Bush: Worst Disaster...

I don't know if this was intentional on the part of the folks at BSkyB or just a great moment in bad timing. The text below the image of Bush says it all.

(Click on the image for a larger view)
According to the folks over at Snopes.com, this is the real deal.

Give that man a medal!

A passenger jet left Burbank (CA) airport bound for New York. It never made it. Shortly after takeoff, the flight crew of the JetBlue airliner found that there was a warning light indicating a problem with their landing gear. They changed course and headed towards Long Beach where they did a low pass near the airport tower to visually confirm the problem.

The tower saw the trouble: the front landing gear under the nose of the plane had turned about 90 degrees off center, effectively turning it sideways. No one was exactly sure how the wheel would respond when a landing was attempted. It was decided to bring the plane down at Los Angeles International airport (LAX), because it has the longest runways in the area, with the widest stretch of land between buildings and runway.

Before a landing was attempted, the plane circled LAX for a few hours, burning off as much fuel as possible to lighten the jet. By this time, every news channel was covering the story. People all over the U.S. were glued to their TVs. News anchors were interviewing every conceivable expert: pilots who frequently flew that particular model of jet; aerodynamic engineers familiar with emergency landings; psychologists talking about what the passengers were experiencing.

It was a media blitzkreig. There were cameras on the ground, cameras in the air. Every possible angle was covered of this impending disaster. One hundred and forty-five lives were at stake. The jet kept circling, burning off fuel. Updates were frequently given. "We're being told the plane will attempt to land at 5pm". The updates were frequently changed. "We're now being told it will land at 5:30pm". Eventually, the plane began it's descent just after 6pm, west coast time.

As the plane began it's final approach, all theories of the possible outcome had been spent. It was fairly well agreed that there were 3 things that could happen:
1) The nose gear would right itself once it touched the ground and the plane would land safely.
2) The nose gear would collapse once it hit the ground and the plane would belly in.
3) The right angle of the wheel would cause the plane to veer wildly to either the left or the right, sending it off the runway towards buildings.

The plane began it's descent. Most of the TV talking heads became quiet, observing a moment of silence as America watched breathlessly. Frequent, rapidfire updates on the distance to landing were given: "2 miles out", "1 mile out", "A half mile out", "500 feet", "100 feet".

The plane glided in and the pilot kept the plane just above the runway for what seemed an eternity. He finally let the rear wheels just brush against the ground. The wheels then dropped down and firmly grabbed the runway. The pilot rode the jet on it's rear wheels for several seconds, burning off speed before letting the nose touch down.

The moment had come. Because the front gear was sideways, the now 'rear' tire of the two parallel tires was lower than the 'front' tire. The pilot eased the nose down until the 'rear' tire of the front gear touched. A puff of smoke shot out into the late afternoon sunlight. The JetBlue airliner put more weight on the gear, and with it, plumes of smoke erupted from the tire. Very rapidly, the 'rear' tire disintegrated, exposing it's metal hub to the ground. Brilliant yellow-white sparks began to form a trail beneath the nose of the plane. Fire crews on the ground had already begun to chase the plane, starting the second the true rear wheels touched ground.

The 'front' tire was now touching the ground, but was overshadowed by the shower of sparks lighting up the runway. Through it all, the pilot kept the plane perfectly straight on it's path down the runway, never veering off course. The jet finally, miraculously, came to a halt on the runway. The flume of sparks had stopped. The nose gear held up the plane, as though it were a normal landing. No one was hurt in the landing. LAX was chosen for a landing site because of the length of its runways, an immense 12,000 feet. The landing used up nearly all that distance. It was pretty much a picture perfect landing.

In what has to be one of the most surreal situation in which to be involved, passengers on the plane later said that they were watching themselves landing, via their personal seat monitors tuned to MSNBC. They all praised the flight crew for being thoroughly professional and reassuring througout the whole incident.

Put in contrast to what the world saw unfolding during the recent hurricane Katrina disaster, this landing showed the difference between capable, qualified people doing what they are trained to do, as opposed to political cronies like Michael Brown, the deposed head FEMA, who were completely unqualified to hold their position.
LAX frequently performs simulations and practices for just such an emergency. Their training showed. If all the money spent on Homeland Security were put into training, planning AND supplies, we might have seen a much bigger difference in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Experimenting with pumpkin designs

I've always been envious of those well-carved pumpkins. You know the ones, with fancy details, pictures, etc. I decided to give it a go myself this year. I came up with a design I wanted to try out
Once I was happy with that, I used tracing (or transfer) paper to imprint the design directly onto the face of a mid-sized pumpkin. I then used a short-bladed carving knife to trace the image into the skin of the pumpkin. The makers of the knife -claim- that it is the best knife for carving wood, but I found that it was worthless for that use. Although, it DOES do a mean cutting job on a pumpkin.

For this portion of the carving, I found that using a dish-drying rack made a nice place to hold the pumpkin at an angle, facing up to me. (I did this all standing up at the kitchen counter / sink area) I carefully cut away the areas of the pumpkin skin that would represent the lighter areas of the design. I left the dark areas untouched. I cut it away in small sections so I wouldn't accidentally cut away the dark areas.
With the design done, I then cut open the top of the pumpkin and scooped out the meat and seeds. I used the Pumpkin Masters™ carving kit to do this portion of the process. With the scooper tool, I scraped away at the wall of the pumpkin directly behind the peeled image. I was especially careful to NOT poke through the skin of the pumpkin, which could ruin the design. The thinner the wall, the more light shows through. To test out the pumpkin, which I was doing using in the kitchen sink, I held it up to the kitchen window, with the peeled design facing away from me. Looking down through the open top of the pumpkin, I could see which areas let light through and which didn't. Then I'd scrape away the appropriate areas.

After doing all this I dropped in a tea light candle for illumination. I am very happy with the end results.

Comparing the original sketch to the finished pumpkin, the end product did come out pretty close in appearance, although I did change the teeth. Partly because it looked better, and partly because the divisions between the teeth were very easy to break. To accentuate the teeth, I painted the gaps black, with a water-based craft paint.


I'm now working on sketches for new designs. The week or so before Halloween, I hope to have 5 to 6 new designs ready to go, to line the stairs leading up to my flat. I plan on posting images of those here, when complete.

Note to self:

Don't let the mind drift when you are using a sharp metal object next to your throat

Especially when there is a known anomalie in that region

This is not special effects make-up for a Halloween costume. This is the real deal.

Idiotic drivers

Earlier this evening I was walking across the parking lot of the local grocery store. As I neared the driveway, I noticed a van having a difficult time negotiating the driveway leading into the lot. Since I had to cross there, I gave the driver wide berth, so I stood and waited for them. As they passed in front of me, I could see what was causing the problem: the driver was HOLDING A DOG WITH THEIR LEFT HAND AND STEERING WITH THEIR RIGHT.


Of all the stupid, idiotic things I've seen, this one has to be one of worst. Pick your nose while driving? Disgusting, but whatever. Talking on a hand held cellphone? Stupid, offensive and dangerous. There is no excuse for that behaviour, what with modern technology and HEADSETS. But holding a dog?!? That should be an offense punishable by being stuck in traffic on the I-10 freeway from 9am - 3pm, in the desert, every day in August, with no A/C, no radio and no place to pull over and pee. We'll allow you food and liquid.


How would this nimrod of a human explain herself to a cop if she ran over and killed a child?!? "Well, gee officer Jones... I didn't mean to kill little Billy Smith, but poor little Gizmo likes to see where we're going and he can't see from the passenger seat cause he's too small, so it makes him happy when I hold him with one hand while driving."


Many years ago my brother and I were witness to another stupid driver as we were coming home from a camping trip. At that time he imparted to me this bit of wisdom:
"Stupidity like that will eventually correct itself. Unfortunately, the stupid driver probably won't be the only one injured when they learn their lesson."

Freakin' morons.