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What is the significance of your Avatar?

I choose TR as my avatar because I believe him to be one of the greatest presidents in our nation's history.

What he said over 110 years ago is just as relevant today, if not more so:

"We can just as little afford to follow the doctrinaires of an extreme individualism as the doctrinaires of an extreme socialism. Individual initiative, so far from being discouraged, should be stimulated; and yet we should remember that, as society develops and grows more complex, we continually find that things which once it was desirable to leave to individual initiative can, under changed conditions, be performed with better results by common effort. It is quite impossible, and equally undesirable, to draw in theory a hard-and-fast line which shall always divide the two sets of cases.

This every one who is not cursed with the pride of the closest philosopher will see, if he will only take the trouble to think about some of our closet phenomena. For instance, when people live on isolated farms or in little hamlets, each house can be left to attend to its own drainage and water-supply; but the mere multiplication of families in a given area produces new problems which, because they differ in size, are found to differ not only in degree, but in kind from the old; and the questions of drainage and water-supply have to be considered from the common standpoint. It is not a matter for abstract dogmatizing to decide when this point is reached; it is a matter to be tested by practical experiment.

Much of the discussion about socialism and individualism is entirely pointless, because of the failure to agree on terminology. It is not good to be a slave of names. I am a strong individualist by personal habit, inheritance, and conviction; but it is a mere matter of common sense to recognize that the State, the community, the citizens acting together, can do a number of things better than if they were left to individual action.

The individualism which finds its expression in the abuse of physical force is checked very early in the growth of civilization, and we of today should in our turn strive to shackle or destroy that individualism which triumphs by greed and cunning, which exploits the weak by craft instead of ruling them by brutality. We ought to go with any man in the effort to bring about justice and the equality of opportunity, to turn the tool-user more and more into the tool-owner, to shift burdens so that they can be more equitably borne.

The deadening effect on any race of the adoption of a logical and extreme socialistic system could not be overstated; it would spell sheer destruction; it would produce grosser wrong and outrage, fouler immortality, than any existing system. But this does not mean that we may not with great advantage adopt certain of the principles professed by some given set of men who happen to call themselves Socialists; to be afraid to do so would be to make a mark of weakness on our part."

- From his speech titled “Citizenship in a Republic” given at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910.​
 
I was looking at the Transportation Security Administration's website to see if DE blades were allowed as carry on; SURPISE! they are not. I found their web page to be both informative and humorous, as examplified by one of the photos on the page which I adopted as my avatar. A few days ago, I came across another poster here who uses the same avatar, so it must be good!

 
The fly of the year 2002
Semy realistic imitation of this fly
 

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The african Goshawk. My favourite species of african hawk. Quite rare in Burundi, but can be still found usually in the north of the country. I had seen one in real life as a boy. It is a symbol of freedom and graceful force. Many, many years ago, my nickname was "igi-siga", meaning "Hawk", in the local language. So there you have it.
 
I was privileged to pilot the Boeing E-3 in the Air Force. Although the aircraft has the official nickname Sentry, it is pretty much never used by anyone. Most people just call it the AWACS. This photo was taken by a boom operator during an air refueling rendezvous. He sent it to a friend who sent it to me.
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jar_

Too Fugly For Free.
I'm hiding. I'm hiding
where nobody know
cause all they can see is my nose and my toes.

Abbey Road was a ranch cat. See was rough and scraggly and wet and smelly and walked up to me and stretched out on the toe of my boot.

So she came home with me.

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But over the next few weeks she grew into a regal beauty, long haired, fearless, inquisitive, playful and devoted. She loved boxes and playing hide and peak. I built a runway for her with boxes taped together with lots of entrances and peak out holes and a bridge made of a six foot long 6" square box that ran from one the top of one bookcase to another.

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Checking out a ceiling light fixture.

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At the front door. She loved to sit and watch the squirrels.

