The Fulcrum
Friday, December 19, 2003
Minimal Blogging
We're heading up to Canada tomorrow morning - way too early for a weekend - to visit my wife's parents. There'll be no blogging until I get back; probably Sunday evening or Monday. The good thing is that today was my last day of work for the rest of the year. Until January 5, in fact!!
Everyone out there have a great weekend!!
See you when I get back!
P.S. In celebration of getting upgraded and to counter all the Friday Cat Blogging, here's a picture of my wife's Yellow Lab, Baylea, during warmer days here.
Everyone out there have a great weekend!!
See you when I get back!
P.S. In celebration of getting upgraded and to counter all the Friday Cat Blogging, here's a picture of my wife's Yellow Lab, Baylea, during warmer days here.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
The Wrights and Me
It's been 11 years since I last strapped myself into a helicopter; but I can close my eyes and it all comes back to me.
These were, of course, Night Vision Goggles; NVGs we used to also call them. Fabulous little tubes stuffed with high-tech stuck to the front of our flight helmets that turned night into a green-tinted ghost of day. With them on, I could fly, not through the clouds, but through the trees. Rotors spinning only feet or inches away from branches and leaves, rock and earth. My adrenaline would be pumping, sharpening my reflexes and my sight; my head would turn from side to side while my eyes picked out the least dangerous way.
And I was completely and absolutely alive.
Unless you've flown - and despite all the various kinds of pilots out there, there aren't really that many of us - you will never know that feeling. It's a feeling that I think about every day. Many times a day. Nothing can take its place, nothing will make it go away. (I won't go into all the reason here that I haven't flown in so long - although I will say that within the next year or so I will start again.)
This feeling, this love, for it is that, is what connects me to the Wright Brothers. And to every person who has ever left the solid earth in controlled, powered flight since that day, 100 years ago. More than any other group of people (save astronauts, gods to us mere demi-gods), pilots feel a sense of brotherhood. These are bonds formed between even people who have never met; forged in rigorous training, in self-discipline in the pure joy of flight. And that brotherhood, that camaraderie extends, in an unbroken line, from Wilbur and Orville to me.
If you've ever taken the controls of an aircraft, you know what I mean. If you never have you are poorer for that.
The smell of jet fuel and of hydraulic fluid. The smell of the plastic and metal inside the cockpit. I can still feel the smooth leather of my flight gloves, worn so often that they fit more like my skin than a piece of clothing. With my eyes closed I can reach out and know just where certain instruments and radios would have been, switches and knobs and circuit breakers. My hands know where to go to start the engine, to lightly hold the controls.When most people think of flying their impressions are born of trips on an airliner; lumbering up through the clouds into the blazing blue and white of the stratosphere. When I think of flying, I see everything in shades of green. My favorite time to fly was at night; little or no moon was best - with just the stars bouncing their feeble light off the landscape and into those incredible, almost magical, bits of technology we used to call merely "goggles."
If I sit very still, I can hear how the turbine engine used to spin up in a high-pitched whine before roaring to life when I opened the throttle. And I can remember the exact cadence the aircraft used to bounce while the blades spun up to idle.The smell of burned jet fuel brings a smile to my face.
Finally - and most heart wrenching of all, even after so many years - my limbs and my brain still remember the tiny, coordinated movements it took to make the small helicopter I used to fly lift gently from the ground. I remember what it felt like to hang there, suspended below the main rotor, totally in control of a machine trying desperately to go in a hundred different directions; held there in one piece seemingly by main force of will. My will.
With the merest thought (or so it seemed after 1,200 hours of flight time) I could make 3,500 lbs of metal and plastic dance.
These were, of course, Night Vision Goggles; NVGs we used to also call them. Fabulous little tubes stuffed with high-tech stuck to the front of our flight helmets that turned night into a green-tinted ghost of day. With them on, I could fly, not through the clouds, but through the trees. Rotors spinning only feet or inches away from branches and leaves, rock and earth. My adrenaline would be pumping, sharpening my reflexes and my sight; my head would turn from side to side while my eyes picked out the least dangerous way.
