Xplane11 Misc shots, and to settle a question I was asked

[John_Cillis 2,406]

Earlier today I posted some night shots of P3D and I was asked which do I prefer, Xplane or P3D.  For me the answer is (if using Xplane's autogen), Xplane at night.  I also added a few photoreal shots of Sedona, AZ and Oregon in the daytime.  I do like P3D's airports at night, they are a little brighter, but the nighttime Xplane cities are just wonderful to behold.  My nighttime shots here are out of Gaithersburg, MD, where I used to have a seasonal residence and office before moving to Arizona.

Enjoy,

John

[HLJames 2,568]

Nighttime shots working well.....love the trip to Sedona always thru Prescott.....see some Blue Ridge Mountain country!

HLJAMES

[John_Cillis 2,406]

50 minutes ago, HLJames said:

Nighttime shots working well.....love the trip to Sedona always thru Prescott.....see some Blue Ridge Mountain country!

HLJAMES

That was actually the Rogue River Valley in Southern Oregon.  But it does look a lot like the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I finally made it into the Carolinas by accident a few years ago, I was driving to Roanoke for an IT project with Advanced Automotive and took a wrong exit.  Snow began to blow then I saw the sign, "Welcome to North Carolina".  Oops!, u-turn on the Interstate.  I realized I was tired, so I turned in to the nearest hotel and drove 300 miles the next morning at 80 mph to make it to my project in Roanoke.  I also spent some time doing an IT project in Townsend TN, near Dollywood.  I drove with my partner around the area.  They had no IT support, so I broke Best Western's guidelines with my bosses' blessing, and drove to a Best Buy in Knoxville to buy Cat 5 cable for the Best Western in Townsend. And BTW, Knoxville had a great airport!

I wired the hotel in Townsend so they could function with the new system I was training them on.  But I also found a lot of union hicks (meant in jest) there, they hated that I helped my clients.  They would ask for a lot of money to do something that I could do in five minutes.  You pull the cable, you connect it to the switch, you crimp the ends.  My boss expensed my crimping tool, and I was taught by a French Canadian how to do Cat 5 cable.  People were doing it wrong, especially the unions.  Cat 5 was supposed to be an unshielded twisted pair to attenuate the signal.  Everyone in my company was being taught by the unions to just run the eight wires straight thru.  It caused interference and degradation in the signal.  Then the unions would say, "tough deal", switch to Token Ring, it is better.  In certain situations, it is better.  Finally, I acquiesced and learned to respect what the unions were saying.

It was given and take, I was teaching them and they were teaching me.  My company was driving their wages down, that is why I finally left the hotel industry and went into software development, the low pay for what you do in customer service, which is what I feel the noblest profession.  The hotel industry has very hard workers, like the airline industry, and the pay is not commensurate with the demands of the job.  I tried to become a flight attendant for US Airways early in my career but I was discouraged from doing it by some well-meaning flight attendants.  They said it is very difficult in the beginning because of the pecking level within the community. 

I have more respect for the flight attendants than I do the pilots (in jest again because the pilots are GODS), they maintain the safety and calmness of both the pilots and the passengers, to a certain extent.  On one flight, a Delta DC9 flight, the aft door by the engine was not closed properly.  The whine hurt my ears, and I hit the call button.  We were about to take off out of Atlanta.  The flight attendant, who was pregnant, came right back at me angrily.  I pointed to the door and ordered her to get the flight crew back there, she wanted to kick my keester off the plane, but other passengers shouted: "he knows what he is talking about".  The copilot came and slammed that door shut.  I think the flight attendant was pretty PO'd but you have to do what you have to do.  We in our hobby know a heck of a lot more than your rank and file traveler, and I humbly accepted the applause of my fellow passengers.  Believe it or not, it is a true story which I might have mentioned before.  Delta has been a lot better since and became my favorite airline.  Planes, Trains and Automobiles, I am Steve Martin and John Candy all rolled into one, LOL....

Another anecdote from John, the sim Poet.