Flight Sim Machinima # 3

Against the Odds by Wolf


Against the odds from wolfbiscuits on Vimeo.

Flight Sim Machinima # 2

Mysticpuma's Interception - BoB2

Acclaimed machinima movie maker Mysticpuma's first video using Battle of Britain II a/k/a BoB2. A high resolution download of the video is available at Shockwaveproductions

Flight Sim Machinima # 1

Come With Me by RC_Kedik

Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes

Aviation History Biography....

Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes

"Pancho Barnes--air racer, record setter, daredevil, and all-around free spirit--was one of the most respected fliers of the Golden Age of Flight, not just because she was a woman but also because she was a fine pilot. Barnes was an extremely colorful, flamboyant, and headstrong individual who left her mark wherever she went. She broke many stereotypes about women, not only as pilots, but also as simple mild-mannered creatures. She was famous for her salty language and dirty jokes. According to one contemporary, "she did not have a single inhibition." For Pancho, flight was necessary "to keep from exploding. It acts as a safety valve so far as I am concerned." She also claimed that flying was "a panacea for too many social duties, too much home management, too much everything conventional."

Pancho was born Florence Leontine Lowe to a wealthy family on July 22, 1901. Wanting for nothing, she grew up in a huge mansion in San Marino, California, and attended the area's finest private schools. Her father, an avid sportsman, encouraged her to appreciate the great outdoors and Florence became an accomplished equestrian. Florence's grandfather, Thaddeus Lowe, also influenced her early development. He had started the nation's first military air unit, the Army of the Potomac's balloon corps, during the American Civil War...."

"....[Barnes's ranch near] Edwards Air Force Base, home of the world's fastest experimental test planes and pilots, [....] proved a fine place for pilots to party until all hours. Horses were available for riding, and Barnes built a restaurant and bar, a coffee house, a dance hall, a swimming pool, a motel, and even a private airstrip. For Edward's pilots, Pancho's place became a home. Eventually, it became known as the "Happy Bottom Riding Club," referring to the happy horseback riders who relaxed there.

In 1952, Pancho's party finally came to end. Edwards needed room to expand its runways onto Pancho's land, and her civilian guests' planes were encroaching on Edward's air space. Although Pancho sued Edwards to retain her property, an unexplained fire broke out on the ranch and ended the dispute...."

Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes

LOLCat Bible Translation Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zoe Connolly iz praysin da Ceiling Cat....

LOLCat Bible Translation Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The LOLCat Bible Translation Project is a wiki-based website set up in July 2007 by Martin Grondin, where editors aim to translate the entire Bible into "lolspeak", the pidgin popularized by the LOLcat Internet phenomenon.^[1] As with any wiki, the project relies on its contributors to translate passages. As of March 27, 2008, approximately 61% of the text has been translated, and Grondin has stated that he hopes the entire New Testament will be complete by the end of 2008.^[2]

The style of writing employed by translators varies, but the most devoted contributors have been described as those who utilize as many gags and themes used in the different lolcat images. Certain words and phrases have a common equivalent used; God, for instance, is portrayed as "Ceiling Cat",^[2], Satan is portrayed as "Basement Cat", and people portrayed as kitties ("kittehs").

Sample of style (sourced from chapters deemed by the site to be of "Final Draft" quality):

¹⁵ Okays den. Kittehs, u keeps praysin da Ceiling Cat, and tells othar kittehs u frindz wit him. ¹⁶ Dont furget! U gotta do niec tings fur othar kittehs, and share ur cheezburgers and stufz wit kittehz who have nun. Dis maeks Ceiling Cat real happys.

- Hebrews 13:15-16 ^[3]

¹⁶So liek teh Ceiling Cat lieks teh ppl lots and he sez 'Oh hai I givez u me only kitteh and ifs u beleevs in him u wont evr diez no moar, k?

- John 3:16 ^[4]

LOLCat Bible Translation Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

GoogleEarth TestShot Using SpaceNavigator

This is the first video capture using my new 3D Connexion Space Navigator PE. The subject here is Google Earth and the music is John Barry's "007 and Counting" - a track from the James Bond Movie "Diamonds Are Forever"

The Skies of Tomorrow

A video from Vidal Tripsa...

Her Comments about the video from YouTube: "A quickly-gathered montage of footage from a day in Skies of Tomorrow, Extropia's island aerodrome. The video was shot by myself and stars visiting pilots, including aviatrix Zoe Connolly.

The soundtrack is a favourite gem, the theme tune for the 1939 World's Fair by George and Ira Gershwin. Sorry it doesn't match the length of the video. I didn't plan this one!"