And I was completely and absolutely alive.
Unless you've flown - and despite all the various kinds of pilots out there, there aren't really that many of us - you will never know that feeling. It's a feeling that I think about every day. Many times a day. Nothing can take its place, nothing will make it go away. (I won't go into all the reason here that I haven't flown in so long - although I will say that within the next year or so I will start again.)
This feeling, this love, for it is that, is what connects me to the Wright Brothers. And to every person who has ever left the solid earth in controlled, powered flight since that day, 100 years ago. More than any other group of people (save astronauts, gods to us mere demi-gods), pilots feel a sense of brotherhood. These are bonds formed between even people who have never met; forged in rigorous training, in self-discipline in the pure joy of flight. And that brotherhood, that camaraderie extends, in an unbroken line, from Wilbur and Orville to me.
If you've ever taken the controls of an aircraft, you know what I mean. If you never have you are poorer for that.
Bring Your Hardhat
If you visit here regularly - not that there are that many of you - you'll notice some changes happening. I'm making some minor adjustments to my blog; making sure that it stays "clean" and visually appealing.
I haven't decided whether to upgrade my account to allow me to upload pictures and graphics, so for now it's going to stay pretty basic. If anyone sees this blog doing anything odd, please let me know - I'm viewing it with both IE and Netscape (and probably pretty soon with one or more Mac-only browsers as well) and it looks okay; but you never know.
So, watch the dust and all the heavy equipment; and continue to visit and comment.
I haven't decided whether to upgrade my account to allow me to upload pictures and graphics, so for now it's going to stay pretty basic. If anyone sees this blog doing anything odd, please let me know - I'm viewing it with both IE and Netscape (and probably pretty soon with one or more Mac-only browsers as well) and it looks okay; but you never know.
So, watch the dust and all the heavy equipment; and continue to visit and comment.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
The Sock Puppet Speaks
I got to see a little bit of Diane Sawyer's interview with aWol this morning. Three things struck me about his "performance."
I came away from the segment of interview that I watched more convinced than ever that this man has been an absolute disaster for the US and that there is nothing more important than ensuring that he is voted out - along with his coterie of ass-kissers, boot-lickers, handlers, snake oil salesmen and puppet-masters - next year.
1.That damned smirk; when it wasn't actually on his face it seemed he was having a hard time keeping it in check. Either he can't control himself or he really is an arrogant, uncaring bastard.Of the three, the last is the most serious in terms of implications for the future of our country. But the other two, to me, indicate that we really are, all partisan BS aside, saddled with an incurious, unintelligent, born with a silver spoon mamma's boy. He barely hides his contempt for the average person - not only in his smirking demeanor but in the policies he allows to be promulgated in his name. And he is so unintelligent that he can only parrot those key phrases that are placed in his head by his handlers; any attempt to speak off-the-cuff are consistently disastrous and only serve to make him look even less intelligent.
2. He sounds like there's a little tape recorder inside him, or a pull string on his back; he keeps repeating the same thing over and over - in exactly the same tone of voice, in the same order and seemingly without knowing what was coming out of his mouth. Saddam was bad, the world's better off without him, rape rooms. And it's his always including the "rape rooms" accusation that is the scariest - like it's the one thing he can definitely remember.
3. He admitted he lied. Not quite so baldly, but Diane asked him about the WMD claims and tried to get Shrubbie to distinguish between Hussein actually having had WMDs and there being the threat that he might acquire them. Bush said something that just chilled me:"What's the difference?" Now, either he really doesn't know the difference - a possibility I'm increasing likely to believe - or he does and is unwilling, in the context of the reason for invasion, to admit to there being a difference. I'm not sure which is worse.
I came away from the segment of interview that I watched more convinced than ever that this man has been an absolute disaster for the US and that there is nothing more important than ensuring that he is voted out - along with his coterie of ass-kissers, boot-lickers, handlers, snake oil salesmen and puppet-masters - next year.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Star Spangled Wingnuttery
Would you eat ice cream with names like these?
