In a story that is absolutely not funny, a Canadian parachuting instructor died when he went for a solo jump after a day of taking out first-timers. Investigators aren’t sure exactly what happened to him.

“Everything was good, parachute opened great. He was doing the John [Scott] thing — he flies a very small, fast parachute — and he just missed on the bottom end,” said [skydiving site] Eden North owner Lyal Waddell on Sunday.

Zazulak said that the RCMP are still investigating the cause of Scott’s death and have seized his equipment to determine whether there was any sort of malfunction. They are also speaking to witnesses.

“Nothing appears suspicious at this time,” she said. “However, we do want to find out what happened. With any sudden, unexplained death we need to totally rule out that there might be anything suspicious at play.” (via CBC News)

While “a skydiver died skydiving” is sad news, it’s not the kind of thing we normally write about at With Leather. “Did someone involved do or say something stupid,” you may be asking, “to justify this story’s inclusion on the same day as a Ryan Lochte bonerjam?”

Yes. Someone did.

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Lobster Dog practices safe parachuting by wearing head gear. Douche Dog does not.

Every few years, a friend of mine will have a “milestone” birthday, which is another way for people to say, “Hey, I’m older than 30 and would like you to pretend like birthdays still matter”, and without fail there is always one guy who wants to go skydiving. Now, I have never accepted an invitation to do this, because I have a short list of things that I would not like to do, including:

• Wrestle alligators
• Be shot
• Go to prison
• Jump out of an airplane that is in the sky, high above the very hard ground

And there are a few others, but they’re much more graphic and will give people nightmares. But that last one – jumping out of an airplane – is a good one because whenever I tell people that I don’t want to try skydiving, someone always responds, “Don’t be a sissy, bro.” Yesterday, though, a 51-year old man in California helped prove why I am fine with being called a sissy.

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In the best Power Rangers World Record news since Red Ranger Jason beat Bulk’s longstanding Angel Grove Youth Center weightlifting mark of 1,010 bench presses, mixed martial artist Jason David Frank — best known for his role as Green Power Ranger Tommy Oliver — has broken the Guinness World Record for “most pine boards broken in freefall.”

Seems like this would be a good time to send down a batch of Putties, but what do I know? I’m not a crazy Asian moon lady.

Jeffrey “Jay” Veenendaal, left, holds a pine board as Jason David Frank right, breaks a board while setting the “Most pine boards broken in freefall” Guiness World Record while skydiving at Skydive Spaceland Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013, in Rosharon. Frank broke 7 pine boards to break the existing record of 2 pine boards. (via Chron)

Here’s a picture of him receiving his official World Record certificate, with a disappointing lack of guys in foam monster costumes in the background:

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This week’s Sports On TV covers another show people have been requesting since the column’s inception: ‘Boy Meets World,’ the long-running TGIF staple that asked, “if Fred Savage can have a successful television show, shouldn’t his little brother have one as well?”

‘Boy Meets World’ ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, and now’s a better time than ever to look back on the show’s 158 episodes. Why? Take it away, Wikipedia!

Swedish insurance company Folksam has brought together two of my favorite things: R. Kelly, and skydiving cats. And okay, as one of the comments points out, it’s less “skydiving cats” and more “putting cats in front of a green screen and turning on a fan,” but still, skydiving cats. (via The Daily What)

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Links

The 10 Most Confusing Sexy Chloë Sevigny GIFs |UPROXX|

‘SNL’ Recap: Jeremy Renner And Maroon 5 |Warming Glow|

Mitt Romney saw Twilight with his wife |Film Drunk|

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Remembering Better Times: 10 Pictures That Prove George Lucas Used To Be One Cool Dude |Gamma Squad|

The Five Marvel NOW! Books We Can’t Wait To Read |Smoking Section|

A.J. Green Is Good At Awesome Touchdown Catches |Kissing Suzy Kolber|

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Austrian crazy guy Felix Baumgartner became a household name yesterday when he climbed into a little capsule with a balloon attached and flew to the edge of outer space, 24 miles above the Earth. Once he reached his desired altitude, Felix popped the door open and stepped out for some fresh air, and then he plummeted back to the ground while everyone watched via YouTube. Amazingly, his quest was a success and people cheered him on (or, you know, asked why in the blue yonder of hell would he even do this in the first place).

So what does it feel like to be 24 miles above the Earth, watching as the ground gets closer and closer? According to Felix, it ain’t no thang, bros.

“It’s like swimming without touching the water, and it’s hard because every time it turns you around you have to figure out what to do. So I was sticking my arm out then it became worse,” he said. “I had a lot of pressure in my head. But I didn’t feel like I was passing out. I was still feeling ok, I — I thought, ‘I can handle the situation.’ And I did.” (Via)

Perhaps the craziest detail of this feat is that Felix reached a max speed of 833 mph – Mach 1.24, according to dorks – while he broke the sound barrier in his cool little suit. And the whole thing lasted just 4 minutes and 20 seconds. Man, if I could last 4 minutes and 20 seconds… wait, what were we talking about?

Felix is sponsored by Red Bull in all of his craziest endeavors, and the energy drink company was obviously stoked after Felix landed safely yesterday, so its marketing and PR wizards expressed their encouragement on Facebook. Unfortunately, they didn’t bother using spell check and they made the tiniest little faux pas.

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