The AvaStar: Flying high in Second Life

Coyne Nagy of The Avastar IMed me today with news of my Avastar-Of-The-Week article....

The AvaStar: Flying high in Second Life

"...AVIATRIX Zoe Connolly is the leader of the Royal Caledon Air Force and creator of both the internet and in-world versions of the Second Life Bloggers community.

SENSE OF STYLE: Zoe is justifiably proud of how she looks...."

The AvaStar: Flying high in Second Life

June 8th RCAF WW2 Era Dogfight - Skies Of Tomorrow in Extropia (part 2)

Dogfights - Video Clips

Dogfights - Video Clips

Fighter Tactics....

Thatch Weave, Rolling Scissors, Compressability, High Yo-Yo Maneuver, The Lagging Maneuver, The Split S

Dogfights - Video Clips

June 8th RCAF WW2 Era Dogfight - Skies Of Tomorrow in Extropia (part 1)

During the weekend of June 7th and 8th, The Royal Caledon Air Force gathered in Extropia's Skies of Tomorrow sim and engaged in WW2 Era combat over sims Dirac Sea and Future Current.

Here are a few snapshots showing Vidal "Trip" Tripsa flying her P-40 from THI. Trip attempts to evade the formidable Jessicas Falls who is flying Darsh Lucero's P-51 Mustang....

The photographs and video I have from the weekend do not do the events justice. I've never seen anything like this in SL before. Many times the sky was filled with airplanes in battle and it gave me a taste for what air combat may have looked like during World War Two. I had the feeling of being inside an episode of History Channels Dogfights TV series.

June 8th RCAF Dogfight

Raw Footage of Sunday June 8 2008 Royal Caledon Air Force WW2 Era Dogfight in the Independent City-State of Extropia in SecondLife.

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter

Jack Dorsey Presents Twitter from biz stone on Vimeo.

Tuskegee Airmen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tuskegee Airmen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Color poster of a Tuskegee Airman

Prior to the Tuskegee Airmen, no U.S. military pilots had been black. A series of legislative moves by the United States Congress in 1941 forced the Army Air Corps to form an all-black combat unit, despite the War Department's reluctance. In an effort to eliminate the unit before it could begin, the War Department set up a system to accept only those with a level of flight experience or higher education that they expected would be hard to fill. This policy backfired when the Air Corps received an abundance of applications from men who qualified even under these restrictive specifications.

The U.S. Army Air Corps had established the Psychological Research Unit 1 at Maxwell Army Air Field, Alabama, and other units around the country for aviation cadet training, which included the identification, selection, education, and training of pilots, navigators and bombardiers. Psychologists employed in these research studies and training programs used some of the first standardized tests to quantify IQ, dexterity, and leadership qualities in order to select and train the right personnel for the right role (bombardier, pilot, navigator). The Air Corps determined that the same existing programs would be used for all units, including all-black units. At Tuskegee, this effort would continue with the selection and training of the Tuskegee Airmen.

The 332nd Fighter Group attends a briefing in Italy in 1945.

Tuskegee Airmen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great Aviation Quotes: High Flight by John Magee

While researching aviation quotes, I found this webpage of a famous poem....

Great Aviation Quotes: High Flight by John Magee

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . .

Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or ever eagle flew —
And, while with silent, lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

— John Gillespie Magee, Jr

During the desperate days of the Battle of Britain, hundreds of Americans crossed the border into Canada to enlist with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Knowingly breaking the law, but with the tacit approval of the then still officially neutral United States Government, they volunteered to fight the Nazis.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was one such American. Born in Shanghai, China, in 1922 to an English mother and a Scotch-Irish-American father, Magee was 18 years old when he entered flight training. Within the year, he was sent to England and posted to the newly formed No 412 Fighter Squadron, RCAF, which was activated at Digby, England, on 30 June 1941. He was qualified on and flew the Supermarine Spitfire.

Flying fighter sweeps over France and air defense over England against the German Luftwaffe, he rose to the rank of Pilot Officer.

On 3 September 1941, Magee flew a high altitude (30,000 feet) test flight in a newer model of the Spitfire V. As he orbited and climbed upward, he was struck with the inspiration of a poem — "To touch the face of God."

Once back on the ground, he wrote a letter to his parents. In it he commented, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed." On the back of the letter, he jotted down his poem, 'High Flight'.

Just three months later, on 11 December 1941 (and only three days after the US entered the war), Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee, Jr., was killed. The Spitfire V he was flying, VZ-H, collided with an Oxford Trainer from Cranwell Airfield flown by one Ernest Aubrey. The mid-air happened over the village of Roxholm which lies between RAF Cranwell and RAF Digby, in the county of Lincolnshire at about 400 feet AGL at 11:30. John was descending in the clouds. At the enquiry a farmer testified that he saw the Spitfire pilot struggle to push back the canopy. The pilot, he said, finally stood up to jump from the plane. John, however, was too close to the ground for his parachute to open. He died instantly. He was 19 years old.

Part of the official letter to his parents read, "Your son's funeral took place at Scopwick Cemetery, near Digby Aerodrome, at 2:30 P.M. on Saturday, 13th December, 1941, the service being conducted by Flight Lieutenant S. K. Belton, the Canadian padre of this Station. He was accorded full Service Honors, the coffin being carried by pilots of his own Squadron."

Great Aviation Quotes: High Flight by John Magee

Vote Zoe 2008 - The most tolerant of all candidates

Zoe Connolly vs John McCain and Barack Obama

A Connolly Administration would be the most tolerant and inclusive White House administration in American History. In addition to the appointments of Asians, Hispanics, African-Americans and Women, I'll include Tinies and Furries to cabinet level positions. Can either of my opponents promise this?

No!

Voting for Zoe is a vote for change

Zoe vs Obama and McCain

How can voting for another politician be a vote for change?

A vote for an avatar from a virtual world is a vote for real change!

Here are more thoughts about change...

Change, change, change, and change.

I have some change in my purse.

There may be some change under the seat cushions.

Does this make my ass look fat? Should I change?

Vote Zoe 2008, Commercial # 1 (3 Reasons)

Zoe vs John McCain

I'm younger than John McCain. Way way younger!

I was first rezzed in the virtual world of Second Life on January 21, 2007.

Zoe vs Barack Obama

I have experience running a virtual air force. And even though the Royal Caledon Air Force is virtual, that's *still* far more military experience than Obama has in Real Life.

Zoe vs McCain and Obama

I look better in a dress. More eye candy for America and the World!




Paid for by the Zoe Connolly for President 2008 Campaign Committee in Caledon Penzance

McBama No! Zoe Yes!

Zoe Connolly 2008



This 2008 Campaign season is a series of historic firsts with the first viable African-American and Female candidates for President of the United States (POTUS).

But if we look beyond these exciting events and look to the issues, we see a few problems with Obama, Clinton, and McCain.

On the Democratic Party side, Barack Obama makes countless voters swoon over well crafted but empty speeches about change and Hillary Clinton - now mostly despised within the party - drops from the race for nomination.

Meanwhile John McCain disappoints conservatives within the Republican Party by turning his back on their movement. The media-darling Maverick Republican now treated like all other Republicans because he dared to run against Democrats for the Presidency.

I believe there is a third approach that will gain support among Tolerant Progressive Conservative Libertarian Transhumanist Christian Agnostic Buddhist Pro-Military Gun-Owners with Low-Carbon Footprints. In the next few weeks I will outline my vision for America's Future.

I hereby announce today.... My name is Zoe Connolly and I'm running for President Of The United States. I am the first female avatar from a virtual world to run for the US Presidency.

So if neither candidate excites you, don't sit this one out, vote for Zoe Connolly as a write-in candidate. It's better than voting none-of-the-above. And I'm way hotter than Hillary.



Paid for by the Zoe Connolly for President 2008 Campaign Committee in Caledon Penzance

Otto Lilienthal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In a recent comment, Bela included a quote from Otto Lilienthal. For any aviation enthusiast or student of Victorian history, his biography is worth a look....

Otto Lilienthal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otto Lilienthal (born 23 May 1848 in Anklam, Province of Pomerania – died 10 August 1896 in Berlin) was a pioneer of human aviation who became known as the German "Glider King". He was the first person to make repeated successful gliding flights. He followed an experimental approach first established earlier in the century by Sir George Cayley. Newspapers and magazines in many countries published photographs of Lilienthal gliding, favorably influencing public and scientific opinion about the possibility of flying machines becoming practical reality after ages of idle fantasy and unscientific tinkering.

"To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. But to fly is everything."

—Lilienthal

A quote from Wilbur Wright....

"Of all the men who attacked the flying problem in the 19th century, Otto Lilienthal was easily the most important. ... It is true that attempts at gliding had been made hundreds of years before him, and that in the nineteenth century, Cayley, Spencer, Wenham, Mouillard, and many others were reported to have made feeble attempts to glide, but their failures were so complete that nothing of value resulted."

—Wilbur Wright

Otto Lilienthal

Otto Lilienthal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia