It is early morning.

I present a photo of inspectors Dennis and Bob in better days. This when I was building the first Sonex partially. I later sold this one to buy one more nearly finished.
It is early morning now so I don't know what condition the funny papers are in but I bet they're in color. I'll find out after I do my daily reading and go for my walk.
Today's forecast? Who knows ? I'll find out on my walk.
Or not.
Cold mornings are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Fact you need to know.

I saw a sign outside a church,"If you have enough faith U don't need any facts". How sad.
The forecast for today is cloudy and probably rain through Weds. How sad.
Facts you need to know: If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.
I decided that the liberal philosophy is OK for some things, for others ....not so much. The realization came when it occurred to me that a conservative move would have been to do what it would have taken to prevent my incident entirely. From never taking off to being POSITIVE of requirements of the plane. All more conservative.
Fractured politics proves that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The funnies are in black and white.

The funnies are in black and white today so paraphrasing my brother Bobs calendaric skill conclude it is not Sunday. Well, they're all the same anyway.
I'm deep into the book extra dimensions. I've just finished the review of string theory. It still seems very intuitive. Things without dimension never made sense to me. What is that supposed to be? If it exists it has size albeit very, very tiny... it still had to have size. Strings immediately found a welcome home in my mind.
But to digress... surfing the net this morning I was presented with a site writing about savantism. The article was about the brain as a memory device. Many details we see every day are filtered out by our mind as useless. So we never 'notice' the very fine details, although they have entered our eyes. One of the conclusions in the article is that in some savants it's as if some of their filters had been disabled allowing all the details their eyes see to be entered in memory for later retrieval. The conclusions were drawn from those who were savants from birth as well as those who acquired their savantism following injuries to the head and brain. I found it to be very interesting.
Or not.
In a way we're all savants and still on this flight together.

Dick

The significance of the numbers 8 and 87.

You never know when someone will come up to you and ask the significance of the numbers 8 and 87.Here are two possible answers:
8 is the largest cube in the Fibonacci sequence.
87 is the sum of the squares of the first 4 primes.
I've reached the point in Lisa Randall's book, "Warped Passages" wherein she is explaining string theory and how it fits in with contemporary physics. One can never listen to this information too many times.
In between times I'm watching the DVD on dark matter and dark energy. Really cool. I'm on the home stretch now. He's beginning to introduce dark energy..... the crux of my lack of understanding of everything.
Dark is the energy which proves that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The best representation of any object is the object itself.

The best representation of any object is the object itself. The photo is a hang glider being piloted by a man who lost the use of his legs as a youngster. Now he makes a living doing acrobatics in the hang glider at airshows.
But back to my opening argument. Obviously true, or is it but a signpost on the way to the Ultimate Truth? Could there be a better representation of the Mona Lisa than Mona herself? Could there be a representation of any person that surpasses the person themselves? Is this a statement consistent with relativity or quantum mechanics? Or just another case of stumbling around in the dark? It would appear to be true but I leave the derivation to the reader.
Quantum puzzles are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

An interlude.

Here is a photo of a Taiko drum group taken a few years ago.
I have nothing else to say to enlighten each of you because I'm still working on time travel. Patience is the plaster of all swords.
Time travel will prove that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Travelling in time

The picture is of a cowboy singer taken at a festival at the Gene Autry Museum in LA a few years ago. It's a place holder for the promise made in the title. I know how to do it but it's taking longer to finalize than I thought.
Maybe tomorrow.
Engineering delays prove that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

A Zen koan.

Who really knows? (from the Hindu (I think) Rig Veda) A Zen koan is an unanswerable question posed to Zen initiates to force thinking about an impossible answer. Not truly unanswerable, this one has multiple answers to a finite number of questions. Which one reveals the truth? Who? What? How? When? And the timeless Why? It depends on ones frame of reference. The question is universal but the answers are specific.
Each answers the same question in a different way. Only one can reveal the truth uniquely. No matter how one answers the question the others still remain. In quantum mechanics one would say the wave function has collapsed. An interesting cross over of quantum mechanics and consciousness.
Or not. This is, after all, the 560th post to this blog.
A Zen koan is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

A word or two from Carl Sagan

I stumbled across this on the Internet yesterday and thought it might be of interest to some of you. It was written by the great communicator Carl Sagan. It presents a description of his experience with marjuana.

