Due to the beer, Mexican food, too much chatting, and slightly late bedtime that
resulted from Rudder's being on a business trip (he gets back tonight) I got to
the gym late, so cut my workout a bit short. My shoulder hurts, anyway -- I think
it may be sympathy pains with Rudder's slightly dislocated one (pops out easily
due to a car accident years ago), except that it's the wrong shoulder. Obviously,
I'm sympathetic but a little confused.
Last night after work, I
joined T2 and Egret who always go out for a beer on Wednesdays. I like the idea of
a set time when I know I can go join someone, but I think I may pass on spending
time with them without Rudder along. The night was rife with TMI. They've been
together almost a year now, but apparently haven't yet settled comfortably enough
into the relationship to really believe the sex will still be there even if they
don't talk about it. I'm glad they're so happy together, though.
Egret is actually getting a bit stressed because T2 is about to
leave for Alaska for two weeks -- I think he planned the trip before they hooked
up. He was making jokes about my needing to get a generator, to be ready when she
takes down the power grid. I recommended using a battery-powered substitute for
him, instead, but he said, no, that wouldn't be powerful enough. You see what I
mean about TMI.
In college, I was lucky enough to take several
folklore classes with the late and greatly missed Kenny Goldstein. He taught that
the folk process is still active, but that these days the words tend to change
more than tunes, because recording sort of cements the tunes in public memory. On
NPR this morning, they had a bit on the Blind Boys of Alabama, a gospel group
who's been together for 60 years. Apparently they hadn't encountered Goldstein;
the coolest part was when they sang "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "House of the
Rising Sun". Or maybe that just illustrates his point, since the new tune is still
a recorded an well-known one.
Currently, there is a lot of local
controversy over the building of a new stadium for the Arizona Cardinals. They
currently play at ASU's stadium, which is small and uncomfortable. However, the
proposed site is very close to the airport, and the FAA has said it would be
unsafe. Everyone assumes they mean an airplane could crash into the stadium, but I
don't even think that's the biggest problem. None of the news goes into details,
other than to say that it would interfere with some instrument flying systems.
I think what they mean is that it could block the VOR. That stands
for VHF Omnidirectional Range beacon -- it puts a radio signal out in all
directions, and you can tell from it what direction you are from the beacon. You
can triangulate on two to find your own position, too. If you're anywhere near Sky
Harbor in good weather, you can see where you're going anyway and it's not
necessary, but in bad weather or from farther out (and they reach tens of miles)
you might not be too happy if that signal is blocked.
Some of the
people involved in the stadium are being assholes about it too, saying that the
FAA has the onus to keep the airport safe but that its jurisdiction should stop at
the airport fence "and we have total confidence that they will do whatever is
necessary to ensure safety for Sky Harbor". Idiots. Ignorant, arrogant idiots. I
suppose it would be too much for them to ask how the system works before they
start interfering with it. I suspect these are the people who complain their kids
are too wild at home because their teachers aren't teaching them good manners. Or
the ones who think it's okay for them to drive and talk on cell phones because
everyone else will get out of the way.
Another suggestion was to
only use the runway in line with the stadium on non-game days. First, of course
that doesn't address the VOR problem at all, which affects anyone flying on
instruments, not just at that runway or even that airport, but anywhere in the
vicinity. Second, why should travelers be inconvenienced by some football game?
And finally, if an airplane should crash into the stadium, instead of making a
rough but safe emergency landing on the dry riverbed that's there now, I'm sure
that its 200+ passengers would be consoled, as they crisped in the ensuing
fireball, to know there was no one in the stadium to be hurt.