Through The Mist Darkly

I went off to the Toronto Aerospace Museum today expecting to spend more hours blasting the primer off the brackets for the display stands.  Well, I did plenty of that but also saw some interesting things.  A new business has opened up across the road and I walked over to see 6 helicopters!  Here is an Aerospatiale AS35551 lifting off.  A lot quieter than I thought it would be.

Sitting out in the sun was the Global News chopper.  Another Aerospatiale, I’ve seen this one flying over the city but didn’t think I would get this close.  I guess I’ll have to make nice with our new neighbours and, perhaps, I can hitch a ride.

Just as I was leaving for the day, this brand new Bombardier CRJ spooled up on the runway by the museum.  First time I’ve seen one at Downsview.  I imagine it was off to Montreal for the final paint job.

Another reason I didn’t get much done today was that it was time to move a few of the aircraft around.  They needed to reposition the little Ultimate stuntplane so the front section of the Lancaster had to be swung out of the way.  While not pushing a broom (you’re a volunteer, you do everything and the area under the Lanc needed sweeping) I managed to get this shot of the interior.

It’s a little hard to make things out because it was actually above me.  The mustard colored metal at the top of the shot is the windshield area and the clear area straight ahead is where the bombardier sat (or layed) as he guided the bomber over the target.  It doesn’t look like much now but in a few years it will be immaculate.  The work the skilled volunteers do is amazing.

More shots are available over at my Flickr page (see link on the right) or you can click on any of these to see a larger version.

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Theodore Sturgeon

“Ninety percent of everything is crap.”

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 You’re flying along and all of a sudden a flaming piece of space junk almost hits you.  Welcome to the impercise science of deorbiting satellite re-entry calculation.

A Lan Chile Airbus A340 on its way from Santiago to Auckland New Zealand yesterday came very close to being destroyed by a piece of a Russian satellite that came back to Earth a day early.

How close did it come?  The pilot reported that the “rumbling” noise from the flaming junk could be heard in the cockpit.

From the article, a spokesman for Airways New Zealand which handles air navigation services said, “clearly there has been a timing issue” when asked to explain why the satellite decided to come back ahead of schedule.

It’s not like the timing was predicted by rocket scientists….hmmm.

(image above shows some of the junk in orbit currently being mapped)

Link to thewest.com.au : Flaming space junk narrowly misses jet

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 Article reports a protest group is claming that a container destined for Wal*Mart arrives at a US port every 45 seconds.

The group, WakeUpWalMart, raises the issue to point out the fact that only 5% are being checked by Homeland Security.

Dealing with the giant as part of my job, I really don’t have any reason to doubt their claim.  Wal*Mart is the 600 pound gorilla in the global logistics business and the numbers that swirl around their empire are legendary.

• largest private employer in the United States
• largest grocery retailer in the US
• over 1,000 discount stores (US) and 2,200 Supercenters (US) and nearly 300 in Canada
• data storage of 460 terrabytes

They’re ruthless and they’re goal to drive costs down by pushing back against suppliers and 3rd party service providers like mine make them extremely difficult to deal with.  Unfortunately, they hold so much clout that you can’t ignore them and they don’t seem to be going away any time soon.

As for the question of container inspection, fine in practice but a hell of a task. In 2005, it was estimated that 18 million containers were around and over 200 million trips were logged.  That’s over 11 trips a year PER container. The largest container line, A.P. Moller-Maersk Group had, as of January 2006, 549 ships capable of containing 1,665,272 TEUs (stands for 20 Foot Equivalency - a 40′ can counts as 2 TEU).  And they only accounted for 18% of the world’s total capacity.

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Now that it appears I’m officially collecting aircraft memrobilia, I have to start clearing out my office to make room.

This week, I picked up this ashtray and a little snooping around the Net has gotten me really excited.

The ashtray commemorates the start of United Airlines’ scheduled DC-8 service in September 1959.  On the side, it is imprinted with the name “R. A. Miller” but Google doesn’t lead me to much except a listing for a company of that name that produces avionics.

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Set out again this morning to work on the sunrise photos.  It was supposed to be clear.  Instead, the fog rolled in.

