Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Flying with Friends


Here's a mini-essay I posted as a comment to a post on the facebook:

A couple thoughts on this. Although TV and other "modern" conveniences have had an impact, I am convinced that humans are, and always have been, social creatures. Given the proper circumstances we crave company. We naturally form into groups, and families (of all sorts), and clubs.

One remarkable result of the online "social media" movement is how much it has resulted in people who interact online also searching for opportunities to gather face to face. See the plethora of meetups and tweetups and just plain getting together for a beer.

And pilots are no exception to this. We love getting together for pancakes, or fly-ins, or just to hangar-fly over a cup of coffee.

A couple Saturdays ago I spent the day at an event of a regional soaring club. This was not simply a flying club, but a club made up of other clubs. They had gathered way up north here in NH to spend a week flying together in some unique conditions.

What I saw in them is that the special circumstances of soaring (it's very hard to do alone) gave them the little push they needed to be a vibrant group of flying friends.

There's a lesson to be learned there. To expand and strengthen the nation's flying clubs we must not only emphasize the financial benefits, we must learn how to make them a better way for us to fly with friends. To learn together. To share our passion.

Because bowling with friends is way more fun than bowling alone.

Lucky

Just outside again, looking for a pic to post here. Really couldn't find any dramatic images here at Lookout Point. Just a lot of small-medium branches down. All-in-all we were pretty lucky.

Initial look around

Just out surveying our property. No real damage. Lots of branches down, but not really even very much of that (*). 

Two observations: First, it's weirdly warm out. Like 60F, and the sun us just up, so it's probably gonna go up further. 

Second, I don't think we've yet seen the the bulk of the rain that we're gonna get from this system. The Dollof Dam gauges haven't updated since yesterday aftern
oon, but the Manchester Airport weather station is saying we got only 1.5 inches since the start of the storm. I think there's more rain coming.

(*) I've thought for a long time that the 1-2 big windstorms that we've gotten each year for the past 4-5 years have brought down all the weak branches. I'm surprised that there's anything left to be brought down.

(Originally posted by me on the facebook)

Still here.

Good morning. Still here. 

Power went out here at Lookout Point around 845 last night. I lit a couple candles and crawled into bed for a long winter's nap. 

Wind had dramatically quieted by 1100.  I happened to be awake at 330 when pwr returned. 

From what I've been reading, my two outages, totaling 9 hrs, makes me one of the lucky ones. When it gets light I'll head out and survey the wind damage. #sandy 

(Originally posted by me on the facebook)

Monday, October 29, 2012

Couple more Sandy status updates.

7:30 -- Intellicast.com is forecasting that the wind speeds will peak after 8pm tonight, then fade throughout the night. (the facebook)

8:21 pm -- Maybe just wishful thinking, but the wind seems to be subsiding here at Lookout Point. Gusts further apart, weaker, and shorter (twitter)

Dark and stormy night

Just outside investigating a big thunk on the roof. Branch fell. It's really wild out there. Wind blowing about as hard as I've ever seen it. A little spooky. "It was a dark and stormy night" (the facebook)

Collected status posts during Sandy.


12:30 pm -- Here we go. Power is out here at Lookout Point #sandy #nhec (the facebook)


1:59 pm -- I've now become a refugee at my sister's place in epping nh. #sandy But the power could go her at any moment. (twitter)

2:12 pm -- Well there we go. Five mins after arriving the power is now out at my sister's. #theendofcivilizationasweknowit (twitter)
5:13 pm -- Heard that pwr was back so Ive returned to Lookout Pt. If my days trajectory continues pwr  will now return at my sisters & go back out here (twitter)
6:19 pm -- Totally dark now at Lookout Point. So I can no longer see the effect of the wind, but it's howling louder than ever.  (twitter)

6:31 pm -- Lights flickering ominously here at Lookout Point. This could be it. #sandy (the facebook) (twitter)


Sunday, October 28, 2012

Joss Whedon On Romney

I think he's on to something here.



(Originally shared by me on the facebook.)

Thursday, October 25, 2012

President Obama talks about his childhood with The Donald

On the Tonight Show: the president's explanation about why Donald Trump is so hard on him. Awesome.

 

I found this on talkingpointsmemo.com

Friday, October 12, 2012

Can 3D printing make the world more local?

"3D printing may put global supply chains out of business: report" -- smartplanet.com
3D printing (or “additive manufacturing,” as it’s called in industrial circles) takes offshore manufacturing and brings it back close to the consumer. It has enormous potential to shift the trade balance. Goods will be cheaper to reproduce within the domestic market, versus manufacturing and then shipping them from a distant low-wage country.

I found this story at kurzweilai.net.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Hi, my name is Spot, and I'm a stoner. Hi Spot!

It's a sign of our times.

It seems that it's bad to get your dog stoned.

I remember back in the day, there was a period when it was considered fun to "shotgun" your dog, and then watch the hilarity that followed. But it turns out that marijuana is bad for your dog's metabolism, not unlike, what is it? chocolate, avocado? there's some common food that you're not supposed to feed your dog or he'll die.

So now, with the increasing number of places where medical marijuana is legal, people are leaving pot cookies and brownies lying around the house, and rover is scarfing them up, and getting sick.

So, don't do that.




Monday, October 1, 2012

Dick Will Make You Slap Some Body

Do not watch this. It is crude and rude and totally Not Safe For Work. It's also hilarious.



Originally from Boing Boing.

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