There was a time when I could sing every word to every song. I'll bet I could still recall about 90% of the lyrics on the first listen.
Yeah, I think I remember a couple of lines from one of those myself...
Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss
Did I get those right?
Tad isn't banned.
Yet - but stay tuned.
He's just lost the privilege of posting directly in the main forums...
1. Oh. I'VE LOST it. Lemme check under the sofa cushions... Nope, not there. Maybe I didn't lose it. Maybe it was STOLEN.
2. This is SO CONFUSING. One minute Bob's just doing this harmless little scientific experiment to determine whether or not I'm having a positive influence on the direction of this revolutionary new free speech based hang gliding organization. And the next I'm being punished for exercising my alleged free speech rights because I'm not saying the things my puppet master wants me to. Can you nail down your position on this one so some of the slower children will be able to tell at which times you're lying?
...where we're trying to gather enough momentum to launch our new hang gliding association.
YOU (second person SINGULAR) use first person PLURAL *WAY* too often, King Bob.
Parachutes are great, and they save lives. But they have a time and a place. It's very hard to launch a hang glider with your parachute fully deployed and trailing on the ground behind you. I think that's a good analogy to trying to start a hang gliding forum with Tad fully deployed on every topic.
But if you're at Glacier Point trying to launch for its maiden flight a hang glider designed, built, set up, and preflighted by a self selected committee of halfwitted semiliterate grade school flunk-outs - each of which has had equal say in every matter at every stage of the process - then it might be a DAMNED GOOD idea to have a fully deployed parachute right after launch or - if there's enough wind to drag you back from it en route - well before would be the better option.
Better than USHPA.
And still ten thousand miles south of what I'd have in general aviation.
How about if I allow you to post 10 words on the US Hawks forum for every single word that you can post to USHPA's web site? Wouldn't that be better? Ooops. You're already over budget because USHPA doesn't let you post ANYTHING to their site. So you're even better off here in the Free Speech Zone than you've ever been at USHPA.
1. If YOU *ALLOW* me to post? I've got a real big problem with that concept on a forum that's oozing with advertising about valuing the free speech rights of its members.
2. If I'm better off here than I was with USHPA what is it that I've gotten? Is there anything out in the real world that's moved in a positive direction? Something that I could see at a flying site?
hanggliding.org / OzReport... HGAA...
You teamed up with a total scumbag who did to you what he had shortly before done to me. And now you're trowelling lipstick onto the same pig.
So the US Hawks actually has the best provisions among all of them for allowing differing points of view to be expressed.
Well that's just great!
1. Tad can express the point of view that a straight pin release will function easily under seven hundred pounds of towline tension based on his bench testing results and a bent pin will lock up at well below half that based on his bench testing results and accounts from the field.
2. And Sam can can express the point of view that a straight pin is no better than a bent based upon his opinion and degree in barnyard technologies.
3. And Bob can express his point of view that the BIG DEAL Tad makes about the differences is somewhat overblown and he really wouldn't fear using a bent pin release.
4. And then Bob can vote with President Sam on towing equipment standards 'cause Sam's a nice regular guy and we don't want a nanny state organization limiting pilots' freedom of choice and stifling the kind of innovation that's made Quest Air the pinnacle of perfection it is today. (But we're still OK with HGMA glider certification standards 'cause Tad had nothing to do with those.)
And yet, here you are tearing it down.
I'm not tearing the organization down...
What will keep the US Hawks from becoming another USHPA or HGAA?
You will ... hopefully. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Everyone has to do their part once in a while. If you see something that's not being done correctly, then it's your duty to speak out. One big difference between the US Hawks and other organizations is that the US Hawks really does honor the free speech of its members.
...I'm just doing my duty as a US Hawks member to speak out when I see something that's not being done correctly (and, trust me, this is one helluva target rich environment).
Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in.
Which is a helluva lot more than you do.
