Memorial Day Weekend on the Lake!

It's hot!! Unseasonably hot!! What better way to spend a hot day than on the lake? That's what we all did Saturday. Christy Lake wore her new bikini for the first time, and she loved it!! Here's a picture of Grandy and her. There must have been 100 boats and jetskis around while we were crusing on the pontoon. Some people have said that Lake Greenwood is peaceful and calm - I tell them to visit on a major holiday weekend, and then that tune will change! All in good fun!

Leo's video of Vista Australis Heli Tour

New blogger, Leo Andrade, the man behind Navigator Videos and this video has posted another great video showcasing the scenery of Vista Australis and the Bell Jet Ranger III I created last year. Simply Awesome!!

I highly recommend viewing the rest of his videos listed on his blog as well!

Watch "this" space

No, I don't mean to watch this space, as in my blog (of course, you are more than welcome to keep an eye on me) - I'm talking about here. You see, there has been some pretty significant movement over at the studio that makes Flight Simulator, and FSInsider is going to become a portal for some great community interaction. Hal Bryan has tipped us off on what he calls a "(com)promising transition." Great stuff, Hal.

I'd like to extend a welcome to Brett Schnepf - we're glad you're here as Community Development Manager! Welcome Z (a.k.a. Mike Zyskowski) as Program Manager for Developer Relations - very glad to see that title! :-) And finally, great to see your new title Hal, Flight Simulator Community Evangelist. Now, I was a bit puzzled by that title, so I looked up "Evangelist" on Wikipedia (that site is great, btw) and immediately realized that what he really means is "technical evangelist." So, I guess that means we should all really be watching this space pretty close as well (for those that want some comic relief, that is).

Whoops!!

Just Flight pulls Traffic 2005!

Simflight reports that Just Flight has pulled Traffic 2005 due to some copyright infringements. The press release goes into the exact details, but the gist of the whole situation stems from JF's use of hobbyist contributions in the product, which some have been found to be originated from two free AI enhancement groups, AI Aardvark and ProjectAI.

Opening up a payware product to contribution from within the hobby can certainly become a sticky situation - such as this one - for the very reason this has become an issue. Working in the hobby for a long time, I've seen copyright infringement of textures pop up from time to time. There are some very smart developers out there, so its best to make all original artwork - everyone's style is a "fingerprint" of their work. Misrepresentation of one's work just causes a lot of problems, so take heed...don't do it.

Cool video featuring Brasil in MS FS

This video was brought to my attention in a public forum I frequent. I really enjoyed the creative cinematography techniques used. I hope you do too!

Official FSX preview video now available

Get it here now! I don't want to spoil it for anyone before watching it, so I'll save my specific comments for another day. I will say that the more that is made public, the more excited I get. Tdragger has made a new post that is worth reading with regards to E3 and FSX - go and have a look!

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me!

Yes - I turn 32 today. Yippee - one year closer to retirement - I'm about halfway there, according to the government (well, technically, I won't be there until I'm 32 and a half). So far, so good - I got some gift certificates to my favorite electronics megastore, Best Buy. Too bad there isn't one located in Greenwood - I have to drive to either Anderson, Greenville, Spartanburg, or Columbia for one. Sounds like a good excuse to me to get out of town for an afternoon. :-)

Today also marks the first exposure of new screens of FSX from E3 courtesy of the boys at SimHQ. I hope they post more later today, as they promise. So far, I like what I see. Graphically, it will be a night-and-day difference from any previous version. Gamespot has also published a new 30-second video showing some real-time in game footage. Impressive!

[EDIT] I ran across this quick video capture of the helicopter flying over an oil rig. Check out that awesome reflection of the rig in the water! Thanks to rjetster for this capture!