Abraham Lincoln on Prohibition...

I saw this quote on another website somewhere. I thought it was very well put and addresses so much of the "Nanny-state" types of activities you see going on these days (for example, the proposed 18% tax on "Sugary" drinks in New York). To me, this quote applies to a great many things.

"Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."

Abraham Lincoln (1809-65), U.S. President.
Speech, 18 Dec. 1840, to Illinois House of Representatives

My latest project comes to a happy conclusion...

You may have noticed that I've been somewhat absent of late. Part of this (but not all) was due to the fact that I had significantly increased the heat on a project that had been languishing for way too long (and writing a book and working and....). Today that project has come to it's happy conclusion and I am glad that it's complete.

That project is the acquisition of my instrument rating. I got my private pilot certificate many many years ago. As you will find on other posts in my blog, I gave it up for a while and then took it back up about 4 years ago with the purchase of my first airplane, N7598U. After I bought my airplane I decided that the next step was to get my instrument rating. So about 3 years or more ago I started on this long journey.

Over 3 Years, 5 instructors and one stressful check-ride later (some stress self-induced and other stress of external sources) I can now happily report I am an instrument rated private pilot!!! I took my check-ride today with Lynn French out of Salt Lake City Number 2 airport (U42 for the aviation minded). Lynn passed me and I think probably immediately issued a NOTAM to warn the flying world, "Watch out! Freeman has his rating".

So, the morning didn't start too well. While waiting for Lynn to arrive (he was flying in this morning from Colorado) my instructor Randy and I were checking out the log books for the airplane I was going to use. As I was reviewing the logs, I discovered to my horror that the attitude indicator was out on the airplane I was going to take. Holly Smortals! The "sister plane" to the one I was going to use was supposed to be in by 10am. So, it would be coming in while we were doing the Oral and we could take the sister plane out for the exam. Ah.... Joy. Flying in a plane I have not ever flown in for my checkride. It's a sister plane, sure.... yeah.... right....

Lynn owns a bed and breakfast in Colorado with his wife, and I am given to understand that he has his own private strip and a number of different airplanes. So, at the outset, I am jealous of Lynn! :-) Lynn is your quintessential check pilot. Hours out the ears, asking great questions, providing great insight and making me sweat the pre-requisite amount during the process (check the PTS, there are sweat requirements). I enjoyed the Oral with Lynn though it was not quite what I expected.

First, I was nervous so I'm trying to answer questions, and the words are coming out of my mouth a mile a minute. I'm also trying to give "textbook" answers, and Lynn is looking for more practical thinking. Me? Practical? Common! That caused some communication mis-understandings on my part at first. Once I settled down, I think I started to get it. In the end the Oral was a great learning experience and I'm the better pilot because of it. I think I'd have done much better if it was just a regular conversation and not an Oral/Check-Ride. Everyone said "Just have fun.... don't stress"... yeah, right. They do not know me. I don't stress in emergencies (like window iced over in unforcast and unexpected icing, and loosing my alternator all at the same time while flying from Chicago to Salt Lake City)... I handle those things OK I think. It's TESTS that I don't handle well. Tests of any type.

So, after the Oral, Lynn and I load up in the "Sister" plane. The airplane actually starts (yeah, there is a good sign) and I set the radios and so on. As I'm setting up the GPS the bells began to ring for the theme of the flight, "WE CAN'T MAKE THE GPS WORK!! BLAST IT!!". Up until the very end (where we figured out how to do the GPS approach for U42) we were sunk with respect to getting the approaches to work in the plane. Now in retrospect, I think I know how to have done it but that does you no good when you are on the flightline with the engine running and an examiner on the clock.

Lynn and I flew to Provo where we shot our approaches. We did a hold at FFU, did a DME ARC (part of the ILS and VOR/DME approach) and did our thing. My approaches were, frankly, pretty lame. They were within limits but I've done much better in the past. Lynn was very patient with me (I think he recognized I was nervous) and I'm thankful for that.

Finally we did some unusual attitudes and headed back to U42 where he finally managed to get the GPS to work and we shot that approach.

All in all, I was exhausted when we landed. When Lynn told me I passed I just wanted to jump up and down and shout to the heavens. Over 3 years of hard work, countless money and occasional frustration came to a fruitful end with my new rating, Insturment Airplane.

Wow.... now I need a nap!

The dangers or RMAN Autocataloging...

In later versions of RMAN (at least 11g) when you perform certain types of database recoveries and duplications RMAN will catalog the backups for you. This is handy if you have a newly recovered control file, since it will get all of the archived redo logs and backup sets cataloged for you.

