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Mad as a Hatter

Some recent sketches below; most are disastrously bad ideas, extremely complicated and wasteful, but thinking through them is important. As Marc Twight said when he dropped his team's tent while descending the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat, "Well, at least I don't have to carry that anymore." Exactly. Now, I don't have to worry about these very bad ideas anymore!
But wait! First, an image by Gustave Dore', one of my favorite artists; Satan is cast out of Heaven and into Hell. Now the mad sketches. The final sketch *isn't* madness, it's very reasonable body protection I need to develop before flying the paraglider in the Arctic this winter.

Oh, wait...because it's so important to laugh, a good one from Lily Tomlin: This was an attempt to inflate a balloon during parachute descent. Not sure why I wanted to do this! It's too complicated. This one is a contemplation of the hardware for inflating the insane balloon noted above. The tanks would hold pressurized hydrogen (to inflate the balloon while descending); but a quick look at the rig shows it's far too dangerous; I imagine the tanks slamming together and all manner of mahyem. This one isn't crazy; it's good protection for the kinds of crashes / hard landings ('any landing you walk away from is a good one' says my flight instructor!) I'll have on the sea ice this Winter. And, just because it's a lovely song, The Proclaimers' "Sunshine on Leith." The lyrics are below.

"My heart was broken, my heart was broken
Sorrow sorrow sorrow sorrow
My heart was broken, my heart was broken

You saw it, you claimed it
You touched it, you saved it

My tears are drying, my tears are drying
Thank you thank you thank you thank you

Your beauty and kindness
Made tears clear my blindness
While Im worth my room on this earth
While the chief
puts sunshine on Leith
Ill thank him for his work
And your birth and my birth."
Posted by Cameron McPherson Smith at 1:04 PM