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Showing posts from December 3, 2023

Nature -- Deer and Butterfly

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I do like the outdoors and nature. I dont like the naive view. I like the real thing. Sometimes it can be scary and sometimes it hurts. I still like nature. I like wilderness. Camping in North Georgia is quite nice. There is a alot going on as usual, at work and at home. I think I am going to sell the humvee. I dont need 5 cars. I have some more work to do to it, but after I get what I have planned done. Its gonna hit the road. It will still take me awhile with my current level of productivity and the number of projects I have in flight. I will be up in NY again soon probably and I have travel plans currently to Maine, New Hampshire and Japan. I am making vacation plans mostly in the Caribbean. That is the push to get us over 100 Countries. I also still have to get to Wyoming, to finish off the 50 US states. I did yard work today. Mostly weeding before it got hot out, but also grading. I ran the Bobcat after the dirt settled more around the house as part of the drain/vents I had p...

VLJs --- 20 years after all the hype

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20 years ago the world was abuzz with the VLJ (very light jet) movement. I got to park next to this one the other day in South Carolina. Here is an article from Wired magazine from 14 years ago indicating the demise (or morph) of the hyped VLJ. (Wired article from 2009). The plane in the picture is the Cirrus Vision jet. It probably won the contest in actually (mostly) delivering on the promise of a VLJ. The actual cost of the plane here (about 3 million USD) is way outside what the ridiculously low projected pricing of 20 years ago. But, the plane is cool for sure and is very relateable to the Cirrus piston aircraft. The cruise speed of the vison jet is 345 mph. The Honda jet cruises at 424 mph and the Phenom jet at 466 mph. The speed of the vision jet is incredible compared to my Cessna 172 at 140 mph, but the Vision jet speed is pretty much with the turboprops. (King Air 360 mph and the PC-12 at 311 mph).