Vietnam War analogy for COVID-19 holding up?

One month ago, from COVID-19 policy is more like the Vietnam War or more like the Penicillin miracle drug euphoric stage? My personal view for most of the past year has been that the best analogy t… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

What have I missed at the Olympics?

Nobody at Oshkosh mentioned the Olympics and it is rare to see a television while participating in EAA AirVenture. Did I miss anything? How much excitement is lost due to the lack of spectators? Th… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Some hope for the old Avidyne Cirruses

After nearly 15 years of ignoring 4000 Cirrus customers with the Avidyne Entegra glass panel (primary flight display (PFD)/multi-function display (MFD)), Avidyne announced a retrofit at Oshkosh thi… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Best vehicle at Oshkosh: DC-3 turned motorhome

Last day of Oshkosh (EAA AirVenture)… Even more amazing than all of the U.S. military technology, a two-year father-son project to take a DC-3 fuselage from a field in Missouri into a highway… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Define irony: Private school hosts diversity, equity, and inclusion event at a country club

Garland Greene: Define irony – a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash. I would like to propose an update to this philosopher… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Grumman Goose converted to turboprop

My favorite airplane at Oshkosh so far… a Grumman Goose converted to PT6 power. The owner was gracious and let our 7-year-old get into the cockpit and cabin, but I didn’t dare ask him h… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Oshkosh: the diabetes organization sells soda

#OnlyInAmerica: the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation sells Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and other delicious drinks in 20 oz. bottles. What you’ll look like after a week of event food… The … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Should the Nord Stream pipeline be considered an engineering wonder?

The seafloor pipeline from Russia to Germany has been in the news lately (see “U.S. urges Ukraine to stay quiet on Russian pipeline” (Politico): “The Biden administration is askin… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Garmin autopilot protects Bell 505 helicopter pilots and passengers

Readers of this blog will have noticed that I’ve always got my panties in a twist regarding how dumb human-scale helicopters are compared to $500 DJI drones. A bit of untwisting from Garmin: … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

GE: Proud to be years late

EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”) starts today. Given how slowly everything in aviation moves, Oshkosh is more of a social gathering than a trade show, but manufacturers do like to announce th… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

#Science says masks are the best thing that ever happened to children

Parking a warm saliva-soaked mask in front of a child’s mouth all day isn’t the most obvious way to protect children from exposure to bacteria and viruses. And “Experimental Asses… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Is the best way to #StopAsianHate to stop Asians from succeeding?

“Boston Overhauls Admissions to Exclusive Exam Schools” (New York Times, July 15): After five and a half hours of emotional discussion on Wednesday night, the Boston School Committee vo… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The N95 masks that I ordered on May 15, 2020

Who says that the supply chain is broken? The N95 masks that I ordered 14 months ago are being shipped out… (This is from Aircraft Spruce.) Stockpile these as prep for the next panic along wi… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

If masks are optional, why are there under-nose masks?

I was in the Tysons Corner, Virginia shopping mall last week. Masks are no longer required in Virginia. Governor Blackface (he’s sorry about his past racism, but not sorry enough to resign an… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Great Society history lesson III

Continuing our look at Great Society: A New History, a book that chronicles the biggest shift since the 1930s in Americans’ relationship to government. The idea of reparations is not a new on… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Great Society history lesson II

Now that at least 80 million Americans are on what used to be called “welfare” (see “Pandemic Swells Medicaid Enrollment to 80 Million People, a ‘High-Water Mark’”), perhaps… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Victimhood Certification Industry

Here’s a form recently received as part of getting set up to be paid by a private corporation. Some highlights… We embrace the minority, women, small business and LGBT businesses we par… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

What will rural American taxpayers get in return for spending on infrastructure?

In my view, the biggest financial implication of the Biden/Harris victory is the transfer of funds from rural Americans to urban Americans. Big Government spends nearly all of its money in cities s… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

The one actual Black guy talks to the white diversity say-gooders

A friend is the One Black Guy at a Maskachusetts tech company. The white say-gooders in management describe their heartfelt yearning for more diversity at the company. Business is great now that so… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Has anyone tried a book scanning service for Kondoization or pre-move preparation?

We have a lot of books that aren’t quite important enough to pack and move from Maskachusetts to the Florida Free State, but that don’t seem ready for the dumpster. For example, some ra… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Let’s meet at Oshkosh!

I hope that everyone is going to EAA AirVenture (“Oshkosh”), a safe space for pilots of light aircraft where nobody will say “That is a stupid hobby.” I’m giving two t… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Osborne 1 computer potentially up for grabs

We’re trying to clear out the house for our escape to the Florida Free State. One item that must go is an Osborne 1, a portable computer from 1981. I wish that I could say that it had been mi… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Government gives Americans 3,600 new reasons to fight over custody starting today

Today is the first day when a “parent” can get a $3,600 per child fully refundable tax credit from the U.S. government. This is a fully refundable credit, i.e., it turns into $300 per m… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Jet traffic jam on the way to hear Bill Gates talk about climate change

“FAA Throttles Bizjet Traffic To Idaho Billionaires’ Conference” (AVweb): There were so many business jets headed to the 38th annual Allen and Company conference in Sun Valley that the … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Effect on children’s wealth when parents move to Florida

Happy Bastille Day! Let’s look at the likelihood of kids being able to afford that trip to Paris… Taxes weren’t a factor in our decision to relocate to Florida, but it is interest… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Fireworks anxiety supplants Coronapanic for one weekend here in Maskachusetts

We were out on the highway over the July 4th weekend for a quite-possibly-illegal visit to New Hampshire (“Live Free or Die” on the license plates, but the state was about average in te… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Did lockdowns turn richer Americans into dragons hoarding gold?

