5/11 C-152 N69011 LOU JVY LOU. Steep turns, slow flight, power-off stalls, touch-and-go's, pattern entry. #landings: 13, 2.0 hr.
I had thought about what we have been doing, and if my flight maneuvers were still as klutzy/frustrating as the last couple of times, I was ready to suggest taking a break, letting the "large motor skills" settle in by just flying somewhere heads-up (i.e. finding the farm), and then moving back into the "small motor skills" of slow flight, stalls & recovery next time.
The good news is we didn't have to. Things are starting to kick in. We did enough touch-and-go's at Clark County Airport for the sequence to smooth out so instead of concentrating so hard on WHAT I was supposed to be doing, I was able to be sensitive to HOW I was doing it.
Mike called two of the landings really good. He said the others were passable, I wasn't scaring him or anything, so I take that as a compliment.
Coming back to Bowman Field, when we were high coming up on Six-Mile Island, Mike asked me what we could do about it. I put us into a sideslip, which we've done once before. The difference this time was that, even though I ran it past Mike how it was to be done, I didn't feel uncertain about moving right into it. Great fun. "All you people down there in your cars, eat your hearts out!"
When we got back in to Air CenterOne, Mike tossed out to the others, "Guess who's landing the plane?" That felt good.
Long way to go, still, but I'm glad I didn't have to pull out plan B.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
pilot's logbook
5/10 C-152 N69011. Lou to Lou. Stalls, slowflight, spins, pattern entry, landing. 1.5 hr
I need a lot of practice or something. I've signed up for a number of days in a row, hoping consistency might help. Mike says he has time to do that. He started out today by saying we need to do something to get these sequences and concepts and answers down, if it means trying to do a different style of learning or whatever. That's pretty direct.
Along with rehashing today's maneuvers, my thoughts keep spinning off into teaching & learning.
I trust (with Mike's assurance) that I will learn to fly, and I actually expect that I will learn to do it very well. There's a possibility that I won't, but it's not the most likely. Is it going to take me longer than an 18-year-old kid? Probably.
The experience is making me a heckuva lot better teacher. Part of it is just the awareness that comes of being on the receiving end. Another part is being with a good teacher. Teachers spend entirely too much on their own. How often do we get to soak up another's expertise and technique? Piano lessons and choir are benefitting from this.
Mike's got a name for what he does, "progressive (something)", and he just keeps taking you thru things, talking all the time, showing, explaining, doing the part of that needs to be done from his side of the plane, while expecting that you will take over more and more of it all. (Remember the comparison of taking someone on the interstate to teach them how to stop a car? How else could it be done?)
There's never anything personally negative in any of the interaction. Things are right, or they are not right, or they are noticed or not noticed, but I don't hear irritation or frustration in Mike's voice. His constancy really helps me keep from being blocked by frustration and helps me just refocus or go for the mental reach or whatever it is, because I do not like being inept. Not at all.
Still, today he was pretty direct. ..."You HAVE TO be able to move fast, multitask, keep flying the plane, hold your altitude, get these directions, finish the job." "We just went thru the ground." "Don't touch that!," etc. etc.
I'm noticing:
Mimetic cognition --
procedural knowledge--maneuvers & routines
the everpresent checklists lists (a mimetic version of knowledge encoding)
constant generativity. Mike doesn't seem to get tired of pointing and touching THIS and THIS and THIS as he talks.
Philosophic cognition --
Jeppesen & FAA book, test, emphasis on a complex yet defined set of information that is not to be challenged but mastered. (Inhaled? Drowned in?).
So there are these TWO HUGE NEW sets of patterns going down--the DOING and the heaps of INFORMATION that come into play with each action. It's a real crunch of being between the rock of rote/ritual and the hard place of needing to do fast accurate evaluation and judgment.
For instance, Mike asked me a relatively simple procedural question "How do we set up a stall?" (something that I have read, practiced, thought about, put on flashcards), yet I found myself practially paralyzed and having no response to give, whether verbal or in action. If I were on the receiving end of that type of behavior, I doubt that any judgment I would make as to what it "meant" would be correct. What is going on there?
Probably similar to the concept of two sides of the brain. One side may have the answer, but if the other is overly dominant at the time, it may not have access to that answer. I think that is partially what is going on with me, but it's not L & R hemispheres that are competing. I think it's a tug-of-war betwen mimetic (esp. procedural) cognition vs. the philosophic cognitive level.
Since mythic cognition stands evolutionarily and developmentally between the two, is mythic cognition the go-between? the arbiter?
Can "Top Gun," "Fate is the Hunter," "Wind, Sand and Stars," and Jake Green of Jericho bridge the gap? Mike is usually surprised when I ask him to just show me something. I want him to run the procedure so I can see and feel it smoothly, capably, well done. Imitation is the substance of social patterns of value, and identification/admiration is the glue. Gotta have it--the Right Stuff.
............
Mike spent a year getting his private pilot license, back in high school, but it really all came together for him in his Instrument classes.
I need a lot of practice or something. I've signed up for a number of days in a row, hoping consistency might help. Mike says he has time to do that. He started out today by saying we need to do something to get these sequences and concepts and answers down, if it means trying to do a different style of learning or whatever. That's pretty direct.
Along with rehashing today's maneuvers, my thoughts keep spinning off into teaching & learning.
I trust (with Mike's assurance) that I will learn to fly, and I actually expect that I will learn to do it very well. There's a possibility that I won't, but it's not the most likely. Is it going to take me longer than an 18-year-old kid? Probably.
The experience is making me a heckuva lot better teacher. Part of it is just the awareness that comes of being on the receiving end. Another part is being with a good teacher. Teachers spend entirely too much on their own. How often do we get to soak up another's expertise and technique? Piano lessons and choir are benefitting from this.
Mike's got a name for what he does, "progressive (something)", and he just keeps taking you thru things, talking all the time, showing, explaining, doing the part of that needs to be done from his side of the plane, while expecting that you will take over more and more of it all. (Remember the comparison of taking someone on the interstate to teach them how to stop a car? How else could it be done?)
There's never anything personally negative in any of the interaction. Things are right, or they are not right, or they are noticed or not noticed, but I don't hear irritation or frustration in Mike's voice. His constancy really helps me keep from being blocked by frustration and helps me just refocus or go for the mental reach or whatever it is, because I do not like being inept. Not at all.
Still, today he was pretty direct. ..."You HAVE TO be able to move fast, multitask, keep flying the plane, hold your altitude, get these directions, finish the job." "We just went thru the ground." "Don't touch that!," etc. etc.
I'm noticing:
Mimetic cognition --
procedural knowledge--maneuvers & routines
the everpresent checklists lists (a mimetic version of knowledge encoding)
constant generativity. Mike doesn't seem to get tired of pointing and touching THIS and THIS and THIS as he talks.
Philosophic cognition --
Jeppesen & FAA book, test, emphasis on a complex yet defined set of information that is not to be challenged but mastered. (Inhaled? Drowned in?)
So there are these TWO HUGE NEW sets of patterns going down--the DOING and the heaps of INFORMATION that come into play with each action. It's a real crunch of being between the rock of rote/ritual and the hard place of needing to do fast accurate evaluation and judgment.
For instance, Mike asked me a relatively simple procedural question "How do we set up a stall?" (something that I have read, practiced, thought about, put on flashcards), yet I found myself practially paralyzed and having no response to give, whether verbal or in action. If I were on the receiving end of that type of behavior, I doubt that any judgment I would make as to what it "meant" would be correct. What is going on there?
Probably similar to the concept of two sides of the brain. One side may have the answer, but if the other is overly dominant at the time, it may not have access to that answer. I think that is partially what is going on with me, but it's not L & R hemispheres that are competing. I think it's a tug-of-war betwen mimetic (esp. procedural) cognition vs. the philosophic cognitive level.
Since mythic cognition stands evolutionarily and developmentally between the two, is mythic cognition the go-between? the arbiter?
Can "Top Gun," "Fate is the Hunter," "Wind, Sand and Stars," and Jake Green of Jericho bridge the gap? Mike is usually surprised when I ask him to just show me something. I want him to run the procedure so I can see and feel it smoothly, capably, well done. Imitation is the substance of social patterns of value, and identification/admiration is the glue. Gotta have it--the Right Stuff.
............
Mike spent a year getting his private pilot license, back in high school, but it really all came together for him in his Instrument classes.
Jericho
Jericho is answering war with war with its neighbor town, New Bern. I'm glad I'll get to re-watch the installment without commercials. They hack it up too badly.
One really refreshing aspect of this ongoing entertainment is its ability to consider that the terrorism of today's world is not just some outside force, some "other" people who hate us for our freedoms, or whatever. This show continuously explores the possibility that "we have met the enemy, and he is us" and the reality that the black and white of good and evil are situational conflicts of values, needs and perceptions.
("Johnston Green, right? Last year you came to New Bern and placed fourth in the bass fishing competition. I came in second."--enemy truck driver being held at gunpoint by the former mayor of Jericho.)
The other issue that glares at us all througout this series is our society's saturation with guns and the Old West concept that a gun makes all the difference. It does. But think. Remember when Jake was pinned under the truck and couldn't reach his gun? The power of that scene had us all rooting for him to reach it. But suppose he had? My guess is that he would not have been around to finish the story for Jericho. The gun was out of reach and that changed the equation. He had to find a different course of action, and he did.
There's a deer outside my window. I'm trying to see what she's eating. Dandelions, yes. Prairie Coneflowers, no. I guess I need to chase her away, beautiful as she is. She might be the one who's been sleeping in the new grass right beside my vegetable garden.
"For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?"--Kahlil Gibran
One really refreshing aspect of this ongoing entertainment is its ability to consider that the terrorism of today's world is not just some outside force, some "other" people who hate us for our freedoms, or whatever. This show continuously explores the possibility that "we have met the enemy, and he is us" and the reality that the black and white of good and evil are situational conflicts of values, needs and perceptions.
("Johnston Green, right? Last year you came to New Bern and placed fourth in the bass fishing competition. I came in second."--enemy truck driver being held at gunpoint by the former mayor of Jericho.)
The other issue that glares at us all througout this series is our society's saturation with guns and the Old West concept that a gun makes all the difference. It does. But think. Remember when Jake was pinned under the truck and couldn't reach his gun? The power of that scene had us all rooting for him to reach it. But suppose he had? My guess is that he would not have been around to finish the story for Jericho. The gun was out of reach and that changed the equation. He had to find a different course of action, and he did.
There's a deer outside my window. I'm trying to see what she's eating. Dandelions, yes. Prairie Coneflowers, no. I guess I need to chase her away, beautiful as she is. She might be the one who's been sleeping in the new grass right beside my vegetable garden.
"For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst?"--Kahlil Gibran
pilot's logbook
5/9/07 C152 N69011. Lou to Lou. Stalls, Slowflight, Slips, T/O, Landing 1.4 hr
I talked to Tony during pre-flight. He used to be an engineer--worked there for years, waiting for 5:00 so he could go flying. He asked me if there was anything he could do to make it better for me. Asked me if I was considering this as a second career, says for most people flying is a second, or something done just for the fun of it. Interesting that he said that, since I spent the past day wrestling with the question in a practical way. Kellie called me about Pat B's brother's funeral (a day and a half in advance), but I had a lesson scheduled. I couldn't get hold of Mike to rearrange, and didn't want to leave him hanging, or anybody who counts on the income, so I decided to say no. When I actually saw Mike, he pretty much encouraged me to go ahead and plan to be at the funeral. Long story short, Kellie got someone from Etown to do it, and, you know what? That's ok. That's not my life anymore, and it hasn't been for at least three years, and maybe this is permission to let go. These drag-on parish contacts are not real. I like them when they happen, and they pay well, but there's always this guilt that I'm not doing the real work. I put on the persona, but I really miss being the persona. Why even go there? Someday I'll be too old to fly, and Frank will be retired, and all that stuff will still be there for us. If it's right, maybe we'll find it together.
I had this imaginary conversation with Mike this morning. About how prayer could actually be as exciting/compelling/fulfilling as good flying. I remember that to be true, but God is not on my shoulder connecting me to the universe with music and prayer anymore.
There's something familiar, though, about that gorgeous river and earth below and a tangible sky opening its secrets to me/us through tiny touches of fingertip on 011's controls.
Why do we practice slow flight? precision flying with reduced effectiveness of controls;
hold heading. hold altitude. hold airspeed at 45 knots or less ...
Altitude is primarily enabled with power.
Airspeed is primarily enabled with pitch.
Carburator ice. Top Gun.
Sat in the plane and talked afterwards. Learning to fly safely & well & with precision vs. passing the test. Need answers. Feedback.
Jeppesen Private Pilot Maneuvers.
Really good session. Really good. I lucked out with this instructor.
