Friday, November 30, 2007
Bush's entourage
From Boingboing - a graphic showing President Bush's entourage when he flies somewhere:
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Bonsai Kittens
From Bonsai Kitten's website:
For centuries, people in the West have marveled at the delicate beauty produced by Oriental artists and sculptors. From gardening to tattooing to dance and martial arts, these craftsmen have enthralled us with complex forms and simplistic perfection. One of the most fascinating of the visual techniques to emerge from this highly cultured region is the Oriental art of miniature sculpture. Who has not been stricken with the expressive grace of Japanese Bonsai? Though once the sole province of Bonsai masters within Japan, Bonsai plants have been available to fortunate consumers throughout the world for some time. With this in mind, we are proud to now offer to you the animal complement of this art form; the Bonsai Kitten.
At only a few weeks of age, a kitten's bones have not yet hardened and become osseous. They are extremely soft and springy. In fact, if you take a week-old kitten and throw it to the floor, it will actually bounce! We do not recommend that you try this at home. The kitten may bounce under the furniture and be difficult to retrieve, as well as covered in unsightly household dust. However, the flexibility of the kitten's skeleton means that if the bones are gently warped at this early age, they can be molded into any desired shape. At Bonsai Kitten, we achieve this by placing the kitten into a rigid vessel soon after birth, and allowing the young cat to grow out its formative time entirely within this container. The kitten essentially grows into the shape of the vessel! Once the cat is fully developed, it is removed (or the vessel broken to remove it!), producing the lovable, furry pet you've always wanted, but it remains in the shape you've always dreamed of! There is virtually no limit to the eventual shape of your pet.
P.S. For those who haven't figured it out, no, these people are not being serious...
For centuries, people in the West have marveled at the delicate beauty produced by Oriental artists and sculptors. From gardening to tattooing to dance and martial arts, these craftsmen have enthralled us with complex forms and simplistic perfection. One of the most fascinating of the visual techniques to emerge from this highly cultured region is the Oriental art of miniature sculpture. Who has not been stricken with the expressive grace of Japanese Bonsai? Though once the sole province of Bonsai masters within Japan, Bonsai plants have been available to fortunate consumers throughout the world for some time. With this in mind, we are proud to now offer to you the animal complement of this art form; the Bonsai Kitten.
At only a few weeks of age, a kitten's bones have not yet hardened and become osseous. They are extremely soft and springy. In fact, if you take a week-old kitten and throw it to the floor, it will actually bounce! We do not recommend that you try this at home. The kitten may bounce under the furniture and be difficult to retrieve, as well as covered in unsightly household dust. However, the flexibility of the kitten's skeleton means that if the bones are gently warped at this early age, they can be molded into any desired shape. At Bonsai Kitten, we achieve this by placing the kitten into a rigid vessel soon after birth, and allowing the young cat to grow out its formative time entirely within this container. The kitten essentially grows into the shape of the vessel! Once the cat is fully developed, it is removed (or the vessel broken to remove it!), producing the lovable, furry pet you've always wanted, but it remains in the shape you've always dreamed of! There is virtually no limit to the eventual shape of your pet.
P.S. For those who haven't figured it out, no, these people are not being serious...
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Pauanui photos
Some random photos from Pauanui the other weekend for you all..
DQV parked at Pauanui (took longer to squeeze it into a gap than it did to fly there :0)
Houses / Hangars right on the airfield.. Woo hoo!
Yak-52 parked beside us
Follow the steps...
To the beach...
DQV parked at Pauanui (took longer to squeeze it into a gap than it did to fly there :0)
Houses / Hangars right on the airfield.. Woo hoo!
Yak-52 parked beside us
Follow the steps...
To the beach...
More photo from the other weekend
I have more photos to upload from the other weekend - some Harvards stopped at Hamilton after doing a display over Cambridge at Armistice 2007, so I snapped a few shots, plus some of a Mooney M20 I've seen at Hamilton before. Some Pauanui shots to come shortly
My set from Armistice itself is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtyolechris/sets/72157603286474432/
My set from Armistice itself is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dirtyolechris/sets/72157603286474432/
Monday, November 19, 2007
Photos from Saturday Morning
Just a couple of shots from my first flight on Saturday in a 172
Some old country church
A couple of Waikeria Prison. I had no idea it was so open - no wonder the bastards escape!!
Some old country church
A couple of Waikeria Prison. I had no idea it was so open - no wonder the bastards escape!!
Another fantastic day for flying...
When I did the bar on Friday night last week, one of the lads asked me if I wanted to come flying with him the next morning. Hell yeah! was the reply, and then he told me we had to meet at the club at 6:30 AM !!! I don't think I've ever been anywhere that early in my life :) Anyway, we piled into a 172 and went for a blast over some of the lakes and rivers south of Hamilton, which was just awesome! Cold, still air made for a very nice flight and a total lack of air traffic made our coming and going easier. Being in the plane with a very experienced pilot was good too... All in all, a fun flight, and we were back before 8am, which is about when I'm normally getting up on a Saturday....
And as if that wasn't fun enough, I already had the Arrow booked for the rest of the day. I needed a passenger, and since I haven't taken the old lady for a fly for a while, I went and grabbed her for the day. We hadn't been to Pauanui for ages, so I thought that might be a good place to go.
