Jonathan Trappe has discovered real flying, under a cluster of helium balloons. He took off from Oshkosh, Wisconsin last month, flew across Lake Michigan (overnight), and landed in Michigan, near Kalamazoo. Sign me up! This looks like more fun than a barrel of monkeys. [Updated 8/19/2010 to insert a missing title.]
Powered Parachutes and Ultralights
I spent most of my time at AirVenture 2010 hanging out in the ultralight area. I headed down there first to learn about weight shift trikes, after talking to the folks from Evolution Trikes while on a fuel stop in Juneau, WI. I had been impressed with the versatility of these craft. With completely open […]
Pulse 50
I guess all this running and walking is good for me after all. I had my annual physical today and learned that my resting pulse rate is down to 50. The new hybrid cars like the Ford Fusion shut their engines down completely at stop signs. I wonder if I can do that, too. 🙂
Getting to AirVenture 2010
Getting to AirVenture this year proved to be much more difficult than I ever would have dreamed. Chris Seto, who is also in EAA chapter 32 with me, and I planned to fly up to Oshkosh on Sunday morning, July 25. This is not a very difficult trip in my Arrow, especially since I have […]
Be Your Child’s Biggest Cheerleader
As I was running the other morning, I jogged past a mom who was shepherding her little ones out the front door and over to the school bus stop. The mother was a few steps behind her young daughter and I caught this snippet of conversation: Mom: You have a spelling test today, Susan. I […]
Running #4
I got there! When I first started running and stretching, I started doing the canonical hamstring stretch after each run. Close your eyes and picture, if you will, graceful and youthful me lithely stretching toward my oh so distant toes and failing miserably to achieve that oh so distant goal. My fingertips lingered in mid-air […]
US Troops Returning Home from Iraq
I love to start my day with an uplifting tidbit of news like this: Barack Obama is bringing all but 50,000 US troops home from Iraq at the end of this month. US President Barack Obama has confirmed the end of all combat operations in Iraq by 31 August. Some 50,000 of 65,000 US troops currently […]
Running #3
I ran again, yesterday; third time this week. All is still going well. I can sure feel the workout in various parts of my body but no pain, just aches from working parts of me that have not worked since dirt was new. This one was longer. I ran/walked for most of an hour and […]
Running #2
I ran again this morning. All is good with no aches or pains. (And if you believe that, I have this bridge to sell you….) Seriously, I am a little sore and can definitely feel parts of me which do not “normally” make themselves felt but nothing extreme. I am alternating between jogging for one […]
Now I’m a Runner
I’ve been walking almost daily for over a year and recently got to thinking about running, which I have never done. As a kid, I was always too chunky. As an adult, I have neither been in good enough shape nor have I had the motivation to get in shape. For the first time, I […]
Aged on the Best Authority
I have been walking regularly for over a year and have lost almost 30 pounds. Now I want to start running and the calcified structure within my skull nudged me and suggested that a little research might be in order before I hit the pavement. I checked the library and discovered that the authority record […]
Real Virtual Alchemy
I have learned to change lead into gold, and back again, for real! Well, sort of. Thus far, it only works within the virtual world of programming languages like Python. Here is the recipe. (If you are not into geek-speak, skip to the bottom where I natter on about reading ebooks on an iPad.) class […]
Ban the Bikes!
St. Charles County, MO, will try to ban bicyclists from using some state highways, as reported in the Suburban Journals, Bill would ban bicycles from some highways in St. Charles County. How wrong can you get? In the year 2010, amidst all the hue and cry about poor health, obesity, and greenhouse gases from automobiles, Councilman […]
Copyright Madness
You may not be aware of some of the insanity which current copyright laws create in many countries, not just the United States. Here are two songs which you may think are free and clear but which are, in fact, copyrighted and subject to royalty payments: Happy Birthday to You The Chicago-based music publisher Clayton […]
US Immigration Reform for Immigrants’ Descendants
If you are a US citizen then you are almost certainly the descendant of people to immigrated to the United States. As you consider your position on immigration reform, please look at the issue from at least two perspectives: How do immigrants affect you and your loved ones today, and, just as important, how would […]
Inspired by the Man in the Arena
Nelson Mandela gave a copy of Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speach to François Pienaar, captain of the South African rugby team, before the start of the 1995 Rugby World Cup. I find this quote much more inspiring and apropos than the poem Invictus. It is not the critic who counts; not the […]
Python Generators Neatly Untangle Loops
The Python programming language has become my first choice for most tasks over the last year or so. The more I use it, the more I find to like about it. I just stumbled across generators in a way that made them make sense to me and it is so cool that I want to […]
Death of St. Charles Municipal Airport
This has got to be the coldest, most insensitive obituary ever written: !STL 06/424 3SQ AD CLSD WEF 1006300501 In English, this NOTAM (federal NOTice to AirMen) says that the St. Charles Municipal Airport will close at 12:01am CDT, Wednesday, June 30, 2010. After 67 years of service, the owner will shut it down forever. […]
USPTO Grants Patent On ’60s Era Billing Method
Back in the Old Days, I had to pay for computer time on Michigan Terminal System (MTS) at the University of Michigan. It was a simple system: the more you used, the more you paid. MTS charged for CPU time, RAM used while your program was running, disk space used to store your files, I/O […]
Instrument Approach Plates on the iPad
I just upgraded the instrument approach plates that I use when flying IFR in my airplane. My new iPad with ForeFlight Mobile HD replaces my Sony PRS-505 with ReaderPlates that I have been using since December 2008. The Sony and ReaderPlates replaced paper that I had been using since 1987. This is a very good […]
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