I invited you here to help build an organization. That means that sometimes you have to be willing to compromise.
fu** that. I don't compromise on aviation equipment, standards, and procedures. You want compromise...
At that moment, I would banish all concern about launching unhooked. I had taken care of it. It was done. It was out of my mind.
...you've got plenty of morons available to help you in that department.
That's what I tried to do with your hook-in requirements. I tried to find some common and reasonable ground that would satisfy you. But you were not willing to compromise. It was either 100% your way or nothing.
bulls***. They're not MY hook-in requirements.
With each flight, demonstrates a method of establishing that the pilot is hooked in just prior to launch.
They've been USHGA's since they announced them in a magazine article and put them into effect in 1981/05. You're accepting USHGA ratings and instructor certification so there's no issue - other than coming down like a ton of bricks on a**holes who tell people:
Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in.
There's a list of user names in the "Building the US Hawks" forum.
Yeah. Currently 76 of them. Five of those names - over six and a half percent - are me and high quality Kite Stringers I brought here who seem to be mostly on the same page with me on a lot of these issues. And I also brought in Peter who's always good for the entertainment value.
(You probably also owe me mhoffman. He was on Strings a long time before he was on Hawks.)
We haven't been able to have that discussion because you've thrown an endless stream of monkey wrenches at us.
Right. "WE" haven't been able to figure out how to not read stuff and/or get our ignore buttons to work. So it's been IMPOSSIBLE to hold other discussions without sending someone to The Basement while working on a strategy to permanently ban him and make the action look legitimate. Really Bob, I don't think people that stupid have any business starting an aviation organization anyway.
I've had to deal with your profanity...
Really? Why? How come you didn't have to deal with Peter's profanity? Was it OK 'cause it was directed at me? (And again, for the record, I happen to think that it was perfectly OK - I just don't like double standards.)
...your attacks on other members...
1. Idea! Why don't we base the United States Hawks Constitution on the United States Constitution which forbids negative comments about other citizens and opposing politicians?
bobk - 2011/07/28
I've tried to give Jack some time to "cool down", but after nearly a year of his rampage, I strongly recommend that NO ONE should EVER put Jack Axaopoulos in any position of trust ... ANYWHERE.
2. Isn't that just a wee bit negative? Wouldn't it be better to invite him over here, let him participate as a member of the Towing Committee and run for office, and make him a better person we all could trust?
...your strong weak link theories...
1. I don't HAVE "strong" weak link "theories". Current USHGA regs - consistent with REAL aviation - have a cap of two Gs. I'm good with that cap but ADVISE what I USE - which is one and a half.
2. You're proposal is that we bring USHGA pilots over here and recognize their ratings. 2.0 is part of the AT rating. So they're YOUR goddam "strong weak link theories" as much as mine.
3. On 2011/11/24 with respect to:
http://www.dynamicflight.com.au/WeakLinks.htmlyou wrote:
Another excellent article!!!
which is pretty much PRECISELY consistent with "my" "strong weak link theories" and those of anyone else with half a brain or better and was, in fact, the article which clued me into the realization that everything I had previously learned about weak links in hang gliding was total crap.
Bobb Loper - 2010/09/16
Tad is not uneducated. He has probably spent as much time as any pilot studying safety issues relative to platform towing.
I don't know his rate and it does not matter. I have read some of his comments on safety links and from my experience, he is right on money - maybe a little obsessive on safety - but that is not bad. If you go look up membership in USHPA, you will not find my name either.
4. You've made one lousy tandem tow in your whole freaking hang gliding career, I started towing - solo - in 1980 and have been around it for a lot of evolution, de-evolution, history, and death and destruction. You don't have any interest in it and haven't done your homework and I'd really appreciate you keeping your mouth shut on the issue until you have.
...your lift and tug theories...
Doug Hildreth - 1982/03
Please do not forget the final preflight item - there were three failures to hook-in in 1981 (hook-in, hang-check, lift the glider and feel tight straps).
...and your hopelessly long and repetitive posts.
1. Yeah, we must consider the needs of the halfwitted ADD cases on the forum.
2. You want hopelessly long then read "Towing Aloft" cover to cover.
3. If they're repetitive then people can just skip over them. But I got news for ya, Bob. There's on awful lot of long repetitive stuff that goes on in ground school classrooms, in setup areas, on training hills, at the downwind ends of runways, on launch ramps, and in the air. And the stupider your class the more repetitive you gotta be.
So we have not been able to actually define how the organization should be structured.
Right. "We" haven't. I've single handedly been able to prevent the 75 other members of US Hawks from engaging in any discussion along those lines.
Which... is just a bit odd. 'Cause if you look at you're dreaded "US Hawks Hook-In Verification (Push) Poll" which made life absolute hell for me because you (DELIBERATELY and REPEATEDLY) misstated and misrepresented my position on the issue... 98 posts, 1081 hits. That's only eleven hits per post. So it seems like there should be over 85 percent of the membership perfectly free to work on other projects.
P.S. If you HADN'T misstated and misrepresented my position on the issue that thread would've been A LOT shorter.
From your complaining above, you don't seem to want a dictatorship...
I don't necessarily have a problem with a dictatorship. I just don't like it when a dictator makes a whole bunch of statements and goes back on his word whenever it becomes inconvenient to stand by it. Some dictators you can trust reasonably well, some you can't.
...but in your other posts you've ridiculed the idea of allowing members to vote.
Goddam right! I don't want the kinds of idiots we have here voting directly on policy any more than I want the citizens of Texas to be able to vote on what gets taught in their biology classrooms or who gets appointed to stand at the front of the classroom. They've got Sunday morning to do that kind of bulls***.
I also don't wanna get on the plane to LAX in which my fellow passengers have voted on the design specs, takeoff procedures, instrument requirements, and maintenance schedules.
I've said this before but I'll hafta REPEAT it 'cause you never seem to hear me...
If I go to the East Coast Championship at Ridgely and walk down the flight line where a good smearing of the top comp jocks of the planet are prepping to go, every single one of them will be using a bent pin release or two and a loop of 130 pound Greenspot on the end of a bridle at least six times longer than it should be. That tells me that every single one of them is incompetent and most are idiots and I can predict pretty well how they'll vote - and the results WILL BE ugly.
So your vision for who will actually run the organization is undecipherable.
I sit down with the rest of the Towing Committee:
wingspan33, Joe F, Free, greblo, Red, miguel, MikeLake, ZackC, deltaman, DarthVader, billcummings, mhoffman, and Nobody
and WE come out with a set of SOPs. This is kinda how things are done in REAL aviation. (And there oughta be SOME kind of reward for academic competency somewhere in this idiot sport.)
He doesn't use profanity, attack other members, or attempt to derail every conversation.
1. Great! That would make Britney Spears an equally valuable contributor!
2. Can you think of other members who've attacked ME?
3. I'm fine with being attacked. I've done my homework and can just about always win. And when I lose I learn something useful.
4. So it's US Hawks policy that no member of US Hawks (save, of course, for Tad) should ever be attacked, regardless of how many students he's killed?
5. Attempt to derail every conversation? bulls***.
But since we have no constitution to vest power with the members, I am doing my best to anticipate their will.
1. Really? So if you anticipate that the will of 51 or 99 percent of the membership is that my microphone gets cut and I leave do you carry out that will?
2. *I'm* a goddam member of US Hawks and I'd just as soon you didn't anticipate my will. I can express my will just fine.
3. I'm guessing Nobody isn't real happy with the way you're anticipating his will either.
In this case, I'm trying to figure out if restricting your posting will cause more of our silent members to step forward and participate.
1. And that would just automatically be a GOOD THING, right? I got news for ya, Bob...
Lauren Tjaden - 2006/02/21
It was a tandem hang gliding accident, and it involved a power line. I have no more information about the accident itself. The passenger apparently was burned and is hospitalized, but is not seriously injured. Jim sustained a brain injury. He was and is heavily sedated, which means the doctors don't know and can't test for how serious the brain injury is. He is in critical but stable condition.
That was the apex of that sonuvabitch's usefulness to the sport of hang gliding.
2. This experiment has been done before by the paragliding forum from which Rick, Joe, and I have been expelled.
Weak links why do we use them. in paragliding.
Post Subject: Tad Eareckson
Forum Moderators - 2010/02/24 22:02
We, the Moderators, feel that weak links are an important topic. In our view Tad Eareckson's posts have discouraged others from taking part in this discussion, so, after several warnings, he has been banned. His most recent post, after this topic was locked, is here:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=30195We are happy to lift the ban if we come to the view that Tad has further positive contributions to make - please contact us by PM or by email if you feel that this is the case.
_________________
The Moderation Team
You go to:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtop ... &start=210and you see just how much the arbitrary banning of Tad Eareckson encouraged others to take part in the discussion. You find ANY MENTION of the weak link issue on that forum in the nearly two years since those slimy bastards killed that topic 'cause I was winning all the battles.
Those two threads had 281 posts and about 7240 hits when I was booted. Now they're up to 11652. But NOBODY'S discussing anything 'cause for thirty years it's been heresy to say that Donnell was totally full of s*** when he mandated line breaks at low tensions to keep gliders safe in towing operations.
If so, then that will be an indication of their will.
And if you gut the US Constitution then proponents of "intelligent design" will indicate their will by teaching bulls*** fairy tales in the science classrooms of Dover, Pennsylvania. And that will be ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!
I wouldn't put it in those terms, but people who want to see paragliding eclipse hang gliding probably don't belong in this organization.
Fine. Make it part of the mission statement so everyone's on the same page.
Similarly, people who want to concentrate power and control in the hands of the "chosen ones" as you're suggesting don't belong in this organization either.
JESUS H. CHRIST HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAFTA REPEAT THIS?!?!?!
I don't wanna be doing this! I want people with understandings of physics, math, aviation, logic to be making the rules and I want jackbooted thugs enforcing them.
A want the goddam tug end weak link to be a hundred pounds heavier than the 1.5 G job on my nephew's glider so Arlan Birkett doesn't kill him they way he did Jeremiah Thompson.
I don't want IDIOTS like Sam or Tracy Tillman being able to send my nephew up on a bent pin release and "whatever" for a weak link and I don't want idiots like Sam or Tracy Tillman gutting the regulations that the Towing Committee puts together by being able to VOTE on them. No fifth grade science equivalency - no input.
Tad, I'm beginning to think that you don't belong here as well.
Whoa! Dude! I was JUST thinking the EXACT SAME THING about you! What are the odds!
You seem to think that you know more than anyone else...
Donnell Hewett - 2008/11/05
Let me begin by saying that I personally appreciate Tad Eareckson's efforts to improve the SOP of aerotowing as well as his suggestion to update the Skyting Criteria. It is through efforts like his that progress is made toward safer towing.
Gregg Ludwig - 2008/10/07
I find your latest post quite interesting. I must say it has taken me sometime to get used to or accept your writing style but you make some valid points.
JohnG - 2009/04/13
There is one person who has put more thought and time into releases than anyone. That person is Tad.
ian9toes - 2009/06/14
I strongly disagree with banning the one guy who has the most knowledge about safety issues involving what I believe is the most dangerous part of our sport. I hear someone dies every year from towing. I hope SG bites his tongue in the interest of public safety.
