Monday, January 14th, 2008
Everything You Know about Eco-Friendly Cars is Wrong
Setting the Record Straight on Hybrids, Electric Vehicles and the Smart
$1 per Gallon Cellulosic Ethanol from Waste!
General Motors and Vinod Kohsla have invested in a new company promising to produce ethanol from any organic substance (grass, newsaper, tires, agricultural wastes) for as little as one dollar per gallon.
Breaking News: Greenpeace win battle against Japanese fleet
Greenpeace activists are claiming that they have managed to chase the Japanese whaling fleet from its hunting grounds in the Southern Sea (for now)…
Even Republicans Agree Rush Limbaugh Is Obsolete
Particularly when it comes to his head-in-the-sand stance on global warming, Rush Limbaugh is part of an old, tired machine that even conservatives are growing tired of.
Newsflash: Time May Not Exist
Physicists are confounded about how time actually fits into the universe. One theory is that “time may be an approximate concept that emerges at large scales—a bit like the concept of ‘surface of the water,’ which makes sense macroscopically but which loses a precise sense at the level of the atoms.”
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Posted in Animals, Current Events, Environment, Politics | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, January 1st, 2008
I worked quite a bit today. I shoveled for the first part of the day, but was on the computer for most of the rest. I looked out the window and noticed that it was dark out. That is very depressing. I always get depressed from the Winter dark. It seems like it is starting to get dark the minute I go outside in the morning. I guess that’s from the sun being so low in the sky. Whatever the cause, it bugs me.
I think I do the same thing every year…I get on the computer and look for a website that will tell me when the sun is going to rise and set for the next few months. Actually people, the sun doesn’t rise or set. We are revolving around the sun. Please make no mistake.
Anyway, I found a great website today that tells the sunrise times, the sunset times and what altitude the sun will be in the sky in your state. The site is called, “TimeandDate.com.” I found a bunch of information on New York. Did you know that the sunset time in New York gets later and later in longer intervals every day? I always thought it was about thirty seconds a day after the first day of Winter. Shows how much I know.
So, if you are interested, take a visit to this website to see how long it’s going to take to get out of the Winter rut of darkness.
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Friday, August 11th, 2006
Life is way too short. There are many reasons why someone would like to take flying lessons…for the thrill, the advantages of getting from one place to another in a shorter amount of time than driving, enjoyment, etc… Many reasons.
For me, the driving force is to get places fast. I really need to start visiting my family in North Carolina more. I need to see my nieces and nephews. I don’t want to be that uncle who never visits, or the one who the kids hear alot about but never really got to know.
My dream is to have my family waiting for me at the Wilmington International Airport (KILM) and for them to watch me land in my own plane. I really think that would be something.
My father has talked about getting his pilot’s license and getting a plane, but never got around to it. Maybe some day. Until then, he will have to sit in the passenger’s seat. Maybe I will let him fly…a little.
I looked around the area for a small airport and bumped into the Orange County Airport (KMGJ). It’s about a half hour from where I live. I called Quade’s Flight School. Gary answered the phone. He seemed like a very nice guy who has been around planes for a very long time. I set up the “Intro” flight lesson for $60. Basically, it is a half hour flight to get the tip of your toe wet. When you land, you say, “Sign me up, I am taking out a loan” or “Get me the hell out of this thing.” I said “Sign me up, but I will pay by check.”
We went up in his trainer…a Piper Cherokee. The intro flight consisted of learning about the pre-flight inspection of the plane, going over the checklist, taxiing to the runway, takeoff, some maneuvers and landing. The instructor, Gary let me perform some turns at about 2500 msl (mean sea level). That was pretty cool. I have never controlled an airplane before, so that was a thrill. I flew by myself for about 15 minutes. When we were approaching the airport for landing, Gary cut the throttle. He said he liked to do this for the new students to show that if an airplane of this size loses the engine in mid-air for some reason, you won’t spiral out of control and plummet to the earth. We landed very smoothly with no power.
After we landed and taxied to the hangar, Gary asked me if I was in. I said I was and set up my next lesson for Sunday, August 20 and 10:30AM.
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