humor

AH-64 Apache attack helicopter in approach

personal personal, memoir, humor, family

how helicopters work

darqlaird ⋅ June 21, 2026

So. Helicopters. The main rotor generates lift by spinning aerofoils through the air, creating a pressure differential between the upper and lower surfaces. The tilted rotor allows vectoring of lift for forward flight, and the tail rotor counteracts torque to prevent fuselage rotation. Collective pitch controls altitude while cyclic pitch controls attitude. ... and she […]

programming smart-home, tech, humor, parenting, personal

J.A.Y.N.E

darqlaird ⋅ July 26, 2018

Jayne was an automated yelling and nagging entity. She was my early attempt at a whole house AI before that was a thing. She was definitely artificial but not particularly intelligent. She ruled our house from my daughter’s kindergarten until third grade. What follows are a few observations about the experience. Before her retirement Jayne […]