Abbey Road only lived for about a year and died of liver failure but that year was bright and beautiful and exciting and fantastic and joyous and memorable.
 
I had another avatar but someone else decided to use it and I changed to this. I like minions though so its okay...... For now.
 
I was privileged to pilot the Boeing E-3 in the Air Force. Although the aircraft has the official nickname Sentry, it is pretty much never used by anyone. Most people just call it the AWACS. This photo was taken by a boom operator during an air refueling rendezvous. He sent it to a friend who sent it to me.View attachment 1250944View attachment 1250945

Now that's an avatar! Amazing!!!

Is it you "on the left"?

Any other interesting planes you had the opportunity to pilot?
 
Brancaleone da Norcia, the quixotic knight portrayed by the Great Vittorio Gassman, in Mario Monicelli's film, L'Armata Brancaleone.

A reminder to myself to keep things in perspective.
 
Now that's an avatar! Amazing!!!

Is it you "on the left"?

Any other interesting planes you had the opportunity to pilot?
Actually, I am in the right seat. I was supposedly instructing the pilot in the left seat in preparation for her upgrade to aircraft commander. I like to say that I couldn’t teach her anything, she was a superb pilot without my advice (she’s retired and flies for FedEx now).

I was privileged to fly the H-1 and H-3 helicopters as well as the C-141, C-12 and E-3. Post-military, I flew the SAAB 340, ATR-72 and EMB-145.
 
Actually, I am in the right seat. I was supposedly instructing the pilot in the left seat in preparation for her upgrade to aircraft commander. I like to say that I couldn’t teach her anything, she was a superb pilot without my advice (she’s retired and flies for FedEx now).

I was privileged to fly the H-1 and H-3 helicopters as well as the C-141, C-12 and E-3. Post-military, I flew the SAAB 340, ATR-72 and EMB-145.

From your comment, I'd say you're far from the average instructor.

The subject is close to home: my Dad is a pilot. He also tries to convince people he's retired - but you all know that's not possible!

C-141 and the Hawkeye. Wow! An honorable mention to the the EMB-145, since I'm form Brazil!

I know nothing about helicopters but, from a layman's perspective, it doesn't get any more iconic than the H-1 and H-3!
 

Messygoon

Abandoned By Gypsies.
You probably know this story, but maybe others don't. It's from an article in Vanity Fair, written by William Frye in April, 2003, about his memories of Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Ronald Colman. Very interesting article, with interesting analogies to this Wet Shaving World of ours. Link to the full article: Gentlemen's Agreement | Vanity Fair | April 2003 - https://archive.vanityfair.com/article/2003/4/gentlemens-agreement

And the story about Jimmy Stewart:

When it came to clothes, Jimmy was the opposite of Cary and Ronnie. Clothes meant nothing to him. He had his shirts made, but only because of his extra-long arms and extra-thin neck. Other than that, a jacket was a jacket to him, and a suit was a suit. I went to London with him when he was invited to make a presentation for Princess Anne at a charity event. We stayed at the Connaught Hotel, and as we were dressing that night—it was black-tie—I went into Jimmy’s room for some reason, and he looked at me and said, “Is it black-tie tonight? Nobody told me, and I didn’t bring one.” It was much too late to go to a rental shop. He said, “That’s all right— I’ve got a blue suit and a white shirt.” “Do you have a bow tie?,” I asked. “No, but I’ll go down and borrow one from the waiter.”​
He went downstairs, got a bow tie from one of the waiters, came back up and put it on, and looked absolutely wonderful. He was completely at ease on the stage that night, and I don’t think one person noticed or cared—certainly he didn’t—that he wasn’t in formal attire.​
If you are a fan of Hollywood’s Golden Age, @Cesare posted a Vanity Fair link of one man’s friendship with Cary Grant, Ronald Coleman and Jimmy Stewart. It’s a wonderful 10-minute glimpse into the kindness of 3 extraordinary gentlemen. Too good not to surface one more time.
 
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