Archive for May 2005
Lesson #5 / 5.7 hrs. Total Time
I didn't write up lesson #4, but it went well. It's nice to get back to more stable, summertime weather conditions. It makes it easier to practice turn coordination. Lessons 4 and 5 were all about that. Very precise turn coordination. Setting a bank for a turn, but making sure the nose stays fixed to a point on the horizon until the bank is complete. It's harder than it sounds. In the Cessna 152, you can forget you even have rudder pedals, except when you need to do a slip, which you never really need to do since you have flaps. Anyway, in the Citabria, unless you coordinate an aileron input with rudder, the nose will actually yaw (very substantially) in the opposite direction of your input; bank to the left, and the nose yaws a good 20 degrees to the right, opposite the direction you want to turn. The reason for this is that to bank an airplane, you're decreasing lift on the wing that you're lowering and increasing lift on the wing you're raising. Decrease lift, decrease drag; increase lift, increase drag. The drag differential causes the airplane to yaw in the direction of the highest drag. But...
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Light Blogging
I've got a ton of projects going, including advanced planning for three (or is it four?) new business ventures. Plus, I'm taking lessons for my private pilot certificate, and that requires a certain amount of attention. Once I began thinking about the pilot thing, I began thinking about buying an airplane, and perhaps, even building an airplane. That's something I've always had in mind to do--someday. Perhaps something like this. 230 mph cruise speed is, well, remarkable for a small aircraft that hauls 4 people. Or, perhaps an older factory model, like this 6-seater Piper Lance. Not bad looking for 29 years old, is it? Anyway, all dreams that require being made reality at this point, and that's going to require focus and working smart. I'm headed to New Orleans tomorrow morning for a conference. Back Friday. That and the busyness probably means light blogging for a while.
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Livin’ in the Dark Ages
Thing is, both human-embryo destroying stem-cell engineering and human cloning are as inevitable as it was inevitable that all the world's leaders (religious and political) would eventually embrace a heliocentric universe over the quaint geocentric notion that the heavens revolve around the Earth. It's as inevitable as the previously "evil" notion of transplanting one person's bodily organs into another--or even animal parts, such as heart valves from pigs. The failure of religious mysticism to answer any important questions, coupled with the rise of scientific inquiry is responsible for such an advancing state of affairs. Talk about a culture of life vs. a culture of death... Ultimately, all religions foster and indoctrinate their devoted into a dead-end culture of death. There are only degrees of difference. The knowledge of the structure of the universe had existed--suppressed under force and coercion--for hundreds of years. So, were the world's leaders just stupid, or did they see that knowledge as a threat to their centralized power structures? I'd tend to guess the latter. But neither possibility is very appealing in the present case. Is it that we have to determine whether the President of the United States is so feeble-minded as to actually believe...
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The Principal Business of “Crime” Fighters
What do the cops do without sufficient number of criminals to justify their existence? They create and invent them, of course. This is what happens when your "job" is disconnected from the rational role of producing tradeable values that others voluntarily pay you for. Would any rational person not be willing to pay for some measure of security? Of course not. We all already buy locks for our homes, cars, bikes, motorcycles, gym lockers, etc. We buy alarms, guns, ammunition. Some people hire companies to patrol their homes and offices regularly. Private security and surveillance is a growing industry, in part, because the cops are just so generally incompetent at it--and of course, that's because we have to pay them whether they are effective in meeting our real security needs or not (and they almost never are; they show up to clean up the mess). I have almost zero respect for cops, anymore. It's been a long, long time since I could think of any value they provide me that I'd be willing to pay for, or, at least, that I wouldn't be far happier and more satisfied purchasing from some private company that has to win and keep my...
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Who’s the Communist?
