HumanDrone

Wow! That second one looks a little more advanced! Was it a WWI bird, or later?

You too, Captain! Safe travel, & polish up that BOC badge!

I have a hard time adding to the great things that have been said here. Infidelity hurts so deeply, it has been said that losing your love to death is easier. And with everything else going on around it, you think you just aren't going to make it sometimes. My mother's best friend and my dad had an affair while she was carrying my sister, and it ripped my mother apart; I can't understand what kind of thinking allows a person to do such a thing. But OFF is good therapy, I believe as well. And the company of people who care for you, even if only through typewritten words on a screen. You have my prayers as well; welcome back! (PS, I'm with Olham on the Jamison's - good Irish whisky for good occasions, but it don't drown your troubles very well - you probably noticed...)

Congratulations, indeed, Lou. That's a collection I wouldn't mind seeing sometime! Now since it has wings, if it were a catbird, maybe it could still purr? . . . . . <HD ducks the rock Olham just chucked at him!>

Well, my Wing Commander & I are spending a quiet Sunday afternoon at home. Her uncle is dying, we expect to get word almost any time that he has passed. And looming offshore is this hurricane, which is forecast to take an unusual track off shore up the East Coast of the US and then turn inland, of all places, in the New Jersey & Delaware area. A perusal of Olham's Pilot maps shows that many of our fellow OFF'ers are in the path of this storm, and so I thought a "Sandy" thread might be nice so we can check in and make sure our friends are OK. I suspect the mountains will protect Western PA from the worst of things, but our friends in Eastern PA, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, New York and New England could take a real pounding. Our thoughts and prayers to you all! Tom

That's good, Hauksbee. As I noted it was a non-event over here in Western PA as well - the mountains protected us somewhat, I think. We had a good soaking rain (that we've been needing anyway), a bit more wind than usual, and that was it. Olham, I agree that it may be the case that people are still too tied up to post here. I just hope they haven't had significant damage or have been injured. Best to all, Tom

And now we are all victims... there goes my lunch! Nobody else from our pilot's maps checking in, I guess... sure hope everyone is ok. How did you fare, Hauksbee?

A few quotes may be apropriate: "I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." -- General Dwight D. Eisenhower "A professional soldier understands that war means killing people, war means maiming people, war means families left without fathers and mothers. All you have to do is hold your first dying soldier in your arms, and have that terribly futile feeling that his life is flowing out and you can't do anything about it. Then you understand the horror of war. Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for." General Norman Schwarzkopf And finally, "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stuart Mill (1806 - 1873) Lord, that there were a better way.

Simon, that's an incredible legacy your father left you, despite is lacking in other areas - funny about us people, you just can't seem to get it all in one package... But may he rest in peace. War seems to do something to people's ability to relate, especially something like what you related on the BBC memorial - I don't know how he did what he did, that's an amazing story. Bless him and all who served so nobly. Tom

I am with you on that! Bless them all, were it me I'd probably be balled up in a hole crying like a baby! That's one big reason why I fly combat sims - to remember and to try to apprehend in some way the level of skill and courage of the souls that were sacrificed with horrifying regularity.

Well, this morning I'm ok at work, so whatever it is on my laptop must have flushed itself out.

No, it mus be just me. I got it at home last night just fine, but here at work again today I can't. Maybe I have to clear cookies, browser cache, and history. Sheesh.

Is it still up for you guys? I couldn't get it, so I cleared my cookies and browser cache and it still comes up with the "up for auction" page.

Yikes! I still show it up for bid (min $69) at 9:40 EST (New York, United States). Somebody screwed up, I wonder if there is anything we can do?

Yessir, Widomaker, I mentioned on the previous page that 50 had been killed in the Caribbean. And my son's mother-in-law lives on the southwest side of Manhattan a few blocks from the 14th st Con Ed station that thad the dramatic transformer explosion during Sandy. She still doesn't have poweror running water, and yesterday her and her husbandhad to walk blocks with water as quicky as possible to keep anyone from getting any ideas about taking it from them. Rough times, but at least they are alive.

Yes, but as I thought this through, especially the strange path that this one took, I'm led to the conclusion that the cause is politics: With Pennsylvania and Ohio being key "swing states" the politicians must have created so much hot air that the updraft sucked that beauty in from the Atlantic! I think otherwise it would have just continued it's Northeast track and wore itself out. Kinda concerned that you're the only one in that area that has checked in... Sure hope everyone is okay.

Oh, it's an expression of frustration when you just cannot believe what the other person has just stated or requested. You put your head down and bring your hand up to cover your face. See here and just for fun, here.

It is, i hope mine is to you as well (if a bit on the crude side...) I have a headache and I'm beat or I'd try another verse...

This could be fun if we don't take it too seriously and can poke a little fun at ourselves! "The feature list is so much fuller! WOFF is gonna be so much cooler!" But then we see some tart Ask, "Will the airmen fart?" And *facepalm*, it's back to the start! (Remember, everyone, it'll be a lot more fun if we don't get to serious!)

Glad you're ok, DonL, though near 24 hrs with no power is no fun. I wonder how the rest are?

Wright-Pat is still active, but no air operations.. We did a custom motor design for the propulsion lab a few years back. My goodness, WALKING inside a wing?! You could stand upright?

It was pretty much a non-event for us, just a bunch of rain & some wind. My neighbor had their chain saw out last night, but it mustn't have been too big a deal, because he was done before I could offer help. I'm hoping OvS and the others are okay, I don't recall seeing anything from him on this forum for a while. My daughter-in-law's family is in Manhattan and are ok. With the 50 lives in the Caribbean, that puts the death count up to 66.

Good Lord! What a shame. I wonder if they were descendants of the original crew? Still nothing but ran and light wind here, I understand out east is getting pounded. We're supposed to gte our worst wind overnight, but I don't expect anything like they'll have out east.

If I ever get over there, I'll surely take you up on that. And if you ever get over here, we'll go to Mac's Donuts. My mother worked there when I was a kid, and it's still a "Mom and Pop" family owned store - simply the best donuts anywhere. Some local businessman recently put on a Dunkin' Donuts franchise just down the street from them and I simply refuse to darken his doorway - it's almost sacrilege, he should have known better!

Sounds nice! I know when I finally pulled the trigger last year for the build in my siggie, I couldn't believe it either. Now I feel for Winder, Pol, and all the rest, and I hope they can have a nice holiday season - but hopefully it will be nice because we'll be sending them checks and raving about how nice their new creation is. I'd hate for them to miss the Thanksgiving/Christmas season because they're stuck unravelling some gnarly code; it'd be tough for them both personally and commercially, I'm sure. Good luck and happy sailing with your new rig! And hang in there, devs, we're pulling for you! Best, Tom