Monday, January 25, 2010

Loch Ness

Seen on the side of the road in Scotland....


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Some say that his politics are terrifying, and that he once punched a horse to the ground...

All we know, is that he is called 'the Stig'.

[Edit 04.26.2010]
Since Google doesn't seem to like 'The Stig' and removed his image, here is a screenshot.

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Where in the World is Mike?

Still working on flying around the world. Made it throught the Middle East, flew a loop around the great pyramids, and finally made to Europe. I just arrived in Athens.


View Round The World in a larger map

Staying true to my word, I haven't used the time acceleration at all. Haven't crashed either (other than computer crashes). I have no idea the path that I'll take through Europe, other that I'll end up in the Orkney Islands of Scotland with a hop to the Faroe Islands to Iceland.

So far I have over 50 hours in my Real Air Beechcraft Duke outfitted with a Reality XP Garmin GNS 530w GPS (only about 5 hours with the GPS).

Yes, I'm still doing it NWA style, putting it on autopilot and reading a book. Just finished Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. Good book BTW, I really liked it.

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Championship Day!

Woot! Championship day is here!

In my opinion, I think this Sunday is better than Super Bowl Sunday. Mostly, because you get two games. ...And the games are the focus, not the commercials.

I sure fell blessed to have been able to experience on live with the Seahawks first hand, probably one of my favorite experiences ever. The buzz building up before the game. The buzz of the game itself, and the explosion of emotion of the win. I have goose-bumps thinking of it. I hope I get to do it again, but doubt it will be as great as the first time.

Note: That Bald Eagle flying around during the National Anthem in Indianapolis was very cool, but not even quarter as cool as a few F-15 Eagles flying by after "The home of the brave."

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Wednesday, January 06, 2010

Most Useless Stat Today...

Poll: 63% Know Spouse Who Cheated

Nearly two-thirds of all Americans know someone who has been unfaithful to their spouse, according to a new CBS News poll.


Does anybody see a problem with this? It means nothing!!!

THIS JUST IN.... Nearly 100% of people know someone with red hair!!! (I made that up, but I am fairly confident that it is true)

It irritated the hell out of me this morning when I heard this on the news as I was driving in to work. The anchors were swooning over the number, "ohhh, wow, that is a significant number!"

I've known, say, two hundred people. (I'm a bit of a hermit) I know of only one person that has cheated on their spouse. Carrie has know five hundred people. She can only thing of two that cheated. If we were polled according to this, 100% of the people in my household know someone who has cheated. A much more meaningful stat would be that as far as Carrie and I can tell, only 0.4% of people that we know have cheated.

Yes, I am sure more that 0.4% percent of people have cheated, but I am sure that the number is closer to that than the 63% stupid stat.

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Friday, January 01, 2010

The D is for DALOTO

Yay, a new tag-line! (look up ^^^)

The D is for DALOTO.

What is 'DALOTO'? 'DALOTO' is short for 'Do A Lot Of Things Okay'. (I made it up.)

It is how I live my life, the opposite of 'Do one thing and do it well'. Why? Because there are so many fascinating things out there and unfortunately not enough time to learn them all well enough to be an 'expert'.

Things such as sailing, RC cars, woodworking, programming, cooking, interior decorating, gardening, nunchucks (kidding), etc... I want to learn just enough of many things to make me dangerous.

Take my latest venture, flight simulators. Not content to just take-off and fly around, I've been reading about and trying to implement real flight procedures. Tuning the radios (both communication and navigation), adjusting mixture, regulating the engine temp with the cowl flaps, etc... I bought an add-on plane that just about all of the switched and knobs work. Currently I am on a round-the-world trip using it.

View Round The World in a larger map

Not only am I getting a rudimentary knowledge of flying, but I am getting a better knowledge of geography. I can now find places such as Tokyo and Hong Kong on Google Earth without seeing borders and names. Sadly I didn't know where Taiwan was. Oh, I could come within a thousand miles of it and find it if names were on, but that was about it. I wasn't sure if it was an island or part of the mainland. (It is an island)

I am doing this trip real-time, no acceleration, in one to two hour hops. Over 50 hours in... Boring? Not really, I take off, get set on my course, switch on the autopilot and typically read a book, NWA style (I have yet to overfly a destination). I listen to monitor ATC (yes it has that), and set my book down when it is time to land her. I explore my destinations on Google Earth either when planning my flight, or after I get there. I am also trying to learn morse code, so I can tell that I am tuned to the proper frequency.

Nerdy, yes, but that is DALOTO in a nutshell. I am not ashamed.

From now on, or at least until I become bored of it, I will try to tag any of my posts regarding stuff such as this as 'daloto', so you can easily navigate back to them. You're welcome!

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The Most Useless Machine Ever/New Years Resolution

Happy New Year everybody! Hope all y'all had a good and safe celebration and that there aren't too many throbbing headaches this morning.

I, being the old man that I have become, brought in the New Year reading a book I got for Christmas (Atlas Shrugged/Ayne Rand, loving it, thanks Mom!), while sipping a Talisker 10yr single-malt scotch. That is just the way I roll...

Anyhow, yesterday I came across the 'Most Useless Machine Ever'...


...And it fascinated me. Like it's name implies, it is a useless machine. All it does when you turn it on is reach out with an arm and turn itself back off. Yes, you can probably find a manufactured box that does the same exact thing at a silly knick-knack store, but that isn't the point. I am so fascinated with it that I have decided to make it one of my resolutions.

I, Mike D, resolve to build the 'Most Useless Machine Ever'. More important than building it, I resolve to learn why/how it works.


There, it is official!

Back when I was a wee laddie, I thought that electronics was the way that I was going to go. I'd get the Radio Shack (oh snap!) IC catalog and thumb through library books, but I never had the patience to learn. Now I do! This can be another feather in my "do-a-lot-of-things-ok" hat.

If you want to build one your yourself, head over to Instructibles to find out how.
[h/t Gizmodo]

BTW, anybody catch the circular references in this post? No? I was drinking Talisker, from the Isle of Skye. Home of the MacLeod Clan. I have a great, great grandfather MacLeod. The song on the YouTube is by a Kevin MacLeod... Weird! I know, only to me...

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