Blackbird

An SR-71A Blackbird On My Shoulder

By John Taylor; 2007 Apr 29

Next month's public talk sponsored by the Haldimand Spiritual Assembly will take place on Tuesday, May the 8th at the Dunnville Library's Garfield Disher Room. Ron Speer will be speaking on "Mary Lou's remarkable spiritual journey, at 8:00 PM. Here is his summary of the presentation, which I have been asked to video tape.

"Ron Speer and his daughters, Kim and Shannon will share the story of Mary Lou Speer's 7-8 month research into what the Baha'i Faith was all about. It became a spiritual journey that was very intense and life altering for her and her family. The result was a greater understanding of the unfolding revelation of God's messages to his people through His Manifestations, the great Messengers. Christ became even more significant to her as she embraced this new Faith."

Two days later, on Thursday 10 May, our monthly Philosopher's Cafe meeting will take place in the Wainfleet Public Library, the subject of discussion being, "Is the Internet a Good Thing?"

Golden Rule Feedback

Recently I wrote a series of posts on the different gradations of reciprocity and the Golden Rule. Roberta Hill responded:

"The Platinum Rule as described by Tony Alessandra (who is credited with taking this concept and elaborating on it) is actually: "Treat others the way they want to be treated." Sounds simple and obvious once you think about it. . . but not so easy to put into practice. How often do we stop and think `What would our spouse like?' or `What does my boss really want?' Perhaps as you wrote: "Above that still is Baha'u'llah's "do unto others more (or better) than you would have them do unto you." I guess you could call that the Uranium Rule." It still comes from an ethnocentric position of "me". As I believe you are saying - it is not what is right. What would the other want?

"The Platinum Rule is not just a concept but has a whole model behind it to help others figure out where others are coming from and help someone put himself or herself in someone else’s shoes. There is even an assessment to better understand your own style and that of others. To find out more, you might be interested in reading this article by Tony Alessandra on my web site:

<http://www.assessmentsnow.com/articleplatinumrule.asp>

"My associates (and) I use The Platinum Rule assessment with individual coaching clients but where we really see the power of the tool is when working with teams. But some of us use it with families and children just as successfully. Disclosure: Besides having my own blog about assessments and personality tests, I also sell "The Platinum Rule" online. If readers are interested, they can purchase this create tool to use at 40% off just contact me for the special code. <http://www.assessmentstoday.com/>

Blackbird on my Back

Raising a boy has been very different from a girl. Silvie at Tomaso's age (7 years old) devoured almost the entire fictional picture books section of the library with me, but Thomas fixates. He picks out one non-fiction book, like one called "Black Holes," and goes over one or two pages at a time. In this book it was a two-page spread speculating on how a worm hole might transport you from point A to point B instantly. His latest interest is in "The Big Book of Airplanes." Not the whole book, mind you, but the two pages dealing with the SR-71A "Blackbird." This, I soon learned, was a spy plane, or more officially, a reconnaissance aircraft. I had the page almost memorized, constantly answering questions about its airspeed (Mach 3), its heat levels after a flight (you could overcook a steak on its skin), its stealthiness, and on and on.

I was sick to death of the constant barrage of questions at all hours about the SR-71A. My knowledge of that plane is sadly inadequate, even with the little briefing in that library book. Then I remembered the all-seeing oracle, Google and took him onto the Net to read more. A mistake, I realize that now. We got onto the manufacturer's site, which had new pictures, then the Wikipedia article (now that searches are ridden with advertisers hawking biased and unreliable information, I always look for the Wiki article, which is usually quite close to the top in just about anything you search).

Wiki explained that the SR-71A's skin is made of an 85 percent titanium, 15 percent composite alloy -- and Thomas was hooked. Titanium! Many a time I have played down the properties of titanium, to no avail. The Yugi-oh or Pokeman or some other kid brain worm ideology plays up the magical properties of titanium, I suspect. But I keep telling him over and over that titanium is just a metal, it may be a bit stronger and lighter than aluminum but it is not all that special. It does not defend you against hyper blasts or confer immortality. But a father's words fall upon unbelieving ears. The Wiki article makes it worse by talking about how when the plane was first built they had to smuggle titanium out of Russia, how when they forged it with one kind of water at one time of year and it had different welds from when they forged it at another time. Worst of all, the titanium gets stronger and harder with age, being annealed by the severe heating of frequent hypersonic flier miles. "Does that mean that it will be impervious to nuclear weapon attacks?" No, no, it just means that it gets a little harder with time.

When Tommy first mentioned the Blackbird I said I thought they stopped making them back in the Sixties. "No, our principle told me that they made a new one." I had promised them a reward point when they demonstrate that they have learned something in school that I did not know before. He claimed his point. I tried to weasel out of it. "Where did you learn it? What was the principle doing in your classroom?" We were in the library when she told me. "Sorry, you have to be in the classroom to get a point." But it was in the school library, not the public library. I had to concede the point. Then when we were reading the Wiki article we read that the last Blackbird went out of commission in 1998. I could have disputed his reward point but let it pass; the point is that they try to learn something new. I can hardly hold them responsible when the information is flawed.

Another big thrill came when we read that the Blackbird was flown out of the Skunk Works facility. I told them how nobody is allowed near that place, how for decades a special breed of hobbyists would congregate on the hills nearby to take pictures of the mysterious machines flying out of there.

Then things got much worse for me.

"I want to buy a blackbird." No individual can have them, even a billionaire. They are only allowed to be even seen by skunk works personnel. Nobody can get near the skunk works, much less fly one. "I want to work at the skunk works." Sorry, you would have to be very good at math and science to get a job there. "But I am good. I am among the best in our class." Sorry, I am talking very, very good. Math geniuses. To give you an idea how good you have to be, they station skunks around every corner in the skunk works. Whenever you round a corner the skunk sprays you and you have to calculate where every droplet of spray is and dodge it. A supercomputer could not make that calculation, but you have to do it instantly. If you come out at the end of the day and the guards smell the slightest whiff of skunk on you, you are toast."

His response was, "No, they did not!" along with laughter.

Note to self: at seven years old they have passed the fun stage of total gullibility. Now that they have the Internet they could check up on my confabulations in a few seconds anyway. Really, the Internet must be a bad thing if it makes it so hard to have a little fun with the innocent. An age of parenting is dead, long live the new information age.