tbrown

"If you people were skydivers, you'd all be dead !" That's when I'm really pissed off with something incredibly stupid when people should just know better. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hippie is a word coined by the media in 1967. They're just one of the generational incarnations of the bohemian life. A lot of kids who have shaved heads, dreadlocks, or combination thereof would bristle at being called hippies nowadays, but they're continuing in the boho tradition. Lord Byron and Mary Shelley were free loving, dope smoking "hippies" of their day, as were the entire crowd of Pre-Raphaelite painters and their model/girlfriends. But yeah, I will admit to having been an alleged hippie thirty years ago, in college, and spent some time starving in a few actual communes. Aside from the hunger, the sheer boredom got to me and I was a little too fragile to tolerate much acid. I've still got a profound weakness for Grateful Dead music. Funny thing is though, when I really get into skydiving, I can't tolerate being around a bunch of stoned out, do nothing fuckin' hippies. They're unreliable and soooo self centered. Skydivers know how to trust and rely on each other. We have to be worth our word to each other. Hippies just don't get that. and they never will. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I would hope we could all at least be friends. Dating, relationships, and sex are more personal matters and you can't really judge or blame someone for saying yes or no to the question. People are complicated and the whole is equal to more than the parts. We might be comfortable with one transexual person and not another because of any number of issues, that may or may not include the transexual issue itself. It is obviously an issue that our culture is clearly not comfortable with. But so are race, age, and gender issues, where's there's been progress, so who knows what another generation may bring ? Guess it all comes down to what this person means to you in your life. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Another thing you can try up high is to look at your steering lines while you pull your front risers down. You'll want to take a really GOOD look around first for other canopies before you start, and you'll want to have your hands in the toggles. The whole idea being to see if you are in fact pulling the steering lines down as you front riser. Ideally, you should be able to get the risers down and still see some slack arcing in your steering lines. If not, then your brakes are set short and that's why you're bucking. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In no particular order; being severely burned, becoming quadraplegic, being attacked by a shark, and another four years of Bush. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Good question. By the way, how the hell is that investigation getting on about the White House ratting out the ambassador's wife as a CIA operative. Oh, it's only a felony ? Never mind.... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I own a FT-50 and so far, so good. My landings aren't always so graceful either, so it's already had a few thumps. It sounds like too many people are relying on their altimeters for pull altitude. They really shouldn't be. Like everything else, your altimeter is a BACKUP. I look at mine in freefall (I'm a relative worker) to keep track of when breakoff is coming, but once the formation breaks off, I don't even look at it again until after I've opened. For one thing, it's on the back of my hand, so I have to stop tracking to look at it. But more importantly, I'm looking around for other jumpers, my location in relation to the DZ, and the general SIZE of the ground. Everyone should have a sense of time passing and how big things are getting. I know what 3 grand looks like and I know 2 grand looks a whole lot bigger. The ground and the air around us is what we need to be looking at, not a reference that can get hung up and tell us we're still at 5 grand. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm sitting the summer out with an injury, so I'm not using my rig at all. I offered to lend it to a good friend, but my harness is built for an extra tall person, so no matter how he tightened the leg straps they still hung halfway to his knees. So I loaned him my main canopy instead, which he packs in his older rig. It's just a Spectre, but he's just returned to the sport after many years and had never jumped a ZP canopy, so he's pretty excited about it. The gear nowadays is a lot more standardized than it used to be. Regardless of the brand name, the BOC, cutaway and reserve handles are in basically the same places. It wasn't always so. Back in the seventies, when there was a lot of experimentation going on, different makes and models of rigs could be VERY different. I once loaned my rig to a guy who couldn't have screwed up worse if he tried. He finally got the reserve opened below 100 ft. I had worst feeling in my gut as I watched him. I was sure he was going in. After that I stopped lending my rig out to anyone. But now, with the new rigs - and Cypres - I'll lend it to people I know & trust, if they're tall enough. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I didn't much like Reagan when he was President, but I've got to admit he was one of the great ones. Probably the most effective and most popular since FDR in terms of accomplishing (most) of the things he set out to do, and the place he won in a lot of people's hearts. A lot of people in Washington, like House Speaker Tip O'Neil, and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, disagreed with Reagan, often and strongly. But they'd still go see him at the White House and they'd sit around and drink and bullshit with him because they liked him. Reagan showed a grace and civility to EVERYONE that is altogether missing from modern day "take no prisoners" politics. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

How's about an inflatable jump suit, with valves that would let the air escape on impact, so the suit doesn't burst ? When all else fails, you tug on the panic chord and inflate the suit from a gas cylinder tucked away between your legs. Then when you hit, the compressed gas starts venting out the valves and you start bouncing and blowing around like a baloon that somebody lets go of without having tied the end shut. Of course you'd make a big funny farting noise like a whoopie cushion, but WTF if it's working ? I think the deeper question is whether the sport can ever be completely safe. The answer is no and we just have to either accept it or move on. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The last time I had a cutaway, 24 years ago (I was out of the sport for a long time before returning last year), the moment I pulled my 3 ring I knew the main was gone because it felt like falling through a trapdoor. As for getting stable after a cutaway, there have been suggestions that people should try it from about 3500 ft with an intentional cutaway rig. It generally takes longer and burns up more altitude than a lot of people would feel comfy with, especially as a lot of cutaways happen at or below 2 grand. Let's not forget that the only fatality at last year's WFFC was a jumper who appeared to be trying to get stable after a cutaway from below a grand. His Cypres even re-acquired his accelerating freefall velocity and in fact released his reserve pilot at about 200 ft - too low and too late. It has been pointed out by RSL proponents that we're about as stable as we're going to be at the moment of cutaway release, at least for the next several seconds. So if you've dumped whatever kind of canopy at 3 grand'ish and it's acting up on you, you're probably at or below 2 grand by the time you decide things are out of control with your main. And you're probably lower than you realize. I can understand some jumpers (camera jumpers, CRW jumpers, or people with high performing ellipticals) not using an RSL. But once you've chopped you've got ONE priority - get something open while there's still time. You're more likely to run out of time & altitude than you are to twist up a canopy that has to open with 3 line twists just to get its TSO approval. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

