Genealogy

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I will keep on working on my family tree (and others) for as long as I live.

I descend from at least 15 people that served in the War of Northern Aggression and most of those served the Union.

I descend from at least 48 Patriots (so far) that served in the American Revolution and all served Southern Colonies.

I descend from at least 4 people who were in Jamestowne, Virginia and were Ancient Planters.

I have yet to successfully trace my lineage back to the Mayflower.

I descend from several Huguenots, Colonial Clergy and Colonial Tavernkeepers and Innkeepers.

I descend from 17 kings of Scotland, 20 kings of England (maybe more!) and 22 kings of France. Royal genealogy is still my favorite because Kings & Queens had such interesting lives!

AOPA Membership (current)

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My AOPA membership is current through Oct 2025, probably from buying the course Learn To Fly Course – Private Pilot Ground School from Sporty’s.

I have written an email to AOPA Medical Assistance about my disabilty and where to get the Class 3 medical exam accomplished (yes, I know that these are two different departments) and will wait for the response.

I have one hour of Pilot in Command (PIC) from 1987 at Colonel James Jabara Airport in Wichita, Kansas on a Cessna 150. The instructor took off, handed me the controls for the hour, then landed the Cessna.

Flying Lessons

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Thinking about learning to fly again.

My main/daily computer is a Windows 7 machine.

I have re-installed MS Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight and two add-ons that add 12 more military aircraft to the program.

I have also installed MS Combat Flight Simulator 2: WWII Pacific Theater.

I have several Windows 10 machines and an external hard drive so I can install X-Plane as well.

I need to make a call to schedule a Class 3 Flight physical (I think) and to see if I can pass that before I go spending a lot of money.

Independent Scholar books

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Independent Scholar’s Handbook: How to Turn Your Interest in Any Subject into Expertise by Ronald Gross in 1993. Almost any book by Ronald Gross is useful.

Rethinking Careers, Rethinking Academia (Series):

Chasing Chickens: When Life After Higher Education Doesn’t go the Way You Planned by Rachel Neff in 2019.

Independent Scholars Meet the World: Expanding Academia Beyond the Academy in 2021

Aircraft I Have Worked On

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I worked on aircraft for over 38 years.

Cessna 150, Cessna 150 Aerobat, and Cessna 172.

General Dynamics F-16 A, B, C, and D models as Airframe Repair specialist and Cross Utilization trained as Crew Chief, all systems qualified.

General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark: Serviced and Launched

Lockheed T-33: Aircraft Battle Damage Repair school

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress: Simulated Aircraft Structure in USAF Tech school in Rantoul, Illinois. Tied for First Place in Tech school.

Northrup Grumman E-8 Joint STARS

Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker: Started at Boeing working on….

Boeing KC-46 Pegasus

Boeing 747 100, 200, 300, 400, SP, -8, and VC-25 or Air Force One.

Boeing 767

Boeing 777

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Allan Bloom on History

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History, sharing Greek origins with political science, also has elements of the ancients-moderns identity crisis, in addition to the other problems of the strictly modern social sciences. As already mentioned, both participants and observers are unsure whether it is a social science or one of the humanities. Its matter is resistant to the techniques of the behavioral sciences, since it is particular, and therefore not easily generalizable, deals with the past, and is therefore beyond controlled experiments, but it does not want to be merely literature. I believe that none of the other social sciences includes history as part of the social science schema, with the exception of that part of political science which is concerned with political practice as opposed to social science, e.g., some aspects of American politics and of international relations. History until the nineteenth century meant primarily political history; and it, unlike political science, was not refounded in early modernity. Its traditional role was enhanced during the new foundings because it told what happened, as opposed to old political science, which told what ought to have happened. Therefore history was understood to be closer to the truth of things. History had to wait until the nineteenth century for its modernization by historicism, which argued, as it were, that being, certainly man’s being, is essentially historical. Historicism appears to have been a great boon for history, a radical step upward in status. But the appearance is somewhat deceptive. Historicism is a philosophical, not a historical, teaching, one not discovered by history. Rather than the prestige of philosophy adhering to history, the reverse occurred. All humanities disciplines are now historical—not philosophy, but history of philosophy, not art, but history of art, not science, but history of science, not literature, but history of literature. Thus history is all of these, but also none of them, because they are discrete disciplines in the humanities. History became the empty, universal category encompassing all the humanities, except insofar as it remained its modest, narrow political self. But because it does not have an anchor in political passion as does political science, it could float easily away from that dock under the influence of the prevailing winds, as politics was depreciated by so many other things, especially historicism. So, history, a wonderful, useful study, full of most learned individuals, is as a whole a medley of methods and goals, six disciplines in search of a self-definition.

The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom, c 1987, p 366-367, fn 17.