Julian's Humble Hubris

I don't think it's particularly controversial to contemplate the fact that an Introvert could exude a Warm personality type - as a matter of fact, I count a number of those among close friends!   The real issue is that the word "Introvert" is all too often overloaded (or should I say abused?), and conflated with other traits , such as "aloof", "distant", "withdrawn". And that conflation can cause disturbing ambiguity on how to interpret a self-description of "Introvert".   In particular, for example in the context of shared housing, if I were to give a slogan, I'd say that I love "Introverts" but I do rather poorly with "Very Reserved" people .  I'd better define and clarify those terms! But let me backtrack first. I'm an ambivert .  I understand, and relate to, both Introverts and Extroverts - because, heck, I'm both.  Historically, I was on the Introvert side growing up (in part due to insu...

It was a magical time for me, when I was 16 and 1/2, to go on a 3-week summer study program on the island of Malta - a pivotal moment towards my eventual bilingualism .    My first time abroad on my own! To the astonishment of friends who have grown up in a world of digital cameras, I didn't take a single picture at that time, alas... Ah, the days before handy digital cameras!  Hard to explain to anyone who hasn't lived thru them!  Teenage me didn't feel like lugging around a relatively heavy, pricey camera that needed expensive film - film to carry, safeguard and later spend more money that I didn't have, on developing...  Assuming that my dad would have loaned his camera to me in the first place! So, how to illustrate this grand adventure?  Well, I managed to pull off the Internet a number of images that adequately match my memory of the place.  Theses are NOT generic images - they are images that best approximate Malta, as close as possible to...

As I expected when I started this round-the-world blog, flight-simulator technology would improve remarkably along the journey... This entry is a re-issue of an earlier post, introducing the photo-realistic  add-on Ortho4XP  (which existed before, but I hadn't started using.)  In the next blog entry, I'll also introduce the new Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. I ended up pausing this blog throughout 2020, hugely distracted by Covid and, even more so, pulled into many directions, evaluating Ortho4XP (leading to this with/without side-by-side comparison video ), other add-on's, and the new Microsoft simulator.  But, now, finally back in motion! Live map To Turks & Caicos Islands via Tortuga and the Southern Bahamas Taking off from Cap-Haïtien, on the north coast of Haiti, where we left off in Part 5 (Northbound Across Hispaniola) , I follow the coastline westward, until I catch sight of  Tortuga island , a former haven of Caribbean piracy ...

UPDATED May 2021.    Several people asked me...  so, I quickly put together a brief description. COMPUTER A fairly high end desktop that I put together myself.  Details . GPU I splurged on a high end GPU in Dec. 2018 : Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2080 Gaming OC 8G     Manufacturer's page I have been quite pleased with it. Yoke and Controls Quite pleased with the all-in-one " CH Products Eclipse Yoke with 144 Programmable Function ". Available from Amazon . I actually like having thumb-controlled rudder pedals.... Tons of handy programmable buttons. Software XPlane 11 .  Be careful not to accidentally get the DVD version, unless that's what you want, because it does NOT include a license for the downloadable version.  (The manufacturer of XPlane 11 was of zero help, and I had to re-buy the software!!) Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 .  Will start to make an appearance in an upcoming blog entry. Add On's for XPlan...

See the above region on Google maps HOT NEWS!  I'm pleased to a announce the launch of a new YouTube channel called "A rt of Virtual Flight " , with flight-simulator videos that are somewhat longer and more elaborate than most of the short clips featured in the early entries of this blog.  Typically 1-2 mins long, from a number of scenes, with cuts matched to a musical score that I apply.  I had edited video professionally for years – so, time to put that skill to good new uses! A little down the line, I will open the channel to guest submissions ; I'll post guidelines as soon as the direction of the channel is more established... Heading Inland to the North Coast Having reached the south coast of  Dominican Republic  after crossing southern  Hispaniola  in  part 4 , I turn north and slightly backtrack westward (into Haiti) to reach the north coast of the island, the 2nd largest one in the Caribbean. For an overview of the journe...