This news is, of course, all over most aviation publications and websites today: Fat Ultralights registered after today will not be eligible for the transitional Experimental - Light Sport Aircraft aircraft certification, which is very lenient on paperwork and equipment requirements compared to the options available after today.  I have seen estimates that up to 10,000 aircraft will have missed this wonderful opportunity to fly legally (they are not even registered).  EAA officers, who have done a lot of work helping to establish the LSA regulations, understandably describe such aircraft as "lawn ornaments".

Previous to the FAA granting exemptions to the ASC and EAA, owners had to have the certification completed by today.  Possibly up to 4000 people that had completed registration, but not certification, may be eligible for the exemptions (see my SkyDrive folder for the associated FAA documents).  The EAA now has a Web page describing the process for their members.  The exemptions are not open-ended, it is necessary to register with the exempt organizations (and be a member) and complete the process at most two years from today.

I am a private pilot exercising Sport Pilot privileges with a recently-legal Challenger II (thanks to the transition rulings).  Without the transition option and Sport Pilot it would be incredibly frustrating and expensive for me to fly.  I can't understand why a fellow aviation enthusiast would drop this golden opportunity to keep flying and improve their flying experience (ultralight flying is much more restricted than Sport Pilot flying).

The Fat Ultralight will be singing later today.  And then it won't be flying ever again.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-31-2008

Just a quick note.  As reported in the Microsoft Technet blog, The Data Platform Insider, SQL Server 2008 will be released to manufacturing in the third quarter of 2008 (calendar year).  They are expecting a feature complete Community Tech Preview release at the official launch of the product, February 28.

I know it isn't the same product group, but I'd like to point out to the Windows 7 fans that it ain't over until RTM.  And RTM is rarely before the latest expectation!

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-26-2008

My motto in MSN Messenger is "Vox Clamantis in Deserto".  It really fits as anyone that has ever beat me over the head to be available in IM pretty much contacts me at most once a month that way.  Hey guys, heard of the telephone or email?  That's something that doesn't eat up CPU and monitor space and there are no ads.

So along comes Twitter, and if I had a motto there, it would absolutely be the same thing.  It's more responsive with people I know, but it is worse than IM and blogging combined, as a communication medium.  I wonder how many people (of my tight group) actually Tweet from their phone?  That's the only medium that is better with Twitter, because you can broadcast from your phone SMS.  Obviously, the only reason I appreciate it is because some of the people I know are active on it.  The Twitter medium molds the message, since the messages are very short and you know the exact audience (for a reasonable number of followers on your account).  But the limitations are a lot, lot worse than the advantages.

I just started using Twitter, so of course I have blogged about that experience.

But when Shel blogs about Twitters problems, people should definitely listen.  Especially when the post is directly addressed to Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and it talks about business models and quality of service.  Check it out, fellow Twits.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-26-2008

I'm sorry, Randy, your post on the BBS is just too good to pass up:

"i was doing some checking on the 31 deadline so i called a dar that someone gave me a nubber for. i am s.o.l. for the fat ultralight to sport plane but was gave enough help and sent in the right direction to getr around it.being i did not build the challenger they told me to do a build log as if i did and find some photos of one that some of you were good enough to post on the net.downloaded enough photos from diffrent sites to show all of a build from start to finish i did a good build over the past four years lol.now to do the log build i think it will take 400 hrs for me to peck it out on the laptop to make it look good it is slow with one finger.that alone should count for the build now all i have to do in order a new plack to rivet on with all my info.get in inspected do a little log book work to show the 25 hrs on it so i can domy flying time in it,i do have some one who can show the test hrs on it.bad to have a pane with a n number and no sport ticket to fly it but i found some one to help me get them for 85.00 per hr.the dar told me it would look on paper as a new buil i done she told me whin i got to that point she would tell me witch forms to download from the faa thanks for all the good photos all of u have posted on the net would have been hard to prove i did the build with out them lol even found one that looks like me covering a rudder randy in tn"

If you've followed the LSA events and the FAA deadline, you may think Randy is getting way too creative.  I can't defend him, but I would guess that he has some experience flying the plane already.  In other words, he has been flying as an ultralight pilot (i.e. without a private pilot's license, recreational pilot's license, or sport pilot's license).  It will be ironic that the plane may appear legal under this scheme, but the pilot won't be until he gets his license.  This is a slippery slope of subterfuge.

-- Walt Lounsbery, 1-26-2008

I am beginning to like Twitter now.  Some of the things exposed in the ramblings of crowds just boggle the mind.  In this case, Caleb Jenkins passes along the link to one of the most bizarre developer events I've ever heard of: Sleepless - The Ultimate Office Dev Weekend.

This event is based on sooo many high-concept ideas, I hope there is some content in there!  It is an exclusive event, you must be selected after taking a two-part quiz.  Apparently, you've got to know your stuff before you learn your stuff?  It's a serial Roadshow, going to Washington D.C., Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and Chicago.  Why not Seattle?  Well, "All roads on the Sleepless Roadshow lead to the championship at the Microsoft Office System developer conference 2008" located in, drum roll please, San Jose, California.  Oops, no Sleepless in Seattle for you!  These events are training and overnight coding competitions.  But wait!  There is a Mystery Game-show!

It would have been nice to hear about this before the enlistment/enrollment/application deadline of January 11!

If you are a dedicated developer dreaming during the day due to extreme sleep deprivation, go on and check out the Sleepless Website.  This is the second time infusion development has done this, in less than a year.  So keep dreaming with your eyes open wide as you slam those Red Bulls.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-25-2007

For a bit more background on the critical regulation deadlines for "fat ultralight" aircraft, check out my previous post.

Today, January 23, 2008, the EAA announced a major reprieve by the FAA on the deadline for the four thousand or so people that have registered their airplanes to transition to a legal Experimental aircraft certification.  Previously, aircraft had to be registered and certified by January 31, 2008.  Since certification requires inspection of the aircraft by approved personnel, the huge disparity between the number of registered aircraft needing inspections and the low number of inspectors (usually two or three resident in a state), meant that there was no way much of the waiting list would be inspected and issued certification by the deadline.

Those qualifying for the reprieve should check their sources to understand the new situation.  If you can finish the so-called "ultralight transition" process, you will be saving a lot of time and money.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-23-2008

Check this out before the movie studio or Tom Cruise sends that cease-and-desist.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-22-2008

One of the things we like about our home is the basement.  My man cave is down in the basement.  The workshop is down in the basement.  Perhaps most importantly, the Rec Room is down in the basement.  While our living room upstairs is used the most now, when we complete enough of the Rec Room renovations, we'll have a lot of fun there.

A lot has happened to the Rec Room since Lisa posted some pictures on the renovation.  It will be nice to post updated pictures once the trim is done.  Even the massive bar has had a makeover.

Recently, a nice convergence of renovation and special events has transformed our Rec Room into a Game Room.  Lisa is a super-competitive Air Hockey player.  So it is only fitting that she get an industrial, seven foot Air Hockey table for her birthday.

I cropped the picture on purpose so you can't see much of the renovation.  Consider this a teaser for future updates!

This huge piece of furniture came in a very large, very heavy, flat cardboard box.  The box weighed about 300 pounds.  There was a substantial bit of assembly.  With Lisa's help, the behemoth came together quickly and we played our first game today.  Lisa was the winner, of course!

The table has physically established a meaningful benchmark for me.  Ultralight aircraft weigh less than 254 pounds (with some very specific exceptions).  The Challenger II we fly weighs about 450 pounds.  Compared to this table, those aircraft are wonders of design and weight control!

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-20-2008

Really, all die-hard Star Trek fans should rejoice.  It's been awhile.

-- Walter Lounsbery, Star Date 1-20-2008

This post has some history, a post I published two days ago after enduring the horrors of Twitter.  Now, I don't want those that talked me into establishing a Twitter account to think my opinions are ignorant or my experiences are unique (maybe because I just Don't Get It).  I think I should deserve a little credit for gutting it out to not only establish my Twitter account, but also add a gadget to my Spaces page that displays my Tweets, find the Twitter accounts of those responsible for starting this chain of events, and following a few more prolific Twitters as well.

I would like to point out that Twitter has absolutely no search function for finding Twits Of a Feather.  And I'm sorry to tell Biz Stone that Google search just doesn't bring up Twitter home pages right away.  On the other hand, Twitter has thus avoided the stupid search and account limitations of the facebook Nazi regime.  I have to complement them on a completely open and transparent platform that allows you to get near real-time updates from Barack Obama or anyone else you can manage to find on their service.  Although I haven't checked the specs, they say that the Twitter API provides free access as well.  In my case, the tech folks I know have accumulated huge lists of other people they are following, so knowing the interests of a few people allows me to access an enormous pool of folks that occasionally send a good tech reference or two through the system.

