Another Spring Flight at Blanchard Hill

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Typically, Blanchard Hill is not predictable from my vantage point at Paine Field.. But after watching the BellCold weather site all morning, I told my boss that I had to go or I was going to be sick.. I left work at 10:30 and ran home to grab my glider.. When I got to the top of the hill the bay was dark with wind.. The direction appeared to have a bit of south in it; but I could see a number of indicators that it was going to clock around to the west soon.. A couple of other guys showed up and it was on..
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Within fifteen minutes after launching off of the cliff, I was gliding over to Chuckanut.. A bunch of locals showed up and followed me around for a while.. I'm sure that they got bored with my slow lumbering technique; they each took turns making fun of me just before they balled-up and fell out of the sky.. The next couple of hours felt like laying in a freezer superman style; I froze my ass off..
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The mood of the sky changed as the day went on.. I was in the air for almost four hours and those subtle changes made a long day pleasantly tolerable..
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Big 360 - Short Video Clip..

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Fear Culture

Watch the news outlets enough and you'll start to see some common themes emerge.. The media pounds the weak with emotionally charged fear issues.. I'm just starting to develop a list of those themes..
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Common Themes: Death..Bombs..Guns..Sex Predators..Natural Disasters..Strange Creatures..Finances..Children..Family..Drugs..
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migrants drown..Gas prices jump..quake shakes..tornadoes strike..ammo-smuggling..drug sting..Mystery water..bomb plot..Weird fish leave sea..Sex offenders live at child care facilities..bodies found floating..Moms struggling with rising prices..paying for food..Boy flees..begging..Waste food dished up to hungry diners..Teen could have made bomb in minutes..Inhaling dirty air same as if a kid smoked..32 shot..6 killed..violent..home sales fall ..Al Qaeda..attacks..Spy plane shot down..anti-Christian cult leader..Mother dead, alert issued for kids..falling baby..UFO..car thieves..swimmers faint..Working folks trade food for gas..There's an alligator in my kitchen..Smog linked to early death ..Russian missile obliterates spy plane..Suicidal bookkeeper..long, bloody summer..rape..Group stuck on remote Pacific island..suspended over smoking..lies..needs surgery..Grizzly kills man..silent tsunami of hunger..Traitor..fake spy..$100 to gas a loaded van..perilous..medieval fortress..open wounds..not catching illegals..Rampaging elephant kills 3 at temple..crash..War..surgery..culture shock..War..truckers clash..fuel tax..Arms cache..squashes..booted..sentenced on tax charges..nuke..War..jail for tax evasion..career ends in death..Girl's detergent suicide leaves dozens ill..people fall through the cracks..truckers clash..fuel tax..gravely hurt in crash..divorce..Waterboarding..execution ..Humans nearly went extinct..Migrant uses corpse as life preserver..detergent suicide leaves dozens ill..Armed robber..14-foot crocodile winched into truck..Boy charged..global crisis..Police raid..verdict..shooting..Suicide bomber..3 years in tax case..Carjacker..Bee tornado chases patrons from store..Sinkhole gulps..terror attack..threatens..war..dead..fires..pain..suffering ..jail..Wounded..unborn twins die..Gun seller..$5.40/gallon gas..Deadly snake found slithering on beach..
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Fear Constructed Fear

I've been preoccupied with fear.. Not my fears however.. I've been preoccupied with the concept of fear used as a social engineering tool..
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Fear is a commodity manufactured by the media in order to influence populations.. Mass media is an extremely pervasive force in giving the public a purely subjective picture of the world..
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Fear your government..
Fear the corporate war machine..
Fear constructed fear..
Fear is the mind killer..
Fear fear..
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Endless Winter

Last Saturday was great; temperatures were near 80 degrees and the wind was light.. Desiree and I spent some time in the yard digging out a few weeds.. Later in the afternoon we geared up and rode our bikes for a few hours.. It felt like summer could actually be on it's way..
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Just a few days later however, summer is far away once again.. Temperatures in the 30's and we're saddened by 5 inches of snow..
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Culture of Fear Report

Mired in a Culture of Fear, the weak are spiralled into irrelevance by the media..