Sharp eyes will notice that this is the same tree shown in yesterday’s posting.  A wider shot today from about the same angle.  A stark outline against the gray skies.

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I was working at the Toronto Aerospace Museum in the Lancaster restoration area when a couple of new acquisitions came in.

A transmitter of the type used on the Lancaster bomber that is currently undergoing restoration.  It was used to send bomb damage assessments and aircraft status via Morse code.  One of the volunteers on hand mentioned that his mother used to be a listener during WWII and transcribed messages sent by devices like this.

An orignal Planisphere or star chart used by Allied navigators during WWII.  The arrival of this item caused a crush of onlookers so I was unable to actually get any shots of the contents.

Remarkably, The London Name Plate Mfg. Co. Ltd still exists.

What was I doing in the Lancaster restoration area?  Still working on those damm brackets for the display boards.  Now I’m bead blasting the primer coating off the aluminum which involves this nasty bugger.

Turn the compressor on, pump up the air pressure, start the vibrator (for recovering the glass beads that do the blasting), safety goggles on, respirator on, pop the bracket into the chamber and blast away.  Repeat 150 times.

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Jan bought me a book for Christmas called “Understanding Exposure” and I’ve been dying to try out some of the exercises.

Yesterday was warm enough to spend some time working on depth of field.  Basically, the smaller the aperture, the greater the depth captured. (click on any picture to see a larger version)

This first shot was taken using a setting of F/4.5 for 1/1000 of a  second.  The lens is wide open (the smaller the f number, the larger the aperture).  No, I don’t understand it either.

The foreground is crisp and clear while the background is very out of focus.  This naturally leads the eye to the tap itself. 

An automatic digital camera sees this shot and automatically tries to bring everything into focus so it chooses a smaller (larger number..huh?) aperture and a longer exposure. 

This shot was taken at f/22 for 1/40 of a second and approximates what an automatic camera would capture.

In an effort to avoid capturing what it feels would be a bad exposure (out of focus elements), a smaller opening is used and gathers more light by increasing the exposure time.

It’s still an OK picture but now your eye isn’t really sure where to look as the trees in the background compete with the tap for your interest.

This is really the first time I’ve been really able to demonstrate the power of a digital SLR being used with manual settings.  If I’d set the camera to automatic mode, I would have naturally got the second shot.  I prefer the first one.

One last one.  In this one, I manually focused about 10 inches out so that the middleground was highlighted.  The picnic table board in the foreground is out of focus  as are all the other tables in the background.  Only the second board is clear and your eye is drawn to the knot.  If I had really thought about this composition, I would have made sure that you couldn’t see the tree in the far background.  The angular, dark trunk competes with the effect I was trying to achieve. (f/4.5 1/1250 sec.)

I could crop it to get rid of the tree which works better but now it’s a flat shot.

Still lots to learn.

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Spent part of yesterday enjoying the incredible weather at the Heart Lake Conservation area in North Brampton.  The ice on the lake is slowly disappearing.

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Mark Twain

“When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.”

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Still using up the balance of my 2006 vacation.  A nice morning to grab the camera for some experimentation.

This was taken in a park in Brampton beside the 410 highway at the 407 interchange. Clouds obscure the sun as it rises giving this bare tree a nice silhouette.

I was hoping to get some nice shots of aircraft as they lifted off Runway 23 at Pearson and this is the closest I got.  Not the best focus or layout but I’m fairly happy with this.  I think it captures the idea of heading out on an adventure.

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The Airbus A380 made it’s arrival yesterday at JFK airport with much fanfare.  A series of proving flights necessary for certification are underway as the aircraft nears its first production delivery to Singapore Airlines later this year.

Shown here just before touchdown, this is one big aircraft.

Can’t wait for the first one to visit Toronto.

Here’s a shot of the other one that visited Los Angeles yesterday.

Whether it’s a success or failure, you have to admit it’s quite a sight.

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I made it through almost 55 years but they finally caught me.  Today, after having a perfectly shitty day, I received notification that I have to appear for jury duty in April.

Ah crap!  It’s not that I oppose the concept and I’m sure that no one finds it convenient but I would really rather not be doing it at this time.

For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, let’s take a look at the little booklet that answers some of the “commonly asked questions about jury duty”.