Now these are all worthy things to give to. But the flavor names; even if the company claims that they are targeted at Adults (which I don't know if they do), ice cream is eaten by kids primarily. What kind of ideas are they promoting to the next generation? Well, the company's web site carries the tag line: "Ice cream with a conservative flavor" (no link-love from me on this one). So that would be: hate people who give you good advice, rape and pillage the environment, government can do no good, guns are sacred.
Well, we are talking serious wingnuts here.
Have another ice cream cone.
My head hurts.
I Hate the French VanillaA small ice cream manufacturer in Washington, DC makes these flavors. The last of which, "Gun Nut" was developed in "concert" with Ted Nugent and the company, Star Spangled Ice Cream Co. promises to donated a dollar for every quart sold to the Gun Owners Foundation Gun Safety Project. Some proceeds from the other flavors are donated to charities that help soldiers.
Nutty Environmentalist
Iraqi Road
Smaller Gevernmint
Gun Nut
Now these are all worthy things to give to. But the flavor names; even if the company claims that they are targeted at Adults (which I don't know if they do), ice cream is eaten by kids primarily. What kind of ideas are they promoting to the next generation? Well, the company's web site carries the tag line: "Ice cream with a conservative flavor" (no link-love from me on this one). So that would be: hate people who give you good advice, rape and pillage the environment, government can do no good, guns are sacred.
Well, we are talking serious wingnuts here.
Have another ice cream cone.
My head hurts.
A Quick Bite of Apple
Just this (from the WSJ):
Apple also made their iPod mp3 player Windows compatible. These are truly drool-worthy gadgets; with the largest capacity player holding 40 Gb or 10,000 songs in a very small package.
Ah... every day brings another reason I'm so glad to be using a Mac. Now if only I could use one at work!
In a sign of strong demand for online music and related gadgets this holiday season, Apple Computer Inc. says it has sold more than 25 million songs through its iTunes Music Store, and some retailers are having a hard time keeping Apple's hot iPod portable music player stocked on store shelves.While others are still trying, Apple has done what other on-line music stores and computer makers have failed to do: make buying music on-line easy and fun while giving the music buyer very good rights-to-use. It also didn't hurt that Apple made a version of its iTunes jukebox-and-music store-in-one for Windows. Not only does this enable Windows users to access the music store, but it also shows off Apples excellent software and graphic design as well.
Apple also made their iPod mp3 player Windows compatible. These are truly drool-worthy gadgets; with the largest capacity player holding 40 Gb or 10,000 songs in a very small package.
Ah... every day brings another reason I'm so glad to be using a Mac. Now if only I could use one at work!
Koufax Awards
I wasn't really familiar with the Koufax Awards over at Wampum so I was quite surprised when I received an e-mail from Dwight Merideth of Wampum. He let me know that I'd been nominated for Best New Blog and that he needed some representative posts.
When I went to Wampum to see who had nominated me, there was a name and an e-mail (but no web site) of the person who nominated me. I didn't recognize either bits of identification; so all I can say is thank you to Rod. I have no illusions about getting the nod for this award as I'm up against some really good blogs, but I have to admit that it was great being nominated.
Additionally, The Liberal Coalition was nominated for Best Group Blog.
So, while I really have no hope of winning this, it was very cool to get the nomination. Sort of makes all this writing seem just a little more worthwhile if someone I don't know thinks this blog is worth the award.
When I went to Wampum to see who had nominated me, there was a name and an e-mail (but no web site) of the person who nominated me. I didn't recognize either bits of identification; so all I can say is thank you to Rod. I have no illusions about getting the nod for this award as I'm up against some really good blogs, but I have to admit that it was great being nominated.
Additionally, The Liberal Coalition was nominated for Best Group Blog.
So, while I really have no hope of winning this, it was very cool to get the nomination. Sort of makes all this writing seem just a little more worthwhile if someone I don't know thinks this blog is worth the award.
Now... Where Was I?
I took a bit of an unplanned break from blogging this past weekend. Other than my Sunday morning post about the capture of Saddam I just didn't get the chance to do any serious writing.
