As mentioned in the thread about 9/11 and “suicide” jumpers: ow could I jump out of a tall building and live?
One said, for example, that grabbing a blanket and jumping with that as a parachute will tear it out of your hands. However, could you wrap it more tightly? Use soemthign to tie it tightly? Just how much material would you need to prevent a lethal fall?
Just curious, in case I ever have to go for a swan dive.
If you are an experienced BASE jumper and carry your parachute all the time, and if there are no projections for you to hit, and if you can knock a window out, you’d have a chance.
But barring that, I think you’d be SOL.
Sorry, no cite, but Ive seen a fairly compelling arguement going the other way, that you’d need at least nine stories to reasonably guarantee death.
Gawd, how morbid. I’m going to go weep gently now…
Anyone got some practical advice?
Well this is kind of like asking for practical advice on how to survive being run over by a train but here goes:
Relax.
Aim for something soft.
Assume your best slow fallrate position on the way down - a slight reverse arch (the recovery position for my fellow skydivers).
Do your best parachute landing fall (PLF) or backfall (from your favorite martial art) upon impact.
Note that for all of these steps some experience and familiarity with falling long distances is a good idea, this basically means skydivers. Locate a nearby USPA dropzone and start your lessons 
Yes people have survived high falls. Yes, if my options were (a) burn to death or (b) jump out the window I’d think seriously about (b). No, I don’t honestly think you’d have a chance in hell but what do you have to lose?
Sorry, I didn’t catch that props are allowed - increase your drag as much as possible, take the sheets or curtains or towels or whatever and make like a rudimentary parachute. Again, I don’t really think this will make a big difference but every little bit helps.
Maybe I could tie them around my limbs?
There is a correct way to fall which is taught to parachutists (maybe only military jumpers, not sure). I think that’s what Valgard was referring to as a PLF. It’s something like you want to hit your ankle first, then knee, then hip, then shoulder, or something like that. You’ll roll instead of splat, which greatly increases your chance of surviving.
A bit of googling will probably turn up the correct technique if you’re interested in the details.
You’re correct - basically you relax, keep your knees bent a little and as you come down in a standing position you roll to the side and then across your back. Taught in my regular sport skydiving first-jump class years ago.
Keep in mind that this works well for low-speed landings - the hardest landing I ever had was under a partially malfunctioned round reserve canopy, it felt like about a 10 foot drop. On freshly plowed dirt, with a good PLF, and wearing a helmet, I walked away with some bumps and bruises. Humming it into concrete at 120mph is a different story.