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Unlike many people, I do not benefit from sitting idle.

Having a silly college schedule is normal, though. Last semester I had an average of 7-12 minutes to relocate to the appropriate room on campus to attend my next class. Becoming more and more picky with my current classes, I spend surprisingly much time on campus but very little of that time in actual classrooms. I am on campus Monday to Friday, everyday, with only two classes, except for Fridays, where there is only one.

The Monday, Wednesday and Fridays I can be found in class from 9AM – 9:50AM and from 1PM to 2:15PM (except for Fridays). Tuesdays and Thursdays I start at 8AM to 9:15AM with one more class in the PM from 1PM to 2:15. This gives me plenty of time between classes to study, read, research, interact with fellow students and faculty and deal with all my online stuff.

Yesterday was Monday and my birthday on top of it. A day like any other (no party) I got up at 5AM, had my stuff straight by 6AM and did some work until 8, when it was time to leave for Bangor. Arriving at campus without my wallet was OK, it’s an acceptable oversight to leave it in the wrong jackets pocket. The cafeteria gives me credit, water is free, and there’s no good reason to increase opportunity costs by turning around just to get a wallet.

Having the habit of being early for classes is a good thing. Time to get to know students, have small talks with faculty, getting your stuffs ready and usually it results in me being ready to run when the professor/ instructor hails in. Not so yesterday! As 12:54PM came around, I was confused. The classroom had filled with people I did not know! They must have felt the same, as some of them kept looking at me, oddly. Something was definitely wrong when I discovered that they had different books than me! Could they all be in the wrong classroom? (Remember the wife calling her husband, stating: “Honey, be careful, they are reporting a guy going the wrong way on the interstate!” The husband responded: “Oh hell, really? One??? There’s HUNDREDS!!!”

By 12:55PM I had silently packed up my crap, nonchalantly threw my jacket on and nodded at the strangers, smiling, almost silly, as I left the room. Wrong classroom, wrong building, wrong day of the week, heck, WRONG freaking side of campus!!! I did arrive in the correct classroom where two students instantly noted that I was rather late.

It must be my age, or the silliness of having too many hours of idle time between classes. I dutifully reprinted my schedule, to avoid such incidents in the future. Hope I won’t forget it! Wallet: CHECK. Schedule: CHECK.  Pre-takeoff Checklist: COMPLETE. Lets hope we remember where we’re supposed to go…

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This is part III of the Realities of Association Politics & PR article…

Predictions:

Our fights of the future to secure access to small fields, lakes and airports will shift from fighting the feds and bureaucracy to small town ordinance management soon. We will see an ever increasing number of citizen and environmental movements which will attempt to shut us out and down by any means necessary to accomplish their goals. Over the next half decade or so, our industry will be affected by thousands of bills, discussed on a senate and congressional level, of which many will “sneak through” causing us great harm and damage. Associations may continue to associate (and go to bed) with anyone perceived to be enough of a superstar to somehow increase public acceptance, yet, I believe there will be no value added to the membership by doing so. They may continue to suck up to corrupt politicians and policy makers to seek this seemingly ever- lasting  one who will go “to battle” for what we do and actually represents his citizens in a balanced manner. What they will also do, is to assure that their leaders and managers never go hungry. Yet, the public perception will remain skewed and mislead by an uninformed press, seeking tomorrows headline and more affected by what some town selectman thinks about seaplanes than what we could ever factually prove. Soon, we will see advocacy battles move to the town office, where NOTHING short of our full personal participation will create an awareness within the citizenry. People have no clue about how heavily we are being discriminated against! Nothing short of huge letter writing campaigns will prevent the worst of the worst. We will see social media sites and online discussions become the major concern of trying to protect our minority interests against those who think we are rich, irresponsible, earth-polluting, greenhouse gas causing and arrogant schmucks – who just have too much money. Insulting them will make them more angry because people cannot associate and relate on anything they cannot do themselves. Instead we will have to learn how they think, act and beat them at their own game.

That’s not a threat nor is there a solid question as to “IF” this will happen, but, in my opinion “WHEN” and “HOW”. I have been saying it for years, we are desperately ill equipped to deal with it!

A possible solution

It is time for our associations to change course, not with lip service and pointing out how much fun it is and how much beauty is contained in what we do, but by actually responding to the questions raised by thousands of members leaving them. These members did/do not leave to damage the association, they left because they realized that proxy votes and insider deals on who gets which job, as well as “selective attention syndrome” to the direct NEEDS of their pilot community have made it impossible to bring about ANY positive change nor does it allow for them to take part in innovative and modern solutions to problems that will be solved in a grassroots effort. Not with superstars your general John Doe could ever relate to. (Y)our worst enemy is not concerned with which color of leather seats their new Citation or Mercedes Benz should have, I promise! While at the subject, I’d like to point out (again) that small grassroots efforts (perceived as unfitting to the current way of doing things) cannot get exposure on/ in any of the associations magazines or media channels. Assumption: The fewer people know of different ways of doing things, the better? This is the only logical conclusion I could arrive at, after asking repeatedly to share a word or two with some of the members of such groups.

For seaplane pilots this means: Get to know the other guy/ gal. Join us at seaplaneforum.com to take part in a grassroots effort that deals with (y)our fun, beauty and expertise, but also it’s resulting problems, honestly and in open, unmuzzled dialogue. It will allow you to build connections and make friendships, share advise and guidance and last but not least, develop a communication style that allows us to react to today’s challenges locally, when and where they occur.  Ignore the clowns and liars spewing false information and badmouthing our forum, describing it (or myself) as an association enemy. I am not. In fact, the next time I hear such a statement, I will publish it in it’s entirety, with full disclosure of who made it. It’s enough!

I simply believe that our current way of dealing with the preservation of rights and freedoms is not done properly and misses the mark in terms of creating enough awareness within the pilot population. Nobody seems to be aware how much individual effort is and will be required to protect and retain accessible & affordable ways to do what we do. Lets get together, across the board and invite others to the discussion. I am still waiting to see a big, huge roundtable meeting with all the associations and activists getting together to brainstorm and find better solutions to current and future issues. Until this happens, I’ll continue to refuse to support the establishment. I cannot see where they are headed, management & decision processes are not transparent enough. By telling me what I know already (flying is beautiful, amazing, oh sooo nice, blah blah blah!) I have no benefit. Member based organizations enable members to have a voice. Neither do I believe we benefit from seeing smiley faces, handshakes and public shoulder patting. I for one hope we’ll get to it soon, because we are at risk of extinction by “Europeanization”. For those who wonder what that means: Look to Europe to see what a lobby-ism only approach has done to general aviation. Neither more money nor any of the Superstars will make flying more understandable to your regular non flying citizen. WE must do that.

