Through The Mist Darkly

A Chinese airline is asking passengers to use the washroom before boarding their flights in an attempt to save money.

China Southern estimates that it takes 1 liter of fuel to flush the toilet at 30,000 feet so they’d really appreciate it if you use the loo on the ground.

They’ve come up with other wild calculations like having blankets and pillows on their aircraft eats up 60 tonnes of fuel every day.  I’m no expert but I might suggest that if they didn’t carry any passengers their fuel consumption would go way, way down.  Just trying to be helpful China Southern.

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Henry Stimson

“The only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him.”

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NASA will be launching the Space Shuttle Discovery next Thursday.  Did you know that?  I didn’t.

Hard to believe that the whole shuttle experience has become so matter of fact that we can be a week away before it becomes a news event.  I remember day by day and minute by minute updates of every little thing that was going on but now we seem to be taking the whole process for granted.

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We were downtown yesterday at the Park Hyatt Hotel when we spotted a shiny silver car.  Looked awesome so we had to go take a close look. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera so you’ll have to make do with some advertising.

The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren (click picture for better view).  What a piece of art this beauty is.  Absolutely no idea how much this rolling masterpiece is but I want one!

Link to a slideshow

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Earlier this month, I linked a news item that rapper Snoop Dog had been busted for posession of a weapon while trying to board a flight.  Now the poor unfortunate soul has found himself on the wrong side of the law once again after being charged with weapons and narcotics offenses. 

The musician, who’s real name is Calvin Broadus, was pulled over last night while driving back after appearing on the Tonight Show.  When will the authorities leave this persecuted fellow alone so he can continue to serve as a role model for the youth of America?

(CNN Story)

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Bertolt Brecht

“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.”

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Dave Barry

“You can only be young once. But you can always be immature.”

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Take a look at that image.  A Christmas wreath in the shape of a peace sign.  Sort of pretty, as Christmas decorations go, and it’s hard to believe that it is at the centre of a controversy that pits a Homeowners’ Association in Pagaso Springs Colorado against Lisa Jensen because the symbol is seen as an anti Iraq war protest and a sign of Satan.

Jensen is amazed saying: “I honestly wasn’t thinking of the Iraq war. Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing. I am not going to take it down until after Christmas. Now that it has come to this I feel I can’t get bullied. What if they don’t like my Santa Claus.”

The association is prepared to fine Jensen $25 a day saying: “Loma Linda residents are offended by the peace sign displayed on the front of your house. … This Board will not allow any signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive….”

Stay strong Ms. Jensen.

UPDATE: The asshats backed down

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Interesting Wikipedia entry regarding the McDonnell Douglas MD12 project that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Airbus A380. 

Never built because no one ordered it and the idea died when MD and Boeing merged in 1997.

The MD12 was slightly shorter than the A380 (208 ft vs. 239) and was designed to carry 120 fewer passengers in the maximum loading configuration.

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Chicago’s Midway Airport has completed construction of a crushable concrete safety zone to guard against another instance of an airplane skidding of a snowy runway.  This comes as a result of last year’s accident involving a Southwest Airlines 737-700 where a child was killed in a car that was hit when the jet ended up on Central Avenue.

The NTSB investigation determined that the plane would not have ended up in the street if the barrier had been in place.

(Story)

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Richard Feynman

“We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.”

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Damm, I wish I lived in Fullerton California.  I’d be making reservations to attend the  “Flying Spaghetti Monster Holiday Pageant” being put on by the Hunger Artists Theatre Company.

Running from December 1 - 17, the audience is “treated to an Old School holiday pageant with pirates, strippers and a beer volcano”.

If you’re in the area, further details are available here. 

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We’re going through a period of unseasonably warm weather with the high today hitting 14 degrees.  Won’t last long.

Took a drive over to the Claireville Conservation Area but the sky was such a monotonous grey that all the color was washed out of the fields.

One picture I did get was of this tired fellow waiting for a customer at the Claireville Ranch.  Standing hoof-deep in mud he was looking very forlorn but he did perk up a bit when I approached.  I just wish I had a carrot or apple for him.

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Very unusual airplane made out of wood, right?  Wrong!  Very unusual paint scheme. It’s an Aeroprakt 22 ‘Foxbat’.

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John Andrew Holmes

“Speech is conveniently located midway between thought and action, where it often substitutes for both.”

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OK, Black Friday has come and gone so the Christmas shopping season is well under way.  Time to start looking at those chestnuts that make seasonal music even worse than it normally would be.

For the young, the Flinstones were the hip cartoon on TV when I was growing up.  They were reasonably funny and watched by just about everyone.

The premise was that Motown artists like the Supremes and The Jackson 5 (with little Mikey before he got wierd) would have their Christmas music sandwiched between “funny” little bits from the stone age families. Great idea Marv!!  We can make money off the folks in the suburbs and the homeys in the projects.  Crass and completely unnecessary. 

I won’t even begin to get into the who was hotter - Betty or Wilma - debate but I can say, with certainty, that this was a bad idea.  I don’t remember if I’ve ever actually heard this lump of coal but, if I have, I’m very glad that the ravages of time have washed the memory from my mind.

Is it still available?  I don’t know.  Should you buy it if it is?  Yabba Dabba Don’t.

UPDATE:  Believe it or not, the thing still is available at Amazon.com for as little as $0.25.  I’m happy to say that the Canadian Amazon site doesn’t have any.  What really gets me is that the release date is 1999 while the Flinstones went off the air in 1966 which must have been when the last ice age hit.  Marv and the marketing boys waited 33 years to unleash this horror on us?

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Victor Borge

“Laughter is the closest distance between two people.”

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I’ve been trying to quit smoking for a week now and I’m doing pretty well.  Down from 1 pack a day to 1 a week.

The downside is that I’m not sleeping well.  At first, I thought it was the patch but that only accounted for the really vivid dreams.  I quit wearing them on Thursday and the dreams stopped but I still have trouble sleeping for more than a few hours at a time.

If you’re going to get up at 4am every morning, you have to find something to fill your time.  This morning, I took the camera and tripod out and tried a long exposure shot of a very foggy morning.  This is the result of a 10 second exposure.  Interesting.

I wanted to go out early this morning and catch the sunrise through the fog but it was so thick that even now, at 11:15am, we still can’t see the sun.

(Click picture to see larger)

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Oscar Wilde

“My own business always bores me to death; I prefer other people’s.”

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In honor of the US Thanksgiving holiday, the brilliant and fiesty William Burroughs says thanks for the American Dream.

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