We need more

[Boac]

A golden oldie - nice to see some old 'mates' again.

[Pontius Navigator]

That first chap, Bob Cole , I remember him standing in the bar at Akrotiri, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, a growing puddle of water around him, talking 19 to the dozen and sinking at least one pint of beer, before being whisked off to hospital after his ejection.

[Boac]

1971? Bob went on to Pilatus and then the CAA.

You noticed the editorial blooper on the film around 1:45. Mark Coale? Sack the producer.

[Pontius Navigator]

1971? Bob went on to Pilatus and then the CAA.

You noticed the editorial blooper on the film around 1:45. Mark Coale? Sack the producer.

I guess his dunking in Cyprus was around 1972.

[Boac]

10/5/71 - I had just joined 23(F).

[Pontius Navigator]

OK, I had been there 6 months. I know they lost one a month for some time. Kept the SAR helo employed

[Undried Plum]

Thank Gawd, it was all a hoax.

[bob2s]

While watching a TV program on the Hubble Telescope a mention was made of the next telescope to be launched on the 18th Dec.The James Webb telescope is said to be 100 times more powerful than Hubble. Being interested I Giggled it and came upon this NASA website which makes for a great way to while away the hours if you click on topics.So enjoy.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/20 ... ge-gallery

[Woody]

I’m getting slightly addicted to all the diesel cold start videos on u tube

[Undried Plum]

Do they have a GPU or shore power? If not, it must be one hell of a battery to turn the engine over for so long.

[PHXPhlyer]

A Real Feelgood Story

He ordered a letterman jacket in high school but couldn't afford to pick it up. His brother just found it at a thrift shop 28 years later

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/17/us/lette ... index.html

(CNN)Jed Mottley played varsity football 28 years ago at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Arizona, when nothing screamed ultimate pride in your sport and school like a letterman jacket -- but Mottley didn't have one.

"I went down to the store that year and picked everything out," Mottley told CNN. "You had to kind of design the jacket yourself ... but I never saw the final product."
When it came time to pick it up, Mottley's mother told him they didn't have the money to buy it.
"She was one of the greatest mothers you could ever ask for," Mottley said, "and she really did the best that she could. I mean, there were Christmases where there was IOUs under the Christmas tree, and if you've (never) had an IOU during Christmas ... you don't know what that feels like. We definitely had it rough, and she just always made it OK, but she was so loving."

But Mottley's older brother Josh happened to be in the right place at the right time on November 3. He found Jed's letterman jacket hanging on the rack of a thrift shop in Pinetop, almost 180 miles away from his high school, for $25 -- a stark difference from its original $300 price tag, Mottley estimated.
'The price was right, 28 years later'
"My mom was one of the most religious people I knew and she always said, 'I'm going to give you guys a sign from the other side,'" Jed said. "She passed away in 2012 but we never got that sign."

Josh moved to Pinetop a few years ago after touring the country as a musician. He was walking around Veterans Village Thrift Store in the area when he spotted the bright red jacket, he told CNN affiliate KNXV.
The jacket had the name "Jed" stitched under the left pocket, "94" stitched under the right pocket, and a football, the letters "WR" and the number 1 stitched on the right arm. "Chaparral" was stitched inside a big letter "C" on the top left part of the jacket.
"We were just like, in this moment on the phone," Jed said. "The price was right, 28 years later."

Jed, also a musician, lives in Los Angeles and flew to Arizona just so Josh could hand over the extraordinary find in person, he said, making this the first time the brothers had seen one another in years.
Based on the condition of the jacket, Jed said, he doesn't think anyone ever wore it. The "inspected by" tag was still in its pocket.
"It feels like my mom's been with me this entire week," he said. "It's just given me this natural high that I hope never goes away."

After a two-week visit to Arizona, Jed returned home to Los Angeles on Wednesday and said he's been wearing the jacket every chance he gets, including on stage at some of his shows with his band, Feed The Kitty.
"As a musician, I just love making people happy and it seems in this past week or two it's just been nothing but happiness," Jed said. "People are crying tears of joy. ... They're just so happy for me. It's made me shed some tears."
Since the discovery, some of Jed's former football teammates have reached out asking why he didn't tell them his mother couldn't afford to buy the jacket.
"I was embarrassed," he said. "I felt like we grew up with a lot of money around Scottsdale and I came from a broken family. ... It was nice because I got to borrow their clothes, ride in their nice cars and hang out at their houses, but you know, (at home) it was just a little bit different."
From one shop to another
The jackets were donated by a man from Mesa, 174 miles from Pinetop -- less than 20 miles from Chaparral High School, Maggie Heath with Veterans Village told CNN.
"His wife passed and because of Covid he could not keep his shop opened," she said. "He drove a trailer of jackets and patches to donate to our Veterans Village Thrift Store. We have sold hundreds before we realized the jackets with names are numbers were not just samples."
When Josh came in and saw Jed's name and number on the jacket, Heath said, he "flipped out."

"It is wonderful to learn that one of our grads is now in possession of the letterman jacket that was intended for him so many years ago," Nancy Norman with the Scottsdale Unified School District told CNN. "Such items are of great sentimental value, and we hope that his having the jacket now brings back happy memories of his days as a Chaparral Firebird."
Norman said it's unclear what happened to the jacket after Jed was unable to pick it up.
As for the remaining jackets, Heath said, the shop is offering them to others who may be in search of a long-lost jacket. Since the discovery, Heath said, she's been inundated with calls and emails and plans to spend a whole day sorting jackets and patches.

PP

[Karearea]

Life in Rural Britain during World War II (ca.1943)

The film was made in Boston, Lincolnshire.
The original B&W film has been motion-stabilized, restored, enhanced and colorized by means of modern Artificial Intelligence video software.
Runs about 15mins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyVwtuqP4LU

[Boac]

Fascinating. Is that available as a Box set?

The AI is extremely clever, although it does need a bit of tweaking.

[1DC]

Enjoyed the film, I wish the actors had been taught Lincolnshire accents.The fields around Boston now are mainly worked with foreign labour, prior to Brexit Boston had the highest proportion of Eastern European labour living in the town. Not sure what the figures are now.

[Karearea]

Nasa: Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive

[bob2s]

Some fascinating photos there, one that piqued my interest was the Jet lightning, see Sept. 29.

[TheGreenGoblin]

[om15]

Woody, there is nothing more tense for an engineer than watching an engine almost start.

Greta would love this one

[TheGreenGoblin]

Everest

Jon Krakauer's book 'Into Thin Air' aside, that PBS documentary is the best exegesis of the events on those two awful days in 1996. It covers the hitherto untold story of https://www.mountainzone.com/climbing/misc/gau/.

Makalu Gau.

Beck Weathers, who survived the disastrous climb but lost an arm, fingers, and nose as a result, was saved thanks to an extremely brave helicopter pilot and bona fide hero named Madan Khatri Chhetri. Earlier, he had rescued another climber named Makalu Gau. Helicopter trips to the top of Everest are actually extremely dangerous due to a lack of oxygen at such a high altitude.

Weathers may not have survived perfectly intact, but he’s definitely still alive and practicing medicine, all thanks to one extremely courageous Nepalese helicopter pilot.

And ignores the ignominy of this man... Ian Woodall.

Beck Weathers' story is extraordinary and inspiring.

[Undried Plum]

#357


An extraordinary piece.