Yesterday, I enjoyed the Buckeyes win over Michigan State (after upsetting Wisconsin in the quarters) in the Big Ten tournament semi-finals. Today, the temp is around 60°F, so I decided to get the bike out and take my first ride of the season. You can see the info in the column to the left. It was a bit chilly and I probably would have gone a bit further, but I got a headache about 0.5 miles into the ride, so I settled for the 6.4 mile loop. Fortunately, the tail wind was for the last half of the ride (I like those), so it overall felt pretty good for the first ride of the year. Now, I’m sitting down to watch the Big Ten championship game (Purdue-OSU), then the NCAA tournament selection show and later this week will be the annual hoops overdose days Thursday and Friday from noon-midnight (half days of vacation both days, so I don’t feel guilty). Spring must nearly be here.
Biodiesel America
A couple of weeks ago, Josh Tickell was on the Tonight Show talking about his documentary Fuel and his book Biodiesel America. He had what I thought were some excellent ideas about how we could wean ourselves from fossil fuels, so I ordered the book the next day. While it got a little repetitive in places, I thought it was an excellent book. In fact, I loaned it to Shane right after I finished it. It has been a while since a read a book from cover to cover in one day, but I did with this one (even longer since I read anything non-fiction cover to cover in one day). The book made me aware of a few things I hadn’t been before.
- The largest oil field in the world, in Saudi Arabia, has seen declining output for nearly 2 decades. The US oil fields (primarily in Texas) peaked in the early 1970s. That means we are running out of oil much more quickly than folks are probably aware.
- I was stunned at the number of jobs that buying oil from overseas costs the country. I don’t have the book here now, so I don’t remember the number mentioned there, but it was appalling.
- Even mixing a relatively small amount of the biodiesel he described with petroleum diesel greatly reduces the harmful emissions.
- There are diesel vehicles available in Europe that get 70+ mpg, but none available here in the US.
Now is the time we need to do something about our (the world’s) reliance on fossil fuels. Unfortunately, with the drop in price from their highs last summer (just like after the two oil shocks of the 1970s), I think the will to do it has evaporated again. I’m hopeful that the president will pump some research and development funds into this area anyway because I fear that we’ll wait until the supply becomes dangerously low and then it will take too long to develop the new sources and the prices will be ridiculously high. This also reminded me of some exciting news I heard last summer about a company that was developing a new aviation fuel to replace the current 100LL. This is being developed from switchgrass and sorghum (which have no food uses). Anyway, I highly recommend the book (even though, as I said, it gets a bit repetitive at times) and if (when?) the documentary makes it to this area, I intend to go see it.
Some random thoughts for March
Okay, I still don’t have the time (or more accurately the motivation) to write up the book thing, I promise I’ll get it out in the next few days though, but I did want to post some links to some other people’s work.
- I’ve mentioned it before, I really like a lot of the stuff that Don Brown writes over at Get the Flick. Anyway, I finally figured out that we don’t disagree as much as I thought about ADS-B and the FAA’s NextGen project. He wrote a piece this week making fun of Newt Gingrich (well, several, all probably well deserved, but I digress). The key thing I finally figured out is that ADS-B and GPS can be very useful for general aviation (i.e., my flying), but won’t be the panacea the FAA brass tries to claim for commercial aviation (which is all most people really think about when they hear the word aviation). The real problem there is (as Don has pointed out before) “it’s the runways, stupid”. Even for GA, however, the price can be a problem, especially if the ADS-B can’t replace the Mode C transponder.
- He also, posted 2 excellent stories last month that should be required reading by those pushing for an entirely “space-based” air traffic control system. Radar can’t and won’t ever go away completely.
- Although a bit overcast and windy, it is over 70°F today and would have been a nice day to fly. Sigh…
- Also from Don, last week, another story about why the suggestion of privatizing ATC is just plain stupid. We have the busiest airspace in the world by quite a bit. User fees (which I think would be inevitable in a privatized ATC world) would kill general aviation in this country just like it has in Europe, Canada, and Australia.
