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 |  "Putting on the Game Face" |
  This blog is a doorway into the mind of Percy Goodfellow. Don't be shocked at the lost boys of Namby-Pamby Land and the women they cavort with. Watch as his caricatures blunder about the space between audacious hope and the wake-up calls of tomorrow. Behold their scrawl on the CRT, like graffitti on a subway wall. Examine it through your own lens...Step up my friends, and separate the pepper from the rat poop. Welcome to my abode...the armpit of yesterday, the blinking of an eye and a plank to the edge of Eternity. Note: This blog is my journal. I've no interest in persuading anyone to adopt my views. What I write is whatever happens to interest me when I start pounding the keys. |
| One of the things I like to do at the beginning of the Exploratory Writing Workshop (EWW) (This is a class given quarterly by New Horizons Academy at Wdc. I'm the moderator.) Well, that noteworthy "thing" is showing the students how to template a chapter. Some of you might remember diagraming a sentence. It was one of those language arts exercises they used to teach in grammar school. Tempting a chapter is sort of like that, but on a much grander scale. Before getting into the "How To" let me take a minute to speak to the "Why." Much of what I read here at WDC is what I would call "One Dimensional." It is a whole lot of one thing. Commonly it is all exposition or dialog and as much as I like telling and showing, there are other important components that a good writer includes. These are Scene Painting, Character Introduction and Development, A life Changing Event, exposition that moves the story (All telling isn't bad,) Dialog that moves the story, Words that appeal to the senses, Foreshadowing, Symbolism and a whole host of others I'm sure you could point out. So when I read a piece that is mostly just one of these to the exclusion of the others I consider that writing "One Dimensional." A writer should include all of these to make a short story or novel chapter "Multidimensional." In my Summary Statistics each morning I look and see what members have been looking at in my Blog. One of the favorites is "Templating a Chapter. " I like to see that one flash because its important to use a broad palate of colors in your work. Once the sign-up for the Workshop is over and there is that interlude before the official starting date, I contact each student and tell them to look at my template of the first chapter of Game of Thrones. This serial drama is popular on TV and has taken on a life of its own at WDC. If I have six students I'll be lucky to get two of them to do their own Favorite Author Template taking a chapter from their favorite novel. I don't know why the rest are not willing to take it on. While it isn't mandatory it is every bit as important as any of the rest of the lessons. For example, if you go to my Example Template.... (In my portfolio, you can find it by clicking on the EWW files, you'll see the template quietly waiting for someone to notice.) _ Print it off and paste it to your workstation. Now when you write your next vignette, short story or novel chapter compare the percentage of components with the same percentage of those in your manuscript. You are in for a huge shock. Chances are high that the stuff you are writing is one dimensional. If you look closely at the percentages you'll see that some take up a lot of words and others require only a lick and a kiss. That is important to your writing just like your favorite cooking recipe has a blend of favorite ingredients and spices. Writing a chapter sized work is like cooking up something delectable for your readers. Thus keeping that Chapter Template pasted to your workstation is as important as those who write a work, as a recipe is to those who cook. |
| Today was Flying Field Maintenance Day. Don, Corsair Don, Harvey, Ralph, Ron, Larry, Al, Scott and I showed up. Don cut the field with his bagger mower. I brought my fertilizer spreader. Larry and I flagged the field and Don pulled the spreader around with his mower. Things went pretty smooth and everybody pitched in. When the work was finished Don spent some time with each of us. For some it was flying on the buddy box. For me it was trimming out my Anaconda camera plane. I bought the Anaconda from my friend Dustin after he crashed it. After ordering the repair parts he offered to sell it to me and I took him up on the offer. Several weeks ago I resolved not to take a model airplane to the flying field that I had not checked out in my yard. After checking out the Anaconda and making sure everything worked I loaded it into the van and took it out to the field. Don said he would "Maiden" it and set the trims. After the work was finished I took it out of the van and put it on the flight table. Would you believe that there was more damage from Dustin's crash than I realized. The screws that hold the booms on had stripped and would no longer hold tightly to the carbon fiber rods. SHUCKS! Rather than risk the booms separating in flight I decided to glue them permanently together. This meant that once glued there was no taking them apart. So after the glue set I hooked all the wires up and tested the control surfaces with my radio transmitter. Would you believe that one of the control surface wires had a break somewhere inside the boom. Not only did the errant wire no longer work but it was now inaccessible. SHUCKS! So I had to connect a jumper wire to the servo connection and lead the wire outside the boom and then back down into the fuselage. Instead of the wire being neatly hidden it was now taped to the outside of the aircraft. Cute huh? While that solved the problem it looks like crap and I will have to do something about it tomorrow. Despite the unsightly appearance everything now worked and the Maiden flight of the Anaconda was rather uneventful. I had heard that the Anaconda was not a great flyer, but there was no flight evidence that the model was any different from any other radio aircraft that shows up at our flying field. While things didn't go as smoothly as I hoped, the airplane flew well enough and didn't crash. I sent Dustin a text message and he responded... "Good" (A man of few words that Dustin.) I'll let my notification sink in and next week get him to help me install the First Person View (FPV) electronics. |
