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AEROSPHERETM
Air & Space Magazine...
At Aerosphere, we search the globe for the articles and images that best capture the essence of our courageous journeys into the realm of flight, whether around the corner, around the world or beyond the planets. We bring to those whose passion is flight a chronicle of inspiration, adventure and discovery. When we dream, we let our spirits soar. Welcome to Aerosphere... Where Dreams Take Flight™
November 2024
Highlights...
Quotes of Distinction. Look left....
And...
Could a newly revealed UFO incident change the accepted cause of the EgyptAir 990 crash?
And...
Recent Hotlinks
Former Warthog pilot Rep. Martha McSally must be celebrating the Air Force’s decision to reject retirement of her favorite friend, the A-10.
And...
Say, have you heard of the "Kitty Hawk" machine? Check it out.
Hotlink:
If you have any interest in WWII’s most consequential bomber, the B-17 Flying Fortress, then check out the most surprising salvage and reuse story you will ever see. Plus get a chance to be involved in its very improbable restoration. (Okay, the B-29 Superfortress is probably better known to the younger generations because of the Enola Gay.)
Another great Hotlink:
This one on the continuing hysteria regarding purported mainly man-caused catastrophic climate change...
Environmental activist Stephen Schneider told Discover magazine in 1989:
“We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. … Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.”
Check out the rest of this brilliantly researched article by distinguished American economist, commentator and academic Walter E. Williams
And you may want to check out one of our most popular commentary pieces on the same issue: “Global Warming? Bring It On! How ego, greed and the social imperative affect the practice of the scientific method. Or proof that even scientists are only human.”
And...
New in Aerobatics
Aerobatic flying, the sport, is precise, demanding, and highly competitive. The pilots are judged as they loop, spin, and roll their small, specially constructed aircraft through intricate geometric patterns, performing a sort of ballet in the sky. Who are these aerobatic pilots, what are they, and what motivates them?
And...
New in Aeronautics:
Updated by author for April issue:
A very interesting personal story about a life-long quest to explain--and cure--a largely unrecognized cause of uncontained failures in aircraft engine components: Hydrogen Embrittlement
And...
Check out what Billion Air’s zany flight crew, led by Captain Otto Pylott and First Officer Roger Overnout, are up to in...
Darrin Silver’s latest cartoon.
What “Identity Crisis” really looks like...
And...
When science becomes a religion, the facts no longer matter...
[...a paper released May 28, 2015, by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has readjusted the data in a way that makes the reduction in warming disappear, indicating a steady increase in temperature instead. But the study’s readjusted data conflict with many other climate measurements, including data taken by satellites, and some climate scientists aren’t buying the new claim. (Italics added)
“While I’m sure this latest analysis from NOAA will be regarded as politically useful for the Obama administration, I don’t regard it as a particularly useful contribution to our scientific understanding of what is going on,” Judith Curry, a climate science professor at Georgia Tech, wrote in a response to the study.]—Fox News
And...
The latest defector from the cult of man-caused Catastrophic Global Warming:
[In 2008, Dr. Ivar Giaever joined over 70 Nobel Science Laureates in endorsing Barack Obama for president, but seven years later the Nobel Prize winner now stands against the president on global warming.
“I would say that basically global warming is a non-problem,” Giaever, who won the Nobel for physics in 1973, told an audience at the Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting earlier this month.
“Global warming really has become a new religion,” Giaever said. “Because you cannot discuss it. It’s not proper. It is like the Catholic Church.”]--The Daily Caller
And...there’s more
A very trenchant new quote that re-emphasizes why skepticism is one of the three stars in the constellation of the Scientific Method, and another good reason to read “Global Warming? Bring It On! How ego, greed and the social imperative affect the practice of the scientific method. Or proof that even scientists are only human.”
May 2015--“ The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.” --Dr. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lance
And much more new climate data here...
Read “Global Warming: The unsettling truth”
And...
