Winter Musings

Winter, while not here in the Northern Hemisphere by
way of calendar, has arrived in the way of non-turbulent
airmasses on weekends.

So, what to do?

Read? Definitely!
Wax the glider when weather permits? You bet!

Find interesting articles on the web? Of course.
Here's one: In today's 'New York Times' on the web,
there's an article about 'eye black.' That's the war
paint worn on the cheek bones by athletes (at least
American athletes. I don't watch much sports and with
only rabbit ears on the tv to pick up signals, I don't
watch any sports that aren't broadcast from our local
stations. So, I don't watch soccer, cricket, or rugby
and thus, I don't know if this war paint adornment
is only an American phenomenum or practiced in other
parts of the world...)

But here's some quotes from the article in the New
York Times:

The Yale study placed 46 students in the sun and tested
their reactions using a sensitivity contrast chart.
Some participants wore eye-black grease, while others
wore adhesive stickers. A third group wore smudges
of petroleum jelly as a placebo.

The study found a small, but statistically significant,
improvement in contrast sensitivity and glare reduction
for participants who wore the eye grease, but not for
those who wore antiglare stickers. The results were
published in 2003 in Archives of Ophthalmology.

“I thought we would find it to be like war paint and
a psychological advantage more than anything else,”
Dr. Brian M. DeBroff, the lead author of the Yale study,
said in a telephone interview. “We were surprised to
find a benefit from the grease.”

Asked if the benefits were significant enough to enhance
athletic performance, Dr. DeBroff said, “Certainly
in football and baseball, where tracking a ball at
high speed is an important aspect, any competitive
advantage could be beneficial.”

End quote

So, my question is simply: Will black war paint under
my eyes just sort of complete the goofy look of the
'Gilligan hat' that already adorns my head at the field,
or will I realize some type of competitive or safety
gain with the smudges? Will 'improved contrast sensitivity
and glare reduction' help me spot other aircraft that
might be on a collision course or find that other glider
already in a thermal?

Look out fashion world, there's only one way to find
out!

Ray Lovinggood
Bored and not flying in
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA