Folks,

LOL! Here's an incontrovertible fact. We prove yet again that nothing is too technical or esoteric for our little thread. Clearly the laymen of western Canada are far better educated and informed than any I have previously met down here.

As far as I know there are but three places around the globe that might be able to duplicate that experiment. Even so, I believe those fellows paying the gigantic electric bill so they can play with the "Super Collider" are able to measure more precisely than the boys in Chicago or the other places. Considering the cost of that huge thing I would hope it can find evidence of dark matter in Dux's brain or at least something as valuable.

As I have written here more than a few times old Jacob Bronowski got it right in his book "The Ascent of Man" which you may know is a history of science from the cave man to present day. In the chapter "Knowledge or Certainty" he observed that "There is no absolute knowledge".

He goes on to indicate that scientific facts are only as reliable as the technology of the day is to measure, prove or disprove them. Or words to that affect for I write this from memory. His "The Assent of Man" is good reading BTW if you run across it in paperback. There is also a fairly long TV series that follows the book. That might still be found at Amazon.

As technology improves and new evidence is uncovered; what we previously accepted as hard facts can change. We happily live out our lives knowing the world is flat or that we are alone in the universe and then one fine day we have a V8 moment, slap our forehead and say, "Why didn't we think of that before"?

Scientists require far more precision than average folk like me. Pi to just a few decimal places is accurate enough for moi but not for everyone. Regardless of which I have always liked pie and the difference is only a single letter. Onward and upward my friends; on we go toward the unified theory of the universe.... and perhaps beyond.

JRT,

Always beyond....and always well written.

We consider each of our discoveries as worthy of being written in stone but in fact they are nothing more than stepping stones which invariably dissolve beneath our feet while our fellow travellers proceed along those paths of scientific examination which will eternally reward us with infinite revelation.

Folks,

Dux:

Confidentially, and please say nothing to anyone about what I type; it has occurred to me on several occasions besides this one that our pal PV1 may be a several hundred watt brighter bulb than the rest of us sitting here in SNAFU's box. With that fact in mind I'd say I agree with PV1 that it is early days yet and we should not rush helter skelter to our bookshelves to remove the plastic bust of A. Einstein and replace it with a scale model of the Super Collider just yet.

I once asked OSRAM who is a physicist, about string theory and while doing so I pretty much described it. Apparently perturbed, he asked me why in the name of Steven Hawking, did I ask him if I already understood the theory in the first place. I explained to OSRAM the vast difference between being able to define a scientific theory and actually understanding it. Much of what we average folk "know" is superficial; isn't it?

Hmm. I will admit to having been accredited with smarts by some observers over the years,
but on the whole, I am not convinced that I have anything out of the ordinary in the way
of hardware. It has always seemed to me that it was simply a matter of degree of interest,
which is the only place I seemed to differ. I have always been incapable of leaving something
alone if I didn't understand it, whereas those around me would shrug their shoulders and
move on. As a child I began to get a reputation for being knowledgeable on things of a
scientific and technical nature, but it always seemed to me to be no big accomplishment, in
that it was simply a matter of having opened the book and read about it, when others wouldn't
bother. And it wasn't due to any ability, so much as a need to find out why or how
these things worked. At one point I opined that I didn't really have a personality, so much
as a pure distilled general curiosity which eclipsed everything else. Anyway, I'm now old
enough that any wizarding skills I ever had have subsided to the point that any school child
would be able to outperform me at new learning, I'm sure. Now I just get to lean on the
immense store of integrated understanding I painstakingly built up over the years, and sort
of cruise on that, as long as it doesnt get superseded by new stuff... case in point, I just
rested my hand on some part of the frame of the keyboard for this computer Ive had for the
last six months, maybe while depressing a control key, and as the frame is made up of all sorts
of disguised extra function keys (which I neither want nor need), right in the middle of this text,
the key functions have changed to foreign, so that apostrophes and quotes have become č Č
characters, and I cančt figure out how to get my normal keyboard function back. Great wizarding
that...

Folks,

PV1:

Being curious is a virtue as far as I am concerned... unless you are a cat.

I'm no experten on anything. I have always been curious myself and I've been a voracious reader since I was 5. Most of what I've read for recreation has been non fiction. Along with that I have assembled a fairly large and somewhat eclectic library. It occurs to me now that had I foreseen the coming of the Internet I might have saved a few bob on reference books.

You probably have Win 7 so I cannot guarantee that I can help with the 'key' to your problem. Under XP there is an icon in the control panel titled 'Regional and Language...'. I seem to remember that you can make the needed changes there. I haven't a clue what keyboard combination might do the same thing.

I have a standard 101 QWERTY key setup. The main problem I've had with it is the dang windows key. It keeps moving right under my fingers so I press it when I have no intention of doing so. I sometimes swear I'm going to remap that darned key because I'm always hitting it by mistake when using PhotoShop. This brings up a menu which for some reason unknown to me doesn't produce the same result as pressing the Ctrl or Alt key.

Gents,

JRT,

Thanks for the full frame artwork which downloaded as you expected. The powers behind the throne are very pleased and impressed with it, I must say. Lots of oooohs and aaahs! We are hoping things have settled down better after your report last week. This how we went on...up and down...one tentative step after the other. We send your our best hopes and wishes.

Folks,

Dux:

You are far too kind. It occurs to me that your entire family may be in desperate need of an oculist my friend. We call 'em Optometrists or Ophthalmologists over here. Maybe you can qualify for a group rate?

Regardless, I do thank you for your kind words old man. If there was pleasure in seeing it for you or yours then I am rewarded far beyond reasonable expectations or my just deserts. Frankly I enjoyed every minute of the effort so it really was no effort at all.

Making the Lady "J" smile when she must put up with the likes of you and your birding mates on a daily basis must surely be an accomplishment beyond my ability to comprehend?

Indeed things have settled down again and my wife is having nothing but good days right now. Her final 3 day cycle comes early in October. After that we hold our breath and wait for the CAT scan and results. I wonder what kind of cats they use for those?

JRT,

We must hope they are all Cheshire cats, then we will all be grinning broadly.

A recent patrol found me over the lines when I spotted a flight of five DFWs flying east. The prospect of attacking them was about five times as risky as one but I decided to go in fast, hit the left hand one and beat it back westward. Destruction of a DFW can be a long, dangerous and laborious business so I was gratified when it blew up after a short burst.

While congratulating myself on this successful tactic, I selected external view for a good look round when I noticed that the bally wheels had gawn. No idea what caused it. Could have been crossfire or 'archie'. Anyway, just as I was thinking of the inevitable tricky landing back at camp, I noticed a skirmish somewhere near the area where the DFWs had crossed. Eager to run my luck I approached a small gaggle of planes but by the time I got there they had dispersed, leaving a solitary Dr1 which I engaged. I don't recommend dogfighting the Dr1 in the SE5a. I ended up in a descending spiral, trying to turn inside the enemy but couldn't gain any advantage. Finally, I pulled up at treetop level with the crate blazing from stem to stern and went straight in.

So, it is the end of yet another career but I was very much surprised that old Foxey ended up as POW instead of being retrieved from the glowing embers looking like an overdone Sunday joint.

I didn't notice any increase in performance due to the loss off said u/c.

Folks,

Dux:

Yup. There is definitely something missing under there. Take a moment and butter up your rigger and mechanic once and a while my friend. A loose screw here a loose nut there, a spanner 'accidentally' left in the engine, the interrupter gear absent mindedly detached....

Think back, was there a tremendous amount of dust kicked up by the prop? Did it take an inordinately long time and lots more power then usual at takeoff? If not, you must have had an undercarriage when you took off. Have you considered the slight possibility that your wheels fell off right after takeoff?

But let us not malign the lower ranks without proof. Perhaps, considering the rate you have been using up pilots, your return was not expected so the wheels were simply allowed to fall off (like with the Komet years later) salvaged for future use.

LOL! Cheshire cat indeed. Thank you for that. No one will smile more broadly than I will.

JRT,

I had not considered any of those disturbing possibilities. Furthermore, I have ruled out sabotage on the basis of envy. I had only run up a score of three huns and therefore did not present a challenge to our squadron's top ace! Mystery.