skylab

As to:

"You're in good shape for everything but a fire. Perhaps as Captain you will be able to make the fire go away by glaring at it or otherwise pulling rank on it."

 

I'll have to try that if ever approached by a fire. I certainly hope I never am. I just can't think of anything much worse than FIRE. I was very fortunate to not have any uncontrolled fire aboard any flights I was on. Lots of controlled fires though. That's what kept us in the air! Except for flying over the Pacific, I always had in mind a place I would head for in the event of one on board. And, even though you're surrounded by water on a boat, I don't want one there either.

 

 

As to:

"(Actually, I'll bet you were a great guy to fly with.)"

 

Well, I'd like to think so, but I'm sure there were those who had other "favorites" to fly with. I had enough years as Co-Pilot to think I knew what I would NOT do as Captain. Doesn't always work out that way. I think most guys (and a few gals I might add) enjoyed flying with me knowing they were never gonna run out of fuel! That's right, I had three female Co-Pilots while flying Captain on the 737. Sharp gals; good pilots.

 

 

As to your Green Mountain fire:

 

Glad to hear everything turned out alright. Frightening having it that close. One of our kids lives in California. I think that whole State has been on fire at one time or another it seems! Anyway, they've been pretty much surrounded by fire so much so that all the bears have been driven from the woods into town. Now they've got bears to worry about rather than forest fires. So far I guess they're all getting along.

 

 

As to:

"You get much fiercer fires there in Florida, skylab..."

 

We don't live there any more. Moved back to Michigan a few years ago. Too hot and too many hurricanes. Had all three hurricanes go right over the house that one year. No damage, but not much fun. But we did have a wild fire right near us when we lived there. Almost died from the smoke! Don't miss it at all!

 

 

I guess we covered a few bases here, A?

I just meant that after I write to the CDs I eject them and then read them on the other computer to make sure everything is there. Bite for bite. Then, every so often; say months or years, I check them to see if the stuff is still there. Don't know where it'd go, but I have a look-see.

 

And.....that's Captain with a CAPITAL 'C' please!! And.....we'll get there when we get there and not before.

Mike said: "I'm not going to argue with you..."

 

And that's good because I'M the CAPTAIN!

 

Anyway, so far I haven't had a disc that I couldn't read. Always a first time I suppose, but I check them as I write to them.

I consider putting my irreplaceable data onto CDs my "offsite" back-up. Anything that would have to be uploaded to another site is NOT a good idea in my opinion. Too many chances for loss. And there's always a chance that someone else could use the info that I might consider private, like passwords, etc. The same with external drives; something could cause them to fail just as the drive they came from. CDs seem to me to be a near fool-proof way of storing data for later retrieval. Are they in a fire-proof box? No, but I guess that's not a bad idea. All your ideas are workable, but I kinda like to keep things simple.

Being an airline pilot (now retired) instilled in me redundancy redundancy. I have three computers; two desktops and a laptop. All my fotos are not only backed up on all three computers but on CDs as well.

The closest I came to having any kind of "image processing software" was a scanner (hardware) that I got just to scan all my prints to JPEGs in order to store them on the computer. Near the end of that project the scanner acted up one day and I kinda hit it with my hand and that was the end of the scanner. Guess I hit it a little too hard! But the "project" was close enough to completion that I didn't bother replacing the scanner and doubt I ever will. I do have a simple program that I use to view and edit JPEGs with. Croping and re-sizing is the extent of my efforts. Hey.....my shots are sooooo good, I don't need any editing software!!

 

Interesting about the Indians. My daughter calls me The Great White Chief. I do have some Indian blood. However, not enough to qualify for any returns from the Casinos!

Up until 2001 I had two "antique" cameras; both 35mm SLRs that I bought while stationed in Korea in the 1950s. Those cameras served me well for all those years. But, the cost became obscene because I was addicted to the shutter! I couldn't go anywhere without a case of film. And, I used Kodak! I didn't bother getting just negatives and then going and getting prints made of the ones I liked; I just ordered prints all the time and then threw out the bad shots.

 

Then in 2000 as I was planning my trip aboard a containership, I realized it was going to be totally impractable to carry so much film with me as I was going to be gone for over two months! So, I decided to "modernize" and go digital. I got a Sony Mavica MVC-FD91. It uses a 3¼ Floppy for storage and at high res I can get sometimes a dozen shots on a disc depending on the subject. I am more than satisfied with this camera, but will probably "upgrade" sometime in the future to one that is a little more compact and uses a memory card that can store many times more images. This one does have a 14X Optical Zoom though which is nice. And, it'll record a one-minute video with sound.

 

Throughout my photography "career" though I have always tried to compose each and every shot I've taken; even with the digital. Oh sure, with digital, you can crop and re-size on the computer, but I try and avoid all that. It doesn't take that much additional effort for me. My family thinks I should enter some of my shots in a contest or something, but I won't be doing that. I just enjoy taking pictures. It's great to have something to remember where you've been and what you've seen.

 

So, instead of carrying a case of film around with me, now all I need is a pocketfull of floppies!

Correction: I said RPM; I meant CID.

An aircraft spotter you're not. (smile) You were within 100 RPM (they're 28(eight)Hundreds, and they're on a DC-6, NOT a Connie. While some very early Connies had 2800s, almost all had R-3350s.

 

I didn't know one airplane from another back then; they scared me to death. Still do!! But, I think it was an Air Knocker. That's all they made way back then, wasn't it?!?!