- Okay, the labels would suggest that I’m not only going to talk about flying stuff. Also, via Don’s blog, (yes, I do read other things, but he had a number of good stories in the last month that I had marked in my RSS reader to share with my friends) Martin Wolf of the Financial Times, a rather conservative economic commentator, also saying the $787B stimulus package was too small. Which reminds me, I may not have cared much for our former President at times, but I don’t recall actually wishing that he would fail, so it really bothers me that there are a bunch of bitter Republicans (including the blowhard Limbaugh) who are actively hoping to see the current President fail. How can you call yourself an American and say you hope the President will fail when he hasn’t even been in office 2 months yet? If he fails (especially now), we all pay the price. It just makes me sick. (Okay, end of rant, I promise)
- And, finally (for today) from Fred Anderson’s blog, a story by Kent Nerburn that touched me.
- Oh, wait, I guess that wasn’t my final thought for today. Thanx to Facebook, I’ve gotten back in touch lately with a number of classmates from high school and college. I’ll admit, I didn’t really talk to (or care for) some of them that much back in the day, but we’ve all (well, at least I have) grown up some since then, so it is kind of cool finding out what they are up to now. One of my good friends from high school will be having knee replacement surgery on St. Patrick’s Day (at the ripe old age of 47), so I’d appreciate it if you’d keep her in your prayers (though I won’t share her name here because I haven’t asked her if it would be okay).
Religious Diversity
I know I still owe a story about the book I read the Sunday before last, but that probably needs to wait until next week. This evening, I just want to point to a blog post over on Faithful Progressive I read last week. This definitely looks like a book I need to read (as if I need another book to add to my pile). :- I’ve always had problems with the usage of the passage from John to condemn the majority of humanity for eternity. Anyway, go read the blog entry and I’ll probably post something more after I read the book.
Nice days and I’m stuck inside watching and other thoughts…
Work has been really busy lately for a number of reasons (that I won’t go into now) and this blog has been one of the victims. The other thing that has been driving me nuts is the weather has been so nice I did manage to get out a fly for an hour last Monday, but there have been another 4 or 5 (including today) that have been absolutely gorgeous (and most of them not too windy) that I’d love to have flown more. I did take the opportunity to intercept and track radials and even took two turns around in a hold at the Appleton VOR (APE). I still need to do a post on the book I read last Sunday. It has been a while since I read a book from cover to cover in one day, but I did last weekend, but that is a topic that requires more time than I can devote to it right now. Today is Ash Wednesday, but I didn’t make it to church this evening because I was working on something that my daughter needed. I have a book (or two or three) that I’d like to knock off my list during Lent, but whether or not that happens will be determined in part by how much more work I need to put into the paper I’ve been working on. More on that later, too. Last thought for this evening, today was the first spring training game and the Reds won, 7-0. No, I didn’t watch or listen, just read that online after the fact. I’m hoping for a better year than the last 8, but I’m not holding my breath. Hopefully, my next post won’t be so scattered. Shalom. —Jim
A couple of links
I know I haven’t been posting much here. I hope to rectify that soon, but in the meantime, I have a couple of links I’ll post here for anyone who is actually reading this.
- The first is one that I really like from James McGrath is a thoughtful discussion (continued in the comments) about what it means to be Christian and about the historical accuracy of the Bible.
- The second one is one I put up as a link on Facebook, too about what we should be doing as a church during tough economic times.
Happy (Belated) 50th Anniverary, Mom & Dad
Last weekend (the one between Christmas and New Year) we had the great pleasure of celebrating my parent’s 50th anniversary (which actually was two weeks earlier). Unfortunately, Dad’s siblings and 2 of Mom’s brothers (due to illness, a grandchild’s wedding, and weather) were unable to make it, but we still had a good time visiting with family that we don’t get to see as often as we’d like. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.
Their wedding picture
And the happy couple 50 years later
With the kids, their spouses, and (all but 1 of) the grandchildren.
