Winter Musings

Winter, while not here in the Northern Hemisphere by
way of calendar, has arrived in the way of non-turbulent
airmasses on weekends.

So, what to do?

Read? Definitely!
Wax the glider when weather permits? You bet!

Find interesting articles on the web? Of course.
Here's one: In today's 'New York Times' on the web,
there's an article about 'eye black.' That's the war
paint worn on the cheek bones by athletes (at least
American athletes. I don't watch much sports and with
only rabbit ears on the tv to pick up signals, I don't
watch any sports that aren't broadcast from our local
stations. So, I don't watch soccer, cricket, or rugby
and thus, I don't know if this war paint adornment
is only an American phenomenum or practiced in other
parts of the world...)

But here's some quotes from the article in the New
York Times:

The Yale study placed 46 students in the sun and tested
their reactions using a sensitivity contrast chart.
Some participants wore eye-black grease, while others
wore adhesive stickers. A third group wore smudges
of petroleum jelly as a placebo.

The study found a small, but statistically significant,
improvement in contrast sensitivity and glare reduction
for participants who wore the eye grease, but not for
those who wore antiglare stickers. The results were
published in 2003 in Archives of Ophthalmology.

“I thought we would find it to be like war paint and
a psychological advantage more than anything else,”
Dr. Brian M. DeBroff, the lead author of the Yale study,
said in a telephone interview. “We were surprised to
find a benefit from the grease.”

Asked if the benefits were significant enough to enhance
athletic performance, Dr. DeBroff said, “Certainly
in football and baseball, where tracking a ball at
high speed is an important aspect, any competitive
advantage could be beneficial.”

End quote

So, my question is simply: Will black war paint under
my eyes just sort of complete the goofy look of the
'Gilligan hat' that already adorns my head at the field,
or will I realize some type of competitive or safety
gain with the smudges? Will 'improved contrast sensitivity
and glare reduction' help me spot other aircraft that
might be on a collision course or find that other glider
already in a thermal?

Look out fashion world, there's only one way to find
out!

Ray Lovinggood
Bored and not flying in
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

Hey, Ray!

Wear it all the time; it would have to help your looks!
grin

At 12:48 03 December 2006, Ray Lovinggood wrote:
Winter, while not here in the Northern Hemisphere by
way of calendar, has arrived in the way of non-turbulent
airmasses on weekends.

So, what to do?

Read? Definitely!
Wax the glider when weather permits? You bet!

Find interesting articles on the web? Of course.
Here's one: In today's 'New York Times' on the web,
there's an article about 'eye black.' That's the war
paint worn on the cheek bones by athletes (at least
American athletes. I don't watch much sports and with
only rabbit ears on the tv to pick up signals, I don't
watch any sports that aren't broadcast from our local
stations. So, I don't watch soccer, cricket, or rugby
and thus, I don't know if this war paint adornment
is only an American phenomenum or practiced in other
parts of the world...)

But here's some quotes from the article in the New
York Times:

The Yale study placed 46 students in the sun and tested
their reactions using a sensitivity contrast chart.
Some participants wore eye-black grease, while others
wore adhesive stickers. A third group wore smudges
of petroleum jelly as a placebo.

The study found a small, but statistically significant,
improvement in contrast sensitivity and glare reduction
for participants who wore the eye grease, but not for
those who wore antiglare stickers. The results were
published in 2003 in Archives of Ophthalmology.

“I thought we would find it to be like war paint and
a psychological advantage more than anything else,”
Dr. Brian M. DeBroff, the lead author of the Yale study,
said in a telephone interview. “We were surprised to
find a benefit from the grease.”

Asked if the benefits were significant enough to enhance
athletic performance, Dr. DeBroff said, “Certainly
in football and baseball, where tracking a ball at
high speed is an important aspect, any competitive
advantage could be beneficial.”

End quote

So, my question is simply: Will black war paint under
my eyes just sort of complete the goofy look of the
'Gilligan hat' that already adorns my head at the field,
or will I realize some type of competitive or safety
gain with the smudges? Will 'improved contrast sensitivity
and glare reduction' help me spot other aircraft that
might be on a collision course or find that other glider
already in a thermal?

Look out fashion world, there's only one way to find
out!

Ray Lovinggood
Bored and not flying in
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

Ray Lovinggood wrote:
Winter, while not here in the Northern Hemisphere by
way of calendar, has arrived in the way of non-turbulent
airmasses on weekends.

So, what to do?

Read? Definitely!
Wax the glider when weather permits? You bet!

Find interesting articles on the web? Of course.
Here's one: In today's 'New York Times' on the web,
there's an article about 'eye black.' That's the war
paint worn on the cheek bones by athletes (at least
American athletes.


So, my question is simply: Will black war paint under
my eyes just sort of complete the goofy look of the
'Gilligan hat' that already adorns my head at the field,
or will I realize some type of competitive or safety
gain with the smudges? Will 'improved contrast sensitivity
and glare reduction' help me spot other aircraft that
might be on a collision course or find that other glider
already in a thermal?

Look out fashion world, there's only one way to find
out!

Ray Lovinggood
Bored and not flying in
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

After an outlanding, you might want to remove that before knocking on
the door of the farmhouse.

Ray,

The answer is probably not because we wear sunglasses while I am
guessing the participants in the study did not.

Tim



Ray Lovinggood wrote:


So, my question is simply: Will black war paint under
my eyes just sort of complete the goofy look of the
'Gilligan hat' that already adorns my head at the field,
or will I realize some type of competitive or safety
gain with the smudges? Will 'improved contrast sensitivity
and glare reduction' help me spot other aircraft that
might be on a collision course or find that other glider
already in a thermal?

Look out fashion world, there's only one way to find
out!

Ray Lovinggood
Bored and not flying in
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA

Tim Taylor wrote:
Ray,

The answer is probably not because we wear sunglasses while I am
guessing the participants in the study did not.

Tim

Well that begs the question: Is it better to wear sunglasses (knowing
that you are reducing the amount of light your eyes are seeing,
therefore possibly reducing visual detection range) or no sunglasses
and black anti-glare face paint?

I know of some old fighter pilots who swore by not wearing sunglasses
or colored visors - instead they squinted. Since it was a life or
death situation, I have to think they might have been on to something.

I just got through a season wearing non-tinted prescription glasses
(instead of my usual sunglasses) and find I did not miss the sunglasses
much - and found vis under clouds much better (also the PDA is easier
to see).

Now I may have to stop by the sports store and get some anti-glare
paint - and really freak out the twirlybirds at the local glider club -
to say nothing of the crowd at a contest!

Comments?

66

Six Six,

There was a movie released back in 2001 that won a
bunch of awards called 'The Fast Runner'. Here's a
quote from a web page about the movie subject:

Quote:
Evil in the form of an unknown shaman divides a small
community of nomadic Inuit, upsetting its balance and
spirit.

Twenty years pass. Two brothers emerge to challenge
the evil order: Amaqjuaq, the Strong One, and Atanarjuat,
the Fast Runner. Atanarjuat wins the hand of the lovely
Atuat away from the boastful son of the camp leader,
Oki, who vows to get even. Oki ambushes the brothers
in their sleep, killing Amaqjuaq, as Atanarjuat miraculously
escapes running naked over the spring sea ice.

But can he ever escape the cycle of vengeance left
behind?

End Quote. (url is: http://atanarjuat.com/media_centre/Atan_pres
skit.doc)

By the way, the conversation is all in the Inuit language,
so I had to read the subtitles to understand.

Part of the Inuit's costumes include what I would call
'ancient sunglasses.' Since at that time many, many
years ago when the movie was set there were no glasses
at all, tinted or otherwise, and the people wore what
looked like a type of long and skinny sea shell over
their eyes, with a small horizontal slit cut in it.
In the movie, it looked like an effective substitute
for sunglasses. So, they limited the amount of light
entering their eyes on the intensely glaring ice floes
of Canada.

I don't think the actors were wearing 'war paint' black
smudges as well.

As for a mix of the black grease smudges and sunglasses,
current day baseball players wear both as do football
players. The football players use a tinted face shield
rather than glasses, though.

Maybe this black face paint grease is something to
add to the pouch in the cockpit. Apply after releasing
from tow and wipe off before landing...

I often remove my sunglasses in flight. It does significantly increase my
ability to see details both near and far.
One reason is that the eye's pupil works just like the f-stop in a camera
lens. The smaller the opening the greater the depth of field. With
sunglasses the pupil opens wider and reduces the depth of field. Older
pilots like me find that a large depth of field compensates somewhat for
presbyopia making PDA's easier to read.

Another reason is that few human corneas are perfect. A small pupil opening
reduces the area of cornea surface used to form an image on the retina
increasing the sharpness of the image.

Yet another reason is that any optical surface where light passes from one
refractive index to another, like the surface of sunglass lens where the
light goes from air to plastic, reduces the light intensity and contrast by
about 4% in addition to any tinting. The lens actually has two optical
surfaces, one is the front surface and the other the rear surface. There
are other effects like internal reflections within the sunglass lens that
reduce acuity.

I always wear wrap-around sunglasses on the airfield, both to protect my
eyes from the sun and to protect them from the high velocity grit kicked up
by tow planes. Any time you are in the vicinity of a turning propeller,
ballistic eye protection is a must.


Bill Daniels


"kirk.stant" wrote in message
oups.com...

Tim Taylor wrote:
Ray,

The answer is probably not because we wear sunglasses while I am
guessing the participants in the study did not.

Tim

Well that begs the question: Is it better to wear sunglasses (knowing
that you are reducing the amount of light your eyes are seeing,
therefore possibly reducing visual detection range) or no sunglasses
and black anti-glare face paint?

I know of some old fighter pilots who swore by not wearing sunglasses
or colored visors - instead they squinted. Since it was a life or
death situation, I have to think they might have been on to something.

I just got through a season wearing non-tinted prescription glasses
(instead of my usual sunglasses) and find I did not miss the sunglasses
much - and found vis under clouds much better (also the PDA is easier
to see).

Now I may have to stop by the sports store and get some anti-glare
paint - and really freak out the twirlybirds at the local glider club -
to say nothing of the crowd at a contest!

Comments?

66

At the risk of setting off the yearly Suntiger-vs.-polarized lens
debate, I'll say this. The extra brightness as compared to
grey/reflective sunglasses is one big reason I like the orange lenses.

But I think I'll pass on the warpaint. I think it would be a
"challenging look" at a regional contest though. Go for it.

Sarah

kirk.stant wrote:
Tim Taylor wrote:
Ray,

The answer is probably not because we wear sunglasses while I am
guessing the participants in the study did not.

Tim

Well that begs the question: Is it better to wear sunglasses (knowing
that you are reducing the amount of light your eyes are seeing,
therefore possibly reducing visual detection range) or no sunglasses
and black anti-glare face paint?

I know of some old fighter pilots who swore by not wearing sunglasses
or colored visors - instead they squinted. Since it was a life or
death situation, I have to think they might have been on to something.

I just got through a season wearing non-tinted prescription glasses
(instead of my usual sunglasses) and find I did not miss the sunglasses
much - and found vis under clouds much better (also the PDA is easier
to see).

Now I may have to stop by the sports store and get some anti-glare
paint - and really freak out the twirlybirds at the local glider club -
to say nothing of the crowd at a contest!

Comments?

66