The End of the World As We Know It

Thursday, 9 November 1989

"What's he trying to pull?"

SpousalGoddess looked away from the images on our 20" RCA TV, but she didn't speak. She just stared at me with eyes wide with surprise and disbelief.

I couldn't blame her. The video we were seeing on our screens was impossible.

The Berlin Wall was falling. Only a few hours to the east of our comfortable Ramstein AB apartment, West Berlin reveler tore at the graffiti-covered concrete and rebar eddifice with a glee that seemed utterly surreal.

"This has got to be a trick," I grumbled.

Spousal just stared at the screen, awestruck.

A DIFFERENT TIME

Twenty years later, my well-cultivated sense of West-vs-East paranoia seems almost quaint. I couldn't be blamed, of course. The Cold War had defined my entire life. I'd grown up on military bases, was part of two military cadet programs, and was, at that point, an active duty Air Force member. The Reds had always been the bad guys. That's just the way it was. A meeting on the battlefield was inevitable.

I was wrong.

By the 26th of December, 1991, the Soviet Union would cease to be. World War III hadn't happened. Even more amazingly, my quiet belief that I would either be killed in a nuclear exchange or have to suffer in a post-apocolyptic wasteland turned out to be completely off-base. Life kept going.

Thank goodness.

WHAT A ROAD

The last twenty years have been a wonder to behold. Consider:

• In 1989, only a handful of college students and organizations were using a thing called "The Internet".
• Cell phones existed, but were incredibly expensive, bulky, and limited.
• GPS systems only existed for military and industrial applications.
• The Web was a research project at CERN.
• The most powerful home PC available had an 80386 CPU.
• Researching anything meant either going to a library and using card searches, or borrowing someone's encyclopedia.

Ironically, it's not really that easy for me to remember how we lived back in those days. The trappings of my post-military life (constant connection to the Internet; immediate global communications options; access to staggering amount of data at my fingertips) has so shaped my world view that I can't imagine what life was like before. In a very real way, it feels as if I'm thinking about somebody else's life.

Regardless, of one thing I have no doubt: The fall of the Soviet Union led to a much more exciting and open world than I think we ever would have experienced otherwise.

THE GUNS OF WAR

Ironically, the fall of the Soviet Union didn't silence the drums of war. Within weeks of the final collapse of the USSR, U.S. and Coalition forces engaged in Operation Desert Storm, which we now know as the first Gulf War. Since then, it's been one military action after the next:

• Somalia
• Bosnia-Herzegovina
• Serbia and Kosovo
• Afghanistan
• Iraq

When I think of the action some of my former friends and comrades have faced, I feel guilty. After all, hadn't I been willing to face enemy fire, too? That my peers have placed themselves in harm's way while I remained at home with my family is something of which I am not particularly proud. All I can do is thank them for their service, and honor those who have fallen.

AN UNCERTAIN WORLD

The deepest irony, of course, is that my old Nuclear Nightmare is relevant once again. More extremist elements have access to both delivery systems and nuclear capabilities. Others are hard at work developing them. Worse, the possibility of a terrorist oranization using nuclear material in an attack of some kind is not absurd. With so many different groups reaching for the Nuclear Genie's bottle, it seems that inevitably a mushroom cloud will appear over one of our nation's great cities.

Don't get me wrong. I will never mourn the loss of the USSR. It deserved its fate. I will, however, always have an irrational longing for a time when I thought that I understood why the "bad guys" did what they did.

In a post-9/11 world, that idea seems quaint indeed.

Movie Review -- "Star Trek" (2009)

J.J. Abrams' reboot of the Star Trek franchise is an entertaining, if staggeringly dumb movie. While it manages to give many winks and nods to the franchise that spawned it, this new movie is an entirely new animal with only a passing similarity to its source material.