| On the way to church this morning we passed 4 fields of Sunflowers. They seemed to be all standing at attention facing east as the sun was rising. They were so beautiful we resolved to return with our camera and take some pictures... but we didn't. Maybe tomorrow on the way to the flying field I'll take some snapshots. Our minister is named Candy and she is the real deal. The sermon was about Martha and Mary and the point seemed to be we need to listen more to what Jesus teaches and not worry so much about the secular every-day small stuff. Candy got emotional there in the pulpit, saying she has been more like Martha lately than Mary.... and resolved to turn over a new leaf. Now you have to understand that if there is anybody on this God's earth that Jesus loves, it's Candy. She doesn't need to apologize to anybody. I told her afterwards that if she is worried then all the rest of us should be terrified. This woman might not be Billy Graham, but she walks the walk and there is an inexplicable wonder and awe about her. I finished the booms and installed them on my camera plane. When I did, I realized that my "V-tail" did not have the stance to rest on both booms. So... you guessed it. I had to make a new V-tail. Recently on U-Tube I saw this guy fly a pusher plane (One with the motor in the back) into a brick wall, pick it up undamaged and fly it away. To say the least I was dumbfounded. He then went on to say that it was made out of this special EPO foam that many builders are using in their models. Well, I ordered some of this fandango foam, it arrived, and I decided to try it out on the V-tail. First I cut two pieces to length and test fitted them to the booms. Next, I got out my hot glue gun and a thick piece of square stock. This I glued to one of the foam sheets about a third of the way back from the leading edge. This spar ran the length of the sheet. Flush with the forward edge and trailing edge I glued a thinner piece of square stock. Then I glued the other piece of foam sandwiched over the first piece. By doing this I formed an airfoil like I would a wing. After sanding the correct angle I capped the peak ends with thin plywood and glued them together with Gorilla Glue. This gave me a peak in the V-Tail which was a bit more than ninety degrees. It came out pretty good. It's light and strong. Tomorrow is Field Maintenance Day. We'll cut and fertilize and then fly a little bit. Should be fun. Then I'm off to Physical Therapy for the start of my weekly rehab. What makes it a chore is that I have Plantar Fasciitis in the heel of my left foot. It isn't the least bit shy about reminding me that it doesn't like the treadmill. My wife got this electronic device called "Alexa." You can ask her a questions and she answers you. I asked it how to spell "Plantar Fasciitis. That girl will never win a spelling bee. However, she is good at giving the time and telling what the weather will be. Nobody's perfect. |
| One component to the RC flying experience is propulsion systems. There are basically two types, internal combustion engines and electric motors. I am considering an electric motor for my camera plane and electric motors need one or more batteries. This might sound simple enough but charging LIPOs, for some reason, is a matter of unending stress and frustration. Living in today's world certainly has plenty of that. Politics, writing and building RC model airplanes are just a few common examples. Sorry, I'm digressing, something I tell my students not to do in my class at New Horizon's Academy (The Exploratory Writing Workshop) here at WDC. So let me get back on point. First one needs to select the correct battery. These can commonly be one to six cells. The battery is connected to the charger at two places. The power and the balancing port connection. The first is one with two thick wires, usually one red and one black. This connects to the Speed Control in the model airplane and the charging port on the charger. There is a wide array of connectors... one of many sources of angst, and they go together with a male and female component. I like to use Deans connectors. When the connectors on a batter are not Deans I have to cut them off and soder on a pair of the type I commonly use. What a pain in the "petoottie" this is. The second connector is a balancing plug which makes sure all the cells get their fair share of the charging amperage. Next comes the charging part. There are hundreds of different types of LIPO chargers and while they have some things in common each is different enough to require a separate earning curve to operate. I have a tendency to lose the instructions and so I use intuition in learning or recalling how they work. Yesterday I spent an hour and never did figure out my new charger. In frustration I gave up and went out to the flying field to get some instruction. One of my flying friends showed me how to work it. I intend to extend this blog with the charging procedures so I won't forget the process. SOOOO...if you don't give a rat's ass about how this is accomplished don't bother to keep reading. |