foreclosures up 178%..results remain hidden..Hungry..broke..Greedy..homeless..killings..Kidnapped..blackmailing suspects..due in court..Cops find gun..park shooting..pond scum..Pit bull tears into tot..suing..slay police as they sleep..secret agenda..knife pulled from boy's head..Grain prices up 120%; hungry people riot..boy killer..Surviving..assassination..higher tax bills..Suicidal mom..Bombings kill..volcano erupting..thousands fleeing..gunfight..KKK..Thousands fight..Tax..executions..remains of missing teen..clues into disappearance..Family of seven loses all..daunting task..bombs kill..executions..Foreclosures continue to soar..Child rapists should die..Plane crashes..75 dead..Oil breaks $113..Teen describes stabbing, beheading man..tried to kill..gunfight ..150-pound cougar prowls Chicago streets..hacker..Train kills woman..House explodes..angry man..remains of missing teen..Teen held in identical twin's death..killed..collision..Body found..murder..suicidal son..arrested..arms trafficking..personality disorder..food inflation the worst in 17 years..gun deaths..Deadly blasts..wildfires kill..mass evacuations..Dozens of kids killed..fighting kills 18..Pilot dies..wildfire..Low supply kicks oil close to $115..Dad struggles to yank kid from doomed jet..cancer returns..warned..forced..jury finds her guilty ..firing shots..lost..found..dies at 95 ..surgery ..Mom throws kids from burning building..Plane crashes into market..Convicted sex offender blows himself up..political fallout..Angry man..conviction..Gator grins from atop back seat of car..Slaughter..climate change..Man arrested..ricin..terrorism..Killings..U.S. attacks..Man falls to death from stadium escalator..doomed jet..Boy's nose blows up..Toddler forced to smoke pot..4 shot at apartment complex..Cop battles python to save woman..school shooting..Suicide blast kills 42..sex abuse..shame..Hundreds detained..immigration raids..fire..devil ripped apart home..Homeless man killed with own crutch..helicopter crash..kills 4..50 slain..Suicide bomb kills 24..recklessly dishonest..Citigroup cuts 9,000 more jobs..Smoke chokes..My tears alone spoke..Babies water-tortured..Man falls into crater as son hangs on rim..Hungry slither under fence as artist sings..

Weekly Culture of Fear Report

Fear lowers IQ.. Mired in our Culture of Fear, media spirals the weak into irrelevance..
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Soldiers killed..Flawed surge..more remains..attacks identified..Future murky..mortgage crisis..polygamist sect..state custody..Police seek girls..abused..sex tapes..gutter ball..incest produced babies..diners pay..afford..sue..defamation..Teen accused..thrill kill..beheading..runaway bus..Body parts found..Protesters..Autistic girl..Crime..State takes legal custody..Trial begins..thrill killing..rescue..spook..officials arrested..Defiant Iran expands nuclear operation..tricks..cut fat..Drug errors..hurt..hospitalized kids..sick kids..Fixes for the environment..Sparse salmon..fishing ban..tools unearthed..Man holds youths at gunpoint..cut 200 jobs..dead at 75..Hung jury..trial..worker accused..leaking secrets ..security weaknesses in IRS computer system..Protesters scale the Golden Gate Bridge..descends into chaos..torch is extinguished..strategist steps down..Stocks inch lower..Oil and gas prices..arrests..energy trading probe..trouble with tech..Murky future..Credit crunch..shares plunge..Tensions rise..FDA warns..worst nightmare..harsh..religion..cancel more flights ..Incomes stall..poor..vicious beating..won't give up..Strip club..criticized..Baby with two faces..boxer beats burglar..incest produced babies..teacher getting beaten..Homeless..order against resident..breaks engagement..cancel more flights..deported..irresponsible..dumps..breaks engagement..cranky passengers..Protesters..cry for help..raid ..Barbie bandits..knife's edge..downturn ..Economic woes..worry..Pressure..San Francisco braces..depression..refugee crises ..angry..collapses..criticizes..paid ultimate price..anti tax schemes..sex abuse..victims..Lord of War..extradition..violence flares..warns..boycott..wake up call..Tarnished..partisan divide..recession..global slump..Gasoline hits another record..Oil..stocks retreat..wary..flooded..fire..sprinkler foulup ..charged with first degree murder..Thieves steal..Audit..Iraq war..suspension..chaos..35 arrested..bomb plot..deadly addiction..I'm a sociopath..killer..Beheading victim..gruesome find..mom dies..homeless..mishap..catastrophic..dead at 65..angry..risk..Lungless frog..Planet in Peril..Storms pound heartland..2 die..flooding ..men prayed..cried..temple raid ..bankruptcy..destroyed by fire ..beating suspects..Dream ends..Beheading someone is 'not that difficult'..Rules changing..warning signs..massacre plans..Captured..knock it off..Insurgent missile..black flash..breaks law..Crossing guard dies..
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Blanchard Hill After Work 4.10.08