BACK TO THE BEGINNING


Star Trek opens with the destruction of the Federation starship Kelvin at the hands of a ludicrously massive Romulan mining ship from the far future. Entwined in the mayhem is the birth of one James T. Kirk on board an escape shuttle. His mother -- presumably a ship's officer -- is hauled away with the medical crew without her heroic husband George. In a sequence of courage and self-sacrifice that actually made men in my audience tear up, George Kirk sacrifices himself and his ship to ensure that Kelvin's survivor's can make their way to safety.


I have to say it; That's the way you start a movie. Good on you, J.J. Abrams.


Flash forward nine years. We move from deep space to the dusty fields of summertime Iowa. Here we meet a boyhood James Kirk.


Is he a brilliant kid? A young hell-raiser with a strong sense of right and wrong? A boy with his eyes to the stars?


Nope. This Jim Kirk is a young punk who -- for reasons never adequately explained -- steals his stepfather's vintage corvette and drives it into a construction quarry.


I guess he hated his stepfather's car. A lot.


As a viewer I have to ask this question: Is this supposed to make me like this kid? If so, how? With no reason for his behavior, Kirk just comes off as a spoiled Generation-Me brat who deserves to have his knuckles wrapped with a tazer.


Before we can ask any more questions of why we just witnessed this episode of Young Jim Kirk and the Gravel Pit of Crash-Boom, we're whisked away to Vulcan to meet another rather important character.


Spock is a young haf-Vulcan, half-human boy with a lot going against him. He's small, he's a half-breed, and his mom wears a board strapped to her chest. Worst of all, he's perpetually teased by three vulcan kids who really can't act.


Alas, the Vulcan-Non-Actors choose the wrong insult -- in this case, his mother -- and, just like Marty McFly in the Back to the Future sequels, Spock loses all reason and goes all postal and stuff. Combat Spock, Ho!


Flash forward again, and now Spock is a young man (Zachary Quinto). Spock's mom (Winona Ryder, grayed up and wearing a board on her freaking chest, I shit you not) is tucking in his color and telling him he'll do "fine". After some wink-wink-nudge-nudge references to Star Trek IV ("I feel fine"), and the first motion picture (Kholinar), we leave the scene realizing something we never knew about Spock: He is one serious Mama's boy.

This revelation of Spock's maternal attachment plays out spectacularly when he's offered a position in the Vulcan Science Academy. It doesn't go well. Oh, the Grand Pooba offers Spock a lodge hat, but only after opining something along the lines of "Wow, you came a long way for a kid whose mom shops for dresses in the construction aisle at Menards."

And lo, Spock is horked-off. Fortunately, he's learned restraint since being a youth, and heads off to Starfleet Academy instead. (He does, however, manage to make "Live Long and Prosper" sound a lot like "Suck Porpoise Dork and Gag". That was cool.)

We now dash back to Iowa, where we meet an adult James Kirk (Chris Pine). He's drunk and determined to hit on the comely Cadet Uhura (Zoe Saldana). Kirk has apparently learned to make passes at woman by watching nothing more than a 24-7 feed of both SpikeTV and re-runs of "The Man Show", and comes off as a bore. Unfortunately, a doughy Starfleet cadet decides that he really hated Pine's work in The Princess Diaries 2, and a bar fight ensures.

Kirk loses. Badly.

The first time we see this, it's rather cool. After all, Kirk of yore never lost, even when against ludicrous odds. Seeing him get his ass handed to him for being a drunken lothario was neat.

Once.

Alas, you'll see Kirk lose a lot in this movie. A lot.

It gets old.

Kirk is saved by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Pike breaks up the fight, and then has a heart-to-heart talk with our erstwhile hero. He takes Kirk to task for being a serious douchebag, and dares him "...to do better."

Fortunately for the plot, Kirk listens. After driving on his motorcycle-without-spokes all Maverick-in-Top Gun-like, and gazing at the under-construction Enterprise much like a farmboy in a Galaxy Far Far Away stared at twin setting moons, he makes his decision. Still bruised from the night before, Kirk meets the new recruits shuttle to head off to Starfleet Academy...