Mile-High MaidenTM
She had a strange relationship with an odd character, but it ended very, very well indeed...
And...
In case you missed it... One of our most popular reads about the 70-year anniversary of an event that literally changed the world... Read...
The 70th Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb
And...
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope
The current production of “Invisible Universe Revealed,” documenting the life of the Hubble Space Telescope, now 25 years old, is without question one of my top ten of the NOVA series. Not a small tribute, given that the library of shows now stands at 782!
No man-made device has ever come close to uncovering so many world-view shattering secrets. How old is the Universe? How many stars exist in the Universe--not just our galaxy but the Universe? And, yes, distant galaxies inexplicably are rushing away at ever increasing velocity....
Is this a Christmas tree? Or something more grand...
 It’s Omega Centauri NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this panoramic view of a colorful assortment of 100,000 stars residing in the crowded core of a giant star cluster. This is one of the first images taken by the new Wide Field Camera 3 that was installed aboard Hubble in May 2009 during Servicing Mission 4--NASA
And...
What is Dark Energy?...
“More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the Universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. One explanation for dark energy is that it is a property of space. Albert Einstein was the first person to realize that empty space is not nothing. Space has amazing properties, many of which are just beginning to be understood. The first property that Einstein discovered is that it is possible for more space to come into existence. Then one version of Einstein's gravity theory, the version that contains a cosmological constant, makes a second prediction: ‘empty space’ can possess its own energy. Because this energy is a property of space itself, it would not be diluted as space expands. As more space comes into existence, more of this energy-of-space would appear. As a result, this form of energy would cause the Universe to expand faster and faster. Unfortunately, no one understands why the cosmological constant should even be there, much less why it would have exactly the right value to cause the observed acceleration of the Universe.”--NASA Science; Astrophysics. (Italics in body added--Ed.)
So, if one accepts Einstein’s view, space has an interesting dual property: It can be a dimensional property only when matter exists; it is non-dimensional absent matter. Without the separation of 1 t0 >1 dimensional space cannot exist. So what is Einsteinian space? Could it be energy of a pervasive yet unrecognized form? Or, indeed, the source of all energy in the Universe? And possibly much, much more...
Well, this could be the answer many of us have been waiting for:
READ:
The Bigger Bang
And...
The still popular...
Flying Off The HandleTM
Commentary
There is no longer any doubt that smartphones are making us dumber in terms of intellectual attainment. But there are other potentially corrosive unintended consequences...
A very revealing column in the Chicago Tribune by writer Susan Senator entitled “Why I decided to log off Facebook,” shows why smartphones and social media have a downside unrecognized my many users:
She was an addict, but had an epiphany when she realized how it had negatively changed her mental and emotional paradigm. “I realized that I read less…. In fact, I skipped a bunch of book-group meetings because I didn't have the time or energy to read. At least this is what I told myself. The truth is that I was on my laptop, clicking so often from e-book to Facebook that I couldn't stay with a story thread.” [Italics added] Read...
Is it time for HUDs for Smartphones?
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More Praise for
SECOND EDEN:
One of the best reviews. CLASSIC BOOKS LIBRARY:
Second Eden : Carlton Austin has crafted a wonderful piece of work in Second Eden – an action-packed suspense thriller with a little romance and some elements of science fiction. Its beautifully designed cover incorporates gorgeous images depicting scenes within the plot and the book is available in both hard and soft cover. I recommend the hard cover, folks. This book is sure to be one that you keep among your favorite authors on your bookshelves. Second Eden is destined for a talented director to take big screen fans on its roller-coaster ride.
Best of friends, Peter (an intelligence agent) and Bo (an astronaut), have a bond that even Peter’s affair with Bo’s wife could not break. Bo and some other scientists perish in a mysterious fire just after completing an assignment. The government cover-up pushes Peter to find out what really happened and he becomes torn between patriotism and humanitarianism. He never loved a woman until he met Molly – but can he trust her? In fact, he wonders if he can trust anyone at all.