The cannabis experience has greatly improved my appreciation for art, a subject which I had never much appreciated before. The understanding of the intent of the artist which I can achieve when high sometimes carries over to when I'm down. This is one of many human frontiers which cannabis has helped me traverse. There also have been some art-related insights - I don't know whether they are true or false, but they were fun to formulate. For example, I have spent some time high looking at the work of the Belgian surrealist Yves Tanguey. Some years later, I emerged from a long swim in the Caribbean and sank exhausted onto a beach formed from the erosion of a nearby coral reef. In idly examining the arcuate pastel-colored coral fragments which made up the beach, I saw before me a vast Tanguey painting. Perhaps Tanguey visited such a beach in his childhood.

A very similar improvement in my appreciation of music has occurred with cannabis. For the first time I have been able to hear the separate parts of a three-part harmony and the richness of the counterpoint. I have since discovered that professional musicians can quite easily keep many separate parts going simultaneously in their heads, but this was the first time for me. Again, the learning experience when high has at least to some extent carried over when I'm down. The enjoyment of food is amplified; tastes and aromas emerge that for some reason we ordinarily seem to be too busy to notice. I am able to give my full attention to the sensation. A potato will have a texture, a body, and taste like that of other potatoes, but much more so. Cannabis also enhances the enjoyment of sex - on the one hand it gives an exquisite sensitivity, but on the other hand it postpones orgasm: in part by distracting me with the profusion of image passing before my eyes. The actual duration of orgasm seems to lengthen greatly, but this may be the usual experience of time expansion which comes with cannabis smoking.

God's gift of cannabis proves that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Genius is 99% perspiration and 10 % inspiration.

Here for your enjoyment are two photos from the past. On the left is a Lily, a reminder of weather not with us today.
On the right is a pic of Tigger in a moment of repose.
There will be no walk again today. Yesterday it rained hard on and off all day and today is forecast to be more of the same. The intense rain has caused an evacuation of 500 houses in the hills North of LA in preparation for possible landslides resulting from the denudification of the landscape by fire storm. It is expected to rain on and off through Saturday. Enough already! Anything is good in MODERATION!
I'm about half way through the book by Tim Ferris. I'm learning about the personalities of the scientists I have been reading about as well as the history of science. One of the more prominent lessons is that old Edisonian saying, "Genius is 99% perspiration and 10 % inspiration". It's clear from Galileo and Newton to our contemporaries that it is drive that finally results in success. Demonstrated over and over again.
My typing skills have seriously deteriorated over the last two years. Yesterday I realized that I often miss h,l,p,o, and the period. All struck by the right hand. Hot damn! Another thing I can blame on the effect of the Parkinson's on my right hand. My mind gets it right and the feedback tells me the letters are there but when I proof read ....it's garbage and in need of extensive corrections. There's more here than just a whole lot of shaking going on. I need to replace my substantia nigra.
Rainy weather is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

A dot in the sky.

Here is a pic of an aerobaticist corkscrewing through the clear blue sky. It did lose somewhat in the photo. This was taken with the digital camera that I carry in my pocket all the time. It really is exciting to see him/her transition from a vertical loop to a barrel roll followed by a few snap rolls ending in a vertical climb to a standstill in real life. It's like the difference between watching a football game on TV and seeing it it person.
Earthquakes in Haiti and brutally cold weather in Eastern USA... and we have relatively stable underpinnings and temperatures in the 50's. The down side is that we are forecast for 1 to 5 inches of rain between today and Friday. That should wash away the mountains after having been burned to the ground last year. The upside is that we sorely need the rain. We do, after all, live in a desert.
Damn George W. Bush and what he's done to our weather. It's nice to have a few straw men around . What I can't blame on the remnants of GWB's reign I can blame of the Parkinson's and I remain golden.
Oh Karma what have you wrought?
Chaotic weather is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

A grand old master of the air.