Wait...wait. What? There's no entrance exam? No interviews? No character references? All Kirk needed was some "genius level apptitude scores" and a starship captain to let get him a slot in this supposedly prestigious academy? Really?

Okay...calming down now. Gotta make it through this. Walking the steps.

Breath in...breath out.

Better now.

Kirk meets Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban) on the shuttle to the academy. They become fast friends, and away we go.

The movie then jumps ahead three years to introduce us to a still cocky, still unlikeable Cadet Kirk during his final stab at the no-win "Kobayashi Maru" simulator scenario. (Eh? Eh? Wink-wink-nudge-nudge-saynomore-saynomore!) Rather than demonstrating himself as a computer genius, a tactical wizard, or even a gifted leader, he comes off as a spoiled kid who found the "god" code in a video game and expects to be worshipped for it.

Really? I'm supposed to get behind this guy? Really?

Kirk is caught, he meets Spock, there's a little hearing, an emergency comes up, and about a week later, Kirk is promoted to Captain of the brand new U.S.S. Enterprise.

I shit you not.

How that happens is something I don't feel like going into a this time. That it happens at all tells you everything you need to know about the movie.


NOT YOUR DADDY'S "STAR TREK"


J.J. Abrams was absolutely up-front with people when he said this was "...not your daddy's 'Star Trek'." He wasn't lying. The original Trek -- while cheesy, and of its own era -- had, at its best, a well-won reputation for being a "smart" show. By contrast, Abrams' film is unapologetically dumb.

Seriously, plot and logic holes abound in Star Trek like the stars on the
screen. A few that leap to mind:

• Supernovas don't destroy "Universes". The rip apart star systems.


• Ignoring that gaffe, if the supernova that was going to destroy "the universe" was so dangerous, why did the Vulcan Science Academy send a single Senior Citizen with a massive Red Jawbreaker of Doom to face it alone?
• Speaking of the Red Jawbreaker of Doom (i.e., the "Red Matter" that caused the rip in space and time, and a whole lot of problems in the movie), if all Spock needed was a drop of the stuff to stop the Smashyon Wave, why the hell did he bring a forty gallon water tank full of liquified death?
• Vulcan is an advanced culture, right? They have starships, right? Yet when Nero drops a freaking space drill into the atmosphere to bore a hole into the crust, they don't do a thing to stop it? They don't even send up a freaking cropduster with a machine gun, fer cryin' out loud!
• Oh, yeah, and Earth is no better. Not so much as a Cessna and a potato gun...even when the attack happens right above Starfleet Freaking Academy!
• Did I mention that Kirk gets promoted from a cadet to an O-6 in a few days? Seriously, that hurts my head to even write.

I could go on -- really -- but I won't. Suffice it say, don't go into Star Trek expecting to see a smart, compelling genre film. If you do you'll only be dissapointed.



A DIFFERENT BREED OF TREK


Where JJ Abrams' Star Trek works is as a fast-paced, cotton-candy-weighted summer action movie. Taken on those terms its' a darned good ride. The movie never slows down (even when it should), and drags its viewers through an action ride of starship battles, fist fights, HALO jumps, and general Space Opera mayhem.

I have to congratulate Abrams on this final result. He never once hid the fact that he was more a Star Wars fan than Trek conniseur. He wanted to make a movie that made Trek cool, and -- judging by the number of people in classic Trek uniforms this past Halloween -- he succeeded.

Alas, taking the film in this direction has had one major impact on not only the movie, but the perception of lead character in the story. It's egregious enough that I have to point out the issue.


THE SUDDEN ARISTOCRACY OF JAMES KIRK


The youthful James Kirk of the original 1966 series would not make a compelling summer action movie hero. He was described as "...positively grim", a "...walking pile of books with legs,", and underclassmen groused that "...in Lt. Kirk's class you either think, or sink."

The Kirk of that era worked his way to command of a starship by being incredibly knowledgeable and supremely competent. He earned the trust of his leadership, his organization, and of his peers over several postings and assignments.

