dalillama.com

Chuck Aaron: the only pilot certified by the FAA to do aerobatics in a helicopter. And he looks the part too:

Gives me something to work towards after my first R44 ride on Saturday. Frank Robinson is a genius.

From Skewed & Reviewed:

In the pending game Postal 3, players will get the chance to settle the score with the maverick filmmaker behind “Bloodrayne”, “House of the Dead”, “Postal”, and the coming “SEED”, and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale”. According to Running With Scissors President Vince Desi, “We will let you kill UB, he will appear as himself, on a film location”. Sounds like Postal 3 is sure to keep generating controversy before it even releases. Look for the game in 2008.

Finally! Videogame violence with a noble purpose! For those not familiar with Uwe Boll, he is a movie director who has made a career out of adapting successful videogames into not-so-succesful movies. I’m being too nice: he butchers great games into crap movies.

Don’t take my word for it. Let’s take a look at Mr. Boll’s Rotten Tomatoes scores for his last four movies:

Truly, an achievement which few directors could come close to challenging. His next movies? FarCry and Postal–two great games destined for infamy. So I’m all for the opportunity to give videogamers around the world the chance to get even with  Boll. And for those who think I’m advocating violence against him, remember this is the guy who challenged his critics to a boxing match–so he definitely should be given credit for not being afraid of criticism.

To be fair, the other great games adapted into film, such as Wing Commander and Resident Evil, didn’t turn out so well. All hope now rests on Hitman and the magic fingers of Luc Besson.

P.S. Preempting potential objections about bad videogame adaptations, I haven’t forgotten about this gem either:

(via Joystiq)

National Transportation Safety Board recreation of a runway incursion incident (read: near-disaster) at O’Hare between a United Airlines 737 and an Atlas Air 747 jumbo jet last year. The United pilot’s response is unbelievable:

“Don’t worry, we’ve got him?” The background noise in the tower’s transmission makes it clear that even the air traffic controllers–you know, those guys that cope with stress day in and day out–were freaking out. Saying “We’ve got him”? That’s balls.

If you’ve been following Latin America at all, you know that Hugo Chavez is having a DoD-style procurement-fest. With oil at $90, Chavez bought 100,000 new AKs for the army, 53 Russian helicopters, 24 of one of the most modern combat aircraft in the world (SU-30), 3 complete systems of what is arguably the most advanced non-American surface-to-air missile in the world (TOR-M1), and 5 brand-spanking new submarines.

So, great: Hugo’s all dressed up now, but he’s got no party to go to–no reason to brandish (or if lucky, use) his new toys, right?

I opened up Folha, Brazil’s largest newspaper, and look what popped out:

“Chávez says he’ll develop peaceful nuclear program.”

Checked into original source and here it is, a video interview courtesy of the French news channel, France24, which for all the hoopla about wanting to be the non-American answer to CNN, forgot to put up an English transcript:

Ah nuts. Chavez’ spending spree is already making Lula spend $3.6 Billion on new fighters for the Brazilian Air Force. Wait and see–if this keeps going, you’ll see the US offering the Joint Strike Fighter and other export-restricted goodies to Brazil at bargain prices, much like it did with Chile in the 1990s. To add insult to injury, Chile paid what were arguably inflated prices (to placate Congress) for second-hand goods.

Ah, who am I kidding. Brazil is going to buy some crash-prone, short-ranged Swedish contraption or a French plane which took 15 years from sketch to takeoff.

In thinking about ways to give back to the flying community, I’ve decided to create a few pages with essays and reports on different aspects of flying and getting a license. I’ve started with an essay on what is typically the hardest aspect of getting your license. No, it’s not spin-recovery or no-engine landings: it’s the personification of the Federal Aviation Administration into the Designated Pilot Examiner and the checkride that usually follows. Some people freak out–some are in their element. I figured this was as good as start as any to describing the joy and frustration (but overwhelmingly joy) that was getting my private pilot license.

Also on a technical note, I’ve re-designed the site a bit utilizing an adapted version of Ajay Souza’s Connections 1.5 theme, just so I give out credit where it’s due. You’ll also notice the sidebar changed to include the permanent pages and categorization of links.

I was looking up the ethics of bow vs. firearm hunting and I clicked on a link to what I assumed was PETA’s brief on hunting. Here’s what came up:

Content aside, there is something to be said about an organization that uses even its 404 pages for activist purposes. “Be relentless”, I think, is the message for communicators. And it’s certainly easier on the eyes than their other campaign of comic books for children:

BTW, PETA will have to pry my pizza “from my cold dead hands”. The only thing they can do to make me give up Camelo is to get me a date with Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Holding a belief, not defending logically when challenged, and not conceding when faulted. This video is a prime example of any missionary, who in proselytizing, instead of trying to engage in meaningful discussion when challenged, try desperately to cut and run at the first sign of deviation from the script.

If you can’t back it up with reason, then at the very least admit it. Call it faith, gut feeling, whatever–but admit it. What you think about that shortcoming later is up to you. You can think it’s absolutely fine and a part of who you are, or you can have the reaction that one digger had when he saw the video:

This reminds me of the time I had an argument with my friend about which fictional character is better: Batman or Superman??

Ultimately it’s up to you–but stepping into a conversation where you are not willing to concede a lesser degree of knowledge only makes you look like a dick when you decide to cut it off.

(via Digg)

I don’t usually brake for state governors, but this piece of news about Charlie Crist, republican governor of Florida, caught my eye:

Sure, that served its purpose–cater to the base at home, don’t look soft on terror, etc…

But then I saw this piece of news, only a few minutes later:

Petrobrás is now officially, by market cap, the largest company in the world, worth some $512 billion at the end of trading today. After having ostracized Exxon-Mobil and other US oil companies by accusing them of price gouging, I doubt Mr. Crist will get any investment or cheaper gas for Floridians now.

A quote from my General Business 101 professor comes to mind:

Hubris in business is a guy who meets with Bill Gates to ask him for money today and refuses to shake his hand because he broke a technical standard for web applets in 1997.