Da Plane! Da Plane! Da Hole In Da Plane!

**** WARNING! ****
If you live in fear of flying on airplanes, then DO NOT read any more of this post!
STOP RIGHT NOW!

Ok, now that I've given fair warning and feel that I've absolved myself of any psychological trauma this post may cause to my readers, we can proceed.

Today I read a news article about a Quantas jet flying from London to Melbourne which developed a gaping hole mid flight. The end result is that the plane was able to land safely in Manila and no one was hurt. It does not even appear that any luggage was lost.

This is quite a scary story to read about, if you have any empathy for the passengers on board the plane. While I love to fly and it does not scare me in the least, there's a statement in the article that even I find scary and a little bit disturbing. Below I have pasted the portion of the article that includes the statement I find disturbing, which I have highlighted. I'm including some of the story before and after the statement to give it context.

Investigators appeared to be focusing on a structural problem.

"From the pictures that we've seen out of Manila during the course of the day, it would seem that one of the panels to the outer skin of the aircraft has literally come away from the rest of the fuselage," Chris Yates, an aviation expert at Jane's Aviation, told The Associated Press.

"As a consequence of this, the aircraft experienced rapid decompression," he said.

While it is not uncommon for metal panels to be lost from aircraft in flight, he said: "It's relatively rare that when a bit falls off the airplane it causes the sort of instance that we saw in relation to Qantas. In other words that it causes the aircraft cabin to depressurize."

Yates said investigators will examine closely the fracture points that showed up on the skin of the aircraft to determine whether metal fatigue or manufacturing defect caused the panel to peel away.

Say WHAT?! What do you mean that "it is not uncommon for metal panels to be lost from aircraft in flight"? That's a disturbing and scary statement. Notice how casually he says "when a bit falls off the airplane". Like it's not a big deal! I live near an airport. Does that mean I should be concerned that some big sheet of metal may come crashing down on my house or my family? Maybe all those who are afraid to fly have the right idea, this makes it sound like airplanes are a flying death trap.

Is there some conspiracy to cover this up and Yates accidentally let it slip? After all, I don't often hear of stories where the metal panels from airplanes fall off. You would think that passengers waiting to get on the planes would notice when the plane pulled up to the terminal. I don't know about you, but if the plane I'm supposed to get on pulls up with a metal sheet missing, I'm not getting on it, even if it is not uncommon and usually does not cause a problem. 'Nuf said.

What are your thoughts on this? Am I reading too much into this statement? Did I misread it?

Tech Daddy Predicts

I'm sure many of you have already read the incredible story of the rescue of Ingrid Betancourt and several other hostages from the FARC guerrillas. If not, I've included a couple of links to news sites at the bottom of this post and I encourage you to read them.

This is such a great true story and I'm predicting that one or more books will be written about it and a movie will be made about it.

What say you?

Article 1
Article 2

Icarus Would Be Jealous

This looks like a lot of fun to me. Anyone else like to try it besides me?

Robot Scribe

I thought this was an interesting article - an industrial robotic arm was programmed to write out the entire Bible, in German.

Hard to Catch

Question: What does it take to catch one criminal in a car?
Answer: Two hours, 2,250 police officers, 460 patrol cars and one helicopter.

That's according to this news article from Japan. And the only reason it didn't take longer is because the guy crashed his vehicle.

Turn That TV Off, Now

The 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show was just held in Las Vegas. Can you imagine all of the really cool up-and-coming electronics on display? All the game systems, all the computers, and all of the TVs? Imagine all the fun you could have there, especially if you brought along a nifty little device call TV-B-Gone which can turn off most of those TVs, like these guys did (check out the video, it's great)? I'm now thinking to myself, "I've gotta get me one of those."

A Strange But True Story

I just had to share this news article. Fact is stranger than fiction.

Did they really think it would work? How were they going to explain the fact that they had to wheel him in to the store in a chair? Did they not think their charade would be discovered once the store clerk asked the dead man a question (as he surely would have if they had gotten that far)?

I struggled over coming up with some title for this post that played of the story but could not think of any that didn't seem in some respect disrespectful to the dead man.

Articles #2

Here are some more random articles for you to waste time on.

• See-through frogs.
• If you're going to break into a store through the roof, make sure you choose the right spot.
• Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.
• Some of the Guinness World Records in the latest edition.
• This is not an article, but looks really cool. It is a new desktop management software.
• The next level of apartments.
• Another criminal who got too greedy.
  

Various, Random Articles

Here's some articles I've read of the last few weeks that I found of some interest.

• Department of Homeland Security contract linked to Russian mind-control.
• Religious people who are sooo lost - traveling to see supernatural ice.
• I'm a pack-rat, but I'm not this bad.
• Tardigrades - what are they and can they survive being shot into space?
• Musings on whether or not Apple is as big of a bully as Microsoft.
• How misinformed and deceived people are about the real Jesus. In this article about the current Survivor: China show, in one of the comments, a women named Kate says this about Jesus: "Hey David, if you actually studied the life of Jesus you would know that he studied Buddhism and that behavior like Leslies would make him ill. Leslie is not a follower of Jesus, but someone who has distorted his teachings so she can be ignorant, judgmental, and disrespectful to others. She's a Jesus Freak not a real Christian." That makes me sad.
• The new AMD processor chips are going to be part of some big, bad computers: "Ranger" and Cray XT4's.
• School related shootings have become so bad that two dads created and are selling bulletproof backpacks.
• How about a bullet stopping Bible?
• Skydiver plans to attempt going super-sonic.
• What was she thinking?
• What was he thinking?
• Ouch and boy is he lucky that the shark was not in the mood for a fight.
  
• The 20 most bizarre experiments. Warning, this one has some graphic, and gross, descriptions.
  

Free Office Applications From IBM

If you're like me, you like free stuff. One of the many realms this applies to for me is software. If I can find a quality piece of software that is free that meets the need, I'll take that over paying for software at a retail price. For example, we don't have any of the Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, etc.) on our home PC. We use the OpenOffice.org suite of products.

If you're not satisfied with what you are currently using, you may consider the OpenOffice.org products or the IBM Lotus Symphony products. IBM announced yesterday that they would be offering their office suite for free. Can't beat that. I have not tried their software out but one would hope with IBM behind it, it should be good if not great.

Something's Missing

Next time your lights don't turn on, if the normal things you check (power to the house, light bulb, circuit breaker, etc.) don't solve the problem, consider checking to see if your copper wires are still intact. I've seen several news articles over the last year that seem to indicate this is an increasing problem. Who'd of thunk it?

Powered by ScribeFire.

What's That Smell?

Playing with fire while wearing flammable liquids can be hazardous to your health, as this article illustrates.

A Good Response

A post on one of the blogs I read had a link to a YouTube video on Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee responding to a question about Creation. The response was good and quite surprising to me in the world of politics, so I thought I would promote it too. Check it out.

Computer Case Mods

Here's some intereseting computer case mods, for all you nerds out there.

For All You Star Wars Fans

Here's an interesting article on plans for Mark Hamill's lightsabre prop from the original Star Wars. NASA is going to send it to the space station to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

Seventeen and Counting

Let me just say, WOW.  Seventeen kids and they want more.  Good for them.

 

I just hope this post does not give my wife any ideas =).

A Little Payback

I have to say I take some pleasure in that fact that, as outlined in this article, a TV news producer was the object of a bit of scandal while supposedly trying to get a sensationalized story.

More Power (and Wheels)

Can any of you guys give out a Tim the Toolman grunt with me over this 28 wheeled truck?

Among the 19%

My family is among the 19%. Nineteen percent of what you ask? That would be 19% of Americans, the 19% that rely on over-the-air broadcasts rather than cable or satellite TV. And, if everything goes as planned, on February 19, 2009, unless we buy a HDTV or a HD set top box, we are out of luck. That's when the current analog broadcasts are scheduled to cease. That's right, go away with no return. We've had the same 19 inch, mono audio, color TV for 10 years. It serves our needs, though not my wants :).

I would love to get a new HDTV and a surround sound system. But, we are on a fairly disciplined drive to get out of debt and save money. We are following the Dave Ramsey seven baby step plan. So, no splurges are allowed :(. I do have to say though, it's great to have a budget and common financial goals that both my wife and I agree on. That way we both know what we can and cannot spend, and on what. It makes life and marriage go a lot smoother.

ExxonMobil gets into the party favors business

If you order two new copies of your credit card, you would expect to get two, correct.  Well this guy got 2002 copies.  What would you do with that many cards? 

 

I think I might ask Exxon to give me a new account number and then give out the old cards as party favors.