On Thursday I went to a talk on Flying Boats of the Empire at the Royal Aeronautical Society. The Society website is well worth checking out if you're into flying things; there's a full programme of events at HQ and a worldwide network of branches, talks are free to attend, and you don't have to be a member.

RAeS HQ was a treat in itself, with aviation-related paintings and models on every surface. As I drank my coffee, I observed that I was the youngest person there who wasn't a waitress.

The talk was by Richard Knott, author of the eponymous book, and was edge-of-the-seat stuff. He began by describing an incident in which the flying boat Cavalier made a forced landing on the sea 300 miles from Bermuda and began to break up, then left us in suspense until the end of the talk.

If I could travel in time, one of the first items on the agenda would be a trip to Australia or Africa by flying boat (picking one of the flights that didn't crash, of course). Landing for meals and overnight, strolling the promenade cabin, perhaps popping into the smoking-cabin for a smoke, dressing for dinner; it all sounds utterly civilised. We learned of the captain who inspected his crew's fingernails before every flight and, at the other end of the scale, the captain who rolled up one morning so hungover he flew his ship straight into a sandbank.

The Q&A at the end quickly devolved into old buffers putting their hands up to share their own flying boat reminiscences, which were fortunately quite interesting although I felt things should have been moved to the bar at that point.

As for the crew and passengers of the Cavalier,

I wont name names on who posted what...but I have to say waking up to twitter this morning for me was rather unpleasant. Unfortunately some people like to use their social medias to splurge out their opinions on things, no matter if it offends someone or not. Now, I know the next hot topic in media and with everyone is the whole gay marriage thing. frankly, I could care less what people do with their lives. However, it is when people who are for it, start to say things like "only good Christians should believe this or that, or understand this or that" that piss me off to no end. And they don't just say one thing either, they go off on a tirade for it. I am a Christian, and I believe I am a good Christian, but I also am not one to go out and protest things, try to make my opinion known to cause a stir up. I keep quiet because I KNOW what is going to come out of it, regardless of what I believe or not. When people say God is wrong, the Bible is wrong, Christians are wrong is what really gets me upset. Not just mad upset, but emotionally upset. Needless to say I un-followed this person. However I noticed that other people noticed that I stopped following them. They don't know WHO stopped following, but other people proceed to make fun of me for it, for "lol leaving because this person spoke the truth". I personally feel like I am being attacked for it, whether these followers realize it or not, and of course the person who makes these posts in the first place doesn't say a word to them. I feel very hurt, I feel like my beliefs would be laughed out the window, like I would be attacked for stating how I feel. That I "am not a good Christian" and I am a bigoted person. I seriously feel like crying right now over what just happened. part of me wants to send an email to this person and express how upset their posts made me feel, and how the comments from their followers about un-following them hurts. And seriously, for someone who strives to keep things in order on a daily basis and drama free, seriously needs to reconsider what they post sometimes, because with out realizing it they can really hurt and offend people. However, this person must have known because they said 'offending wasn't there intention" and yet they kept posting. Sorry for this personal rant, but this is how I feel, and if someone is going to tell me I am not allowed to feel this way, feel free to stop following my LJ.

I am asking for speculation only. I have managed to avoid the 50th anniversary spoilers so far. This entry goes up to the end of this season and stops. All previous episodes of Doctor Who may be discussed in comments.

Overall this half season has been good but not Great. I have enjoyed that nods to the previous incarnations of the Doctor. There has been great affection to the previous incarnations of the Doctor and it is nice for them to re-enforce that 8 is canonical.

I enjoyed the Name of the Doctor and thought that, over all they played fair with it. It did bring together all the threads starting with the Christmas episode and the rest of the season along with the previous part of the season. Moffat seems to like doing the making each episode important at the end and has done so with varying success.

I am looking forward to the next episode a lot.

Spoilers behind the cut and in the comments since I am assuming that not everyone has seen this episode yet.

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COLLEAGUE 1: I feel doomed.
COLLEAGUE 2: I feel Quaked!
ME: I feel Skyrimmed. Wait, that sounds filthy.
ALL: *suppressed giggles*

Today is KJ's 17th birthday on FurryMuck! :D

Epic card battles are only epic to those playing them. I don't know how YuGiOh managed to make an entire TV series out of watching people play card games.



In real world news, I'll be at london expo this weekend! Come see me because if all goes as planned, you can be some of the first to buy the brand new Tom and Alex books : D.

