David vs Clint (LA Times)
While I’m happy to explain my work, I’ve always declined media personal interviews (roughly a couple dozen so far). However, here’s a rare story where I agreed to a published personal interview about my 15 year effort leading the campaign to successfully protect the imperiled Monterey pine forest from Clint Eastwood’s Chainsaw Massacre.
The reason I allowed the interview is the writer, Continue reading
Live video of our Earth from orbit (from the International Space Station or ISS) Earth Surface from Orbit
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/isslivestream.asx
And here’s the ISS ground tracking position to you can tell where on the earth it is. http://iss.astroviewer.net/
Continue reading
I like this. Clark the Comedian 
Naaaahhh. That’s way too mild.
This is hilarious, brilliant and inspiring. maybe the funniest and most fun bit in years.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw
PS His name is “Clark”
How about a Raccoon?
Of course not.
Ever wonder why they don’t need help keeping their backsides clean?
Could it be their stomachs have Good bacteria helping out there?
Dear Carmel Librarians !
Gosh I can’t tell you how delightful to see your recommended film of Dick Criley talking about the Strikes around 1934.
What a wonderful talk to bring those tense – just pre-World-War 2 days to life ! Continue reading
(c) Copyright 2025, David Dilworth
Cookies – Too Good to Pass Up
Never a marijuana enthusiast, here’s an event that ended my already rare encounters with it.
One lovely summer evening, my camping friend Steve and I visited Pat, a High School friend at his Carmel Valley Village home. Pat was busy when we arrived. He called down from upstairs “I’m doing a massage. Make yourself at home and eat something.”
Ok.
For two perpetually starving hikers (Not really; neither of us has ever missed a meal.) we were delighted with that prompt. And well Steve – he’s the closest thing to a gourmet cook on the trail. On an early overnight hike I pulled out my standard crackers and cheese. But Steve unstowed a camp stove and proceeded to make steak with mashed potatoes and Gravy !
Our attention was immediately commanded by a plate covered with marvelous looking large chocolate chip cookies. Cookies so big and tasteful it took minutes to delightfully consume. Mmmm that was good.
Steve and I looked at each other and grinned. Pat was still busy upstairs. So – sure let’s have another. Continue reading
Paraglider Wing-Collapse
Courtesy of Dreamstime.com
Flying is a Deadly Serious Endeavour !
I’ve lost several close friends to foot-launched flying, others are permanently disabled. I don’t want to lose any more friends.
If this article saves one friend from harm or death it’ll be more than worth it.
I’ve been flying hang gliders around the world since the early 1970s: Fabulous soaring in wonderful places including England (my favorite is Devils Dyke), Norway (Bodo), Belgium, France, Italia, Espana, Japan (Hakone Peninsula), Australia (Morning Glory above Burketown), even the Soviet Union (before it was just Russia). I was the first pilot to fly a hang glider in the tiny country of Andorra in 1976. Taught hang gliding in many, many countries (to many people who didn’t speak any English) – including North of the Polar Circle.
I didn’t get to keep flying for this many decades by treating flying as an off-handed frolic, lark or a gambol.
With Windsurfing – when (not if) you make a mistake – you just fall in the water, laugh, get back up and keep playing. (Yes, you could get run over by an Aircraft carrier, but that’s exquisitely rare.)
With Hang Gliding or any kind of flying – when you make a mistake – you can easily Die – in mere Seconds. Continue reading
(c) by David Dilworth
Opening Presents Under a Giftmas Tree
I love trees. My dear brother does too, but its probably related to how he loves opening presents – which sometimes magically appear under trees. (We’re both diagnosed as genetically happy.)
Of course most of us relish getting presents, but he seems to get extra passionate delight from it.
He isn’t really bothered much if the present isn’t for him. Its the opening that delights him.
He is so enthusiastic, when he was young, and our neighbors got a head start putting up a Christmas Tree, occasionally he’d quietly wander into their home, settle down under their tree and start opening their presents.
Thank goodness we had such wonderful neighbors who found it charming, rather than alarming. But then many people fall under the spell of his affable innocence and become his admiring cheerleaders and friends.
Our neighbors would just re-wrap their presents, have a fun story to tell – and more often than not they would bring over a special present just to enjoy my brother opening it.
So all was well.