Steven Seibel - 2007/06/29
I tend to think your "jihadi" is on the right track. And even if not, there's a lot of very good food for thought in that thread. Weak link breaks should be rare in the hang gliding world, like they are in the sailplane world - where they usually mean someone screwed up and didn't notice the knot in the rope, or the abrasions on the rope, etc. Instead they are common.
adi - 2009/07/02
I have to chirp in on this.. I know I'm a noob and all that, but Tad seems to be talking sense to me. From what I can gather the US has some quite different (dated?) ways of doing things which it appears are not used here in the UK, and some of the reasons I've heard cited for not using these methods relate directly to accidents in the US.
Bryan Hindle - 2009/12/15
I have read Tad's posts with interest and he seems to make a lot of sense. I don't see why we cannot learn from what sailplanes have been doing.
Brian Vant-Hull - 2007/07/21
I'll be lazy and ask if any of your references give a physical reason for the 0.8 to 2 g range they quote as safe. If not, constructing a reasonable physical argument could be a major contribution. You clearly have the physics down well enough (as good as anyone else in the world) to do so.
Dave Williams - 2010/11/08
I was almost speechless that within a short space of time yet another failure to clip in INCIDENT (no accident) and we're trying to ban Tad from our daily email delight.
One of the three things Tad is very forthright on is the hang check/clip in. I was very concerned that the most recent failure to clip in was glossed over as if it was totally unimportant. Whilst anyone in this group displays this complacent attitude we need at least one Tad with regular inputs, most of which are safety oriented. So my input is that we absolutely need Tad, at least until we can learn to do the basics.
John Moody - 2010/02/03
Bob, I had already looked over the first two links you posted about the Capitol Hang Gliding Club and knew that Tad was an active member in the early '90's and I had also looked over his Flickr pictures of releases. It was the third link:
http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=187830that turned out to be the really good one. I read the whole thread from top to bottom, about a three hour chore for me and keeping score as it bounced from person to person was hard for a while.
The one thing I found I could seriously relate to was Tad Eareckson. He is my newest Hero now.
Zack C - 2010/10/15
But from the discussion it should be obvious that he's done a tremendous amount of research with regards to towing hang gliders - far more than anyone else I know of.
Yeah Bob, a lot of people do. They're probably right.
...and you're willing to force everyone to follow your ideas because you think they're indisputably right.
1. As long as force equals mass times acceleration anyone who flies a hang glider WILL BE forced to somebody's ideas.
2. Get used to the idea that they're gonna be right - and indisputably so.
Again, the hook-in discussion was very enlightening.
To a few people. I doubt you'll ever get it however.
...but I will ask you to read everything you've written...
Yeah right.
I've currently got 448 posts here and I'm supposed to read through them all to find something that best supports YOUR positions.
I got a better idea. You search through my 448 to make your cases and I'll search through your 1041 to make mine.
OR...
You can just ask me what my current position is and I'll tell you.
I want to build an organization where all members contribute and cooperate for the benefit of the sport.
1. Me too. I'd also like all members to be able to be competent in fifth grade English (or language of choice), science, and math. But that ain't gonna happen neither.
2. Signing one's posts:
Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in.
doesn't benefit the sport. It does the precise opposite. Some people can benefit the sport most by not contributing. That goes triple for Rooney Followers and Harmonizers.
You've shown no interest in doing that.
1. And of course everybody else on the membership list totally agrees with you on that point, right?
2. And of course everybody else on the membership list is REALLY MOTIVATED to get this baby off the ground!!! (How's Scott doing?)
You're more focussed on slamming anyone who you feel has slighted you or disrespected you.
Ever heard of multitasking? It can't be all work and no play.
Those are NOT compatible goals.
I strongly disagree. Just 'cause some kite jockey has the ability to sign up on a list doesn't mean he's not a total scumbag.
You're right - that part is what I want. If you don't want that, then please go somewhere else.
Love it or leave it. What's the title of this thread?
No. I really want to build a better organization and I've been told (and I believe) that you're driving away more people than you're attracting. You do that with your endless arguments, profanity, and personal attacks.
