Solar-Charged Skyaak UltraGlow

Skyaak Ultra-Glow basks in the Saskatchewan sun, soaking up the rays to charge the Glow-in-the-Dark rods inside the hollow shaft.

BRING on the GREEN-POWERED
Skyaak Ultra-Glow.

Make a Decision

I came across this bulletin from one of my myspace friends. It is just a beaut!

Enjoy this little gem...

Can you make a decision right now, without mulling it over, without agonizing, without gathering a stack of research or consulting a room full of advisers? It is a simple decision, perhaps a "no-brainer." It is a decision to live, really live this moment for all it is worth and all it is meant to be. It is a decision to stand up where you are, reach out your hands, and draw them back toward yourself in an embrace of the sacred NOW.

I believe that you can do it, whether physically or symbolically. Do it NOW and then repeat it in the next moment and the next until it becomes a part of the fabric of your day.

All you have to do is put one foot in front of the other until you learn and internalize the pattern of walking a new way of faith and expectancy. In this very moment you will make the crucial choice to live and overcome.

Can you make that decision?

I am cheering for you!

- Tom Sims
The Dream Factory - WWW.PastorTomSims.Com

7-7-07 : Day of Luck, Day of Alignment, Day of Coming Together

7-7-07 : Day of Luck, Day of Alignment, Day of Coming Together

To celebrate this auspicious date I am writing to add my voice to the worldwide chorus of voices that has been raised to underline the urgency of the climate change crisis.

I watched quite a bit of the SOS Live Earth concert and was really moved by all of the commitment shown by the organizers, the artists and the huge crowds that attended the live events.

It has been confirmed that SOS Live Earth pulled in the MOST EVER viewers and participants in ALL of RECORDED HISTORY for any event, ever!

This amazing feat tells us all that the time has finally arrived for the entire population of planet Earth to sit up and take notice. This is a wake-up call for polluting industries to realize that there horrible practices are NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE and that they had better take heed and invest in cleaning up their act or they will be faced with massive boycotts, embargoes and total shunning in the marketplace.

This has already started happening and will only increase exponentially as awareness mushrooms on a global scale.

I heard years ago from a person much smarter than me that there really is NO POLLUTION. ONLY a LACK of IMAGINATION to CONVERT WASTE INTO USEFUL ( or at least benign) BY-PRODUCTS.

Sure, implementing these technologies may at first appear to be a major expense for corporations, but compare the expense to the alternative of going out of business due to lack of consumer support and suddenly the expense starts looking like an astute investment in ongoing sustain-ability and viability!

For example, who knew ten or twenty years ago that the major automobile manufacturers would be scrambling in the early 21st century to re-invent themselves to come out with much more environmentally friendly products? Well guess what folks? It ain’t their green conscience driving the paradigm shift, it’s their desire to keep on making money by meeting the demands of the consumer. That’s you and me!

Its’ a bit shocking that the North American auto makers are losing this battle against their Asian competition. For some strange reason, it seems that they just don’t get it! I am offended when the domestic auto-makers whine and complain about the huge popularity of the off-shore imports when they have failed so miserably to stay ahead of the wave. It’s not like they don’t have billions of dollars to invest in research and development that would result in green technologies. But no, they prefer flashy, outmoded technology that just regurgitates more of the same. They look great but still cough out deadly emissions.

GET WITH the PROGRAM, you guys. Or face eventual obscurity!

I am looking forward to the day when parking in a shut garage with the engine running results in a glass of clear drinking water. That doesn’t kill you. So this form of suicide is null and void. A joke, actually. Can you imagine this future scenario?

As SOS Live Earth so vividly demonstrates, it will only be through co-operation and rallying around a consciousness of environmental stewardship that we have a whiff of hope for planetary sustain-ability. We all know that we simply cannot carry on this way. Think of what a freakin’ mess our great grandchildren will be stuck with if we do not take this seriously.

While my little efforts to compost bio-degradables, power down my computer, change to energy-efficient light-bulbs, drive less, buy locally produced food , grow a garden, insulate my house well, take military-style showers, etc., etc., etc. are bound to make a difference on a teeny-weeny scale, there’s no question that the really huge challenge ought not to be forgotten. And that is: the HUGE polluting industries have to get it through their pointy little heads that unless they clean up their act they are going down!

So don’t be misled into thinking that if you make some relatively painless little changes in your life-style then everything will be just tickedy-boo. That’s a lie. I believe that everyone gets to vote with their wallet. You can make a HUGE impact by demanding more eco-friendly vehicles, homes, communities. The big stuff. Your major investments. THAT’s where we all have the power to make huge strides forward.

In the meantime, I would encourage everyone who reads this post to pop into www.LiveEarth.org and sign the 7-point pledge that helps focus on specific ways that you can start to make a difference.