I talked to Tony during pre-flight. He used to be an engineer--worked there for years, waiting for 5:00 so he could go flying. He asked me if there was anything he could do to make it better for me. Asked me if I was considering this as a second career, says for most people flying is a second, or something done just for the fun of it. Interesting that he said that, since I spent the past day wrestling with the question in a practical way. Kellie called me about Pat B's brother's funeral (a day and a half in advance), but I had a lesson scheduled. I couldn't get hold of Mike to rearrange, and didn't want to leave him hanging, or anybody who counts on the income, so I decided to say no. When I actually saw Mike, he pretty much encouraged me to go ahead and plan to be at the funeral. Long story short, Kellie got someone from Etown to do it, and, you know what? That's ok. That's not my life anymore, and it hasn't been for at least three years, and maybe this is permission to let go. These drag-on parish contacts are not real. I like them when they happen, and they pay well, but there's always this guilt that I'm not doing the real work. I put on the persona, but I really miss being the persona. Why even go there? Someday I'll be too old to fly, and Frank will be retired, and all that stuff will still be there for us. If it's right, maybe we'll find it together.
I had this imaginary conversation with Mike this morning. About how prayer could actually be as exciting/compelling/fulfilling as good flying. I remember that to be true, but God is not on my shoulder connecting me to the universe with music and prayer anymore.
There's something familiar, though, about that gorgeous river and earth below and a tangible sky opening its secrets to me/us through tiny touches of fingertip on 011's controls.
Why do we practice slow flight? precision flying with reduced effectiveness of controls;
hold heading. hold altitude. hold airspeed at 45 knots or less ...
Altitude is primarily enabled with power.
Airspeed is primarily enabled with pitch.
Carburator ice. Top Gun.
Sat in the plane and talked afterwards. Learning to fly safely & well & with precision vs. passing the test. Need answers. Feedback.
Jeppesen Private Pilot Maneuvers.
Really good session. Really good. I lucked out with this instructor.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Alex in Alaska
Amy and I have a friend who flies cargo and hunters and who-knows-what around Alaska. That's Alex on the left in the first picture. I asked him about the dog in the picture and he said:
"The dog in the pictures is my Border Collie 'Whitney' who has been on quite a few flights, and has logged probably over 100 hours."
pilot's logbook
5/7
Touch & Go’s, steep turns, pattern entry 1.5 hr
I apologized to Mike for trying to crack a joke about bouncing the airplane to the owners. He agreed it wasn't the best idea. On the good side, he said, no, I didn’t come in on the front wheel the other day.
We did touch and go at Bowman Field. I haven’t got it yet. I understand the pattern, what we’re supposed to do, but I’m not judging distances and I feel like I'm in somebody else's body, or using somebody else's brain. Maybe no brain. Airspeed! Can you see how high we are? Airspeed. Too far out. Need to stay parallel, can't be angling out. What's wrong with this picture? Nose down. Airspeed. Nose down. Nose down. Airspeed. Airspeed!
After that we went out and did some 360ยบ steep turns. My angles and holding-altitude stink.
Coming back, Mike just said “OK, take us back to Bowman,” and I turned us around in the right direction, (small successes, what?) but I wasn’t sure what island we were over. Mike asks me does it look like six miles from Louisville? and I'm thinking Beats me, what does six miles look like? Turns out it was twelve-mile island--the long skinny one. I remember what downtown Louisville looked like from there, so maybe I can use that snapshot to say "10 miles away" (not twelve, the river curves).
MIke says doing this is like wanting to teach someone how to stop a car, but taking them onto the interstate to practice it. We're moving at 100 mph, and the plane and the setup are different every time around, so you just have to keep doing it until it clicks. He asked me if I’d been anywhere with Barry, the more time in a plane the better, and also said a flight simulator is helpful, don't I have one?
I have an old one on the Amiga, which isn’t running but has joysticks, and I have one on this macbook, but no joystick or input device and I really need to swap the hard drive out to use it anyway. Theresa has a yoke attachment. I’m going to stop by and pick it up, and maybe it will work with one of my machines.
----------
Nope. It looks great, but it connects via gameport, and we need USB, and there don't seem to be adapters that will work.
----------
Well, this is a depressing post, but it wasn't exactly a depressing lesson. Humbling. Not depressing. There were good things.
??????
It was a beautiful day, even if cloudy. I LIKE where we go and what we do. I can't wait to be competent to handle the plane and to be sightseeing and exploring. I want to explore the limits of the movement of flying, and I want to explore that whole world that you connect to from there. I like it. (Carmel told me this morning that a friend of hers says flying is like a drug addiction. It's all you want to do, nothing else matters, and then you hit a plateau, be ready for it.)
Back to good things:
I notice that I used to feel somewhat on the verge of motion sickness a lot of the time. That seems to be gone. That whole uneasy feeling of height, of being somewhere you don't belong, is gone, too.
Hey, I did check the METAR this morning and correctly predict what runway they were going to have us use. There was probably a small handful of little things that I was smoother at than last time. Til Wednesday.
I'm going to try again to digest that weather chapter.
Touch & Go’s, steep turns, pattern entry 1.5 hr
I apologized to Mike for trying to crack a joke about bouncing the airplane to the owners. He agreed it wasn't the best idea. On the good side, he said, no, I didn’t come in on the front wheel the other day.
We did touch and go at Bowman Field. I haven’t got it yet. I understand the pattern, what we’re supposed to do, but I’m not judging distances and I feel like I'm in somebody else's body, or using somebody else's brain. Maybe no brain. Airspeed! Can you see how high we are? Airspeed. Too far out. Need to stay parallel, can't be angling out. What's wrong with this picture? Nose down. Airspeed. Nose down. Nose down. Airspeed. Airspeed!
After that we went out and did some 360ยบ steep turns. My angles and holding-altitude stink.
Coming back, Mike just said “OK, take us back to Bowman,” and I turned us around in the right direction, (small successes, what?) but I wasn’t sure what island we were over. Mike asks me does it look like six miles from Louisville? and I'm thinking Beats me, what does six miles look like? Turns out it was twelve-mile island--the long skinny one. I remember what downtown Louisville looked like from there, so maybe I can use that snapshot to say "10 miles away" (not twelve, the river curves).
MIke says doing this is like wanting to teach someone how to stop a car, but taking them onto the interstate to practice it. We're moving at 100 mph, and the plane and the setup are different every time around, so you just have to keep doing it until it clicks. He asked me if I’d been anywhere with Barry, the more time in a plane the better, and also said a flight simulator is helpful, don't I have one?
I have an old one on the Amiga, which isn’t running but has joysticks, and I have one on this macbook, but no joystick or input device and I really need to swap the hard drive out to use it anyway. Theresa has a yoke attachment. I’m going to stop by and pick it up, and maybe it will work with one of my machines.
----------
Nope. It looks great, but it connects via gameport, and we need USB, and there don't seem to be adapters that will work.
----------
Well, this is a depressing post, but it wasn't exactly a depressing lesson. Humbling. Not depressing. There were good things.
??????
It was a beautiful day, even if cloudy. I LIKE where we go and what we do. I can't wait to be competent to handle the plane and to be sightseeing and exploring. I want to explore the limits of the movement of flying, and I want to explore that whole world that you connect to from there. I like it. (Carmel told me this morning that a friend of hers says flying is like a drug addiction. It's all you want to do, nothing else matters, and then you hit a plateau, be ready for it.)
Back to good things:
I notice that I used to feel somewhat on the verge of motion sickness a lot of the time. That seems to be gone. That whole uneasy feeling of height, of being somewhere you don't belong, is gone, too.
Hey, I did check the METAR this morning and correctly predict what runway they were going to have us use. There was probably a small handful of little things that I was smoother at than last time. Til Wednesday.
I'm going to try again to digest that weather chapter.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Saturday, May 05, 2007
pilot's logbook
Touch & Go's .9hr
I had an appointment this morning to get my eyes checked (annual) and got contacts instead of updating my glasses. I had a heck of a time putting them in (which is why I haven't been wearing them all these years), but couldn't believe how they absolutely disappear once you get them in. Can't feel them at all, just see distance. I can't get bifocal contacts (something to do with astigmatism in one eye) so the rub is that when I'm wearing them, I can see well at a distance (and so much better looking around) but to read a sheet of paper in my hand or music on the piano or the computer screen, I have to wear reading glasses. We'll see how this goes. I was hoping it might fix my problem with seeing the music at HNB, but it doesn't look as if it will. I might just wear them for flying. I do like them a lot for being outside.
Low ceiling. Would have cancelled, but it's ok for touch-and-go, which is fine with me. First we talked a little about weather, then about landing pattern airspeeds and such.
Then I asked how anyone could ever afford to rent a plane for a trip. Turns out you don't pay by the hour, but by the time flown--for instance, you would likely have the plane for 7 days, but you only pay for the hours it flies. Alternatively, there are some places (for instance, someone in Lexington) where you rent for a flat fee and your gas. So it is possible.
Today's touch & go:
Rotate at 50kt, climb at 67kt to 800 ft, turn (shallow bank) crosswind to continue. Continue at 67kt to pattern altitude (1300 ft) after downwind turn. When you reach altitude, bring the nose down first, then adjust the power back (something like 2200 rpm).
Abeam of the runway (85kt max) add carb heat, 10ยบ flaps, nose down, adjust throttle back. Go for 500 fpm descent at 60 knots. Turn base (shallow bank, keep descending), add 10ยบ flaps, nose down, throttle back. Airspeed 60kn. Turn final, line up with the center of the runway, add 10ยบ flaps, nose down, power back, 60kn, adjust glide path according to the lights, throttle back to idle after passing trees.
At one wingtip length above ground, level out. At a few inches above ground (ha!) bring the nose up, hold it there, and let the plane settle itself down. Bouncing not preferable.
To go round again, carb heat in, full throttle.
I just explained all this to Frank, and didn't have to stop and think at all. Mike says it will be different when we're not dodging Derby Day traffic and can just do it over and over.
The blimp was right there, and planes coming and going from Churchill Downs to pick up their signs (advertising).
There was a parking lot FULL of small (well, I guess that's relative) jets. We wondered if piloting one of them for the rich and famous folks would be neat or if it would be like being a bus driver where you spend a lot of time cleaning up after the partiers have gone. Mike says he'd do it anyway, no hesitation there.
What else? When you follow a jet in, you come in higher and land past the place where he landed so that you don't hit his wake.
When I got out of the plane, I remembered that I was wearing contacts, which I had completely forgotten, so that seems to have checked out ok.
I didn't space out on the radio this time, not that I did much radio, either.
Very enjoyable session.
Questions for next time:
How much "nose-up" are we supposed to have at touchdown? Have I been way under? Or just a little? Did I land on the front wheel?
Why was I wobbling on final approach? It happened most of the time. Mike says it's weird. He and I may not be seeing "center of the runway" as the same position, other than that I can't think of anything.
(Unrelated to touch and go) I want to see (feel) if it flies straight with one wing raised and rudder to hold on course (as in clearing before manuevering). I think I need to revisit rudder in general.
I had an appointment this morning to get my eyes checked (annual) and got contacts instead of updating my glasses. I had a heck of a time putting them in (which is why I haven't been wearing them all these years), but couldn't believe how they absolutely disappear once you get them in. Can't feel them at all, just see distance. I can't get bifocal contacts (something to do with astigmatism in one eye) so the rub is that when I'm wearing them, I can see well at a distance (and so much better looking around) but to read a sheet of paper in my hand or music on the piano or the computer screen, I have to wear reading glasses. We'll see how this goes. I was hoping it might fix my problem with seeing the music at HNB, but it doesn't look as if it will. I might just wear them for flying. I do like them a lot for being outside.
Low ceiling. Would have cancelled, but it's ok for touch-and-go, which is fine with me. First we talked a little about weather, then about landing pattern airspeeds and such.
Then I asked how anyone could ever afford to rent a plane for a trip. Turns out you don't pay by the hour, but by the time flown--for instance, you would likely have the plane for 7 days, but you only pay for the hours it flies. Alternatively, there are some places (for instance, someone in Lexington) where you rent for a flat fee and your gas. So it is possible.
Today's touch & go:
Rotate at 50kt, climb at 67kt to 800 ft, turn (shallow bank) crosswind to continue. Continue at 67kt to pattern altitude (1300 ft) after downwind turn. When you reach altitude, bring the nose down first, then adjust the power back (something like 2200 rpm).
Abeam of the runway (85kt max) add carb heat, 10ยบ flaps, nose down, adjust throttle back. Go for 500 fpm descent at 60 knots. Turn base (shallow bank, keep descending), add 10ยบ flaps, nose down, throttle back. Airspeed 60kn. Turn final, line up with the center of the runway, add 10ยบ flaps, nose down, power back, 60kn, adjust glide path according to the lights, throttle back to idle after passing trees.
At one wingtip length above ground, level out. At a few inches above ground (ha!) bring the nose up, hold it there, and let the plane settle itself down. Bouncing not preferable.
To go round again, carb heat in, full throttle.
I just explained all this to Frank, and didn't have to stop and think at all. Mike says it will be different when we're not dodging Derby Day traffic and can just do it over and over.
The blimp was right there, and planes coming and going from Churchill Downs to pick up their signs (advertising).
There was a parking lot FULL of small (well, I guess that's relative) jets. We wondered if piloting one of them for the rich and famous folks would be neat or if it would be like being a bus driver where you spend a lot of time cleaning up after the partiers have gone. Mike says he'd do it anyway, no hesitation there.
What else? When you follow a jet in, you come in higher and land past the place where he landed so that you don't hit his wake.
