Speaker to Explain Luke AFB’s Mission
Patricia Ingalls
On Monday, Dec. 4, at 10 a.m., Air Force 2nd Lt. Andres Garcia Hernandez will discuss the history of nearby Luke Air Force Base and provide a briefing on its current mission, as one of the Air Force’s premier training bases.
The 56th Fighter Wing is one of the largest in the Air Force, with more than 7,000 personnel. There are 118 F-35s, the newest fighter in the Air Force.
Luke also hosts pilots from the Netherlands, Denmark, Canada, Italy, Norway, and Singapore. In addition, the base graduates more than 300 air-traffic controllers annually. A new program trains multi-capable airmen for maintenance and research on fighter maintenance and rapid repairs.
Where do those planes go when they take off and soar over PebbleCreek? The biggest training area is Barry Goldwater Range, 150 miles long, along the southern U.S. border, and the largest training range in the Air Force. It hosted 51,000 flying missions in 2022.
Luke is a major employer and contributor to the economic success of the West Valley and Maricopa County in general. Many PebbleCreekers, who are retired military, also benefit from resources on the base.
Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. in the lobby of the Renaissance Theater and are $5 at the door. No registration is required.
Fighting Ignorance Using Facts
Bill Nee
Hans Rosling (now deceased) was a Swedish physician, a renowned researcher on global trends in health and economics, and co-founder of Doctors Without Borders. He and his son, Ola Rosling, developed software that visualizes the benefits of basing decision-making on data, rather than using personal bias and outdated facts to form opinions and policy. In this 2006 presentation, they encourage everyone to see beyond news bias, skewed opinions, or intuition, and to follow real data to formulate opinions.
Observing and using accurate facts can help people live healthier, wealthier lives. People must know about the factual present, before they can think about the future.
In this talk, the Roslings point out that most people are wrong about the state of the world. Hans demonstrates that his test subjects believe the world is poorer, less healthy, and more dangerous than it actually is, attributing this to misinformation.
They recommend that everyone work toward a “global knowledge certificate,” resulting in systematic approaches to analytical decision-making, based on real facts.
They show that statistically the world is getting better—not worse as many mistakenly believe. They offer clear, actionable advice for how to overcome innate biases and see the world through fact-based lenses, by leaving emotion aside and thinking analytically.
To watch this 19-minute TED Talk, go to TED.com, then in the upper left corner, click the three- horizontal-bar menu button, and under the category “Watch,” click “TED Talks.” then in “Search talks” input “How not to be ignorant about the world,” scroll a little lower and click on the talk you selected.
Class to Teach Tea Traditions
Patricia Ingalls
Although one of life’s simple pleasures, tea can seem complicated. Black tea? Green tea? A class (to be held Tuesday, Dec. 7., from 1 to 3 p.m., in LifeLong Learning’s classroom 107) will cover tea history and traditions from around the world.
PebbleCreek resident Stephen Osterholt, whose long career in the food industry led to his interest in teas and wine, will teach the class, which will include tastings of several teas, with information on their origins and geography.
Osterholt’s retirement from the corporate grocery industry provided him time to pursue educational seminars on those topics at the University of California, Davis and in Napa Valley. He has enthusiastically shared his expertise and passion for tea and wine with service clubs and college students.
Register online at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org.
Mesa Trip Visits Organ Stop Pizza, Mormon Temple Christmas Lights
Patricia Ingalls
LifeLong Learning will transport PebbleCreek residents to Mesa for a popular evening that includes dinner and an organ concert at Organ Stop Pizza, followed by a stroll around the grounds of the Mormon Temple to view its spectacular Christmas light display.
First stop: Participants will enjoy dinner at Organ Stop Pizza restaurant, while listening to a musical performance by an experienced organist. The Wurlitzer theatre organ, originally built for the Denver Theatre in Denver, was installed in 1927 and used regularly until the early 1930s. With the advent of talking pictures and the 1930s depression, the organ was rarely heard. It was silenced, when a fire in the auditorium caused extensive damage to the organ’s relay system.
Then in 1975, the Mesa location of Organ Stop Pizza opened with the totally rebuilt and enlarged organ. It is the world’s largest Wurlitzer pipe organ and is now known as the Mighty Wurlitzer. Organ Stop Pizza is ranked sixth of 1,059 restaurants in Mesa, and hundreds of thousands of patrons visit each year.
Second stop: The Mesa Temple Christmas Lights, a beloved community event since 1979, has been called one of the “must-see holiday-lighting extravaganzas in the United States,” and has drawn more than a million visitors annually to partake of the Christmas spirit on the sacred grounds.
Visitors will see spectacular displays of hundreds of thousands of colorful LED lights, uniquely illuminating palm trees and flower gardens. This year, favorite Biblical displays, nestled among olive trees, include QR-code stands, which visitors can scan on their cell phones, to be linked online to church-produced videos that give deeper insight to the scenes. Each vignette will have its own audio system, playing accompanying music with narration. Also for viewing is an annual display of international mangers.
Participants should expect considerable walking on uneven grass at night from bus to displays, walking around the event, and returning to the bus.
Event Date/Time: Tuesday, Dec. 5, 3:45 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
Cost: $30 for bus; dinner is self-pay.