It’s finally here.  The next iteration of the Google Android operating system which by all accounts is a solid improvement.  Here is the Gizmodo review. Almost human indeed.

Have I mentioned that I want an  electric car?  This is good news.

Brilliant creative here.

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_5333.MOV (2179 KB)

Sent from my iPhone

This is very cool.  A map of every space exploration that humans have ever done.  Very cool, and very creative.

The landing portion of a cross country trip from Norwood, Massachusetts to North Adams, Massachusetts Harriman and West Field. The video begins about 10 miles out as we cross over a ridge in the Berkshire Mountains. The destination airport is straight ahead in the valley. Then there is a time compression jump to about 5 miles out for my call on the UNICOM and the rest is in real time. This is a beautiful area, and a nice little field to fly into. I found out later from some family who were meeting me that on this day at least, the airport UNICOM was being piped to a PA system so that they and everyone else on the ramp could listen in to the calls. You’ll hear the airport person warn me about some debris on the approach end, which you will clearly see as random bits of lumber on the chevron area before the displaced threshold of runway 11. A bit of a bounce on this landing, which didn’t feel too severe as it happened. Also, because I was staying clear of the hills around the airport, I made this pattern a little tight, which means you can only see the runway from the side camera at the bottom of the frame very briefly and I had to merge my base and final calls as I swung around to land. Probably could have been a little wider, but it all worked out. I had to slip a bit to lose altitude, but my speeds were good and it all went quite well. Again a two camera HD shoot with UNICOM audio.

This page has a great set of links to videos of the top 20 Monty Python sketches of all time.  So much fun to remember how great these guys were and get a laugh once again.  This month marks the 40th Anniversary of their debut on the BBC, so this is an appropriate time to do a little silly walking down memory lane instead of just pining for the fjords.

This video shows the beautiful location around Marshfield Municipal Airport in Marshfield, Massachusetts. I was doing some pattern practice there and enjoying the early morning scenery. Besides the beautiful view, you’ll notice a few flying things here. I think my pattern was a little bit wide all the way around, but this probably had to do with the view and to some degree the fact that I wasn’t compensating enough for the stronger winds I was encountering. It was a solid pattern, just a little wide and long. Next, the landing was firm and flat and you can tell that after the round out I encountered some swirling winds. As you will hear, I added some power because I thought I might settle and that caused me to float a bit. So it was a slight bit more of an adventure that it needed to be, but a good learning experience. Plus, the view was too good to not share. Enjoy. (Again a two camera HD shoot with CTAF audio.)

Here is a simple video of my pattern practice at Norwood Airport on September 1, 2009.  The video is edited after the flight using the recordings from two small fixed camera sources and an audio source.  The interesting thing about this particular video happens about half way through when a distress call from about 10 miles away comes on the Norwood tower frequency.  Though unrelated to my practice that day, it is interesting to hear it exactly as it happened during my flight.  (The plane in distress landed safely and though the plane had some damage, no one was hurt.)