When I got out of the plane, I remembered that I was wearing contacts, which I had completely forgotten, so that seems to have checked out ok.
I didn't space out on the radio this time, not that I did much radio, either.
Very enjoyable session.
Questions for next time:
How much "nose-up" are we supposed to have at touchdown? Have I been way under? Or just a little? Did I land on the front wheel?
Why was I wobbling on final approach? It happened most of the time. Mike says it's weird. He and I may not be seeing "center of the runway" as the same position, other than that I can't think of anything.
(Unrelated to touch and go) I want to see (feel) if it flies straight with one wing raised and rudder to hold on course (as in clearing before manuevering). I think I need to revisit rudder in general.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
pilot's logbook
Taxiing, Steep turns, stalls, spin awareness, recovery, touch-and-go 1.7 hr
Clark County airport
Clark County airport
Log 5-31
Runway 6 touch & go. Today Mike did say I was flying a “pretty pattern” and it felt like it. I’m starting to know where I am and what I’m doing. It’s the sense of knowing where I am that makes the difference. I kept on top of altitude and airspeed & direction most of the time. One of the spots I used to miss was that first turn crosswind off the runway. I’d let the airspeed drop way too much without noticing.
I haven’t got that sense for the final approach and landing, yet. We keep talking about it. How high is high? How low is too low over the trees? Airspeed needs to be low coming in. Nose down for the descent, but then, don’t run us into the concrete. Level happens when????? When the airplane tries to drop itself down, (it does something different) that’s when you have to hold the nose up, but gradually (or is that when you bring it level?).
Flying again tomorrow morning.
Runway 6 touch & go. Today Mike did say I was flying a “pretty pattern” and it felt like it. I’m starting to know where I am and what I’m doing. It’s the sense of knowing where I am that makes the difference. I kept on top of altitude and airspeed & direction most of the time. One of the spots I used to miss was that first turn crosswind off the runway. I’d let the airspeed drop way too much without noticing.
I haven’t got that sense for the final approach and landing, yet. We keep talking about it. How high is high? How low is too low over the trees? Airspeed needs to be low coming in. Nose down for the descent, but then, don’t run us into the concrete. Level happens when????? When the airplane tries to drop itself down, (it does something different) that’s when you have to hold the nose up, but gradually (or is that when you bring it level?).
Flying again tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
pilot's logbook
Taxiing, T/O, climbs, Vx, Vy, Stalls, Spin Awareness, Recovery, Landing
1.4 hr
Felt good today. A good portion of the time I just did what I wanted/needed to do, without all the brain interference. (Actually, there's still plenty that I'm leaving out, especially traffic awareness, tower communication, etc., but as far as the plane goes, I was at least connected to it.) Another lesson tomorrow morning. That will be three days in a row, which seems to help.
I asked about the throttle, and I checked it out. When it's on the ground, if you pull it all the way back, it might lope a little and you'd want to push it in a bit. In the air, all the way back is all the way back. The propeller still turns because of wind.
Brakes. Next time there's nobody around I'm going to play with the brakes some more.
I cut in on somebody on the radio.
Takeoff. We talked thru it before hand. Get clearance, full power, rotate at 50kn, using right rudder. Climb at 67kn (Vy). At about 800 ft, turn to N. Climb to 1700 until we cross the road (Indiana side of the river) 44? Then climb to 3000 or whatever.
Mike didn't touch anything on takeoff today.
Cruise rpm = 2200.
climb at full throttle.
Stall (simulated stall on landing): Flaps down. Pull the throttle ALL the way back. Hold the nose up. Pull hard to get it to stall.
As soon as the plane bucks, go full throttle, flaps up one notch, nose down to level. Check airspeed rise (needle going down). When it is, add another notch flaps, then check again. Last notch flaps.
Spin awareness. OK.
Turn around a point. Much better today. 2500 ft, "Wingtip length." I was able to keep an eye on altitude & airspeed while doing it. AND I didn't get queasy. At all.
Landing. It's coming along.
Mike says we'll do some touch and go at Clark County. After solo, I will go out to practice area and just practice (no steep turns), and find my way back. Then he and I will go together to different airports, and then I'll go there myself. Lexington, Bowling Green.
Bought a checksheet for the C152.
1.4 hr
Felt good today. A good portion of the time I just did what I wanted/needed to do, without all the brain interference. (Actually, there's still plenty that I'm leaving out, especially traffic awareness, tower communication, etc., but as far as the plane goes, I was at least connected to it.) Another lesson tomorrow morning. That will be three days in a row, which seems to help.
I asked about the throttle, and I checked it out. When it's on the ground, if you pull it all the way back, it might lope a little and you'd want to push it in a bit. In the air, all the way back is all the way back. The propeller still turns because of wind.
Brakes. Next time there's nobody around I'm going to play with the brakes some more.
I cut in on somebody on the radio.
Takeoff. We talked thru it before hand. Get clearance, full power, rotate at 50kn, using right rudder. Climb at 67kn (Vy). At about 800 ft, turn to N. Climb to 1700 until we cross the road (Indiana side of the river) 44? Then climb to 3000 or whatever.
Mike didn't touch anything on takeoff today.
Cruise rpm = 2200.
climb at full throttle.
Stall (simulated stall on landing): Flaps down. Pull the throttle ALL the way back. Hold the nose up. Pull hard to get it to stall.
As soon as the plane bucks, go full throttle, flaps up one notch, nose down to level. Check airspeed rise (needle going down). When it is, add another notch flaps, then check again. Last notch flaps.
Spin awareness. OK.
Turn around a point. Much better today. 2500 ft, "Wingtip length." I was able to keep an eye on altitude & airspeed while doing it. AND I didn't get queasy. At all.
Landing. It's coming along.
Mike says we'll do some touch and go at Clark County. After solo, I will go out to practice area and just practice (no steep turns), and find my way back. Then he and I will go together to different airports, and then I'll go there myself. Lexington, Bowling Green.
Bought a checksheet for the C152.
Monday, April 30, 2007
pilot's logbook
Taxiing, T/O, 360ยบ turns, stalls, spin awareness, turn around point. 1.5 hr.
Turn around a point. 1500 AGL
bank + bank -
fastest slowest
*
no bank

Enter with tailwind from here. The steepest turn will be first.
======================================
Rudder?
At lower airspeed and high torque, such as takeoff, right rudder is needed to counteract propellor.
On takeoff, right rudder is needed.
V(r) (rotation) = 50
V(x) (best angle)= 55
V(y) (best rate) = 67
==================
Angle of attack
Angle of incidence
Relative wind
=====================
Power off stall
1. Power off
2. Nose level / hold altitude
3. Full flaps
4. Ailerons neutral / hold heading
5. Coordinate rudder
6. Buffet / recover
Stall recovery:
feel buffeting, horn goes off
1. full power, take off 10ยบ flaps, nose level.
2. verify airspeed increase.
3. 10ยบ (next notch) flaps.
4. verify airspeed.
=====================
LH Spin
Neutralize ailerons
full right (opposite) rudder
gradually pull up
gradually bring up power
========================
No flaps on takeoff.
Spin messes up the heading indicator. Reset.
Keeping traffic in sight. Have to.
Ignition MAKE SURE IT IS ACTUALLY OFF!!!!!!!! LOOK!
Questions for next time:
Airport map & runway markings not magnetic north but corrected (true) north? How are the heading indicator and compass set?
At some point, Mike was "suggesting," "Maggie, fly the plane!" When was that? Takeoff?
Talk thru takeoff.
Clearance. (no flaps). Full power. Right rudder, ailerons into crosswind as needed. Rotate at 50 kn. V(y) is 67. If taking off 240, at some point hang a right toward the north. Stay below 1200? 1700? until we cross the road. What road? Then climb to whatever.
[Ken R. in Holy Name Band is a pilot. He says he flew for about 12 years. That'll give us something to talk about.]
Turn around a point. 1500 AGL
bank + bank -
fastest slowest
*
no bank

Enter with tailwind from here. The steepest turn will be first.
======================================
Rudder?
At lower airspeed and high torque, such as takeoff, right rudder is needed to counteract propellor.
On takeoff, right rudder is needed.
V(r) (rotation) = 50
V(x) (best angle)= 55
V(y) (best rate) = 67
==================
Angle of attack
Angle of incidence
Relative wind
=====================
Power off stall
1. Power off
2. Nose level / hold altitude
3. Full flaps
4. Ailerons neutral / hold heading
5. Coordinate rudder
6. Buffet / recover
Stall recovery:
feel buffeting, horn goes off
1. full power, take off 10ยบ flaps, nose level.
2. verify airspeed increase.
3. 10ยบ (next notch) flaps.
4. verify airspeed.
=====================
LH Spin
Neutralize ailerons
full right (opposite) rudder
gradually pull up
gradually bring up power
========================
No flaps on takeoff.
Spin messes up the heading indicator. Reset.
Keeping traffic in sight. Have to.
Ignition MAKE SURE IT IS ACTUALLY OFF!!!!!!!! LOOK!
Questions for next time:
Airport map & runway markings not magnetic north but corrected (true) north? How are the heading indicator and compass set?
At some point, Mike was "suggesting," "Maggie, fly the plane!" When was that? Takeoff?
Talk thru takeoff.
Clearance. (no flaps). Full power. Right rudder, ailerons into crosswind as needed. Rotate at 50 kn. V(y) is 67. If taking off 240, at some point hang a right toward the north. Stay below 1200? 1700? until we cross the road. What road? Then climb to whatever.
[Ken R. in Holy Name Band is a pilot. He says he flew for about 12 years. That'll give us something to talk about.]
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Macbook
Yet another surprising use for the macbook. Already it has become my audio recorder for choir: just open it up, run Sound Studio and press record. The recording can last for several hours, so I can set it up well before mass and catch the whole thing. No more waiting until the last moment to start and then forgetting to do it, no more transferring from minidisk to computer. The quality of the built-in mic is plenty good enough for my needs, which is to review what we're doing in choir.
Now it's a scanner, too. Not perfect, as you can see, but it will work in a pinch. I'll have to do a little processing, but not too much. Sharon would like an easier arrangement of this song, Your Only Son. I've got what I need to make it.
Friday, April 27, 2007
pilot's logbook
I'm reading Saint Exupery (from Alex). That man positively floods you with his passion and love for flying and life. What could be better?
No flying here today. Rain. Low ceiling. I signed up with Mike for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe I can get up to speed on some of the basics if I can just manage to work on it regularly. Tonight I'm reading and re-teaching myself Centigrade to Fahrenheit conversion and 360-degree compass headings and such. And signing up a few more piano students to help pay for this adventure.
I've certainly never felt so supported and encouraged as I do now. I've been dumbfounded at the people who have just come out from nowhere to make sure that all goes well. Everybody should feel like this!
No flying here today. Rain. Low ceiling. I signed up with Mike for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Maybe I can get up to speed on some of the basics if I can just manage to work on it regularly. Tonight I'm reading and re-teaching myself Centigrade to Fahrenheit conversion and 360-degree compass headings and such. And signing up a few more piano students to help pay for this adventure.
I've certainly never felt so supported and encouraged as I do now. I've been dumbfounded at the people who have just come out from nowhere to make sure that all goes well. Everybody should feel like this!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
3 packages in the mail
I received a marvelous package from Alex R. this morning. He sent books and photos. The books are "The Proficient Pilot," by Barry Schiff, "Fate is the Hunter," by Ernest K. Gann, "Rod Machado's Plane Talk," and "Wind, Sand and Stars," by Antione de Saint Exupery. As I wrote back to Alex, I've been grinning ear-to-ear ever since I opened the box. I headed off to work with SaintExupery in my day planner, and I admit to reading it it church.
Alex's photos are his own--flying a B-17, a P-51 Mustang, and most of all his regular job--flying the C-46 in Alaska. I've got them playing on my iMac right now.
My second box was my $25 copy of the Jeppesen "Private Pilot Manual." Mike recommends it, and I can give Barry's back to him. I can see why they like it. I actually feel as if I understand the mechanical sections, so it's got to be good.
The third package was music for all the beginning piano students I'm signing up. Funny thing, all the students I inherited from Amy have been girls. These new kids are all boys. I think I'll schedule summer lessons kindof like they do the flying lessons. It might be a better way to handle all the unpredictability of summer so I won't end up tied down for hours when people don't show up. I'm applying some of the other non-flying things I picked up from Mike and am amazed at how well it works. I think I was in a rut and I'm waking up from it.
If Mike hadn't been wearing his salesman hat when I wandered into Air Center One looking for ground school, I wonder where I would be now? Maybe just somewhere else, but likely I would have let the whole flying thing fizzle out instead of jumping (falling) in.
I'm behind in my notes. Hopefully I'll get last lesson jotted down before I go tomorrow. Hopefuly the weather and karma will cooperate. Hopefully tomorrow is the day that I discover some of my venerable synapses and neurons have started cross-wiring themselves for their new duties.
Alex's photos are his own--flying a B-17, a P-51 Mustang, and most of all his regular job--flying the C-46 in Alaska. I've got them playing on my iMac right now.
My second box was my $25 copy of the Jeppesen "Private Pilot Manual." Mike recommends it, and I can give Barry's back to him. I can see why they like it. I actually feel as if I understand the mechanical sections, so it's got to be good.
