Ken Q

Happy birthday to you both. Many happy returns! Ken

Great find. Thanks, Adam, for the link. I'm looking forward to watching this on the "big screen" tomorrow. Ken

This takes some thought. In Saudi Arabia, camels. I don't know if they were indeed wild, or feral, or merely free range. But they were out in the desert wandering about. In Italy, there are little lizards everywhere, climbing the walls. Closer to home we're seeing a lot of native fauna reestablishing itself after many years of absence. Rabbits had been scarce until a few years ago; now they are everywhere. Also raccoons and 'possums. (A number of years ago we let our cat out on the porch, only to find her encountering two baby 'possums that had somehow managed to find a way through the screen). Varieties of birds have become common again in our neighborhood, especially titmice and nuthatches. At work at the museum, where we have a couple hundred acres of meadow, wood lot and farmland, there is more variety. Mammals: foxes and deer. Among birds, we had great blue herons and egrets, but alas, our pond dried up, so they're gone. But we do have hawks, both red tail and coopers. Just this past year ravens have made an appearance. I especially love watching the barn swallows put on their airshow. Loops, barrel rolls and himmelmans, six inches from the ground! And they never crash! Ken

Sorry Rodger. The "Mad Auto-Correct" strikes again!! (Just noticed it). Ken

Dodge is correct.

Today is the anniversary of that first fight!

You're welcome whatever your age! Please join us; a bit of "young" blood will do us all good. Rodge is right, the This Week's Meaningless Topic "Club" certainly would welcome you and your contributions. Ken

Here's another addition to Rodger's great topic. Forgive me, but I think this one is especially significant. Another great early airliner which introduced an important "First" to air transport. What airpalne, and what was its "first"?

Thanks for correcting me Nick, that it was the first JET airliner. Of course that is what I meant to say; answering these posts in the morning before work, and before the second cup of coffee not a good idea. Thanks also for filling in the details. I was aware of the safety issues, but did not know the back story. Thanks again. Ken

3. Doolittle raid from USS Hornet, SKA Shangra La 4. First commercial airliner, because of safety issue, not a success. Ken

You bet, Rodge! Rule # 1: Mom is always right. Rule # 2: In the event that Mom should be wrong, refer to rule # 1. Also applies to Wife, Captain, Cat, (especially Cat) or any other figure of ultimate authority.

NO! Ken

Of course peanut butter is an American contrivance, seeing that peanuts (ground nuts, goober peas) are native to the New World. Somehow, though, my English cousins, Morris and Bert, developed a fondness for the stuff as boys back in the late 20s. Of course it was not available in the UK, but their father, my Uncle Bill worked on the liners. So he was here visiting his brother (my Grandpa) every two weeks. On every trip home he took one or more of the huge restaurant size jars with him for his boys and their friends. Gumby's post, plus the fact that it's become common in Asian cooking, proves that since then it has spread to the ends of the world. Ken

No peanut butter sandwiches for us, either. But we do use it as an ingredient in some dishes. One summertime favorite is a Chinese recipe, "Hacked Chicken." It is cold chicken, pulled apart, with a spicy sesame sauce. The sauce can be made with either sesame paste or with peanut butter and sesame oil. We prefer the latter. We also use it in Thai sates. Ken

Here's another aspect of our flight SIM geography/history. It is no secret here that among my interests is nautical history. One of my great favorites has always been Richard Henry Dana's "Two Years Before The Mast." This concerns a voyage from Boston to California in the 1830's, calling in at various "ports" (I'm being generous here) and roadsteads taking on cargos of hides. I have read this book several times, but until now, the last time was quite a number of years ago. I just recently read it again. A whole new experience: since I have been flying the west coast in the sim, the geography became alive. I could identify with the places Dana describes, and relate his description of these places in 1835 with them today. Santa Barbara and the Islands. Catalina. Monterey. San Diego. I got so much more out of this rereading! Ken

My main computers, one only for flight simming, and the other as a network client for the sim, as well as the general word processing, bill paying, general purpose computer are hard wired (Ethernet). I feel that this is both safer and more reliable, and for the sim, faster. I don't know what the specs are. I have the second computer linked to a printer via Wi-Fi. I also have a number of devices that run through Wi-Fi, including several tablets (including one that is only used for the sim). We also have a laptop connected to the network via Wi-Fi. We also have three internet radio receivers that play our favorite radio stations through the Wi-Fi. So the answer is we use both, but the flight simulator runs only through a wired network. Ken

I do, too, Rodge. I at least look up the Wikipedia article. If a place is particularly interesting I'll look farther. Ken

Happy birthday! Many happy returns! Ken

Best wishes, Adam, many happy returns. Ken

Let's not forget how much running our Sims rely on the internet. In any SIM if we use Active Sky or PilotEdge we are simultaneously using the internet. I understand the same is true of some scenery and features of MSFS. Following Wayne's comment, I like to look up info on places I land, not in the R/W, but in the Sim. Ken

Rodger's list says most of it. I don't use Google more than I have to, Bing is my search engine of choice. The rest I use regularly. I like YouTube to watch aviation videos; I learn a lot from Aviation101, and other channels. The other thing is paying bills on line, especially now that postal rates are extortionate, and scammers are stealing and altering checks. Ken

I join all in expressing my gratitude. I hope that this means we'll start seeing some new offerings from Orbx for P3D. The last couple of years have been very frustrating. I have not bought a single Orbx product since last March when I upgraded from FSX to P3D v5, and bought a new computer that allowed me to use the True Earth scenery. But before that, ever since MSFS came out, there have been hardly any offerings for P3D. I have a very long list of airports I would gladly spend money to have in Orbx. I'll only mention two here, now: KCMA, Camarillo, and KFAT, Fresno. Ken

Standard FAA airport diagrams, accessible via SkyVector, give the gradient as a percentage. For example, the chart for KJAC, Jackson Hole, notes that RWY 01 has a gradient of "0.6% UP." This information is placed along the runway itself, along with the actual heading, and is given for one end only. But in my example it is clear that if RWY 01 is 0.6% UP, RWY 19 is 0.6% DOWN. These charts only cover the larger airports, however. Ken

Here on Long Island, in the North East US we had a cool June for the beginning of the summer. It had also been very dry, with drought conditions. Until a week ago we were more than four inches below normal in precipitation. That all held through the beginning of July. Then the weather changed, and it got much warmer. Still we've yet to have days over 90 Fahrenheit, but it has been uncomfortably warm and muggy. Then the rains came. The worst of the storms missed here, passing to the west and north, causing serious flooding and fatalities, including two little kids swept away. We've not had these problems here, but we still made up our four inch deficit in one afternoon. Our real problem has been air quality. Depending on the winds we've gotten a lot of smoke from the Canadian fires. One day the brown/orange haze was so thick I couldn't even see the house across the street clearly. Although not so bad today, when I went out this morning to get the newspaper I could smell smoke. But yeah, Canada is burning, California is burning, the Colorado River is drying up, and kids are being washed away in flash floods, but Global Warming is a hoax. Even in Florida, a state that stands to be greatly affected by stronger and more numerous hurricanes. Ken

A sentiment I fully agree with. At this point in our lives, we frequently have dinner delivered. At times we'll pick up a meal for lunch as well, and from one Afghan place we'll usually buy enough for two or three meals. The food reheats very well in the oven. At this point the convenience is important, we can afford it, and we also believe in supporting our local eateries, some of which took a real pasting during the pandemic. The main reason we opt for takeout rather than dine in is our reluctance to drive at night. Ken