tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post3567545333821314134..comments2024-03-24T05:42:24.847-05:00Comments on Taking Wing: A Short History of FlightSam Weigelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06332414897030323612noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-52835648661710771482011-05-26T14:08:37.184-05:002011-05-26T14:08:37.184-05:00Too funny. Well written and entertaining. I think ...Too funny. Well written and entertaining. I think you have too much layover time:0)Harrisonhttp://www.harrisonjones.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-12201052901874727512011-05-16T10:49:28.084-05:002011-05-16T10:49:28.084-05:00As a retired controller, I take umbrage to your fa...As a retired controller, I take umbrage to your failure to mention the momentous contributions of ATC in your otherwise excellent history. <br /><br />In 1929 at St. Louis Lambert Field, Archie League set up a wheelbarrow that held a beach chair, lunch pail, water bottle, a note pad and a pair of signal flags to direct the aircraft.<br /><br />Due to our God-given Yankee ingenuity, the system evolved from that quaint beach chair to the marvelous temperature controlled Stratoloungers, ergonomically designed high-tech foam pillows and warm, fluffy blankies used in modern Air Traffic Control.<br /><br />I think they may have replaced the signal flags too, but that’s not important now.La Vida de Perrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04518902520427789698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-7747411307060683312011-05-14T13:49:09.750-05:002011-05-14T13:49:09.750-05:00It is "chicks for free." I checked a cou...It is "chicks for free." I checked a couple of different lyrics sites and they all show it as that. If you can show me some liner notes that say "cheques for free" it will make great party trivia!Sam Weigelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06332414897030323612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-50301597953622872062011-05-14T12:45:51.314-05:002011-05-14T12:45:51.314-05:00Very witty and funny! Love it.
However although ...Very witty and funny! Love it.<br /><br />However although when I was younger I always thought Mark Knopfler sang "chicks for free" apparently it is "get your money for nothing and checks (cheques) for free". I know I'd rather have free chicks than free cheques!flightless birdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-80411383669381164262011-05-14T05:35:53.923-05:002011-05-14T05:35:53.923-05:00Hi -- apologies if this is unwanted, but I've ...Hi -- apologies if this is unwanted, but I've heard blogger had a problem and some comments got lost, so I'm trying this again, guessing it has not been considered unwanted spam the first time I have posted the comment.<br /><br />Information I keep getting from reading my local German newspaper makes me want to add some ideas to the end of your story:<br /><br /><i>"... and surrendering wheelbarrows full of cash to their German bankers."</i><br /><br />The German bankers, however, made love to the sexist, communist-hating and beer-loving politicians governing the southern state of Bavaria, who, in turn, made love to sexist, communist-hating and wine-loving politicians and bankers in Austria and to the go-go dancers the bosses of the Formula 1 paid to bribe the German decision-makers. This made the Germans feel so lucky that they transferred all the money surrendered by the <i>Amis</i> into bankrupt Austrian banks.<br /><br />It is a known fact that the Austrians have no clue about beer, so they used all the aluminum recycled from American planes to produce cans for <i>Gummibären</i>-flavored, caffeinated soft drinks and for tasteless champaign.<br /><br />To advertise for these two types of canned beverage, they now do two things: The last remaining pilots on earth risk their lives flying vintage planes painted in the colors of the caffeinated soft-drinks under bridges and between ancient church-towers, because, as the claim goes, consuming this particular soft drink makes people have wings. To make the tasteless champaign in aluminum cans more popular, they pay a blonde named after a big hotel in the French capital to go appear at places where she is photographed by as many paparazzi as possible. The prime reason for this type of publicity campaign is not the cheap glamor that might fit the cheap champaign in cans - it is rather a brainless combination of just having no better use for too much money and too much aluminum recycled from transport category aircraft, and because it is just too funny to pay an American celebrity named after the French capital to, like, <i>pflanzen</i> the French by, like, doing stuff, like, with, like, a trashy version of what used to be, like, the most special and expensive drink ever invented by the French.<br /><br /><i>"The future is bright!"</i>zbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-26309806068516727062011-05-13T11:42:59.960-05:002011-05-13T11:42:59.960-05:00Interesting post - I have always been interested i...Interesting post - I have always been interested in early fight, ever since I got my first flying book from a friend who purchased it at the local <a href="http://all-things-aviation.com/pilot-shop" rel="nofollow">pilot shop</a> about learning to fly.<br /><br />I love the old airplanes, in particular the round piston engine powered kind.Pilot Supplieshttp://all-things-aviation.com/pilot-shopnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-38547266326803924852011-05-12T14:53:12.618-05:002011-05-12T14:53:12.618-05:00Heh.
