Personal Journals about Hang Gliding

Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Bob Kuczewski » Mon Jan 19, 2015 12:22 pm

RickMasters wrote:... I have concluded this "blog," which is not a blog, is only suitable for offering short opinions and quips, but nothing any longer of a serious nature.

I looked up "blog" on Wikipedia:

A blog (a truncation of the expression weblog) is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in chronological order (the most recent post appears first).


The word "log" (in "blog") implies a time ordered history of entries. That's the definition of this kind of log (as opposed to a dead tree trunk).

On the US Hawks, posts can be displayed in chronological order (most recent first or last) depending on the user's settings. Our "blogs" default to most recent last, but anyone can change that (on most topics, just change "Ascending" to "Descending" and press "Go").

RickMasters wrote:If they have said something inaccurate in recounting events, they may find they have actually rewritten history.

The fact that they recounted inaccurate information actually is history itself. It's history about what that person wrote on a public forum. If someone repeatedly misrepresents history, that's important for people to know.

I find it very unsettling to know that I can read something on a web page one day, and then go back a day later and find that it's either gone or been changed in obvious or subtle ways. Imagine if the books on your shelves could rewrite themselves based on what someone else wanted them to say ... today. Again, that brings George Orwell's 1984 to mind. Unfortunately, that's what much of the internet has become.

It's part of man's history that at one time we believed the earth was flat. And having discovered its "roundness" we put it at the center of the universe with the sun and stars revolving around it. That history of failed models actually helps our understanding of reality because it gives us a warning that even today's "modern science" must be taken with a grain of salt. My first aerodynamics book included some history of failures because that helps us put our successes in perspective. Seeing mistakes (with footnotes of later corrections) is an important gauge of truth. I think it belongs in any scientific work. Look at any great scientist's lab notebook and you will find mistakes. You will also find the "Aha" moments when those mistakes were discovered to be mistakes. There's nothing wrong with that, and it fits very well with a group of sincere people trying to figure out a better way to support the sport of hang gliding in the United States.
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Rick Masters » Mon Jan 19, 2015 2:20 pm

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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Rick Masters » Tue Jan 20, 2015 7:37 pm

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John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) Video on Stupidity

Postby wingspan33 » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:17 pm

I found this tidbit VERY informative! And in the last 10 seconds of the video, VERY funny! :srofl:

I wonder if this analysis could also pertain to the pilots of inflatable canopy soaring parachutes? :eh: :angel: :lolno:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVPdyY ... l=84838260
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Rodger » Mon Feb 02, 2015 1:54 pm

wingspan33 wrote:I found this tidbit VERY informative! And in the last 10 seconds of the video, VERY funny! :srofl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvVPdyY ... l=84838260



That was really funny, but would have been more accurate if, instead of Fox News, he'd said NPR.
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Rick Masters » Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:01 pm

So much for "Superiority of Hang Gliders."
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Bob Kuczewski » Wed Feb 04, 2015 5:36 pm

RickMasters wrote:So much for "Superiority of Hang Gliders."

I will start working on a Wiki as soon as I can ... hopefully by the end of the month.

However, let me add that the Blog forum gives you the right - as the "owner" of this Blog - to decide which posts you want to stay and which you'd like to have removed. I just got a phone call from Eagle who asked me to remove one of Free's posts from his Blog, and it's now been removed. If you want to remove any posts (including this one) just let me know. You can post your request here, or send me a PM, or call me, or use the "Report" button for each post you'd like removed. The removal of posts from any Blog is not intended to be a judgment on the validity of any post, it's just respecting the presentation rights of the Blog's owner.

Please let me know whatever you'd like to do, and I apologize that it's not as smooth as I wish it could be.

Bob Kuczewski

P.S. Another way to handle unwanted posts in your Blog is to create another Blog for the unwanted posts. As the Blog owner, you can ask me to move any posts from your "main" Blog to another (maybe "peanut gallery") Blog.
Join a National Hang Gliding Organization: US Hawks at ushawks.org
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I feel alienated

Postby Free » Wed Feb 04, 2015 6:12 pm

bobk wrote: I just got a phone call from Eagle who asked me to remove one of Free's posts from his Blog, and it's now been removed.


Did he give a good reason why, or is this just an incorporation of policy re:Jack and Davis show?
Would you send a copy of what you deleted to me? That one wasn't archived yet.
Thanks in advance.

Update: Just saw the new thread 'deleted posts'. Ok. Thanks as above.
Does this mean I'm now banned from Joel's? (Eagle's) blog?

pps: the removed posts don't make any sense without including the jpeg of stylized eagle sitting on the stylized skull.
I formally request that it also be included to help clear up any misconceptions.
Thank you again.
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby Rick Masters » Wed Feb 04, 2015 8:27 pm

decide which posts you want to stay and which you'd like to have removed.

If there was a delete button, we wouldn't be wasting time.
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Re: Rick Masters: Superiority of Hang Gliders

Postby wingspan33 » Wed Feb 04, 2015 10:57 pm

Rick,

I hope my last post didn't strike a wrong cord. While it wasn't directly about the superiority of hang gliders it seemed to me to have relevance. The idea being that (as I have said or implied elsewhere in your blog) I feel that hang glider pilots are (on average) better informed and "smarter"(?) about aviation as well as aerodynamic principles in general.

In the course of stumbling on the John Cleese video, I immediately thought of it as an explanation of why people choose to fly soarable parachutes. That is, they haven't got the required skills or brains :?: to realize that inflatable canopies are dangerous. And this, of course, also explains why these same people did not choose to take up the more superior ultralight soaring wing (aka, the hang glider).

Now, the effect that John Cleese talks about CAN occur in the sport of hang gliding. In my years observing other HG pilots there have been a few that did not have the skills to fly safely or to KNOW that they were not flying safely. In their minds they were good HG pilots. :shock: Of course, that was in the years before soarable parachutes came along. :lolno:

I would add one thing about some inflatable canopy pilots. It could be that they are actually "smart enough" to KNOW they haven't got the required skills and/or abilities to fly the more superior wing! Ya gotta give those few some credit for sticking to the (lower skill/talent requiring) floating lounge chair mode of "flight". :thumbup:
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