BALLS

[jsdemar]

Had a lot of fun at Balls, although as I think back I don't remember seeing a single Kosdon motor fly. Granted, I was out recovering rockets some of the time and I left Saturday around noon. Anyone see an O10,000 go??

I remember seeing one old Kosdon motor light slowly then take off nicely. Don't remember if it was an L or an O.

[davmach1]

John, you should have stopped by the party. Pat G roasted a hog we brought about 15 lbs of steak tips plus one of the best batches of homebrew ever brought to the playa. We have had lots of e-mail conversations and I would have liked to meet you.

Dave L

[davmach1]

Lame... It's like you're blaming him for your indiscretions...

Have you ever been to the playa at night Fred? It's like John and I both said, if you want peace and quite you don't stay anywhere near the flight line. The playa dust mixed with alcohol makes people crazy. This wasn't the first time I have been in a group that has been asked to be quite and probably won't be the last.

Besides that lame is not signing your name to your posts

Dave Leininger

[THarrison]

I don't drink more than 2 beers per year, but think people have the right to drink as much as they want at the right place and time. Having been to BALLS before, I knew enough to choose a spot on the opposite end of the flight line from the P-on-the-P gang. Now Butalane knows that, too.

Butalane was camped quite a reasonable distance from the UMERG Party. I don't think he would've had any problem if the party stayed in the UMERG campsite, but when somebody is walking through the flight line right behind other people's camping area and being very disruptive, I don't think politely asking them to be quiet near your camp area is unreasonable. Everybody wants to party and have fun on the playa, but it's no excuse to disregard the rights of other rocket friends. Once 2:30am rolls around, keep your activities within your campsite and everybody is happy.

[Frederocket]

Have you ever been to the playa at night Fred? It's like John and I both said, if you want peace and quite you don't stay anywhere near the flight line. The playa dust mixed with alcohol makes people crazy. This wasn't the first time I have been in a group that has been asked to be quite and probably won't be the last.

Besides that lame is not signing your name to your posts

Dave Leininger

Something must be wrong with your reader as my sig is automaticly attached to postings. Just in case, I included it in this posting.

BTW, it's not the noise I see as a problem. It was the language used to and the uninvited putting your hands on a female, you being drunk or not. Where I come from, that's not tolerated.

Fred
W. E. Fred Wallace
TRA 5763, TAP
MDRA Lifer

[davmach1]

Trust you me they never ask politely and this was no exception. I'm not saying I was totally in the right and as a matter of fact even apologized for my actions. What I am saying is not everybody is cut out to stay on the playa especially at night. Maybe we should divide the flight line into 2 halves. The Old fuddy duddies and the partiers. Just joking of course.

[davmach1]

Something must be wrong with your reader as my sig is automaticly attached. Just in case, i included it in this posting.

BTW, it's not the noise I see as a problem. It was the language used to and uninvited putting your hands on a female, drunk or not. Where I come from, that's not tolerated.

Fred
W. E. Fred Wallace
TRA 5763, TAP
MDRA Lifer

Fred I saw your name just not Butane's and lets get this perfectly straight I in no way touched that woman, all I did was what I said earlier and you sir wern't even there so have no right to accuse me of somrething that I didn't and would never do. Go over to the fuddy duddies side and be quite now.

Dave L

[patelldp]

Go over to the fuddy duddies side and be quite now.

Dave L

ಠ_ಠ

[Frederocket]

Fred I saw your name just not Butane's and lets get this perfectly straight I in no way touched that woman, all I did was what I said earlier and you sir wern't even there so have no right to accuse me of somrething that I didn't and would never do. Go over to the fuddy duddies side and be quite now.

Dave L

Your right, If you say you didn't put your hands on the lady, I can not dispute it, wasn't there... As for as you telling me to be quite, as you so joking/humorously say, "F%$* You"...

[davmach1]

Your right, If you say you didn't put your hands on the lady, I can not dispute it, wasn't there... As for as you telling me to be quite, as you so joking/humorously say, "F%$* You"...

And I will take that at face value and retire for the night. 5am comes awful early here in Minnesota. BTW appolgy accepted

Dave L

[davmach1]

One last thing If Butalane or anybody else would like to talk to me off list my e-mail address is davmach1@msn.com I am being totally transparent here and truely want no bad feelings. What's done is done and the only thing we can do is move on, the way we move on is up to us. Life is too short to be angry.

Dave L

[jsdemar]

John, you should have stopped by the party. Pat G roasted a hog we brought about 15 lbs of steak tips plus one of the best batches of homebrew ever brought to the playa. We have had lots of e-mail conversations and I would have liked to meet you.

Dave L

One side affect of being drunk is not remembering meeting someone. The other is not knowing how far away from your campsite you are when accusing someone of complaining you're too loud.

I'll catch you next time if/when you're sober.

[Rick]

Here is a video of our R-10,000 hybrid. Last gps reading was 70,000' then all communications ended (both gps and beacon). We are still searching for the rocket. I had brought chem to cast grians for my rocket but 'unpleasant weather conditions' convinced me not too. Here is a quick video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Ajg-IzzX0

Rick

[Rocketman248]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0Ajg-IzzX0

Fixed your link for you. You just need to put the part after the v=.

