INTO THE NOT SO WILD BLUE

A PHOTO EDITION

Friends have spoken of the amazing aerial 

display in the morning skies near

San Simeon. 

Here is a photo log of what I saw in

the crisp morning air on a beautiful ridge

looking over the Pacific and the Santa Lucia

range.  Thanks to John, Joel and Jim

for the exciting show.

Sorry about the crash John.

More about that still ahead.

Yes, this F 16 seems to be near the ground.

It was.

 The Setting

What follows are 50 frames of planes and aerobatic maneuvers by land based pilots.  This is remote controlled

flying, Central Coast style.

It's hard to capture a plane in flight when they are 

moving as quickly as these were. But we managed a 

few shots and cropped a few to give you

a good seat for a great air show.

 John with his flying wing.

This F-16 includes a ducted fan that gives it a "jet like" quality.

 Joel's red wing is a warped wing creation.

 There are no control surfaces on the wing,

instead the wing itself is manipulated,

not unlike the Wright Brothers plane.

The handmade creations are exotic, like this Double Delta wing. 

 The pilots use a control panel that works on 

a variety of spread spectrum frequencies to control the plane

and its flight mechanisms.

 Connections to the navigation and flight controls.

 While some are gas powered, these craft are 

powered by lithium polymer batteries.

 Below, John puts the transmitter

on the battery so it is under control from

the moment of power.

 John brought out one "indestructible" plane and

gave me a chance to fly it.

 Well, I wasn't at the controls long before we 

made a hard landing, nose first, a full field away.

 John said a little glue

 to the break you see here, and it will be back in the air.

 The above adorns the side of Johns F-22,

which he flies when he and Joel engage in dog fights.

 I got lucky on a couple of frames and captured

both of the craft in their fight.

 The air craft are foam bodied,

made with a styrene, EPP (expanded polypropylene) or depron.  The light weight material was originally designed as 

insulating foam.

 This double delta wing creates a unique air profile.

 From a distance, without seeing the remote operators,

these craft create such a realistic profile

you could swear you were watching the real deal.

The guys are out most mornings, shortly after sunrise, filling the sky with great maneuvers and skill.

John says "it's a great way to start a day."

See you down the trail.

HEY FACEBOOK-WHAT ABOUT THIS?

SHARE THE WEALTH WITH

THOSE WHO MADE YOU

As the world awaits the Facebook IPO, the
experts are predicting the market value of
the company could soar to $100 Billion. One
analyst said anything under $75 Billion would be
a disappointment.
Mark Zuckerberg's company is expected to raise
some 10 Billion in the stock offering making
it one of the 4 or 5 largest IPO's in history.
Well Mark, here's something you should do-share
some of that wealth with the folks who have made
Facebook valuable-those who use the social network.
I can urge this without a conflict of interest, because
I have refused to do Facebook simply because of
the economics.  
The company has a market value now that is likely to
skyrocket when openly traded as stock, because of
those of you who social network there.  It is you,
and your exchanges and posts that give the
computers the data to mine that in turn has 
a commercial value.  You, your life, your habits
and a whole lot more creates a huge information
field which is then captured, analyzed and marketed, so Zuckerberg and company become billionaires.  
Here's a purely capitalistic entreaty-
return some of that worth and value to the 
users.  You can do that in cash, stocks,
dividends or other means.  
Facebook should attach a value to the amount of 
data and activity that you create by your use and 
compensate you accordingly.
One could even imagine a cooperative idea, 
not unlike an REI, where, based on your use
you have a percentage of year end wealth.
Be creative Mark.  After all if people found
another venue to social network, or another
way to do what they do on Facebook-and those
venues exist-and abandoned your Facebook,
how much would you and the company be
worth?  
If someone creates a model that accomplishes
what Facebook does, but also compensates
the people who make it worthy, we just
might witness another 
communication revolution.


DAY BOOK
Birds of a Feather

Several specie share a few moments on Moonstone Beach in Cambria.

Not bad for a winter's day.
See you down the trail.