CNBC put up an interesting article (it's worth reading) about how, since men tend to die earlier than women, older women are likely to receive a lot of money and assets from their husbands who predecease them.
So far, so good.
Unfortunately, the headline CNBC's editor(s) chose was . . . not so good.
The giggling among financially inclined commenters has been epic.
Peter
A very worrying report indicates that airliners may be vulnerable to a clash of technologies that might "mask" dangerously low altitudes.
French investigation authority BEA believes the prevalence of ILS approaches has obscured an underlying vulnerability of aircraft to the risk of terrain collision arising from incorrect altimeter pressure settings.
BEA made the remarks following its inquiry into a serious incident in which an Airbus A320 descended to just 6ft above ground during a low-visibility approach to Paris Charles de Gaulle’s runway 27R.
The ILS was not operational on the day of the incident, 23 May 2022, and the Airhub aircraft (9H-EMU) was conducting a satellite-based approach with barometric vertical guidance.
But BEA found the pilots had set the altimeter reference to 1011mb instead of 1001mb, after being given an incorrect QNH pressure reading by an air traffic controller. This resulted in the jet’s flying a descent path which was 280ft below the required profile.
Although this triggered a minimum safe altitude warning in the control tower, the controller took 9s to inform the crew – by which time the jet was 122ft above ground – and then used incorrect phraseology. The crew did not hear this call, and continued to descend.
BEA says the approach lights had not been switched on, and heavy rain meant the windshield wipers were operating at maximum speed.
After passing what they believed to be the decision height – but with the jet actually much lower, just 52ft above ground – the pilots initiated a go-around, because they had no visual contact with the runway.
The aircraft descended to 6ft, while 0.9nm from the threshold, before climbing away.
There's more at the link.
That's frightening as hell to anyone who flies frequently. Basically, the aircrew entered an incorrect value, but did not double-check it; and then they relied on the aircraft's technology, now mislead by their entry, to keep them safe. It's only by the grace of God and a couple of seconds' leeway that they didn't fly their airliner straight into the ground, killing everyone aboard.
We're seeing this more and more; aircrew relying on technology to fly the plane rather than doing so themselves. Automation has become so advanced (?) and so complex that it's easier to simply set a computer to do what you want, then sit back and let the computer figure out how to do it. If incorrect values have been entered, and the computer uses them in its calculations, you have no way of knowing that the danger exists.
As another example of relying on technology rather than pilot skill and concentration, consider the crash of Asiana Airlines Flight 214 in 2013.
The Asiana pilots said in interviews with the National Transportation Safety Board that they had set the auto-throttles to maintain an air speed of 137 knots. That’s a significantly faster speed than the plane actually achieved as it came in for its landing at San Francisco International Airport on Saturday.
. . .
The pilots’ statements do not resolve the central question of why the Boeing 777’s speed and altitude fell so far out of the normal range for landing at SFO before it hit a sea wall and crash-landed. But outside air safety experts said the statements suggest a risky reliance on technology when the flight crew should have been constantly monitoring the airplane’s speed.
“Whether it was engaged or not working is almost irrelevant,” said Barry Schiff, a former TWA pilot and an air safety consultant. “The big mystery of Flight 214 is why in God’s name did these two pilots sit there and allow the air speed to get so low.”
Experts said the pilots should have been monitoring the plane’s speed every few seconds, and could have manually taken control of the engines at any time.
Again, more at the link.
The first report gives me the shivers. Six feet off the ground??? Oy gevalt . . .
Peter
I've noted in the past that there are times when Google simply doesn't seem to know what to do with Comments on this blog (and others). The Blogger platform sometimes deletes comments as soon as they're made, before I get a chance to view them; at other times, it memory-holes comments that have already appeared on the blog.
Now - at least, for the past week or two - Blogger appears to be sending some perfectly valid comments to Spam, without giving me a chance to moderate them. What's worse, they appear to be mostly by regular commenters here, who've established a good track record of no spam comments, no profanity, etc. - in other words, no reason to block them or their comments. I've "un-spammed" at least six comments like that over the past couple of days, and am now forced to manually check my Spam folder a couple of times a day to see whether any others have been redirected there.
