I'm Going Slightly Mad 2010-02-28

I am back from a flying trip to Thailand; and preparing for another one.

On the last trip flying HSAWS, an AC11, I logged:

• 6 hrs
  • 4 instrument hours
    • 2 IMC; a mixture of Cu, SC, and haze.
    • 2 Hood
  • 5 instrument approaches
    • 2 ILS; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 1 LOC; VTBU
    • 2 VOR DME; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 2 hold entries; VTUQ, VTBU
    • 4 holds; VTUQ, VTBU
  • 6 landings; Bang Phra twice, Best Ocean Airpark, VTUQ, VTBU.
  • 3 go arounds; VTUQ twice, VTBU

The political situation in Thailand is a little unstable now so I may have to change my plans at short notice.

I am reading The Tender Carnivore & the Sacred Game by Paul Shepard. The book lacks references but sometimes Paul weaves external material into the work stating the Author and the Source. He has a passion for the subject of us regaining our humanity and makes good arguments. I can see that his writing is dated in some respects (first published 1973): hints of Freud, and incomplete nutrition knowledge. Often prophetic, he provides explanations for some of our social ills: e.g. adolescent gang culture. I recommend the book to those looking for how our cultures went wrong and how we might live.

I have my course notes for a Cessna Citation Part 141 Type Rating Course so I am again in study mode.

This week I have discovered:

• TaskPaper
• Notational Velocity
• WriteRoom
• Dropbox
• TextMate
• Markdown
• Simplenote
• QuickCursor
• Liquid Tension Experiment on CD

I will use some of these to aid my study. Notational Velocity is particularly useful. I sync it to Simplenote and keep individual text files in a Dropbox folder. I keep my main TaskPaper file in the SimpleText folder. I access my data with TaskPaper, Notational Velocity, SimpleText and SimpleNote on my iPod Touch, or any other computer, anywhere in the world, forever! FX [manic laughter]

This week I have discovered that sadly:

• The Canon Scanner Drivers for my MP996 Do Not Work! Strange. The printer works just fine and I can scan from Print & Fax provided the Canon IJ Network Scanner Selector is running. It worked in 10.5.
• PCCW never calls back.
• The ATMD has an unlimited supply of badly written, unnecessary, and ineffective Operational Instructions.
• Tacky CNY decorations are still up and people are still happy to have their pictures taken with the crappy glitter in the background.
• Alcohol has similar effects on the body as the poison Fructose; my halo slipped! View the presentation about the toxicity of Fructose by Rober H. Lustig, MD. Now when I look at a glass of Red wine I think can of Coke. Woe, woe!
• My apartment is surrounded by Schnauzer manifestations that yap, howl, and cry all day.

I was using Textile but I will give Markdown a go to see how I get on.

Live Long and Prosper.

signs of life 2009-02-16

I noticed this article on the BBC News site.

I paused to reflect how wrong the basic ideas of most of our cultures are. Creation myths start with the imperfect or a void. A supreme being then conjures or organizes our world, nature, and humans. We are put over nature, at the pinnacle of the creator's achievements, in the image of the creator. A hierarchical position relative to the rest of nature.

The reality is that life is a inherent and emergent quality of this universe: inescapable, unavoidable. The precursors to life have existed since before this planet was formed. Life on Earth was inevitable. Life on other planets certain.

As a species humans might get on better with themselves and the rest of nature by recognizing that we are part of nature, not above it. When we take more from nature than we give then we hurt ourselves and our offspring. We impoverish our descendants.

Long Way From Home 2009-02-15

Interesting few days. I watched Avatar again. I read The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice and Sustainability by Lierre Keith. I read Coming Home To The Pleistocene by Paul Shepard. I worked on getting my paperwork in order for adding a type rating to my FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate. My MacBookPro died!

The MacBookPro disaster is the easiest thing to fix: I bought another one. Two days later I have my old user account copied over from Time Machine, Windows XP running in a Bootcamp partition, Windows XP running in VMware Fusion. I used the excellent winclone again to restore the last clone of my Windows XP partiton.

I hate having to run windows at all but aviation software that I use will only run in Windows. The new MacBookPro looks and runs great but I would have been happy to continue to use the old one for quite a while yet. The old Pro will get passed on after repair.

I recommend reading The Vegetarian Myth:Food, Justice and Sustainability. I do not have a vegetarian bashing agenda but the book contains so much helpful information about many aspects of eating correctly, agriculture, and civilization. A central theme is that for a human to live something else needs to die, and that when a human dies their body feeds the earth. This is a repeating flow of life from birth to death. The book is just excellent. I didn't have a problem with the Feminist views of the author myself but others might. I won't bore you or myself by trying to reinvent the wheel: read a review by Dr Mike Eades or Mark Sisson.