This is definitely an intelligent read; the author incorporates incredible alien artifacts, mysteries, murders, government espionage and complex cover-ups, cat and mouse chase scenes, archeological finds and ancient societies, deceit and a love story that transcends this life into the next.
Second Eden certainly has a plot that will make its readers think deeply about our world. Carlton shows us the dangers of where our science could lead. His story teaches that there are repercussions for every single choice that we make – both as individuals and as a society. He brings up social issues, like reminding us of the importance of recognizing the value of women who choose to be mothers – as a career, rather than as a side project. He even includes enlightening views of what might happen to a soul when the body can no longer serve it.
I really cannot say enough about Carlton’s novel. Truly, I could barely put it down to go to work or prepare meals! Second Eden will remain on my bookshelf for years to come and will, no doubt, be read many times by my family.
More Reviews:
“Second Eden brilliantly ties together the philosophies of the world's major religions into a harmonious and satisfying conclusion. In fact, the jaw-dropping realizations that begin to unfold later in the book are described in such great detail and fit together so seamlessly that I was left wondering if Mr. Austin knows something the rest of us do not.”--D. Silver
“Second Eden is an extremely engrossing and satisfying read. I had just read The DaVinci Code last year and I wouldn't hesitate to match the two. His take on the Apocalypse and his creation of the Reconciliation Project are plausible and cause for consideration.”--C. Emerson
“I have read a lot of the classic SF writers and Second Eden ranks right up there with the best. Very well done.” --J. Duncan
“...This [Second Eden] is actually a superior entry into the genre. There is a sense of depth to the characters which elevates it above the ordinary....” --Professor John Walsh, Shinawatra International University, Thailand
"Austin has written a polished story...that successfully combines the action and adventure elements of Clive Cussler with the mystery and suspense of Dan Brown."—By J. G. Trott
Where will you go when you die?
Get the surprising answer.
And you won’t have to look in every nook and cranny. Nope. Only the NOOK at Barnes & Noble...
$ 3.99
Also available from AMAZON
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Selected Past Issue Highlights
From the August 2015 Issue...
New Hotlink:
National Aviation Hall of Fame Apollo 13 Commander James A. Lovell to receive inaugural National Aviation Hall of Fame Neil Armstrong Outstanding Achievement Award during “Oscar Night of Aviation”
And...
Breitling Air Show Team makes U. S. debut...
From the July 2015 Issue...
It’s that time of year again...time for the great migration. No, we’re not talking about monarch butterflies. We mean the journey to the most popular, most highly attended, most civil, most instructive, and, yes, most fun air show in America. Experimental Aircraft Association’s Airventure Oshkosh, July 20-July 26, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. If you’re wondering what the journey is like, read:
AirVenture Adventure
And...
Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. Well, July’s Mile-High Maiden is also a very important “first.” She’s all new for July... Meet her before she flys away...
Mile-High Maiden
If you are a fan of air shows, it is partly because you find it thrilling to watch aircraft go vertical and do other believably risky maneuvers. But if you are not an aviator, you probably cannot imagine yourself experiencing such odd things in an aircraft, especially if your only acquaintance with aviation is flying commercially. But beware! It may be in your future:
Watch a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner go vertical! One of the best very short clips we’ve ever seen.
The Dreamliner performed at the International Paris Air Show June 15-21.
And...
In the History section...
A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner going vertical is impressive, indeed. But how about a large naval vessel performing the same stunt? Well, at least one did, and it didn’t portend something good for the long-term survival prospects of the human species...
New Hotlink:
There are F4F Wildcats, F6F Hellcats, F8F Bearcats and F-14 Tomcats. Bet you haven’t seen the latest in this long and venerated line...
And...
National Aviation Hall of Fame Apollo 13 Commander James A. Lovell to receive inaugural National Aviation Hall of Fame Neil Armstrong Outstanding Achievement Award during “Oscar Night of Aviation”
And...
