Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

It took about 28 hours to get back from central Finland. I got to my apartment about Midnight (7 am Finland Time). I am a bit tired today. I did work out this morning. There hasn't been much of an opportunity lately being in Europe for the last two weeks. I went out to the airport to study using the instruction DVDs for the glass cockpit aircraft. Of course there was lots going on. I took a tour of "Aluminum Overcast" the B-17. I also got a ride in a Robinson R44 Helicopter. A nap is next on my agenda.

In the following picture you will see a very interesting phenomena. The plane is above the clouds with the sun behind. You can see a shadow of the plane, but the more significant thing is the perihelia around the shadow. It was the day for that image. I had several opportunities for pics and I took a little film as well. You can see two distinct rings in the pic. The plane has a relatively sharp edge and the diffraction caused by the plane produces a nice series of rainbows projected on the clouds, I think. Very nice.

In about 10 hours I am headed back to Duluth. I had a great meal last night of Rain deer and Blue cheese ice cream. It is absolutely true. In the last two weeks I have been in the following cities in the following order (listed without countries) for specific reasons: Duluth--Atlanta--Roissy--Beauvais--Roissy--Birmingham--Kennilworth--Stoneleigh--Kennilworth--Stoneleigh--Banbury--Stoneleigh--Kennilworth--Knowle--Kennilworth --Cosford--Birmingham--Kennilworth--Birmingham--Roissy--Vannta--Tikkakosken--Jyvaskyla--Linnavuori--Tampere--Jyvaskyla--Suolahti--Jyvaskyla--Suolahti--Jyvaskyla--Tikkakosken--Vannta--Roissy--Atlanta--Duluth That makes 36 significant destinations in 12 days or 3 cities per day. The shortest travel time between any of these was about 20 minutes by car, the longest about 8 hours in the air. There were a whole lot of meetings and discussions. Finland is nice. It is getting dark here about 5:30 pm. In the middle of winter they get about 4 hours of daylight in Jyv

Work is starting to ramp down here in Finland. I have a couple more meetings tomorrow then Friday morning I am headed back to the US. I am tired. I am smarter. I have been influential. It was snowing in Finland. It made me very homesick. The thing that looks like a bear is actually a very high-tech bear anger-management simulator. These days there are simulators for everything. The high-tech folks in Finland who have brought us saunas, cellular phones, and countless other modern devices have also brought us the use of these simulators. Next time I get to try the techniques on a real bear. The other pic is something I hope you think is off the beaten path. These World Dryer people aren't kidding.

Embrace everything positive. --Charles Dowdell

"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction." -- Albert Einstein, scientist

I am back in Finland. I have a 3 hour or so layover in Helsinki before I get to my final destination this evening. It will be about 1:00 in the morning when I get there. Tomorrow morning I drive for a couple of hours. The plane tonight carries freight as well as humans. It takes a while to get to the inside of Finland even from the UK. I will be in Finland 4 and 1/4 days. I have two cities to get to and participate in many meetings. Driving in England was a great experience. learning to drive on the left hand side is much easier than learning to fly an airplane. I anticipated and got some great shots from Birmingham (BHX) to Paris (CDG) today over the English Channel. The pics are from Seat 01A on an Air France AVRO RJ85 jet. These things have so many engines for such a small plane. I suspect they shut two down during cruise, 'cause the plane makes some pretty weird engine noises after takeoff and while on approach.