Stephen T. Wilson

The Jacob Wilson Experience

2012-01-29T21:25:17Z

Jacob, my oldest son, is celebrated by his friends on Facebook in this upload called the "The Jacob Wilson Experience":

Video credit: Rocky Principe with Ilham Jelovac, Brandon Michael Hanna, and Jacob Wilson.

I'll have listened to this soulful expression a thousand times. Mmm.

Simple and Yummy Caramel Popcorn

2012-01-23T18:17:14Z

1 C Butter (two sticks)

½ C Corn Syrup

2 C Brown Sugar

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Large Bowl of Popcorn (white preferred)

Preheat oven to 250° Prepare popcorn in a very large bowl, the amount you make for three or four people.

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium low heat (3-4). Use a whisk to stir in brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Stir constantly to bring to boil, then boil without stirring 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. Pour in a thin stream over popcorn and stir to coat.

Spread coated popcorn into two large cake pans (not greased). Bake for one hour. Set timer to stir every fifteen minutes.

Remove from oven and mix back into the large bowl into pieces before it hardens into clumps.

TIPS:

Be careful to bring the candy mixture to boil using lower heat and lots of stirring. Using higher heat and/or inadequate stirring will result in grainy candy.

Give care that your oven is set to 250°, not 350 which is its default setting.

Bag the corn in quart-sized Ziplocs, not gallon. You will eat this bag in one sitting.

M&M's and Bird Food

2011-08-25T16:19:15Z

If Pepper could tolerate chocolate, she'd enjoy eating M&M's, as I do. That is, to eat them in order, one color at a time.

First Pepper eats the yellow pieces.

Then she eats the red ones.

Then the green ones, then the orange ones,

until all that's left are purple. Purple may be her least or most favorite color. I don't know.

It makes me wonder how she'd tackle an Oreo or a Nutter Butter.

Thirty-Nine Million Dollars

2011-08-03T03:43:21Z

I suppose that's what Gateway would've valued my laptop in 1982 advertising compared to the Commodore 64.

It would take 65,536 Commodore 64s to equal one Gateway laptop of 4GB RAM. At $595 a Commodore copy, that would be thirty-nine million bucks. (Eighty-seven million adjusted for inflation.)

Follow this logic:

Mouse iNhibitor

2011-08-02T00:28:27Z

The iVersion of modern day mousing.

Dikes Part the Missouri River

2011-08-01T23:51:38Z

Alternate title: "On the Lookout for Captain Crab".

Interstate 29 is closed north and south of Omaha adding a hundred or so miles driving to Fargo. This is what's like where it is open:

And this, The Parting of the Missouri:

Oshkosh, Me and Adam

2011-07-28T16:30:13Z

Tomorrow, Adam and I are going to the largest airshow in the world.

According to it's organizer, "The Experimental Aircraft Association's Fly-In Convention, now known as EAA AirVenture Oshkosh spans the entire spectrum of aviation and attracts 10,000 airplanes each year. The more than 500,000 aviation enthusiasts who attend the event annually supply the local and state economies with more than a $110-million boost during the week-long event."

And yes, we're going to camp out, right there with all the planes!

The best part is, we're flying home in Cessna's brand new Skycatcher the very plane Cessna has on display at the show. Cool, huh?!

This isn't me and Adam, but this is exactly what we're about to do together:

Well, actually. The best part will be, being with Adam.

What to Do with Walmart Bags

2011-07-28T15:46:32Z

This is a mess.

If you don't have a recycle bin to stuff them in, here's a handy way to keep plastic bags neatly. Anne showed me how:

Voici la neat sac o' bags:

Now, how to fold a fitted sheet?! Mother?

Flowerpot Garden

2011-07-26T19:26:39Z

The flowerpot garden on my deck required gallons of daily water. It eventually yielded this miniature produce.

And to it, I wielded scissors.

The end.

EMpathetic

2011-07-24T18:23:30Z

"She got what she deserved." That was the refrain all over Facebook today at the news Amy Winehouse was found dead.

"She was pathetic."

I say she was empathetic. Amy Winehouse put voice to describe those who are not understood, those who are condemned, yet may have deep capacity for love and caring, those who feel life intensely.

Intuitive people with great passion can be so burdened in feelings, they are unable to navigate what others consider is no big deal. Amy Winehouse, damned as a user, did use words to express what others may not get.

Coping people are assumed addicts. Some are heros, poets, Grammy award winners. Some are estranged loved ones you don't get. Yet.

Push button, receive bacon

2011-07-20T16:06:31Z

From HappyPlace.com.

Scrape, Scrape

2011-07-19T21:21:54Z

Hat tip to Brad Brittingham for alerting me to this video:

Scrape, scrape is dragging a foot peg. That warns the rider, it's about as far as he can lean.

A Really Neat Chart

2011-07-18T15:35:01Z

I especially like the underwater part.

Source OurAmazingPlanet.com, Exploring the wonder and beauty of planet Earth through exclusive news, features and images.

Fly the unFriendly Skies

2011-06-23T19:33:00Z

What makes top news today: a Southwest pilot's homophobic and vulgar admission he is a sexual predator; it was kept quiet for some three months.  This happened on March 25th, 2011, broadcast over air route traffic control frequency during flight. It's now almost July.

Except that his stuck microphone did not play into the passenger cabin, but instead over ATC frequency, the FAA, the pilot community and Southwest Airlines kept this under wraps for eighty-nine days. Amazing.

In interview with Tom Costello on the NBC Today Show this morning, Aviation Analyst, John Cox defended the airline industry saying, the pilot's comments are a throw-back to a different age in the cockpit, "It was more common in the past, but in today's environment you see a lot more focus on the professionalism and you don't hear these kinds of things very often anymore."

Really? Mr, Cox, you don't hear these kinds of things often, anymore? The sound sample of only sixty seconds stuck mic was among six thousand airborne planes at the time. Spend one moment to Google "Southwest stuck mic"; you will find pilot aviation forums yucking it up already in defense of the pilot saying, "Well, at least he was honest!"

What's funny to some homophobic and misogynist pilots is not funny, at all, to those who might deserve their jobs.

Is it any wonder only six percent of all commercial pilots are women?  The cockpit is not a place of equal opportunity. Never was. Isn't today. What's more, there's a cover-up.  Outside what airlines now call a "flight deck", the pilot fraternity defends itself saying, "yeah it used to be like that, we're more professional now."

Try to find the pilot's name. You can't. Southwest will not identify the pilot who was ~~fired~~ initially suspended without pay.  He's safely back in the cockpit under the good-'ol-boy protection program and after involuntary "diversity" training.

Here's the transcript of exactly what was said:

Southwest Pilot: “Well, I had Tucson to Indy all four weeks and, uh, Chicago crews…11 out of 12 …there’s 12 flight attendants, individual, never the same flight attendant twice.

“Eleven fucking over the top fucking, ass-fucking homosexuals and a granny.” (silence)

“Eleven. I mean, think of the odds of that. I thought I was in Chicago, which was party-land.”

“After that, it was just a continuous stream of gays and grannies and grandes…”

“Well I don’t give a fuck. I hate 100 percent of their asses.”

“So, six months, I went to the bar three times. In six months, three times.”

“Once with the granny and the fag, and I wish I hadn’t gone.”

“At the very end with two girls, one of them that was part do-able, but we ended up going to the bar and then to the crew at St. Louis, and all these two women wanted to do was, one wanted to berate her sister and the other wanted to bitch about her husband.”

“Literally, for three hours, me and the F.O. (First officer). When that was done, got back to my room, I’m like why the fuck did I stay up?”

ATC: “OK, whoever is, uh, transmitting, better watch what you’re saying.”

Southwest Pilot continues: “They’re still both (inaudible), you know what I mean? I still wouldn’t want anyone to know if I had banged them.”

“So, I mean it was a complete disaster for six months.”

“Now I’m back in Houston, which is easily where the ugliest bases. I mean it’s all these fucking old dudes and grannies and there’s like maybe a handful of cute chicks.”

Aviation market studies indicate women make up 26% of the prospective pilot population. Only 7% of all pilots are female. Unless serious action is taken, I doubt anything will change soon. More on the subject here: Sexism in Aviation, Then and Now.

Update: Co-workers, not Southwest, just released the pilot's name, James Fritzen Taylor, 46.