This time it was a lousy day to fly
Today, I had planned to take a friend up flying with me. We’ve been talking about it whenever we ran into each other for probably most of the 5 years since I got my lisence. Alas, when I first called up the ASOS at KVTA at 08:30 this morning ceilings were at 800 feet. When I called again around 10:00 it was down to 600 feet. At that point, I called my friend and told him we’d have to try another time. He was actually pretty cool about it. I didn’t cancel the reservation, though, I had reserved the plane for 3 hours (from 13:00-16:00), so I figured if the ceilings came up a bit, I’d at least do some pattern work. However, I called the FBO and told them, I wouldn’t be there before about 14:00 (so they could keep it warm in the hangar). When I called the ASOS number again a little while later the ceilings were back up to 800. Then around 12:30, I looked online and noticed that they were up to 1000 feet (my magic number), so about 13:15, I grabbed my headset and headed to the airport. When I got there, they started preheating (did I mention the temp was -1°C or 31°F). It was kind of chilly when I did my preflight, but I finished that up and climbed in. The engine turned over on the second try and I let it idle at around 1000 rpm to get the oil flowing and warming for a bit while I finished up the checklists and listened to the ASOS. By now, the ASOS was reporting winds out of 270@04 (right down the runway), altimeter 30.25, temp -1°C, dew point -2°C, and ceilings at 1200. Okay, that gives me a couple hundred feet above pattern altitude before I hit the bottom of the clouds which at this time, I have to assume mean ice (did I mention the temperature). Call CTAF, announce I’m taxiing (not that anyone else was on the frequency, but…), and head down to the runup area. Do my runup, turn on the cabin heat, last look at the checklist, announce I’m taking runway 27, remaining in the pattern. Taxi out, advance the throttle and we’re off. I still love that takeoff roll especially when I’m solo, leaping into the air, I remember that first solo 6+ years ago. Okay, climb to pattern altitude and I’m beginning to wonder about that 1200, it is getting hazy at about 800. Pull the power abreast the numbers, flaps, watch airspeed, VSI, hmm… a bit of a crosswind when I turn final, but we can handle that. Nice smooth touch down, flaps up, advance power, rotate and we’re off again. Yeah, it is getting hazy at 800, but I’m not seeing any rime, so I’ll do the 3 landings to keep my legal to carry passengers for another 3 months. The last landing wasn’t my greatest, but then I’m probably my own worst critic. It was a pretty lousy day to fly, but there is still something special about being up in the air, even if it is only for about 25 minutes. Hopefully, I can find a nice day in Jan to take my friend up.
A Universalist, huh?
I’ve mentioned here before that I regularly read Rev. Bob Cornwall’s blog. He posted something there last week (a week ago today to be exact) that I wanted to comment on, but I didn’t get to it this week. He’s prolific enough that this one has already fallen off his front page. I wish I had the time (and enough interesting things to say) to write that much. Oh, well. The entry was mostly an excerpt from a book by William Barclay. Barclay was a much better biblical scholar than I will ever be, but he describes himself as a Universalist and goes on to explain why. What is really interesting to me, is that, while he can back it up biblically better than I ever could, he describes almost exactly the place I reached during one of my undergraduate religion classes when we were discussing process theology. I didn’t even realize I was a Universalist. Anyway, go read it. I’m going to have to see if the local library has a copy of that book now. As a result of this and a couple of other things I’ve been looking into lately, I’ve also added a couple of new books to my Amazon Religion Wish-List (to the left).
Blindsided by Grace – thoughts
I just finished reading Bob Molsberry’s book Blindsided by Grace: Entering the World of Disability. I won’t call this note a review because it isn’t. I’m not going to critique the book in any way. I will, however, recommend it unabashedly. I’ve known Bob and Ann for almost 2 years(?). I was on the Ohio Conference UCC’s Board of Trustee’s when Bob’s name was brought forward by the search committee for Conference MInister although I was unable to attend the meeting where he was introduced to the board and I was off the board by the time he started the job, but I met hime not too long after. I like Bob and he’s not a bad preacher, either. 🙂 When I saw that he had written two books, I certainly wanted to read them, but I didn’t buy them then. Now I wish I had. I read Tour de Faith: A Cyclist’s Lessons for Living a few months ago and as a cyclist (somewhat out of practice of late) myself, I could relate to some of his stories, and I enjoyed it very much. But this one touched me more. The book is basically (as the subtitle suggests) about how Bob dealt with the devastating 1997 accident that cost him the use of his legs. The closest I’ve come to what our society would call a disability was my back/nerve issues prior to my 1998 back surgery. I had to make some adjustments to compensate, but as I read Bob’s book, I wondered how I would respond in similar circumstances. I hope I’d do half as well. I also appreciated his perspective on life since the accident and especially the story about taking the youth group to Mexico after the accident. The disabled ones in the group were those who couldn’t communicate. I don’t have the book in front of me and I know I’m not really doing him justice, pick the book up yourself. You won’t be sorry.