I've no idea why this is happening. I'm very frustrated by it, but the Blogger team don't appear to answer queries at the best of times, so I don't know whether they'll provide any explanation this time round. I'm sorry for any heartburn this causes commenters - but again, I have no idea why it's happening.
Peter
This news is a couple of days old, but I only just came across it. After I stopped laughing, I thought I'd share it here for others who might not have heard it yet.
It's emerged that soon after entering the White House, somebody in the Administration decided that whenever Mrs. Biden entered an official function, she needed her own theme music, much as the President is greeted by "Hail To The Chief".
Somebody - presumably in the Marine Corps Band, which plays at the White House - came up with this "Fanfare for the First Lady".
Only recently did somebody note that the Fanfare sounds uncannily similar to the theme music for the 1960's TV comedy series "F Troop", about a hapless cavalry troop in the Old West that can't do anything right and gets everything wrong. See - or, rather, listen - for yourself.
Seems to me that the Fanfare is nothing more or less than a (very) thinly disguised rendition of the F Troop theme. Given the performance of the Biden administration, I daresay it's a pretty fair tribute to its accomplishments, too!
I wonder if the composer of the Fanfare was able to get his tongue out of his cheek after completing it . . . ?
Peter
I was interested to learn that today's enormous US chicken industry started with a simple ordering error. This video was originally on the BBC, but this copy has been posted to YouTube.
Just a minor mistake . . . or was that a poultry error?
Peter
... according to Jennie Breeden and her "The Devil's Panties" comic strip. Click the image to be taken to a larger version at her Web page.
"Renewed our vows". Gigglesnort!
Peter
That's from a 2013 article in Vanity Fair, examining why European elites unjustifiably feel so smugly superior to Americans and their country. I thought it might be fitting, this July 4th, to bring it to your attention. Here's an excerpt.
Enough. Enough, enough, enough of this convivial rant, this collectively confirming bigotry. The nasty laugh of little togetherness, or Euro-liberal insecurity. It’s embarrassing, infectious, and belittling. Look at that European snapshot of America. It is so unlike the country I have known for 30 years. Not just a caricature but a travesty, an invention. Even on the most cursory observation, the intellectual European view of the New World is a homemade, Old World effigy that suits some internal purpose. The belittling, the discounting, the mocking of Americans is not about them at all. It’s about us, back here on the ancient, classical, civilized Continent. Well, how stupid can America actually be? On the international list of the world’s best universities, 14 of the top 20 are American. Four are British. Of the top 100, only 4 are French, and Heidelberg is one of 4 that creeps in for the Germans. America has won 338 Nobel Prizes. The U.K., 119. France, 59. America has more Nobel Prizes than Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Russia combined. Of course, Nobel Prizes aren’t everything, and America’s aren’t all for inventing Prozac or refining oil. It has 22 Peace Prizes, 12 for literature. (T. S. Eliot is shared with the Brits.)
And are Americans emotionally dim, naïve, irony-free? Do you imagine the society that produced Dorothy Parker and Lenny Bruce doesn’t understand irony? It was an American who said that political satire died when they awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Henry Kissinger. It’s not irony that America lacks; it’s cynicism. In Europe, that arid sneer out of which nothing is grown or made is often mistaken for the creative scalpel of irony. And what about vulgarity? Americans are innately, sniggeringly vulgar. What, vulgar like Henry James or Eleanor Roosevelt or Cole Porter, or the Mormons? Again, it’s a question of definitions. What Americans value and strive for is straight talking, plain saying. They don’t go in for ambiguity or dissembling, the etiquette of hidden meaning, the skill of the socially polite lie. The French in particular confuse unadorned direct language with a lack of culture or intellectual elegance. It was Camus who sniffily said that only in America could you be a novelist without being an intellectual. There is a belief that America has no cultural depth or critical seriousness. Well, you only have to walk into an American bookshop to realize that is wildly wrong and willfully blind. What about Mark Twain, or jazz, or Abstract Expressionism?
What is so contrary about Europe’s liberal antipathy to America is that any visiting Venusian anthropologist would see with the merest cursory glance that America and Europe are far more similar than they are different. The threads of the Old World are woven into the New. America is Europe’s greatest invention. That’s not to exclude the contribution to America that has come from around the globe, but it is built out of Europe’s ideas, Europe’s understanding, aesthetic, morality, assumptions, and laws. From the way it sets a table to the chairs it sits on, to the rhythms of its poetry and the scales of its music, the meter of its aspirations and its laws, its markets, its prejudices and neuroses. The conventions and the breadth of America’s reason are European.
This isn’t a claim for ownership, or for credit. But America didn’t arrive by chance. It wasn’t a ship that lost its way. It wasn’t coincidence or happenstance. America grew tall out of the cramping ache of old Europe.
There's much more at the link.
It's worth a read, if others' opinion about America bothers you. Since moving here almost thirty years ago, I've become more and more proud to be an adopted American. Despite all this country's innumerable problems, I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. I'd rather stay here and help fix my home.
A happy and blessed Independence Day to us all!
Peter
I recently came across "18 Amazing Stories About Scotland! – The Not Always Right World Tour!". It's definitely giggle-worthy. Fun and enjoyable reading.
While browsing around the site, I also came across a series titled "Never Pick A Fight With An Old Scottish Woman":
Click over there and enjoy them. Not always safe for work, but mildly so.
Peter
From reader HistoryPerson, commenting on a CNN report about the Boeing Starliner crew capsule, currently docked with the International Space Station pending resolution of several issues with its thrusters and other components:
How many Boeing people does it take to change a light bulb? The answer is unknown because nobody at Boeing knows how to change a light bulb.
Considering how much trouble the Boeing 737 Max airliner program is in, that might be all too appropriate . . . Remember when Boeing blazed the trail that all other aircraft manufacturers followed? How are the mighty fallen!
Peter
This meme came out years ago, but every time I see it, I still laugh. What's more, I have no idea where or when the picture was taken, but the tank resembles a South African-modified Centurion, and the scenery in the background is very like parts of South Africa, so it might even be from my old stamping-grounds. Click the image for a larger view.
Ah . . . military memories! I'm sure most veterans, seeing that, will be laughing too.
Peter
Thank you all for your kind wishes as I recover from surgery. Some of the comments about catheters, etc. reminded me of an incident with a friend that still makes me laugh whenever I think about it.
He had some sort of bladder problem that required him to be fitted with a catheter and a urine bag. So far, so good . . . until the first morning after he returned home. His twin daughters, aged about 5 or 6 at the time, came running into the bedroom and jumped on the bed to be with Mom and Dad - and one of them landed right on his (full) urine bag.
His comment: "Have you ever tried to pee backwards? It sheds a new and horrible light on the human condition!"
I had to sympathize, even while laughing my tochus off at his predicament!
Peter
Today's award goes to Artemio Sanchez-Ortega of New Mexico, who decided to demonstrate his burning passion for his former girlfriend literally rather than figuratively. A full report may be found here, or you can simply watch the video below.
I'm very grateful that there were no casualties among his intended victims. I hope the police catch him soon, before he has any more bright ideas. Of course, he could try exercising matchless ingenuity . . .
Peter
According to Stephan Pastis, this might be it. Click the image to be taken to a larger version at the comic's Web page.
"Peace Dove" . . . one wonders whether that will end up being used as the name of the latest FPV attack drone!
Peter
While searching for something else, I came across a half-hour video collection of bloopers, mistakes and foul-ups, mostly involving construction, repair or demolition of buildings. It's almost mesmerizing, seeing just how much can go wrong! I can't embed it here, because the owner doesn't allow that: but click over to it on YouTube and watch it there.
Doofi indeed . . .
Peter
I'm sure many readers saw on TV news the violent explosion of a small SUV in Los Angeles last week.
An SUV parked in a Van Nuys parking lot on Thursday night suddenly exploded after the driver lit a cigarette next to some propane canisters he stored inside.
Firefighters and police rushed to a supermarket parking lot in the 7200 block of Van Nuys Boulevard after receiving a call about an SUV that exploded around 10:30 p.m., police said. When first responders arrived, the man told them he had been trying to light a cigarette when the explosion happened. Investigators said he was living in the vehicle during the explosion.
He suffered minor injuries and was taken to a nearby hospital, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Pieces of the parked vehicle flew in every direction, one of which lodged into a nearby tree. The explosion left the Toyota SUV mostly in mangled pieces.
There's more at the link. Here's what it looked like.
I was interested in the report because I've had a lot of experience with explosions (some of them assisted by me, others not). The damage to the SUV was impressive, but not as great as I'd expect if a typical 20-pound propane tank - the sort used to fuel most outdoor gas barbecue grills - blew up. That would probably have entirely demolished the vehicle. I reached out to a couple of contacts in the Los Angeles area, and after some sleuthing, they informed me that the culprit was almost certainly a butane or propane fuel canister for a small camping stove, the sort many of us own for picnics or emergency cooking. Both are illustrated below.
It's possible, they tell me, that more than one of those cans was present, and went up by sympathetic detonation in the explosion.
That illustrates the very real danger of using such fuel canisters in confined spaces. They're as bad as a hand grenade if they go off. If the victim had been inside the vehicle, rather than standing next to it, he probably would not have survived - or, if he had, the pressure injuries to his internal organs might have proved fatal in due course.
That made me roust out my canisters of fuel and check them. To my annoyance, some of the small butane canisters showed quite a lot of rust - something I hadn't expected, because they'd been stored in climate-controlled conditions inside a plastic tote to keep out dampness. You can bet your boots I discarded them at once (or, rather, put them aside to be handed in to our local dump as hazardous waste), and I'm going to replace them with new canisters (and check the replacements more often for any recurrence of the problem). A rusted canister of gas under pressure simply can't be trusted. (That's why higher-pressure propane cylinders are legally required - in the USA at least - to be tested after 10 years, and discarded after 15.)
So, for those of us using or storing such equipment, let this be a wake-up call. They can be very dangerous if misused or poorly stored.
Peter
I'm sure many of my readers will be familiar with the (in)famous exchange of letters in the case of Arkell v. Pressdram, 1971. Those who aren't will find the details at the link. (Profanity alert: lawyers aren't always polite!)
I was reminded of that well-known case by this tweet yesterday, largely by the inclusion of a word that I've censored (given that this is a family-friendly blog, most of the time). Clickit to biggit.
I wonder if they'd also assert an equal IP right to the entire slogan, including the censored word? That would make just about as much sense! It's also like the computer games company that tried to trademark the expression "space marines" (despite its having been in use since the 1930's), or the comic publishers that trademarked the term "superhero".
Suffice it to say that I think the LA Police Foundation deserves the mockery.
Peter
From Foxes In Love. Click the image to be taken to a larger version on the comic's Web page.
Why does this remind me of myself as a child?
Peter
I was reminded of this (in)famous Shop At Home advertisement during a conversation with a friend recently. It happened the best part of two decades ago, as I recall, but it's still funny (to the audience, at any rate - the presenter might disagree).
That'll teach them not to make cutting remarks about their competitors . . .
Apparently the United Arab Emirates has been seeding clouds in its sky in an attempt to produce more rain. It seems to have worked, not just very well, but perhaps too well. A storm was brewing anyway, and the seeding appears to have "encouraged" it. See for yourselves.
I can't believe they taxied that airliner right through floodwater like that! It'll require major maintenance before it flies again. The undercarriage will probably need fresh hydraulic fluid, and I think the engines are bound to have ingested rather more water than they prefer. If I'd been a passenger on that thing, and looked out of the window to see all that spray, I think I'd have been hammering on the cockpit door, demanding to be let off the plane before they tried to take off! I wonder if Boeing or Airbus offer a water-ski or flotation upgrade to their landing gear?
Oh, well. I suspect the cloud seeding company can probably apply for some sort of bonus after being so successful - just as long as they don't apply to the airlines!
Peter