| The latest page in the Terrorist Handbook playing out in Nice France shows what happens when evil is an active component of a viral religious doctrine. I'm not saying that all Muslims are evil, but rather that their religion encourages behavior that elevates mankind's dark propensities to their highest form. Written or unwritten, a central tenet of the Muslim faith looks to be an acceptance that the ends justify the means. To advance their faith no form of insidious behavior is proscribed. Non discriminate killings, strapping suicide vests on children, killing gays, treating women as property and now running through a crowd with a lorry show the lengths the apostles of Muslim extremism are willing to go. I believe that in dealing with these "Low Lifes" there ought to be a category of crime labeled "Atrocities Against Society." For these bad actors a nation state should be encouraged to take extreme measures. By this I mean a summary form of justice and immediate executions for anyone involved in or supporting the use of terror. The justice system, in civilized societies, was never designed to treat these "Scum Bags" as common criminals. Justice for those who forsake all human decency and become disciples of an evil god should be swift and final. Newt Gingrich hit the nail on the head. If someone wants to come to the United States ask if they're advocates of Sharia Law. If they answer "Yes," the response should be self evident. We have our own code of laws. Immigrants can accept them or stay the hell out! |
| I'm currently embarked on building an RC Camera Plane. This is not the first model airplane I've built by a long shot. It has two cameras, one a flight and the other panoramic. The flight camera is a Sony FPV (First Person View) with an OSD (Onboard Screen Display) to provide real time imagery at 700 tvl. The transmitter is 5.8 mega-hertz and the OSD is EZ OSD from Hobby King. The panoramic camera is a Sony 4K. I just hooked it up and connected via wifi to my smart phone. I think I'll make a head harness for my dog. (Only joking) It's pretty cool walking around with it and having my wife tell me what she's seeing on her cell phone. The camera plane will have three basic components. These are a fuselage, wing and V-tail assembly. The fuselage is made cutting five(5) 6in circles in thin plywood and then a 3in circle inside each of these. The best way is with a drill press but a jib saw will suffice. The cardinal points are then drilled for blue coded dowels available at any hardware, building or craft store. The dowels are inserted into the holes with the bulkheads spaced along the fuselage. The forward compartment is for the electronic gear, the next is the battery compartment, the following two will provide the wing saddle and the last will be for a fuel tank if an internal combustion engine is used. CA glue is added once alignment is completed. I use the wings of crashed models and this requires cutting into each one about three stations down from the center line. A section is added for the two booms that will hold the tail. If you are familiar with what a P-38 WW2 fighter plane looked like the general image will be familiar. Except for a couple of things. The P-38 was twin engined with each mounted forward of the two wing booms. In my model the motor will be an electric pusher mounted to the rear of the fuselage. The tail will attach at a forty-five degree angle and this means the peak of the "V" will have to be forty-five degrees and the bottom as well with the length such that it rests centered on the aft mounting platforms. The big problem with all this is that if the booms are too long, and the tail too heavy it will create some severe Center of Gravity (CG) problems. Tail heavy model airplanes don't fly well. The V-tail assembly is attached to the aft end of the booms along with the two Control Surfaces (CS.) The CSs are actuated by regular servos and attachment hardware. This is the part I'm working on now and the first two attempts were not satisfactory. The first was too heavy and the second used the same circle technique used in the fuselage. Round did not work well and my next attempt will try an oblong cross section for the booms. Regarding the V-tail my first effort was too big. For my next attempt I'll start with rectangles, round the corners, drill out the center for the servo wires and design strong attachment points integral to to wing and tail. By integral I mean an internal fit and not something grafted onto the surface. The reason I'm writing all this down is to make sure I have the image firmly in mind. My bio-processer is getting old and doesn't work as good as it used too. Scratch building an RC model airplane is like writing a novel. Everything has to fit neatly and trying to slap something together as you go along is not a good idea. |
| As I get older learning the technology that surrounds us an unending challenge. When I went back to Mid-State Technical College I took some courses on Microsoft word processors, spread sheets and data bases. I think there was also some graphics and print shop programs thrown in. Those programs take months to learn and have nuances that most people can't begin to imagine. These were long, involved and extremely hard classes to master.... no master is not the operative word, how about obtaining a "Glimmer" of understanding about. They were designed to get your "Nose Under the Tent," like the proverbial camel, and allow you to expand your interest if... ever you have a need to do so. In First Person View, model airplane flying, there is plenty of technology to learn and understand. Just the radio transmitter that works the basic control surfaces is enough to set your mind spinning. Getting the cameras to work is another learning challenge. I have a Sony action camera and had to pay for instruction at Best Buy to learn what the instructions meant and get it to synch with my wifi and flash on my smartphone. The result will take your breath away. I can walk around the house with the camera and my wife can see what I'm doing on her cell phone. Mind boggling is what it is but getting this stuff to work isn't easy... especially for an old duffer. Yesterday was the 10th of the Month and I always look forward to it. It's an opportunity to look at the check book and see if we're on budget. This month we're OK but spent more than we usually do. We bought a 4K TV which will be delivered later in the week. It has a sound bar and my wife bought me some Bose wireless earphones. When we were watching Game of Thrones I had to keep asking her, even with my hearing aids, what they were saying. As good as the show is the actors often speak in a muted tone of voice. Anyway we spent more than a few "muted tones" justify but we're in our seventies and enjoying this deteriorating quality of life won't last forever. We'll never be rich but hopefully we won't run out of money and become "Wards of Obama." I hate everything about Socialism. It erodes a person's dignity and leaves them with their hand out. Some of my Socialist friends envy me my retirement saying it's too generous. They claim that I'm the ultimate beneficiary of the Great Government Giveaway. My response is that there were never any lines at the recruiter when I was on active duty. If it was such a good deal why didn't they sign up? The reasons they give me are "Bullshit" and knowing them like I do, realize it comes down to "Comfort Zone. (CZ)" When all is said and done serving in the military was outside their CZ. To get Citizens to accept the risk and thankless hours, Uncle Sam had to make the job financially worthwhile. In true political fashion, instead of making the pay decent, while serving on Active Duty, they chose to put the benefits into the retirement package. The dream of a 20 year retirement is what kept many service men and women on the job. I know it did me. Now to pay for it the government is having to run the printing presses day and night. These "Obama" dollars still spend, but at the rate government is piling up debt, how will it all end? How long can fiscally irresponsible fiduciary practices continue before the system grinds to a halt under the sheer weight of all this big time spending? |
| Today, my Cop friend, I'll call him Luke, went with me to the outdoor firing range. Actually, the club in Wisconsin Rapids, operates both an indoor and outdoor range. I had no idea it was such a nice facility. You can shoot there out to 600 meters. To begin with we zeroed my Savage Arms, 338 Lapua. In long range shooting this is probably the premier cartridge used today. By the end of the afternoon we were chunking them accurately down range at 600 meters. A term used to measure accuracy is a MOA. I think it stands for Moment of Accuracy but I could be wrong. If you shoot within a MOA that is good. The rule of thumb for a MOA is a three round shot group that clusters at 1 inch at 100 yards. So at 600 yards a shot group considered decent is less that 6 inches. Again this is a rule of thumb and there is actual math that defines more precisely what a MOA is at a given range. While we were shooting Luke was telling me that the officers were patrolling on foot last night in the bar district of Steven's Point. Now you have to go to Madison or Milwaukee to see inner city that compares to Dallas, however, every middle sized city in Wisconsin has a tavern district. Anyway as I was carrying my big heavy rifle up onto the line, I told him that in Vietnam I often wished that all I had to worry about was carrying the machine gun. I recalled mentioning this to my to my Company Commander. He reply was words to the effect that most officers share similar feelings, however, if competent individuals don't step forward as leaders, we must all suffer the consequences of being led by a bunch of "Dumb Bunnies." Now I know that might sound harsh or even sanctimonious but there's plenty of truth to it. There's no shortage of those in a group who lust after the position of being leader, a job they're singularly unfit to perform. However, just being unqualified doesn't mean they don't want the prestige. To hell with the job requirements they must think as they imagine themselves strutting and fretting their hour upon the stage. Two good examples are our President and recent Secretary of State. Both remind me of Barney Fife in Mayberry RFD. Getting back on point, Luke said that while on the beat last night he was beset by people thanking him for his service and letting him know everybody around here isn't like those low lives in Dallas who targeted white police officers. What amazed him was that most of those coming up to him were BLACK. It really surprised him, me too for that matter, and no doubt will come as a bit of a surprise to my army of readers. It's always uplifting when a discussion, laden with political implications, turns out to have a refreshing twist. |
| I have a Mac Book Pro. There is a feature on it that allows me to hold down the "Command" button and hit the plus or minus sign. When I do, the text gets larger or smaller. I know there are similar features on Microsoft Computers but nothing as nice as the one on the Mac. As I get older and my eyesight dims, I find myself using this feature a lot. I'm making slow progress on my camera drone. I took the basic design off my Anaconda model, which I have yet to fly and built my own version. I don't have a reputation as a great builder among the members of my club. They see me as some sort of a slapstick who doesn't pay much attention to detail and takes parts from old wrecks and slaps them together into flying models. Their view has some merit but I'm able to build my models at low cost and take the money I save and put it into FPV components. FPV stands for First Person View and a modeler who attempts to fly in this mode flies from a camera inside rather than standing on the edge of the flying field, Third Person View. (TPV). Actually it's something like a writer who uses the "I" or first person to write about their Central Character rather than the more common "He, She or It" of third person. The reason I got into flying model airplanes was to fly FPV. For the past three years I've been learning to fly model airplanes. In the process I've done some indoor flying in the winter, and dappled in quadcopters. With all the aids being used in "Quads" they are the easiest to fly. If you get in trouble you flick the "Return to Home" switch and it returns and lands in front of you. Still there has been a need, in my case, to devote plenty of time and resources into achieving the goal of becoming an FPV pilot. The Federal Aviation Administration has been working tirelessly to impede the evolution and proliferation of FPV flying in model airplane clubs. They have their work cut out for them. The cat was already well out of the bag before they decided that FPV enthusiasts needed more supervision. They came up with a litany of restrictions some of which include....an FPV flyer must have a spotter, stay under 400 ft, not operate near an airport and not use immersion goggles. There efforts are designed to strangle the baby in the cradle have, so far been too little too late. I have no doubt that some day, numbskulls, like the snipers in Dallas, will awaken to the possibilities of using "Hobby Drones" to advance some twisted anarchist terror agenda. When that happens the "Liberals" will see further restricting the use of Hobby Drones in the same way they try banning Assault Rifles and Handguns. Unfortunately, model airplane enthusiasts are not protected under the Bill of Rights. Rather than take on the cultural and societal issues that cause aberrant behavior they see the solution as taking away the means for conducting such behavior. For example in the war on terror, instead of passing special legislation to deal with "Crimes against Society." and trying and shooting terror suspects on the spot, our society has resorted to elaborate electronic screening at airports. The cost of this approach is expensive and the effectiveness has been hit and miss. We have tried as a society to treat Terrorists as Criminals and use the Criminal Justice System as a process for dealing with it. The result has been totally inadequate. We need to change the way we think rather than trying to restrict the tools that only come into play in the last link of the chain of causation. There is plenty of "Bad Shit" taking place out there, long before some idiot gets their hands on a firearm or a drone. Changing cultural norms of behavior is hard but these knee jerk answers offered by Liberal Politicians don't work. When it is perfectly OK for demonstrators to chant "Pigs in the Blanket, Fry 'um like Bacon" to ignite social unrest that not surprisingly explodes into violence... we have issues that go far beyond restricting the tools an anarchist uses. Our President is a big part of the problem. Every time he opens his mouth, gun sales skyrocket, or he throws fuel on the racial tensions already existing in the Country. He has divided the nation and we are in worse shape now, by any measure, then when he took office. Soon we'll be rid of him but not soon enough. Waiting in the wings is a woman who's even worse. She lies, considers herself above the law, and has a proven record of being unfit for public office. "But I broke no laws," she laments, as if the law is some high standard of behavior. She has no moral compass and if elected, will continue the down hill spiral we've been headed in for the past six and a half years. |
| Whenever I finish a model airplane I test it in my front yard. I taxi it around and see if it will briefly lift off before letting it settle back in the grass. It is better to find these little glitches where there is nobody else around, than have them rear their heads, unexpectedly, at the flying field. Sometimes I get in a hurry to finish and when I do, the little shortcuts I took pop up and remind me that haste makes waste in building a model aircraft. Sometimes I confront problems as I build that I've no clear idea how to solve. I always come up with some sort of "half-baked" answer and sometimes my friend Ron sets me back on the right track. For example yesterday I needed to link the forward steering gear with the rudder. Since this was going to be an electric model the throttle channel was taken by the speed control connection. Ron told me to link the rudder mechanically to the nose steering servo with a splitter wire. That worked. I'd been trying to figure out how I would do this with the radio transmitter. It's possible to do all sorts of amazing things with today's transmitters and sometimes I forget that the old fashioned ways are still the best ways. Today I was testing my drone, using my usual MO when I hit a bump and the flimsy piece of plywood holding the front of the wing broke. The wing lifted up and fell backwards over the fuselage. The fuselage kept going straight and the wing did a one eighty and flipped over, breaking off the V-tail. I muttered a quiet obscenity as I went about piking up the pieces. Today I finished the Exploratory Writing Workshop which I teach at New Horizon's Academy, here at Writing.Com. I had two good students who finished which is more than usually happens. The Workshop is a pretty intensive experience getting a writer to do the prep work for writing a novel. When the class is over they have an outline that is well structured and contains all the important ingredients so important to a novel. The stories that evolved in the workshop this session were quite good and will give the students a solid framework for NANO or just writing a novel solo. Congratulations to Ashia and Kristina for a job well done. |
| I love to go on U-Tube and see all the interesting things that innovators in the RC Model Airplane hobby are up to. Foam is an interesting material that is being widely used these days. EPP (EPO?) foam in particular. Yesterday I saw someone take a "Foamie" and fly it at half throttle into a brick wall. Then he picked the model up and continued flying it. That's simply amazing. Another thing it shows is the "Either/Or" aspect of human thinking. It's like the old Ford or Chevy thing. One is great and the other is crap. What builders should be thinking is how the two materials can be best combined to optimize the strengths that each provide. I think in my next model I'll get into that. |
| Life did not conjure itself into existence. Some would have you believe that once, long ago, a perfect set of conditions manifested themselves. All the right chemicals and enzymes happened to be floating naturally in some humid pool and suddenly a bolt of lightning came out of the blue and voila, everything lined up perfectly and life was off to the races. As lousy an explanation as this is, it's popular in scientific circles because it explains things without recourse to a "God Force." Life just happened, they will tell you, as a natural consequence of time and the cosmic world that surrounds us. Life, they tell us, evolved itself into bring. A life form needs to have certain basic components. It needs to have locomotion, a system for converting fauna into energy, an adaptive capacity and the ability to reproduce... to mention just a few of the basic features. All this happing in a single random instant does not pass the common sense test. It insults our intelligence. If a random event is the genesis of life then the Universe should be teeming with it. We should be getting radio evidence from throughout the universe. Instead we hear nothing. Mars should have some remedial life forms scurrying about but nada.... nothing, just an eternal and lifeless silence. On the other hand we see man creating life forms in their simplest state. Computers is a good example. Robotics is another. We build things in the image of our own selves. Whoever created life existed on a smaller plane than we do on earth. The media they used was chemistry and a profoundly better grasp of bio-organics. There are dimensions under our noses where stuff is happening that we can barely imagine. How about them grits? |
| Those who read my blog know that I'm into Remote Control (RC) model airplanes. I won't bore you with the evolution of the RC Airplane Hobby except to say that in my lifetime the the pastime went from free flight models, to control line models to third person view flying and is has now entered the First Person View (FPV) phase. In free flight the pilot simply started up the engine, cranked in a little up elevator and right rudder and let her rip. When the airplane ran out of gas it came down somewhere in the vicinity. In Control Line there were two wires that connected the pilot to the airplane and these wires controlled the up and down elevator as the operator turned slowly in circles In Third Person View the pilot held a transmitter box with two gimbals and moved the control surfaces; rudder, elevator ailerons and throttle through a tiny receiver in the airplane connected to small electrical servos that moved back and forth. The pilot stood on the edge of the flying field and flew from the perspective of a spectator. In First Person View, a camera is in the airplane and the pilot flies as he were inside a real airplane. With that in mind I'm building an FPV drone along the general lines of the one I bought from my friend Dustin. It has a bigger wing, carries less weight, and has shorter tail booms. The idea is to make the aircraft as light as possible, straight and with the lightest payload possible. Making it light, straight and with plenty of wing surface area maximizes the loiter time in flight which is an important consideration for a drone. The important difference in this set up is the camera system. It is much like the camera system in a home security system. The camera has three wires, a black, red and yellow. It runs off a 12 volt battery with a positive and negative post. To wire it in a house the black camera wire goes to the negative post and the red camera wire goes to the positive post. This energizes the system. The yellow wire is the signal wire and it goes to the display unit to receive the yellow wire as well as jacks to plug into the positive and negative power source. Now that makes sense to me however, an airplane cannot be hardwired to an electrical circuit like a household appliance is. With an airplane there needs to be a transmitter that sends the signal from the yellow wire to a viewing appliance located on the ground. This can be a VCR like monitor or a pair of virtual reality goggles. That's about all there is to it except the pilot also needs to splice into the circuit an Onboard Screen Display (OSD) which shows flight telemetry like a real pilot gets on the instrument panel of his airplane. So now you know as much about the FPV process as I do. For most you might have learned something new and for the rest, sorry for insulting your intelligence. |
| One aspect of building RC flying models is making sure the center line of the wing is perfectly aligned with the tail fin. If the wing and fuselage are not perfectly aligned the airplane will never fly right. For that matter the fuselage must be perfectly straight and aligned with the centerline of the "keel" and so too the wing must have the same length and curvature on either side of where the two halves join together. If this isn't enough, when a wing is joined to a fuselage it has something called "Dissonance." This is the angle the wing sits, while resting in the cradle of the fuselage. Usually 0 to 1 degree of upward tilt. A novelist is a craftsmen (women) in every sense of the word. There's a symmetry to the craft that follows time tested design criteria. A novel begins at the "Good Part." This happens on the cusp of a Life Changing Event (LCE). The first chapter introduces the Story World and paints a Before Snapshot of the Central Character and right off the bat, in the first... or at the latest second chapter, the LCE rears its head. This part is like aligning the fuselage with the wing. By the end of the third chapter, the LCE should be clear to the reader. The Operative Word here is "Changing." The event must be of a sort that it changes the direction of the CC's life. From this point the initial snapshot begins to change as the CC takes a new direction in life and change manifests their character. The remainder of the novel deals with "The Three Crisis" that become obstacles to thwart the CC's resolve to follow a new path and return them to who they were where the story began. One of the hardest things to grasp in writing a novel is this idea of "Symmetry." In building an RC model airplane, failure to carefully follow the blueprint is like making a garment without regard to the patterns. These patters do not just wish themselves into existence as an author pounds a keypad. They must be consciously drawn to begin with and not expected to emerge heater-skelter as those "golden" words come to mind. In playwriting the "Wright" uses the Dramatic Premise to gauge symmetry. This is the keel of the novel and goes to what the story is about. Any story worth reading is about something. What the novelist needs to keep in mind is what that something is. A writer need to keep asking themselves, again and again... "Are these words contributing to the Dramatic Premise?" Using the template _____ leads to _____ is one way to start figuring out what the DP is. For some writers the DP is evident from the beginning but for most "Pantzers" it will bubble up as they go along. On this note it is important is that early in the development process a Pantzer must turn to an outline or risk a manuscript that leads nowhere. |
| I have a cold. Not a bad one but one where I have a raspy throat and ache all over. When my nose starts running like a faucet, that will be a bad cold. Yesterday I sat out under my walnut tree and worked on my model airplanes. I planted that tree twenty years ago. Time flies when yore having fun.. |
| People don't understand. Immigration is a big problem. Particularly when the immigrants refuse to assimilate and bring with them a culture, hostile to the core values of the host country. Its like a swarm of killer bees invading the productive habitat of a less virulent strain, killing off the natives and taking over their territory. I'm not referring to the those from Mexico, Central and South America, who in a couple of generations will become good citizens.. These immigrants know a good system when they see it and recognize the economic opportunities for a better life. The ones I refer to are those coming out of Syria and the war torn Middle East. It's time we started taking seriously what the Mullah's have been telling us for a long time. Either the Infidels accept Islam or pay the price. Women, Gays and Christians seem to be having a hard time figuring that one out. Trying to deal with a huge influx of fanatical extremists determined to impose their values on the nation states they undermine, is not something that laws designed to curb criminal behavior are capable of dealing with. Historically such migrations were accompanied by an armed force but the spread of Islam is happening by the invaders simply walking in on their unsuspecting hosts. In the name of Political Correctness the Socialists throw the doors open and welcome the hordes with open arms. Europe is starting to wake up but it's probably already too late. These invading swarms do not strengthen the existing populations by assimilating. They do not bring diversity to the cultures and blood lines they coexist with for a short time. It's their way or the highway. Tolerance is not a word they understand. They intend to eradicate the existing culture as the naives sit idly by. Is this stupid or what? The Socialists and Progressive Liberals don't know their ass from a hole in the ground! |
| I have a garage full of wrecked RC model airplanes. When I get an idea in mind I take the pieces lying about the shop and put one together. To watch me build you'd think I was Dr. Frankenstein. To fly, an airframe must be well designed, straight, light and strong. Then, there's the aesthetic aspect. It needs to look as good as it flies. Recently I purchased a drone from a friend. It's a styrofoam model and from the aesthetic stand point is big ominous and sinister looking. It looks like something they are flying in the Middle East. My friend crashed it on the first flight. He sold it to me for some cash and barter services. Since you might not be aware "foamies" are very popular as flying models because they are light. The material is surprising rigid, but not as strong as balsa construction. The manufacturer designed this one to carry a heavy assortment of batteries, cameras and other electronic gear. Without all this weight in the front it's tail heavy with a tendency to nose up and stall. Once it stalls... it drops like a brick. In my view, the manufacturer made the drone out of the wrong materials and the design was not well suited to the flying conditions of our hobby. It looks like the real thing but has to fly fast to stay in the air. What this means is that it doesn't glide and float in like a well behaved model airplane should, but rather has to be powered into a landing. Once the airspeed drops below 30 mph it quits flying. So, here I have a model that looks good, is designed like a real one but not very airworthy. To fly better it needs a different design and construction materials, better suited to the model's flying conditions. This translates to a wing with more surface area, shorter booms and a lighter payload. As a writing instructor at New Horizon's Academy I have a class called the Exploratory Writing Workshop. I'm struck at times with the similarity between writing a novel and building RC airplanes. The point worth noting is that the "conditions" are just as important in novel writing as they are in model building. First, build on clean straight lines. This means a novel needs a streamlined structure that can happen only by design. At some point a "patzer" must organize that jumble of material into a coherent outline. Second get rid of all those adjectives and adverbs and use light sharp imagery. By light I mean crisp and focused... free from those rambling digressions that lead away from the Dramatic Premise (DP). Everything needs to answer the question, is this contributing to the DP? Third, from beginning to end, follow a tried and true form. Fort example, Story World, Character Introduction, Life Changing Event and a series of Crisis that build to an exciting Climax. Finally, suit it to the genre and write each sentence to allow a smooth flow of thoughts and ideas. Make the words dance elegantly from your fingers into the mind of the reader. These are some of the things the Workshop helps provide in doing the preparatory work for writing a novel. |