Another day at Paine Field watching the sky churn.. I made a call and convinced another pilot that I wasn't really out of my mind..

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I blazed up I5 and rolled up to launch at just after three.. The tide was way out and what little of the sound was left was as smooth as glass; usually not a good sign.. Making matters worse, the mid level altocumulus development from the air off of the islands set up just right to block the sun.. I waited for a couple of hours and finally gave up hope..

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I had my glider almost back in the bag when the glass-off started; A couple of guys took off and easily floated up a few hundred over.. Twenty minutes later my glider was back together and we launched into smooth air..

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Flew for a little more than an hour and got really cold..
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Weekly Culture of Fear Report

The American media promotes Fear Culture in the Corporate States of America.. I ran across a study that found that people instilled with fear were easily controlled.. Since I read that, I've been more critical of the media's role..
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Fear put gw in the Whitehouse in 04.. Now the corporate controlled media is bent on putting another war monger republican in office in 08.. Fear will serve to further dumb down the idiot masses into numb submission..
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FAA failures..passengers in danger..Dengue outbreak..30-day rations..fanatic..pay twice..gas..Girl fights off kidnappers..cops..10 killed..house fire..Homeless....arrested..unbelievable..Hawk attacks girl..Cockpit dangers..Brain-damaged..ex-employee..broker deal..Bankruptcies..fares up..autism..challenged..Crime..accuser..jailed..alleged threats..power-washing my kid..disastrous..blows up World..deadly airstrike..Thousands hit..outbreak of dengue..help your doctor..blasted..Back to pencil and paper..Unmanned ship..space station Living..bad boss..Fixes for the environment Science..renewable energy..bury greenhouse gas..tough guys..battle against dengue..U.S. is off track..Police..Man threatened...Tech killings..Bush gets joke..NATO summit..What if..chill..German suicide machine..sparks..outrage..hits gas..runs minivan over 5-year-old..Woman bites..pit bull..attacking...die..fight..released..arrest..Hawk attacks student..Fanged pond creature..massacre..drops the ball..dead at 44..Bankruptcies..fares up..Slayings..Cannibal fantasy child killer..death row..80,000 jobs lost..Wall Street waits..crackdown..Suicide machine..outrage..Warrants served..polygamist ranch..Pirates seize..error in judgment..bomber crashes..80,000 jobs slashed..tornado slams..Big Oil: Thank you..Bible stops bullet..Pregnant man..stuns..Shark crunches..Dead gator..tanker to flip..Fanged pond creature..
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Horrifying Developments in Cycling

The term cycling culture comes up again and again..
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My exposure to bike culture started back in the days of my favorite red Murray single speed coaster bike that I flew off of every jump that I could either find or build.. The cycling culture in my San Fernando neighborhood was hell bent on thrashing anything on two wheels.. We wore broken bikes and broken skin like a badge of honor..
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In this age of communication cycling culture has taken on a life of it’s own.. Cycling culture has become Medusa.. Cycling culture is now that train wreck that will turn you to stone if you dare to look her in the eye..
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Who's The Fool..?

This has got to be the top April Fool's Day hoax of all time:

Congress, critical of tax breaks, lays into oil execs Lawmakers criticize industry for taking tax breaks amid record-high prices while underinvesting in renewable resources.
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com staff writerLast Updated: April 1, 2008: 3:19 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Lawmakers grilled executives from the world's five largest publicly traded oil companies Tuesday, criticizing them for taking tax subsidies and not investing in renewable resources amid record prices for oil and gasoline. [more..] ..
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Who do they think they're fooling with this charade.. For just one millisecond I was fooled into thinking that there was the slightest possibility that the elected idiots were serious about doing their job..
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Then I realized.. APRIL FOOL'S..!
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