larakiyomi

All the videos we know of are here: http://blueskiesmag.com/2014/07/01/hot-dog-hot-dog-hot-diggity-dog-these-skydivers-can-dance-off/! Blue Skies Mag

Did you find a copy of the article, or do you want us to send you one? Email me, lara@blueskiesmag.com, if we can help you out! Blue Skies Mag

I took a job at the drop zone while I was in chemistry grad school, and look where I am now. I make a smutty magazine about skydiving, earn about 10% what I would have with a PhD, haven't been in a lab in over a decade, can't really understand my Master's thesis, don't know what's going on in the world of photoelectrochemical hydrogen production, can't even remember how many valence electrons carbon has, can't remember exactly what a valence electron is, and couldn't be happier. Do what makes you happy! Incidentally, I took a year off between undergrad and grad school and volunteered for a year with Habitat for Humanity in a faraway place. That was awesome too, and even if I was still in chemistry, I would have been glad I took that year off. Good luck and have fun! Blue Skies Mag

Yeah, I made my point poorly, but it's my impression that other people are putting SkyRide at the very tippy top of the naughty list and I don't understand why. Anyway, thanks for checking the magazine out before judging, I truly do appreciate that. Sorry we're not the mag for you yet, but we're still growing, so check back in a few years. Maybe we'll have things better figured out. (Oh good Lord I hope we do!) Blue Skies Mag

It is stupid, but I'm not discounting either issue. In case it's not super clear, I'm doing my damndest to get someone, anyone to write an article, letter or op/ed for our magazine about why we're wrong, why SkyRide deserves to be the one cause we all get behind to fight against, why we need to keep fighting the good fight, why we should boycott every last ounce of SkyRide anything. Anyone? Please? Bueller? lara@blueskiesmag.com I agree with you all that SkyRide is something we should fight against. Where I get lost is when it appears to me - and I could be totally wrong, naive, silly, whatever - that if you don't fight hard enough (i.e., with every fiber of your being) that you're just as bad as they are. And further, although I did greatly (and likely wrongly) exaggerate my point, why it's only SkyRide that we as a community have coalesced to get rid of, when there are a lot of other bad elements in our sport. Blue Skies Mag

Unfair Bill. I did not equate SR to murderers. Lara made mention of 'a drop zone that knowingly disregards basic airplane maintenance, which results in skydivers dying' and compared them to the SR issue. . Ah, I think I missed your point then, Jan. I thought you were equating SkyRide to killers and asking why one killer (and Bernie Madoff, thrown in for good measure) was worse than another. Must back away from the computer when falling asleep. Spence brought up a good point, though, that I hadn't considered - that safety violations are normally considered a regional problem. Maybe my biggest misunderstanding is that those things, like aircraft maintenance, become the same blight on the sport - worse, in my opinion - than SkyRide. I'm all for the community uprising to bring SkyRide down; I think it was due to a lot of people's good, hard work that they are smaller and less 'powerful' than they were a few years ago. Why is that same "let's get 'em" mentality not applied to things like aircraft maintenance? Like boycotting a dz that does seriously unsafe things? Blue Skies Mag

And Jan, I'm still psyched for your article! We're ready to run anything you come up with, whenever you are. Blue Skies Mag

And maybe that's just it - I don't see SkyRide as being on par with murderers. Fraud, deception and deceit, yes. Murder, no. Blue Skies Mag

That's a good point, and honestly, it's just me trying to be fair while calling them a douchebag in the same breath. Blue Skies Mag