Disclaimer:

Even as a publisher and editor of a website, I have not relinquished my privilege to have and communicate this opinion. It’s not like I have only critiqued without providing possible solutions, either! We can fix what is wrong and come out ahead of this as a stronger and more balanced pilot community. This community won’t be limited to people who can “pay to play” and neither will it exclude anyone willing to help create it.

We are no longer able to just cut checks to our associations, expecting them to fix things for us. What will we do instead?

If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it. — Tennessee Williams

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This is part II of a series called “Realities of Association Politics & PR written by Jason Baker;

But fortunately, there are independents!

Independent discussion boards are generally run by people with a passion for a subject matter. Almost all of them see a specific shortfall in communication and networking opportunities and try to provide just that to the general target audience. While some discussion board owners are financially independent and secure, many subsidize their bottom line by selling privileged memberships and advertising, merchandise and some even actual products, or by accepting and soliciting support from members and industry partners. In many cases, accepting sponsorship from our industry brings “association – like” conditions in terms of what can and can’t be discussed.  While the “tone” of many of these individual forums vary greatly, all of them attract members who are not afraid to “speak their mind”, sometimes in amazingly baffling manner, including name calling and blind accusations.  Its easy to lose track of the tone and general demeanor of ones membership and sometimes this becomes apparent when you feel the need to look for pitchfork hunters and cavemen in your own backyard, after reading some of the posts on display on some discussion boards. For the respective owner & administrator the question ultimately becomes: WHERE DOES THE BUCK STOP? You have promised your members to be unbiased, independent and supporting of their needs and wants to share their thoughts, yet, you are visible to the public and your sponsors do not appreciate being critiqued publicly. Neither do associations! A natural conflict of interest ensues, and sadly, most of the time the mighty $$’s wins. This can be prevented by staying small, charging fees for adverts which can be refunded without taking out a loan and by clearly telling your sponsors, right off the bat, that you will continue to own your site while setting it’s general policy and direction. By staying small and humble as well as personal, you create an environment which encourages exchange while at the same time allowing smaller industry members to advertise through your site. My personal concept on seaplaneforum.com is 100% loyalty and trust based. My members retain the right to discuss, critique or acknowledge even our sponsor companies as long as their manner of doing so is:

• Factual & truthful…
• Honest but free of name-calling, derogatory remarks or discrimination…
• Respectful & courteous in style; and last but not least…
• Providing at least one idea or recommendation that can be used by the critiqued party to change course…

Sounds very simple, doesn’t it?    I, for one, keep my advertising rates low enough so that I can issue refunds, in case my discussion board causes offense. I depend on my members and  supporters to make the effort to communicate in such a way that I don’t have to step in and remind them of these four basic pillars which carry my small endeavor. I depend on my members and supporters ability to see and understand that creating a community and making a difference requires active participation and good will and sometimes better judgement. Grassroots things thrive by those three parameters. Each one of them has an unspoken/ unwritten promise from me that I will value and consider my own members critique and remain attentive to their requests, wants and needs. They know that I will do so independently from their “status” within the community.

To be continued…

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A not so brief look across the board

All associations depend on membership dollars to finance their programs and initiatives. These days, membership dollars are harder to get, due to the incredible impact our stricken economy in the United States has had on general-  recreational -  and business aviation. People have tightened their belts even in areas previously unexpected – such as their dreams and passions for flying. That’s normal and makes sense.  All three sectors of aviation are under combined and strong attack from all directions. Environmentalists & wilderness programs cause remote & private airstrips to be closed at alarming rates, countless small airports and flight schools are already or just about to come under attack by citizen initiatives. Lakes used by seaplanes for decades suddenly present a safety risk, or are portrayed a  a risk-factor in environmental pollution. Even invasive species are often wrongfully named as causal and closely connected to seaplane activity, even though such claims are largely unsubstantiated. Local ordinances prohibit or prevent our flying activities without much public fanfare and sometimes, fighting town-hall on such issues comes at large financial expense for litigation. The amount of trouble is truly staggering, when the pink sunglasses come off. Lets add to this another important factor, which does a lot of damage – sometimes irreparable in nature- and bare all recourse. Transport Security Administration and FAA seek to control, monitor and change how Americans perceive aviation safety and security. Feeling depressed or discouraged? That’s not the intent of this article, so please keep reading.

What do we need?

When we select which association to belong to, be it the NRA, AOPA, EAA, SPA or even our local cucumber growing club, we must have a reason for it. Many associations come with amazing magazines, online and in print, weekly newsletters, interactive websites, message boards, some even tweet, blog & facebook to share in the joys and enjoyments of our industry. You sure get 10% off your insurance policy with a monopoly insurance company, rent cars at a discount and sometimes you can even destroy your credit, while pumping 20% interest into some credit card scam, available only to members. While the selection and printing/ publication of many magazine and blog articles and news reports are driven by how well they fit into the magazines purpose and agenda, much is also dictated by advertising customers who have spent astronomical fees to have their adverts displayed. Ask yourself the following questions, when trying to evaluate something’s community value: Would your honest and factual review of Garmin’s customer service be printed in a magazine heavily subsidized by Garmin? Could you talk about Cessna or Beechcraft in a magazine that depends upon advertising revenue from just these companies? How about the discussion board? Word travels fast online, hence a single vent or rant can reach hundreds of members almost instantly. Consequently, association message boards are kept squeaky clean when it comes to discussions between members about certain practices or problems. Heavily moderated under the premise of “must be aviation related” all association MUST constantly monitor and censor things. Some say that it isn’t so, but after ~ 2 years as an association message board administrator (volunteer service, by the way!) I can attest to this fact. Message boards are intended and provided for PR purposes and positive news only. All else is perceived as a liability and risk to advertising revenue. Discussion boards can reveal a lot of things never printed and make painfully clear if your association leaders or representatives are up to par with what their members think. Sometimes there are challenges in reacting and responding to concerns and trouble, too. Communication skills and skin thickness can be tested, often with amazing results. But most of the time, management and leadership remain largely absent and non responsive to anything for fear of actually having to answer to their members. Being accessible and having to provide specific answers in a transparent/ public setting is perceived as dangerous. It is safe to assume that I could prove this statement to be true and factual in a court of law. Even in the independent discussion board arena, litigation sometimes sets the ultimate tone and direction as I have learned.

To be continued in Part II…

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Click to visit SeaplaneAdventures.ca!

Seaplaneforum.com is proud to have welcomed it’s newest supporting industry member, providing seaplane instruction, dry lease and consulting as well as block time rentals to interested pilots and students. I am proud to have this operation in my industry supporter network, helping me to provide more services and a better, more modern services to our community while at the same time enjoying an affordable way to share the word.

Welcome SeaplaneAdventures.ca!

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This short video explains forum management to a T.

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For each of us, eventually whether we are ready or not, someday it will come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours or days. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten will pass to someone else. Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned or owed. Your grudges, resentments, frustrations and jealousies will finally disappear. So too your hopes, ambitions, plans and to-do lists will expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away. It wont matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived at the end. It won’t matter if you’re beautiful or brilliant. Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So, what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built. Not what you got, but what you gave. What will matter is not your success, but your significance. What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught. What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.  What will matter is not your competence, but your character. What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss, when you’re gone. What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that live in those who loved you.

A life lived that matters is not of circumstance, but of choice.

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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

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During the interview for a recently published article about me in the student newspaper of my college, I was asked for my interests. I had to think for a while, because there are not many things I am truly interested in. What are three things that interest me and in what order? Hmmm…

The first spot went to Animals – and here is an example why: Animals are PURE.

The second spot went to Airplanes and here’s an example why: Airplanes are HONEST.

The last spot went to People. Only people who like animals and airplanes, though… their spot is really limited to just a few. Reason: Some People are GOOD.

They have the ability to capture and catch their impressions of Animals and Airplanes into pictures allowing both of these silent players to speak a language we can understand – allowing us to be motivated by the good things in life.  People who like animals make sense to me. So do people who can see beauty in a parked machine that has no life in it, except when piloted.

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A comparison of deliberate solitude with loneliness and how it all affects ones ability to mate:

Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one may work, think or rest without being disturbed. It may be desired for the sake of privacy. A distinction can be made between physical and mental seclusion. People seek physical seclusion to remove distractions and make it easier to concentrate, reflect, study or meditate. However, this is not necessarily an end in and of itself. Once a certain capacity to resist distractions is achieved, people become less sensitive to distractions and more capable of maintaining mindfulness and staying inwardly absorbed and concentrated. Such people, unless on a mission of helping others, don’t seek any interaction with the external physical world. Their mindfulness is their world. A clear distinction must be made between solitude and loneliness.

Loneliness is an unpleasant feeling in which a person feels a strong sense of emptiness and involuntary solitude resulting from inadequate levels of social relationships. However, it is a subjective experience. Loneliness has also been described as social pain – a psychological mechanism meant to alert an individual of isolation and motivate her/him to seek social connections. People can experience loneliness for many reasons and many life events are associated with it, like the lack of friendship relations during childhood and adolescence, or the physical absence of meaningful people around a person are a few causes for loneliness. At the same time, loneliness may be a symptom of another social or psychological problem, such as chronic depression. [Sources: Wikipedia Solitude/Loneliness]

When comparing both with each other, we find and inverse relationship between the need for both, in order to remain stable in our fast lived world. We need and despise both feelings at the same time, for example when caught in a bad relationship or failing marriage – and despise it when we find ourselves unable to build new relationships after the experience of rejection and failure. I have come to appreciate a high level of solitude when it comes to doing what I do for a living, which at the current time is being a student and website administrator. A minimum of distractions allows me to take care of things quickly and efficiently. This solitude also allows me to study and focus, write and think.

The more time we have to spend with ourselves, the better we supposedly get to know our-self and what we are capable of. Those of you who fly understand that this “first solo flight” is such an incredible cornerstone in building a solid foundation for future pilots. Being able to handle it all alone is ultimate proof of mastery and absolutely necessary for proper development. Those of you who do not fly, it’s the equivalent of realizing that we do not need others to remain functional in our everyday live. We may be able to run our household on our own, capable of taking care of things without help. Hidden within both experiences is profound emotional and mental peace. Once we figure out that we can do it on our own, we relax – things get a lot easier. Solitude can be a good way to get over heartbreaking events, find a way to move on, to set a new direction and a fresh course. In solitude, I have personally denied, realized, analyzed and finally accepted my own mistakes, vouched to myself to not make them again and pushed the RESET button.

When the need for voluntary or involuntary solitude is satisfied, we start to look around ourselves and sometimes come to realize that we have, in fact become lonesome. Do you ever feel like a floating leaf , lacking direction? Do you ever wonder where you’re headed? Have you ever immersed yourself  in work, school and appearances so deeply that you feel like a stranger when re-entering any sort of social life? Do you find it harder to understand the youngsters lingo, their incredible obsession with social media outlets, such as facebook which attempt to patch up the fact that the world has become very egocentric and narcissistic? People broadcast every little detail of their love life, professional life and freely share opinion, when so many times it would be wiser to rearrange the letters of the word LISTEN into SILENT and to practice both more frequently.

I do not believe humans were made to be this way. We are bound to have social relations, but who can really have ongoing and meaningful relationships with 1527 friends? How many of those friends are true friends, how many don’t even know who you are, how many would not really recognize you or talk to you if they ran into you on the street tomorrow? How many have added you to their friends list just to have more friends on the page, trying desperately to portray how popular they are and what an important personality they are, in our crazy world?  How many are nosy while remaining silent towards you? If you write them, how many will write back? If you wrapped your car around a tree and died tomorrow, would anyone notice your absence?

I do however believe that humans need friendships and a partner over the long run in order to succeed in the jungle of ups and downs, called life. We need the friendships to bounce ideas off of others, find recognition, get critiqued, have meaningful arguments or drink ourselves comatose with. We need a significant person in our life to be our partner, someone to dream with, someone who tells us that we are important to them, someone who holds our hand when things get rough. Someone who bothers to read our mind when nobody else cares for anything we have to say or feel. Allowing such a person in our life is difficult – because they receive a key to something very close to us: Our EMOTIONS!

Even though Swans are no longer scientifically classified as “mate for life” animals, I nevertheless believe they set out with the intention of sticking to each other. Even though divorce is common, especially after nesting failure, I still believe that the bond is ultimate and intentionally clean. Unfortunately I find, that dating & mating in the Swan world seems to be a hell of a lot easier than it is in Homo sapiens world. If I was a Swan, all I’d have to do was swim up to my princess and try to get close. If I lost feathers, or the bleeding just won’t stop, I will have a general idea of her willingness to get to know me better. I may return for one more try, but the idea is not to lose too many feathers in trying to convince someone of my willingness/ openness towards her.

Especially now, after a long period of being single and removed from the human mating game, I find it incredibly hard to reach out to potentially interesting women. What’s the right way of doing this? I understand, it’s the United States of America! A woman never makes the first step, that’s against our fake rules of combat. But, the better ones seem shy and unapproachable. One never knows if she will smile and melt or faint in shock and terror. Certainly, signs of affection have not been and are not frequently returned. Then again, when in fact the woman makes the first step, supposedly seeking to live, laugh and love – how does one know how many males she needs to collect in order to find all of those things? “You’ll know when you find the right one” doesn’t cut it as an answer, people! One is not always and obviously desperately “seeking” and mating requires two!

Then there are commitment issues with social butterflies which almost never land, ex husbands and boyfriends, rumor mills and sometimes even children, which miraculously always have to be their first priority in life. As if they were on “broken record steroids”, the first thing to come out of a single mom’s mouth is the immediate positioning of their new prospective mate at the bottom of the totem pole by stating: ” My children will always be first!”  DOH! Did I ask you to sell them on EBAY and run off to Cuba with me? Is it some sort of protection mechanism that kicks in, to differentiate the schmucks and one night stands from someone real? Do I get extra kisses if I don’t instantly run away? Meeh! I’ll pass – thank you! Then, there are those who have been seriously abused, taken for a ride, emotionally distressed and terrorized beyond reasonable hope for repair.

Given, my next mate cannot be found in a bar, be a drunk or druggy and she needs to be old enough to have developed a fully functioning frontal cortex. She needs to be affectionate, compassionate, passionate and honest. She can certainly be shy and nervous, as long as an opinion can be extracted from her, somehow. If “I don’t know” or “Whatever!” are part of her daily vocabulary, I’ll probably pass again. She needs to be willing to take a risk in that she needs to melt into a natural human being around me, so that I don’t feel as if I am talking to a robot or have to behave like one when I am around her. Most importantly, she cannot be, or constantly strive to be PERFECT. MCRS = Militant Christianity & Religion Syndrome is perceived as a unwelcome mental disease in my world – Pass. Some humor (preferably black humor that may strike others as “weird” at times) would be swell! She needs to have a goal in life that goes beyond the usual “just get through in one piece” attitude and she certainly needs to be steady enough to handle herself.

If this all sounds terribly old school or not like what you would read on facebook, then I have shared what I feel about feeling lonesome with the wrong person and that’s quite alright, too. Put it under “Veterans Day Entertainment” and move along. If you’ve bothered to read this far, then I assume to have reached someone of sufficient emotional character to actually push the reply button and leave me a note, even anonymously. Put “do not publish” in your comment and it won’t appear. I don’t go to bars, don’t do drugs, don’t have a drinking problem, am not emotionally weak, do not physically or emotionally abuse or trick women. Heck, I even have teeth! And no, I won’t sign up for E-Harmony or Match, as I would likely fail the intake test on account of being to sarcastic. Besides, it strikes me as utterly wrong to search for my Princess between 1′s and 0′s anyways…

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www.seaplaneforum.com – Newburgh, ME (Maine).

Thanks for visiting!

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Who gives a koohoo – right?

As things progress on the health and sanity front one might wonder why I didn’t do last weeks weekly update. Well, probably not, but with the way things are right now, I’d be hard-pressed to give a damn, anyways. So how could I ask the readers of this blog to give a damn, if there are still any? This blog isn’t written for any particular purpose, it serves mainly to uphold the last bit of sanity one can muster in a world full of kicks in the ass, lies, intrigues and brainwashing cycles.

So, here I am, ~ 5 week into my “weightloss + get blood pressure under control mission”. My diet now alternates from high protein, low carb to veggie soup, and the exercise program has worked wonders in terms of stamina and feeling fit and balanced. Almost a month has passed, and in the last 10 days I have spent 418 minutes on the Nordic Trak exercise treadmill. That’s almost 7 hours. The goal of being able to briskly (~3.0+ MpH; short legs, sorry) walk for 60 minutes was reached this morning with 65 minutes and 3.58 miles.

Those who have exercised for years may laugh and giggle about this, but if you start out with 222.4 pounds and a blood pressure value that makes people wanna send you to the ER, things are not that easy. Knowing that you will be on blood pressure medication until your body recovers to a normal state, your metabolism changes and your heart and mind learns to cope with the constant and painful setbacks of a shitty personal life, things sometimes look insurmountable. Being out of breath after climbing the groceries up 10 flights of stairs was certainly the RIGHT point to start this out…

But these 21.42 Miles have done a lot of things to my body, together with a better diet. I dropped weight! My lungs feel more voluminous, even though I still smoke and my water consumption has gone UP tremendously. Some pants no longer fit – they simply fall off. Oats, Banana’s, Apples, and Veggie Soup, a daily multi vitamin, some good ole fishoil and lots of milk after exercise help a lot. I still don’t have a scale (hence I am not hunting specific weight numbers) and limit the “weighing of the whale” to the friendly doctors office. That happens supposedly every two weeks and last time I was some 7 pounds down. More on Monday on that…

Don’t wait until you get shot at with threats for strokes, heart attacks or other cardiovascular diseases. Do something today, start small, be the joke of the class (because everyone constantly outdoes you) but rest assured that starting today is one more day of being able to fly, have a medical and feeling like something is changing, other than the date and time. More sometime soon…

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Yes! Even old farts can do stuff!

Summary of first 2 weeks:

• Exercise/ Treadmill 7 days per week for 30 minutes.
• Exercise/ Treadmill 7 more days of between 40-45 minutes.
• Diet changed to higher protein, low fat, reduced sugar, Toronto General Hospital Diet.

Results:

• Weight lost: 7.5 pounds!
• Blood-pressure medication + exercise dropped BP by 60/30!
• Smoking: Reduced, but not yet stopped.
• Off to week 3 & 4… updates to follow. ♥

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The Seaplane World

Seaplanes have been around for decades.

On March 28, 1910, the first successful seaplane take-off from water at Martinque, France, occurred. The seaplane or Hydravion was flown by its inventor, Henri Fabre.

That’s 101 years of heritage we are rightfully proud of. Seaplanes have contributed a lot to societies and economies, and even though the ‘sport’ remains as a microscopically – tiny niche product of aviation, seaplanes are flown by people who want to connect H2O with Lift. This is done very passionately and usually at great financial sacrifice.

For the most part seaplane pilots stay to themselves here in the U.S. of A. Entrance into the ‘special’ club is usually granted through acquisition of a seaplane rating and that does usually not occur very early in a aviators life. People generally start flying land planes, get the opportunity to ride in a seaplane, or see one on a nearby lake and get nosy. Even when the seaplane rating is finished, many turn back to land planes and put seaplanes on the back burner, until the flying budget allows for such ‘escapades’.  Consequently, when the average seaplane pilot arrives in the cockpit of a seaplane, they are financially settled, rather successful in their trade or profession and also experienced enough to have built their own opinion on things.

Exclusivity is rather well established in our industry, which can make entrance and existence for younger people (as a valuable partner) very hard. When a greenhorn enters the stage, reactions can range from smiles and cheers to downright embarrassment for the greenhorn. Questions may or may not be answered, the quality of answers may be affected by the mood of the person answering them, and is generally affected by what the individual considers important. It is entirely possible to learn how to fly seaplanes in Maine or Minnesota and never find out where else there may be another individual going through the same thing, just with access to different information. If we stay local and close our eyes to our surroundings, we tend to lose a lot of valuable input from others. Especially when it comes to advocacy and training, exclusivity and local focus is very dangerous – as it creates homogenous environments.

To counterbalance this phenomenon and to start working on getting seaplane pilots into a more communicative mood, the seaplaneforum.com was born. Worldwide online communication between seaplane pilots has been limited to non-existent. Many aviation associations have become corrupted with financial greed and lobby-ism power and no longer have the capacity to focus on small issues and people. Some associations remain small and powerless bottom feeders, but none of them really focus on Joe the Pilot. In the grand scheme of things, the opinion and perception of a single member or group of members does not really matter, as everyone hunts for the “BIG PICTURE”. In digital photography, we come to realize that a big picture is made of many pixels (dots) which all have to interact and match each others characteristics to make the picture look good. In a human communication environment, this cannot happen without talking to each other and exchanging opinions.

When we have opinions and communicate them, we take a risk. Maybe nobody will run us over with their dump truck, but in stating opinion and sharing thought we must be comfortable with the fact that not everyone will agree with what we have to say. Discourse is born and that can be very uncomfortable for people who have not been conditioned to welcome it and embrace it as something good. Many times I hear complaints about the rough tone in communication with fellow pilots. People simply LOVE to get offended. Pilot A shares his practice to shut the engine down completely to simulate engine failures, Pilot B disagrees and calls the behavior unsafe and irresponsible. Pilot A now has several options: Option 1: Yell “Whatever” and walk away – Option 2: “Ask for clarification and back up from Pilot B and engage in meaningful discourse, or; Option 3: Do nothing. After a little over 9 years in the forum moderator business, I am comfortable saying that the majority of seaplane pilots choose options 1 & 3 more often than not. “Normal” pilots are more used to discussion.

In my opinion this is not caused by ignorance, or arrogance, it is caused by a lack of exercise in communicating with each other. While many think their opinion doesn’t matter or that they cannot answer unless they are able to speak expertly on subjects, many are very afraid of embarrassment. When I ask members of my forum why they don’t post, I find that 75% of them enjoy to read what others write, but do not wish to engage in discussion. The fear of controversial discussion keeps them silent. How sad, considering what’s at stake!

An inviting environment is incredibly important to new member retention. Engaging people who have shared something with the group enables them to become part of it. Currently, we are burning the candle from both ends. The dinosaurs are dying out, while the youngsters are denied access. Very limited learning and exchange of opinion is allowed to happen. Next time you visit the seaplaneforum.com site and read around (because you’re interested) please take the time to ask the following questions:

NON Members:

1. Does my reading here accomplish anything for this forum?
2. Do I, or have I learned something on these pages that was valuable to me?
3. If I became a member/ contributor to the group, are there questions I could ask or maybe even answer?

If the answer to any of the questions above is a yes, then we really need you to sign up and become part of the group.

MEMBERS:

1. What on this forum interests me?
2. Where could I possibly contribute? Help a newcomer? Answer regulatory questions? Share an advocacy concern? Start a picture contest? Vent about something?

If you find yourself as a member just looking to read for your own entertainment, start realizing that everything you read had to be written by someone. Someone who was willing to take the risk and put their piece of opinion out there. Someone who may or may not be comfortable with discourse but is there, trying to be part of the group, nevertheless. Unless you take them in, they will go belly up like a dead fish and disappear.

Communities are incredibly hard to build from scratch. Again, I am asking for help with it from those on our side. It cannot be done by me alone or just a handful of people.

Discuss!

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“A government big enough to give you everything you need, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have….”

 

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This video is posted here, not because I have fallen back into childhood, but to send a little signal to two of my most important readers, so many thousands of miles away. Things and people who are close to you are never gone, even when they are far away! I miss you, Mom & Dad!

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Resisting Temptation?

Here’s the promised update on the journey on the way to a healthier lifestyle. Steep goals were set, with a weightloss of 40-45 pounds and a change in diet that would allow a lowering of the blood pressure. Flying airplanes has by now totally exited the equation of this kids life, as it makes no sense to dream about flying without a medical – anyways. Opportunities are still limited, and who knows if I could take aviation related slavery income with all these student loans piling up…

I swore to myself that I would start to exercise, daily, consequently and without excuses. Enough property to walk for a while is available, the LLBean hiking sneakers still work, there are clothes which can be converted to exercise dresses and god knows, I can set an alarm bright and early. I experienced little mental resistance to this daily regimen, which includes no less than 30 minutes, but at this point always less than 60 minutes of brisk walking.  The property offers some cardiovascular challenges as well, as it is not entirely flat. Heck! It’s fun and I’d feel guilty if I wouldn’t do it.

Another change includes the religious exercise of having breakfast, which (so I am told) is the days most important meal and should set the base for the day. Even though I am not a breakfast person, I have picked this habit up religiously as well and enjoy it more than I thought I would. What I focus on the most is to have fibers and several servings of fruits during the day. Having had good success with the Toronto General Hospital Diet (fancy speak for Cabbage Soup) I can tell that I have lost weight and feel a lot lighter and less tired during the course of the day. Most of the time, I miss very little from my new diet, things such as chocolate (ohhh, sooo important) have lost some of their luster. What I do struggle with are the remnants of the old, not so healthy diet, I used to have. For example, there was Swiss Cheese and a bag of Humpty Dumpty BBQ Chips as well as a bag of Cheetos, which have both been smiling at me, the whole time. Magically and just because it’s there, I obviously had to reward myself with a handful of chips and a couple of cheese slices… Feeling almost glad that the chips & cheese are gone now, I will have to focus more on low sodium foods. Sodium is a bitch to eliminate, because almost everything that tastes good has some (or a whole lot of it) in it. But, things are looking up.

So, what’s the weight after week one?

If you’re still reading at this point, I won’t bore you with the fact that I started out with 222.4 pounds. I should probably not tell you that I don’t have a scale! First, I notice that having a scale makes one too aware of ones weight all the time + I am not hunting pounds as if I was in a race. Who am I racing? My own stroke, or a heart attack? Who’s to tell me that 6 pounds a week is too much, or too little? What if it’s 10+?  I’ve decided to wait with the weighing s until I am back at the doctors office. There I will learn what exactly has happened, how my blood pressure meds are working and if things look better or not. What I can tell, after 7 days of more or less consequent better eating: I feel a lot better and lighter. For now, that’s all I care for.

Off to week # 2. The plan: All of the above + a slight increase in daily exercise. Resisting the temptation of potato chips, paying attention to sodium labels and enough fruits and vegetables to remain full. With that, I leave you until next time… crunching a fresh stem of Celery, which is said to have lots of fiber, while being beneficial to maintaining healthy blood pressure levels…

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Time and time again have I learned that time does not always heal wounds, things don’t always get better and that some things cannot be replaced. Oliver, still missed a full two years and one day after he left for greener mousing grounds (and turned this little guys life upside down), is still a paradox to me. So many times of realizing that I fell in love with an animal that wasn’t bound to live forever, so many times of realizing that today, tomorrow or next year would be just as bad a time for him to leave. So many times, sitting in silence, wondering how he might have felt seeing what he would have seen shortly after he passed on, how everything just flew apart as if hit with a few pounds of dynamite.

He isn’t really gone, because each and every day I think about him, miss him and cherish the time I got to spend with this little cuddle monster. His meow is still in my ears, just as it was before, when I still had my daily dose of feeling loved. He is just no longer physically present, causing little reasons to smile, laugh, bark at him or even be annoyed.

Physically, his grave is not 100 feet away from where I sit. I get to walk by it, every day, being reminded of digging into the cold earth, on this rainy September Sunday 2 years ago. I remember the two toys and his brush which were sent along for his journey, any my heart aches to know if he ever gets to play these days, and who might make the time to brush him and make him feel loved.

Fundamentally, I believe he went to a better place, a place free of judgment and prejudice just like children believe in Santa Claus. Children believe in that character until they are taught not to believe in him anymore, when logic and reason set in and force perceptions and opinions to change. Deep down, I’d love to believe in Santa, even though reality is cold and sobering. Deep down I am glad that nobody ever managed to teach me that there is no special place we get to see when we pass away. I certainly wish him that he went to some place that allows him to enjoy warmth, nature and love, and I certainly hope that he can see me, down (or over) here, in the trenches.

You can laugh about my sentiments, or cry with me, but let me assure you that not many things are able to take my energy and power from me, as being reminded how odd it felt to bury this little character. Having to say goodbye, knowing that I wouldn’t see him again anytime soon was incredibly hard for me. All what’s left are memories thoughts and pictures. My unused pilot logbook still has a few of his whisker hairs he had lost over the years taped to the last page and I still smile when I think about him. I cannot truly talk about this cat unless I write what I think protected by the anonymity of my laptop. This way people cannot see how a grown guy with gray hair could feel about the loss of a little red haired cat, who just left, on that fucking sour Sunday, September the 27th. of 2009.

May he have found peace and calm and may he continue to watch over his chosen human, whom has (I swear!) tried every day, since he’s been gone, to be or become a little more of the person he thought I am…

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What in the world is this kid rambling about now?

In my usual manner of comparing life to flying and positive control of aircraft, I’d like to take you on a little journey into the world of health concerns and how we deal with them. Compared to life, dealing with upsets in airplanes and things that get out of balance which require us to retake control is relatively easy. In many situations, a look on the instrument panel will verify suspicions, clarify our current state within the medium air and let us make some choices, which may ultimately help to regain positive control of our airframe. It may be a rapidly decaying airspeed, a change in heading, altitude or an engine that just doesn’t want to put out 100%. I’d say that in 85% of such upsets we regain control by careful evaluation, making a decision after weighing the potential outcomes and by preparing ourselves as much as possible for the impending consequences. In 22 years of flying I have become habituated to the standard recipe of “letting go/ relaxing the grip/ feeling the airplane and to regain control by soft and coordinated inputs”. Static and dynamic stability have a lot to do with things, so our ability to let go might be affected by what kind of plane we fly…

To explain the graphic above and how it can be applied to our body, one would look at the ball to the left, which has a tendency to return to it’s starting point upon having a force applied to it. The middle ball behaves neutrally, will translate the applied force as it is, change position and come to a rest. The ball to the right, finally, will behave very different when being forced from it’s position in that it will continue whichever movement it started on its own account. Unless the ball to the right is stopped (by force) and returned to it’s original spot (which will require expense of energy) it will keep moving. The very same thing can happen in our bodies, when we develop issues. Some problems flare up, but try to balance themselves, some set points just move and all stays OK, and some things spiral out of control, while requiring a lot of work to get things back to normal. We can let go of ball # 1 and it will get back to normal. We can let go of ball #2 and it will just stop, giving us a chance to repair the damage. If we let go of ball #3 it’s gone.

For a while, we can ignore things that get out of balance in our body. Our weight increases, due to all the junk food, sugar and bad choices. Our stress levels increase due to temporary changes in our lives, the smoking, for some the drinking. Our cardiovascular health may suffer from smoking, clogging up important arteries, reducing the flow of oxygen and straining our lungs. But we can deal, right? We notice but do not change anything dramatically just because we’re out of breath earlier. We note, but do not really worry about the wheezing sounds when we climb stairs and we don’t fret just because our stamina has decreased. Its part of our current life, right? Well, yeah – I know… some would worry – but most people like me, will not. The fact that I didn’t, caused some things to spin out of control. While I truly enjoy spins and recovery from them in airplanes, I had to realize that my weight & blood pressure have spun out of control. That sucks!

Hypertensive Emergencies

A hypertensive emergency exists when blood pressure reaches levels that are damaging organs. Hypertensive emergencies generally occur at blood pressure levels exceeding 180 systolic OR 120 diastolic, but can occur at even lower levels in patients whose blood pressure had not been previously high.

I’ve had mildly elevated blood pressure for years, always within the limits of what the FAA Medical Branch in Oklahoma City still considers manageable. A recent doctor visit revealed severe hypertension, partly caused by a infection & fever, but probably more caused by being overweight, out of exercise and smoking. Hence, I was put on blood pressure medication and prescribed a radical change in habits. In the last year alone, I have gained more than 22 pounds, mostly because of lack of exercise and cheap food choices made by this college student. Lots of sodium, pasta, quick dinners and things that keep the wallet happy, when eating in. Pigging out with way to large portions, when eating out!

Step by Step

How to we recover from a spin? Retard Power. Neutral Ailerons. Full Opposite Rudder. Forward Elevator. Recover from the dive without exceeding Vne.  That’s simple enough… a caveman could do it with proper goal setting.

Here are my goals and I will try to provide updates, for those who wish to follow the journey and maybe share their own struggles:

Weightloss Goal: 40-45 Pounds

Smoking: STOP

Exercise: 25 Minutes/ Day – Increasing to 60 Minutes/ Day by the end of week 6.

Blood pressure under control ASAP.

Starting point: Weight 222.4 – End point: Weight : 182.4 / 177.4

Expect weekly reports!

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One of our seaplaneforum.com members submitted his introductory flight in a DHC2!

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No words needed…

A welcome & refreshing surprise…

After 1 year, 4 months and 2 days of continued and stoic stonewalling by U.S. aviation associations & magazines, the German “Fliegermagazin” finally picked the seaplaneforum.com up in it’s 9/2011 issue to help with recruiting some new members to our ranks. Let’s say I am hoping! My sincere thanks to the editors of Fliegermagazin, especially to Martin Nass, who made this possible!

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Paul B. Farrell warns of riots in 2012.

1. Warning: High unemployment is a global ticking time bomb

An earlier special report in Time, “Poor vs. Rich: A New Global Conflict,” warns that a “conflict between two worlds — one rich, one poor — is developing, and the battlefield is the globe itself.”

Just 25 developed nations with 750 million citizens “consume most of the world’s resources … enjoy history’s highest standard of living.” But now they face 100 poor nations with 2 billion people, many living in poverty, all demanding “an ever larger share of that wealth.” A British leader calls this a “time bomb for the human race.”

2. Warning: Tax cuts for the rich increase youth unemployment

In a New York Times column, Matthew Klein, a 24-year-old Council on Foreign Relations researcher, saw the parallel between the 25% unemployment among Egypt’s young and the 21% for young Americans: “The young will bear the brunt of the pain” as governments rebalance budgets. “Taxes on workers will be raised, spending on education will be cut while mortgage subsidies and entitlements for the elderly are untouchable.” And more tax cuts for the rich.

3. Warning: Rich get richer on commodity inflation, poor get angrier

USAToday’s John Waggoner warned: “Soaring food prices send millions into poverty, hunger.” The “rise in food prices means a descent into extreme poverty and hunger, warns the World Bank.” One Pimco manager warns that commodity inflation exposes “the underlying inequalities and issues related to the standard of living that boil beneath the surface.”

4. Warning: The super-rich are blinded by their addiction to money

In “Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest American Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (And Stick You with the Bill),” David Cay Johnston warns that the rich are like addicts, and to “the addicted, money is like cocaine, too much is never enough.” Recent data: 300,000 Americans in “the top tenth of 1% of income had nearly as much income as all 150 million Americans who make up the economic lower half of our population.”

5. Warning: Politicians are corrupted by this super-rich addiction to greed

In “Washington’s Suicide Pact,” Newsweek’s Ezra Klein warns: “Congress is careening toward the worst of all worlds: massive job losses and an exploding deficit.” And the debt-ceiling drama just made things a lot worse. Millions of jobs were lost during Bush years, his wars, tax cuts for the rich. Yet, today the GOP is in total denial of that legacy, blinded by an obsession to destroy Obama’s presidency, no matter the consequences.

6. Warning: Soon the revolutionaries will rage, then dominate ‘Third World America’

Yes, we are ripe for a surprise revolution. In “Third World America” Arianna Huffington warns: “Washington rushed to the rescue of Wall Street but forgot about Main Street.” Now Bernanke’s promise of cheap money through 2013 is just one more “free lunch” to the richest 1%. Meanwhile, “one in five Americans unemployed or underemployed. One in nine families unable to make the minimum payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages in default or foreclosure. One in eight Americans on food stamps. Upward mobility has always been at the center of the American Dream … that promise has been broken… The American Dream is becoming a nightmare.”

Wake up folks. Super-rich addicts are destroying the American Dream for everyone. They’re destroying the American economy. They don’t care about you. Yes, they hear the ticking time bomb. They’re stockpiling cash. Don’t say you weren’t warned. The IMF sees a new collapse sweeping across the planet. Open your eyes. You’re not watching a film. This is not a metaphor. Plan now for the revolution, class warfare, market crash, economic collapse, plan for another depression.

Read the whole article here!

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“During times of universal deceit – telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell

Our aviation world is struggling. It’s struggling with the aftermath of an event that happened almost 10 years ago, September 11th of 2001. It was that day which unlike any other in our recent past, has put a heavy ding on what we do. It has deeply changed our citizens perspective of being immune from terror, fear and injustice. The events of 9/11 woke our country up to the many shortfalls of our systems in place to protect us from such harm.

The agencies came to the rescue, with too little too late, but nevertheless, they came out swinging. Our country launched into a seemingly never ending “War on Terror”, visibly abroad, outside the U.S. but more so and not quite so visibly, against it’s own citizens internally. A frenzy of paranoia ensued, allowing for knee jerk reactions to something that was not truly fully preventable. Experts argue that with all the precautions in place today another September 11th is fully possible. Since this dark day in our countries history, we have not celebrated a fourth of July without raised terror warnings.

What we have also never done the same way again is fly airplanes, be it on the airlines or privately – exercising the “privilege” of manned flight. Miraculously, our quickly established freedom killer agencies found and continue to find the most indications for another attack on our country around the major holidays, when air travel depends the most on it’s pristine ability to function. Just in time to keep the events fresh, our awareness about all the evil is reactivated. Some argue that fear is a perfect tool to cramp new regulations down the citizens throat, some argue that only fear of terror prevents it. Better safe than sorry! I hear it all the time. Flying wise, we have lost a multitude of  freedoms and liberties we used to have. Our constitutional forefathers would turn in their graves, if they had to see what we have done to the U.S.A.

This Guy would turn in his grave, too!

But, aviation is not only under attack from it’s everlasting, true to the bone, concerned about the public’s safety, Government! The regulatory agencies have created enough havoc to bring us to our collective knees, but there is more. Much more! A newly developed style of environmentalists have encroached upon our liberties, some of them entirely focused on bringing an end to aviation as we know it. They do not attempt this feat by mere logic & dialog. NOPE! They sue. Courts settle complaints of paddlers and tree hugger’s , if the governing local agency does not collapse instantly. Their goal: ABSOLUTE SUBMISSION. There is no compromise, no common ground. The complaint can focus on the noise our aircraft make while being operated or on the fact that they use leaded fuel. If that’s not good enough, they reach out to milkmaids explanations as to why flying is dangerous, sometimes with idiotic, self declared experts speaking on behalf of them, quoting the most ridiculous reasons for why General Aviation must be eliminated.

For seaplanes and those who fly them, this means a changed environment. For most it means a sudden change, unanticipated, one they are ill prepared for. They are not ill prepared because they are mentally challenged, mind you! They are ill prepared because they have been kept in the dark, for decades, about the impending crisis. For decades we have operated out of lakes, rivers and puddles, safely and respectfully to our environment. We’ve done all the things good people do. Communicate, educate, take people for rides, so that they can see that what we do is not all that crazy. Look! Fish do not suddenly pop up dead, just because a seaplane landed or took off. More invasive species are transported by birds, turtles and boats (driven by sometimes utterly drunk drivers) than we could produce in a decade. We have been proactive and nice, we have been good diplomats. Did it work? I am sorry, but I doubt it did! I think we do not communicate enough, fast enough, real enough and hard enough. We do not share, collaboratively, what we have learned along the way. We do not properly communicate seaplane accidents and incidents, which in some sick twisted way have and continue to be used against our arguments. We keep a lid on things! Would we not do so, god forbid, the press could learn, do better research and find facts from idiotic fiction!

The matter of the fact is: We are being taken out of business!

Instead of collaborating, we fight silly email wars, we seek the good message in huge “grease in your ear” telephone conversations about how the world will change, oh so soon. Meanwhile – Lows Lake is being closed to seaplanes. Meanwhile the environmentalists sue. Meanwhile our generational conflict remains unaddressed in it’s entirety. Meanwhile we just accept that seaplane pilots don’t like to type and share their knowledge. We don’t push them, we don’t pull them. We leave them be! Those in charge of pretty much all the major aviation organizations (insert 3 or 4 letter abbreviation here) have been challenged, asked, begged, screamed at… and still – things are the same. Blanket statements, idiotic blah blah, fake solutions, lies and bullshit, red tape, lack of transparency, lack of basic style and respect for your fellow airman. The emperors need their underdogs and peons to get their mission accomplished. Focus on the good news, entirely blind to the fact that for every waterway rescued from closure to us, there are 10 (ten) in the pipeline, currently being attacked. Limited written communication, if it can be done the choice is to talk on the phone, as nobody can ever hold anyone accountable for their lack of action, compassion and understanding. It’s nothing short of a shame. It’s untrue in it’s very nature.

What I believe will happen soon: These organizations will dissolve, become silly luxury clubs for the rich and beautiful, shadows of what they were intended and funded to be. We can’t fix them from the inside, and we have no right to critique them from the outside. So, what do you do? Do you believe you can be part of an association that acts slower than the Federal Aviation Administration? Do you think your money makes a difference? Can your association leader truly relate to a peon, who can’t afford the gas/ insurance/ hangar or maintenance to their aircraft? Can they deal with people who are not writers and book authors, in perfect mastery of the English language?Can they still deal with you, after you become emotional, because the lake in your back yard is being taken by nothing but pure ignorance? Can they motivate 7.000 or 430.000 members to get up and fight? Can they continue to ask you to jump on a broken, leaky boat? What’s the goal? Drown in unity? Good questions, bad questions, constructive or not – I do not know, nor do I care. What I do know is that I will not be part of the wall of silence. We’ve got too much on the line to remain silent and passive.

To those in charge of any such organization – may I recommend good literature to learn the ropes of effective leadership? You’ll need it!

Signed: Peon.

That brings me back to where I started:

In times of universal deceit – telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act!

Rest in peace, George Orwell!

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Here it is, a creation of a bored & thunderstormy afternoon in June…

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How many “friends” do you have on your social media applications?

How many of these people do you actually know, like or value in your life? How many of them know? If they do, how many of them actually converse with you from time to time? If they don’t, why do you keep them on your facebook? How many of them never actually respond or say anything when you post? How many of them “like” what you write but ignore it’s meaning and purpose?

Then, why keep them?

Think, act and life will go on even without people who’s life on facebook is limited to Farmville!