I don't know about "gorgeous", but I must admit there are some pretty good ones if I must say so myself. The beauty of digital cameras is you can just "shoot" away and not worry about it. I think that containership trip I was on I took over 4000 fotos. I had a laptop with me and I would download from the camera and weed out the ones I didn't like. I still had many megs of fotos when I got home. I won't be uploading all those!

 

There were a number of sunsets where I tried to capture the "green flash" and I'm still not sure if I ever got one. Lots of good oportunities out on the Pacific though. You said "South Pacific", but there were more than one listed that way. Guess I should've used the Lat/Lon. (smile)

 

That was my first experience with using a digital camera (2001). Wish I'd had one all the years I was flying. I enjoy trying to capture/save what the eye sees.

 

Glad you enjoyed them. The av ones are up.

OK.....I found 'em. You just click on your avitar and then screen name and then look at the album. I might figure this out yet.

 

I got a dozen aviation related shots I might put up.

Well.....I dunno. I uploaded 30 pix, but not sure where they are!!

Only thing I can find is "Add Album"...that's it. they don't look all that bad at 600x450 so if I get this figured out, it should be okay.

Well, I'm too dumb I guess. I couldn't see anywhere to "browse" to get my pix and I didn't see anywhere that stated anything about size. Thumbnails just don't cut it; can't see anything. Now, if you could click on them and have them enlarge like many sites do, then that'd be okay. I'll have to see what the pix I have selected look like at 600 max.

>>>I'll research the photo album stuff by creating one of my own, after which I'll report back to you here. Give me a couple of days.<<<

 

OK.....I'll wait for your report. If it's any kind of hassle, I probably won't do it 'cause I'm so lazy. We'll see.

 

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>>>One of the things that surprised me was the fact that there are glacial moraines along the banks of the big rivers in places like Indiana and other regions relatively close to the Great Lakes. Then it dawned on me that the rivers must follow the edges of the ancient ice sheets as they began to melt back.<<<

 

Well, if it wasn't for those glaciers, there'd be no Great Lakes. But thanks to Al Gore's 'Global Warming', the glaciers receeded and gave us a nice supply of fresh water.

 

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>>>Anyway, my two favorite states are WY and MT exactly because of the low population densities combined with the majestic scenery. (Until that first trip I had no idea what the term "big sky" meant, because we were east coast people at the time.) But we're rooted to CO now because of the kids and grandkids. My point was simply that we could make the deserts bloom while hiding a huge population in those areas.<<<

 

It'd be hard for me to pick a 'favorite' State. Guess I'll stick with the Wolverine. I like being surrounded by water. After all, that's where we started, right?!

 

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>>>Re pumping water, I meant desalinating seawater and then pumping it inland. Given sufficient nuclear power this will be cheap and easy to do when the time comes.<<<

 

NOW you've got the right idea. But I doubt the idiots will ever go the simple route.

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>>>And the time is coming. Here in Colorado we're already seeing state restrictions on agricultural draining of the Ogallala Aquifer. Probably a third of the farmers on the eastern plains of CO have been forced out of business in the past two years because they have no way of replenishing what they take out, which is what the state now requires. I don't feel that as a nation we're wasting the aquifer resources, but we're soon going to have to do something different. We'll run out of Great Plains water completely in less than 50 years, maybe a lot sooner.<<<

 

You want to see low water, go to Boulder Dam (Lake Mead). It's already down about 40 feet and will dry up supposedly in another not too many years. And Florida is a good example of a State fast running out of fresh water. That's where they really need to get going on desalinazation.

I too have covered most of the Lower 48 by car. I only listed the States on our last venture. In fact, just checking an atlas, there isn't a State I haven't driven in except Alaska! I've been there a number of times but never driven there. But I have driven in Hawaii, but only on Oahu.

 

 

Not so sure I'd want to get involved in auto/truck delivery. I wouldn't like the deadhead back unless it were by train or boat. While I could always use some extra cash, I think I'll just stay retired.

 

 

Yes...'tis indeed a big place we live in; the Lower 48. Unless one has covered it by ground, they have no idea. As to your piping water to the desert; FORGET IT! They're already eying the Great Lakes and they'd better just forget about it. We don't need any more people here; got too many now!

 

 

I haven't seen the photo album info, but I'd be hard pressed to pick out 'favorites' as there's just too many. But maybe I could come up with a few. That is if I can figure out how to do it!

I figured you were "in hiding" somewhat. My "leave" as you put it, was a little driving safari of 8000-plus miles in the old buggy covering the States of, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin; and some more than once. Traveling for the rest of the Summer will probably be mostly by boat. Gotta support the oil companies!

 

As to:

"Now ... I'm curious about something. When you were an airline pilot did you spend a lot of time admiring the scenery and the clouds? I certainly do -- even as a passenger I spend most of my time looking outside..."

 

You bet I did. I admired clouds long before becomming a pilot. Some say my head is still in the clouds! I probably have a thousand pictures of clouds; many I took while aboard a containership traveling across the Pacific and back. And, countless sunset pix as well.

 

Admiring scenery from above prompted a few land trips to places to get a closer look. Nothing like seeing things up close. The Grand Canyon is an example. You just can't grasp the size of that ditch from the air. Only thing I can think of that wasn't that impressive from the ground were the Pink Sand Dunes. They didn't seem as 'pink' on the surface, but still enjoyable.

 

Still have many trips to make.....some day.

Hi Mike,

 

Well, I guess you can answer these things just like in the Forum, right??

 

Not sure I'll spend too much time here, but who knows. Every once in awhile I do get a little long-winded. If my credibility gets attacked here by a certain two-some, I'll probably spend less time here as well as I don't need that sh*t!