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Author Topic: (Off Topic) Americans at play.  (Read 1062 times)

Offline goozgog

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(Off Topic) Americans at play.
« on: August 09, 2013, 05:58:39 PM »
     I watched the video of Chip Yates
and his electric motorcycle and plane.
   Not everyone had a positive response
to his endeavors and I want to comment.
 You need to know that I am not an American.
I'm an Englishman living in Canada.

  Americans play hard. They usually re-define
what a winner is with their hobbies.
Think about it.
Because Americans like to play we have......

- Control line airplanes
- Radio control airplanes
- Actual airplanes!. Flying started as hobby for Wilbur and Orville.
   Not even mentioning Burt Rutan.
- Personal computers. It was a teenage fascination for Steve Jobs.
- Cars.  Henry did it for fun before he started a company
- Windsurfers.
- Surfing!
- Harley Davidsons.   Just an after work project for them.
- Several Land Speed Records.
- Etc ....etc...... etc.....

  This list can go on and on.
Americans are very good at "play" and the world
should be grateful.
  Chip Yates might not be a "certified" and approved
expert engineer but he's doing it. In my not so humble
opinion, he's the sort of person that has made and makes
AMERICA GREAT.
 Amateur. Open minded. Bumbling. Striving. Thinking and
totally shameless. Devious. Ingenious. And finally,
brave and innocent.
Only in America.
The world needs you.

( Getting off my soap box now. Sorry about the rant)
 


Keith Morgan

Online Dan McEntee

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Re: (Off Topic) Americans at play.
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2013, 07:52:04 PM »
   Thank you very much for the compliment. You guys from England are OK in my book also! y1  Ever since the country was founded, it was built on the backs of people looking for a better way, and that's hard work. Technical advances have come as the result of necessity and the desire to be better and have a better way of life. President Kennedy, in his speech anouncing our intensions of walking on the moon, said something to the effect, "We do these things and others not because they are easy, but because they are hard." In my opinion there are few better feelings one can have than the feeling you get when you achieve something that you have been working on, no matter what it is. And we even enjoy the pain of our mistakes and use them to better ourselves. This country, and the globe, is in a strange position right now, very similar to the time period of 1939 to 1949. In 1939, our front line fighters were fabric covered and wire braced piston engine biplanes. By 1949, the jet age was firmly in place and we had broken the sound barrier, and rockets were reaching for space. All that in 10 short years. Lots of advancement in a very short amount of time. It is now the middle of 2013. Stop and think of something that was new on the scene in 2003 that you can't find anymore because it is obsolite. Think about what cell phones were like, as an example. Technology changing so fast that people can't establish businesses to take advantage of it. I feel that is one reason the economy is so slow to recover. No new jobs because we don't know what we need to make yet! But we will strive to carry on and try, because that is what it takes to survive. We have to do it. There is NO ONE in Washington D.C. that has the answer.
    Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

Offline john e. holliday

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Re: (Off Topic) Americans at play.
« Reply #2 on: August 10, 2013, 08:25:43 AM »
I too, want to thank Keith for his comments.   Just look at some of the people that came or  were brought to this great land  of ours so their dreams/ideas could be completed.
John E. "DOC" Holliday
10421 West 56th Terrace
Shawnee, KANSAS  66203
AMA 23530  Have fun as I have and I am still breaking a record.

Offline Steve Helmick

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Re: (Off Topic) Americans at play.
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2013, 09:41:06 PM »
Perhaps I should clarify: My brother is a grump, and hates anything that anybody else enjoys that he doesn't also enjoy. Using a taxiway at the same airport for drag racing on Friday night, renting/closing same airport for filming a Subaru WRX driver screaming through & around hangars, and blasting down the runway...he'd rant for hours on that. The likelyhood that the airport made a few bucks off Mr. Subaru to do that doesn't seem to matter to him. "It's an airport, dammit! Keep that other stuff away!" Or something like that. I blame it on his being a devout bachelor, never having experienced the trials and tribulations of being married or even a live-in GF. That, and living out in the desert in a small town might take a toll, I suppose. I know I don't want him visiting me often. I prefer to visit him, so I can decide when it's time to move along...2.5 days is about my limit.

I like your post...spot on!  My opinion of Mr. Yates is not the same as my brother's opinion. On the plus side, Mr. Yates at least did what he did on mostly his own dime, and not a government grant. Considering some of the things our goobermint gives grants for, it would have been a better than average use of taxpayer dollars.  :'( Steve   
"The United States has become a place where professional athletes and entertainers are mistaken for people of importance." - Robert Heinlein

In 1944 18-20 year old's stormed beaches, and parachuted behind enemy lines to almost certain death.  In 2015 18-20 year old's need safe zones so people don't hurt their feelings.

Offline goozgog

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Re: (Off Topic) Americans at play.
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2013, 04:43:12 AM »
  Just to be sure, I wasn't commenting on anyone
except Chip Yates or this would belong in the
Debate-Zone.

  I'm surprised that no one has added to the list.

  I think things like vulcanized rubber and telegraphy
don't count. They were invented in someone's kitchen,
but both were done for profit from the start.

    I'm considering what I wrote and I stand by it.
"Playfulness" might just be America's greatest
gift to the world.
  Everything on my list has been improved in
other places but the initial spark was from an
American playing around.
 



Keith Morgan

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Re: (Off Topic) Americans at play.
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2013, 08:38:31 AM »
 Just to be sure, I wasn't commenting on anyone
except Chip Yates or this would belong in the
Debate-Zone.

  I'm surprised that no one has added to the list.

  I think things like vulcanized rubber and telegraphy
don't count. They were invented in someone's kitchen,
but both were done for profit from the start.

    I'm considering what I wrote and I stand by it.
"Playfulness" might just be America's greatest
gift to the world.
  Everything on my list has been improved in
other places but the initial spark was from an
American playing around.
 




     And it all came about because of......... FREEDOM to do such things! y1 y1
   Thanks a lot,
   Dan McEntee
AMA 28784
EAA  1038824
AMA 480405 (American Motorcyclist Association)

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