Does anyone want to maybe come visit when we are working on the new place in Omak...? Give me/us a hand with anything? I am not just meaning 'labor' here- I can buy labor. I was thinking that painting a whole ROOM would be much more fun with friends... or some of my friends might know more about re-doing something than I would, and could show me how by making me do it with thier instruction... (like if we replace the sink, at some point, in the bathroom... it's an ugly cabinet with sink, but we can buy a pedestal sink and get more room with a prettier look! I know how in theory, but have never done it...)

I would have room to put you up on the futon and/or the awesome air mattress that is bed-sized... and/or there is room for a couple of tents out back, too... or parking if you have an RV or trailer... just depends on what you want.

Locally, in august there will be the Omak stampede (a rodeo and the strange 'suicide race' that may not be to some folks's taste) but also the waterpark in Chelan, and all SORTS of outdoor activities from Oakanogan to Wenatchee... not to mention great things like the historical town or museums and things...

I'm thinking it would be host-able by August for most folks... a few REALLY devoted friends or VERY handy folks might be okay with coming to help May or June, but honestly... I'm just saying, I have a ton of work to do then. It wouldn't be just one project. (blush) AFTER that tho, we could do just one project or something- and you could have a hotel-free jumping off spot for other things!

Spin-off from ABC's "Once Upon a Time" series.

I am so behind on posts. I can't complain, though: work has been busy, but not so much that I have to sacrifice hobbies and hiking and dog-enrichment.


Here's the fully annotated Flickr set

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For those who did the TL,DR I give you instead an adorable video of a pack of 11 border collie puppies!

Navy dolphins discover rare old torpedo off Coronado - latimes.com

The torpedo is over 100 years old, and needed historians to identify.  It was a surprise to the dolphins' trainers, who were training them to identify mines, and none were planted in the area.  It was a mechanical torpedo, made between 1870 and 1889 before electricity was common.

I really like the idea of a lightweight hollow head, so that a fan could be placed in the snout, and it can have finer, sharper details. I've seen videos and tutorials of people using resin heads, but I don't have access to the facilities required for casting. I was just wondering if anyone knew of a material that is solid and sturdy, that's thinner than the commonly used upholstery foam, that I could use instead of resin. I was thinking of something like a carve-able hard foam, or some kind of sculpting compound? I do have some Milliput, which is a 2 part sculpting putty, but it's very expensive.

Hello, everyone!
I did check the Memories for fans and didn't find my answer (see? diligent!), so I'm posting a pic to see if/who can help.
Here is the fan I'd like to use, because of size, price, and noise generated:

as you can see, there are red, yellow, black wires, instead of just red and black.
My question is: how do I wire it to a toggle switch and battery connector? (Ala Matrices?)

Questions that occurred to me: what size fan(s)? does one need? (e.g. 80, 90, 120, 140mm.) How does voltage affect/require what batteries you use? (9v vs AA, for example.)

I slept through church-time this morning. Bummer, because I was planning on going!

I have been so obsessed with paint issues, I dreamt about colours and types of paint. WTF.

I was apparently just so exhausted- because i slept all day yesterday too... probably from the combination of the drive from here to Monroe on Wed, and Omak and back on Fri, both really quick one day sprints... no real 'rest' between the two hour to-and-from...

So it's getting closer and closer to time for the waterpark to open... I'm contemplating the savings we might be able to have if we bought a 'family' pass with our friends- that's technically people at the same address, but the street we're moving to is a single address, with a box number per resident, since they are trailer 'spaces' technically... so they'd prolly let us do it... that would make it even CHEAPER for me to buy a waterpark pass at the itty bitty waterpark in Chelan... *squee*

I'm still totally mind-locked on what to do (color/theme) with the bathroom there... it has to be painted... so I think I will go with something agean/mediterainian in color- kind of blue with a greenish hint... then later when I have a tiny bit of money I can decide if it will have a true theme- if we are going to put any kind of decor, per se... you know?

It did occur to me, I could do it all turn-of-the-century metals and tiles, like i LOVE, but I probably can't afford the things that /make/ that look- like the lamp(s) and glass/metal fixtures... but if I am smart on the color, then if I DO have money for them later, I could still do it...

I know, there's something hysterical about a trailer in a trailer park actually having real decor... It sounds like I am fixing up a McMansion... but the bonus is, no one will know it's cool from the outside. *wink*

Now, just hope I can manage to get what HAS to be done, done, before we HAVE to leave this little studio apartment. *GRIN*

Cause that would suck.

*wriggles nervously*

Get here, paycheck! get here!