The Most Successful Lightweight Jet Fighter

I’m on record as being a fan of lightweight fighters and there has been none more successful than Northrup’s F-5 family. Starting with the T-38 Talon supersonic trainer and F-5A Freedom Fighter the jets have been gracing our skies since the 1959. F-5E Tiger II fighters are still in service around the world in upgraded form and as Marine aggressors in fighter school training here in the United States.

Lovely little jets and the video is in HD at YouTube.

The Swiss have flown them as a demo team for years and this is one of the most attractive schemes the F-5 has ever worn. If you are in Europe you still have the opportunity to see them in action at air shows.

What amazes me about the plane is how small it is when you see it in person. It reminds me of a sports car in its compact size and looking like it is going fast even when parked. What a beauty!

Health 4-11-2013

While being energetic is permanently out of the question, there has been a slight increase in energy. Dizziness is still there on occasion, but far less than it has been. The last year has taught me that I have to pace myself no matter what now and that I can’t be pushing my limits like I prefer to. I really don’t like that.

One thing I’m grateful for is that I don’t suffer from seasonal depression. It seems a lot of people are and the long winter has gotten to them in more than an annoying way. Me, I’m just annoyed when ice causes me to get stuck in the driveway.

Of course, my attitude may have something to do with bright sunlight hurting my eyes. Gray days are actually more productive for me in my strange existence.

April Hail

This is supposed to be the season of April showers to bring forth May flowers, but what does April hail bring?

We had quite a storm here last night with two rounds of hail involved. The entire area was hit by this according to Channel 19 and I feel sorry for anyone outside at the time.

Fortunately the car is not dimpled from I can see this morning. This is despite the gale force winds driving the hail that made a din that I’d never experience before. Later rain reduced the cover somewhat leaving a well salted yard under the gray skies of today.

More rain, freezing rain, and snow are in the forecast to make things even more fun. It will be hostile weather until Sunday rolls around with 50F temperatures again. Have they executed that groundhog out East yet?

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) Review

Hiyao Miyazaki’s second film that he directed displays all the elements that have made him legendary: a brave heroine, a strong environmental message, dazzling flight, and extraordinary images that linger in the mind long after the movie ends. The story follows a young princess trying to save humanity while facing hostile neighboring kingdoms, deadly giant insects, and a world devastated by an ancient war. It is a great pleasure to review the movie that allowed Studio Ghibli to be founded.

Way back in the early 1980s, animated movies were in the doldrums with Disney suffering a creative and financial slump. Other studios attempted to recapture the magic, but none saw great success. In later years Disney would rise again, yet it was over in Japan that real animated magic was reborn thanks to the creative genius of a struggling forty year old animator named Hayao Miyazaki.

Having had some success in directing the adaptation of Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro in 1979, Miyazaki wanted to make his own creations but was getting nowhere. It took Toshio Susuki the editor in chief of Animage magazine befriending him for things to finally start rolling. Finding Miyazaki bursting with ideas he suggested that Hayao create a manga to run in the magazine.

That manga debuted in 1982 and was called Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Its success made it possible to raise funds to make a movie and the world of animation, not just anime, would never be the same. Miyazaki’s works would go on to influence traditional animators and even the new wave of computer generated animation movies at Pixar.

Nausicaä opens with a masked man riding a strange dodo-like bird out of a wind swept haze. Visually and auditorily striking, the scene seems to step straight out of one the era’s fantasy magazines such as Heavy Metal or Epic Illustrated. I have the vague memory of seeing the intro either in stills or possibly flipping past the horrifically altered version Warriors of the Wind on HBO at the time. Suffice it to say this was nothing like the staid Disney animation of the time and made an impression.

The man investigates the ruins of a settlement that has become overgrown by fungi in a very grim introduction to the setting. Once the credits start rolling it becomes clear that this is the future Earth and not some fantasy world. A wealth of information is quietly and quickly conveyed through intercutting tapestries depicting the downfall of man with the actual events briefly glimpsed. Fire breathing giants laying waste to the world alternate with images of a white winged woman sometimes clothed in blue dominate the introduction…

The Week That Was

It is hard to believe it is General Conference time again – time does fly. The past week itself went by rather quickly thanks to a road trip on Wednesday.

Monday I accompanied my father on a pair of repair jobs and ended up not helping at all due to not being needed. However, it was good to get out of the house. Having the car out of action again has been frustrating. Anyway, the second call was at a friend’s place where the dishwasher pump isn’t working properly. While I was there, his son suggested watching his new Yellow Submarine Blu-ray which looked great even if the animation was pretty bad.

Also, in retrospect it made Magical Mystery Tour look sensical (this isn’t a word, but should be) by comparison in my opinion. This opinion will be shared by exactly zero other people in the world.

April Fools Day Delivers the Spam

It was an unusually sedate April 1st without any friends pranking me. But a wave of spam hit one of my email accounts. 61 were caught by filters and three made it through for the biggest spam assault I’ve seen in years. All were diet/weight loss centered with many purporting to come from celebrities ranging from Oprah to Pamela Anderson. Other common elements were the phrase “special offer” introducing a link and Microsoft Office Word 12 formatting.

It makes me wonder if it is connected to the attacks on Spamhaus, an organization that blacklists known spammer IP addresses. Probably not, given the ridiculous number of spammers out there. There seems to be no end to the Black Hats on the Net.

More interesting is that weigh loss spam is amongst the most successful in getting people to open it. Nothing beats social engineering for finding a way into a system as the banks in South Korea found out last month. I remember when it was false protestations of love or romantic interest that was the best bait to get people to open emails.

It is amazing that spam is still successful given how old email and the Internet are now. One would think people would stop falling for this by now. I guess P.T. Barnum was correct about “a sucker born every minute” – except he never said that.

Can’t trust anything, can you?

Easter

A joyous Easter to all fellow believers and unbelievers alike!

I find Mark Chapter 16 to be fascinating for it shows how even the apostles were capable of disbelief in miracles. The first followers of Jesus to find he had risen again after being crucified and buried were not to be found among them. Instead, women were the first:

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.

And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.

And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.

Shortly after that, Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene and when she told the eleven apostles they didn’t believe her. When two more encountered Jesus they weren’t believed either. It took the Savior showing up in person to convince them:

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

For those who struggle with faith or think they have no faith it should be noted that the original apostles didn’t do so well in that department themselves. It is an understandable reaction to living in a harsh world and I’m sure they rationalized their disbelief quite well with perfect reasoning. Yet in the end they were wrong for Jesus lived and still does.

There are many good lessons in this account, but the one I’m dwelling on this Easter is how we can easily blind ourselves to the words of others. In a world filled with lies and the liars that tell them, there is a danger in trusting no one at all but ourselves. To a “doubting Thomas” such as myself, it is a needed message from time to time.