I do a lot of RMAN testing where I create databases, drop them, re-create them, recover them, etc... I've noticed that this can have some odd impacts sometimes if you have old backups or archived redo logs from a previous version of that database. Say, for example you create an ORCL database, do a lot of stuff with it, delete it and create a new ORCL database. Sometimes RMAN will get weirded out when it tries to catalog the old backups or old archived redo logs.

I have not taken the time to try to figure out all the dynamics on what is going on here but I would recommend that anytime you remove a database and intend to re-create it, that you move the backups and old archived redo logs out of the FRA or the archivelog destination directories somewhere else if you need to keep them. This will make your RMAN life much easier.

Flying ....

So, we are in Seattle right now, getting ready for a nice two week vacation. We had a nice, bumpy flight to Seattle, skimming the tops of clouds and the like. During the flight a few thoughts came to mind...

First, why on the pre-flight safety video don't they actually show things how they will be? Realism is good. For example, when the oxygen masks come down, why don't they show the aircraft in some unusual attitude and the passengers panicking, fighting each other over the lone oxygen mask that actually fell from the ceiling? "Yes, there are three other masks, they just didn't manage to fall", the announcer should say, "rather than fight your seatmate for the one that did fall, simply reach up and pull the other mask down." This segment should end in the two passengers falling out of their seats fighting for the lone mask. While we are at it, we need to see an appropriate level of panic in passengers faces... I mean, if the masks come flying down, and the aircraft it pitched 45 degrees nose down trying to get below 10,000 feet, wouldn't you feel some panic?

Then there is always the scene of the mother or father calmly putting the mask on their very calm, very still, child. Um, yeah, there is reality. Again, 45 degree, nose down pitch, the floor falling out from under them, I doubt those kids are going to be calm, still or quiet.

But thats just me....

Rather, perhaps, the child should be screaming, looking all around in panic and shouting "WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE!!" now that would be reality. Oh, and perhaps to add a touch of realisim we should some cheerios orbiting in the simulated zero G as the airplane plummets to an uncertain fate.

What is it with people who think that the sign that means "put on your seatbelt" actually means "it's ok to get up and go to the bathroom now"? I am constantly amazed.... 2 minutes after take off, Yule Gibbins gets up and shuffles to the bathrom. Now, not only is Yule not supposed to get up (and doing so actually breaks a federal law) BUT Yule is not exactly a young man... a young man might be able to grab onto something should we hit turblance, and survive (I'll not address the possible state of the bathroom after a severe turbulence hit... let's just say that pooping at zero G isn't a good thing). Yule, instead, will be flung around to and fro, his poor hairpiece will be all that will be left of the poor man.

On our flight to Seattle, fully 20 to 30% of the people on the flight got up to use the bathroom when the fasten seatbelt sign was on. Now, honestly, turblance was not too bad (light) but apparently the captian expected it might become bad enough that he had the flight attendents discontinue food service and had them sit and buckle up. THAT should be a clue.

And I also notice that it's always the people who are not all that physicaly able to withstand a 2000 foot drop in altitude and the attending loss of gravitational pull that will ensue. Like I said, Yule Gibbins.

I can see the CNN story now.... An airliner lands and the emergency support personel are called to scrape twenty elderly folks off of the ceiling of the airplane.

I fully understand needing to go, and needing to go *badly*, but did it ever occur to these folks to go *before* you get on the airplane. One might think to ones self, "Self.... I'm going to be captive in an airplane for two hours, maybe I should go now, when it's actually safe to go."

Some people don't understand the risk of flight even in severe clear. It's real, we call it CAT or Clear Air Turblance. In rare cases, with CAT, you could encounter a sudden drop of altitude of several hundred or even (in very rare cases) thousand feet very quickly. Trust me, you don't want to be out of your seatbelt if that happens. I've been though CAT in my little airplanes at low altitude, it's no fun.

So, anyway, we are in Seattle now.... I love Seattle....

More govenmental stupidity....

More clear evidence that we have way to much time on our hands...

Here is a boy who's pencil sharpener apparently broke, who had the razor blade part of that tool in his hand is suspended. Suspended for 2 days, doesn't this kid sound dangerous. This is the intelligence of "No tolerance" which in my mind equates to "No Thinking". No tolerance just abdicates administrators of any requirement to think or act. It's lazy.

Then there is this Gem. First of all, I think helmet laws are a farce. It's just another way the state manages to control us. I think helmets are a good idea, don't misunderstand me, but we live in a free country, right? In my mind, in a free country, the jackbooted thugs don't have the right to tell you that you must wear a helmet. Of course, it's the law. Which means some mamby pamby, let's protect you from everything, body of law makers decided it was best for us all...

When will we realize how important the concept of individual freedom and liberty really is. We have forgotten that. Politicians, under the guise of protecting us and making society better, slowly curtail our freedoms and load us up with to-do's. Next thing you know, we will be required to wear helmets just to go out for a walk, lest we fall down and hit our head.