9/11 and Flight 93 Memories of that day and those lost. Years ago, former Pres Bill Clinton was on a kick encouraging giving, and one need he advocated was Flt 93 national monument. Responding to that, I became a founding contributor. Now they want to do a Pentagon memorial.

Re: MH370 Saga- The Extra Fuel Debate The sensitive topic of the extra jet fuel added at Kuala Lumpur airport, the senior pilot's act before MH370 take-off, shows the dysfunction of the entire saga. The resulting failure of the massive ocean search should not be a surprise to anyone. Readers may, or may not, be aware that the MH370 pilot Zaharie Shah requested extra jet fuel before the flight, on the pretense of possible winter weather in Beijing. If you are not aware that the pilot added fuel, that's in part due to past social media divisvieness. Anybody who mentioned the possible suspicious implications of the extra fuel, was body-slammed to the floor with a vehement verbal take-down from pilots and deniers. Even those many pilots who feel the pilot probably pijacked his own plane, defend the MH370 pilot's right to add extra jet fuel if in his judgement the extra fuel is required for the safety of the flight to Beijing. But this defense attorney attitude, endemic to cases like MH370 (now add Air India 171), almost entirely obfuscates the apparent truth. Firstly I assert, from data I have, compared to other past MH370 flights, the MH370 pilot added more fuel than needed for a safe flight to Beijing. More importantly, it seems obvious that the MH370 pilot was not even planning to fly to Beijing that night. Assuming that's the case, the extra fuel was in all likelihood added to get to a final crash location in the Southern Indian Ocean, that the rogue pilot wanted to achieve. It shows planning, probably active pilot to end probably to a certain destination. Ghost-flight theory on life-support from the getgo. The evidence denial does not stop with extra fuel, the airport workers also added extra pilot-O2 before the trip. The $64,000 question- Would FBI agree with dismissing this evidence? No!! I do not think so. In hindsight, it is suspicious as all hell. And controversial for Malaysia because it opens the question of pre-fight assists. Not to mention the nagging question - why no ELT radio signal upon crash? Unfortunately, in the name of fairness to Malaysia/industry, the public/aviator focus has been on finding reasons to dismiss the evidence. This "Don't Tread On Me" attitude may feel good to those who feel that the truth is none of the public's business. But it is not going to find a crash spot that the FBI, if they had been asked, might have derived (from the sim data, which is also dissed by most others).

Re: JFK/Mao's Ear/Oswald Implications In the WTOP news today, in NoVA (north Virginia) we apparently have a huge model of Mao's ear, used by CIA for old-fashioned facial recognition. Gifted by the estate of Dino Brugioni (died 2015), who was a CIA photo analyst of JFK Zapruder film fame. Apparently Mao had a lot of body doubles; thus the big ear was used as a "fingerprint". In JFK lore, there is a question if CIA had Oswald body doubles and/or faked photos, as an element of framing Oswald. Brugioni, interviewed by JFK researchers in his old age, said that in the Zapruder film, to the best of his recollection, the head-shot looks a bit different compared to the Z-film version he worked on in 1963. This late-life interview is popularly cited by "JFK conspiracy theorists" as part of the "proof" that the Zapruder film was modified. The official Z-film narrative (via expert Robert Groden) is that Life Magazine immediately bought the original Z-film, after three copies were made. CIA/Brugioni presumably had one of the copies. I have a question for Groden, isn't it possible the copies looked a bit different? Groden has previously indicated that bracketing exposure on copies is one way to tease out further details (in shadows etc). In a somewhat related matter, I am aware that there is a group of Putin facial/body double recognition experts in Japan. I have wondered if that group could be asked to study Oswald photos. In the JFK case re: Oswald, there are many questions about the authenticity of the backyard rifle photos and other possible body doubles. I am aware that one senior JFK researcher, who was on Jim Garrison's legal staff back in the 1960's, is writing book about about the possible faking of the backyard rifle photos. I am waiting to see how that books turns out. In any case, defining any truth is a big mess these days, with most people favoring opinion and conspiracy theories over facts, for the fun of it? I guess? See my recent X post re: Steve Pinker on unknowability or truth these days, which captures some of my own thinking on the subject. @chadnagleesq youtube.com/watch?v=6HHoIcbV…

Re: MH370/JFK/life, etc Respected thinker Steve Pinker sits with Tobias Rose-Stockwell about why so many people today seem to prefer B.S. over objective truth. Wikipedia gets reluctant nod over social media. Stockwell has a book. Fix=? (only hope) youtube.com/watch?v=CgbT1W-K…

Mt Rushmore by Night (AI Relight) This is my snapshot with a little AI. I am not sure if some of the lights at the park are not working, the shadow especially from Jefferson's nose was ugly at night. AI allows "relight".

Re: Unleaded AvGas Rule Pretty good article in Wikipedia. Still confusing. The thing I notice is the standard "100 low Lead AvGas" is a bit of a misnomer (2 g Pb/gal fairly high). They could talk about 0.5 g/gal and get big bang for buck. The obvious zero-Lead thing is you ask refineries to blend alkylate with reformate...this costs more b/c TEL Lead is cheapest, but OK. Only reason Lead had to be zero in automotive gaso is that it poisons cat converter. It sounds like they need different AvGas grades at the "pump" and relatively few need the Hi Test. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avgas

Re: 96% Lunar Eclipse Forecast was rain w/ 100% clouds but we lucked out with some 33-66% visibility thru haze, but nobody told me it was not total - Moon was only 96% eclipsed - I think everywhere. Haze adds some interest: diamond ring effect. 96% coverage at Midnite here.

sad video of crash sequence, that NTSB alluded to being in social media youtube.com/watch?v=dN7WVfv7…