We had clearance to 2500 feet in the Hamilton area, so I climbed as high as I could under the cloud - 2000 feet. It was pretty bumpy at 2000, and the cloud was only a hundred feet or so above us, so I decided to try to climb over it when I could. Once we were clear of Hamilton airspace, class G went to 6500, so I was able to climb us up over the broken cloud. At 5500 we were well clear of the cloud and at the appropriate cruising level for northbound flight, and the air smoothed right out, as you'd expect. Nearing Paeroa there was a gap in the cloud and ahead what looked like 8/8 cloud everywhere, so we ducked down under it and went up the coast by Whangamata then around the corner to Pauanui. My landing was more than satisfactory, we parked up, pushed the aircraft back out of the way, and went off for lunch and a walk around the beach.
A while later we returned, started, and took off. Remembering the dire predictions of some people about taking an Arrow to Pauanui, I did a max performance takeoff, and with 2 POB and 2 hours gas, we used less than half Pauanui's 850 metre grass runway. I flew ahead in order to clear the circuit before turning right on track (I don't like non-standard turns at uncontrolled airfields). As we climbed, we saw that this time the solid looking cloud had moved southwest and it looked like we'd be going to have to stay below the clouds and endure a very bumpy flight home. I found a hole in the cloud shortly after, so we zig-zagged up through the gap and found ourselves at 4500 feet over seemingly endless beautiful puffy white clouds, and once again found perfectly smooth air. It wasn't quite 8/8, although it was close, however there were sufficient gaps to remain VFR. I could see the sea to the left and ground to my right, so we had plenty of options, and boy was it good to escape the usual scud running I'm inclined to indulge in. Sorry there are no photos, I was that awestruck I forgot to get the camera out :)
Just like on the trip over, I had my chart out and course plotted, I had set the bug on the DI, plus we had the moving map on the GPS as a backup to both, so I felt relaxed and confident. The clouds were just gorgeous, maybe moreso because we were above and beside them, and the aircraft was quiet, smooth and fast. Wow!
Coming near to the zone we descended and got the crap beaten out of us as we came close to the airport, and after being made to come in the long way we finally landed and taxiied back. I then had to get gas which of course meant doing a hot start, which I am pleased to say I managed much better than I did last time.. And we just had to put the aircraft away and we were done. Nice!!!!
I wish all flying trips worked out that well!!!
And as if that wasn't fun enough, I already had the Arrow booked for the rest of the day. I needed a passenger, and since I haven't taken the old lady for a fly for a while, I went and grabbed her for the day. We hadn't been to Pauanui for ages, so I thought that might be a good place to go.
We had clearance to 2500 feet in the Hamilton area, so I climbed as high as I could under the cloud - 2000 feet. It was pretty bumpy at 2000, and the cloud was only a hundred feet or so above us, so I decided to try to climb over it when I could. Once we were clear of Hamilton airspace, class G went to 6500, so I was able to climb us up over the broken cloud. At 5500 we were well clear of the cloud and at the appropriate cruising level for northbound flight, and the air smoothed right out, as you'd expect. Nearing Paeroa there was a gap in the cloud and ahead what looked like 8/8 cloud everywhere, so we ducked down under it and went up the coast by Whangamata then around the corner to Pauanui. My landing was more than satisfactory, we parked up, pushed the aircraft back out of the way, and went off for lunch and a walk around the beach.
A while later we returned, started, and took off. Remembering the dire predictions of some people about taking an Arrow to Pauanui, I did a max performance takeoff, and with 2 POB and 2 hours gas, we used less than half Pauanui's 850 metre grass runway. I flew ahead in order to clear the circuit before turning right on track (I don't like non-standard turns at uncontrolled airfields). As we climbed, we saw that this time the solid looking cloud had moved southwest and it looked like we'd be going to have to stay below the clouds and endure a very bumpy flight home. I found a hole in the cloud shortly after, so we zig-zagged up through the gap and found ourselves at 4500 feet over seemingly endless beautiful puffy white clouds, and once again found perfectly smooth air. It wasn't quite 8/8, although it was close, however there were sufficient gaps to remain VFR. I could see the sea to the left and ground to my right, so we had plenty of options, and boy was it good to escape the usual scud running I'm inclined to indulge in. Sorry there are no photos, I was that awestruck I forgot to get the camera out :)
Just like on the trip over, I had my chart out and course plotted, I had set the bug on the DI, plus we had the moving map on the GPS as a backup to both, so I felt relaxed and confident. The clouds were just gorgeous, maybe moreso because we were above and beside them, and the aircraft was quiet, smooth and fast. Wow!
Coming near to the zone we descended and got the crap beaten out of us as we came close to the airport, and after being made to come in the long way we finally landed and taxiied back. I then had to get gas which of course meant doing a hot start, which I am pleased to say I managed much better than I did last time.. And we just had to put the aircraft away and we were done. Nice!!!!
I wish all flying trips worked out that well!!!
Friday, November 9, 2007
Some recent photos
Sorry I've been quiet guys, haven't really had a lot to blog about, so I thought I should post some photos I took recently at the club, including WAM in it's new colours. All shot using my TLR on Velvia 50, which makes them very hard to scan..
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