When I moved out and put up my own Christmas / Holiday trees*, of course I’d always have my brother over to enjoy it – and to find a present or two specially for him. Continue reading
San Francisco Windsurfing Bay Crossing Race
(c) Copyright 2021 David Dilworth
Racing Windsurfers in the Golden Gate Bridge shadow.
Windsurfing Quick on Carmel Lagoon
Starting from the esteemed St Francis Yacht Club, zipping across San Francisco Bay to Fort Cronkhite’s Horseshoe Bay, then back. In the 1980s this SF Bay Crossing was one of the earliest world class windsurfing races.
Dawn revealed a gorgeous San Francisco Spring day for a windsurfing race.
Cloud and fog free meaning sunny blue skies. By 10:am our wind was already strong. A flood tide made for smooth water which lets us go as fast as possible because the current was pouring into the bay along with the wind. Continue reading
(c) Copyright 2011 David Dilworth
French folks have a lovely saying (yes, I’m a friggin polyglot) —
“On peut manger,
mais on ne peut pas dîner
en moins de deux heures.“
Meaning: “You can eat,
but You cannot Dine – in less than two hours.“
In that vein, you know how to get maximum pleasure from eating a cookie – right ?
Well, maybe not. . .
Yes, its quite impertinent of me to suggest. However — if you want to extract maximum pleasure from dining of cookies (and who doesn’t) – You need to realize you’ve been eating your cookies wrong !
Whoa. What ? ! ?
Please hold your ammunition while I explain – with a few simple questions. Continue reading
Smoke Ring
Only today did I find an online video that beautifully illustrates how a thermal works.
Its a video of smoke rings ascending from the volcano Mt Etna in Italy.
Technically, these smoke rings from a volcano are thermals. However, I hope no one ever tries flying in these extremely toxic smoke rings.
No, the video is for education only. However, if you carefully watch the flow of the smoke around the edges, you can more easily understand where to fly to stay in an invisible thermal.
The general rule for soaring is — turn towards the wing that is getting pushed up.
This keeps you in the thermal, which is almost always trying to spit you out. (1)
Notes: Yes I realize sometimes pilots have been caught in thunderheads, sucked up ten thousand feet or more and literally froze to death, but those kinds of violent conditions are so rare extremely few of us will ever encounter them.
Success by Joshua Earle
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
“Talent will not;
nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.
For correcting photographs, while I typically prefer other image programs, which do a better job on details (e.g. Sharpening, Noise reduction, Lens corrections and high Dynamic Range images — Lightroom creates garish “halos” at HDR edges) here’s my quick Lightroom 3.x overview / tutorial.
Lightroom 3.x shows your lighting adjustments quickly (once you get it running – it takes a long time to load even on a fast machine).
There are several independent “modules” available across the top of the screen: Develop, Library, (Slideshow, Print and Website – which I don’t use).
To Import images you press “Ctrl-Shift-I” (even if in Develop mode).
And that is everything you need to know about “Library” module. Its supposed to help you organize your images, but it is so pathetically slow and awkward – I don’t use those functions.
(It is a big time waster to delete or rename images when you are in “Develop” mode because you have to go back to Library mode. There is no good reason why some basic Library commands like Import, Rename and Delete images aren’t available from the most used “Develop” module. )
Kevin Gene Collins was a great guy. Always kind, happy, generous, fun, gentle, quick to laugh and even wise. He lived his whole life in Pacific Grove except for a few summers at his cabin in New Mexico.
Mechanical Wizard: Kevin enjoyed fixing things; especially working on cars or trucks. He could take apart anything and fix it — from vehicle engines, to trucks to electric devices. We’d sometimes kid him about the fasteners left over when he put it back together, but we knew that whatever it was – when he was done it always worked – and usually better than before he showed up.
In his last years he cultivated an interest in wind generators. He put up a couple in his backyard to learn how they worked. I tried to explain the theory of them, but he was a solid empiricist and never quite believed my explanations. He had to see it working to believe a principle.
We met because we were neighbors growing up and shared an enjoyment of racing slot cars and exploring our area on bicycles and hiking. Once, while we were racing on a time trial in the woods, he “lost” his bicycle over a bank.
Hal and Alan Williams and I walked back to help him but we couldn’t find it either. Kevin went back the next day and found it down a steep ravine in a tiny creek hidden in some overhead high rushes/weeds.