The third package was music for all the beginning piano students I'm signing up. Funny thing, all the students I inherited from Amy have been girls. These new kids are all boys. I think I'll schedule summer lessons kindof like they do the flying lessons. It might be a better way to handle all the unpredictability of summer so I won't end up tied down for hours when people don't show up. I'm applying some of the other non-flying things I picked up from Mike and am amazed at how well it works. I think I was in a rut and I'm waking up from it.
If Mike hadn't been wearing his salesman hat when I wandered into Air Center One looking for ground school, I wonder where I would be now? Maybe just somewhere else, but likely I would have let the whole flying thing fizzle out instead of jumping (falling) in.
I'm behind in my notes. Hopefully I'll get last lesson jotted down before I go tomorrow. Hopefuly the weather and karma will cooperate. Hopefully tomorrow is the day that I discover some of my venerable synapses and neurons have started cross-wiring themselves for their new duties.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
pilot's logbook
XW T/O, Landings, steep turns. Turns around a point. Wind correction.
(I'm making these notes way too late. It's actually Thursday night the 26th. Gotta do better, maybe before I go anywhere else after the lesson.)
* I made sure my hair was our of the way of the headset, and that made a big difference.
* Better control of the plane today. At least one of the 360 degree turns was right on. There wasn't a clear horizon line, so I watched the inside controls a more, but I'm looking forward to a clear day.
* It does help that I figured out that to hold a particular airspeed you nose down to make the needle go down and pull up to make the needle go up (on the right hand side of the dial where I am anyway). Along with that, Mike says the actual airspeed doesn't matter that much as long as it's within a range. (pretty much in the green)(?)
* Joy! I suddenly understood how easy it can be to keep track of the wind direction by looking at the numbers on the heading indicator. If the wind is from 180 deg, you just see how 180 relates to the graphic of the airplane. (Mike's scratching his head here. Actually, he doesn't give much away in the way of reactions. Maybe being a CFI teaches you to be really laid back.)
* When we were talking about avoiding other traffic, Mike told me about his friend Chris (who I actually met when I was at Clark Co. Airport with Barry last week.) He complimented Chris, saying he was an excellent pilot. I think I asked him in what way, and Mike said Chris was the kind of person who really knows everthing there is to know about piloting, and if you ask him a question he doesn't know the answer to, he'll dig until he finds it.
* Mike says he (Mike) is different. He's ok with saying "I don't know," he'd rather be flying the planes. I like that.
* Thank goodness I hadn't eaten breakfast. We were considering setting down at Clark County. Annoying.
* Insight after the fact: that cockpit is really small. It's way too easy to be in somebody else's space and not realize it.
Like the picture of our plane? Google has everything.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Alex
Know what I'm doing right now? I went to Google images and dragged every image of an altimeter I could find over to a word processor page, and spread them all out so that I can practice reading the damn thing. Maybe even just finding it.
Ah, give it another week. <grin>
Ah, give it another week. <grin>
Saturday, April 21, 2007
pilot's logbook
AM: Barry sent me a volunteer opportunity. Go help out at the Army Aviation Heritage Foundation booth for Day-Before-Thunder-Over-Louisville. I met Carol & Mike Brady, Bonnie, Annette (works at Air National Guard), Laura (from Ohio), Lee (pilots the big green plane that they all came in), J___, piloted the Huey I rode in, Leia (works for nursing homes, Jim Shaeffer (part owner of planes and/or other at Air Center One), and a lot of other people whose names have already slipped out of my head.
We had a great spot to watch the air show (probably a complete rehearsal for Thunder). F-16, A-10 Warthog/Thunderbird?, P-38? Thunderbird?, Navy Seals. The AAHF had Hueys, Cobras and Apaches. Riding in the Huey was amazingly smooth.
Lesson with Mike:
Taxiing, climbs, descents, steep turns, stalls, slow flight, landing.
When I came in, Mike was upstairs with a student, and Dane asked me whether I wanted to go ahead and preflight the C152. OK. I had plenty of time to do it, because Dane forgot to tell Mike that I was there, and he was waiting inside for me. oops.
I'm glad it worked out that way. I felt like I knew what I was doing for the most part, and the things I didn't know were:
Fuel strainer (pull the white gizmo beside the oil checker, while reaching underneath to check the gas that comes out.)
Carborator air filter (down under the nose, check it for debris)
Avionics cooling fan (still don't know about that one)
Avionics off. Switch (down or up? It's the silver toggle switch that's not marked)
So, that's one section of this stuff that I feel confident about. It's not this big confusing list anymore.
Flying was more difficult than it should have been. I wasn't "multitasking" well at all. Half the time the flight instruments seem like they work backwards of what I expect (direction-wise). And while I don't have any problem with nose up=pull back, nosedown=push forward, adding one more step, ie. "hold airspeed at 70 knots" means I'm watching the airspeed indicator and forgetting how this chain of thought works to keep it correct. (Figuring this out, to bring the needle down, take the nose down. This only works on the right side of the dial, but if I get the moves there, I'll have it.). Now, if I could just do the same for the altimeter. It doesn't speak to me yet. Maybe some altimeter flash cards. If it works to teach 6-year-olds how to tell time, it might work for me.
I kept losing altitude on my turns, and coming out of them late. Think about how far 100 feet is from the ground, and then think how easily you lose that much in the air. Mind-boggling. I hadn't thought of that until Mike mentioned it.
At one point, Mike asked me whether I was scared of what might happen so he showed me a little more what the plane will or won't do. I don't think I'm scared. I just don't feel it yet, and I'm used to doing things by feel. Also being good at whatever I do. Talk about being out of your comfort zone!
Even though I was using Barry's headset, I was still having problems hearing thru it. We ended up ditching the headsets and just shouting. I'm going to check prices on the David Clark headsets and the AvComm200.
I asked about when you decide to use the throttle to make a difference in altitude, and when you use pitch. Ans: big changes (more than a couple of hundred feet) probably raise or lower the RPM. We did a sideslip. That's cool.
Looking back at this, it almost looks like it wasn't a good lesson. But actually, it was. Even though it took me most of the evening to get in the groove at all, I felt a lot less uptight. (I give Mike a lot of credit --he handles that well.) I scheduled three lessons next week. Mon Wed & Fri, all in the morning. Maybe that will be enough to get us over this particular hump. After that, it will just be fun.
Frank and I talked about all this. He was being really convincing that he not only doesn't mind me doing all this, but really, really, wants me to do it and do it well.
We had a great spot to watch the air show (probably a complete rehearsal for Thunder). F-16, A-10 Warthog/Thunderbird?, P-38? Thunderbird?, Navy Seals. The AAHF had Hueys, Cobras and Apaches. Riding in the Huey was amazingly smooth.
Lesson with Mike:
Taxiing, climbs, descents, steep turns, stalls, slow flight, landing.
When I came in, Mike was upstairs with a student, and Dane asked me whether I wanted to go ahead and preflight the C152. OK. I had plenty of time to do it, because Dane forgot to tell Mike that I was there, and he was waiting inside for me. oops.
I'm glad it worked out that way. I felt like I knew what I was doing for the most part, and the things I didn't know were:
Fuel strainer (pull the white gizmo beside the oil checker, while reaching underneath to check the gas that comes out.)
Carborator air filter (down under the nose, check it for debris)
Avionics cooling fan (still don't know about that one)
Avionics off. Switch (down or up? It's the silver toggle switch that's not marked)
So, that's one section of this stuff that I feel confident about. It's not this big confusing list anymore.
Flying was more difficult than it should have been. I wasn't "multitasking" well at all. Half the time the flight instruments seem like they work backwards of what I expect (direction-wise). And while I don't have any problem with nose up=pull back, nosedown=push forward, adding one more step, ie. "hold airspeed at 70 knots" means I'm watching the airspeed indicator and forgetting how this chain of thought works to keep it correct. (Figuring this out, to bring the needle down, take the nose down. This only works on the right side of the dial, but if I get the moves there, I'll have it.
I kept losing altitude on my turns, and coming out of them late. Think about how far 100 feet is from the ground, and then think how easily you lose that much in the air. Mind-boggling. I hadn't thought of that until Mike mentioned it.
At one point, Mike asked me whether I was scared of what might happen so he showed me a little more what the plane will or won't do. I don't think I'm scared. I just don't feel it yet, and I'm used to doing things by feel. Also being good at whatever I do. Talk about being out of your comfort zone!
Even though I was using Barry's headset, I was still having problems hearing thru it. We ended up ditching the headsets and just shouting. I'm going to check prices on the David Clark headsets and the AvComm200.
I asked about when you decide to use the throttle to make a difference in altitude, and when you use pitch. Ans: big changes (more than a couple of hundred feet) probably raise or lower the RPM. We did a sideslip. That's cool.
Looking back at this, it almost looks like it wasn't a good lesson. But actually, it was. Even though it took me most of the evening to get in the groove at all, I felt a lot less uptight. (I give Mike a lot of credit --he handles that well.) I scheduled three lessons next week. Mon Wed & Fri, all in the morning. Maybe that will be enough to get us over this particular hump. After that, it will just be fun.
Frank and I talked about all this. He was being really convincing that he not only doesn't mind me doing all this, but really, really, wants me to do it and do it well.
Monday, April 16, 2007
pilot's logbook
I spent this morning with Carmel and her friend, Steve, who is a tree farmer in Henry County. Carmel wants to know more about managing the timber at the farm. Sounds good to me.
Flying lesson # 4.
Taxiing, climbs, descents, XW, T/O, landing, steep turns, wind correction, pilotage.
First we talked about landing. Mike gave me the V airspeed info for our C152. I went out to do the exterior check. There actually was something in the gas--it looked like worms in the tester. Mike says oil. I also had a hard time seeing the gas level in the wing tanks, and that's because there wasn't much in there.
"Bowman Ground, Cessna 69011 at Air Central One information Victor to depart runway 32. " Something like that. What?
Takeoff with a cross-wind: hold ailerons all the way into the wind on the runway. Let them level gradually on (before?) rotation. More attempts at straight-and-level, climbing and descending, medium turns and steep turns, setting the trim correctly. It was a beautiful day. Mike had me glide, and we made an attempt at a run-through for an emergency landing in a field. I practiced following a road, having to crab the plane into the wind to do it. Coming back, he had me figure out how to get home, and it's really hard to see the airports. But there are two breaks in the trees, and one was Bowman and one was Standiford.
As we were coming in, there was another plane near us, and I understood the radio telling us that, but I never saw him. Mike did, eventually, and he was right under us. Gotta work on that!
Good session. I was bushed at the end of it. Mike did say one thing that made sense. What if he were trying to learn the flute, and had spent 5 hours at it? How far along would he be? That's telling.
I want to remember to print off the info for that pilot kit and take it to Mike.
Also it occurs to me that all the time we were practicing using headings, I guess with the wind, we weren't actually moving in the direction of the compass. I'll ask Mike about that. Also, I want to spend a little more time just watching Mike fly. He's good.I know how my brain works. I'll soak it up more smoothly if I do that.
During the night the Standiford Field traffic woke me up. They must have been flying base right over our house, one jet every two minutes, for at least a half-hour. Then it stopped.
Flying lesson # 4.
Taxiing, climbs, descents, XW, T/O, landing, steep turns, wind correction, pilotage.
First we talked about landing. Mike gave me the V airspeed info for our C152. I went out to do the exterior check. There actually was something in the gas--it looked like worms in the tester. Mike says oil. I also had a hard time seeing the gas level in the wing tanks, and that's because there wasn't much in there.
"Bowman Ground, Cessna 69011 at Air Central One information Victor to depart runway 32. " Something like that. What?
Takeoff with a cross-wind: hold ailerons all the way into the wind on the runway. Let them level gradually on (before?) rotation. More attempts at straight-and-level, climbing and descending, medium turns and steep turns, setting the trim correctly. It was a beautiful day. Mike had me glide, and we made an attempt at a run-through for an emergency landing in a field. I practiced following a road, having to crab the plane into the wind to do it. Coming back, he had me figure out how to get home, and it's really hard to see the airports. But there are two breaks in the trees, and one was Bowman and one was Standiford.
As we were coming in, there was another plane near us, and I understood the radio telling us that, but I never saw him. Mike did, eventually, and he was right under us. Gotta work on that!
Good session. I was bushed at the end of it. Mike did say one thing that made sense. What if he were trying to learn the flute, and had spent 5 hours at it? How far along would he be? That's telling.
I want to remember to print off the info for that pilot kit and take it to Mike.
Also it occurs to me that all the time we were practicing using headings, I guess with the wind, we weren't actually moving in the direction of the compass. I'll ask Mike about that. Also, I want to spend a little more time just watching Mike fly. He's good.I know how my brain works. I'll soak it up more smoothly if I do that.
During the night the Standiford Field traffic woke me up. They must have been flying base right over our house, one jet every two minutes, for at least a half-hour. Then it stopped.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Southern Indiana Airports
Barry invited me to go flying. He has a beautiful plane, a blue and white 1972 Piper Cherokee 140E.