[caitsalv]

Yes that would be me and let me start off by apologizing for offending your girlfriend. But I don't think you needed to come at me the way you did though. Heck dude if I was that drunk why would I be such a threat. Now I would like to apologize to you if offend you with the following statement. With that said let me say this.

Many of us live for the time we spend with our friends in the desert and yes we do get a bit rowdy at times. What I said was that we have a saying to those that get up in the middle of party central and ask people to be quite and that's F U go to bed. It was meant in good humor (maybe wasn't perceived that way but it was) the open arms was just my way of saying I was joking. Now if you can't accept that then to me that is your issue not mine. To me if you want to be all by yourself nice and quite maybe you should stay away from the playa at night and stay at Bruno's. I sometimes think people like yourself are mad because you aren't part of the party or maybe just don't have many friends.

Once again I do apologize and would like to shake your hand in friendship. then I'll buy you a beer next year at P on the P III.

Dave Leininger
TAP Member, Founding Father of UMERG

Dave,

Let me introduce myself although we've met once before. My name is Caity Salvatore and I am the girl in question from balls. I created this account for the sole purpose of standing up for myself.

Let me first start with what actually happened (since unlike you, I was sober). You and a few others decided to stand within 10 feet of my tent and scream late into the night. At 2 am, I walked over to your group and asked you politely to move a little bit away from us because we were trying to sleep. I said I understood the urge to party and loved your group's enthusiasm but simply requested you let the other campers get some sleep. You then slurred, "You know what we say to people who say that." [long pause as you stumbled up to me] "F... YOU." Maybe in your drunken state you intended it as a joke, but I will let you know that having a man twice my age and size get within inches of my face and threaten me in the dark is not comical. At that time, my boyfriend came over and you then giggled and tried to give me a hug. I will make this very clear. You did touch me. And I felt extremely uncomfortable and violated. My boyfriend pushed you off of me and we went back to our tent, realizing that you were in no state to be reasoned with. Your group then proceeded to talk trash about us for the next hour and then when approached by another woman, you guys still refused to quiet down.

Although I'm not surprised, it upsets me to see you defending yourself on this website when clearly you misremembered the incident. Please don't pretend to be transparent and generous to the rocketry world and then lie about your behavior.

I would appreciate an actual apology. You were out of line. Don't make us out to seem like old farts for being offended by your inappropriate language and actions towards a stranger young enough to be your daughter.

Take care of yourself,
Caity Salvatore

[mosh1]

I got my L3 cert w/Tony and Geoff as my TAPs and then flew an Alumaflame M3100 motor I made two years ago that I was going to fly when I tried to get my L3 the first time around. Both flights were perfect. A much better BALLS for me than 2009.

Moshen

Photos by Pete Ekstrom / Team Numb

[troj]

My one regret from BALLS?

I forgot to pick up some powdered donuts, to put one on my nosecone...

-Kevin

[troj]

Caity, Dave and others...

There's obviously been an unfortunate situation that arose on the playa, and some feelings were unfortunately hurt, unintentionally.

That said, I'd like to ask folks other than Dave and Caity to stay out of this, and let those two work it out, if they can.

Caity is obviously upset (understandably, based on her account), and Dave is getting piled on a bit. It's best if we just let the two individuals involved discuss it without any of us fanning the proverbial flames.

Thanks!

-Kevin

[H_Rocket]

Here's my shot of the Beer Daddy CATO. Looks like a Nuke is going off under the rocket...

Looks like one of your usual thermite igniters...

[daveyfire]

I got my L3 cert w/Tony and Geoff as my TAPs and then flew an Alumaflame M3100 motor I made two years ago that I was going to fly when I tried to get my L3 the first time around. Both flights were perfect.

Hey man, congrats on the L3 and two nice flights! That Alumaflame load cranked, what case was that in?

[jsdemar]

I got my L3 cert w/Tony and Geoff as my TAPs and then flew an Alumaflame M3100 motor I made two years ago that I was going to fly when I tried to get my L3 the first time around. Both flights were perfect. A much better BALLS for me than 2009.

Great job! Amazing flights and nice photos to capture the moment. I especially like the one with you and the recovered rocket!

[Frederocket]

Caity, Dave and others...

There's obviously been an unfortunate situation that arose on the playa, and some feelings were unfortunately hurt, unintentionally.

That said, I'd like to ask folks other than Dave and Caity to stay out of this, and let those two work it out, if they can.

Caity is obviously upset (understandably, based on her account), and Dave is getting piled on a bit. It's best if we just let the two individuals involved discuss it without any of us fanning the proverbial flames.

Thanks!

-Kevin

You're right of course Kevin; sorry for interjecting my opinions.

What I have learned from some of the postings: “Drunken obnoxious behavior at 2 in the morning and the illegal and dangerous use of such things as lazier pointers is “OK behavior” at BALL’s and the behavior appears to be expected/excepted by the event management, our organization, and some senior members. Sad commentary isn’t it???

