Posts tagged control
“Flight” Features a “Junior Birdman”
Nov 10th
“Junior Birdman”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Flight stars Denzel Washington as a commercial airline pilot with more problems than just flying and landing the airliner on time.
Right away at the beginning of the movie we know that Captain Whip Whitaker is not who he pretends to be. But, Man, does Denzel Washington look mighty fine in his captain’s uniform as he walks through the airport to take command of his airplane.
The flight is from Orlando, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, and right after he sits down in the pilot’s chair in the cockpit, Whip starts acting a bit unusual and different from how we would want our pilot to act.
He takes a couple of hits of oxygen before taking off and asks the copilot if he would like a hit.
Then when they encounter some turbulence, Whip personally goes back into the cabin to reassure the passengers, and he tells them that there won’t be any service of beverages for safety reasons, but as he is telling the passengers and crew this, he is fixing himself a glass of orange juice and vodka out of sight from everyone.
Back in his pilot’s seat, Whip suddenly experiences what appears to be a mechanical failure, and the airliner goes into an uncontrollable nose dive in what is one of the most harrowing scenes about an airplane you will ever see.
Miraculously, Whip manages to roll the airliner upside down in order to get control back, and he then glides the airplane to a soft landing in an open field, and only six people of the 102 aboard die.
Captain Whitaker is called a hero, but a required investigation into the accident turns up some evidence that could damage his reputation and career and even send him to prison.
The rest of the movie is about that investigation, and John Goodman and Don Cheadle show up in important roles in the story.
Also, Whip gets involved with a woman who distracts him from his problem at hand: staying sober and getting through the investigation with his reputation and career intact.
This is a very serious movie, but I couldn’t help being reminded of the lyrics to an old song called “Junior Birdman” and flying “upside down!”
Flight is an excellent film about difficult subjects, and we should hope we never experience any of them firsthand.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Agent Orange resistant soybeans? No kidding.
Sep 17th
The first generation of biotech crops has failed. And failed badly. Now the biotech industry is stepping up the chemical arms race in an effort to make up for the failure of Monsanto’s Roundup. Excessive use of Roundup by GMO farmers has led million of acres of U.S. farmland filled with Roundup resistant superweeds.
To combat this, Dow Chemical is petitioning the USDA to approve a new GMO Agent Orange Soy to tolerate 2,4-D, a main chemical component of the Vietnam era defoliant linked to birth defects, cancer, and hormone disruption. On top of these horrific health problems, 2,4-D is widely known among farmers to be difficult to control during application, leading to drift onto neighboring farms, causing major crop damage and contaminating waterways.
These facts have greatly alarmed scientists and farmers alike, leading a former top Reagan USDA official to declare 2,4-D one of “the most dangerous chemicals out there.”
Anastasia Mosquito Control District Monitors and Addresses Increase in Mosquito Population
Aug 26th
While there are currently no reported human cases of the West Nile Virus (WNV) in St. Johns County, Jacksonville has reported 11, Escambia County has reported 2, Leon County has reported 1, and South Georgia has reported 12 including 2 deaths. The District has increased mosquito population surveillance and trap monitoring, WNV testing, overnight ground spraying, and thermal fogging. Aerial spraying has not been conducted recently due to unfavorable conditions related to the on-going rain; however, the district is currently monitoring the status of Tropical Storm Isaac and will reevaluate the conditions once the threat of additional precipitation subsides. The increase in the mosquito population is attributed to the abundance of recent rain and the resulting bodies of standing water in the area that serve as breeding grounds. The District recommends that the community take additional precautionary measures against mosquito contact during this time to avoid infection. Preventative actions include applying an EPA-registered repellant containing DEET, wearing protective clothing, avoiding outdoor activities between dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active, and removing standing water from residential properties and outdoor landscaping features.
Most often spread by the bite of a mosquito, the WNV is a pathogen which can cause a serious illness potentially resulting in death. Approximately 1 in 150 people infected with the virus will develop severe illness. Symptoms can include a high fever, a headache, neck stiffness, and disorientation. For more information about WNV, please visit the Florida Department of Health website at www.doh.state.fl.us/Environment/medicine/arboviral/index.html or call the St. Johns County Health Department at 904.825.5055. For more information about mosquito control, please visit www.amcdsjc.org or contact the District at 904.471.3107.
Source: St. Johns County Health Department