I don't necessarily see people actively defending Skyride. I see it more that the debate has devolved such that anyone who is not a strident and emotional detractor of Skyride is now viewed as a supporter/defender ("If you don't toe the party line, you're against us"). I've seen that rhetorical style in other circumstances and I'm not fan wherever it appears. This is kind of where I see it going, too. I know why SkyRide is BAD, I just want to know why they're the WORST, which is how people treat them. I agree that they're BAD and I'm all for steps to shut them down. Now, we sent support to a boogie that's tangentially theirs - you can make the case that that action did the opposite of what I just said I'm all for, and I'll understand. I understand the argument for us being wrong, and I see its merit. I just see it otherwise - but can still respect that you see things differently. My question is really this, again - how is SkyRide WORSE than a drop zone that knowingly disregards basic airplane maintenance, which results in skydivers dying? How is SkyRide WORSE than a drop zone built on drug money? How is SkyRide WORSE than a manufacturer that doesn't issue timely safety bulletins when it knows that SB could save lives? How is SkyRide the WORST? Why is it so cool to hate SkyRide with such passion, but not these other entities? Why a campaign to get people to unsubscribe from us, but not a campaign to stop jumping at unsafe drop zones? I know there are people who won't jump at certain DZs, but it's not the huge lynch mob that I see when it comes to SkyRide. And really, I really want to know what it is that gets people so incredibly heated about this. With regards to our business practice, Spence, I don't mean to give the impression that it's our way or the highway. If you tell us you want more boogie articles, we're sure as shit going to print more boogie articles. You want less boogie articles? You got it. We're never going to say we believe in something just because we think you'll give us your money if we say it, though. I don't see that as being anti-customer or ranting, just being someone I don't mind looking in the mirror at everyday. Thanks for all the support, too, I love that a reasonable, level-headed conversation is taking place in bonfire :) And, we really do want articles, letters and opinion pieces from everyone. We're failing if we personally agree with everything we print. Blue Skies Mag

If we fucked up, I'd absolutely admit it and ask for forgiveness. Sure, some women lie, and some men lie. I try not to, and I certainly won't lie and say I'm sorry for something that I'm not even a little bit sorry for, just to keep your money. If you don't want to give us your money because you disagree with something we do or say, that's fine. It cuts both ways - we'll never say something we don't believe to get or keep an advertiser's money, and we'll never say something we don't believe to get or keep subscriber's money. I think we can have a community of wildly different opinions. Want to write an article stating your case? We'd love to print it. Blue Skies Mag

Sorry Nutz, forgot to reply to you. I can see your viewpoint, absolutely. I might even be 100% wrong, I just haven't heard the argument that makes me think so. And I've heard a lot of them

Last time I checked, I was a woman. I appreciate that you don't agree with us. I am not, however, licking anyone's balls or getting paid off by anyone to say anything. I believe what I believe and I don't think my opinion deserves to be likened to me sucking anyone's anything. But thanks for sharing! Blue Skies Mag

They go by waist size so Medium or Medium/Large but some are one size fits all. My biggest moral outrage here is over the fact that one-size-fits-all thongs even exist. Blue Skies Mag

We're a little late to this super fun party, and the thread has spun past having much to do with us, but I did want to reply to some things. First, as people have now figured out, we are sending a subscription and t-shirt to the Adventure Skydiving Tennessee for their upcoming boogie. Where anyone got the idea that we are full-on "sponsoring a SkyRide boogie" is beyond me, and we were never (and still haven't been) asked if that was the case, or what that even entailed. Second, we knew AST was affiliated with SkyRide before we agreed to send shwag to their boogie. We support skydivers wherever they choose to jump, whether we agree with their decision or not. We stand behind our actions -- and respect anyone who doesn't agree. Third, we started this community of Blue Skies Mag as a group of intelligent, opinionated, respectful people who like beer, boobies and flying under nylon. We absolutely agree on one thing only: To respectfully disagree. If we ever do anything that is so morally reprehensible that you feel you can't be part of our community anymore, you should absolutely leave. The fact that this action is the unacceptable one out of everything else we've done, printed or posted is a bit past our comprehension, but we're not the smartest people on Earth. Kolla and I just did a 200-mile, 36-hour running relay so our brains are still a bit fuzzy -- and why we haven't replied until now. We will have a more thought out response in our next issue, and please feel free to write letters to the editor (aka me) at lara@blueskiesmag.com. Blue Skies Mag

Sandy & Andrea, you guys rock! We have some changes, so everyone refresh those pages skymama posted if you check them. The biggest change is that the seminars will now be indoors - http://skydiveexpo.com/index.php/news/. There will be official bulletin boards - where we will post any changes, notices, etc. - on the Skydive DeLand creeper pad and in the Expo registration tent. We can't wait to see everyone in DeLand! Blue Skies Mag

Whew. This is exactly the kind of response we hoped for! Updating the vendor list today - a few more big guns will be added And, please note that the seminar schedule is highly fluid; I call it our great JellO jigsaw puzzle. The topics and speakers aren't likely to change, but times and slots will. All of us on the organizing committee are really excited, so everyone come to DeLand and learn learn learn!! Blue Skies Mag

http://www.youtube.com/BlueSkiesMag! Not much in-air, but a lot of fun ground stuff, and adding more all the time. Blue Skies Mag