So I have to confess that Twitter is very useful for me.

Another good point for Twitter is the total lack of flames.  There are a lot of structural reasons for that, including the fact that the value of Twitter is based on knowledge of your identity, so that anonymous flamers on that system would have to be a truly sick, twisted lot.  Not to mention that they can't work up a good rant in only 160 characters.

Lack of controversy, flame wars, responses that include endless quotes from prior posts, and all that completely eliminates the sort of noise we see in BBS systems.  On the other hand, we are encouraged to hook up the service to our mobile phones and endlessly Tweet about any banal old thing we are doing or thinking.

OK, enough of my opinion, how about some other opinions and a fact or two?  Here we go...

Here is the Wikipedia entry on Twitter.  I note that the service is run by ten people and has some big name investors.  I'm guessing they are also keeping server hardware at a minimum (I saw a rumor that they are using Amazon's commodity Web services).  TechCrunch also has a fact page on Twitter. 

There was a lot of opinions that Twitter service suffered on January 15 because of the MacWorld keynote coverage by Twits everywhere.  I get the impression from reports like this that outages are a constant issue at Twitter, I've even run across some Twitter accounts where the last message was basically, "Goodbye forever, thanks for totally lousy service!"  The posts on Twitter's self-help page are equally daunting.  My current experience is much better than Tuesday's, but every now and then I get a "service is out" page and various features just don't work.

I have made some snide remarks about Twitter's lack of a business model.  The investor's, particularly Marc Andreessen, are smart people that are savvy with these kinds of businesses.  But their plans are very private.  There is some reasonable speculation by Dave Winer, The Texas Startup Blog, and the truly skeptic folks at CenterNetworks.  The greatest variety of speculation, of course, is in comments to those posts.  The most reasonable business goal for profit appears to be the traditional Web startup buyout scenerio, where the new owner monetizes the technology.  This is also the business plan that requires stealth and secrecy.

Many people, particularly techies, don't see a downside to a buyout scenerio.  They just wish they were on the board of directors when the buyout happens.  Trouble is, you techies aren't on the Board, you are depending on a service that may change dramatically on the path to the buyout, after the buyout, or most likely, when the service is shut down as the owners are forced to stop the bleeding and haven't found a buyer and terms they like.  Just don't get too dependent on Twitter, or its API.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-17-2008

OK, I've really had my fun with headlines today!  This one is right or wrong on so many levels!!!  Hey, if you can't figure out at least five sad angles on the headline, just Twitter me if you can at "waltal".

Today Alan Stevens insisted that I immediately sign up for a Twitter account.  In fact, several other members of the Eastern Tennessee .NET User Group also ganged up on my lazy, obsolete self to make me get with the times.  They told me all the great stories about how they learn so much in real time from their Twitter contacts.  One person said they take a half hour a day to check out the messages.

These guys are a savvy group, and they must have some boffo contacts, so I had to cave and promise to sign up this afternoon.

After 45 minutes wrestling with their lousy, crappy Website that has been bouncing like a yoyo, I got a Twitter account.  I still haven't seen any Twitter messages or any reason I should spend more time on this thing.  Maybe it's a great idea, maybe your contacts on it are great, but I'm not seeing much.

So what would I have said if I hadn't caved to peer pressure?  I would have asked them how enthusiastic they were about every free variation of messaging application since PointCast?  One-way, two-way, peer in the cloud, lost in the crowd, waste of screen real estate type stuff that gets deleted from your system after the new wears off?  I brought up facebook and they laughed, as anyone should.  But that puppy is still going because it delivers for somebody.  Nobody said a word about a Twitter business model.

So quack goes the no-profit, popular Internet bubble startup duck, we sheep go baa on our obsolete blogs to talk up the ducks, and Twitter is a one-trick dog that rolled over and played dead today.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-15-2007

Is this the Holy Grail of Microsoft developers?  I read Francesco's post on the fruits of his two-year quest to deliver us from VB6 hell, checked out the new Website for the "VB Migration Partner" product, and hope beyond hope that this is IT.  The Real McCoy.  The Ultimate Tool.  The one and only rational way to drag the IT departments of a million businesses and government departments into our wonderful .NET millennium, out of the tragic, RAD adventures of 1990s-style software crapshoots.