Breitling Air Show Team makes U. S. debut...
From the June 2015 Issue...
Darrin Silver’s latest 2015 cartoon.
Yes, it is new for June:
If you have ever owned anything that is costly to acquire and maintain--we’re thinking aircraft here, but it could just as well be a boat or a car or you name it--you’ll appreciate Darrin’s satirical take on one of life’s bittersweet experiences...
And...
In the Military section...
Last month graduation ceremonies were held at the U.S. Naval Academy, where the fabulous Blue Angels perform each year. But we bet you’ve never seen a picture like this...a Blue Angel Selfie?
And...
In case our frightening homepage introduction describing her zombie-like case of Hairmegeddon scared you away from checking out last month’s extraordinary Mile-High Maiden, she’s just too good to ignore...
Mile-High Maiden
And...
More unsettling scientific evidence that the currently forecast climate catastrophe isn’t such a settled deal after all...
Two new scientific studies, one from prestigious Duke University and one from the former lead author for the International Panel on Climate Change (the IPCC is a scientific body under the auspices of the United Nations), strongly suggest that global high temperatures experienced over the last 100 years are well within normal variability.
Importantly, both studies are based on empirical evidence, as opposed to man-made mathematical models.
How can this be? This is science, isn’t it? And science is perfect, no?
Well, read “Global Warming? Bring It On! How ego, greed and the social imperative affect the practice of the scientific method. Or proof that even scientists are only human.”
The real problem is not the scientific method. As usual, when we have a problem, the last place we look for the source of the problem is ourselves, when it should be the first. Or why “even scientists are only human.”
Science Daily Date: April 21, 2015
Source: Duke University
Summary:
A study based on 1,000 years of temperature records suggests global warming is not progressing as fast as it would under the most severe emissions scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Natural decade-to-decade variability in surface temperatures can account for some much-discussed recent changes in the rate of warming. Empirical data, rather than climate models, were used to estimate this variability. [Italics added.]
And from an article about IPCC lead author Philip J. Lloyd’s scientific paper:
“Global temperature change observed over the last hundred years or so is well within the natural variability of the last 8,000 years, according to a new paper by a former Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) lead author.”—Daily Caller
And...
In the Space and Astronautics section...
“So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of two horse's behinds.”
It’s all about the peculiar question:
A Horse’s Ass for a Rocket Engine?
And...
New Hotlink:
See the true “Joy” of flight...
“Ninety-two-year-old Air Transport Auxiliary veteran Joy Lofthouse returns to the skies in a Spitfire seven decades after her last flight in the iconic plane. The ATA made an enormous contribution to the war effort by taking over from service pilots the task of ferrying Royal Air Force and Royal Navy warplanes between factories, maintenance units and front-line squadrons.”--YouTube
Joy Lofthouse on flying the Spitfire: “It was the iconic plane. I know they both, the Hurricanes and Spitfires, played their part, but the Spitfire lasted much longer because it's such a wonderful airplane; I think the nearest thing to having wings of your own and flying that I've known. It's a beautiful day. It couldn't be a better day. Well, I'm being very cosseted being allowed to do it at all and I'm very grateful.”
And...
National Aviation Hall of Fame “Call for Entries” for the 29th Annual A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Educator of the Year
And...
What’s Harrison Ford been up to since his highly publicized--and brilliantly executed--emergency landing?
From the May 2015 Issue...
Is global warming one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time?
British journalist Christopher Booker writing in The Telegraph claims climate data from stations in South America have been altered to create a scenario that supports the idea that Earth's temperature is rising. He calls it "one of the greatest scientific scandals of all time."
Reportedly, scientists have used adjusted data to estimate temperatures in locations that don't have actual data measuring devices. Which may sound reasonable except that the adjustments are all in one direction--higher.
