Archive for 2010
I’m with stupid!
The Loop in North Wales and a neat gag!
Photo Chris Chambers
The British Royal Air Force frequently train their air crews in and around the valleys of North Wales. Much of that area is designated a Tactical Training Area. One such route is known as The Loop. Here’s a description of that from the website Warplane.co.uk:
Machynlleth Loop
The most appropriate place to start with is the Machynlleth Loop which is usually referred to by aircrews as ‘The Loop’ although the USAF crews refer to it as ‘The Roundabout’. It is literally a roundabout of flowed valleys running counter-clockwise following the A470 north eastwards from Machynlleth in the south to Dinas Mawddwy then heading north west to join the A487 at the Cross Foxes Inn. From here it follows the A487 southwards through Corris to end back at Machynlleth. Ordnance Survey Explorer Map OL23 is recommended for anyone planning a visit.
It is arguably the busiest part of the UK low fly system and although the cold war days of up to 80 plus movements in a day are long gone it is still sometimes possible to see 30 plus aircraft in one day. The usual daily total is usually between 10 and 20 aircraft mainly made up of Hawks with the odd Tornado, Harrier or Hercules thrown in. It is certainly the place to go to practice your panning technique.
It takes about 3 minutes for a jet aircraft to do a circuit of the Loop and multiple passes by aircraft is not an uncommon sight, especially by Hawks. So whenever you see an aircraft it is worth checking to see if it looks like doing a circuit as you may be lucky enough to see it again in 3 minutes.
Do click on the link if only to view some of the fantastic flying photographs.
Anyway, a couple of British newspapers recently published a piece about an RAF Navigator holding up a sign inside the cockpit for the many amateur photographers who frequent this part of the country.
Here’s an extract from the Daily Mail:
A RAF navigator gave plane-spotters a chuckle as he held up a sign reading ‘I’m with stupid’ with an arrow pointing to the pilot.
The pair were on a training mission in a £13million Tornado GR4 aircraft, capable of reaching 1,400mph, when the navigator pulled the prank as they jetted through a valley in Wales.
Copyright Andrew Chittock
Wonderful prank, and wonderful picture taken by Andy Chittock who clearly is rather used to taking a mean photograph!
By Paul Handover
Light My Fire?
Any firelighters out there?
I am not sure what the problem is, but I’ve had a difficult time of late finding the passion.
Maybe it’s the continuous stream of bad news that greets us every morning on everything from war and oil spills to lawsuits and unemployment.
Maybe it’s the finger pointing: no one standing up to take responsibility, everyone passing the blame (except for General McChrystal, who likely took the blame for his staff).
Maybe it’s the lack of leadership: we don’t really know where we are headed, and we have no plan for figuring out how we are going to get there, wherever that is.
So what do you do to find your passion? Write in and let us know! Inspire us! We would love to hear what you do to “light your fire!”
Light my Fire?
by Sherry Jarrell
Stonehenge – a place of healing
Incredible outcomes from the dig in 2008
Stonehenge is one of Britain’s most famous historical sites, deservedly so because Stonehenge was one of the most important places in ancient Europe.
Stonehenge
Professors Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright are the world-renowned archaeologists who believe they have cracked the conundrum of Stonehenge's original purpose.
But evidence from a dig that was authorised in 2008 has shown that not only is Stonehenge a much older site of human habitation but that it’s purpose is altogether different to what has been assumed. It was, indeed, a healing place, possibly the most important in Europe.
Those living in the UK can watch the Timewatch programme on the BBC iPlayer. But for those living outside the UK then the following web site has reams of wonderfully fascinating information. That site is here.
By Paul Handover
That oil spill
Visualisation of data
I can’t recall how but I came across a web site that focuses on ‘translating’ data into pictures. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. The web site is called Information is Beautiful.
Anyhow, they have attempted to graphically portray the scale of the BP oil spill. (A thumbnail is below but please click on the link, or here, to see this as it was meant to be shown.)
Ouch!
But this image is an update of an earlier one here that is really powerful. Because it attempts to put the scale of the oil spill into context with global oil consumption.