Clearly, Microsoft recognized the problem when they brought out .NET.  They created an Upgrade Wizard that was bundled with Visual Studio versions for .NET.  It pretty much handled a lot of obvious stuff and failed at a lot of obvious challenges.  When pressed for typical successful conversion rates in the early days, some people said the Upgrade Wizard could convert "at least" 80% of the lines of VB6 code.  And I haven't heard anyone say anything about the Upgrade Wizard for at least five years.  It's like that hideous thing locked in the basement.

You know Microsoft doesn't like one of its own products when it trots out a second try, completely divorced from the first.  In the past year, they produced tools to do piecemeal substitution on VB6 code, supporting a recommendation to rewrite each form object in a VB6 application in .NET.  A developer could do that a bit at the time, so that the massive manual labor could be spread out. 

I've worked on some of those hybrid monstrosities.  Let's take the DNA of VB6 (Sorry about that pun!  Anybody remember Microsoft DNA?) with a few C++ components, dabble in a C#, VB.NET, or J# component or UI element, and push that out to the customers.  Then they wonder why it takes forever to get a small update or fix on the beast (More like forever squared, since anyone doing this nonsense already forgot how the original, "pristine" 1990's application did anything and now it's a bastard of multiple languages and bad habits.  I'll say it: these are mutant bastards.).

OK, now it is 2008 and VB6 denial is a fatal habit.  The clock has just about run out.  Not only does VB6 support end in March of this year, most of the current operating systems that support it will be obsolete in a while.  And don't think those applications will always connect to the corporate database flavor of the month (I've heard Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, IBM, and other vendors actually force you to do database patches and upgrades.  Don't they know you have a business to run?).  Yeah, we know you are running NT4 out there!  As they say, so many Windows 2000 desktops, so little time to support them.  Somehow, I doubt that Fortune 1000 company X will really want to call up Joe Don's Computer Emporium and Nail Salon in a desperate search for grizzled Windows 95 specialists the next time the consolidated corporate financial report application bites the big one.

If "VB Migration Partner" is half the product that I know Francesco can do, the Cavalry has arrived.  Your bacon is saved.  Maybe your business is saved.  If there is anyone out there that can describe how important this can be, in little sound bites with great PowerPoint graphics, please let me know.  I know some folks that desperately need to hear that story the right way, right now.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-11-2008

For one thing, I'd like to share the results of an aviation safety analysis with the public and let them exercise judgement in their conclusions.  Another: I have not spent a dime of taxpayer money on this.  And I am not even a government agency charged with performing aviation research to be released to commercial interests and to the public.  I have to admit that the aeronautics division is now a puny shadow of its former self that doesn't advertise that past pledge to share research results.  Just when things are getting exciting in general aviation, with the introduction of Light Sport Aircraft, NASA is basically out to lunch.  The latest effort I could find was the AGATE initiative, which looked more like a publicity stunt than a real way to address the issues of the initiative.  AGATE was shut down in 2001 just as the Light Sport Aircraft program got on track with the FAA.  OK, I'm starting to rant a bit after reviewing some NASA Website material.  I'll go back to saving up my money so I can afford a Cessna aircraft made in China or some sporty-looking European aircraft.

I'll get back on topic, which is just as serious as the deterioration of general aviation research in America.  I accumulated copies of accident reports of the NTSB  (National Transportation Safety Board) for Quad City Challenger kit aircraft over the past 20 years. These reports are available at a quaint and fairly effective database query Website.  I compiled a summary report of some basic statistics and accident analysis notes based on the NTSB data.  This is serious stuff because it deals with people's death and injury.

As serious as the subject of my summary report is, I believe that the Challenger series of kit-built aircraft have a relatively good record compared to other aircraft.  The Challengers have been built by the thousands since the company started producing kits over 25 years ago.  The aircraft is very popular in Canada, where it has been fitted with skis for winter operation off snow and with pontoons for operation off waterways, which are often the best landing spots in remote locations.  I feel very good about the Challenger, one of which I have been flying regularly for several weeks now.  I would recommend similar reviews of accident statistics to anyone owning or flying aircraft.  The information can make you a safer flyer.

If you are curious, check out my notes.  The summary report contains a link to a zip file of the database query results Web pages and a PDF file for each NTSB report.

-- Walter Lounsbery, 1-1-2008