Take Action on Michael Doornbos

Taking some time off

Wed, 10 May 2017 08:43:12 +0000

I’m taking some time off from my day job to hit reset. Five years ago I was a leader in Enterprise Security, speaking at conferences like SXSW and GLXP team summits, telling great stories and making a difference. Somehow I’ve settled for working for the weekend. And by time off I mean busting my ass. There will be no hammocks and cocktails involved.

Detecting spins in small aircraft

Sun, 12 Mar 2017 19:08:56 +0000

Here are three spins. The first I intentionally recovered poorly. The other two were more “textbook” recoveries.

This is just the graph of the slip/skid sensors.

Interesting that there is a clear pattern and threshold.

The goal here is to detect and give enough warning to a pilot to avoid and intervene on an impending unintentional spin entry.

Archived Comments

Paul T Breed (2017-03-13 00:31:45):

The traditional training spin is not what kills people… Next time you want to do spins go up and set up a fake landing pattern at altitude… Then get slow and do the base to final turn with some skid…. cross the controls and keep pulling back til it departs controlled flight… be high and be prepared as it will snap to inverted so fast you won’t know what happened….

Go first

Thu, 09 Feb 2017 11:23:19 +0000

For years I’ve been saying that I need a tattoo with the phrase

You become what you think about. - Earl Nightingale

This simple phrase has kept me on track in placing the important things in my life on the top of everything else. When you think about negative things you become negative. When you think about positive things you become positive. When I read books about aviation, outdoors and opening frontiers I can’t help but become a better aviator, outdoorsman and seeker of new frontiers. When I watch how-to videos on cooking I become a better cook. When I read articles about exercise and health it causes me to take action, exercise and be more healthy. It’s a simple truth. I like simple truths. Always put the big rocks in first and you’ll have plenty of time for everything else. And if you don’t have time for the little things that don’t matter then is it really a big deal? I stumbled across another one this week which really has me fired up.

Digging out after vacation is wrong

Tue, 03 Jan 2017 08:46:57 +0000

“I just got back from vacation, I need a little time to dig out of the hole I’m in now” <-- I really hate this phrase. Is it really vacation if your return to work means twice as much work for the same amount of time you were gone? A sound strategy would include proper delegation and trust in your fellow employees. Then lean on your mindfulness practice when you feel like everyone is pouncing on you the first morning. Be well rested and mentally prepared to just make some lists. Just write things down. That’s your job the first morning. Then resisting the temptation to work twice the hours to “catch up”. Most of this work in the product development or sysadmin worlds is just a need for feedback and a request for your expertise. It’s a sign that your unique gifts are valuable. But remember when everyone is trowing stuff over the fence at you to put a note on it with your feedback and toss it right back.

Don't be comfortable

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 18:09:24 +0000

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. The went out and happened to things ”

— Leonardo Da Vinci

“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. The went out and happened to things” -Leonardo Da Vinci

A hard left turn for me

Mon, 22 Feb 2016 14:13:52 +0000

I think a lot about direction lately. My trip to Daytona to meet with other EAA leaders has really solidified what I’m looking for.

This sums it up perfectly in so many ways:

[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_AztwklyIc&w=854&h=480]

Hey, once upon a younger year
When all our shadows disappeared
The animals inside came out to play
Hey, when face to face with all our fears
Learned our lessons through the tears
Made memories we knew would never fade

A new moleskin

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:30:51 +0000

[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“2500.0”] I LOVE blank pages[/caption]

My note taking is usually done old school with a modern twist. I use a medium sized moleskin to take notes and then scan the pages into Evernote.

Over the years I’ve collected quite a few of them. Sometimes they last a few months before filling up. Sometimes they take longer.

My current notebook was started in mid 2013 and is only halfway used. It is a very low number of notes for me and this lack of note taking is also reflected in a real creative low in my professional life. No podcasting. Not presenting very much. Not really working on anything interesting at all (professionally, I did get a pilot’s license this year)

Don't forget who works for who

Fri, 17 Oct 2014 19:31:02 +0000

The DMV is a government agency, and we live in a democratic republic. All power resides in “the people”, who elect representatives to serve them in government. If you’re a citizen, you’re part owner of the DMV and your representatives control it, you should be able to walk in and get what you need.

- Peter Thiel in Zero to One

This is a terrific illustration for why I HATE when I hear people aren’t going to vote. Or don’t care about politics. Remember that the government works for you. It’s not the other way around. In a weird and twisted way that police officer pulling you over is your employee. So is the judge, the IRS agent, the President…

Philip Zimmerman on why he wrote PGP

Sun, 01 Dec 2013 16:54:22 +0000

This is actually from 1999 (updated from 1991), but I love this part:

The right to privacy is spread implicitly throughout the Bill of Rights. But when the United States Constitution was framed, the Founding Fathers saw no need to explicitly spell out the right to a private conversation. That would have been silly. Two hundred years ago, all conversations were private. If someone else was within earshot, you could just go out behind the barn and have your conversation there. No one could listen in without your knowledge. The right to a private conversation was a natural right, not just in a philosophical sense, but in a law-of-physics sense, given the technology of the time.

Oats

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 08:20:31 +0000

Whoever came up with the idea of selling oatmeal at fast food places as a genius. And yes, Starbucks is fast food. What’s the food cost for a 1/2 cup of oats and some flavoring? Like 4 cents. I’ll bet the cup they serve it in costs as much as the food.

I don’t understand why you’d pay $3 for this on your way to work. You know you can grab a packet of instant oatmeal out of your pantry and bring it to work right? Microwave it in your coffee cup. It’s probably about 15 cents that way.

Saying "I hate politics" is wrong

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 11:01:44 +0000

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ‘cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. - Fictional character Andrew Shepard from “The American President”

A comment on Sprint Customer Service

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:25:13 +0000

I hear nightmare stories from people all the time on AT+T’s customer service… Yesterday afternoon Julie and I noticed a sudden loss of cell service at home. We have identical phones (other than color) and we’re both on Sprint. We’ve been happy Sprint customers for about 6 years now, and issues are rare.

I’ve worked on cell towers over the years and am an expert in radio communications, so I’m pretty patient with this stuff. We forget sometimes that we’re talking on two way radios when we use these things. Radio signals are subject to all kinds of potential interference, and the cell carriers have thousands and thousands of towers to manage. Many of them are in very remote locations, and since we live in the mountains, it’s especially remote here. The cellular system is complicated, and sometimes I’m amazed that the whole thing works at all.

It's the little things

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:53:49 +0000

We use a Keurig at the office. I’ve resisted getting one at home because I have a hard time with the massive amount of waste for a single cup of hot beverage. Cameron at our office volunteered to collect, take home, separate the tops from the cups, remove the coffee and put it in her garden, and recycle the tops and cups separately. Just how much of a difference does it make in a 10 person office?

Smash the design button

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 20:46:56 +0000

I saw this live at TEDxNASA this year. As I’ve said before, I’ve been to both TEDxNASA events and didn’t love them. This talk however is outstanding. There are so many great concepts in this 18 mins. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cE4D7OsIzuk&w=550&h=320]

Archived Comments

Chris Radcliff (2010-11-23 01:21:00):

Outstanding is right.

The most important question you need to ask yourself: why not?

Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:18:55 +0000

I’m already planning SpaceUp DC 2.0, but in case you missed how rediculous I’m willing to look in the name of Space Exploration:

(Photo credit: Chris Radcliff)

Haley Stephenson did a terrific writeup of her experience at SpaceUp DC here. I have two favorite quotes from it:

An important aspect of the unconference was the opportunity to have fun and enjoy the things that interested us in space in the first place. We fiddled with pipe cleaners (out of which one person constructed the space-time continuum), built spaceships and rovers out of Legos (our “green” ship was powered by Lego conifers), conducted a MoonPie eating contest (beware the banana flavor), and held what is probably the first Tribble war ever (they’re not as soft as they look). If this all seems quite silly, then take a moment to think on what sparked your interest in space and what fuels it now. When did you realize that space is cool?

Inspiring kids by thinking big in space

Fri, 07 May 2010 09:31:03 +0000

The audio quality is shockingly bad in this video. This was on Feb 18th, at Ignite-DC. I’d like to do a new spin on this talk soon. This is an Ignite talk. If you’re not familiar with Ignite, the talks are all EXACTLY 5 mins. You get 20 slides that auto advance every 15 seconds. It’s a real challenge to not get behind on the slides.

Despite the challenge of giving a compelling talk in this format, I do really enjoy it. It forces presenters to get the point in 5 minutes and you can get through quite a few really great ideas in a 90 minute session.

Jumping in with both feet: An Open Source NASA Android app

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:50:29 +0000

I’ve long been a lover of Open Source. Both from a philosophical point of view, and a quality of software point of view. When I got serious about Linux in the 1990’s, I spent a lot of time contributing back to the community. As time has gone by, I’ve been giving back less and less. In 2010, I’ve been working almost entirely commercially. Sure I do Evadot for free and give all of my content there away as Creative Commons, but it’s really not enough. I’ve been working on some Android apps for a while and as of today, there are few Space related apps in the Android ethos. I’ve been following the excellent work of people like Rob Schingler at NASA, and been reading the Oreilly book “Open Government”. It seems like a good fit to launch an Open Source Android project around the “new” NASA.

The art of the power nap

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 17:21:31 +0000

I have a very clear daily rhythm. My best writing, clarity, creativeness, code, whatever happens in the first 5-6 hours after I wake up in the morning. After that, my ability to concentrate drops off significantly. My energy level slows significantly. By the evening, it’s almost like I’m viewing the world as a different person. The modern solution is to slam a RedBull and push through it.

This temporary and probably very unhealthy solution pales in comparison to something I’ve been trying to master over the last few weeks: the power nap.

"Significant" water on the moon

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:05 +0000

Some sites are talking about a press conference being set up on Thursday to talk about what they are calling “Evidence of Water on the Moon - Lots of It”. If you’re not a space geek, let me back up a second since NASA isn’t even on most people’s mind these days and fill you in on what’s going on.

The short short version.

We’ve had this space shuttle since the 1980’s. Technologically amazing, but pretty boring from an exploration standpoint. As a result, the fine folks at NASA have performed amazing feats of technological greatness and the public has met this with a collective “ho hum”.

The Launch Pad: Successful NASA Program in Jeopardy!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:27:01 +0000

This afternoon (June 24, 2009) at 2:30pm Eastern Time, the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the United States Senate’s Appropriations Committee will be marking up the FY 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. For those of you feeling lost by that sentence, the plain English translation is: this afternoon, a group of Senators will be making edits to the proposal for the amount of money to provide to NASA and other federal agencies for fiscal year 2010. If recent history and the Washington rumor mill are accurate predictors–and they almost certainly are–one of the first things that will happen tomorrow is that these Senators will slash the $20 million NASA requested for Centennial Challenges, the Facilitated Access to the Space Environment for Technology Development and Training (FAST) program, and the Partnership Seed Fund. With near certainty, the budget for these programs will be reduced to zero.