1. You've already reached your conclusion. So why do you need to go through the pretense of conducting an "experiment" which can't possibly tell you anything conclusively one way or another?
2. Hell, I pulled Peter IN HERE with and for my endless arguments, profanity, and personal attacks. And, ya gotta admit, that exchange WAS one of the highlights of the social season!
I really don't think you want to participate in building the US Hawks. That's what I believe. Prove me wrong.
Adopt my aerotowing SOPs and guidelines. You're never gonna bother to read them so just adopt them. Bill and Nobody, at least, have stated on this forum that they're solid.
It's becoming impossible to get anything done in this situation.
What were you getting done before I showed up?
I should be spending my time tonight writing up a great Pilot Profile on Bill Cummings after visiting him last week. But am I doing that? No. Instead, I'm here answering your whining because you don't like the way I've run the forum.
Suggestions...
1. Ignore my whining and write up a great Pilot Profile on Bill Cummings. You'll be happier and I'll be happy 'cause I can have productive discussions with Bill and we're at least close enough on all the important issues that I'd be happy having him in any position of authority and I'd feel as good handing my nephew to him for slope or tow launch training as I would with anyone.
2. Think about how good an idea it was to volunteer me for your little "experiment" instead of staying with the principles for this organization that you laid out.
But even though that's what I'd like to see, I am still giving you a platform where you can blast me.
Maybe if you hadn't given me a special little platform where I could blast you I wouldn't be blasting you. I really don't like special treatment outside of any pretense of rules or fairness. If you hadn't given me a special little platform where I could (and, predictably, WOULD) blast you I'd probably be having a productive discussion with Bill about the 1991/06/09 Harold Austin fatality.
That's more than you've done at KiteStrings where you've openly said that certain people are not welcome.
1. Yeah, Bob. Certain people AREN'T welcome.
Zack C - 2010/11/23
In September of 2010, hang gliding safety activist Tad Eareckson entered a discussion on the Houston Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association's discussion group that would result in his being banned from the group within two months. But despite the controversy over Tad's 'arrogance' and 'condescending tone,' I was impressed by his knowledge, logic, and respect for science, which included a great deal of his own research and experimentation. My attempts to carry out a rational discussion with him were continually sabotaged and eventually aborted by other group members, many with little interest in or comprehension of the discussion.
The purpose of Kite Strings is to foster serious discussion regarding the practices and technologies of modern hang gliding. This is a forum ruled by science, truth, facts, reason, and logic. Anyone with a respect for these principles and a willingness to learn and engage in rational discussion is welcome to participate.
Not everyone fits that description. The people who DON'T have any respect for science, truth, facts, reason, and logic or a willingness to learn and engage in rational discussion have the Houston Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association's discussion group, Davis and Jack Shows, US Hawks, and tow parks. You got a problem with that?
2. In practice, people DON'T actually hafta have any respect for science, truth, facts, reason, and logic or a willingness to learn and engage in rational discussion to be welcome at Kite Strings with ACTUAL free speech privileges - as long as they're intents aren't fraudulent and I can get straight answers out of them once in a while.
It's about a month. I use "about" because I have to give people some time to recognize that they can post here without being blasted by you. I've been thinking I'd make an announcement and start the clock from the point of that announcement.
Why bother? You're making up the rules as you go along anyway.
If I boot you permanently it will be due to my concerns over the topic we discussed on the phone. This forum should be a safe place for people of varying ages to visit. You have not given me any assurances that's true with you on this forum.
Wow, Bob! It took DAVIS and ROONEY about five years to get desperate enough and sink low enough to play the child molester card. I'da thunk you'd have kept that one up your sleeve for at least six months or so.
(In case anyone was too stupid to be able to read between Bob's lines I had a fairly happy two year relationship with a twelve to fourteen year old gay kid about 25 years ago which ended with the usual catastrophic legal consequences - for both of us. And Bob thinks that I'm hanging out on HIS forum so I can target one of the many young adolescents who come to places like this to help build better national hang gliding organizations. I will then PM him or her (really doesn't matter) and to lure him or her to the mall in Sioux Falls under false - or not false - pretenses and leave him or her in such a state of ruin that the only humane thing to do would be to put him or her on a dolly with a Lookout release and fire up the Dragonfly.)