Sexy? Nope. But I wouldn't mind working for that guy. Yeah, he'd be a hellish boss (seriously, could you imagine working for Shatner's Kirk?) but at least I'd know that he worked his way to his position.

By contrast, Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci do away with any semblance of the self-made, professional officer. Instead they give us a captain who is merely appointed to greatness at the whim of an admiring older officer.

I'm not kidding:

• Despite having a criminal record, he's just given a spot at the academy on the spot by Pike
• Despite being dragged aboard the Enterprise without orders -- and while still a cadet, mind you -- he's promoted to executive officer above a whole slew of better-qualified officers on deck
• Despite phsyically resisting his duly-appointed captain's orders, he's eventually appointed as Captain of the vessel above that self-same officer

This Kirk is given breaks by leadership not because he really earned it, but because one captain -- Pike -- admired his father. That's a far cry from the officer who was hyper-focused on being a starship captain, and earned his way through the ranks, isn't it?

What bothers me is that the message that it sends -- that competence means next-to-nothing when compared to well-placed friends -- is disheartening. It's elitist, short-sighted, and -- far, far worse -- it reflects the business culture of the United States today.

Given the mess we're in as a country, why, then, are we glorifying this idea at all?


WHERE'S THE GENIUS BAR?


The art design on Star Trek is a really mixed bag. On one hand the uniforms are fantastic. On the other, the starship interiors are a muddled mess. Whether it be the Apple Store bridge, or the Budweiser Brewery re-dressed as starship engineering, none of it sold me on the idea that these characters were where they were supposed to be.

I've already groused about the new Enterprise in another post. I will add, however, that in certain shots the new design looked quite nice. Regardless, I think Abrams directive -- to turn the ship into a "hot rod" (there's that Star Wars influence again) -- was the wrong choice to make for this franchise.

It wasn't all bad, of course. I loved everything to do with the Kelvin. Set design, costumes, shuttle design, hell, the entire sequence was fantastic. Alas, the movie never did get me back to the brilliance of that opening sequence, either narratively or visually.

THE NEW CREW

If there was one area where the movie generally shined, it was in its casting.

Zachary Quinto made a terrific Spock. Though intially taken aback by the loss of Nimoy's sonerous voice, I quickly accepted him completely in the role. I look forward to seeing him as my favorite Vulcan once again.

Karl Urban was Doctor Leonard McCoy. Every moment he was on screen was an utter delight, and the classic Spock-McCoy argument was note perfect. Here's hoping they give him more to do next time.

Zoe Saldana made a fine Uhura. She was far, far better than the second trailer made her out to be, and I enjoyed her on screen.

Simon Pegg was criminally underutilized as Scotty. What we saw of him was fine, but it just wasn't enough to make much of an impression. I'd like to see more of him -- and less of his freaking Ewok, thank you very much -- in the next film.

John Cho made a fantastic Sulu. He was so solid that I immediately wanted to see more of him. By contrast, Anton Yelchin's Chekov made me want to find the nearest airlock to space his ass. The accent was too thick, and the character too spazzy to like. (And what was with making him Wesley Crusher v.05b? Why couldn't he just be a recent Academy graduate?)

Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana both deserve special nods for bringing underwritten characters to life. Greenwood's Pike, in particular, was so good that I was dissappointed that he was leaving the ship at the end of the movie. I could have handled another movie with Captain Pike in the center seat, and Kirk as a junior officer (ala Horatio Hornblower).

Which brings us to Chris Pine's Kirk.

Let me get this out of the way first: Chris Pine did a great job. He was note-perfect for the role as written, and turned in a solid, professional, star-making performance. I applaud his work on this movie, and have nothing but admiration for him as a performer.

Alas, Kirk as written was an unlikable, priviledged, womanizing turd. I never respected, believed in, or even liked this character. Instead I found myself wondering as he lost his third fight, "What is supposed to be so great about this kid? Aside from, you know, his name?"

