Flying palaces, parties and patellas

Hi Carolyn,


Whew, it's been a bit since I was last here. Springtime and all that has helped make the last number of days just fly past. Plus impromptu trips to the less than sunny " Sun-Parlor of Southern Ontario " as noted previously.   The weather turned  downright summerish a week or so ago and that meant we were out on the land  hustling about , rake, broom and wheelbarrow in hand. It lulled us into a sense of security as well, which has been shaken right out  in the last two days as we, like you, got side-swiped by snow and sub-freezing temps. It's anything but uncommon, of course, but it still creates an instant feeling of shock and dismay each time.



During those heady, heated days I managed to inflict an injury upon my person. My knee had been sending me small messages even before this flurry of outdoor activity but I did not listen. As a result of, or perhaps exacerbated by those hours of heavy-duty husbandry, it decided to stop flexing without lotsa pain. I should have listened to my knee-cap at that point but got all stoic and decided to "work through it" - dumb, dumb, dumb!





Fortunately, I had a previously made medical appointment during this time and was able to have my family doc take a closer look at things.  After some wiggling, jiggling, pressing and prodding she gave me the news - and it made me burst out laughing. The official name is " Patellofemoral syndrome " - not a jocularity inducing title, to be sure.  The more common name certainly tickled my funny bone though. It's basically a " sports injury " she said. My patella is flying about a bit, it seems.









Anyone who knows me knows that the closest I have ever come to any type of "sports activity"  is playing 8-ball, or riding my motorcycle ( Alas, the sailing thing has reached its end.)  Hearing my name and sports injury in the same sentence is sort of like hearing Muammar Gaddafi being lauded as a humanitarian or Mother Theresa being charged with disorderly  conduct.  So I've been getting lots of ironic humor mileage out of this one. Alas, its made climbing stairs and sitting for more than a short time bothersome too. Don't expect I'll be looking to go wall-climbing anytime soon, Carolyn.  Resting the affected limb is the main way to deal with it, apparently.



Anyhow, enough whining and whimpering about what happens with the body once it goes off warranty.



Ran into a most interesting item recently at Gizmag ( and elsewhere ). Awhile ago I put up some stuff about a proposed supersonic airliner that was on the drawing board and slated to go into production. It was pretty nifty for its high-tech features, stiletto shape and supersonic capabilities. Well, this is in the same vein more or less. The only difference is, this one is rumbling down the runways now and based on a tried and true airliner.  It's a Boeing 747-8 VIP business jet that has been completed and sent to some uber-high-roller client. It starts with an off-the-rack  barebones 747-8 (see above )  which one can obtain for a mere  370 million U.S. From there it gets finished off inside as the buyer wishes into a business jet like no other.  Over four thousand square feet of airborne opulence.  It really is, like the article said, a flying palace.



There's lots about it that I could wax on about here but it's all out there in lots of places. One of the things that caught my fancy was the master stateroom.  You can see it in the model  here and the finished product in the pic on the left.  I immediately pictured myself bedding down in that king sized bed right in the nose and almost freaking out at the thought that a few feet beyond the headboard was the atmosphere at 40 thousand feet and whizzing by at 500mph plus. I couldn't get to sleep to save my life.  So remember Carolyn, when you become a publishing magnate -  this is the way to get about.  Seven of these aeronautical Taj Mahals  have already been ordered and six of them delivered.  Apparently the next version of Air Force One will be made by these folks too.






For some reason this little item also reminded me of the flying building which contained the never-ending  cocktail party in The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If you check out the other pics you'll see that there is more than enough party hearty real estate inside this rolling temple of temporal delight. If one had so much money and power that stuff like this could be acquired like the rest of us buy a small car what would be the thrill of it all after that? What would be left to strive for in the material realm? There would be no more unreachable stars except the ones in the sky overhead.  I'm also wondering, do the birds up there laugh when they see these big, clumsy  circus wagons that we humans are tossing into the sky?



They may even be thinking something along the lines of what Mr. Twain noted:

Nature knows no indecencies;

man invents them.

So, Carolyn, be careful at the gyms. Good to hear that it's your own inclination that has you climbing the walls rather than the students, the publishing business, or life in general.


Don


All images sourced from Google Images

Fig. 1 - carlosnightman.wordpress.com
Fig. 2 - the guardian.com
Fig. 3 - uncyclopedia.com
Fig. 4 - daily.mail.com
Fig. 5 - norteverdadiero.com
Fig. 6 - aircraft-completion.com
Fig. 7 - panmacmillan.com.au
Fig. 8 - birdsasart.com
Fig. 9 - www.slideshare.net