I suppose, if asked what this hobby means to us, or what purpose it serves, every person here might provide a slightly different response. So I can only tell you what it means to me. I was thinking about this long before the Las Vegas shooting happened, because there have been moments at my club that have intruded in the space this hobby creates for me. It's a common phrase now, this mental state we call our "happy place." I usually enter that space every time I enter my shop to work on my planes, or log on to RC Groups, or pass through the gate at my RC club.
My happy place is a state of mind that allows me to focus on the things I enjoy thinking about, a place where I can solve problems that interest me. RC model aviation has provided that space since I first got into the hobby in 1980. I enjoy many aspects of this hobby: the science of aerodynamics and engineering required to make a model fly, the artistic aspects where form and function unite along with one's own creative flair, the wonder of seeing months of work take to the skies, and even the sky itself, an endlessly changing backdrop that both challenges our ability to fly and enhances our experience of being borne aloft.
We live in an amazing world: we're made of matter that originated in the stars and can actually reflect back on the cosmos from which we came. We live on a planet full of wonders, traveling through space full of mystery and beauty. And then there is the flip side that
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