Seat Belt Best Practice

2011-06-23T14:30:42Z

Hat tip to Captain Crab, this video demonstrates the importance of seat belt use while performing the open cockpit biplane flip-over maneuver:

Seat belt best practice: Once the aircraft comes to a complete stop, ascertain the direction of gravity before hastily unlatching the seat belt.

On pickups, they're called Texas pinstripes;

2011-06-13T17:39:00Z

that's what I've heard scuff marks are along the side of a car from rubbing against shrubs or tree branches.

What they're called on airplanes, I don't know, and I don't think it's Texas pinstripes.

Whew.

(Incidentally, the Stinson aircraft featured in this video is the safest of all small planes. See here: http://stevewilsonblog.com/2010/12/22/grandadwonatcheckers.aspx)

Here's: the rest of the story.

A Brilliant Comedian

2011-05-25T17:51:39Z

Enjoy: http://jerryseinfeld.com/

Do Not Try This at Home

2011-05-24T02:23:00Z

Private pilots you trust, who seem proficient and careful - they may deny what others say are obvious defects in small planes they fly. They take for granted trust of their passengers and demonstrate aviation prowess, command over nature they assume passengers agree is worth it.

Ask such a pilot whether or not the plane you're about to ride in is safe, he'll sprout porcupine quills. You couldn't hurl an insult more personal than to question the airworthiness of his plane.

Cirrus owner, Regis de Ramel, former Cirrus Regional Sales Manager Mid-Atlantic region commented on my blog post that offended him.
     "You are so completely incorrect. Your "expert" opinions are totally without fact or merit. It is unfortunate that you pretend to be so well informed but yet have very little knowledge in flight test or design; or apparently as a pilot it seems.
     In full disclosure, I am bias to the Cirrus, with well over 3,000 hours flying the Cirrus in all types of conditions (including ice) and as a former factory demonstration pilot. Prospective owners have put the Cirrus in many unusual and unrecommended attitudes in an effort to "test" the Cirrus (not to mention the FAA through certification). I have never once seen the Cirrus "loose control." The wing cuffs or spring loaded flight controls do not dampen the flight characteristics of the plane - they have in fact made it safer and more enjoyable to fly!
     As for icing, I suggest you speak to any flight test engineer who has take any plane through Part 23 FIKI certification. You will find your conclusions to be totally off base and incorrect. Or better yet, let's go for a flight!"

Pilots who demonstrate superior piloting skill and understanding are quick to damn lesser pilots who crash. You've heard it. "The pilot was inexperienced, inept, he made poor judgments, it was pilot error", they proclaim. "Flying is safer than driving."

The FAA says that on average, 1.1 people are killed in general aviation aircraft per 100,000 hours flown. That compared to 1.5 people killed in 100 million miles of driving shows driving is 12 times safer than flying a small plane which is slightly safer than riding on a motorcycle. (100 million miles driving at 60 miles per hour is 1.6 million hours.)

The preceding words will aggravate the pilot hell-bent on convincing his wife or girlfriend to fly with him. What he claims is, "Bad pilots crash planes. There's no reason a plane would crash on its own."

Yet, there are times when the refrain, "pilot error" isn't so easy. That’s when the accident pilot was known and respected by his accuser. This scenario requires the know-it-all pilot to imagine improbable coincidence to blame. “The pilot must've had a heart attack when the door popped open.” “Maybe a fire broke out in the cockpit as he approached to land.” Seriously, these arguments were noted from a manufacturer's aviation forum about a recent accident, below.

Though sometimes elusive to an accident investigator, there is always specific cause and effect not to be dismissed simply as pilot error. An experienced accident investigator does not believe in coincidence, except that coincidence is very rare indeed. To forgo "pilot error", it requires a critique of the tenets of aviation, an investigation of aircraft design. Blame pilot or God, but casting a jaundiced eye toward thou holy Cirrus constitutes a violation of the code of the Fraternal Order of Pilots.

Cirrus-made planes have a well-known problem of doors not staying closed in flight. Besides obvious concern, the Cirrus door makes up the armrest of the Cirrus's highly sensitive side-stick control. Yet, there is no owner outcry demanding a factory recall that you’d expect in cases of automobile defect or laptop battery overheat. Instead the aviation community says a door popping open, “is no big deal.” “Pay no attention to it and land.” Pilots are supposed to man-up and fly the plane.