Booker writes, "...in nearly every case, the same one-way adjustments have been made to show warming up to 1 degree C or more higher than was indicated by the data that was actually recorded."
Ed.--While the jury is still out until a deeper investigation is conducted, if true, such improper use of the scientific method is the basis of one of our most popular commentary pieces: Global Warming? Bring It On!
If you haven’t read it yet, time to check it out.
And...
Darrin Silver’s latest 2015 cartoon.
Could it be that the mischievous inclinations of childhood are universal?
And...
Perhaps the most incredible story in aviation history:
My Wing! My Wing!
How one F-15 Eagle managed to defy the laws of aerodynamics and live to tell the tale
It was May 1, 1983, somewhere over the sun-scorched Negev Desert. Two F-15D's and four A-4N Skyhawks twisted and jinked under gut-wrenching Gs, in the throws of a dogfight, no less violent and no less deadly competitive for the fact that it was only a training mission....
Watch the video Amazing Landing, as told by the pilot...
And...
New Hotlinks:
The Force Awakens
...The first episode of the third Star Wars trilogy begins December of this year. Trailer looks very promising for all the would-be Jedi Knights in the Empire...
From the April 2015 Issue...
And...
A new Blonde Joke :
A Curious Case of Mistaken Identitiy...
And...
In one of this month’s quotes Neils Bohr said, “If quantum mechanics hasn’t profoundly shocked you, you haven’t understood it yet. Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”
But what did this famous physicist actually mean when he said, “Everything we call real is made of things that cannot be regarded as real.”?
Perhaps it was his “unconscious” recognition that the Dimensional Realm--that which is described by mathematics and what we “see” as reality-- comes forth from the Non-Dimensional Realm: The one and only true SINGULARITY. And that creation from the opposite direction cannot happen...
Or perhaps he would have agreed with astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, who in his 2007 book, The Theory of Everything, proclaims success in his most famous aspiration: to devise a theory that explains everything. Yes, EVERYTHING. Everything, that is, except what came before The Big Bang.
Well, this could be the answer many of us have been waiting for:
READ:
The Bigger Bang
And...
New Hotlinks:
Ed.-- The license plates on my twenty-year-old Ford Explorer read: P-51D. Yes, that would be the magnificent WWII fighter plane, the North American P-51D Mustang. No, I don’t own one, though it has been a life-long dream to at least fly one. Again, not yet. But watch my simpatico Mustang dreamer, Tom Faath, take his first ride in this AOPA LIVE video. Very nice, indeed!
From the March 2015 Issue...
A New Mile-High Maiden
Yes, she is a truly Foxy Maiden...
And...
A new Darrin Silver cartoon.
Yes, sometimes even technology takes one step forward and two steps back. Check out what Billion Air’s zany flight crew, led by Captain Otto Pylott and First Officer Roger Overnout, are up to...
And...
New Hotlinks:
Have you seen “FIFI”? She’s the only flying B-29 Superfortress. Owned and flown by the Commemorative Air Force, she’s never been in better form since being recovered from the U.S. Navy’s air weapons proving grounds in China Lake, California, in the 1970s.
And...
Captain James T. Kirk:
“You would make a splendid computer, Mr. Spock.”
Mr. Spock:
“That is very kind of you, Captain.”
Oh where has all the logic gone? Now that Mr. Spock has passed on...
“Leonard Nimoy, the actor known and loved by generations of "Star Trek" fans as the pointy-eared, purely logical science officer Mr. Spock, has died.... He was 83.”--AP
From the February 2015 Issue...
Heee’s baaack!
After a long hiatus, Darrin Silver, our world-class aviation cartoonist, has sharpened his pen, stoked the fires of good humor and produced the first of what we hope will be another volume of great aviation cartoons, aptly named WingNuts.
Check out his latest, which may have caused William Shakespeare to rethink this famous quote from his play Romeo and Juliet
“What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.”
Welll...maybe not...
New Cartoon
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