I met him behind Hap's at Clark County Airport on one of the first nice sunny warmish days we've had for a while. Lots of people had the same idea. We flew to Seymour Airport where he was checking on some Civil Air Patrol planes that are in for maintenance.
Next we flew to Madison Airport. I didn't know these neat places existed. Barry introduced me to at least a dozen interesting people. There was lots to watch, listen to, and talk about.
I met him behind Hap's at Clark County Airport on one of the first nice sunny warmish days we've had for a while. Lots of people had the same idea. We flew to Seymour Airport where he was checking on some Civil Air Patrol planes that are in for maintenance.
Next we flew to Madison Airport. I didn't know these neat places existed. Barry introduced me to at least a dozen interesting people. There was lots to watch, listen to, and talk about.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Jericho
A storm came through and knocked out the internet and cable just about the time Jericho was supposed to come on. Rats!
Medical exam
I got my second class medical certificate today. Dr. Glen Stoutt was great fun to talk to. He must love flying, and he sure likes talking to people.
My blood pressure has never been high until the last couple months, when it's crept up a little bit. (Why now?) The second time he took it it was within limits, but I'll have to work on that. Too close for comfort.
I'll have to stop taking phentermine. Hopefully it got me started on the weight loss, and I'll be able to continue.
The eye test was close, too, but it's past time to have my glasses checked. While I'm at it, I probably need to make my current pair into sunglasses, since I don't have any bifocal sunglasses. Or maybe I should get the automatic tint glasses. If I'm wearing sunglasses and need to read something on a chart, will I be able to see it with the tint? Gotta think this one thru, too.
I'm reviewing and reading.
Next lesson I plan to:
Spend as much time as it takes to get the headset right. I'll get with Barry before Monday and take the one he offered to lend me.
Start echoing back to Mike what he has me doing. That way maybe I'll remember more of the details and also get more used to the terminology.
Use better rudder & trim.
Questions:
The handbook goes into a lot of detail for different degrees of turn. It says that for a 30-degree (medium) turn you should use ailerons, elevator and rudder to set the turn, then relax the ailerons and rudder, but hold the elevators. The plane is supposed to hold its bank. Then to get out of the turn, you apply the controls in the opposite direction. I don't think that ever happened when I was doing those 360degree turns. I had to hold the controls the whole time. I think.
Check some of my flash card answers with Mike. Landing procedures, optimum speeds,
Since I only had one lesson this week, maybe I can get in three next week. Debbie just called and said they had made a mistake and underpaid me by $50 a month all year. It's a sign--more practice. I'll have to thank Sherry for the windfall.
My blood pressure has never been high until the last couple months, when it's crept up a little bit. (Why now?) The second time he took it it was within limits, but I'll have to work on that. Too close for comfort.
I'll have to stop taking phentermine. Hopefully it got me started on the weight loss, and I'll be able to continue.
The eye test was close, too, but it's past time to have my glasses checked. While I'm at it, I probably need to make my current pair into sunglasses, since I don't have any bifocal sunglasses. Or maybe I should get the automatic tint glasses. If I'm wearing sunglasses and need to read something on a chart, will I be able to see it with the tint? Gotta think this one thru, too.
I'm reviewing and reading.
Next lesson I plan to:
Spend as much time as it takes to get the headset right. I'll get with Barry before Monday and take the one he offered to lend me.
Start echoing back to Mike what he has me doing. That way maybe I'll remember more of the details and also get more used to the terminology.
Use better rudder & trim.
Questions:
The handbook goes into a lot of detail for different degrees of turn. It says that for a 30-degree (medium) turn you should use ailerons, elevator and rudder to set the turn, then relax the ailerons and rudder, but hold the elevators. The plane is supposed to hold its bank. Then to get out of the turn, you apply the controls in the opposite direction. I don't think that ever happened when I was doing those 360degree turns. I had to hold the controls the whole time. I think.
Check some of my flash card answers with Mike. Landing procedures, optimum speeds,
Since I only had one lesson this week, maybe I can get in three next week. Debbie just called and said they had made a mistake and underpaid me by $50 a month all year. It's a sign--more practice. I'll have to thank Sherry for the windfall.
Monday, April 09, 2007
pilot's logbook
C-152 N69011 LOU LOU Preflight, Taxiing, climbs, descents, straight & level, T/O & landing, steep turns. 1-1/2 hr.
All right! This is possible. Without all the wind of the last two flights, we had an entirely different experience. I was worried. Now I'm not.
Preflight is starting to make sense.
I pretty much followed the yellow line when taxiing, which is a HUGE improvement over last time.
Takeoff makes sense. Mike was telling me what to do, but it doesn't feel difficult. The plane does all the work.
We flew over Indiana today. Lots of practice trying to hold a 30-degree bank and keep level, also practice climbing steadily. It's not steady yet, but at least I'm starting to feel it and to know what it all looks like when it's right. This time I was looking outside for most of the verification, and checking with the instruments. The amount of bank you have to do to show 30 degrees on instruments looks a whole lot more like 45 degrees out the window.
We worked on maintaining airspeed by changing the pitch.
I learned how to set the trim.
At one point, Mike had me take the plane up to 5,000 ft and head back S toward the river, about 15 miles. We pulled the engine back to just idle, so essentially we were gliding. Now THAT was interesting. The plane just hangs there, moving along, doing its thing. Coming back in, Mike had me take the river to 6-Mile Island, then hang a left toward Kaden Tower. Bowman Field is on the right. Now I can't remember how the last turn(s) were. Did I just hang a right and go in? I don't remember.
Looking forward to next Monday!
All right! This is possible. Without all the wind of the last two flights, we had an entirely different experience. I was worried. Now I'm not.
Preflight is starting to make sense.
I pretty much followed the yellow line when taxiing, which is a HUGE improvement over last time.
Takeoff makes sense. Mike was telling me what to do, but it doesn't feel difficult. The plane does all the work.
We flew over Indiana today. Lots of practice trying to hold a 30-degree bank and keep level, also practice climbing steadily. It's not steady yet, but at least I'm starting to feel it and to know what it all looks like when it's right. This time I was looking outside for most of the verification, and checking with the instruments. The amount of bank you have to do to show 30 degrees on instruments looks a whole lot more like 45 degrees out the window.
We worked on maintaining airspeed by changing the pitch.
I learned how to set the trim.
At one point, Mike had me take the plane up to 5,000 ft and head back S toward the river, about 15 miles. We pulled the engine back to just idle, so essentially we were gliding. Now THAT was interesting. The plane just hangs there, moving along, doing its thing. Coming back in, Mike had me take the river to 6-Mile Island, then hang a left toward Kaden Tower. Bowman Field is on the right. Now I can't remember how the last turn(s) were. Did I just hang a right and go in? I don't remember.
Looking forward to next Monday!
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Pilot's logbook
4/6 C-152 N69011 LOU LOU Taxiing, Preflight, straight & level, climbs, descents, XW T/O, Landing. 1 hr.
I went up, and it was a beautiful day. Gusty winds, again, but a cloud of snow that Mike had me go into just a little, which was beautiful. But I barely noticed that, because I was so busy torturing that little airplane trying to keep it steady and such.
A number of useful things happened. At one point, Mike complimented me on how I handled a big bump of wind. I told him I didn't do it, the plane did it herself, which was worth noticing.
He had me flying straight-and-level and making turns. At one point he told me it was like we were in a "big parking lot."
That helped. And MIke ran the throttle the whole time, which was better than me doing it. I think I need to get a better sense of what is normal, how the plane sounds and feels when it is right instead of all the individual details and instruments and stuff inside the cockpit being separate and confusing input.
After the lesson, I asked for homework and Mike assigned me to read the FAA chapter on straight-and-level flight and turns, and as soon as I turned to the page, I saw the piece that I've been missing. It's under "Integrated Flight Instruction" on pg. 3-3.
This sounds like what I WANT to be doing, anyway. I'll read and visualize this chapter as much as possible, and then show it to Mike and ask if he'll work on it with me Monday.
I 'm going to go to Google Earth and look at Bowman Field and at the area between there and Shelbyville. I think I'll print a copy and ask Mike to help me mark on it where it is we fly. He told me, but I want to be a lot more clear and set myself things to look for.
Barry sent me an article on how to taxi. I'll read it next. I'm not even going to go into how badly I move that airplane on the ground. It's really humbling.
It's probably good for me as a teacher. We have a story that we sometimes snicker about--when Beth was driving, but hadn't been doing it very long, and she got into the car and said "Gas on the right, brake on the left." Whoever was riding with her about had a cow. Well, that's where I am with these controls. I'm saying aloud: Push in, go forward. Pull back, stop. I'm looking at a directional indicator and asking myself, do I go right or left to get to (whatever heading)? I might see all my piano students in a different light when we start up after spring break.
I'm also determined that if I can make a cranky old pipe organ behave with finesse and class, I can do this, too. Ha!
I went up, and it was a beautiful day. Gusty winds, again, but a cloud of snow that Mike had me go into just a little, which was beautiful. But I barely noticed that, because I was so busy torturing that little airplane trying to keep it steady and such.
A number of useful things happened. At one point, Mike complimented me on how I handled a big bump of wind. I told him I didn't do it, the plane did it herself, which was worth noticing.
He had me flying straight-and-level and making turns. At one point he told me it was like we were in a "big parking lot."
That helped. And MIke ran the throttle the whole time, which was better than me doing it. I think I need to get a better sense of what is normal, how the plane sounds and feels when it is right instead of all the individual details and instruments and stuff inside the cockpit being separate and confusing input.
After the lesson, I asked for homework and Mike assigned me to read the FAA chapter on straight-and-level flight and turns, and as soon as I turned to the page, I saw the piece that I've been missing. It's under "Integrated Flight Instruction" on pg. 3-3.
This means the use of outside references and flight instruments to establish and maintain desired flight attitudes and airplane performance...
The airplane's attitude is established and maintained by positioning the airplane in relation to the natural horizon. At least 90 percent of the pilot's attention should be devoted to this end, along with scanning for other airplanes.
90% of the time, the pilot's attention should be outside the cockpit. No more than 10% of the pilot's attention should be inside the cockpit...
If the airplane's performance, as indicated by flight instruments, indicates a need for correction, a specific amount of correction must be determined, then applied WITH REFERENCE TO THE NATURAL HORIZON. The airplane's attitude and performance are then rechecked by referring to the flight instruments. THE PILOT THEN MAINTAINS THE CORRECTED ATTITUDE BY REFERENCE TO THE NATURAL HORIZON.
The pilot should monitor the airplane's performance by making numerous quick glances at the flight instruments. No more than 10 percent of the pilot's attention should be inside the cockpit. The pilot must develop the skill to instantly focus on the appropriate flight instrument, and then immediately return to outside reference to control the airplane's attitude.
Level flight, at first, is a matter of consciously fixing the relationship of the positions of some portion of the airplane, used as a reference point, with the horizon ... maintain a light grip on the flight controls ... learn to associate the apparent movement of the references with the forces which produce it. ... develop the ability to regulate the change desired in the plane's attitude by the amount and direction of forces applied to the controls without the necessity of
To establish the desired angle of bank,the pilot should use outside visual reference points, as well as the bank indicator on the attitude indicator.
The best outside reference for establishing the degree of bank is the angle formed by ... the lowered wing of high-wing airplanes.
This sounds like what I WANT to be doing, anyway. I'll read and visualize this chapter as much as possible, and then show it to Mike and ask if he'll work on it with me Monday.
I 'm going to go to Google Earth and look at Bowman Field and at the area between there and Shelbyville. I think I'll print a copy and ask Mike to help me mark on it where it is we fly. He told me, but I want to be a lot more clear and set myself things to look for.
Barry sent me an article on how to taxi. I'll read it next. I'm not even going to go into how badly I move that airplane on the ground. It's really humbling.
It's probably good for me as a teacher. We have a story that we sometimes snicker about--when Beth was driving, but hadn't been doing it very long, and she got into the car and said "Gas on the right, brake on the left." Whoever was riding with her about had a cow. Well, that's where I am with these controls. I'm saying aloud: Push in, go forward. Pull back, stop. I'm looking at a directional indicator and asking myself, do I go right or left to get to (whatever heading)? I might see all my piano students in a different light when we start up after spring break.
I'm also determined that if I can make a cranky old pipe organ behave with finesse and class, I can do this, too. Ha!
Friday, April 06, 2007
Jericho--"One Man's Terrorist"
I didn't get to watch Jericho at its regular time, so I got the next edition from iTunes on Thursday. "One Man's Terrorist" was pretty powerful. It came together with the Holy Thursday mass, how it plays out the idea of service, loyalty, conviction, and the conflicts that develop from those values. The other thing that you noticed with this episode was the tension caused by the availablity of weapons and acceptance of violent methods in service of those values. Simply because weapons were available, the situations could, and did, veer into catastrophe at any point.
Very American.
Very American.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Holy Thursday Morning Prayer St. Joe 6:30 AM
This morning Fr. Bill presided at morning prayer. He introduced it beautifully as the beginning of the Triduum. There were about 35 people who came. Sharon and I were doing the song leading. I could tell Sharon was a little nervous about being by herself on the other side of the church, but she did a fine job of starting everyone on that side and keeping them together when we sang antiphonally. I did record, so maybe I'll have something worth keeping.