Now, I’ll try and be quite…

[FredA]

Beer Daddy's central motor suffered a nozzle failure.
No Thermite was involved.

It was an identical motor to the one sucessfully test fired (<30 gram difference in weight) using the same nozzle.
We didn't notice any issues with the nozzle when inspected after the test burn, but obviously there was a problem.

I was amazed at the thrust still develped by the motor with the Finocyl burning with the 4" opening of the nozzle washer acting as the nozzle.

The Apache booster was the same motor with one less grain and a smaller nozzle that was also on it's second or third burn.

We are pretty sure we can bring Beer Daddy back next year ;-)

Great Pictures Dave!
FredA

PS: And yes, very high power lasers do not belong on the playa with crowds of people.... leave them at home. We were VERY concerned at the indiscriminate use as one of my team mates got flashed. Don't blame the organizers....they are long gone to Bruno's.... we need to be "adults" out there, especially after consuming adult beverages.

[ClayD]

You're right of course Kevin; sorry for interjecting my opinions.

What I have learned from some of the postings: “Drunken obnoxious behavior at 2 in the morning and the illegal and dangerous use of such things as lazier pointers is “OK behavior” at BALL’s and the behavior appears to be expected/excepted by the event management, our organization, and some senior members. Sad commentary isn’t it???

Now, I’ll try and be quite…

"and we shall forgive" Kevin, for injecting intent... i am sure it was "unintentional"


A&B, should never be on a - "rocket" flying field... truely sad....
where I come from boys dont act that way.. well, only once.

[MClark]

You're right of course Kevin; sorry for interjecting my opinions.

What I have learned from some of the postings: “Drunken obnoxious behavior at 2 in the morning and the illegal and dangerous use of such things as lazier pointers is “OK behavior” at BALL’s and the behavior appears to be expected/excepted by the event management, our organization, and some senior members. Sad commentary isn’t it???

Now, I’ll try and be quite…

I was going to add something really nasty so it would fit in with this discussion; you know use the "F" word on my first post kind of thing.

The first I heard of the Dave issue and the laser pointer was when I read it here. I am not a mind reader so I guess we did nothing. I do believe Gary was not the one that pointed the light, he would not even hand the thing to someone without first taking out the batteries.
So here is management's input. Dave, be a nice drunk and all must bring proper PPE for lasers.

And for God's sake the word is quiet, not quite.
Yes I judge people by their spelling and punctuation.

Mark

[davmach1]

[QUOTE=caitsalv;242678]Dave,

Let me introduce myself although we've met once before. My name is Caity Salvatore and I am the girl in question from balls. I created this account for the sole purpose of standing up for myself.

Please check your private messages

[mosh1]

Hey man, congrats on the L3 and two nice flights! That Alumaflame load cranked, what case was that in?

Thanks! It was in an AMW M7600 case. I flew the KBA1450 load in it the day before for my L3. It took me a while to get that liner out, thanks to Dave for asking me what the fu$k i was doing and helping me with that

[mosh1]

You're right of course Kevin; sorry for interjecting my opinions.

What I have learned from some of the postings: “Drunken obnoxious behavior at 2 in the morning and the illegal and dangerous use of such things as lazier pointers is “OK behavior” at BALL’s and the behavior appears to be expected/excepted by the event management, our organization, and some senior members. Sad commentary isn’t it???

Now, I’ll try and be quite…

Having looked into this - it's not illegal to own a high powered hand held laser. It's only illegal to sell one as a Laser Pointer. The ones you see on the playa (and the one I brought) were both sold as kits and not as pointers.

Having been responsible with my laser it's unfortunate there were those who weren't. But I think those individuals should be spoken with. Declaring a ban on something because of the behavior of one or a few doesn't sit right with me. I know that's not what you're saying here - but someone else did suggest it earlier.

If we were to do that I'm pretty sure BALLS wouldn't exist as an event. I hear there are exploding motors, shrapnel and rockets coming in ballistic near the flight line. I hear people are dumping lots of experimental rocket fuels in open fires.

Do we want to have a curfew at night, and start banning toys? I would rather we just act with common sense and individually address those who don't.

[mosh1]

Great job! Amazing flights and nice photos to capture the moment. I especially like the one with you and the recovered rocket!

Thanks!

[Frederocket]

I was going to add something really nasty so it would fit in with this discussion; you know use the "F" word on my first post kind of thing.

The first I heard of the Dave issue and the laser pointer was when I read it here. I am not a mind reader so I guess we did nothing. I do believe Gary was not the one that pointed the light, he would not even hand the thing to someone without first taking out the batteries.
So here is management's input. Dave, be a nice drunk and all must bring proper PPE for lasers.

It’s unfortunate you were made aware of the incidents here. Sorry for assuming management was aware.

And for God's sake the word is quiet, not quite.
Yes I judge people by their spelling and punctuation.

Mark

Your criteria for judging me and your judgment is irrelevant and no concern to me. Better to focus your attention on the issues razed in this thread. Just my NSHO.
Fred