If the movie has a failing it's that it didn't leave me rooting for young James Kirk. Alas, I know I'm in the minority out there on this one, so take my critique for what it is; just one more opinion.


THE FINAL ROUND-UP

J.J. Abrams' Star Trek has revitalized the franchise in a way that is both exciting and disappointing. Though enjoyable as summer action movie fare, it manages to somehow feel smaller than the budget-challenged franchise that preceded it.

Regardless, this is a movie the whole family can enjoy. With explosions, heroics, and even exploding planets, this is finally the Star Trek movie that any Star Wars fan can enjoy. Whether that's a compliment or a curse is left entirely up to you.


*** 1/2 out of *****
(3.5 out of 5 stars)



The New Enterprise: Mesh, textures and Image by Alex Bruno

A Voice Out of the Darkness

I miss writing.

It's not that I don't want to write. I do. It's just that I don't have the time.

My job -- stable and financially rewarding though it may be -- leaves me too tired for the effort of putting virtual pen to digital paper.

That explains the silence around these parts.

That, and other things.


A CHALLENGING JOB

I have a stable job. It has its perks (the ability to work from home; rare face-to-face office meetings; free coffee; good pay) and its perils (long hours; terrible project management; chaotic change structure). Add in a once-every-three-weeks on-call schedule, and I don't have as much time to myself as I once had.

Going back to a world of evening changes, engineering planning, and multi-discipline coordination has been more difficult than I'd anticipated. Nevertheless, it's in a field that isn't shrinking on this side of the ocean (Linux Administration), and one that builds upon my previous experience. All in all, it's a win-win.

Regardless, I am tired. Often. That can't be helped.


PEEKING UP AT THE SWORD OF DAMOCLESE

The NerdPod is still adjusting to life with SpousalGoddess' MS. Most of the time it's easy to forget that she has this new challenge in her life. Only the easy way in which she becomes fatigued do we get the reminder that things will never again be like they once were.

We're all coping with this life change. Sporty Girl handles it with bluster, aplomb, and the desire to fill the room with as much life as she can. (Well, when she's not vegging in front of music videos on mom's iMac, that is.) Close to Mom before, many days she's attached to her as if by a velcro sweatsuit.

MonkeyDude (who, given the person he's become, I shall herafter just call "The Dude") now has a college-aged girlfriend. She's a nice gal, and The Dude is clearly crazy about her. Regardless, I'm wise enough to see the relationship as more than just a teenage boy dealing with young love. In the way they communicate, and in the way I see him draw strength from her, I see this experience as a way in which he can invest his emotions in a place removed from his family's new challenges.

SpousalGoddess copes just by living. Like anyone with her condition, she has her good days and her bad days. The biggest difference, of course, is that she's learned to say "No." She says it to things at work, to things she doesn't want to do, and to things that she doesn't need. By contrast she's said "Yes" to things she genuinely wants (like our own Netflix-enabled XBox360 upstairs), to letting go of work at the end of the day, and to just living life a day at a time.

And me?

I'm not sure.

It's a daily struggle. It really is easy to fall into the trap of believing that everything will be fine. Statistically speaking, of course, this is indeed the case. Nevertheless, I have to remind myself that the MS will not going away. Wanted or not, it's a part of our lives now.

That's not easy.

Just like SpousalGoddess, I have my good days, and I have my bad days. That's just the way that it is.


WATCHING THE WORLD CHANGE

The world marches on, of course. MagicMarmot spends a fair amount of time working on Transylvania Televison. MLRF is directing the third annual Klingon Christmas Carol, with Trees as her fight choreographer. Garrett is investigating IT Schools to enter the Computer field. RedFro landed a 3D gig in Oklahoma City, and other DAVE School friends landed jobs working on Stallone's "The Expendebles"

I take comfort watching lives progress like that. It reminds me that the world still spins, and life does go on.