The photo is of the highest iteration of the Cessna 100 series. Starting with the venerable 120, this is a 195. A travelling station wagon. It could carry anything you could fit into it, a grand old master of the air.
When I started out this am I thought I had nothing to add to the discourse regarding the human condition. Then I remembered... I have something in common with actress Sally Fields. We both have the old ladies disease, osteoporosis. But even as a grandmother she's still a good looking old lady. And doesn't seem to be falling apart. She takes Boniva, I take something else. Taking it once a week it's hard to remember to keep on schedule. Oh well, blame it on the Parkinson's.
Being Master of the Controversial Questions I am proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Master of Controversial Questions.

On the left is a photo of an Ercoupe, designed and built the late 1940's to avoid startling in flight. Aimed at the civilian post war market. But the symmetry of the twin tail is what attracted me here.
On the right is a restored Stearman one of the ubiquitous trainers of WWII fliers. That green and off white paint scheme is pretty nice in my eyes.
Brother Bob lent me my latest book. "Coming of Age in the Milky Way" by Tim Ferris. I'm learning a lot about Galileo as a person. He was a prick, smart but a prick. One of his supporters was a Roman Catholic Cardinal named Bellarmine. In the early 1600's Bellarmine adopted the title "Master of Controversial Questions". I'm going to use that one. It's even better than a benevolent King. You got questions? I got answers.
Controversial questions are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

An abbreviated form.

The plane of the day is a brightly polished Ryan PT, a primary trainer for most WWII fliers. Another open cockpit and rotary engine.
I have previously promised you a way to end all war as we know it. Today I'll offer an abbreviated form and let it go at that. It's too intricate and unreasonable. I got the idea from a book Deb had given me when I left her nest after my incident. The book, "Three Cups of Tea " by Greg Mortensen, is still on the paperback best seller list today. It is a book that I never would have chosen but it changed my thinking forever (thanks Deb) and forms the basis of my idea. Since it it a given that war is good (profitable) for business, The solution to ending war is to remove the profit. It would be possible to solve our homeland social problems , generate good will around the world and put the excess war profits to good use. In one grand swoop.
Basically the idea is to heavily tax wartime profits and build schools around the world with the money. Instead of allowing each civilian death to be a recruiting poster for al Qaeda, build and equip one classroom in the war zone for each civilian death in the war zone (4500 dead in Iraq in 2009) and build and equip one school for each American service person killed in wartime. The war zone schools to educate the citizenry in order to encourage them to chose their own destiny. The American schools to be built in poverty stricken areas since it is generally the poor who risk their lives in wars. And I'll decide who to tax and how much as well as where and how to spend the money. Sort of a benign dictatorship.
The futility of war is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Souvenirs.

Whew! I just got back from my walk. Truly a mental experience. I had taken my iPod instead of listening to talk radio. It started out with John Prine's "Souvenirs" followed by Nanci Griffith crooning "Sound of Loneliness" finally ending the walk to the baritone sound of , U. Utah Phillips, The Golden Voice of the Great South West, singing his trademark "Starlight on the Rails". All of them with the perfect pace needed to drag my ass home. And the songs all rhymed in the right places.
What got me going was that I had seen John Prine (right out of the 60's) singing "Paradise" and "Souvenirs" on the Marty Stuart Show on RFD-TV. Marty is a successful performer in his own right but he had had Emmy Lou Harris on the week before. John Prine and Emmy Lou? If that's not Heaven, what is? So I floated through the walk almost in a trance, yet oddly aware of where I was.
The picture of the day is an example of the planes built to race during the 30'and 40's. Open cockpits and rotary engines. But I think my Sonex, as long as I kept gas in it, had better performance than most of them. Ahhh... Progress.
Breakfast after exercise is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

All spit and polish.

