Presidential Campaigning

So, the 2008 Presidential campaign alone has cost $1400 Million to date. That could feed 92 million people for a year, ending more than 10% of world hunger, and going a long way to preventing the 80 million deaths each year from starvation/malnourishment. Thats the equivalent to feeding nearly 1/3 of all Americans.

Oh, but that money is better spent on two egotistical liars.

(And all elections nationwide costs more than double the above. Yeah thats alot of hungry people. But its easy to stand back and point fingers, hooray Planet Earth-)

Backwards Outline

- Intros the joy of flying
- The reasons for pursuing a license (freedoms)
- First fears, fiscal costs
- Elaborated fiscal costs
- Why it is worth the fiscal cost
- More reasons to fly (joys)
- How to find community in aviation
- The good peculiarities of the flying community
- Data on pilots (Don't you want to be one?)
- Summarizing the costs/benefits and why it is all worth it

Response to Peer Review

The purpose of the essay is clear, but the grammatical details of the essay need to be worked on. The wording is also awkward at times, and there needs to be better transitions. Overall, the essay is sound though. The transitions are weakest around the topic of Oshkosh, which will need to be strengthened to better serve the purpose of the essay.

Question of the Day

What is:

the nothing that is?

Draft

Hey. Just finished up working on the draft for tomorrow (wow, I guess its finally after midnight, so we will be working on it later this morning. Thats a scary thought!). It is coming along nicely, just moving paragraphs around and trying to capture the incapturable essance of an essay. Whatever that ends up looking like. Oh well, at least it was a beautiful day and the best thing is that tomorrow is Friday! I like being alive.

A Good Essay?

First, lets look at my essay. Its not all that bad, but it needs alot of work. There are several misplaced paragraphs and one paragraph that should probably just be deleted. Also, the wording within the paragraphs is simply weird at times. It is rife with grammatical errors, not to mention the need for clarity of the extended metaphor. Also, my views of flying changed in the last hour, so that might make it into the essay. Its hard to support flying when you know someone who survived a fatal plane crash.

"Professional Essays" (is there such a thing?) are obviously different from mine in several ways, so I need to look to see what the fundamental differences are. I think it is easier to swim across the English channel than define an essay, but most essays share some common themes. Essays are not poems for starters, and they often tell a story or illustrate a point. It is simply a well constructed and illustrated opinion/observation. "Good essays" are compelling to the reader and convey an experience or idea effectively and neatly. Sometimes it is easier to spot what an essay isn't, and then steer clear of that. Poor essays seem impersonal and erratic, fake and incomplete, and simply painful to read. A good essay is enjoying to read and enlightening, whether that be about an experience or idea.

Airplane Crash

It really hits home when you know someone in a fatal homebuilt airplane crash. The person who taught my best friend was in the plane and survived (air lifted to hospital), but he is pretty beat up. I remember flying off that same grass runway 3 months ago, and talking to the instructor for half an hour. The pilot died on impact after the engine failed.

The instructor was in another crash about 2 months ago after a similar plane's engine died, but he walked away luckily. Even the most experienced pilots can't guard against total engine failure.