Coping: With Drones, Diets, Disbursements and Distance

(Shreveport, LA) Note to Peoplenomics.com readers.  Remember that statistical problem we were talking about Wednesday?  Well, there didn’t appear to be a positive correlation.  If anything, there is a modest case for a negative correlation.  (This would make sense if you subscribed.  Makes a fine Christmas gift and I will put a form up Monday for that….)

Now on in the middle ring of this circus… If you are planning to buy someone a drone for Christmas, please remind them to register it with the Federal Aviation Administration.

We happened to take the car on our latest adventure, not the airplane.  But the FAA has really gotten  something right on drone registration.  It is still free, although the cost will go up to a whopping $5-bucks something after the first of the year sometime.

To register, click over to this FAA page.

The second page to head for is the discussion of the “no drone zone” rules. That page is here.

As a pilot, I’d appreciate it if you could keep drones out of areas immediately surrounding airports.

There’s enough to do when setting up for landing (“Terrain warning, terrain warning!” [find button to kill that!] “One-Two-Lima caution departing wake turbulence for the Dash-8 ahead of you…The Cessna XYZ, extend you downwind, turn base when able abeam the Beech on three mile final. Break.  One-Two Lima can you keep your speed up?”  “One-Two-Lima, this is up….”).  All this while Elaine is chanting “You DO see the Dash-8 on the runway, right?”

“Right…”

I’ve got a runway line up, playing winds aloft and cross winds; wondering if that stand of trees on the left will be tumbling air in my path,  a tower issuing orders, a faster airplane coming in behind me so I’m judging which high-speed turn-off, descent profile, and airspeed to keep track of.  While working out the touchdown aim-point, vertical speed indicator and trying not to bust a kidney because I didn’t make an earlier pee stop.  And I need to see where the Dash-8 rotates and touch down before there and….easy!

HOWEVER: About the last thing I need to some SOB trying to rip a wing off, or smashing his effing 2-pound Christmas present through our windshield in the middle of this. 

Thank you for not giving irresponsible people drones.

You drones are more dangerous than my AK-47?  Yep:  a drone.  Unlike guns, there are no constitutional protections.  Please register and learn about air space.

Diet Note

Back on a single dose (with meal) of chromium picolinate as part of my diet routine.

I’m using Nature’s Bounty Ultra Chromium Picolinate, 500mcg, 100 Tablets  and taking one with a meal once per day. 

They definitely boost energy, especially if you’re taking a good multivitamin with all the B-complex. Kill appetite in the process.

I wanted to mention this because here shortly, we will be coming up on two of the “National Body Abuse” days (Christmas Dinner, and New Years).  I figure it you knew this in advance, you would be able to work down your food cravings.

NO, THIS IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE.  But it really does a good job for some people regulating the blood sugar levels, and with managing those, the food cravings back off.

Check with your doctor.

Here is a skeptical article, but several readers have reported good success.  Seems that it works best for borderline diabetics and those with big carby cravings.  This is why I do all the experiments with my personal chemistry…to see what really works.

– – – – –

Elaine and I don’t watch much TV at home, so when we go on one of our road trips, it’s fun to watch the “human programming box.”

Elaine was laughing herself silly last night:  “…in certain cases, may cause death.  Liver damage has also been reported in rare cases.  In addition, your resistance to infection may be lowered.  Be sure to tell your doctor if you have tuberculosis, hepatitis C, or other infectious diseases.  Call your doctor is you develop a rash, have a hard time breathing, or swallowing as these may be signs of a serious complication…”

Yeah, like pending death.  So yeah, Bubba,  you can betcherass I’ll tell my doctor:  I want nothing to do with any medicine that mentions death or hints at anaphylactic shock.  Thank you, anyway.

Visual Design, I

I suppose the next item on the agenda this morning should be to explain what the hell we are doing in Shreveport, LA.

Uh…sure, then.

As you know, Elaine and I have a somewhat unconventional home.  Each rom in the home (not all of them are complete) is designed to “transport you.”  In other words, the dining room is very much along the lines of a Trader Vic’s interior with bamboo and grass mats, shipwreck pickings are still being rounded, up, but that is that.

The conversation area is totally like walking into a west coast cabin, complete with a view of San Francisco from the Sausalito side, much as it would have been in America’s glory-days-gone-by.

Anyway, you get the idea.

Now, in order to come up with ideas on how to completely “over-do” everything, we travel hither and yon looking for ideas that we can incorporate into our place.

Most people’s idea of “decorating” is pretty limited (and flawed).  Some folks think, for example, that in order to create a “nautical theme” all you need to do is put one of those models of a lighthouse a desk, a rope-wound pole somewhere, a navy blue carpet with stars on the floor, a ship model, or three, and a few ship pictures around the room.

Yeah, I suppose, if you’re doing a room for a two-year old, that might work.  And sure, it keeps the home looking very “generic” because most people have never spent much time working on the decorating of their home with the idea of blowing people away when they step in.

That’s the effect we’re after.  Want to look nautical?  Enter through a hatch.  Teak and holly look floors, and port holes around the walls…that sort of thing, right?  Build a big-screen in and encase it in something port-hole looking and cycle sea video through it…

On the outside our home looks like any other not-too-upscale mobile home in the outback.  Inside?  Another story. 

Which gets me to one of the reasons for our trip here to Margaritaville in Shreveport.  As I mentioned, there is some very nice work here done with artificial rock that has been installed in one of the bars – it makes up a “volcano” which involves from cool lighting and gives a great effect.

If you figure out a good source for faux concrete instructions, pass ‘em along!

Next up on our agenda this winter is to grab the GoPro and venture over to Orlando to do through both Epcot and Disneyworld again…and then finish up collecting ideas.  Elaine’s got a couple of books on “Stage Design” – and there are lots of neat tricks in there.

Another Margaritaville item is “boat seating.”  In the bar,  there are three boats, including one with a cut down tuna tower that have been reworked to incorporate tables…that sort of thing.

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing, I always say.  So we continue collecting ideas.

Visual Design, II

That warms me to the second part of out trip…the “just keep your eyes open” and try to take in what you’re observing part.

I’ve only spent a limited amount of time in Louisiana, NOLA, etc.  But this trip as we crossed the state ,line from Texas (which is about 635 miles east to west, by the the way), there is a subtle, yet pleasant change in things.

Take the barriers between the east and westbound lanes of Interstate 20, for example.  I’m pretty sure there is some kind of federal highway standard that says in addition to ‘X’ feet of space between two lanes one way, and two the other, there is a barrier requirement.

Some states use “Jersey Barriers” and others use post-and-wire.

Now, the thing is:  Up north, and out west, states seem to go to great lengths to run  barrier wires down the dead-to-nuts-middle between the separated lanes.

Not so on I-20 in Loosely Anna.  They’re  on one side.

And when you think about it, it really makes sense.  All the work can be done from one direction of travel – which halves the number of people inconvenienced at the time of installation.  You don’t have to move material as far.  Oh, and the expansive, uninterrupted area between lanes is much nice on the eye.

I smiled when I saw that:  Reason?  Showed me that someone in the LA-DOT was thinking.  Contrary to what a lot of people “up north” may think, living along a bayou, or down here in the flatlands does not condemn one to being less intelligent that people who kick and claw their way of the top just for a Midtown apartment and better restaurant choices.

Could be the opposite:  Living in the fly-over country is inherently less intrusive, government-wise.

The food in Louisiana is as good (or better) than anywhere.   And while it’s true you might find good gumbo at a pricey place up north, the food here is very good and a third the price.  Friendly spot…we’ll be back.

Visual Design III

Another hallmark of Southern architecture is the use of stately columns against either a brick of ship-lap siding background.

Wouldn’t you know it?  The first rest area we drive by is brick-faced and has a marvelous series of off-white columns around it.

Then effect is very nice and Southern.

One of my favorite airports to pop in for fuel, now and then, is Natchitoches (“ NATCH-it-us”).  If you look at the picture over on AIRNAV here, you can see how it is mostly surrounded by a marvelous carpet of green…golf course by the look from the air.

They may get a few brown spots in the summer, but low-lying lands with 65” of rain per year are much more conducive to nice golf greens than, oh, Phoenix, for example.  Greenville, MS is another golf-looking airport though there’s no course.

As for shopping?  The Outlet mall down here seems to have pretty much the same stores as elsewhere around the country.

Joys of the melting pot:  You can get the same quarter-pounder anywhere from Kotzebue to Key West.  Ditto clothes, glassware, and shoes.

We can discuss whether this is “progress” some other time.

Road Dreams

Wow!~ I bet you didn’t know Japan had a nuclear arms program, did you?  They may not, but that was in one of my vivid dreams last night.

Must have been the modest bowl of Pho I had for dinner last night.  Because that was the message that came through in one of the strangest dreams ever.  Along with the date 2025.

That too was likely “day residue” because it keeps coming up in our Peoplenomics forecasts as a good estimate of when the full-on global nuclear war will be arriving.

I promised myself I would begin actually writing a “dream journal” during 2016.  It seems like a useful hobby to take up…dream journaling.  The effort may result in some additional insights about self. 

Maybe the best part though, is that it is inexpensive and takes up hardly any space.  In fact, there’s what looks like a dandy product (free, for now) over at Sourceforge that you might want to check out…here.

Like so much else in life, if it isn’t on my desktop, it’s not going to get done.

Does Anyone Know?

Which debate the morning-after anchors of CNN were watching Tuesday night?

Their interps of what was said seemed to be 20% out of kilter with the reality we experienced. 

And yes, we can kill internet traffic to that area.  We don’t have to make it easy for ISIS, though that sometimes is what policy out of DC feels like.

– – –

Time to drive back to the ranch – about two-hours worth, is all.  Add 30-minutes for a supply stop in Tyler, TX.  With luck, we should get back around nap time.

Oh, and if you’re under 50:  Nap time runs from about 6 AM to 10 PM.  You learn these things as you get older.

One Last Thing…

Elaine missed it, but at dinner last night, the cashier wasn’t going to give us the “senior” discount.  Wanted to card Elaine.

I’m not sure what it means, but now I know there is carding being done at both ends of adulthood, but not sure what that means in terms of the insanity of this Earth.

Write when you break-even,

George  george@ure.net