This morning I had sort of planned to outline my proposal to end war as we know it. However, I have not finished thinking it through and don't want to go off half cocked with such a momentous piece of logic and rational thought. Instead I'll put it off for a few more days and provide you with two artistic presentations of a Chinese military trainer whose designation I forget. The one on the right shows them all in a row on the flight line. All spit and polish. I particularly like the other because of the symmetry shown and the colors. Much like a circus.
For an interesting take on the war by those who have been there take a 5 minute look:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1JraRc/www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdDirPfgtS1s

Spit and polish airplanes are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

What a day it was!

The plane of the day is a Waco biplane from the Forties. They were giving rides throughout the day in it. Ain't it gorgeous with the red and yellow paint and the big rotary engine? And the mountains in the background show what a day it was!
I've had a great idea to wnd our financialy dvantageous wars around the world. I'll get around to it after I've had a few days for it to percolate through my gray matter.
Or not.
Red biplanes at airshows are proof that we're all on this flight togther.

Dick

The inimitable Julie Clark.

Julie Clark has been demonstration flying a T-34 for as long as I can remember. She is a retired airline pilot (Northwestern) and must be approaching 60 years old by now but still as sharp as ever. Only her hands are the give-a-way. The new paint job (left) is in commemoration of Air Force One. She is shown here taxiing to the active runway. At the top is a pic of her completing a loop. That dot at the end of the trail is her at her finest.
Top right is a photo of her marketing sense. She travels Nascar style. (although I'll bet someone else drives that rig). Another example of a perfect day.
Julie Clark's precision flying is proof that we're all this flight together.
Dick

Yesterday was perfect.

2 is the only even prime number.
Yesterday was perfect. Warm but not hot. The sky was blue and the atmosphere clear. A great day for an airshow at delightful Cable airport. I had forgotten what a outstanding show Cable Airport puts on. So I present you with two photos to start a description of the day. On the left is a restoration of the highest modification of the beautiful North American Mustang. This was designed to accompany B17s all the way to Berlin and back during WWII. It's gorgeous just sitting there! On the right is an unusual designed propeller. This plane was built during the 70s as a 'stealth plane before planes were stealthy. The paddle shaped propeller rotated more slowly than a conventional prop to reduce noise. This plane was used for reconnaissance of Vietnamese during the Vietnam war.
Tomorrow I'll show you Julie Clark's T-34 Mentor and an example of what she does with it.
Airshows on sunny days are proof that we're all on this flight together.


Dick

The state of our nation.

I had planned to write about the state of our nation and how it has deteriorated in the last two decades. On second thought however, I decided it would take too long and just leave me pissed off majorly.
So instead I'll leave you on the right with a picture of a long haired Budda I pass on my daily walk. He lives in the neighborhood. A file photo of the real Budda is on the left for comparison
With that I'm off to meditate a while, read a book a while and recline in front of the TV for a while.
I'll also anticipate the Cable airshow tomorrow.
Or not.
The real Budda is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Saturday is the annual Cable airshow.

Saturday is the annual Cable airshow in Upland (which is the next town over from where I awakened from my incident restrained in a hospital bed in a hardware store). The first locally venued airshow of the year... I'm hyped. The incomparable Julie Clark in her T-34 Mentor doing unbelievable things and Rob Harrison called the Tumbling Bear for good reason. Even a demo of radio controlled aircraft and a static exhibition of full size antique and home built planes. And fly-bys throughout the day. I'm ready to stumble through that for a day.
Ahhh Budda. He seems to be recovering slowly. He does like to go outside in the sun where it's warm. But it must have been Hell for a day or two. Like the human flu, one just has to go through it. While Tigger goes and comes as she pleases.
Or not.
Julie Clark unbelievable things is proof that we're all this flight together.

Dick

Terrorism and Me.