Our kids are no exception. The Dude spent this past weekend in Eau Claire, Wisconsin with his girlfriend. (The details of the discussions leading to this trip will be a post all by itself.) Sporty Girl spent both at Halloween-themed sleep-overs. That meant thats SpousalGoddess and I once again found ourselves kidless for an entire weekend.

It's getting less unusual to have that experience. Yes, the initial quiet is still shocking, but the surprise fades more quickly each time. In fact, it's actually nice now.

That's just as well. No matter what, in a few short years -- the same length of time, in fact, that this blog has existed -- Spousal and I will find ourselves in an empty nest.

The biggest surprise is that I'm no longer sad about that change. Only a few short months ago, the thought that my son would soon be out of my home and on to college broke my heart. Now? It actually fills me with pride.

My son -- that infant who entered our life at the beginning of the summer of 1992 -- is a young man now.

Amazing. Shocking. Wonderful.

I couldn't be more proud.

I love hearing him tell me of his latest life experiences. This past weekend, he and his girlfriend got lost while wandering the streets of Eau Clair. The news didn't frighten me. Instead, I was happy to hear him experience life for what it can be; wonderous, exciting, enticing, and, at times, more than a little bit scary.

He's about to enter that world himself. He'll have his triumphs, and he'll make his mistakes. Some will be small, others will be big. Either way, I know that he'll always strive to do the right thing. I know because that's just the person that he has become.

Sporty Girl entered life in 1996 as a force of nature, and only becomes more impressive with each year. Smart, talented, and beautiful, I pity the boys in her school.

Watching both of my kids become the remarkable people that they are amazes me. Yes, I wish we could just write them a check for college, but that's not in the cards. What they do know, though, is that we love them, and that we'll do the best for them that we can. In the end, that's all a parent really can do throughout a child's life.


ABOUT TOMORROW

This blog used to be a great deal about what was going to happen. Whether it was filming Pray for Daylight, or seeing my articles published, or waiting for the big premiere, or even making it through DAVE School, the words I wrote her always were about that next star on the horizon.

MS changed that.

For the first couple of months I could barely think of hour-by-hour, let alone what would happend the following day. Eventually, of course, things stabilized. Everyone worthy of professional note -- doctors, nurses, even fellow MS-sufferers -- made a point of telling us to live our lives first. MS was just something that now would be coming along with us.

It turns out that the advice is a lot harder to live by than it is to receive. Nevertheless, slowly -- very, very slowly -- we have allowed ourselves to think about the days ahead. The plans aren't as grandiose as they used to be, of course, but at least we're allowing them.

We do have some neat things on our horizon. Yes, some are 3D related. Others are film related. No, they're not huge, and no, there will never, ever be a Stone Soup Films project as large as our last movie (not without pay and insurance, at least). Regardless, we do have our creative plans again. They're downsized for our new life, but no less exciting.

That, of course, is the real victory here. We're living our lives. We've adjusted, of course, but we're still staying true to those things that we hold most dear.

In the end, that's all any of us can really hope for, isn't it?

A Peak Into the World of a Freelance Creative Artist -- NSFW Language

Want to enter the exciting world of freelance creative work? Then you need to make sure to watch these two movies.



...and the sequel...





Just to be clear, this is completely true. Every stinking word of it. It doesn't matter if it's 3D work, print design, or writing; this is just the way it is.

Casual Saturday -- "Vectors", An FSX Movie

I actually wanted to post this yesterday, but given the date, and a brief sequence of an airliner whipping through a cityscape with screaming passengers, I opted for respect.

Okay, so, it runs a little over-long, but the virtual camera work, editing, and especially the virtual airmanship in the video is pretty darned neat.

Enjoy!