David Westberg, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 609, that's who Barbu says he's just trying to get by. Critics say he and a handful of vendors who sell pizza and other snacks near schools from vans and trucks are not only undermining school officials' efforts to get kids to eat better, but also threatening the jobs of cafeteria workers. This, it turns out, is both a competition for job security and a skirmish in the war against teenage obesity. Citing the growing girth of Seattle's schoolchildren, City Council members voted yesterday to bar all kinds of mobile vendors from within 1,000 feet of schools. The vendors have been allowed to sell within 200 feet. Their most vocal critic has been David Westberg, business manager for the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 609, which represents Seattle Public Schools' cafeteria workers. Westberg said only three or four people have been selling pizzas near Cleveland, Franklin and Garfield high schools. Still, he's concerned the vendors could jeopardize union workers' positions and benefits. "If 16 kids go off campus, somebody's mother loses health insurance," he said. (link: Balko)
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Lesson #3 / 1.2 hrs. logged / 3.2 hrs. total
Whereas the last lesson was weather conditions unstable with winds out of the north, today is pre-frontal with at least 15 kts. out of the south. So, different takeoff direction. It'll be 13 Right today. Amazing how forgiving those Citabrias really are, 'cause I was all over the runway on takeoff. Humbling, but that's just what I needed. Low ceiling today, so we went to a training area where we could do some air work close to the ground, about 800-1000 ft. AGL. With the high winds, it was a good time to practice maneuvers using ground reference points. Of course, you're up in with the winds, so if you want to fly straight over a roadway, for example, you've got to compensate, especially if the winds are directly abreast. Flying a constant circle around a tree in the center of a field requires a swallow bank when turning into the wind and going upwind, and a steeper bank when turning downwind and flying downwind in order to carve a relatively uniform circle. All-in-all, the air work went well. I'm beginning to relax more and get the touch. Often, I try to fly with the stick just between my thumb...
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Lesson #2 / 1.1 hrs. logged / 2.0 hrs. total
Well, it didn’t work out with Lori as instructor because she lives about 1 ½ hrs. away and so mainly teaches on the weekends. I’m doing my instruction on the weekdays, so things work out better with Jim Grant as my instructor. He’s also the aerobatics instructor, so once I get licensed, I’ll be able to take that course in order to really bolster my overall skills. I actually did find my logbook from 1984. I’d thought I had five hours or more, but I only have 3 logged. Oh, well. With my 100 hrs. in hang-gliders and a few hours stick time in sailplanes, I’m far better prepared for all of this. So, lesson #1 being a cross between introduction and an actual lesson, #2 is getting down to business. Problem. The weather sucked in San Jose, yesterday. Very unstable conditions, towering cumulus, low ceiling, and winds at 15 kts. (but only about 10-15 degrees off runway centerline, though). In fact, it was a far better day for hang-gliding than for taking lesson #2, just trying to do some air work, getting the feel for the airplane, honing my precision at coordinating turns. Hang-glider pilots live for unstable conditions...
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No Foolin’
The most gratifying thing about my bits on Wal-Mart, here and here, are those numerous commenters who stepped up with reason and held up facts in full and honest context. Of course, everyone always has facts, just as Joseph claimed to have in his argument against Wal-Mart. But, as I pointed out in one of my own comments... But Joseph, facts exist in a context. If you kill another person, that's a fact. But whether you’re a hero or an evil predator is a matter of other facts that establish a context and real meaning. Lawyers, politicians, powercrats, activists and media are all expert at manipulating facts out of context--to make the innocent and heroic appear guilty when the exact opposite is the case. Some Wal-Mart employees don't make it financially. That's a fact. However, reality and nature dictates that no one but one's self is responsible for one's well being. Those employees who are not making it financially are defaulting on their own responsibility to do whatever it takes to make things balance out. Instead, they whine, and then people like you come along to spout out "facts" for no other purpose that to shift responsibility from the guilty...
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Value Destruction
Reading some of the comments to my recent Wal-Mart entry is a real eye-opener. From where does such twisted logic, hate of the good, and envious destruction of major values come from? To me, it's got to be about the most evil thing ever. Someone like a Hitler comes along every now and then, but most everyone clearly recognizes their evil. But great values and great value producers--the true benefactors of all of mankind--are continually attacked and maligned, and not only does the average guy not protest, he jumps right on board. It's amazing. Some mornings I get up and I just hate anyone and everyone who's never signed a paycheck--has no idea what's it's like to do that week in and week out--yet has the gall to vomit all manner of rotten runny bullshit about how some great company or great employer is a "blight to humanity" in one way or another. Fuck. Off. Fuck you all. Of course, you all know why the left and their hoards of useful-idiot chumps (Democrat Party) are attacking Wal-Mart, don't you? No, it's not because Wal-Mart is so sub-urban. If that were the standard, they'd have been after Costco and Home Depot...
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Happy Endings
Yep, I love 'em.
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It Begins
Well, continues anyway Always wanted to fly airplanes. I was obsessed when young. Built models. Built control-wire and R/C airplanes and flew them. But when I couldn't get a slot at Navy flight school and was unwilling to accept a back-seat, the dream almost died. I worked my ass off on my first ship, and when I got my SWO qualification, I applied for a transfer to the aviator track. It was a longshot, 'cause you don't even try unless you have straight 'A' FITREPS (recommended early promotion, and with all the appropriate code words and phrases in the writeup). I had all that, plus glowing written endorsements from my department head, XO, CO, all the way up to the 3-star running 7th Fleet at the time. But it doesn't matter about all that unless there is a need for pilots in training beyond what the Academy, NROTC, and OCS are providing at the particular time the application is submitted. There wasn't. Shot down again. The rejection letter was very nice and conciliatory, though. Some consolation. Earlier, when I'd first gotten to SWO school in San Diego (three days after my commissioning ceremonies), I decided I might start flying lessons....
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Canary in a Coal Mine
The Canary is Dead Now, let's review. A large organization counts on its younger workers and continuing high revenues to fund the pensions and medical care of its retired workers but finds that rising health care costs, longer life-expectancy, and its own inability to control spending force it to cut pension benefits and switch to personal accounts. Kinda makes you go hmmm...doesn't it? Yea, no shit.
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Corporations (again)
It's probably worth a separate entry, rather than a mere update. Anyway, Greg Swann actually has a few new entries up regarding this discussion. The one I'm going to point you to is the one on Information Hiding. Sure, it makes good points in support of his argument with me, but that's far and away the lesser of any reasons to go read it. Go read it. Take a few minutes, because it really gets to the essence of what is the total and complete permeation of the state into every nook and cranny of society. To clarify, my primary defense of the corporation is from the perspective of one who has started one, grown it to 30 employees (without investors), and runs it as we speak--although now with a very capable management team. I'm no longer involved in day-to-day operations whatsoever. My actions and involvement are now of a strategic nature. I'm looking ahead, way ahead, and just like the 8,000 and 11,000 ton ships I used to direct, I understand the difficulty of changing course, stopping, or reversing. Business is far and away the most complex endeavor human beings can undertake. Did you get that? It's true. All...
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News Only to Some
I'm always dumbfounded at the reactions I see to this sort of news, the kind never reported in the mainstream media (which might be a clue to the diminishing status). Most real scientists (and by that, I mean credentialed) denounce most of the tripe associated with the environmental "sciences," and the "science" behind the Kyoto Protocols is no exception. The "problem" is similar to that with the creation vs. evolution (superstition vs. science) debate. Real scientists don't waste their time trying to debunk superstitious nonsense in the case of creation "theory," or politicized "science" based on logical fallacies and subjective observation in the case of environmentalism. And before I'm accused of employing the fallacy of the No True Scotsman in this case, I'm not. The definition of science precludes both the faith of creation and the faith of environmentalism (disguised as science).
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Standard BS
You can always count on Kim du Toit for a decent rant every now and then.
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Corporations
Well, my friend Greg Swann disagrees with my assessment of corporations: The essential defining characteristic of a corporation, as against other ways of organizing a business enterprise, is liability limitation, a conspiracy between the proprietors and the state to defraud tort claimants of all they might otherwise obtain in redress for their injuries. It's pure Hamiltonian Social Engineering, Mercantilism at its worst. The idea is to encourage investment by limiting the risk. But by limiting responsibility, investment is distorted away from the individual integrity that is the sine qua non of enlightened self-interest. The limited liability corporation is the rope by which Capitalism hung itself. I agree with Greg that limiting liability is an essential aspect of the corporation. I had left that out when I said: The essential defining characteristic of a corporation is that it is a voluntary association of individuals (stockholders, directors, officers, employees) under a complex hierarchy of agreements, contracts, policies, authority, responsibility, and accountability. It conducts business, voluntarily, with clients of all sorts. Yea, it's a legal construct too. So is marriage, but marriage can hardly be defined as essentially nothing more than a state-recognized contract. The thing is, I'm not convinced that limited liability...
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Romote Control Killing
I wonder what sort of visceral reaction Your Average Joe has to something like this. Personally, mine was distaste--on a number of levels. But first, I'm no veg; nor am I opposed to hunting. In fact, we went on hunting and fishing trips a lot when I was growing up. Guns were a regular, ever-present part of our upbringing. These were the days where your guns were on display in the den in a gun cabinet. It's not that people are engaged in hunting by remote control that I find distasteful, from the perspective of my own values, but that it's apparently killing for nothing but the thrill or sport of it. I've never in my life understood that. I've killed or assisted in the killing of a fair number of animals, but always, always for the purpose of food. When someone in camp did kill a trophy rack, it was a bonus, but always the lesser value. The primary values were the food, the struggle of the hunt to obtain it, and the friends and family that all participated. Anyway, if you read the whole article, you soon realize that this is no big deal. Most people wouldn't be...
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Freedom vs. Markets
Silly title, eh? Yea, well Radley Balko ought to take note. That's what his tome on Corporations vs. Markets might as well be titled. There's a difference, of course, though opponents of both fail to recognize it. Free markets, peaceful commerce and capitalism consist of voluntary, mutually beneficial exchange. They create wealth. They enable people to live, to live better, and to live more comfortably. And corporations don't "consist of voluntary, mutually beneficial exchange"? Corporations don't "create wealth"? Corporations don't "enable people to live, to live better, and to live more comfortably"? Those seem like pretty essential things to me, and they generally apply to corporations just as well. Corporations, on the other hand, are government-created entities that act in their own interest. As such, they often use government to better their advantage, most always to the detriment of free enterprise. When I defend markets and the machinery of markets, I'm not defending corporations. Corporations "act in their own interest"? You mean, they don't act in the interest of their stockholders, i.e., their owners? And who is "they"? Who is acting, the corporation, or its employees, officers, and directors who are put in pace by the owners? The essential defining...
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Busted
It's what friends are for Billy Beck, having returned from directing stage lighting operations for performances in Singapore and Jakarta, caught my entry on Culturism. He gets it, agrees with the essence, but pounces right down on an error, just like any good friend would. It was just over four years ago when I came up with that term. At the time, I was enamored with the inflammatory potential of it. Still am. Nothing teaches like showing someone how ignorant and/or stupid they really are when they hold wrongly some position with "certainty." Of course, what I'm talking about is how culturism is somewhat analogous to racism. Someone unable to make critical distinctions will immediately equate the two. They'd be wrong, and I'll have a chance to point out how sloppy their thinking is. Quite nice & tidy, eh? Anyway, I never really got around to formulating the thing, and then when I read that column by Sowell and wanted to blog it, I thought it might be time to put some thought into what I mean by "culturism." But then, afterward, when I read over it a couple of times, I became increasingly dissatisfied--primarily because no individual should be...
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New Digs
My friend and a frequent commenter here, Kyle Bennett, has new digs. I adore the look and theme. Check it out, and if you like, become a regular visitor.
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