When I moved the airplane I had built to Historic Flabob airport in April of 2007 I realized a need for a routine terrorist patrol there. Since I planned to be there 5 or 6 days a week for the indefinite future it seemed reasonable that I adopt the responsibility. Daily I took my investigative bicycle for a turn around Historic Flabob airport to determine what, if any, damage the terrorists had done over night, although the 9/11 attack was carried out in broad daylight on national television. So I figured checking for terrorists would be done more productively during daylight hours. Each day I found I had successfully resisted any terrorist attacks for another day. Until the day I experienced the incident, I successfully kept the terrorists at bay at Historic Flabob airport. I should note that the carry-over strength of my tours has resulted in no terrorist attacks at Historic Flabob airport to this day. In addition I have been equally successful keeping terrorists at bay in Fullerton. Searching during my daily walk has resulted in a perfect score. In addition it seems that my influence spreads mighty thin. There have been no terrorist attacks in California since I started at Historic Flabob airport. I have also successfully reduced the number of measurable earthquakes in Fullerton... California... and the continental USA during my present tenure. All in all, not bad for a cripple.
Or not.
Keeping the masses in check with terrorist threats is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The gardener is here so it must be Monday.

The gardener is here so it must be Monday. Or Belgium.
Cousin Betty has thoughtfully sent a missive by email but it came through as gibberish. I suspect it is a pic which does this occasionally.
I'm reading a book by Frank Wilcsek, a Nobel Prize winning physicist. I'm finally beginning to understand predictive value of symmetry. This is the second time I've read this one. All I have to do is understand each sentence before blasting on to the next. Sentence by sentence makes or idea by idea.
Poor Budda is not feeling well. He has diarrhea and a runny nose. He doesn't' know which way to face. Poor guy just can't get comfortable. But this too shall pass. I suppose this contributes to some of his odd behavior in the last few days.
Aircraft news: Sonex (which is the plane I built) has built a Sonex powered by a jet engine. It is a hot rod with a prop but will be a MONSTER with the jet engine.
A jet powered Sonex is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I just like Merry Go Rounds.

That's me in the middle of the picture taking the picture. This was taken in 2007 at the Santa Monica Pier. It is of the Merry Go Round just after an extensive (and expensive) restoration. And I just like Merry Go Rounds.
I have nothing more to say today.
Saying nothing points to the theory that we're all on this flight together
Dick

I've finished the book on Amelia Earhart.

I've finished the book on Amelia Earhart and George Putnam (her husband/mentor). I've completely changed my opinion of both of them. I continue to believe I am a better pilot because I'm alive and she isn't. But the complex one was George. Several years older than AE and a driven type A personality, he was willing to allow others to get the credit while he ran masterful publicity campaign. He always had a number of schemes in play.
So I've transitioned to the DVD on Dark Matter, Dark Energy. An excellent and entertaining tutorial. I'm still in the middle of a review of quantum mechanics. I can't see enough of this stuff.
The TV news this morning ran a segment on the sea lions from SF's Pier 39. And how after two decades, they've all left over the last two months. Where to? Who knows? They're gone. And for what reason? It all sounds very conspiratorial. How sad.
There is another whole topic I had planned to write about but I forgot what it is. Oh well.....
Forgetting trivial things is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

I'm deep into the biography of Amelia Earhart.

This is a photo I took several years ago, I happened to be passing the 'blimp port' as the magnificent flying machine was approaching so I stopped to watch. My choice of location resulted in the sun glare but the idea is there.
On another topic: I'm deep into the biography of Amelia Earhart. The more I read the more fascinated I am. She was a strong , independent woman but apparently didn't understand the use of the rudder when taking off in her planes but large and small. She knew what she wanted and had the guts to try. I'm at the point in the book where she is lost looking for Howland Island and can't communicate with the 'ships at sea'. She apparently expressed no interest in the details of operating the radio so I wonder if she had the radio tuned wrong. Noonan would have known but he was in the rear of the Electra and wouldn't have noticed.
Communicate with 'ships at sea' is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick