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Free-Range Professors

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

Diploma

As I’m pulling a battery out of a plane, getting ready to charge it, Dwight is telling me about his diffraction grating project.

“My plan is to use a computer to drive an ultra-high-resolution plotter,” says Dwight, “then I’ll photo etch that image onto a sheet of reflective Mylar.”

Usually I manage my role in exchanges of this sort with cyclical sounds of agreement and understanding. “Uh huh.” Wait 30 seconds. “That’s interesting.” Another interval. “Wow.” Iterate.

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Posted in Baylands | 4 Comments »

Hooligans!

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Wanted Poster

The phone rings. It’s Mike. “The police are looking for Doug,” he says. “He’s a wanted man.”

I’d left Baylands Park early to have lunch with an old friend, so I’m hearing the punch line to a story I don’t know.

As I peel the story out of Mike, I learn that Doug and Dave were flying their planes when a woman walked up to watch. Her four-year-old son was fascinated by the airplanes.

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A Garage Full of Everything

Sunday, August 5th, 2007

My Garage

The other day, Frank Ducker was showing us details of his British Lancaster bomber.

He was particularly proud of the greenhouse-style canopy and the pivoting gunner’s turret in the nose of the plane.

“I made these by molding clear plastic on a wood plug, holding it in front of a heater at about 250 degrees,” Frank explained.

The clear plastic was left over from blister pack packaging, the stuff enshrouding most electronic devices, hardware items, toys, you name it.

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Food Talks

Sunday, July 29th, 2007

Hot Sauce Packets

Flying isn’t everything. You’ve still got to eat. The other day we ran out of milk so I couldn’t fix my usual breakfast of oatmeal and raisins unless I used heavy cream thinned with water to moisten the oatmeal. But that’s a substitution I don’t enjoy.

So I drank some tea lightened with several molecules of heavy cream and drove over to Jack in the Box for an Unhealthy Breakfast.

When my order arrived, I noticed that the paper placemat featured interviews with Jack’s three major meals, elaborating themes introduced in recent TV commercials.

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Posted in Baylands | 3 Comments »

Up & Down & All Around

Sunday, July 15th, 2007

Reflected Starfighter

My car has a music control conveniently mounted on the steering wheel. It consists of a Source button and two pairs of controls: +/- for volume and ^/v for going to Next and Previous songs or playlists.

Or is that Previous and Next songs?

My first instinct was that the Up arrow would move up in a list, as it would on a computer screen. So Up would go to the Previous song.

But it doesn’t. It follows a more natural logical route: Up goes to the Next song.

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Posted in Baylands | 3 Comments »

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