Coming Home To The Pleistocene is not as easy a read as The Vegetarian Myth but it is worthwhile. Paul Shepard writes about how humans do not live now as humans are meant to live. He offers pointers to what we can do to reclaim our humanness. I will read more Paul Shepard material before retuning to both of the books I've mentioned to gain a better understand of the subject: who we are, and how we should live.

I contemplate that caged factory chickens are like art reflecting our own lives: avian versions of ourselves. Too many humans in too small a space, diseased, and dysfunctional. We read of diseases of civilization: but the civilization is the disease. How do we not just step back in time but rediscover our essence and place in nature? Is there time for a rediscovery before we have destroyed our planet and ourselves? These questions are just the beginning.

The end apparently, really is nigh!

Welcome to the Machine 2010-02-03

I was very aware two nights ago, riding between the ATC complex and our drop-off point, of being in a vast machine. Nothing I could see was natural. The artificial surface of an artificial island. The foundation for buildings and facilities to smooth the passage of some of the most complex machines ever built. My part: to lubricate and regulate the flow of people through this economic engine. This is so much at odds with how I think things should be.

We are beset by bureaucrats and governors, those who are it seems unafraid to tell us how our lives should be. I'm tending to the thought that the planet will itself (though in fact it has no self) regulate the pace of life: and I may see it happen. The closest date for environmental collapse I have read is 2040 - I will be alive then. No way to stop this runaway train. I think that it is very difficult to discern how we should live. We have been so dysfunctional for so long that we have forgotten what we are: animals.

Humans put ourselves over all the rest of nature careless of the consequences. Unaware that when one part of nature dies through our actions that it is just one stage of our own suicide. We cannot survive without our natural environment and we have only a very basic knowledge of how our organism depends on the others. So much is gone already. Will I scramble to hold on to life when the end comes and the middle latitudes become uninhabitable and unproductive? Will I have had the foresight to sense the end and move to a habitable zone in time to dig in and defend my patch from the tsunami of the dispossessed? Lock and load. Time will tell.

Community leaders should not be male: choose Grandmothers only. Then our leaders may have a sense for living for today with an eye on how their decisions will effect their children's children. We should live in a family, group, structure that fits our basic nature. Not one imposed by a grey haired male despot who hallucinated a religion and imposed it on others. How did we develop the arrogance to seize hold of something and claim that it belongs to us? Religion has a lot to answer for. I will keep looking for the right questions to ask: centered around how to gain an understanding of what it really means to be human.

Rant over; for now.

Too Tired 2009-02-01

I am in Pattaya, Thailand having a relaxing day.

Yesterday Dave and I took HSATE to Eastern Flying Club (The runway is a little over 500 meters long now) for breakfast (excellent food). Then we flew to Pattaya Airpark to look at a new based aircraft before returning to Bang Phra. I planned to fly as usual yesterday and today but really I was too tired after the morning flights and even a little fatigued so I took time out. As usual I travelled from Hong Kong after my Night Shift the day before but all that had gone before caught up with me.

I have been busy over the last few months.

November: I went to USA and successfully completed the ATP Multi CFI course. I now have an FAA Flight Instructor Certificate with ratings for single and multi-engine, and Instrument. Along the way I took additional written exams to hold an Advanced Ground Instructor Certificate with Instrument Ground Instructor. This monster course overran because of weather, Thanksgiving, Examiner availability, all the usual suspects. My contingency time allowed me to finish it all despite the delays. If you do the Multi CFI course then I suggest that you allow at least three weeks to complete it. The ATP Multi CFI course instruction and aircraft are of above average quality compared to other flight schools.

December: I managed to get to Guernsey for my Father's 80th birthday. The day ended with a surprise concert with my Father playing three sets with big bands; Jazzonymous, The Guernsey Jazz Orchestra, and the two combined. Not bad for 80! Proud I am! When I got back to Hong Kong I Started packing up for the end of my apartment lease but flying on my off days in Thailand.

January: Moved apartments from 1,400 Sq Ft to 550 Sq Ft. Downsizing is difficult! I did the move in stages so that I didn't simply fill the new place with boxes all at once. I am sifting through my stuff and giving away or dumping what I don't need. I now live in a much cheaper apartment so I have flexibility for the future.

I will make 2010 even more interesting than 2009!