Practical stuff: We needed more choir. We defaulted to me singing solo and the people in church singing the alternating verses, which is actually ok, but not what we had intended. I recruited Pat and her husband to come on my side and sing tomorrow, and Bill will be there with Sharon, so that should fix it for tomorrow.
Also, I ran over Fr. Bill's reflection by starting the Gospel Canticle. Habit, I guess. How often do I ever attend MP with a priest as the presider? Almost never.
This is just nit-picky stuff to remember in facilitating next year. It was a beautiful service. Someday hopefully someone will want to do it more often than two days of the year. We sing again tomorrow--Good Friday.
Practical stuff: We needed more choir. We defaulted to me singing solo and the people in church singing the alternating verses, which is actually ok, but not what we had intended. I recruited Pat and her husband to come on my side and sing tomorrow, and Bill will be there with Sharon, so that should fix it for tomorrow.
Also, I ran over Fr. Bill's reflection by starting the Gospel Canticle. Habit, I guess. How often do I ever attend MP with a priest as the presider? Almost never.
This is just nit-picky stuff to remember in facilitating next year. It was a beautiful service. Someday hopefully someone will want to do it more often than two days of the year. We sing again tomorrow--Good Friday.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Pilot's logbook
4/4 C-152 LOU LOU Taxiing, Preflight, Straight& Level, Turns (30 degree), T/O & landing, XW
I had my first lesson today. AirCenterOne is located at Bowman Field (KLOU). My instructor is Michael Bingham, CFI.
At first we were going to cancel because the weather was "marginal"-- clouds and gusty winds. I suggested we spend the hour doing Q&A and informational stuff. After I got there, we decided to go up anyway.
Mike walked me thru the pre-flight inspection. Then we got in and I was introduced to the rest of the procedures. Most of it made sense, but there was an awful lot of it. Sensory overload. The Cessna C152 is going to be fun, but actually I didn't feel too much fun today. There's a huge difference between riding and trying to be in a position of understanding and responsibility for what goes on. Also, by the end I was feeling a little green around the gills.
So far, I suck at taxiing. Were we ever on the yellow line? I guess I crossed it several times.
All the moves are things I am not at all used to. To taxi, you drive with your feet (for direction) and one hand on the throttle for speed. Brakes are at the top of the rudder pedals. At first you basically run the machine with one hand on the throttle. That's seemed to be the operative issue from ground to some kind of cruising state, and it gets adjusted a lot during that time. The other hand is on the wheel in charge of ailerons and elevators. I never got any feel for that, either. I'll blame it on the winds. Mike was basically flying and I was messing him up, I think.
I'm learning a lot from Mike, and not just the aviation stuff. He's a real go-getter about the flight instructor business, and that's useful in itself. I should apply his example to my music lessons. I'll have to if I'm going to pay for all this. $176 today.
Some things he does:
* talk it through, talk it through, and keep on talking. What we're doing, why, how it works. I don't know how many times I'll have to hear it all before it clicks, so I'm glad he doesn't just leave it at short explanations.
* he's assertive about getting my business.
Takeoff was about like I expected, but landing surprised me. First of all, how you can ever get in line for that runway (but everyone learns how, right?) Interesting was how slow it felt when we were coming in for final approach. It's like the plane stops and hovers and hangs and then sinks. (I doubt it will seem slow when I have to do it, but that's how it felt today).
We're going up again on Friday.
The owner of Air Center One is Tony, and I met about 8 other pilots and instructors. Do I remember any names? No.
I talked to the people at Bardstown Airfield (Honaker Aviation), also, but I think I'll wait 'til down the road to get in any contact with them. Eventually I'll want to, for proximity and networking, at least.
I also sent an email to (and heard back from) a local person who is willing to be a mentor. His name is Barry, and he looks to be interested and interesting. He flies his plane out of the Clark County Airport, but I think he actually lives in Shepherdsville.
So I'll have local advice to add to Amy's friends Alex and Julie.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Alaska Wednesday
This morning we got up a little late. We called Alex Roesch, who is Amy's friend who flies cargo planes. (Today he goes to Nome and somewhere else, I forget). We met him for breakfast before he heads out. Alex flies old cargo planes, like from the 40's. He loves it. He's also serious about learning guitar. And he's an artist. We talked about flying and music and the coffee delivery business he's trying to get started.
After breakfast we walked around downtown, bought some wool (kiviat) made by a cooperative of native villages from musk ox hair. It's supposed to be 5 times as warm as other wool. I'm taking it to Mom to see what she wants to do with it.
We went to REI to look for socks and gloves for Amy, but she didn't find what she wanted. We came on home to check whether Gmail Chat works on Macintosh, and once we were sure it would, we went back out: to the Mall, which is six stories tall around an ice-skating rink, and then to CompUSA to buy a computer, which we didn't buy but instead came home and ordered online. Wheeee!!
Supper of more asparagus & noodles, then over to Jenny's house for a piano lesson. She's a really nice, comfortable person, and I would have liked to get to know her, but if we started talking there wouldn't have been any piano lesson. While they played piano, I walked in her "back yard," a long path around a frozen lake, which I could only go about a fourth of the way around. Then I went with Amy to choir practice at St. Patrick's church. She works with the children's choir, which is preparing for Easter.
Home again, Amy is knitting while I write. We might watch a movie or something. maybe.
blog http://randomlight.blogspot.com
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"It is necessary for us to realize that we have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights. When you deal with human rights you are not dealing with something clearly defined in the Constitution. They are rights that are clearly defined by the mandates of a humanitarian concern."
- Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated April 4, 1968.
Alaska Tuesday
Tuesday already! Time flies when you're having fun!
Yesterday, after that long day on the water, we decided to skip eating out and just do the peanut-butter bagel & apples and cheese thing. We had time to sit around and talk and chill. After dark, Amy went up and spent about an hour in the hot tub (outside, surrounded by tall fir trees and mounds of snow). She said it was really quiet.
This morning we ate another great breakfast with Sheila and Al, played their piano and sang a little, then left before 10:00. We checked out the Resurrection Cafe (a converted church), where Amy bought a print by Rockwell Kent. We went to the library for a while, and while I finished downloading my flight simulator, Amy walked around.
Lunch was fresh fish sandwich and barley beef soup.
The Seward Sea Life Center is a real jewel. It's a research facility and museum that was set up by the money collected after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and it's a beautiful place. It's not crowded with stuff, and the displays all make sense. The first amazement was a tank of jellyfish that had to be just about the most beautiful creatures you could imagine, floating and swirling thru the water. The best "displays" are the two-story tanks of seals, ducks, and sea-birds. You could sit all day watching them swim, which you can do from below or above, indoors or out. There were very few people there, so we had the museum staff pretty much to ourselves, and the interpreters went out of their way to teach us what we were really looking at. There were hands-on tanks of starfish and sea anemones, who didn't mind being touched ("gently, with two fingers"), and we got to watch a crab being fed to an octopus.
The drive back to Anchorage was just great for listening to music and watching the scenery. It doesn't get any better. Supper was noodles & asparagus & mushrooms, and then we went to Flattop to watch the sun go down. We went after that to two places Amy likes to hang out: hot chocolate & chai at the TapRoot Cafe, and then hung out at Open Mike at the Golden Lion. I met Justin, Erin, Lisa, Ian, Gary, Scott and Angela. Amy talked to everybody, and arranged a pot-luck supper at her house on Friday. It sounds like it will be a full house.
Tomorrow I get to meet Alex.
blog http://randomlight.blogspot.com
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RESPECT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SPIRIT AND MATTER.
Consider all aspects of human settlement, including community, dwelling, industry and trade, in terms of existing and evolving connections between spiritual and material consciousness.
--Hannover Principle #3
Monday, March 26, 2007
Alaska Sunday
On a Wonderful Day like today....!!!!!!!!!
Amy wishes I'd quit singing that song, but it keeps coming back. We're at the Treehouse Bed & Breakfast near Seward, Alaska. It's a beautiful two-room suite in a house in a subdivision (kindof like our subdivision at home), but with a black-rock creek in back and steep mountains behind the creek and 5 to 10 feet of snow everywhere. We just got back from a snowshoe walk back the creek. The sun is shining and we were in our own Sierra Club Calendar. In a little while we'll go into town for supper, and then maybe come back here to use the hot tub. I hope the stars are visible. We're pretty far from any city. Somebody saw Northern Lights night before last.
Catching up....
Amy's interview was interesting. She thought it was for radio voiceovers, but it was probably for TV. You'll have to get the description from her. I piddled around most of the day. Upgraded the RAM in my Mac. We ended up going for a walk with the dogs in a frozen bog behind a middle school. Crooka was my lead sled dog a few times when we had to take steep hills or get thru drifts. There' s a pathway where people have walked, and as long as you're on it, you're ok. But if you stray just a hair to the side, down you go into the snow, and it's knee deep or more. We ended up standing on the score board at a ball field on the top of a hill overlooking Anchorage. I think the ground is a lot lower in the summer.
When we got back, we got with Jane and went to Chili's (St. Joe's treat), since the people in Jane's favorite TV show hang out there. It was interesting, but not great food choices if you're vegetarian, especially since they were all out of salmon, halibut or tilapia. Which left shrimp. I had a mushroom swiss cheese burger which was good but overwhelming.
This morning we packed our stuff and headed down the southern highway toward Seward. The entire drive was sunshiny and stunning. Mountains on all sides--360 degrees, with the icy water to our immediate right. Majestic, snowy. Think of the Tetons and then raise it a power or two. We spent $7 ea. to go in a wildlife animal rescue area and walk around and see caribou, buffalo, elk, moose & bears. Kindof like the Wolf Park. These are animals that are rescued from some kind of situation, then rehabilitated and relocated.
Driving on, the road was lined with trucks and trailers of snowmobilers. The snowmobile tracks were interesting--looping up the mountainside as far as they dare, then back down. Kids are pulled behind the snowmobile in a plastic boat.
We stopped in a little store in Moose Pass for ice cream. We plan to go to Hope on the way back. We're looking for handmade knives and Beluga whales.
The whole drive was like being in National Geographic. It called for a little helicopter-ride-style music, but Amy's CD player and radio conked out, and my laptop speakers aren't loud enough to do the job. I tried singing John Denver, but I don't think it had the same effect.
See y'all! Keep warm!
maggiemom
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SEEK CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT BY THE SHARING OF KNOWLEDGE.
Encourage direct and open communication between colleagues, patrons, manufacturers and users to link long-term sustainable considerations with ethical responsibility and to reestablish the integral relationship between natural processes and human activity.
--Hannover Principle #9
Alaska Monday
I hear it's in the 80's at home. Here, we're surrounded by chin-high snow piles wherever we go. We're having a hard time getting to internet connections, so you guys may just get all these messages all at once. It might be a little better than getting postcards, which always arrive after we get home.
Today is Seward's Day, and we're in Seward, so we hoped there might be some special festivities going on, but there aren't. The most notable effect of Seward's Day is that the library is closed, so we can't get to the internet.
Last night we borrowed our host's snowshoes and went plowing along the top of drifted snow that covers a running creek. We barely saw the creek, and the snow we were walking on covered the tops of small trees. Snowshoes are easy to get tangled with each other, but they do work well as long as you think a little pigeon-toed. A gorgeous walk!
This morning we had a beautiful breakfast of yogurt & sourdough pancakes with berry jelly, which was our main meal of the day. At noon we were on a boat (the Chugach) heading out Resurrection Bay. Steep mountains jut straight out of the water on all sides, which makes it a fjord. We weren't even out of the harbor when we saw two humpback whales swimming together. At one point they were right next to us. We watched them for about 15 minutes. We saw bald eagles nesting, a colony of sea lions, choppy waters and a snowstorm coming in from the Pacific, sea otters and glacier ice. The glacier ice is a blue (aquamarine) jewel color, which comes from the density of the ice. It kindof glows. People are friendly, and we're finding plenty to look at and do.
We would have stayed in town for supper if an internet place was open, but since we couldn't find one, we came on back. Amy's reading a journal by Rockwell Kent, an artist who spent a stretch of time in a cabin on this shore with his 9-year-old son. She knows his artwork from the museum she volunteers at. I'm reading my aviation books, so we're happy even when we're not out in the snow or the wind.
Supper was peanutbutter bagel, cheese, bananas, pistachios& salt-water taffy. Tomorrow we have tickets to the SeaLife Center, then we'll head back to Anchorage.
love y'all!
Maggie Hettinger
"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle, maybe worse than your own."
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Alaska Friday
What a great day!
Yesterday I spent the middle of the day at Borders' Books. I ordered a chai and sat down to use the internet. One thing following another, I started looking up "Learn to Fly" and Pilot and such. I clicked on a flight simulator to download it, not realizing that it was about a gigabyte of program. While it was downloading (a couple of hours,and not finished yet), I looked in the flight section, and found a couple of really interesting books on piloting: "Taking the Short Approach" and "FAA Airplane Flying Handbook." I couldn't choose between them, so I got them both, and lucked into a 25% educator discount this weekend. Then I went outside in the snow, hit the button to heat up the back window of the car, realized I'd hit the flasher button instead of rear defrost. Guess what? The flashers wouldn't turn off. Pried and poked for a while, then called AAA for the nice young man to jimmy it out with his pocketknife (which took a while, even for him) and then disconnect the wires. While I was waiting I sat in the parking lot and downloaded more flight simulator from there. Sweet.