My wife and I had a great time at our company NODWISH party on Friday night, Saturday was spent in a mostly fruitless search of the mall for good NODWISH presents, and then Sunday... Sunday. Sunday we got about 14 - 16 inches of snow and it was one of those days where it was just much more fun to do a lot of nothing than it would have been to do anything in particular.
Anyway, Monday I spent catching up at work from being sort of unmotivated last week.
So.
Back to hopefully more blogging for a while. At least until this weekend when we'll be heading to Canada to visit my wife's parents. I probably won't get to do any blogging there; they have a computer, but it's old and slow and connected via 56k modem. I think I'll skip it.
Time to go have a look around the world and around my blogroll to see what's happening. Time to get motivated and inspired.
Time to blog!
My wife and I had a great time at our company NODWISH party on Friday night, Saturday was spent in a mostly fruitless search of the mall for good NODWISH presents, and then Sunday... Sunday. Sunday we got about 14 - 16 inches of snow and it was one of those days where it was just much more fun to do a lot of nothing than it would have been to do anything in particular.
Anyway, Monday I spent catching up at work from being sort of unmotivated last week.
So.
Back to hopefully more blogging for a while. At least until this weekend when we'll be heading to Canada to visit my wife's parents. I probably won't get to do any blogging there; they have a computer, but it's old and slow and connected via 56k modem. I think I'll skip it.
Time to go have a look around the world and around my blogroll to see what's happening. Time to get motivated and inspired.
Time to blog!
Sunday, December 14, 2003
"We Got Him!"
All the majors are reporting that Saddam Hussein has been captured in a basement on a small farm outside of Tikrit.
This is excellent news. Iraqis who were fearful of participating in the new government because they were afraid of Hussein coming back to power will no longer have that to fear. Those who were fighting the "coalition" because they wanted to reinstall Hussein at some future point no longer have that possibility; those who fought just because they didn't want to be on the wrong side when he returned are also free of that threat.
It remains to see how BushCo treats this momentous event. If they have learned anything from their experiences in the Middle East - doubtful from their actions so far - they will treat Hussein with dignity and ensure that he is not roughed up by soldiers nor paraded before Iraqis in a humiliating way. Then they must - against all desire, I'm sure - put him before The Hague to be tried by an international court with as little American "taint" (to the Arab street) as possible.
A plan of action like that would go a long way to restoring all the good that could have come from aWol's excellent adventure. To do otherwise would be a further disaster.
This is excellent news. Iraqis who were fearful of participating in the new government because they were afraid of Hussein coming back to power will no longer have that to fear. Those who were fighting the "coalition" because they wanted to reinstall Hussein at some future point no longer have that possibility; those who fought just because they didn't want to be on the wrong side when he returned are also free of that threat.
It remains to see how BushCo treats this momentous event. If they have learned anything from their experiences in the Middle East - doubtful from their actions so far - they will treat Hussein with dignity and ensure that he is not roughed up by soldiers nor paraded before Iraqis in a humiliating way. Then they must - against all desire, I'm sure - put him before The Hague to be tried by an international court with as little American "taint" (to the Arab street) as possible.
A plan of action like that would go a long way to restoring all the good that could have come from aWol's excellent adventure. To do otherwise would be a further disaster.
Just a Reminder
If you're a non-Liberal Coalition member and you're reading this, I'd like to ask you to do me a favor.
It's very easy; no shopping through an Amazon link, no donations to anyone. I'd just ask you to check out a fellow member's blog: It's Craptastic! and his entry "What is the Point?" If you like the entry, please write a short post with a link to that entry so that it will be counted as a vote in the New Weblog Showcase at Truth Laid Bear. This post is just one vote out from first place - he could use the help.
Thank you for your support.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
It's very easy; no shopping through an Amazon link, no donations to anyone. I'd just ask you to check out a fellow member's blog: It's Craptastic! and his entry "What is the Point?" If you like the entry, please write a short post with a link to that entry so that it will be counted as a vote in the New Weblog Showcase at Truth Laid Bear. This post is just one vote out from first place - he could use the help.
Thank you for your support.
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