Why do I have to serve as a juror? (GOOD QUESTION)

As a Canadian Citizen, it your civic duty to respond to a jury summons and, if chosen, to serve as a juror. (sure, appeal to my sense of honor and..well..Canadianism)

How long will I have to be at the courthouse? (in other words, how long am I going to be away from work?)

While panel members are “on-call” for 2 or 3 weeks, your actual attendance is 1-2 days and will depend on the number of trials which are scheduled to commence during the “on-call” period.

If you are selected from the panel to sit on a jury, the length of time you may be required to attend will depend upon the nature of the trial. (hmm..IF I am selected, gotta work on a strategy)

What do I do if I have small children? (I don’t but let’s see how compassionate the court system is)

It is your responsibility to make your own child care arrangements. (not much compassion there)

Do I get paid for jury duty? (show me the money!!!)

A travel allowance is paid to jury member who live more than 40 kilometres from the court. (nope, doesn’t apply)

If you are required to attend for more than 10 days, you will begin to receive a daily fee (finally, some moolah) From days 11-49, the fee is $40 a day and, in rare occasions where you may be required to serve for 50 days or more, this increases to $100 day. (somehow this doesn’t seem like a real good deal)

Does my employer have to pay me during jury duty? (let’s see - it’s my civic duty.  One would think that the boss should play a part in this)

The law does not require employers to pay your salary during jury duty but some employers do. (better check the employees’ manual tomorrow)

It’s pretty easy to see why some people do everything they can to duck this little exercise.  I don’t really have a good excuse so, unless the boss has some reason, I guess I’ll be there in my place with a smile on my face knowing that I’m doing my part to keep the justice system running smoothly.

Guess it’s better to be on the jury than facing one.

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Test

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Anatole France

“The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.”

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Paul Trinder, is upset that British Airways is failing to compensate him for having to sit beside a very quiet passenger on a trip from Delhi to the UK.  Why?  The female passenger was dead.

Seems she passed away in economy during the flight and the cabin crew decided she would travel better in first class so they propped her up beside Mr. Trinder for the balance of the flight.

When he complained to the airline, he was told to “get over it” and was denied any refund for his experience.

British Airways says the dead woman was taken to first class because the rest of the plane was full.  A BA spokesperson stated “When a customer passes away on board it is always difficult and we apologise for any distress caused”.

How about giving back at least a little of the 3,000 pounds Trinder paid for his seat?

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Once again, hundreds of passengers were held hostage as planes sat through a snow storm in New York City.  One Cathay Pacific Airways flight sat for 9 1/2 hours while the pilot updated the passengers with tales of de-icing delays caused by lack of chemicals.

I posted about this before.  At that time, it was Jet Blue who became the whipping boy but now we have horror stories involving a number of carriers. Jet Blue canceled most of their flights to and from NYC as soon as the weather forecasters mentioned the possibility of a storm - better to be safe then sorry when your public profile is already in the toilet, I guess.

The airlines, the airport authorities and the FAA have to get their act together and devise WORKABLE plans to avoid situations like this.  It’s not like snow is a new phenomena, why is it suddenly causing these incredible delays? 

Story from CBC

 Update: Airlines now say they are getting better and quicker at apolgizing for delays.  Southwest Airlines actually has an executive who’s business card reads “senior manager of proactive customer communications”.  His job is to explain the problem, offer compensation and, basically, fall on his sword.  Much better to say “It won’t happen again” than “I’m sorry”.

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Thomas Sowell

“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”

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A great find on eBay.

An incredbile model of a Lockheed Super G Constellation in TWA colors.  The “Star Of America” actually exists and still flies today.  A recent picture.

This particular aircraft never flew for TWA.  It started its life as a freighter and went on to act as an aerial sprayer before being reborn by a group of enthusiasts in Kansas City.  The registration number is N6937C and she still flies today.

I am completely blown away by the quality of this model and I feel I stole it considering what I paid.  And, no, I’m not going to tell you.

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2 versions of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight” performed by the European “beatbox” group Natuarally 7.  The first is an official music video and is pretty damm good.  The second, and in my opinion better, version was recorded on the Paris subway