Living Your Dream, As Best You Can

I'm a lucky man.  In my forty-two years on this planet I've managed to make a lot of my childhood dreams come true:

• I made movies
  
• I'm a published (and thus "professional") writer
  
• I've made spaceships fly
  
• I've met more than a few of my personal heroes
• I work with computers
  
• I'm a pilot
  

That last one is still technically accurate.  Though I haven't logged a second of pilot-in-command (PIC) time in over seven years -- due to costs and, honestly, Sleep Apnea -- I'm still a licensed pilot.   Even though I don't see myself flying anytime soon, I make a big point to have my FAA-issued PP-ASEL ticket with me at all times.

I miss flying.  How could I not?  I grew up on big military airports, with an aircrew father, who refueled the world's fastest and highest-flying operational aircraft while they were both aloft.  My life was closer to science fiction than it was a mundane existence, and it colored my outlook.  

When I was grounded in 2005 because of my Sleep Apnea, it actually tore me up.  I tried to play it down on this blog, but the fact of the matter was that it broke my heart.  Sure, I didn't fly anymore, but that didn't mean I couldn't, or wouldn't.  But being grounded due to a medical condition meant my days of be-bopping around the troposphere in my Cessna-made puddle-jumpers were finished.

Except, you know, they weren't.  

First off, I just found out that the FAA has revisited its ruling on Sleep Apnea, and now my status is not dependent on a blanket decision.  If I have a flight surgeon sign me off, I'm good to go.

And lo, there was much rejoicing.

Secondly, I actually have tried to keep in practice with my flight simulators.  Yes, I know, they won't replace the real thing, but for keeping the mindset of being a pilot they're wonderful.

So, in the midst of what has been a horrible year, there has been some good news.

WINGED DREAMS

Of course, there are a lot of people out there who would love to fly, but can't.  Some because of medical reasons, some because they're on anti-depressants, others just because they can't afford the $6,000.00 to get a private pilot's license, and the $105.00 per hour rental rates on aircraft.  Whatever way you slice it, that makes for a lot of frustrated pilots.

Fortunately, home flight simulation has come a long way.  Microsoft Flight Simulator X is so good that AOPA recommends its use for much the same reason I use it. (It also helps that it's actually fun, too.)  In this way, lots of would-be pilots get their kicks.

To make things even more interesting, there are fantastic peripherals out there for the would-be virtual pilot:

• Saitek's Flight Controls -- Best in the business
  
• TrackIR -- Opens the world of the simulator up in a way that "virtual reality" promised, but never delivered.
  
• Flight One -- Add on software that gives you everything from a virtual cargo business to run, to ground scenery so real that you can actually navigate off of real world road flow.
  

For some, though, even those add-ons aren't enough.  They want to be in the simulation.

Their answer?  They actually build a simulator.

These aren't rinky-dink affairs.  These are honest-to-goodness cockpits that -- at a glance -- look like they've been yanked from an aviation school.  

I'm not kidding.  Check out this video of a man "flying" his airliner to a landing at the (thankfully shut-down) Kai Tek Runway 13 approach in Hong Kong:

His is not the only "pit", as builders call them.  Check these out.

The people over at Project 727 have done some really remarkable work, as displayed by this video.

Talk about devotion to your hobby.

A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE  

Years ago, I used to scratch my head at the folks who built these cockpits.  For a couple of people, it made sense.  (One such story was a gentleman who made a cockpit for his disabled brother.  It moved me then, and does so even more now.)  For others, I just didn't get it.

Now?  I do.

For the people who make these cockpits, flying is their passion.  Rather than be a victim of their own biography, they've decided to make due with what they can actually do with their time.  The results are works of craftsmanship that are astonishing to behold.

Hats off to you, folks.  Good on you.

A NON-RELATED UPDATE

I haven't been posting a lot because the NerdPod has been dealing with some more bad news.  Fortunately, it doesn't concern SpousalGoddess, or our income, so we're thankful for that.  Regardless, we've been reeling from one piece of bad news after another for the past few months.  All in all, it just hasn't been a fun time.

I ask my long-time readers to please have patience with me.  I still intend to write here.  These days, though, it just has to wait for the more pressing matters to be attended to first.

Thanks.