Goodbye everyone and Merry Christmas

[billvon 2,990]

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new.  I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers.  It was a different time back then.  To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience.  As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds.  And there was hardly any spam!

Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining.  I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski.  I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way.

I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive.  And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego.  By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful.  So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief.  He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to.  We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well.  I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping.  Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy.  

Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera.  I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well.

I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time.  It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US.  And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them.  I recall a lot of drinking.

Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones.  I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. 

One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy.  He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice.  Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet.  He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle.  The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good.

I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging.  Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US.

And over the years we lost people here too, of course.  In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way.

Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution.  I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it.

Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others.  And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site.  See you out there.

[kallend 2,026]

Not here as long as Bill but I have jumped over the years with a bunch of former and current members, and some of the old Usenet  folks too.  This  includes a 100+ way at Perris with Billvon, and a fancy jump at Quincy with Winsor (we also gave an evening presentation on exit separation one year).  Also jumped with Wendy and Andrea at one time or another.  And , of course, TK at Z-Hills.

[RonD1120 62]

1 Cor 2:1-5,14

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

IYKYK

MERRY CHRISTMAS

[JoeWeber 2,720]

Just now, billvon said:

About 35 years ago I was a new skydiver, jumping at a tiny DZ on Long Island and dreaming about moving somewhere new.  I spent some of my free time at work posting on rec.skydiving - a Usenet group that catered to skydivers.  It was a different time back then.  To be able to get to Usenet at all means you needed a modem and a computer, both pricey purchases, and you needed to be able to get them to work together, which meant you needed some tech experience.  As a result, not many people were on Usenet - just me and a few other tech nerds.  And there was hardly any spam!

Slowly over the years more people figured it out and started joining.  I remember TooyT, Barry Brumitt (wrote the first skydiving FAQ!) Lance Kirwin, Kevin O'Connell, Dave Appel and Jerry Sobieski.  I also met Amy on there, which changed the course of my life in a big way.

I moved to California in '94 both to escape a bad relationship and to skydive.  And of course because I found a great company - Qualcomm - in San Diego.  By that point Usenet was becoming a cesspool of Viagra ads and foreign bride offers, and filters had not gotten good enough yet to remove all that, so browsing it was painful.  So when Willem announced he was starting DZ.com I felt a big sense of relief.  He got in touch with me to see if I wanted to moderate S+T and Incidents, which I said yes to.  We started with a complement of about a dozen moderators, some of which I got to know really well.  I spent a day in San Diego with Andrea watching whales swim by the gliderport, and I spent a few days with Chuck and Katie at Raeford jumping.  Derek once built me a tersh just because I was talking about how I needed one (thanks again Derek) and Remi, Karen and I would meet up whenever we were out at Eloy.  

Seven of us once got together at Eloy and did the now-infamous moderator jump, angled carefully so no one could see Willem's face on camera.  I think Eric and Scott were on that one as well.

I also met a bunch of other people from DZ.com in real life - Lisa, Keely, Gary, Winsor - and saw them at Perris and at boogies all the time.  It grew my circle of friends from Socal jumpers to jumpers all over the US.  And even the world; I met some people from the Irish Parachute Club and made a trip out there to jump with them.  I recall a lot of drinking.

Over time as moderators changed I took on moderation of a few more forums, but to me the S+T and Incidents forum were always the important ones.  I got some sort of award - a "skydivers hall of fame" or something from Parachutist for running that, and got on a few podcasts talking about safety and incidents. 

One of my proudest moments during that time was reading an incident by a newer jumper flying a too-small canopy.  He had read one of my many diatribes on "LEARN FLAT TURNS!" and had tried them once or twice.  Then one day he found himself flying downwind by accident, and he tried to turn into the wind at 50 feet.  He tried that flat turn he had heard about, but there was something off about it (he explained) because he landed hard, tore his jumpsuit and sprained his ankle.  The fact that he was complaining about a sprained ankle after a turn at 50 feet under a heavily loaded canopy made me think that maybe this forum was actually doing some good.

I learned a lot, too, mainly from the forums I wasn't moderating - forums like General and Gear and Rigging.  Based on what I learned about wingsuiting here, for example, I bought a small wingsuit, taught myself how to fly it, started moving up in wingsuit sizes - then met Jari and became one of the first Birdman wingsuit instructors in the US.

And over the years we lost people here too, of course.  In some ways this place served as a memorial; you could go back and read what Shannon or Taz had posted while they were still alive, and remember them that way.

Over the years traffic has started to fall off as people find more social-media options for skydiving, which is a natural evolution.  I'm sorry that it will be disappearing sooner rather than later, but nothing lasts forever.  It will be interesting to see what happens to the database; all these incident reports and threads on canopy flight have a lot of value (IMO) and I hope we can save some of it.

Thanks to everyone who participated on this site over the decades it has been running, and thanks especially to all the moderators who I've worked with - Wendy, Lisa, Andrea, Chuck, Eric, Remi, Meso and all the others.  And of course thanks to Willem for doing all the work to set up and maintain this site.  See you out there.

 

Oh, you won't be rid of me that easily.

Bill, thank you kindly for all of the knowledge and wisdom you've shared here, and, too often in my case, extreme forbearance. Truly, it is the irony of my life that someone who has such a difficult time following simple rules would end up being a DZO in charge of making others follow simple rules, but there it is. I think now is the time to say goodbye to so many of you, along with a huge thank you for all of the interesting conversations, thoughts and mostly, the opportunities to question my own held views. That is truly a valuable gift and one worth acknowledging on this, the eve before the day of gift giving.  If anything I've had to say here had any more than comedic value to anyone, be assured that in exchange I most certainly received the better end of the trade.

I wish everyone here without exception the happiest of holidays and that safety and good fortune are your rewards to come.

Thanks for the good times,

Joe

[grimmie 186]

This place was a hell of a lot of fun over the years!

And then Bill and Amy joined us for a Belize boogie and came home with a little something extra! Finding out how expensive a boogie can really be❤️

[JoeWeber 2,720]

Just now, RonD1120 said:

1 Cor 2:1-5,14

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

IYKYK

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ron Brother, like it was imagined in the Greek Icarus myth, the NASA Parker Solar Probe just touched our Suns outer atmosphere, the Corona, traveling at 430,000 miles per hour and surviving temperatures of 982 degrees Celsius. If your Bible predicted things like this you'd have a case to make. But it doesn't, just as it doesn't predict in detail all of the rest of things that happened after a supposed virgin gave birth to a dark skinned illegal immigrant 2000 years ago. 

I hope your beliefs serve you well until you go to the same annihilation as the rest of us hominids but please know that no matter how many times you post such nonsense, or how hallowed the day is to so many, it is still nonsense.

I hope you are happy these days, no matter.

Joe

[dudeman17 339]

3 hours ago, JoeWeber said:

If your Bible predicted things like this you'd have a case to make. But it doesn't, just as it doesn't predict in detail all of the rest of things that happened after a supposed virgin gave birth to a dark skinned illegal immigrant 2000 years ago. 

Actually it does. It has accurately predicted so many things about science, medicine, biology, astronomy, human history, and human nature. It predicted you and what you just said to Ron. Good luck with your extended vacation at the lake.

Edited December 26, 2024 by dudeman17

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

5 hours ago, dudeman17 said:

Actually it does. It has accurately predicted so many things about science, medicine, biology, astronomy, human history, and human nature. It predicted you and what you just said to Ron. Good luck with your extended vacation at the lake.

Name them.

Name ONE.

[winsor 236]

10 minutes ago, wolfriverjoe said:

Name them.

Name ONE.

The creation of the universe?  I mean it's here and everything, so I guess that proves it or something.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

6 minutes ago, winsor said:

The creation of the universe?  I mean it's here and everything, so I guess that proves it or something.

Kinda got the order a bit wrong.

 

Quote

The first creation account is divided into seven days during which God creates light (day 1); the sky (day 2); the earth, seas, and vegetation (day 3); the sun and moon (day 4); animals of the air and sea (day 5); and land animals and humans (day 6). God rested from his work on the seventh day of creation, the Sabbath.

Sun and moon after earth, seas and vegetation.

Not too bad for bronze age folk tales, myths and legends.

But scientifically accurate?
Not so much.

That's one reason I give a whole lot of credence to "The Goat Herder's Guide to the Galaxy."

 

[tkhayes 348]

How about we just ignore the creationists and let BillVon have his goodbye. Every time I want to tell RonD to fuck of i can just do it with a personal message rather than here

[airdvr 210]

Thanks Bill.  Your keen insight into the way things work had helped me over the years to make better decisions.