If the Purdue University estimate of the oil spill is correct at 48,500 barrels a day (a barrel is approximately the equivalent of two car tankfuls of gas/petrol) and the spill is contained in 90 days then the total oil spilled will be:
90 x 48,500 = 4,365,000 barrels
That is an enormous quantity.
But have a guess as to how much that would represent in terms of hourly global oil consumption?
Any idea?
Well global oil consumption is 3,500,000 barrels an hour.
So 90 days at 48,500 barrels a day represents just 1 hour 15 minutes worth of global consumption!
If there was ever an argument for the world to wean itself off oil then this would appear to be it.
What has happened so far is tragic – tragic beyond measure. But if it turns out to be a ‘tipping point’ for nations to reconsider how we find and use energy then, perhaps, it will have been a horrible lesson that we all had to take.
And if the USA puts all it’s collective back into leading the world out of our addiction to oil then the damage and hardship will not have been in vain.
By Paul Handover
Living in the present
What do you think of it so far?
The above is a popular catchphrase. It suggests that how we view something now is the product of all our experiences to date. It might apply to a book, play, TV programme or life itself.
But the truth may be very different, how we view the present moment may be more to do with shutting off all those previous experiences and just accepting the present as if we have been blind, dumb and deaf until this perfect moment of now.
That’s why what we have to learn from dogs is so important even though that ‘lesson’ may be just this single, very, very important aspect. Living in the now!
Here’s what is written on our Home Page post:
Dogs have so much to teach us. To an extent that’s difficult for humans to contemplate, they live in the present. Dogs just are!
They make the best of each moment uncluttered by the sorts of complex fears and feelings that we humans have.
Living in the present is not easy. Trust me, I’m only starting to practice this myself and maintaining a few seconds is a challenge!
But try it. Just let everything in your mind be replaced, just for a few moments, by NOW. That’s the sound of your breath woven into the sound of everything going on around you. Let all of those sounds just be a part of your awareness.
Be aware of touch. Feel what you are sitting on standing on. Feel the messages your fingers and hands are sending to your nervous system. Feel the bench, chair, ground or whatever is connecting your body in a physical sense to the world around you.
Hold a rock, a plant, a branch, anything real and be totally aware of the texture and feel of that object.
Smell the aromas entering your nose – just be aware of them.
And see with your eyes. Really see. See through your eyes with the innocence of eyes first opened.
Just hold this place of divine grace for a few moments.
You have just experienced true peace and your world will never be quite the same again.
A Spring flower
Oh, how I envy dogs!
By Paul Handover
Feeling safe!
Safe, as in psychologically as well as physically, has its rewards.
Jon Lavin
I had a very interesting session recently. I did some coaching work with a client company who managed a small team. The day was split into two – the morning with the client and the afternoon with the whole team.
What struck me about the day was the power of good leadership and the importance of leaders who are aware of how they come across and are capable of forming a relationship with their teams.
My client was struggling with her team because she was unaware how she was communicating, not only with her team but with other people in the organisation.
Unfortunately, becoming aware of how we are in a relationship with others brings us face to face with ourselves and requires a willingness to accept ourselves, warts and all, before trying to change anything.
After we all had lunch together and broke the ice a bit we focused on what was working (not what was not working), what was missing, what inspired and what was possible. By examining these areas and so creating a safe environment, everybody was able to reveal more of themselves and what they needed to have a satisfactory, safe working relationship with each other.
By Jon Lavin
Happiness
That pre-frontal cortex is at it again.
Prof Gilbert
There’s a fascinating video on the http://www.TED.com website given by Prof Dan Gilbert. Prof Dan is Professor of Psychology at Havard and there’s a good resume on WikiPedia.
Here’s how John Brockman describes Dan Gilbert.
Dan Gilbert doesn’t have an instruction manual that tells you how to be happy in four easy steps and one hard one. Nor is he the kind of thinker who needs Freud, Marx, and Modernism to explain the human condition.
Gilbert, the Director of Harvard’s Hedonic Psychology Laboratory, is a scientist who explores what philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics have to teach us about how, and how well the human brain can imagine its own future, and about how, and how well it can predict which of those futures it will most enjoy.
There can’t be a human that hasn’t pondered on what makes them happy. Gilbert sets out some fascinating and possibly counter-intuitive ideas. Here’s the video
By Paul Handover
Paul Handover
