You can never be too cautious with hype!

So yesterday I presented myself, dapperly dressed and well-groomed, at the reception desk of an aerospace company near L.A. for a scheduled meeting.  The kind lady behind the large, pink glasses asked if I had an appointment: Yes.  Had I ever been signed in:  No.  So I was instructed to follow the prompts for signing in on an IPad-like device; I was requested to smile at the center of the screen for a photo (why did I feel like I was at the DMV getting my license photo), then I was presented with a company visitor badge suspended on a bright red lanyard (the symbolism was “caution... stranger danger!”) with my photo attached.  I was then directed to sit in a fake leather chair to wait for the person I was scheduled to meet.  

A minute or so later, the pink-glassed lady (she looked like she lived in Venice Beach) summonsed me back to the desk:  “Here, I have something you need to fill out,” she said as she pushed a piece of paper in my direction with a blank stare.  

It was odd… it seemed like it was a 9x6 inch piece of paper, not sure why it wasn’t a standard 5x7 or 8x10.  Maybe they were pinching pennies to make up losses on large CEO compensation.   I looked at the printing:  I had to squint because the printing seemed to be faded on the page – it wasn’t a crisp black, more a faded gray (it didn’t seem fitting for such a company).

Anyway, here are the questions I remember: 

1    .  When was the last time you visited China?   I had to think about that…. 1983?   (Did that really matter or were they looking for Asian spies?)

2    .  Have you visited China in the last fourteen days?  (Ah, now I know where this was headed!)

3    .  Have you received any packages from China in the last sixty days?  (Amazon Prime, anyone?)

4    .  Do you live with anyone who has visited China in the last sixty days?  mmmmm….

5    .  Do you anticipate visiting China in the next sixty day? (That seems like none of your business.)

6    .  Have you associated or worked with anyone who has visited China in the last sixty days?  

7    .  Do you have any medical issues, including a fever, cough or other symptoms which you have noticed in the last month?  (Wow… sounds like HIPA violation to reveal medical information.)

I think there were a couple other highly probing questions but due to my age I can’t remember them. 

Look, here’s the thing:  Right now, there are 15 cases of the coronavirus in the United States… and most of them we have airlifted here to California from China.  (Can’t make it up.) 

The hype surrounding this is crazy to watch:  Here in San Diego, two or three are under quarantine at a local hospital.  One was released accidentally; then the person was put back in quarantine… just in case.  (Hope he or she isn’t a “supper spreader.”)   An Asian kid was beat up in San Fran because he was suspected of being Chinese and because of his ethnicity, surely a carrier.  And the China Lunar New Year parade has been cancelled out of caution.

Did you see, a bunch of detainees were released the other day near Riverside, CA after fourteen days in quarantine and they threw their face masks into the air like a graduation ceremony?  Then they were told, “Maybe the incubation period is 24 days, not 14 days.”  And an epidemiologist just said airport screenings “aren’t that valuable.”

So the craziness continues – even at a local business!  Is every business going to do health screening just to allow the public to enter?  Imagine your local grocery store screening everyone coming in to buy chickens.  Still find it crazy an aerospace needed to do health screening to enter their premises.  (Next, they will be asking who I like… Bernie, Amy, Andrew, Tom, Mayor Pete or Joe?)

 
One question they didn’t ask me on the questionnaire:  “Do you eat Chinese food?”  Thank goodness they didn’t ask:  I had just finished eating lunch at Panda Express

NFL Half-Time

Dude… what’s all the hub-bub about?

So it was half-time of the super duper game and, trust me, if Mickey isn’t fed and walked by 5, there is no tomorrow! So we get it done then I discover that the Chiefs are trying to decide if they want to make a game out of it in the 3rd quarter.

Next thing I know Twitter (the only place where there is an incoherent discussion about “mansplaining” by the “Me Too” movement) is blowing up about some pole dancing and crotch rubbing during the half. A baseball game, you mean, or Football? (Or a Gentleman’s Club!)

You mean I’m out walking a 10 year-old dog that has cost me thousands of dollars in vet bills to keep him going so he can eat by 5 and poop by 5:30 and then I miss the modern Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus act by Latinas? In South Beach, Miami? On TV in high-def: Say it ain’t so, Joe.

I can’t believe I missed it! In living color on your 55 inch Samsung. They said she slides right through your screen (those knees must hurt) into your face with barely a covering over those lady bits. (So much for mansplaining,) And the Arabic Ululation, the tongue almost touching the pixels of the TV screen. And the pole dancing gig… singing at the same time, to boot!

I digress: I work out a couple times a week at the gym and with all the pumping, lifting, splitting and spitting, I’ve yet to hear anyone singing away, loving life during the workout. (Oh, they’re not Latinas, sorry.)

You know, you almost have to walk with your head down now days; you can’t glance at a pretty lady (definitely not whistle approval… you gutter boy!), you can’t admire her beauty, or say how great she looks, even if it is truly a compliment. But we are cheering for a wild and crazy Gentleman’s Club show at half-time, lapping it up like a lap dance!

So off it is to You Tube to see what I missed during the half-time show. Sometimes I hate walking the dog.

The Crash

Some thoughts on the Kobe Bryant helicopter crash:  sad, sickening, and I feel so sorry for the victims.  To be sure, other than intensely reading, watching and listening to all the available information about the flight, I don’t officially know any more than you.   However, I want to provide a perspective from the vantage point of having over 3000 hours piloting a helicopter. 

 

Today, on the news I heard how “unsafe” travel by helicopter is.  Seriously?  I don’t have the numbers at my fingertips but can you image the number of helicopter flight hours which were flown by all services during the Vietnam War.  How about the Iraq war; maybe the “forever war” in Afghanistan?  Were there crashes?  Sure.  Shoot downs?  Yep.  Inflight emergencies due to weather, pilot error or mechanical issues?  Without a doubt.  But honestly, flight in a helicopter, yes with some risks, is safe.

So what happened Sunday?  Let’s focus only on the pilot.  So here’s the thing:  have you ever heard of “Let’sgoitis?”  It is a disease which affects many a pilot on the occasion where there is a confluence of a number of pressuring factors:  celebs,  you've got to get there, they want you to go, you are awesome, and you can do it! 

How about an anecdote which might explain:  I was assigned to fly the governor of Indiana to Purdue University for a commencement ceremony back in the day, then fly him to another commencement ceremony the same day, and then drop him off at his residence in Northern Indiana (circa 1981).  All was going well, people graduated at Purdue U then off to the next ceremony!  All's good!

As we headed north toward South Bend, IN, I noticed that a weather system seemed to be “moving in.”  I did not have any navigation instruments in the Bell JetRanger, other than an ADF and VOR; no radar, no ILS, nothing sophisticated like present day helicopters have:  I was flying Visual Flight Rules (VFR).  There was no radar flight following:  nothing!  (Just like the way I flew in Vietnam!)   

As I continued north, I was under pressure to get to the destination on time, after all, I had the Governor on board and I didn’t want to be the cause of any tardiness; however, we were late taking off because of handshaking and politicking!

As I continued the flight, the clouds darkened, the wind picked up which bounced us around and the “pucker factor” increased  (military slang phrase which refers to the tightening of the buttocks caused by extreme fear!).  I knew that a severe thunderstorm, which often rakes across the plains in Indiana during May, was between me and my destination.  Soon big drops of rain began splattering my windscreen as the clouds lowered closer to the ground in front of me…

Today I have been thinking lot about the pilot flying Kobe Bryant and his entourage on Sunday.  Kobe – famous and larger than life -- and crew needed to get to their destination.  The helicopter was a sophisticated Sikorsky S76B, twin-engine, luxurious for the passengers, and rated for instrument flying.  The pressure to perform the flight was probably enormous in the pilot’s mind.  He was qualified, with the appropriate training to fly his helicopter.  I’m sure he had “letsgoitis!”  We can do it!  “We are in a helicopter; we don’t need a runway, we can land anywhere if we run into weather.”

Fog:  a type of low-lying cloud:  A haiku:  “over the hill, a river of fog, flooding the valley.”  How appropriate.  Fog is unforgiving, especially when you're flying low and not flying with instruments.  

But here’s the thing:  the pilot doesn’t want to die.  He doesn’t want to hurt his passengers.  He doesn’t want to “ding” the helicopter.  He takes a calculated chance, maybe like the one before when he might have pulled through in a similar circumstance.  His “pucker factor” is off the charts!  He drives on hoping for a good outcome.  He calls for help!  “You are too low, we can’t see you out there,” says Air Traffic Control.  And then…

So as the rain came on heavy, visibility deteriorating rapidly, with the Governor and his wife and his security Trooper on board, I decided that in that selfish moment to save myself!   I landed that Bell JetRanger in a corn field which had just been planted without asking for permission.  I was the Captain of my ship.   

We sat there, the rain pounding on the flimsy surface of the helicopter making the noise inside, deafening.  After about twenty minutes, the rain slowed, the clouds rolled on and the sun peaked through a parting cloud.  A good sign.  I lifted off and headed to South Bend. 

We were definitely late!  We also lived for another day.  All I received was a “thanks.”  I didn’t need a thanks; I did it to save myself!  I only wished Kobe's pilot had done the same thing. 

Saguaros

I remember those old Western movies showing the cowboys and Indians as they rode through a valley, up over a mountain, playing hide-and-seek among the majestic Saguaro cactus in the deserts of the Wild West.  Those scenes were imprinted in my mind knowing that the big cactus were part of the great west and important to that movie genre.

Ah, but low-and-behold, the Saguaro Cactus is only unique to the great Sonora Desert, with its six biotic climate areas, ranging from Tucson, AZ in the north to down into Mexico; it is Mexico’s hottest desert!  The cactus has been depicted on many of a movie set in locations where they can’t grow.  But seeing that huge cactus in cowboy movies helped the directors give the viewer an instant connection to the “Westerns.”

The Sonoran Desert is home to the unique Saguaro Cactus, tall with stubby and branching arms and covered with prickly needles, or spines.  The climate in the desert is perfect for its life cycle, and for the health and preservation of the species and the Saguaro is only native to and exclusively found in the Sonora Desert.

The Saguaro is the largest cactus in the United States, it grows very slowly but it can ultimately grow to sixty feet tall!  The plant can live to as much as 200 years old and the plant receives most of its moisture during the rainy season.   As the cactus absorbs rainwater, it visibly expands, using the stored water as needed. 

One unique aspect of the saguaro is the development of graceful arms which protrude out and upward.  If a saguaro doesn’t have side arms it is called a “spear.”   The arms are developed to increase the plant’s reproductive capacity as they lead to more flowers and fruit per plant.

The Saguaro National Park (US National Park) is located just outside of Tucson, AZ and it offers visitors a chance to get up and close to these marvelous and unusual plants.  The park has an eight-mile winding road through the desert where these spectacular cactus live; pull over and get out and view the cactus up close and personal (be careful).  Look around and take in the other desert plants like the Fishhook Barrel Cactus, the Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus, the Jumping Cholla, and the Pricklypear Cactus.   

Although the cactus isn’t on the endangered species list, it is never-the-less protected by law, so leave it alone. 

Photo of John Wayne courtesy of WWW.

All other photos shown, photographed by ©2019 James David Phenicie;  www.jamesdavidphotos.com

Carlsbad, CA 

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