Acrobatic Skyaak

Ferris Wheel^


High Figure Eight^

Low Figure-Eight^

Concentric Orbits^

Infinity Symbol^ ( My fave!)


IMAGINE what you could do with Skyaak on a souped-up retractable tether. Major ACROBATIC FUN! AMAZING Scale Airspeeds. Flies smokin' fast and highly controllable! Capable of blended acrobatic stunts; from low orbit to far orbit to ferris wheel to halo to figure eight all in one sustained motion!

It is a future dream of ours to build an acrobatic aircraft that will be capable of dancing in the sky. We've extensively tether-tested a certain closed-wing configuration developed over the years and have found it to have remarkable acrobatic abilities.

It is an exceptionally stable craft. When it 's hand-launched, it tends to fly in a gentle, smooth trajectory, like it's being guided along on an invisible wire. It performs very well in tether-testing as well. When tether-flying it performs with surprisingly robust agility (once the center of gravity is exactly established). We want to introduce this idea to a wide audience to show off the amazing aerodynamic properties of the non-planar wing, and to insert the idea into the public consciousness; to pave the way for more acceptance.

You will be really impressed with the capabilities of this little craft, as it flies with a certain lucid responsiveness on the end of a tether, and also in free flight. With a tether, it is possible to reach very high speed (in scale) orbits, while maintaining complete tactile maneuverability.

You can't help but feel that this property bodes very well for the future development of this configuration. For instance, it is possible to execute a blended series of acrobatic maneuvers with subtle coaxing from the wrist and arm movements, with a retractable tether. One can execute a horizontal orbit, leading to a vertical loop, to a clockwise figure eight, and then can one can even stall the craft and snap into a clockwise figure eight. These maneuvers can all be executed in a seamless, blended series, with some practice and effort. This feature illustrates that the configuration exhibits a fine cutting edge with crisp dexterity, when flown on a tether.

We're all aware of how challenging it can be (and is) to generate funding support/investment in the introduction of 'innovative' aeronautical designs. This is why we currently explore the possibility of creating the first generation, basic model of the design as an inexpensive recreational/sports device so that a substantial R&D fund might be created in order to carry on with the development of the idea.

We are investigating having a set of vacuum molds manufactured this coming week by a high-tech firm here in Saskatoon, SK. This will permit us to carry on with the production of limited numbers of the high-fidelity product, that can be introduced as a working prototype. These molds may be tweaked and perfected as we go, but not without incurring major expense. This is an important consideration, as we are working with a fairly restricted budget at the moment.

We will soon thereafter be upgrading to a motorized version, and from there we'll introduce remote-control. We are doing all of this to illustrate the efficacy of the closed-wing design, and to hopefully create interest in the market that will stimulate some robust sales that will ultimately generate revenues that will allow the ongoing R&D to continue.

Our vision for this project would be to carry on with it's development so that it can make it available as a simple, inexpensive model that can be easily operated by hand, tether and/or RC.

We are committed to the notion that it vividly illustrates the tactile experience of acrobatic flight, and could offer an exciting hands-on experience to a wide audience. Think of it as 'ring-wing flight consciousness-raising' exercise that might receive broad acceptance in the public that could potentially create a source of substantial revenues that would allow the larger project to proceed.

What a Weird Image

Looks like a stealthy predator, trolling the deeps in search of... what? Where?

The dark 'relief' areas really look like aliens to me. Or at least some strange, anthropomorphic creatures. Which is kinda cool considering that in reality ( if you will) the dark forms are in fact formless. They are cut-out bits, obviously. But in this case the 'negative space' takes on a sentient form. Things that make you go hmmm...

Lest you think I have totally lost my mind this time, let me assure you that I am only having fun with the rich mother-lode of imagery that I have stumbled into with the Skyaak project. Please let's not forget that I am 1st and foremost an artist. I get to take some liberties with little tangents. Who knows where they will lead us in the creative thought process?

You will note that there is a method to my madness. I am leading up to something here. The next photo I post will be a fully-loaded Skyaak UltraGlow, complete with glow-in-the-dark front and rear bumper trim!

When you see this, you will get why people are so horny to fly these things around after dark. I intend to post some video of the whole thing in the next little while. That is, several people playing around with Skyaak UltraGlow in the dark. Wearing glow-in-the-dark bracelets so you can get the idea. We are having a blast with this!

Solar-Charged Skyaak!

YOWZERS! The intense sunlight shown Solar-Charging the inner Glow-in-the-Dark rods inside the Skyaak shaft.

Please Note: All of Skyaak components are designed at industry-standard measurements as much as possible to allow for really simple hacking in with off-the-shelf technology. EG: the UltraGlow kit is designed to mate with the inside dimension of the shaft.

Visitor # 6001 Incoming!

Please Note: Regular readers of this blog will remember that this post was 1st published a while ago. I am bringing it back as a reminder that this Contest is ongoing!

*FREE* SKYAAK ULTRAGLOW CONTEST

This is the real deal, folks! Last night I noticed that the visitor counter here was quickly approaching 5000. I made a mental note that this was kinda cool. Then I thought, why not offer the latest, greatest Skyaak model ( the amazing new Skyaak UltraGlow! ) as a *FREE* prize to visitor # 5001? It's a nice milestone, no?

The problem is, early this morning I went ahead to post this idea to make it official and discovered that the visitor count had zoomed right past 5000 and now it's 5033. Oops!

One thing I can say for sure is that I WAS NOT visitor #5001. Another certainty is that someone out there WAS. SO...here's what we'll do. All YOU have to do is pop me a note and tell me that you were indeed visitor # 5001. Convince me. Then we will happily pack up a Skyaak UltraGlow and send it to you absolutely *FREE*, shipped *FREE* anywhere on Earth.

This IS NOT A HOAX or an EVIL PLAN whatsoever. Simply our way of thanking our faithful readers. Or more specifically, ONE CERTAIN INDIVIDUAL who feels they were visitor #5001.

Furthermore, I had a meeting with some of my partners last night and we collectively decided that we are going to automatically qualify every visitor who trips the counter past even thousand increments for a *FREE* Skyaak UltraGlow unit, shipped to you *FREE* ! For example, visitor # 6001, # 7001, #8001, # 9001, # 10,001, etc.

THIS PRIZE OFFER WILL CONTINUE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE SO PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR VISITOR COUNTER. Simply COPY and PASTE ( right click on the visitor counter. Select 'copy'. Open up your e-mail new message. Click on the body of the letter. Press Ctrl with v. This action will paste the WINNING VISITOR COUNTER into your note.) Send this along with your contact info to us via e-mail and YOU WIN!

Look forward to hearing from you.

Michael Gaudet
President, Skyaak Enterprises
Ph: 306-946-3676
e-mail: mrgaudet@gmail.com

‘Weeding an Over-Grown Garden’: From Frustration to Success

‘Weeding an Over-Grown Garden’
From Frustration to Success

A Contemporary Parable

Once there was a man who said he would help his wife weed the garden.

He was no expert gardener, but knew enough to go ahead on his own. Or so he thought.

He settled down to work, surveying the vast abundance of weeds. There were way more weeds than planted stuff. He had helped his wife sow the garden so he knew where the rows were. They were marked by stakes.

He started the painstaking work of isolating what he figured were pea plants out from all the mess of weeds. Looking around, he could not really see a row of pea plants. He thought that they were a bit thin here and persevered picking out all of the arm-fulls of weeds to reveal the straggly ‘pea’ plants.

A full hour later, he had little to show for his efforts.

“Man!” he thought. “There must be an easier way to do this!”

Just then his farmer friend who owned the property pulled up in his pick-up truck.

His friend joined him in the garden and informed him that he was weeding out a...weed! He was weeding out buck-wheat, which is a weed and NOT what he thought it was. To the inexperienced eye, buck-wheat is a pale imitation of a pea plant. It has spade-shaped leafs that spiral around a vine. Similarly, a pea plant has a heart-shaped leaf and grows on a vine.

Zoinks! He had just spent over an hour in the hot sun weeding out weeds.

On the bright side, his friend’s salient nugget of information provided a rapid answer to his desire to discover a quicker and easier way to weed the garden. His friend, a veteran gardener, knew exactly what to do and was happy to share his experience. Set on a more correct trajectory the man was able to plow through the remainder of the entire garden within only a couple more hours. The farmer’s advice came at just the right time and provided a sure-fire means to succeed at the task at hand. Before this important tip he was pretty much wasting his time in a state of idle.

In much the same way, you as an entrepreneur must recognize the fact that you likely cannot do everything required to launch your fabulous new idea or product. If you are struggling in a state of idle despite your best intentions you might want to ask yourself if you are weeding out the buck-wheat instead of the peas. In other words, is there a critical piece of information that you are lacking? You might not even realize it because you simply lack the experience (say, in marketing...) to isolate and deal with the weak area that is holding you back.

The man who thought he had the ability to weed the pea patch was fooling himself. He needed to consult with someone more expert to maximize his efforts. Failing to realize this, he has set out in vain to achieve an almost impossible task...to weed out the buck-wheat from a daunting mess of overgrown weeds.

You can appreciate in a very real way the contrast between the time when he labored in futility versus the time when he plowed ahead with confidence armed with the appropriate knowledge.

Identify and seek out the expertise that you need in order to launch your own enterprise. You will be delighted and surprised at how rapidly the universe will honor your intention!

This is a Buck Wheat plant...


...whereas this is a Pea plant. See the similarity? See the difference?