Through The Mist Darkly

A New Zealand man who threatened to crash a small airplane into the Sky Tower in downtown Auckland last year was sentenced to prison partially due to “the 9/11 factor”.

David Gregory Turnock’s lawyer had argued that his client was mentally ill and depressed because he thought his wife had taken up with another man but the judge ruled “”It seems clear enough, I think, that you threatened violence and the plane was a weapon,” as his reason for imposing a jail term instead of psychiatric detention.

(story)

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A division of Airbus has opened a facility in France to recycle old aircraft. Parts have always been stripped from derelicts to service other aircraft but this seems to be the first full-scale attempt to take the process down an environmentally friendly road.

Jean-Luc Taupaic, in charge of the plant, says “Today there are heaps of aircraft rotting all over the world”.

The hope is to salvage as much of the expensive material as possible for reuse while safely disposing of the hazardous material - such as depleted uranium - that goes into the manufacture of today’s advanced aircraft.

(story)

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What a terrible week for actors I grew up watching.

First we had the news that Don Knotts passed away on the 24th. Lovable old Barney Fife is taking his lone bullet on the longest journey.

One day later, Darren Mcgavin shuffles off. Loved him in A Christmas Story.

And now comes the news that Dennis Weaver left us on the 24th as well. Duel is still the scariest TV movie ever made.

Each one of them has a spot in my memory for providing entertainment on the small screen.

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Just watching the final days of the Olympics in Torino and trying to decide whether or not I want to watch the closing ceremonies. I think I might skip it and remember these games as the most successful Canadian showing ever.

Putting aside the failure of the men’s hockey team to look anything like a world class squad, Canadian athletes - especially the women - have given us all cause to feel tremendously proud. Cindy Klassen’s 5 medal domination of the speedskating venue is a feat that will stand large in our memories and the women’s hockey team gave us all reason to cheer.

In 4 years the world will gather in Vancouver and the promise of a greater medal haul cannot be underestimated.

3 cheers Canada!!

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An official government report states that US airlines managed to mishandle nearly 10,000 pieces of luggage DAILY last year. (CNN Story).

Based on this, I’ve been incredibly lucky with all the flying I’ve done. A few years ago I flew to New Orleans with Northwest and they managed to lose my golf bag which also contained the majority of my clothes. I compounded the problem by losing my baggage tag somewhere along the line which made the retreival process very difficult. Luckily, the NWA agent went above and beyond to track down the elusive clubs and they were delivered at 2am the next morning.

The easy answer is to carry on everything you need but you only need to sit through the hell of having a full flight, too much carry-on and too few spaces to realize that this is not a viable solution. Inevitably the last person onboard has 3 large bags and is forced to wander the entire aircraft looking for an empty bin. The rest of us, of course, are forced to suffer in silence wondering if we’ll be able to make our connection and if the asshat will cram the bag with his favorite bowling ball on top of our laptop and spare glasses. How they manage to get by the “strict” carry-on limits is beyond me. I’ve seen bags big enough to support a family of four on a two week vacation somehow make it to the cabin. You know full well that it didn’t fit in the that chrome sizing thingmajiggy prominently displayed at the gate. Somehow the overworked or bored gate agent fails to notice that someone is trying to bring a grand piano on board and everyone onboard pays the price.

I don’t have an answer so I’ll continue to play Russian Roulette.

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A great big HOLA (hello) to all the visitors from Spain. My hit count started spiking on Sunday.

As near as I can figure, it’s somehow related to this post from October 2004 where I reported the rumor that Marlon Brando and Wally Cox were secret lovers.

If anyone could tell me why this would be so popular now, please let me know.

UPDATE: It appears that they’re actually grabbing the picture of Marlon Brando contained in the post. Did I miss some news?

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So US Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter yesterday (story). Seems the Big Dick was looking to bag some quail and, instead, put a couple of pellets into Austin lawyer Harry Wittington.

Now although I applaud Cheney for taking aim at the legal profession, I wonder if he’s taking the concept of Homeland Security just a bit to far. I also wonder why an event that happened yesterday involving the Number 2 man took a full day to reach the newswires. I smell a failed coverup.

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There’s a story going around that Walmart may start selling its own brands of wine. John Dvorak found this:

The top 12 suggested names for Walmart Wine:

The beauty of Wal-Mart wine is that it can be served with white meat (Possum) and red meat (squirrel).

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There’s nothing sadder in the world than the sight of a once proud aircraft dying. This is the last remaining Lockheed Super Constellation in Canada. Registered as CF-TGE the Super Connie began life in the colors of Trans Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) in May 1954 where she flew until 1963 before being sold to Radio Industries and then Montreal Air Services in 1964. She continued to fly until August of 1965 and was then put in storage until 1968.

Unable to fly and stripped of all her parts, the Connie made the first of her strange journeys down the road to St-Marc des Carrieres, Quebec where the owner, unable to get the necessary permits to convert her to a bar/restaurant, stored her until 1985. Down the road again to St-Jean Port Joli where she went on display.

In 1995, she was sold once again and moved to the Regal Constellation Hotel across from Pearson International Airport outside Toronto where she saw service first as a conference facility and then a cocktail lounge and delicatessen. 1998 saw her moved once again to the north end of the airport where she sits today. Another attempt was made to use her as a restaurant which closed in 2002.

An attempt to sell her on eBay failed when the minimum bid of $200,000 was not met. The Connie sat empty and neglected until last month when the owners began dismantling her. The future is unclear for the Super G. The Seattle Museum of Flight says that they plan to move the Connie and put her back on display but the Toronto Aerospace Museum and other concerned Canadians are attempting to keep her here and restore the glory that once was.

Additional pictures are available over on my Flickr page. The Air Canada Pionairs have a site that shows pictures of the Connie in better days. You can also sign a petition to keep the aircraft in Canada.

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Zurich airport, 0920. Things will go wrong.

Just received word that my flight home to Toronto is delayed for “technical reasons”. No new departure time being shown yet. I know that aircraft are complicated machines but why does this always happen when I’m trying to get home? It’s just not fair.

All in all, this week’s trip was a good one. The meetings went very well and it was good to see my colleagues from all over the world again. The weather here was less than perfect and today dawned foggy once more but at least we didn’t have any snow to contend with.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed that we get out of here soon.

UPDATE 10:00 Now they’re saying they will have an “update” at 11:00. Luckily I have a lounge pass.

UPDATE 10:30 They just posted 11:30 as the new departure time. Hmmmm….anybody want to bet?

UPDATE 11:30 Good thing you didn’t bet me. Next update scheduled for 12:30. Now I’m starting to get worried. The crew’s duty time might be coming into play soon which would mean, if we’re delayed for a few more hours, they would need to get a replacement team before we can leave. I’d really rather not spend another night in Zurich if I can avoid it.

UPDATE 11:50 Looks like my conjecture about the duty time is coming true. Air Canada’s website now says the flight is delayed until 4pm.

FINAL UPDATE We finally got off just after 1pm. A bumpy, crowded flight. Touchdown at 4:30pm EST.

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The little town of Schindellegi Switzerland. The head office of the company I work for is located here above Lake Zurich. I haven’t sent any pictures during my trip this week because Zurich and the surrounding area is under a thermal inversion that means that the sun is seen through the fog and smog. Today, we made the trip up into the mountains to attend a training course and I had a chance to actually grab a few shots that don’t look so gloomy.

One more full day of meetings and Saturday morning it’s back to Toronto

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