic. What about allah, buddha, and whatever other deities are worshipped in this country? Doesn't the emphasis on the christian god in fact serve to drive us apart, and alienate the non - christian populations? We are less and less of a melting pot every day, as the white european folk (which I am) deny the fact that other cultures have a right to exert influence on the American way of life. I read somewhere else that some weirdo said that god gave us our rights. How stupid! God did not give us our rights, it was the blood of Americans that gave us our rights. Let the flaming begin. And I am not referring to hell, which, by the way, doesn't exist any more than heaven does. Church on Sundays? Think of all that time you folks are wasting? Oh wait, you guys are all out at the DZ on Sundays, you must not believe that much if yall are out having fun on the stupid lord's day. hahahahahahaha!

Raff once made a BASE jump while holding a small child by one arm. It was pretty funny. I think he still has the arm somewhere.