(maybe I could have done it myself if I was carrying my pocketknife, but I don't carry it on trips anymore just so I don't risk losing it at the airport. How bizarre. It's like the opposites I used to look for when I was doing the philosophy thing. Opposites are the pointers to the key important points)
Drove downtown, wandered past the museums and other interesting places, but ended up looking for more of the coastal trail, and found it in a neat (and probably very expensive) neighborhood that's within 5 minutes walk of downtown and 3 minutes walk of the trail and the coast. I walked for about an hour, turning around at a lagoon where people were ice skating. (It's the place where Amy skates.).
When I got back, I saw Amy's florist shop--very pretty, lots of classy arrangements and stuff, met Annie and the lady at the desk whose name I didn't catch. We went to the computer store, then home to snack on apples & cheese with Jane's friend Jenny (?) and looked for places to stay in Seward.
Today (Saturday), Amy has an interview at the radio station (voiceovers and such), so that's the big item for the day. Tomorrow we hope to go to Seward and spend a couple of nights.
Love youall!
Mom
Maggie Hettinger
CIA Veteran Michael Scheuer: "Every time we interfere in Muslim countries, they get more support. In the long run, we're not safer, because we're still operating on the assumption that we're hated because of our freedoms, when in fact we're hated because of our actions in the Islamic world."
good morning! ALASKA!!!
Last night we went walking on the Coastal Trail. The snow is packed there, and lots of people were cross-country skiing. There are two continuous ruts for the Nordic skiers, and a wider path for walkers and skate-skiers. We passed lots of happy people and happy dogs. It's a path thru birch and fir trees, just beyond the airport (under the flight path), following along the water, which is rushing by full of ice. It seems so purposeful, all that ice, going somewhere. The sun, on the other hand, doesn't seem like it's going anywhere. When we got there, it was low in the sky. We walked a pretty good clip, then turned around and came back, but the sun seemed as if it was in the same place. I think it moves sideways instead of down. Eventually it did go down, and we had lots of time to watch the purples and greens come up in the water, and the reds and pinks hit the sky.
Amy made a great squash pie while we listened to piano music, and we ate it with Jane, then hit the hay. I slept really well, warm and comfy.
------------
What have I done this morning? I had a nice breakfast in Amy's kitchen, then dropped her off at work.
I drove around the corner and saw CompUSA, so I went in there to see if they have Macintosh stuff. They do. I bought a RAM upgrade for my computer, since I really like having lots of cool programs running all the time. At the checkout the RAM scanned at about half the price I expected, which was already a good price, so now I'm going to decide whether I can replace it myself, or if I should have them do it for $45. I'll take Amy there to shop.
I went across the street to the Salvation Army store. Found a $5 pair of boots size 9 and a $2 pr. of long underwear and a $1.50 sipper cup. I had a bit of a first when I was leaving and asked someone looking at wedding dresses if she knew how to get to K. Brothers (for wireless internet). She/he was a surprising person under all that long red hair, but nice enough. Then I had another first when I turned the corner out of the parking lot and drove in front of a really big moose picking his way around the snow heaps, deciding if he/she was going to cross the road, I think. My only other adventure was helping some 4-year olds pull up pants and wash hands in the restroom in John Myers, or whatever.
On to the next! I'm heading to the Coastal Trail for a long walk.
========================================================
ELIMINATE THE CONCEPT OF WASTE.
Evaluate and optimize the full life cycle of products and processes to approach the state of natural systems, in which there is no waste.
--Hannover Principle #6
Friday, March 02, 2007
War Ethics
Funny how easily we confuse "The Military" with "the troops." As a Catholic Christian, should I support the United States Global Military Complex, that gargantuan, weapon-spewing, violence-dispensing machine that all too often negates the humanity of its enemies and its members alike?
Or should I support those Americans whose patriotism, youth, and/or economic need are being taken advantage of by violence profiteering?
Jesus gave a direct answer to his followers. When confronted with a violent situation, he healed the attacker whose ear was cut off by a disciple, even though his own existence and the existence of his fellowship was threatened by a crowd with swords and clubs. Jesus stopped the disciples from violent retribution. Jesus actually protected the "enemy" with his Word.
If Jesus says "No violence" even to protect himself (Son of God), what values should we be presumptuous enough to say are worth "protecting" by violence?
Support the troops. Bring them home.
Support God's children. Put away the sword.
Or should I support those Americans whose patriotism, youth, and/or economic need are being taken advantage of by violence profiteering?
Jesus gave a direct answer to his followers. When confronted with a violent situation, he healed the attacker whose ear was cut off by a disciple, even though his own existence and the existence of his fellowship was threatened by a crowd with swords and clubs. Jesus stopped the disciples from violent retribution. Jesus actually protected the "enemy" with his Word.
If Jesus says "No violence" even to protect himself (Son of God), what values should we be presumptuous enough to say are worth "protecting" by violence?
Support the troops. Bring them home.
Support God's children. Put away the sword.
CLIMATE SCIENCE: Overturning Ocean Circulation
RESEARCH ABSTRACT:
CLIMATE SCIENCE: Overturning Ocean Circulation
H. Jesse Smith
It has been suggested that Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC; the northward flow of water in the upper kilometer of the north Atlantic Ocean and southward flow below) could be affected by global warming, in turn substantially affecting the climate of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe. Observations of the strength of the circulation, taken over ~1-month periods in different seasons of each of the years 1957, 1981, 1992, 1998, and 2004, have been used to argue that the MOC has slowed by about 30% over that interval. Searl et al. have now analyzed simulations of the MOC from the HadCM3 climate model and found no significant trend in the strength of the MOC over the period in question. Furthermore, variations in the MOC as large as 30% were very unusual.
The discrepancy between the model and measurements may be due not to inherent limitations of the model, but rather to the small number of observations, short-term variability of the MOC, and measurement errors, which together inhibit accurate estimates of multidecadal trends from the data. Indeed, after taking all such factors into account, the HadCM3 results are fully consistent with the observations. To determine with confidence how the MOC may be changing on interannual and seasonal time scales in the warming world, continuous monitoring of water transport appears to be needed. -- HJS
Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L03610 (2007).
CLIMATE SCIENCE: Overturning Ocean Circulation
H. Jesse Smith
It has been suggested that Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC; the northward flow of water in the upper kilometer of the north Atlantic Ocean and southward flow below) could be affected by global warming, in turn substantially affecting the climate of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in Europe. Observations of the strength of the circulation, taken over ~1-month periods in different seasons of each of the years 1957, 1981, 1992, 1998, and 2004, have been used to argue that the MOC has slowed by about 30% over that interval. Searl et al. have now analyzed simulations of the MOC from the HadCM3 climate model and found no significant trend in the strength of the MOC over the period in question. Furthermore, variations in the MOC as large as 30% were very unusual.
The discrepancy between the model and measurements may be due not to inherent limitations of the model, but rather to the small number of observations, short-term variability of the MOC, and measurement errors, which together inhibit accurate estimates of multidecadal trends from the data. Indeed, after taking all such factors into account, the HadCM3 results are fully consistent with the observations. To determine with confidence how the MOC may be changing on interannual and seasonal time scales in the warming world, continuous monitoring of water transport appears to be needed. -- HJS
Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L03610 (2007).
Friday, November 17, 2006
St Joe Gregorian chant index
For those of you working with Gregorian Chant, I've posted some materials at:
http://homepage.mac.com/mhettinger/StJoeGregorian/index.html
umm...it's not the same format as I see in other places, but I'm swimming in the ocean of the people around me. There's a reason for everything, and my goals for rendering chant are always authenticity and meaning.
I'm very interested in your reactions.
pax,
maggie
http://homepage.mac.com/mhettinger/StJoeGregorian/index.html
umm...it's not the same format as I see in other places, but I'm swimming in the ocean of the people around me. There's a reason for everything, and my goals for rendering chant are always authenticity and meaning.
I'm very interested in your reactions.
pax,
maggie
Friday, September 29, 2006
The Vow of Nonviolence
Recognizing the violence in my own heart, yet trusting the goodness and mercy of God and the universe, I vow or solemnly affirm that I will strive to live a life of nonviolence:
*striving for peace within myself and seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;
* showing love, compassion and forgiveness to everyone I meet;
* accepting suffering in the struggle for peace and justice rather than inflicting it;
* persevering in nonviolence of tongue and heart;
* living conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live;
* striving to treat the natural world not as a resource but as a beloved member of my family, and
* working nonviolently to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.
Lord, I trust in your sustaining love and believe that just as you gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so you will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.
*striving for peace within myself and seeking to be a peacemaker in my daily life;
* showing love, compassion and forgiveness to everyone I meet;
* accepting suffering in the struggle for peace and justice rather than inflicting it;
* persevering in nonviolence of tongue and heart;
* living conscientiously and simply so that I do not deprive others of the means to live;
* striving to treat the natural world not as a resource but as a beloved member of my family, and
* working nonviolently to abolish war and the causes of war from my own heart and from the face of the earth.
Lord, I trust in your sustaining love and believe that just as you gave me the grace and desire to offer this, so you will also bestow abundant grace to fulfill it.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
PSYCHOLOGY: Close Encounters
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSYCHOLOGY: Close Encounters
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Gilbert
J. Chin
The effect of contact between groups on prejudice has been a topic of
research at least as far back as the middle of the 20th century. Since
then, there have been a very large number of studies and many reviews of
this literature. Pettigrew and Tropp have conducted a meta-analysis of what
has become known as intergroup contact theory. They (and their dedicated
research assistants) have combed through published papers and unpublished
dissertations, using a methodological (rather than topical) basis for
inclusion; the final data set covers 515 studies, containing over 700
independent samples representing a quarter million individuals spread over
38 countries. The summary finding is that intergroup contact reduces
prejudice.
Their statistical analyses reveal that this cannot be ascribed to
self-selection by the participants, or to a publication bias toward
positive results, or to the rigor of the research (methodologically
stronger studies yielded larger effect sizes). Roughly half of the studies
focused on nonracial and nonethnic groups (as described by sexual
orientation or physical or mental disability, for example), and the effect
sizes seen within this subset were the same as that for the racial/ethnic
targets that stimulated the historical development of intergroup contact
theory. Furthermore, it appears that the effects on individual attitudes
can generalize to other members of the outgroup and even to other
outgroups.
How is this mediated? They find that Allport's four features (common goals,
intergroup cooperation, equal status, and official sanction) contribute
significantly to the reduction of prejudice but are not essential, and that
the last of the four conditions may be the most important one. Greater
contact may reduce feelings of uncertainty or discomfort that might
otherwise coalesce into anxiety or perceived threat, which might in turn
harden into prejudice. Yet these ameliorative shifts may not survive in the
absence of normative or authoritarian support, and studies of why contact
fails to curb prejudice are needed. -- GJC
J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 90, 751 (2006).
PSYCHOLOGY: Close Encounters
---------------------------------------------------------------------------Gilbert
J. Chin
The effect of contact between groups on prejudice has been a topic of
research at least as far back as the middle of the 20th century. Since
then, there have been a very large number of studies and many reviews of
this literature. Pettigrew and Tropp have conducted a meta-analysis of what
has become known as intergroup contact theory. They (and their dedicated
research assistants) have combed through published papers and unpublished
dissertations, using a methodological (rather than topical) basis for
inclusion; the final data set covers 515 studies, containing over 700
independent samples representing a quarter million individuals spread over
38 countries. The summary finding is that intergroup contact reduces
prejudice.
Their statistical analyses reveal that this cannot be ascribed to
self-selection by the participants, or to a publication bias toward
positive results, or to the rigor of the research (methodologically
stronger studies yielded larger effect sizes). Roughly half of the studies
focused on nonracial and nonethnic groups (as described by sexual
orientation or physical or mental disability, for example), and the effect
sizes seen within this subset were the same as that for the racial/ethnic
targets that stimulated the historical development of intergroup contact
theory. Furthermore, it appears that the effects on individual attitudes
can generalize to other members of the outgroup and even to other
outgroups.
How is this mediated? They find that Allport's four features (common goals,
intergroup cooperation, equal status, and official sanction) contribute
significantly to the reduction of prejudice but are not essential, and that
the last of the four conditions may be the most important one. Greater
contact may reduce feelings of uncertainty or discomfort that might
otherwise coalesce into anxiety or perceived threat, which might in turn
harden into prejudice. Yet these ameliorative shifts may not survive in the
absence of normative or authoritarian support, and studies of why contact
fails to curb prejudice are needed. -- GJC
J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 90, 751 (2006).
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
Saturday, January 21, 2006
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Five essential elements of leadership "as leadership":
Leadership
Guides the way
Speaks truth
Creates, nurtures, or protects group identity,
perhaps by naming and eliminating the enemy
Acts decisively
"and it's got to make you glad to be alive."
Guides the way
Speaks truth
Creates, nurtures, or protects group identity,
perhaps by naming and eliminating the enemy
Acts decisively
"and it's got to make you glad to be alive."