The meet in 1975 was won by the US team, Capt. Hook and the Sky Pirates. The also won the 4 way event. Round, back loop, round, back loop. Sparky Mike, I think the 4 way at the '75 World Meet was won by the U.S. Team, but they were The Rainbow Flyers. I can't remember his name anymore, but one of those guys played a big role in getting AFF started in the U.S. before he died in a balloon crash. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Hey people, this is in France...it'a breach of etiquette not to flash a little titty when you're out on the town in France. Or so I've heard. Too bad we don't still have the Titty Bar for these very nice shots. One more reason to vote for Kerry, IMHO. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

All of the above are true and I'm also in favor of at least a 180 days (which is legal in Canada), if not a year. But let's not forget that 120 days is the LAW and that the Feds have no sense of humor about it. So who catches it in the shorts if you're caught jumping an out-of-date reserve ? First, your pilot is really screwed. Your pilot is legally responsible for making sure you're jumping legal in-date gear. They can suspend or pull your pilot's ticket, and they don't care if he/she needs that license to fly freight or passengers the rest of the week. Then they can go after the drop zone next. It's a pain in the rear, I agree. But if we don't stay in date, we're jeopardizing people and businesses that are - or ought to be - very near and dear to us. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

If you want it, keep it on. It's one more thing between you and the ground. You are not "relying" on it, it's just there to give you some competition getting your reserve out. I've heard every crappy "reason" in the book for not using a RSL or a Cypres, the most recent being that they ruin "the spirit" of the sport. Ignore the naysayers, Darwinian selection will eventually take care of them. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Nah, I skipped it completely. I never liked the writing much. Friends never held a candle to Mad About You, or to Will & Grace for that matter. I could never understand how it got to be so popular, though I'd jump on Courtney Cox in a NY minute if given the chance. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Jesus probably would've liked the Three Stooges, because he was a guy and a Jew. Probably also would've liked derogatory jokes about Romans. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

More crap from the mighty chicken hawks. Ask Dichead Cheney what HE did during the war. Cheney "had other priorities" (HIS words). With the exception of Colin Powell, there's not a godamned one of this administration who's ever had to duck a bullet fired by an enemy of the U.S. But they've got thhe money to pay for an orchstrated campaign of lies from here clear to November. If they can't win this election, they'll try to steal it. They think it's their privilege to rule and too many ordinary voters seem to think so too. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Carefull not to get things cought on the fabic. I'm sure you wouldnt want a tear (in the canopy either ) I'd wear a condom too. Your copious discharges are probably not too good for the fabric, you don't know if the canopy's a slut or where it's been, and you don't want to be presented with an ugly ZP replica of yourself next year by a pissed off pilot. Love hard, but love safe... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

A company who resorts to unethical methods and expects their employees to do the same is not worth working for. They are owed nothing. I'm morally and ethically in agreement with this statement, but having quit a shithole job last year, I found it took me another 5 months to get working again, with no unemployment in thhe meantime. If you give them a notice with a date, stick to it. In the meantime, you're responsible for your own ethics anyway. Don't lie to anybody, don't screw anybody. And then if your manager gives you a ration about that, just tell him, "I gave you a notice as a courtesy to you. But under these circumstances, I'll just leave now." Don't forget, it isn't just your karma that can come back on you, you can be sued. And you know those rats will never defend you. Rats on a sinking ship never stick together. And you don't have to be one of them either. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

In the olden days we didn't use seatblets and the drill was to stay with the plane if you were below 400 ft. Nowadays everybody has to wear seatbelts to a grand. Probably the better idea. Would I leave a plane at 1000 ft ? You bet, especially with a square reserve. As a relative worker, I'm usually back near the door anyway on most flights. Ultimately, I'd rather bounce than burn. Consider that in World War I, when pilots weren't allowed to wear parachutes, many carried pistols to shoot themselves rather than burn. And more than a few of them did. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

I'm down with a pin in my ankle from twisting my foot 10 days ago. There are some fractures in the fib as well, but the doctor says they'll heal all by themselves without any help. I'm waiting for a lot of ligaments to grow back and will also have to have the pin removed. Optimistically I'm looking at September or October. Hard as it may be, I'm going to wait on it. I'm 48, got a family, got a job, all that happy shit. I'm already embarrassed enough to be going through this, the only thing worse that I can think of is having to do it again because I got antsy. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

You've got such beautiful kids. Madelyn's such a pretty little bug. Happy Sunday & God bless you all with your bigger family. Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

School is winning by 69 percent. And that's THE majic numba, so I'd say that settles it..... Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

Sore from surgery Vicodin to the rescue Ankle needs to heal Walking cast in June At least then I'll go swimming That won't be so bad Jumping is on hold With luck, maybe September Sucks bigtime you bet! A moment's folly Has major consequences Let's be safe out there Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !