Althouse: A magnolia moment.

April 27, 2025

A magnolia moment.

In the arb this morning.

That last one has a "Little Shop of Horrors" air.

24 comments:

mezzrow said...: ...how many readers have named their sourdough starter "Audrey"? It's too easy and obvious to avoid for me.; 4/27/25, 11:33 AM
Laslo Spatula said...: Georgia O'Keeffe paintings gone disturbingly wrong.

The next thing you know, they'll have teeth.

I am Laslo.; 4/27/25, 11:39 AM
Original Mike said...: I've never been a fan of big-flowered trees. The scale is awkward, with big honking flowers suspended in mid-air. They also create quite the litter problem. YMMV.; 4/27/25, 12:15 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: A couple days of wind and rain and my neighbor's Magnolia trees are on half my ground. They were pretty before that.; 4/27/25, 12:24 PM
effinayright said...: That last one has a "Little Shop of Horrors" air.
*********
It's a variety called "Suddenly Seymour".; 4/27/25, 12:42 PM
Art in LA said...: That last one looks like a gloved hand! Time to do some dishes.; 4/27/25, 1:24 PM
Lyle Sanford, RMT said...: I have a friend who takes great pics of musicians and I say she doesn't take pics of things but of moments.; 4/27/25, 1:28 PM
Aggie said...: The NYT has published a story on the Blackhawk helicopter collision in February.

Found here: https://archive.ph/23Uv1

"The helicopter crew appeared to have made more than one mistake. Not only was the Black Hawk flying too high, but in the final seconds before the crash, its pilot failed to heed a directive from her co-pilot, an Army flight instructor, to change course......The Black Hawk was 15 seconds away from crossing paths with the jet. Warrant Officer Eaves then turned his attention to Captain Lobach.

He told her he believed that air traffic control wanted them to turn left, toward the east river bank.

Turning left would have opened up more space between the helicopter and Flight 5342, which was heading for Runway 33 at an altitude of roughly 300 feet.

She did not turn left."

Multiple failures across systems.; 4/27/25, 1:54 PM
mikee said...: Magnolias are dinosaurs of the plant world.; 4/27/25, 1:56 PM
Peachy said...: Love them. Alien flowers...; 4/27/25, 2:30 PM
NKP said...: Looks like my Japanese Magnolia. It's a beautiful thing and not at all like the big knarly ones that are most familiar. I get blossoms early March in Coastal Carolina; 4/27/25, 3:18 PM
David53 said...: My Magnolia tree is sickly, it has many yellow leaves. Guess I’ll have to put out some tree spike fertilizer, I don’t think San Antonio soil is conducive to growing healthy Magnolia trees.; 4/27/25, 3:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: It’s Marillyn magnolia. We read the tag.; 4/27/25, 3:56 PM
Ann Althouse said...: What caught my eye was the delicate white outline at the edge of the petal.; 4/27/25, 3:57 PM
robother said...: Looking at the last photo, I feel sorry for that little safari man in last week's photo. Althouse is introducing a darker theme underlying these "flowers that bloom in the spring, tra-lah". I may need to look more carefully at her sunrise over the lake shots. Some midwestern Icarus' legs disappearing into the waves?; 4/27/25, 3:58 PM
gilbar said...: The guy sure looks like plant food to me.; 4/27/25, 4:22 PM
Aggie said...: @David53, you might want to check to see what variety you have first - some of the southern magnolia varieties have leaves that are dark green on the top side, but a brownish-gold underneath.; 4/27/25, 5:14 PM
Big Mike said...: @Aggie, I get that a captain outranks a warrant officer, but with your life on the line what does it take for an instructor pilot to say “I have the aircraft” and take over the controls? Failure to do so cost him his life, and the lives of 68 other innocent individuals who did nothing wrong.; 4/27/25, 5:14 PM
john mosby said...: Big Mike and Aggie, ref helicopter cockpit actions: Yes, I suppose the instructor pilot would be within his rights to take over the aircraft, especially if as reported this was a training mission, but that would still take time. If the young captain had already made some stick input, that means the IP would have to counteract that wrong movement and then start the correct movement. Was there enough time/distance to do that? Also, I don’t know who wins if both pilots are putting in opposing inputs - does the PIC seat automatically override?

Not a pilot, but have ridden in a bunch of military aircraft. And I have been a Bradley commander; the turret has similar issues between gunner and commander, although the worst thing that can happen there is shooting the wrong direction/person/thing, not falling from the sky.

JSM; 4/27/25, 5:48 PM
Hey Skipper said...: Big Mike: The warrant officer was the Pilot in Command. He screwed up by noting the deviation, directing a correction and then failing to ensure the Pilot Flying implemented the correction, or himself taking control.

Aggie: It appears certain the crew made a couple mistakes. However, the biggest mistake was the helo route in the vicinity of RWY 33. The route should have, at the very least, been unavailable with traffic approaching 33, and very likely 01, as well.

Add up allowable deviations in altimetry between the helo and the jet, as well as vertical deviation for a stabilized approach to 33, and procedural separation disappears. My flabber is completely gasted that his was ever proposed, never mind approved.; 4/27/25, 5:53 PM
Aggie said...: It would appear that their course was almost perfectly diametrically opposed. I am guessing that they thought, visually, that they were not close because the relative sideways movement of the oncoming traffic was slight, coming directly at them. It's difficult to understand distance to a very bright light, there's no useful parallax.

Tragic mistake for an under-practiced pilot wanting just enough air time to re-qualify.; 4/27/25, 6:09 PM
Dave Begley said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/27/25, 6:58 PM
Dave Begley said...: Magnolia you sweet thing,
You're driving me mad,
Got to get back to you babe,
You're the best I ever had.

JJ Cale; 4/27/25, 7:02 PM
MadisonMan said...: We have a similar tree. We call it the purple penis tree.; 4/28/25, 7:27 AM