Americans who were at least moderately rich, e.g., incomes above $100,000 per year, prospered financially through a year of lockdown. They got paid the same or more. They didn’t have to spend… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Could discrepancy between vaccine effectiveness in the U.K. versus the U.S. be caused by incompetence with medical records?

George’s comment on Coronavirus kills the vaccinated in the UK, but not in the U.S., which quotes Mx. Fauci saying “If you look at the number of deaths, about 99.2 percent of them are u… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

“The virus is evolving quickly and efficiently” but we can beat it with vaccines

“We’ve Come So Far With Vaccines, America. Now Keep Going.” (New York Times, July 3): Seven months after the first shots were authorized for emergency use, 66 percent of adults — more t… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Medical School 2020, Year 3, Week 24 (Internal Medicine, Week 6)

Last week before exams and our first break for the year. Sleek Sylvester, Ditzy Diane, and I are worn out, our motivation waning. We have a new team of residents for the last three days and none of… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

A masked family walks into a crowded unmasked restaurant

I had breakfast at Red’s Kitchen and Tavern in Peabody, Massachusetts today. Occupancy was at least 80 percent. None of the customers were masked (partly due to the fact that they were eating… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Medical School 2020, Year 3, Week 23

Week 5 of internal medicine clerkship. During Monday morning rounds, Formal Frank asks, “Bianca, why do you keep giving Diane the vegetables? Our goal is for medical students to get practice … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Coronavirus kills the vaccinated in the UK, but not in the U.S.

U.S., July 5: Anthony Fauci on Sunday said more than 99 percent of the people who died from COVID-19 in June were not vaccinated, calling the loss of life “avoidable and preventable.”“If you look a… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Medical School 2020, Year 3, Week 22

Week 4 of Internal Medicine clerkship, same team. Monday is call day. Our team is responsible for divvying up admissions to the hospitalist service. Our team has a low census (only about 6) after a… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Lockdown advocates now object to restrictions on open-water swimming

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker has decided to protect residents against the dangers of open-water swimming. “Swimmers Frustrated By New Ban On ‘Open Water Swimming’ At Walde… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Medical School 2020, Year 3, Week 21

Monday morning, Terrific Tiffany and I admit a 59-year-old HIV-positive patient (my first) with coronary artery disease for a pre-syncopal (nearly fainting) episode and chest pain. His Hepatitis C … | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Did American love of process doom Champlain Towers South?

Owners at Champlain Towers South were told in 2018 that their building needed structural repairs, but the repairs weren’t scheduled to begin until later this year, i.e., a three-year interval… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

How rich would we be if God had told us about coronapanic in November 2019?

Suppose that you got a letter from God in November 2019 saying that coronapanic would start in March 2020, with unprecedented shutdowns of schools, factories, retail, restaurants, etc. God would ha… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

I love AOC even more now

Some folks have harsh words for AOC, plainly America’s greatest living political philosopher. Even if you don’t agree with her economic and social plans for the United States, you will,… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Reinterpreting MLK’s ideas of freedom for the Age of COVID

Today we celebrate our traitorous rebellion from the legitimate rule of Great Britain, carried out in the name of “freedom.” The rebellion enabled us to continue chattel slavery and ste… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

COVID-19 policy is more like the Vietnam War or more like the Penicillin miracle drug euphoric stage?

Averros’s comment on The English decide to stay in their foxholes (COVID surge despite vaccination): The main lesson of this quasi-pandemic is that public experts are, by and large, idiots an… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Helicopter snaphots

We’re flying with the doors off the Robinson R44 in order to avoid being baked to death in the recent weather (over 90 degrees in God’s chosen system of units). That enables your humble… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Did we ever figure out whether Vitamin D and Hydroxychloroquine were helpful against COVID-19?

One of the great things about medicine is that convincing conclusions are seldom reached. COVID-19, on the other hand, has been of such tremendous interest to humans worldwide that it doesn’t… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

When the stability of a nation is in danger, the only solution is, unfortunately, to imprison the leaders of the opposition.

The NYT today (Democrats in New York are prosecuting the Trump Organization): A 2007 post on this blog, “Idi Amin’s advice to Richard Nixon”: My friend here in California has Talk of th… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

Order your aviation stuff now (13 percent price increase from Lycoming)

“LYCOMING ANNOUNCES MAJOR MID-YEAR PRICE HIKE” (Rotorcorp, a distributor): On Friday, June 24th 2021 aircraft engine Manufacturer Lycoming announced a significant mid-year price hike to… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

No Gulfstream parking

Department of First World Problems, email from today: What to do when you get there? Charter Yacht Market Preps for Record Season – … Some yachts that normally would be heading across the Atl… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

PODS versus PACK-RAT for moving and storage

For the move from Massachusetts to Florida we decided that it would make the most sense to use at least two containers and a dumpster. Container A for the apartment we’re moving into. Contain… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago

New York Times top story on the day that Bill Cosby is freed

I received a text message from a friend about Bill Cosby’s conviction being overturned. I went to my go-to news source. The top story: There was nothing about Bill Cosby until one scrolled do… | Continue reading


@philip.greenspun.com | 3 years ago