I always thought the DC-3 had a sleakly smooth look ahead of its time, or even timeless. … More AIRPLANE OF THE MONTH – or – “What do you mean you won’t fill my order?!”
One of two Prius’s (Prii?) owned by my daughter and her husband! As the owner of two hybrid vehicles (a Prius and a Honda Civic hybrid), I take exception with Donald van der Vaart and his comparison of North Carolina to a Prius among old gas-guzzling Cadillacs. I love the old north state, and we’ve … More We (North Carolina that is) can do better!
As a general aviation pilot, a story about increasing conflicts among fliers sharing the skies overhead carries an intrinsic interest with a safety overtone. As a biologist and a birder, realizing the story is about wildlife-human aerial interactions awakens quite a different interest, still with a safety overtone. Sergio Lambertucci, a wildlife ecologist at the … More AIRSPACE CROWDING
Luna moth resting on a screen at the Len Foote Hike Inn in north Georgia This was one of a few luna moths we saw while we were hiking this May in Amicalola Falls State Park in the north Georgia mountains. With apparently little to do in the daylight hours, these huge specimens mostly just … More The Evolution of Aerial Combat
It’s my birthday, and Dave’s and Mary’s and Sean’s too! We’re in a neighborhood dinner group consisting of six couples. One evening a few years ago we came to the rather amazing discovery that of the twelve of us, four shared a March 18th birthday. Now the chance that two people meeting on the street … More What Are the Odds?
The U.S. Department of Energy has for the second time decided to terminate its financial support of the attempt to demonstrate carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). The concept of “clean coal” depends on the ability to capture and inactivate or permanently store the carbon dioxide emissions and other contaminants otherwise released when coal is burned to produce … More CLEAN COAL: A COLLAPSE OF CHICANERY?
Sunset’s shadow fell about two-thirds of the way up the wall of tall pine trees lining the eastern shore of the lake. I thought it would be neat to get the rising shadow on video, but realized it would progress too slowly to enjoy in real time, perhaps a time-lapse would work. A blustery northwest … More February’s Bird-of-the-Month
Heard this red-shouldered hawk somewhere in my backyard a couple days ago. Difficult to triangulate his location, but after a while I recalled these guys are often lower than you think, so I aimed closer to the ground and found him, only about 20 feet up on a branch, just biding his time. He looked … More January’s bird-of-the-month
There’s a new documentary coming out next year called, Aviation: The Invisible Highway. The trailer claims that…“When airplanes were invented, their purpose was simple, to take us faster and farther.” I disagree. Airplanes were invented because people wanted to go up into the air. They wanted to fly above the ground. They wanted to see … More AVIATION: The Invisible Highway – a review of the trailer!
It’s complicated, but that happens when you start messing around with time and space. Complexity, though, can make for an interesting plot, and that’s why I found this movie frustrating. The fabulous scientific accuracy with which Interstellar portrays travel across unfathomable distances and uncomfortable lengths of time is not matched by an equally sound scientific … More INTERSTELLAR, the movie
this view of earth 