| One of the interesting things about how people operate is that they think one thing, say another and wind up acting a third. This aspect of the human Modus Operandi is something that a writer can exploit to good effect. For example suppose a man and woman are having dinner together for the first time. "You're really going to like the shrimp," Charles said, Somehow I'm not surprised, a "Shrimp" like you has that for a favorite." "...the sauce is particularly tangy." Clara dipped one, taking a bite. "Yes, they're delicious." Why is it that short men are forever trying to spice things up?" "The wine is out of this world." She took a sip. Perhaps it's because of their stature.... or perhaps a shortness somewhere else." "Delightful." "I'm sure you'll find the main course equally as satisfying." "I can't wait to try it." ...if that's the main course, you really have in mind." "The steak will melt in your mouth." Does that portend what I think it does? She offered her signature plastic smile. "You have my heart racing like a school girls' " Actually, I'd think a brat more to your liking... thick and short, with a curve in the middle. "After dinner I've a suggestion." "Yes....?" "Some quiet conversation." Conversation indeed! "Ahhh, the waiter's coming." "How'd you find the resturant?" "A friend referred me." ... need I guess who that was? "Go on, you can tell me his name." And so the banter goes.... saying and thinking different things, however it gets even better when you start adding the action... Often it is contrary to where a reader might expect it to go. |
| Getting Started on a Novel In the beginning you have some ideas percolating in your mind. If you're an "Outliner" these get organized on a scrap of paper or some fandango word processing writing tool. As you write you keep that outline close and as ideas float in out of the "ether" you plug them in so they don't escape. If you're a "Pantzer" you just start pushing the pencil or pounding on the keyboard until you have a body of written material, hopefully not an overwhelming amount, and then you organize everything into an outline, before the story gets away and your bio-processor begins to smoke. These are the two basic approaches. I strongly recommend you don't attempt NANO without doing the prep work and having an outline to guide your efforts. When I say outline I mean one that is full of reminders on how you are going to include the strategic, operational, and tactical considerations that will go into the effort. By "strategic " I'm referring to the basic model you will be using and the basic components to be used in each of the chapters. For example in one of my references.... "Novel Writing for Idiots," the model I use is Story World, Central Character, Before Snapshot, Life Changing Event, Crisis 1, Crisis 2 and Crisis 3. By Operational I'm talking about how the chapters are going to get strung together. Say Chapter 1 will introduce the Story World, Central Character and Before Snapshot. Chapter 2 will present the Life Changing Event. Obviously the beginning of a novel is important! Chapters 3-10 show Crisis 1, Chapters 11-20 Crisis 2 and Chapters 21-30 the final crisis or Climax. Well, sort of... you know plus or minus some, here and there. Tactical Writing is writing a specific chapter. Here the components of a good chapter need to be evidenced like active voice, narrative, dialog, interior dialog, backstory, foreshadowing, symbolism and stuff like that. A good chapter isn't all dialog, narrative, backstory or any one thing but rather a blend of the different writing tools that make the chapter multi-dimensional. There's plenty more but for that you'll have to sign up for the Exploratory Writing Workshop at New Horizon's Academy. If you aren't a glutton for persistence and hard work, save yourself the trouble. |
| You know those curley cues you use around text. when you want to show your words in italics? Of course you do! Doesn't everybody? If this is true don't bother reading further. If you don't, they are called "Curley Brackets." Writing ML has them so you can show italics, which is how "Interior dialog (ID)" appears to the reader. Only the Central Character (CC) is supposed to use ID by convention, with the rationale being that if other characters all start showing their thoughts, it will confuse the reader. I can see instances where this might be a problem but the restriction is as likely to limit a writer as it will to aid a reader. After all, reader's aren't stupid. An avid reader is usually a cut above average. One way I tell my writers to get around the limitation, is to name a chapter after a supporting character and have at it. If a Chapter is named Matthew, then showing Matthew's thoughts is not going to confuse anyone. Often I see, at WDC, a reviewer loudly proclaiming "HEAD HOPPING! HEAD HOPPING! when a supporting character has the audacity to reveal their thoughts. I've been told that if an editor sees Head Hopping taking place they will assume the writer is a rank amateur and reject a submission out of hand. Give me a break! An author breaking in is probably going to have to self publish so what those editors think counts for little. It's the "Bean Counters," making the decisions these days and the only thing that matters is a manuscript which promises to make money. Money, as evidenced by sales they did little to promote. An editor these days is little more than an overpaid proof reader, so don't be intimidated by the title. The industry has changed so dramatically in the past ten years that publishing, which once took a staff of hundreds, can now be accomplished by a single person, a modem and one of those fandango new word processing machines. I'm surprised any of the traditional publishing houses are still in business. If a writer can show a market for their book these parasites will come knocking at your door... and they won't be wearing that holier than thou sneer they once strutted and fretted. The strangle hold they once exercised is gone, and only the residue still remains, a bad memory in the minds of the aspiring writers, they treated like crap. |
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