July 2014 Notes and Exterior Images and Movies
July 2014 Notes from Hillsboro, Oregon, USA (Douga to shashin wa shita desu.):
A 13 August 2014 Note: Terribly sorry for the previously broken links which made all the media inaccessible. Many thanks to UM for alerting me to the flaw! I think they're all fixed now, but if anyone finds any flaws I'd be grateful for an advisory.
Thumbnails of exterior elements are provided below. Click on a thumbnail to see the media. Portrait oriented media generally loads sideways, alas. Though I understand the cause, I can't resolve that problem now due to time constraints. Nor is time available to distill the array to a smaller set of just the best images. Sorry...
The first nine items are movies as indicated by the mp4 suffixes. They're large files of course. So if you wish to watch the movies, please download them to your local storage media first, then run the downloaded files with an application which can play movies. That'll conserve Internet bandwidth should you decide to view a movie more than once. Such conservation is particularly important with large movie files, and also for the AirplaneHome.com site in general because its server is provided without charge by a friend who must pay for excessive bandwidth consumption. Please help keep this relationship tenable by avoiding waste of Internet bandwidth.
The last movie, 9.mp4, is the largest by far, and probably the most interesting. So I mildly recommend it.
All of this media was captured shortly after the aircraft's exterior was washed. Many thanks to Mark Schomburg, who's become so proficient with the task that he's able to essentially completely pressure wash the bird in two days. The aircraft's far more attractive if it's washed at least every two years. But with each wash more of the surface paint dislodges and flies off, revealing the underlying corrosion prevention coating. In my ideal view, this process will culminate when the last of the surface paint's purposely removed, the surface is then chemically etched, then natural pure white Teflon's bonded to all fuselage and tail surfaces (except a window color mimicking platinum colored Teflon stripe of exactly window height enveloping all windows, including, with gracefully expanding contour, the cockpit windows). It's doubtful that appealing dream will occur in my lifetime though, alas.
The last fourteen images were captured on a later day in July, after the initial assembly of a front landing gear pillar as you can see. That pillar remains incomplete, and I can't predict when it'll be ready for service. Soon I hope...
The interior of that pillar contains, among other material, hundreds of clean uncapped PET bottles. But I need far more. Local people are welcome to deposit their clean uncapped PET bottles, of any size or type (so long as PET) into that pillar, or in a bag next to it, at any time until the pillar's full. Please be certain they're scrupulously clean and uncapped (open). Please contact me if you have questions about this.
I'm sill trying to keep fuselage contents mass as far aft as possible to make construction of the front landing gear pillar a bit easier, and to minimize stress on the temporary front cribbing support. Once the front landing gear pillar's functional, I'll remove tail and number two engine area ballast mass items (water filled containers, cinder blocks, and other heavy material), possibly moving them to the outboard area of the right wing, then focus my attention on construction of the left landing gear pillar, which is very important and time sensitive, but a much more daunting project. The right landing gear rests at ground level, so a permanent pad isn't necessary there for mass distribution freedom or earthquake resistance, and thus isn't time sensitive. Once the nose and left landing gear support pillars are complete I'll probably remove all ballast mass. And I'll then be free of most stability and earthquake worries (except falling tree hazards associated with earthquakes or major storms), and able to distribute interior material more liberally (though I'll always favor aft locations for mass - due to the missing engines and the somewhat forward center of mass of the acrylic floor panels, my bird's net center of mass is further forward than optimum).
You may have noticed that the air stair lights aren't on in the images. They're installed, but some control circuit flaw or misunderstanding's preventing functionality. I expect to resolve that problem soon. I also anticipate activation of the remainder of the six emergency exit wing and fuselage lights soon.
And, though later, a great deal of other work...
New interior media is available as well. If you'd like to view that material, please send me an email message to that effect. Or summon your personal cleverness...
Some personal notes:
As you know by the painful melodrama linked rather prominently from my home page, a sense of well being was bloody elusive in prior years - it was a very tough time. Perhaps my Oregon friends view it differently, but in my estimation escape to a new environment and development of new social connections was simply my only viable means to resolve the problem. I seem to retain just a few close friends in Oregon. I very rarely or never see many others whom I previously socialized with extensively, and when I do I often feel uncomfortable, and sometimes I'm dismayed by skepticism of my personal integrity. Frankly I don't have a clue whether such lack of trust is due to past (and even some rather recent) slander intensive social politics, or insult taken by my abrupt departure to build a new social life, or both. Either way it's a shame and I certainly regret the degradation or outright loss of trusted friendships, camaraderie, and stomping grounds.
However, in my view I had no choice but to escape the social destruction occurring in my life in those troubled years - I pursued the only resolution path evidently available to me, and harbor no regrets about my decisions. Slander destroys lives, and it seems to me that as a practical matter it can't be fought, but rather only avoided by escape, at an inevitable cost of loss of many important friendships and ancillary connections. I found refuge and a very rich social life in Miyazaki, and language fog notwithstanding, seem free of slander or other destructive social behavior there.
We seem to require about 100 years to learn how to live a civil and constructive life. So it's mighty difficult to build highly civilized and constructive communities populated by mortal beings who sadly typically expire earlier. And yet by some rather miraculous process which I don't comprehend, some communities seem to achieve at least a measure of that miracle. But not all of course.
My sense of belonging is fully robust in Miyazaki. It guided me to a genuine sense of well being and personal validation, so I view it as my spiritual home. I've never felt happier in my life, even while in America, than in current times. My friends and loved ones seem true and genuinely fulfilling, my sense of fun pervasive, my confidence in exploration strong, and I seem able to pursue and often achieve ambitious goals. And my view of the future is very bright.
These seem to be the best times of my life. Clearly so. And, from the heart, I'm very happy. Serious challenges await of course - human nature and our mortality guarantee that. But at this time life is bloody good. Ikite te yokatta.
I wish it could be so for all people. For those immersed in trouble or entrapped in exasperating, life wasting boredom, I offer my experience as evidence that full escape is possible if you can muster the strength and find the means to do so. It's never easy, and some sacrifices might be required. But it's usually possible, even from spiritual or material destitution. But escape must spring from within - some close friends and loved ones might be able to offer psychic support and a modicum of material help, but ultimately it depends upon determination and grit from within. It's never easy. But it's bloody well worth it.
And it's not as if we really have a choice in such matters. We get one very brief ride on the consciousness trolley. Difficult or not, we must all make the most of it. Because there are no encores - when the ride's over, it's over. And no process of denial can change that harsh reality.
So we must all find ways to make life work well. For both ourselves and our communities. Because, profoundly mistaken zero sum game philosophies (improvement in a person's life can only be achieved through degradation of other people's lives) notwithstanding, we must live in the world we make, so it's simply not possible to find happiness at the expense of others.
Sometimes zero sum game philosophies or other dysfunctions, even if embraced by only one or two people, fatally poison a community for at least a few others, making escape to an alternate community imperative. Remarkably vile slander and menacing poison made it so for me. Popular recognition of the limited options at my disposal at that time might enhance understanding and peace. My hope is that will be so. But I've done all I can to discover and bear witness to truth in the little melodrama which led me to a better life. The rest depends upon social dynamics upon which I have precious little influence.
It was a whale of a struggle. But, thanks to remarkable friends, loved ones, institutions, and a very special community, I've found deeply fulfilling happiness. May everyone else be as richly fortunate.
All the best to all, Bruce
Copyright 19 July 2014, Howard Bruce Campbell, AirplaneHome.com.
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