Generous: Once I needed a carpet in my home, Kevin did a great job installing it and then refused to take any money for it. He also would often “lend” us valuable tools and then would pretend he didn’t recognize them when we’d bring them back – so he wouldn’t take them back. I’ve got a carburetor vacuum gauge that always I’ll honor as a memory of him.
Ray Bradbury
Some believe science fiction writing has few rewards besides the fabulous fantasies of never seen worlds. Continue reading
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke
David and Thinker
It is an honor and delight to have discussed, sometimes debated, leading edge ideas in an array of disciplines with more than my fair share of the world’s smartest people. Many of them have become close friends, and in many cases we worked together.
Some of them include Hal Williams (Engineering), Paul MacCready (Human powered flight), Hank Medwin (Acoustics), Morley Baer (Photographer), Doug Scott (Climber), Edmund Hillary (Everest Climber),
The Best (and worst) Monterey Peninsula Businesses
A business only gets on this list if —
1. Friends like you have asked me for a recommendation,
2. I have had direct personal experience with them,
3. They have provided reliable exceptional service – with no bad experiences.4. Or they have done something seriously terrible in Consumer Fraud or done significant harm to our community.
Dear Friends,
I have a bunch of stuff that I’d like to offer to you before I sell it on Craig’s list or give it away on Freecycle. So let me know ASAP if you want me to save something for you.
Call, email or just come on by.
Update Feb 2014 – In my move back to Carmel from PG, I gave away all this stuff – and a lot more.
When I get settled in a new place I will have a bunch more to give away.
Lots of love,
-David
(Strikeouts means the items are gone)
[wpb-portfolio]
July: Canteen (Boyscout)
July: Genuine Windsurfer Board (with issues)
(Just the board – no sail or other bits, but its good for paddling)
July: Encyclopedia Britannica
June 10 Boots: Hiking / Climbing – (two pair) Size 10 and 8. Two pair of boots. Hiking / Climbing Boots by Richard Pontvert – Size 10: Good shape, almost new Vibram soles, waterproof.
Hiking / Climbing Boots by Richard Pontvert – Size 8
Good shape, Galibier soles, waterproof.
These boots sell on ebay for $75.
May 3: Large Living Room Stereo Cabinet
May 3: Large “Thruster” speakers – 3 feet tall
Two 1970’s era speakers “Thruster” brand (may be Panasonic) Great sound. 33 inches tall.
(you can set lamps on them.)
Don’t forget “Freecycle” – you can get anything common for free (bikes, sofas, televisions etc.) (Update: Freecycle has been ruined. It now has at most 2 or 3 posts a day. Contrast that with 40-50 previously. Now Check Craigslist “Free” instead.
And its as much fun to give stuff away – the recipients are so grateful.
All it takes is a Yahoo email account – which is free also.
In 2003 after a significant amount of research, I wrote about 3 extremely promising potential cures for skin cancer / melanoma.
Based on those research results, I predicted that within 10 years no one should die of skin cancer – the same as no one need die of starvation.
Well, its not quite ten years yet, but this week two drugs were approved which solidly cure some skin cancers :
Vemurafenib and the combination of Dacarbazine with Ipilimumab. An article explaining the breakthroughs is “Skin cancer treatment: Biggest breakthrough in 30 years” in NewScientist.
Continue reading
Best Bike Seat Ever ?
Bicycles are a fabulous invention; one of the best ever. Right up there with fire and the USB connector.
Transportation made easy, fast and cheap. Plus you stay in healthy shape without realizing that you are exercising.
But (no pun intended) what is the huge drawback to bicycles? If you’ve ever taken a long ride – say over an hour or so – what is your biggest complaint?
Right – the seats are awful. Some would say excruciating. They seem almost intentionally painful. They put all your weight on your crotch – on a piece of stretched leather. And if either foot ever slips off a pedal – what is the result ? a metal bar slammed into one of your most favorite sensitive places. Aughhh !
There’s a rumor that Cheney and Rumsfield ordered GiTMO detainees to ride 10-speed bikes 3 hours a day just so they would have to endure bike seats.
OK I’m kidding, however, The New York Times caught my attention with an article “Serious Riders, Your Bicycle Seat May Affect Your Love Life.”