"wheelbarrows full of cash to their Ger...Heh.<br /><br />"wheelbarrows full of cash to their German bankers," ... who join their sexist, communist-hating, beer-loving Bavarian politicians in making love to sexist, communist-hating, wine-loving Austrian politicians and bankers and happily dump the cash surrendered by the <i>Amis</i> into bankrupt financial institutes in Austria while getting bribed with go-go dancers sponsored by the Formula 1 executives. Since the Austrians have no clue about beer, they use the aluminum recycled from American planes for Formula 1 cars and for cans containing <i>Gummibären</i>-flavored, caffeinated drinks and champaign.<br /><br />For advertising the caffeinated stuff in cans, the communist-hating Austrians pay the last remaining pilots on earth to fly vintage planes under bridges and between ancient church towers, and for advertising the canned champaign, they pay a Blonde named after a big hotel in the French capital. The latter is done just because they have the money, damn it, and because it's totally, like, funny, to, like, <i>pflanzen</i> the French by (a) putting tasteless champaign in cans and (b) advertising the product by paying someone named after the French capital for it, <i>bist-du-narrisch</i>!zbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-91288283765342282252011-05-10T19:39:52.420-05:002011-05-10T19:39:52.420-05:00Nope, not Langley. He died in 1906, before aileron...Nope, not Langley. He died in 1906, before ailerons came into widespread usage. Henri Farman used aileron-type surfaces in 1907, and more influentially, Glenn Curtiss in 1908. He used ailerons specifically to get around the Wright Bros patent, although the courts later held that ailerons were also covered by the patent. That's why I joked that the creation of the aileron was one of the Wright Bros greatest accomplishments.Sam Weigelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06332414897030323612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-6272530612967087282011-05-10T19:08:03.979-05:002011-05-10T19:08:03.979-05:00Great, great post. As a half-French, Seattle-resi...Great, great post. As a half-French, Seattle-residing, previously Dayton, OH-residing, Kitty Hawk-vacationing, Medallion status-achieving, aerospace engineer employed by the service whose secretary you name-drop, I can relate to much of what's in your post.<br /><br />Didn't Samuel Langley invent the "modern" aileron because the Wright Brothers had a patent on the wing-warping approach?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-69401979765424476572011-05-09T22:17:45.874-05:002011-05-09T22:17:45.874-05:00Radu--
There may have been a few other errors in t...Radu--<br />There may have been a few other errors in there, too. For one, Daedalus was not a communist. He was a radical anarcho-syndicalist. He hated communists almost as much as he hated social democrats.<br />--SamSam Weigelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06332414897030323612noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-65248034832323001272011-05-09T22:09:46.208-05:002011-05-09T22:09:46.208-05:00Most excellent. If your day job doesn't work o...Most excellent. If your day job doesn't work out you definitely have a future as a comedy writer!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-61451442047684530522011-05-09T20:54:58.521-05:002011-05-09T20:54:58.521-05:00Funny! I enjoyed the post. Just a correction, the ...Funny! I enjoyed the post. Just a correction, the jet engine was invented much earlier by several contributors, Henri Coanda comes to mind. The Germans perfected it bu the end of WWII, but it was too late, the French had already surrendered...Raduhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09574624742155660852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10991135.post-8158407199230087972011-05-09T15:27:10.737-05:002011-05-09T15:27:10.737-05:00ROFLMAO!! I think there's a Mel Brooks movie i...ROFLMAO!! I think there's a Mel Brooks movie in there somewhere...Tim G in MNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686170507290966725noreply@blogger.com