Inspiration and a World Record deserves media coverage - 6.27.2007.1

With all the negative media that hits the airwaves it’s great to hear something positive from time to time. Pay attention because you may not notice this being covered by the cable news networks.


Mr. Barrington Irving has just set a new world record, actually 2 of them. The records are for being the youngest to fly solo around the world. This young pilot, only 23, has just finished his world hopping flight after starting 93 days ago. He is also the first African American to make the trip.

Mr. Irving is a senior majoring in aerospace at Florida Memorial University, who started to learn to fly when he was just 16. His motivation to take on and create this world record?

“…inspire other young people to resist the negative influences of the streets and work toward their dreams.”

Mr. Irving did it, and he is no rich celebrity. He went to a community college with a partial Florida Bright Future Scholarship before his work and dedication prompted community leaders to provide him joint Air Force/Florida Memorial University Flight Awareness Scholarship to further his education and flight training. He has earned his Private, Commercial Pilot, and Flight Instructor licenses. In addition he founded a nonprofit organization, Experience Aviation, Inc.

I, for one, and truly impressed and filled with respect for Mr. Irving. His plane, called Inspiration, was built from donated parts he collected. He had Chevron donate the fuel for his trip, Microsoft donated free Flight Simulator software to students of Experience Aviation, 2 satellite companies provided tracking software so people could follow him on his trip, and a software development company is making a flight simulator based on him.

All this came to Mr. Barrington Irving, who was born in Jamaica and raised in the inner-city of Miami, because he went for it. This is a story that needs to be covered more. Kids in cities can succeed. Black men can be more than a rapper, athlete, or drug-dealing pimp. Education, dreams and a will for more, when coupled with hard work can get you wherever you want to go. Don’t believe that because I said so, know it because Mr. Barrington Irving did it.

This is what I think, what do you think?

Videoholics, the new addiction du jour - 6.15.2007.1

So you have heard of alcoholics, chocoholics, and recently sexsomniacs. Well get ready for videoholics. What would that be? People who are addicted to the internet and/or video games. Yes, the American Medical Association is currently trying to decide if that is a legitimate mental disorder.

Now while I do play video games, and I’m on the ‘net everyday I hardly consider it an addiction. I work on the ‘net, and own businesses there, does that make me mentally unstable? I own several video games, and on occasion I play a MMO (massively multiplayer online game) for an entire weekend. But is that the same as drinking bottles of gin til I pass out? I think not.

This is stupid. For a group of smart people this sounds quite dumb. I mean I can see alcohol, nicotine, even chocolate. They are all capable of having direct chemical changes in the brain. The sexsomnia I spoke about previously. This just doesn’t make sense. Maybe there will be an addiction to television that will be up for consideration soon. Most of America will fall under that one.

What says that like the sexsomnia situation this is a ploy for a legal case?

“I speculated that the research being done in October was a precursor to some legal case an attorney was preparing for. Lo and behold I was not wrong. On the 23rd of May, Mr. Scott Axelburg used this defense to justify placing his hands down the pants of a 16-year-old babysitter.”

How long until someone sues Playstation or Microsoft, or asks the government for disability pay on this?

This is what I think, what do you think?