Here's video of a recent Cirrus accident that occurred after the pilot reported his door popped open shortly after takeoff on a routine flight:

It's strange, the defense among pilots over the dismal safety record of the Cirrus airplane, the plane that has a safety parachute designed to save its occupants (which in fact is has, dozens of times). No one, besides Cessna salespeople and so-called ambulance-chasing attorneys question the Cirrus design: why the parachute was necessary so often, why so many Cirrus pilots and passengers were seriously injured and killed.

This pilot, Alexander Wolf (a.k.a. Wolfala on YouTube), a flight instructor and Cirrus owner made an inflight YouTube video to prove he can do all kinds of maneuvers with a Cirrus door open. Why? To prove why pilots are sissies to complain about open doors. To prove a plane flies just fine this way. To make a cool public video to show off his aviation prowess.

Wolf's video is not the only case where Cirrus pilots go out of their way to prove the Cirrus airplane safe with a defective door. Cirrus fanatics take video, photographs and write in forums to prove unequivocally to themselves a cabin door opening in flight is a non-event. Whatever the pilot did that crashed, he exercised poor judgment.

The fallacy of Wolf's experiment is that he took the video at 4,500 feet high over the ocean where air is homogenous and smooth. At such altitude, aircraft flight and stall characteristics are not worsened by wind sheer and turbulence that occur at low altitude closer to hills, trees, buildings, and thermal activity. Contradictory to Wolf's video portayal that a Cirrus door opening is no big deal are NTSB reports of DOZENS of experienced pilots that lost control of Cirrus planes.

Reports of those who knew the pilot who crashed in the above video confirm he was competent, skillful, an experienced pilot of 38 years. His obituary reveals a person without need to prove himself.

Obituary of James Rush Freeman III
The Courier, Savannah, TN, August 12, 2010, Page 9A

Prominent residential and multi-family home-builder, civic leader and philanthropist died in Phoenix, Arizona on August 4, 2010. Born in Savannah, Tennessee on April 2,1943, Jim graduated from Columbia Military Academy, Georgia Tech, and Harvard Business School, and served in Viet Nam as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army from 1968-70. Following his Army commitment, Jim worked as a developer in Los Angeles and Portland before being recruited to Phoenix by Lincoln Property Company. Over the next thirty years, he became Regional Partner of Lincoln Property Company, CEO of Gemini Development, and President of Keepsake Homes. In addition to his significant professional career achievements, Jim reached out to respond to community needs by serving on many community boards including Junior Achievement, Brophy College Preparatory, Foster Care Review, Arizona Multi-Housing Association, the Phoenix Symphony, Delta Dental Foundation, and the Harvard Business School Alumni Board. He chaired Junior Achievement, the Arizona Multi-Housing Association, and the City of Phoenix Block Grant Program. In addition, Jim was active in Habitat for Humanity and on many government and nonprofit task forces and oversaw capital construction projects at the Arizona Science Center, Junior Achievement, and Brophy College Preparatory. Although Jim was an avid hiker, tennis player, and golfer, it was flying that captured his heart. He earned his single engine, IFR, and multi-engine ratings and was a seasoned and experienced pilot of 38 years. Jim’s favorite trips were cross-country flights from Phoenix to his NC summer home and his Hardin County roots as well as to Oshkosh’s Annual Airshow. A passionate traveler, he loved seeing the world at ground level as well as looking down through the clouds.

Fortunately, Mr. Freeman was alone as he tried to save himself during the crash. As aircraft accidents are tragic, they're even more so when passengers do not share a pilot's view of risk. If ever you sense a pilot denying risk that makes you uncomfortable and you feel unable to say no, have a motorcycle helmet handy to wear. It's unlikely this kind of person would ever ask you to fly again.

They're not very sneaky.

2011-02-13T22:16:00Z

Something must be going down in the neighborhood as the FBI's snooping around. I see them on WIFI.

They're not very sneaky.

POSTED: NO Kitties

2011-01-11T19:12:00Z

In another post, I reported the mystery solved, why my plant cuttings required so much water. It seemed Kitcha was partial to Miracle Grow water.

Indoor gardens are supposed to be free of pests and varmits. Mine was. Kinduv.

All except for the kitty,

the kitty that reads english.