How could someone not support the air show?

Recently, this article was posted on the Toronto Star. "It’s time to end the celebration of death and kill the airshow: Fiorito" So, being the pilot that I am, I decided to send the author the following reply:

Hello, 

You are probably getting plenty of emails about your controversial article about grounding the air show. Since I read through your article and learned your opinion, I would appreciate it if you would hear mine. As a pilot, I must disagree with your stance and would like to better educate you about what the airshow is for. I am not affiliated with the airshow in any way but have been an audience member for several years and it inspired me to follow the dream of getting my pilot's license. First things first, the CF18 Hornet is not "an instrument of death". It has plenty of other purposes in the air such as intercepting potentially dangerous aircraft and protecting Canada in general. Secondly, about the thunder pig, these planes only fly around Toronto for three days a year. They represent much more than just the amount of noise they make. The airshow is a celebration of the wonder of aviation. Have you seen the precision the Snowbirds use in their routines? How about the new technological advances such as the Harrier jet that can hover like a helicopter? Breakthroughs like this need to be celebrated and known by the general public. And, even if you don't believe that, is it such a big deal to let aviation supporters have some fun once in a while? It is true that the Harvard makes smoke and noise. That being said, people who buy the tickets to sit in the closest seats should have the common sense to realize this and plan accordingly. In fact, there is probably a note about it somewhere in the fine print when someone buys a ticket. The T-33 Acemaker. You are correct in stating that Ace is the title awarded to pilots with kills in battle, but you fail to realize that these kills are for a reason. Otherwise we would not have won the war and your life today would be very different. Air show crashes are always possible at events like these, as well as when anyone goes flying. But let me remind you that driving is more dangerous that flying, and pilots are put through much more strenuous tests and requirements to get their licenses to make aviation as safe as possible. The world of aviation is also very safety-oriented and whenever an accident happens there is an extensive investigation to determine the cause and prevent recurrences. Additionally, the fact that you are in a higher tax paying bracket has absolutely nothing to do with how much you support the forces and, in my opinion, should never be included in an article for a prominent newspaper. I would appreciate it if you did a bit more research and included a well-rounded perspective before writing your next article. 

Thank you 

And guess what the author's entire response was to this wonderfully written letter?

I'm not moved by your opinion, sorry.

I can't believe some of the people in this world. If you were just as outraged as me by his article or response, please feel free to email him at jfiorito@thestar.ca although I don't know if you'll be able to talk some sense into him. 

Ahh midterm exam time!

I just had a math exam and I don't think I did as well as I wanted to on it. :( I studied as much as I could, given the circumstances but I still don't have all my school notes and those are vital to my success. I'm really glad I don't go to a semestered school because I would have way more exams now if that was the case. As it is, I'm taking two semestered courses (one is functions and calculus and the other is online) and I only have two exams. I think I would die if I had more than two exams right now. My life is just really hectic and I don't have any base to work from. So I gotta go right now though because I have a term test (tomorrow) to study for that I haven't learned the material for yet... Yikes! I definitely am the master of procrastination. :P I hope all of your lives are less stressful.

Done moving, but now I'm lost...

Ok, so we've finished moving to our new apartment but in the process I have managed to lose all of my school books and now I have an exam first thing tomorrow morning. I've tried finding all my binders for the past week but still haven't found any. There are also boxes just everywhere and there is hardly any floor space because of all my dad's junk. I am screwed for school. I just hope my marks don't suffer too much because I'm in grade 12 and they really matter. The last thing in the world I want to do right now is to have to take a 5th year. I also lost my ipod :( and it's at a time where it would be really helpful if I had it too. So many times this past week I've freaked out and the neighbours are noisy sometimes when I'm trying to sleep. I hope your lives are less hectic and you are all enjoying your Halloween candy :) I know I am.

So buzy!

This week has just been hectic. Even though it's the long weekend it has been anything but relaxing. On Friday I went out to Stratford with my family, and had to squeeze in finishing my physics assignment because that was due Saturday. (It's an online course) Then on Saturday as well as today I woke up at 5 to go off gliding for the whole day. Yesterday when I got home my legs were so sore from pushing the gliders around! And of course my Mom had a thanksgiving dinner which I had to go to, and all that time I had to work on my lesson plan for cadets which was supposed to be done last Tuesday. I just managed to finish it now... Procrastinating really sucks :P. Then tomorrow I'm getting up at 5 again to drive for an hour and a half to go gliding. It's a holiday tomorrow so I'm not skipping school, :P don't worry ;). Oh, and when I get back home I'm having thanksgiving dinner with my Dad. This year he decided to get a duck. This should be interesting because I've never had it before. I'm excited but kind of scared at the same time. Anyways, I hope your thanksgiving weekend has been great so far! Bye for now. :)

Waiting for the weekend

I can't wait for the weekend! It's the long thanksgiving weekend so we get Monday off and Friday is a P.A. Day! I can't wait because on Friday I'm going to Stratford. I'm seeing Romeo and Juliet. It's actually quite convenient because my little sister is reading it in school. Then on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I'll be flying! I hope the weather will be nice so I can get in a lot of flight time. I still need four hours to be able to fly with passengers. I've got a lot of work until then though. For one, I have a lot of material to get though in the online physics course I'm taking, and I also have to make a lesson plan for the class I'm teaching at air cadets next week. I also have to update the ground school blog I made, which you can find here: Ground School Explained and my other blog, Fabulous Fall Fashions if I manage to have the time. I hope your thanksgiving weekend is great! Until next time. :)

My ground school blog has kicked off!

My blog called Ground School Explained really kicked off with a head start yesterday. After only one day it already has over 100 page views! Wow. This is really much more than I had anticipated, especially after only one day! I will be updating it more often now that I see how popular it is. Here is the link:
Ground School Explained

Enjoy!

School should be more effective

I find that the whole idea of school takes up much more time than it should. For one thing, you have to get there, which takes time, and then there's time between all your classes, that's really being wasted. Then when you're in class, time is wasted when the teacher does the attendance, the teacher teaches at the rate of the person who doesn't understand, and then they give you homework to do when you get back home. And remember, they give you homework to do after you've spent 7 hours at school all day. Is there really not enough time to teach the kids everything they need to know? Personally, I was home schooled for 2 years when I was younger and felt like I was learning hardly anything, then when I went back to school, I was ahead of everyone. Maybe each student should take a learning and IQ test at the beginning of each year, then put into classes based on those results. That would be beneficial for all parts of the spectrum because the kids that pick things up faster could learn at a faster pace while the students that need a little more explanation will get it. And also, what's the point in teaching all the old ideologies in the sciences? Why teach that electrons are little balls of matter circling around the nucleus and have certain positions when they don't have certain positions and are actually waves of energy? Just teach us what we need to know to understand the world. Now, I'm not saying that school should be stopped because it wastes so much time, because it is crucial for getting a good job in this world. Still though, after a couple hundred years of practice, you think we would be more efficient at it now and each person wouldn't have to go though 13 years of school plus whatever university/college program they are following. Just some food for thought. :P

I love flying

So I posted a lovely picture from flying on Instagram. It's actually quite artistic because you can see Blackdown in the corner. That day I got four flights in! That's incredibly good for the gliding centre I'm at. Usually you're lucky if you get two flights. Anyways, a lot has happened since my last post on this. I've gotten a flight suit and am still in the process of sewing all the badges on. My squadron is going gliding next weekend and although I can't fly the cadets yet, I can get them into the gliders and see how excited they are for their first glider flight.

Directioner? Not quite yet...

So today my friend (who is a superfan of One Direction) managed to pull me in to see the extended fan version of their new movie. I enjoyed it, although I don't think she has turned me into a Directioner just yet. I'm more of "yeah, they're cool". A funny thing that happened is that during the timeplay that happens before the movie, I won the top prize! The best part is that I was the only player lol. There were only 4 other people in the theatre other than us, and they were kids with their parents. The best part of the movie I think was when Harry was singing his solo part in What makes you beautiful and Zayn and Niall pulled his pants down. He was so shocked he couldn't finish the part! Another humorous part was when Liam was teaching the other guys how to make tea on their hand. It made a big mess. The final part I still have to share was when they were driving around the construction equipment and no one could catch them! If you're seen the movie or would like to share something, please leave a comment below or you can email me. I'm looking forward to hearing form you!