SUPER BUS I can still look at photographs of the all new Airbus A380 which is, undeniably the world's largest passenger plane, and have some serious doubts about the existence of such a sky-crunching flying objects.
It is big in ever sense of the word and it weighed in about 308-tons out of the ultra-high-tech bathtub that got it clear, clear and ready for public showing as being flyable.
The maiden flights were made around the Armagnac area of southwestern France. It was done at 10:30 in the morning when thousands of people gathered to see the giant aircraft would actually fly. There must surely have been a score or so of individuals in that crowd who has some secret doubt that the event might not go as planned. They would not admit it, of course, not even to themselves, but there are some such doubters in all such crowds at first-trip starting points. The ”Titanic”, for instance, in 1912 went un-photographed more or less when launched. The photographs of the vessel you see in news releases of the events are those made of her sister ship built later. Photographic chores were very lax during the maiden voyage planning. The emphasis was on the impressive list of important people who were making the maiden trip. In the present case we have plenty of good photographs showing how large every area of this magnificent flying machine. We are impressed with he spaciousness of seating areas. They can get five hundred or more of us in there depending on the seating arrangements they consider to be comfortable.
Now, add all of that army of riders to a six member crew and perhaps twenty tons or so of luggage and cargo. It all has to be lifted up off of that tarmac pavement; lofted into the clouds and sailed about gracefully and artistically. We all hope it will go as planned,but there are some among us who wonder - even worry deep down – about mishaps. The line of fire trucks parked at intervals along the runway, don't exactly improve a confident feeling.
The engines take over. Your consciousness is motorized and measures the movement down the runway carefully and you start breathing normally as you witness the giant craft take to the air. Some of us remember the Concorde supersonic marvels of 1969, already set aside for reasons of economy. The new Airbus A380 is catalog pri
STAR MAKERS The next time you find yourself charged with tending small children or, at least keeping them from getting into trouble try showing them how much fun they can have making stars!
It will take you just minutes to show them how they can make neat, five-pointed stars with just one small, straight clip of a properly folded piece of paper!
Get some sheets of paper. Any size will do; more-or-less square. The bigger the paper; the larger the star. Pages of a discarded magazine will do fine. Don't start sneaking pages from the printer tray because kids or adults tend to go into wholesale production once they find out how – with just one scissors clip - they can make bright shimmering stars!
Start your demonstration star by selecting one sheet of paper. You are going to fold it upon itself one, two, three times. The first fold in simply. Crease the fold flat. Keep the open edge facing on you any flat surface. Next, take the “A” or upper left of the corner of the folded sheet. Think of it in this way: you are picking up the Puget Sound, WA. area and placing it at a point half-an-inch back from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean – about the west end of Hampton Roads or even Richmond, VA.
Place the Point “A”; just half an inch back from the Atlantic ocean midway - at about Hampton Roads, Va. and back from the ocean edge by half an inch or so. Crease flat. Fold the same portion back upon itself twice, crease down and you are ready to cut your five-pointed star!
Just one snip it all it takes. You have as tight triangle in hand with two single page flaps hanging below. Start to cut at the lower left corner of the triangle and aim at about one-third of the distance down from the top of the triangle on the left side. You might think of cutting yourself a medium slice of pie. The fatter you cut it, the wider the points of will be on your finished star. Clip to the edge and unfold your new star!
Kid stuff. Think otherwise. Dedicated star makers have some historic lore they pass around which insists that George Washington, at one time,insisted on six-pointed stars for the new national flag. Betsy Ross is said to have quickly folded a scrap of cloth and, with a single clip, scissored a modern five-pointer. He admired her digital dexterity and it won him over.
A.L.M. December 12, 2005 [c483wds]