Thursday, December 08, 2005
weather or not
So, is it the weather? I've just had two phone calls in a row that really stretched my tolerance. (My tolerance is pretty low, anyway.)
I'm stuck in a horrible situation right now, so I don't have much to give to anybody except a resolve not to pass on any bad karma.
One conversation about drawing the line about church and liturgy. I draw lines, too, but when I find myself at that point, it feels like total failure.
Another from someone whose life is so incredibly messed up he'll never pull it together, and I'm stuck listening to him telling me why someone else is impossible to live with.
I don't want to argue about anything. Just live and let live.
It would be nice to get some constructive work done, too.
I'm stuck in a horrible situation right now, so I don't have much to give to anybody except a resolve not to pass on any bad karma.
One conversation about drawing the line about church and liturgy. I draw lines, too, but when I find myself at that point, it feels like total failure.
Another from someone whose life is so incredibly messed up he'll never pull it together, and I'm stuck listening to him telling me why someone else is impossible to live with.
I don't want to argue about anything. Just live and let live.
It would be nice to get some constructive work done, too.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Special effects take the light from Harry Potter
If you've been to see the Goblet of Fire, you know that it has some of the most believable, seamless special effects of any fantasy movie. The dragon is the best I've seen. The underwater scene, in which Harry turns into a fish-person, is eerie and convincing. Merpeople and grindylows are believable.
Unfortunately, these beautiful, stunning, entertaining effects diminish the main line of the story of Goblet of Fire, take away the tension. Rowling's Goblet of Fire is a two-layered thriller. The background line is the extreme threat of Voldemort in Harry's life. The foreground school story features everyday challenges that are not evil, but extremely difficult, and this is the sense that is missing from the movie.
In the books, the TriWizard Tournament is a somewhat-over-the-top school event. It reminds me of the Wide Games we used to hold at Girl Scout camp, where everyone went all-out for some kind of theme adventure in which we immersed ourselves for a few hours or a few days. If it's a little overenthusiastic, well, so are our state football championships. People get hurt in them, too.
In the book, the dragon challenge is plenty real to Harry and the contestants, but the dragons are tethered, and a dozen wizards are standing by to stun the beasts if they get out of hand. It's a challenge of nerve, preparation and courage. We are priveleged to Harry's feelings of inadequacy and dread, and his huge relief when he finds himself able to use his Quiddich skill to meet the challenge well.
Harry's preparation for the second task is mostly avoidance. Rowling makes exquisite use of his awareness of time passing without this huge problem being solved. He does eventually start to prepare, but not soon enough were it not for luck (Dobby's help). When the task happens, the merpeople are there to see to the contestants' safety. Harry's near-drowning in the movie, while entertaining, would not have happened in the book-story. And for this reason, the book gives us the emotional tension of Harry's accomplishing the task, followed by acute embarrassment at coming in last because of taking it too seriously. He conquered the physical challenge, but missed the boat on the social challenge, he thinks, and THEN is exonerated by the judge's award of second place for "moral fibre." To me, this is more emotionally satisfying than a pretty rescue and escape scene.
The third task is very different for Harry. The second task has taught him how to prepare, and he, Hermione, and Ron spend a very large amount of time cramming and preparing. They research magical techniques, practice and perfect them. For the third task, Harry is nervous, but not afraid. He is ready. It's a real challenge, and the true challenge, as we see, is not one of skill, but of his sense of fairness.
THEN, the evil of Voldemort breaks in. And it is really evil. But Harry has grown, and his escape is not just luck or protection. His own growth is a very real part of what saves him.
So you see, the over-the-top movie effects cheat Harry of the very real accomplishments and growth. They also cheat the story line, for when the true beyond-his-skill challenge of Voldemort comes, we've long since suspended our disbelief, so there's no real shock or surprise. It's just another fantasy story.
Reading between the lines, director Mike Newell has said he was frustrated that the special effects had such a life of their own. I agree. Stunning as they are, they took away from the chance to tell the human story--a story of a person faced with difficulties who learns to overcome them, later finding himself able to prevail against unexpected difficulty.
I read somewhere that the special-effects people are salivating at their chance to portray Grawp in the next story. Well, I'd like to see Grawp well-done, but even more, I'd like to see the character interplay of the human side of the story. Order of the Phoenix is very much about people, their misconceptions in time of danger, their blindness and meanness. Ultimately it becomes the story of their ability (esp. Dumbledore's Army) to take charge of their own lives cooperatively. I'd hate to let this human story be swamped by special effects.
Unfortunately, these beautiful, stunning, entertaining effects diminish the main line of the story of Goblet of Fire, take away the tension. Rowling's Goblet of Fire is a two-layered thriller. The background line is the extreme threat of Voldemort in Harry's life. The foreground school story features everyday challenges that are not evil, but extremely difficult, and this is the sense that is missing from the movie.
In the books, the TriWizard Tournament is a somewhat-over-the-top school event. It reminds me of the Wide Games we used to hold at Girl Scout camp, where everyone went all-out for some kind of theme adventure in which we immersed ourselves for a few hours or a few days. If it's a little overenthusiastic, well, so are our state football championships. People get hurt in them, too.
In the book, the dragon challenge is plenty real to Harry and the contestants, but the dragons are tethered, and a dozen wizards are standing by to stun the beasts if they get out of hand. It's a challenge of nerve, preparation and courage. We are priveleged to Harry's feelings of inadequacy and dread, and his huge relief when he finds himself able to use his Quiddich skill to meet the challenge well.
Harry's preparation for the second task is mostly avoidance. Rowling makes exquisite use of his awareness of time passing without this huge problem being solved. He does eventually start to prepare, but not soon enough were it not for luck (Dobby's help). When the task happens, the merpeople are there to see to the contestants' safety. Harry's near-drowning in the movie, while entertaining, would not have happened in the book-story. And for this reason, the book gives us the emotional tension of Harry's accomplishing the task, followed by acute embarrassment at coming in last because of taking it too seriously. He conquered the physical challenge, but missed the boat on the social challenge, he thinks, and THEN is exonerated by the judge's award of second place for "moral fibre." To me, this is more emotionally satisfying than a pretty rescue and escape scene.
The third task is very different for Harry. The second task has taught him how to prepare, and he, Hermione, and Ron spend a very large amount of time cramming and preparing. They research magical techniques, practice and perfect them. For the third task, Harry is nervous, but not afraid. He is ready. It's a real challenge, and the true challenge, as we see, is not one of skill, but of his sense of fairness.
THEN, the evil of Voldemort breaks in. And it is really evil. But Harry has grown, and his escape is not just luck or protection. His own growth is a very real part of what saves him.
So you see, the over-the-top movie effects cheat Harry of the very real accomplishments and growth. They also cheat the story line, for when the true beyond-his-skill challenge of Voldemort comes, we've long since suspended our disbelief, so there's no real shock or surprise. It's just another fantasy story.
Reading between the lines, director Mike Newell has said he was frustrated that the special effects had such a life of their own. I agree. Stunning as they are, they took away from the chance to tell the human story--a story of a person faced with difficulties who learns to overcome them, later finding himself able to prevail against unexpected difficulty.
I read somewhere that the special-effects people are salivating at their chance to portray Grawp in the next story. Well, I'd like to see Grawp well-done, but even more, I'd like to see the character interplay of the human side of the story. Order of the Phoenix is very much about people, their misconceptions in time of danger, their blindness and meanness. Ultimately it becomes the story of their ability (esp. Dumbledore's Army) to take charge of their own lives cooperatively. I'd hate to let this human story be swamped by special effects.
Monday, November 21, 2005
Kelpie Wilson | Thanksgiving Day 2005
t r u t h o u t - Kelpie Wilson | Thanksgiving Day 2005: "We are like the addict who would have died of an overdose if he hadn't run out of smack first, so let's be thankful that our supply is being cut off."
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
life, the universe, and everything in two sentences
"The difference between one and more-than-one
is all the difference in the world.
Indeed, that difference is the world."
--Ursula LeGuin, The New Atlantis, The Compass Rose, p. 17
is all the difference in the world.
Indeed, that difference is the world."
--Ursula LeGuin, The New Atlantis, The Compass Rose, p. 17
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Cindy's questions and mine
WHY are they dying?
WHEN will it end???
It's about Oil.
It's about Domination.
It's about Money
& Freedom to exploit.
It's NOT about Democracy.
Whose children will be sacrificed today?
WHEN will it end???
It's about Oil.
It's about Domination.
It's about Money
& Freedom to exploit.
It's NOT about Democracy.
Whose children will be sacrificed today?
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Cindy Sheehan
We held vigil last night with Cindy Sheehan.
We, too, believe that our government is NOT answering the following questions:
Why did we go to war?
How many have died because of this?
When will our military come home?
We, too, believe that our government is NOT answering the following questions:
Why did we go to war?
How many have died because of this?
When will our military come home?
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
What's wrong with this picture?
I just got cable television. We were privileged to see the President's press conference in Crawford, Texas, where he answered questions about, among other things, Cindy Sheehan.
The staging was interesting. President Bush is standing in his blue shirt-sleeves, talking earnestly like a good-ole-boy. Mr. Cheney is wearing some kind of windbreaker jacket outfit, and Dr. Rice is wearing a pantsuit outfit and low heels.
The dirt road is in the background, and the President, at least, is made up to look as if he belongs there, unless you realize that the whole country is experiencing a heat wave and these people are all all standing out in the sun.
What good ole country boy wouldn't have the sense to stand in the shade?
All hat, no cattle.
Brings to mind the 30,000 Boy Scouts who were forced to stand in the sun and heat for many hours so that the President could console them on their losses recently.
What kind of judgment is going on here?
The staging was interesting. President Bush is standing in his blue shirt-sleeves, talking earnestly like a good-ole-boy. Mr. Cheney is wearing some kind of windbreaker jacket outfit, and Dr. Rice is wearing a pantsuit outfit and low heels.
The dirt road is in the background, and the President, at least, is made up to look as if he belongs there, unless you realize that the whole country is experiencing a heat wave and these people are all all standing out in the sun.
What good ole country boy wouldn't have the sense to stand in the shade?
All hat, no cattle.
Brings to mind the 30,000 Boy Scouts who were forced to stand in the sun and heat for many hours so that the President could console them on their losses recently.
What kind of judgment is going on here?
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Dear Representative Ron Lewis,
I’m writing to express my extreme disappointment in learning that you voted for the 2005 energy bill and its billions of dollars in giveaways to coal, oil, and nuclear companies.
Nuclear power is not a safe option, although its construction will generate lots of money to big business entities. Any resulting catastrophes, which are bound to happen sooner or later, will generate cash flow as well, I suppose. Maybe that's the reasoning behind support of nuclear power?
I have spent time in Heidelberg, Germany, and have noticed that a more "green" lifestyle is not only a long-term benefit for the future of the people, but generates short-term, immediate well-being in a better lifestyle. Everyday life is much better. People enjoy themselves more, and are not caught up in the ratrace of "consume, consume, consume, work, work, work" that we are saddled with here in the US.
I hope you will go back to the drawing board before the next election and craft a truly forward-thinking national energy policy that includes the following: 1) An end, not an increase, to coal and oil subsidies; 2) A significant increase in funding for energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy programs – the quickest way to reduce our oil dependence; 3) An immediate and significant upgrade of the CAFE standards (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) on new cars and light trucks; 4) A comprehensive set of tax incentives for energy-efficient technologies and appliances; 5) Adoption of the Hannover Principles as guidelines for planning.
Please show that you care more about the well being of the people of our state than you do about increasing the already huge profits of coal and oil companies. Please lead the way back to the drawing board and immediately set to work on a national energy plan based on efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. We need a forward-thinking plan with real goals, real benchmarks, real dates for reaching energy sustainability.
I look forward to hearing from you on what you plan to do.
Nuclear power is not a safe option, although its construction will generate lots of money to big business entities. Any resulting catastrophes, which are bound to happen sooner or later, will generate cash flow as well, I suppose. Maybe that's the reasoning behind support of nuclear power?
I have spent time in Heidelberg, Germany, and have noticed that a more "green" lifestyle is not only a long-term benefit for the future of the people, but generates short-term, immediate well-being in a better lifestyle. Everyday life is much better. People enjoy themselves more, and are not caught up in the ratrace of "consume, consume, consume, work, work, work" that we are saddled with here in the US.
I hope you will go back to the drawing board before the next election and craft a truly forward-thinking national energy policy that includes the following: 1) An end, not an increase, to coal and oil subsidies; 2) A significant increase in funding for energy efficiency, conservation, and renewable energy programs – the quickest way to reduce our oil dependence; 3) An immediate and significant upgrade of the CAFE standards (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) on new cars and light trucks; 4) A comprehensive set of tax incentives for energy-efficient technologies and appliances; 5) Adoption of the Hannover Principles as guidelines for planning.
Please show that you care more about the well being of the people of our state than you do about increasing the already huge profits of coal and oil companies. Please lead the way back to the drawing board and immediately set to work on a national energy plan based on efficiency, conservation and renewable energy. We need a forward-thinking plan with real goals, real benchmarks, real dates for reaching energy sustainability.
I look forward to hearing from you on what you plan to do.
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