Meeting night

I spent most of the day taking care of thigns around the house and then I was in a meeting with a bunch of folks that used to work at my previous employer.

We get together every few weeks to help each other find new employment and commiserate about our current state of affairs.

What that all means is that I had no time for a post today.

Perhaps tomorrow....

I guess I picked the right night to fly

Yesterday was a far better day to fly than today turned out to be. And it's not looking any better for the rest of the week.

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Speaking of flying, here's a screen capture of the record of last nights flight:

It looks like I was flying a nice straight line doesn't it?

I will tell you that the path I flew wasn't quite that straight.

The air traffic control system only "sees" the plane once every few seconds. Hell, sometimes it doesn't see the plane for almost a full minute if there is interference.This means that the system actually extrapolates the position the plane was in for those times it didn't see it. What you are seeing is a refinement of the actual path.

I made the flight back "under the hood" which means I flew using only the instruments because the hood blocked my few out of the windows.

It was the third time I've flown using only instruments and I gotta tell you, it's kind of taxing. Imagine driving a car only looking at a compass, the speedometer & a map and you get an idea of what it's like.

Fortunately the aircraft all have GPS in them so I get to look at that but the GPS doesn't tell me if my wings are level or if I'm climbing/descending. I have to study the gauges to determine that.

Staring at gauges is no fun but it's a skill I need to acquire. Clouds are funny little things that pop up on their schedule and if I end up in one, I'd like to know how to keep my aircraft straight and level.

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As promised, here are some links:

• Ho, ho, ho, dude.



• Key phrase in this story: "...roughly the diameter of golf balls."



• Hey, at least he let her out of the car...



• Huh. She seems like a nice stable woman. I wonder why he dumped her?



• Don't Eat Your Weed is a follow-up to their previous smash hit, Please Shut Up.



• Best line from a judge ever: "Bugs Bunny, the Pink Panther and Dracula walk into a bar."



• Pffftttt.... Rich people....



• I wish someone would go back to the moon.

Short post

This evening I completed my night cross country requirements when I flew from Northampton to Groton, CT and back again.

We left at 5:30 and I was back in my house by 9:00 which is a good thing because anything later than that is past my bedtime.

The flight down was smooth as glass and the good folks at Bradley TraCon watched me all the way. They only had to contact me once for a traffic notice and I was able to find the other aircraft pretty quickly.

I landed in Groton and then took right off for the return to Northampton.

The flight back was just as smooth and Bradley TraCon called Westover and got me cleared through their airspace during my descent into Northampton.

I landed back at Northampton around 7:30 or so, cleaned up the aircraft, tied it down and filled out the logs. Then I jumped in my car and headed for home.

Now that I'm home, I'm going to bed.

I'll try to have extra links for you tomorrow.

The administration at Hampshire College kinda stepped in some shit

In an effort to appease their customers (the students), the administration at Hampshire College decided to remove the American flag from the college flag poles around the campus.

They did not ban the American flag but they did make the decision to stop flying it as an institution.

This, of course, became national news and it's pretty much fired up everyone for miles around and now there are large groups of people waving American flags in the faces of every Hampshire College student they can find.

I'm not sure if the flag waving is being done on the campus or just around it but either way, I think they are making their point.

The kids at Hampshire are known to be spoiled rich brats who major in things like "women in the arts" or "literature and its negative impact on native-americans". In other words, nothing that they can ever use to become productive members of our society.

I am under the impression that those kids have no idea how to handle the sudden onslaught of pissed-off adults but, in their defense, it's the college administration that should be the target of the protesters, not the students.

It was the president that decided to take down the flag. The protesters should be waving their flags in the face of the administration.

Put traffic cones and a sign that reads "Road Closed" in front of the presidents driveway, pour water-based red, white and blue paint on the provosts car. Do something to them.

Take a cue from the black lives matter people: block 116 with a bunch of people chained to concrete blocks so the administrators can't get to the Starbucks and the students can't get to the Moan and Dove for the $18.00 beers.

That'll get their attention.

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Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time for the deployment of the Christmas decorations.

While I do that, you can click on these.

• Everyone keeps talking about Castro's death. Screw him, he's no big deal. Now Ron Glass, he was a big deal. We should all be sad about his death.



• Only in Florida.



• Key line in this story: "AUSTRALIA; where the wildlife is so determined to kill you"



• Man, I'm glad I quit smoking...



• If you live in a country where cows wander the streets aimlessly, you should plan on the occasional attack.

Safe and sound in Iowa

My daughter and her little dog are once again safe and sound in Iowa.

The trip back to Iowa was much better than their trip here because the dog got to sit in the cabin with my daughter instead of in cargo. From Bradley to O'Hare, the dog sat in my daughters lap but from O'Hare to Des Moines, they each had their own seat on the almost empty aircraft.

So anyways, in 20 days, my wife will fly out there and together, they will all drive back here for a month of holidays.

In the meantime, my dog is once again lonely and slightly confused. about the whereabouts of his companion.

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When they say that this is the busiest time of the year for travel, they aren't kidding.

We got to the airport at 5:00 this morning and this is what greeted us at security:

There were a lot of cranky people there.

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Since I've been awake since 3:30 this morning, I'm going to fall asleep on my couch while watching bad television.

While I do that, you should click on these:

• Presenting this episodes Brilliant Criminal of the Day.



• This guy isn't a brilliant criminal, he just sucks at robbery.



• Here's some scienceeee stuff.