Ya know, Bob... If you really gave a rat's a** about making this a safe place for people of varying ages to visit you'd jump all over s*** like:
Preflight, Hangcheck, Know you're hooked in.
So s*** like:
Mark Johnson - 2008/08/31
As Mark Knight and I jumped in my truck to drive to the trail head, I could hear Kunio's kids crying, my heart sank even more, I felt sick. Had they just watched their dad fall to his death? I was nauseated and wanted to throw up.
would stop happening.
At this time you do have free speech right here. But my job is a balancing act. My primary goal is to grow a better national hang gliding association. I would like free speech to be a big part of that. But when someone like you becomes toxic to that goal, then I have to figure out a way to balance the conflicting forces. My compromise right now is to limit your posting to this area so that you can still post without driving away (or keeping away) the bulk of our members (or potential members). If you had been more cooperative (as I asked many many times) then we wouldn't be having this discussion. But you refused to cooperate, and here we are.
1. C'mon Bob, make up your mind. Is it a scientific experiment or just a naked gutting of free speech principles and a precedent for dealing with people who don't line up well enough with your personal visions and assumptions?
2. Ya ever wonder just a little bit if taking an action like this might itself drive away members or keep away potential members?
This has not been easy or fun. This has been a sad realization for me that some people are so pathological that they cannot interact reasonably with others.
Oh WOW!!! You entered partnerships with JACK AXAOPOULOS and you're only NOW realizing that some people are so pathological that they cannot interact reasonably with others? NO WONDER I'm having so much trouble getting through to you on the "just prior to launch" concept!
Ya know... This is aviation and the really important thing is to interact reasonably with AIR. And people who know how to do that tend to interact reasonably with OTHER people who either know how to do that or want to learn. I get along GREAT with all the people on those wavelengths - but you want me to play nice with the dangerous idiots who've been running the shows into the ground for decade after decade. If I wanted to do that I'd have stayed on the Jack and Davis Shows - before burning in Hell for all eternity.
That's why so many societies have jails (or death penalties). At some point, they've realized that the costs of interacting with pathological people is too high to be paid. We're reaching that point.
1. Ooh, look!!! You're starting to come around!!! I'd love to see Rooney in jail or dead for making everyone's tows a thousand times more dangerous than they need to be, you're getting to the point at which you'd like to see me (back) in jail or dead 'cause I won't play nice with US Hawks zombies. So now we have more in common!
2. Got any thoughts on jail or the death penalty with respect to Matt Taber selling defective aerotow releases all around the world and not putting out advisories or recall notices when they start failing left and right.
3. One of the big problems with our species is that the "pathological" people who tended to be amongst the most popular targets for burning at the stake were the ones smart enough to have figured out that the sun and other planets didn't revolve around the Earth and that their religious leaders were full of s***. So not all of these executions did the gene pool a whole lot of good.
Look Tad, you've got your own Kite Strings Forum. I've got a link to it right on our home page. Why don't you just voluntarily stay over there? You can make occasional posts here with summaries and links to your interesting topics and that will help grow your own organization. Isn't that what you want anyway?
Nah. I've had all the a**holes I've ever needed telling me where I can't go and what I can't do and I wanna be able to say what I believe is right wherever, whenever, and however I feel like it. And I don't wanna be singled out for experimentation whenever the notion strikes some amateur head shrinker.
And if you'd just start adhering to some of the principles you laid down instead of running around with a basket full of asterisks to stick up over everything you're not perfectly lined up with then you might find that things start running WAY more smoothly than you thought they would - for BOTH of us, US Hawks, AND the sport of hang gliding.
