Well, after 2 years of studying, sweating and waiting for the weather to clear, I finally have my pilot's licence.

If you want to read about my trials and tribulations, it's all documented here.

So far I've gone up with some friends and family and everyone has enjoyed it. As my instructor pointed out, it may be fun to fly aggressively in turbulent weather but don't take up non-pilot's in conditions like that because you have to clean up the plane afterwards.

So now I have to save up money for some cross country trips.

I've just had enough of this winter. By March we should be able to engage in our favourite past time of trying to affect the weather by dressing inappropriately. You know, when you see people wearing light jackets and bravely shivering at the bus stop. They think dressing as if it was spring it will hasten its arrival? Granted these people have a tenuous grasp on the concept of cause and effect but you have to admire their commitment.

Well not this year. If anyone has been trying this trick they have been whisked off to the hospital suffering from hypothermia well before I clawed my way out from underneath the blankets and braved the cold.

I was complaining about this to my dearly beloved and she was putting on a brave face. "Bring it on!" she declared until she realized that I would be away for a week and a substantial snowfall would see her in the driveway trying to clear enough room to permit for the foraging of supplies.

Well I'm heading out for Hong Kong in two weeks and I can't wait. Winter has defeated me once again.

I'm enjoying Ellen Ripley's ongoing comments on moderation. I have noticed from my travels through slashdot that a lot of comments that have been ranked -1. While they usually deserve it, the question remains, what is the value of demoting a comment?

I'd be interested in knowing:

1. What is the most common lower bound on people's filters?
2. What percentage of moderations are down rather than up?

If it turns out that most people read at a level above 1 and that most people moderate down then most moderations are being wasted. This reduces the impact of moderators who like to punish rather than promote. So if the ability to demote was removed a lot of people would either stop moderating or start to concentrate on interesting/informative comments.

If there a forum to discuss moderation policy? I haven't found one.

Cheers!

Hey, I like this metamoderation stuff. I always wondered why this site was worth reading.

There must be a good joke based on the phrase, "everything in moderation". Does anyone know it?

Cheers!