I believe the fucknuts in question work for someone other than USPA. And yes, the people in the "home office" are USPA members, but sadly they do not go out of their way to fuck over the general population in any way they can. Get your facts right before throwing a group of hard working, well-intentioned people under the bus. That doesn't excuse the board and/or any staff members from responsibility if they knew all this was planned when they awarded Nationals to Spaceland. In any case, isn't there a way to talk about the (apparently) bad decisions made by people without calling them fucknuts and claiming they do all they can to hurt jumpers? In other words, can we maybe act like intelligent adults? Blue Skies Mag

That sounds to me like you think it's a secret plot. Did you ask them why they didn't respond to your previous e-mails? I'm betting it's because they didn't receive them, not because they don't care. They have multiple avenues of communication, not just e-mail or Facebook, for just that reason. Not every e-mail sent in the world gets to its intended recipient. If you don't want to contact them on Facebook, call them. If you don't want to call them, leave a comment on the blog. If you don't want to leave a comment on the blog, contact them through Twitter. After that, there is MySpace. There has got to be some form of communication in there - besides just e-mail - that is acceptable to you. Sometimes things don't happen perfectly. Sometimes they don't happen perfectly for months in a row. Delivery of the magazine is very much out of their hands, especially once it leaves the U.S. Don't publicly accuse USPA of not caring because they may not have received your e-mail and can't do much to help your magazine delivery. USPA staff members care more than they should about their work and about skydivers. USPA is easy to rail on because they seem big and don't come here to defend themselves. Assuming things like this happen simply because they don't care appears disrespectful to me. And yes, I would react the same if someone treated me and my magazine this way - assuming that I don't care because the post office screwed up your delivery and maybe your e-mail to me bounced, and then coming on a public forum to tell everyone that I don't care. Just chill out a little, get in touch with USPA however you can, and maybe ask for them to send you the issues you missed. Don't go shouting to the world how they don't care and how the only reason things are getting done is because they're now posted on dz.com. Blue Skies Mag

Yes, I'm sure there is some secret plot at USPA to keep all the Greeks down by not sending them Parachutist. Please. They send everyone's mailing address to the printer in one file and the printer ships everyone's copies out to them at the same time. There are problems sometimes, because the world is not perfect. The August issue was mailed well before Lok's post, so no, his post had nothing to do with the timing of its delivery. USPA is usually quite quick to respond to e-mails and phone calls; if one method doesn't work, try another. They also have a Facebook page, twitter account, MySpace page, blog and online contact form. Blue Skies Mag

I lived in both towns and at one point commuted from Golden to Winter Park, so I think I could drive that route blindfolded! Usually took me an hour to/from Golden, if I remember right, then another 20 minutes into Denver. It's definitely not the worst pass in the world, but I grew up driving in the mountains. If you've only ever driven in Chicago, though, I imagine there could be some definite scariness. When are you driving this? I think spring is the worst time, because of freak snow storms - it looks clear and dry one minute, and the next, you're in a whiteout. I totaled my car in a 40-car pileup on I-70 driving from Winter Park to Golden late March one year because of that. Summer is a piece of cake, though, and even sometimes in winter it's bone dry. Beautiful drive, though - if you get hungry, stop at BeauJo's pizza in Idaho Springs. It's right off I-70 and awesome. And look for the buffalo herd right outside Genesee. Man, now I'm missing Colorado, thanks a lot!! ps - Just realized google has street view of the whole route, so you can check it out for yourself! Blue Skies Mag

Hey guys, sorry for the delays! We're working with our printer to make sure nothing's gone wrong - so far they assure us that all is normal. Please let us know when you do get your mags and where you are, if you don't mind - admin@blueskiesmag.com will get both Kolla and me. We'll slowly bump up our production schedule to get the mag out earlier in future months, and hopefully as our numbers grow, we'll be able to take advantage of better shipping methods. Thanks! Blue Skies Mag

Oh no! I only met Michael a handful of times, but what an impression he made. What sad news

You guys are still in time to get the first issue - we'll send mailing lists to the printer tomorrow (Friday). And we'll try to buy a little extra time to get even the most serious procrastinators in there. Thanks everyone for subscribing and taking a chance with your hard earned jump money! Hopefully we're not the only ones totally entertained by this stuff. And, we still are taking news, opinions and questions for our resident experts and skygods - e-mail them to me at lara@blueskiesmag.com. (mods, I hope that's not too much of a forum rule-breaker!) -Lara Blue Skies Mag