In 2 days November will begin, except this year it will be officially known as “MOVEMBER”. A campaign to promote awareness for Prostate Cancer has begun. The goal is to raise money and remind all men to get their checkup by giving the razor a rest for the month and growing a moustache.
Winter’s coming and it’s always good to have the lip warmer in place.
If you’d like to help me out, my donation page is here. Canadian donations will get you a tax receipt
I haven’t commented on the unbelievable story that a Northwest Airlines flight overflew it’s destination because, frankly, the explanations have been unbelievable.
How you could fly through some of the most congested airspace in the world without noticing that you’d passed the airport or fail to respond to dozens of radio messages just boggles the mind. Even with my minimal hours in the air I know that radio chatter is almost constant. That’s in a little Cessna. In a big Airbus on instrument flight it’s probably non-stop. Not to mention that the autopilot knew they were at the end of the route and probably started firing off warnings left and right.
Yet, through all this, the pilots say they were “distracted” because they had their laptops open (breach of company policy) and were having a discussion about the new crew scheduling system. Well, you’ve already been suspended and will probably be fired so I don’t think that crew scheduling is something you’re going to have to worry about in the future.
The NTSB and FAA are still investigating so hopefully we’ll get the truth on this bizarre event sooner or later.
Having said my piece, let’s turn it over to David Letterman and his Top Ten Northwest Airlines Pilots Excuses:
10. Bunch of fat guys seated on the right side of the plane made us vector east. 9. We get paid by the hour. 8. Mapquest always takes you the long way, am I right, people? 7. Tired of that show-off Sullenberger getting all the attention. 6. You try steering one of those airplanes after eight or nine cocktails. 5. Wanted to catch the end of the in-flight movie. 4. Activating autopilot and making occasional P.A. announcements is exhausting. 3. According to our map, we only missed our target by half an inch. 2. For a change, we decided to send luggage to the right city and lose the passengers. 1. Thought we saw balloon boy.
Not much happening today. Making sure my body clock is resetting. It’s snowed off and on today but nothing much is sticking. Walked through town and picked up a few things at the local market.
Well I’m here. The picturesque town of Einseideln South of Zurich. The flight across was terrible. No sleep and cramped quarters. By the time I got in, I was dead tired so I just grabbed the train and headed straight for the hotel.
Once we started climbing up into the hills there was something just not right. Was that snow??? Sure enough it started snowing and it hasn’t let up yet. Big wet flakes that make it hard to see but at least they’re not building up on the ground. The picture is from the balcony of my room at the Drei Konige Hotel. Utilitarian accommodations but at least I can duck outside for a smoke.
This day is a right off so I’m going to grab some sleep and see if I can get on Swiss time.
Just waiting around at Pearson Airport. Check in and security when extremely well so I’ve got plenty of time to kill before my flight.
Wandering around and ran into this big boy at one of the gates. The Emirates A380 with about 100 people swarming around her. Probably only about 20 were actually assigned but he draws a crowd.
Steve Miller Band song stuck in my brain today. Getting ready to board my old friend Air Canada flight 878 to Zurich. The travel freeze has thawed so it’s off to Switzerland for another week of meetings.
Unfortunately the days of business travel are long gone so I’ll squeeze into seat 21A and *try* to catch a few hours sleep on the way over. Landing around 8 in the morning Swiss time which gives me 1/2 day before I can even check in at the hotel in Einsidelen, about an hour by train away.
Got the new Dan Brown book to waste some time if sleep won’t come.
With a couple of days of vacation before heading off to Switzerland for business, I looked around for something to watch online while doing some work on my mother’s estate.
I was amazed that the entire 13 part series of “Cosmos” was available at YouTube. User Dutchdrummer99 has a done a superb job of putting everything up and tagging them correctly. YouTube only allows 10 minute clips so keeping them in order is a monumental task.
For those too young or with failing memories, Cosmos was presented on PBS by Dr. Carl Sagan in 1980 with episode names like “One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue” and “Blues for a Red Planet”. It was a groundbreaking introduction to astronomy and a fascinating view of the universe.
What is truly surprising is how well the series stands up with it’s then cutting edge special effects. Dr. Sagan, who passed away in 1996, was a wonderful teacher.
You can subscribe to the entire series here. It’s well worth the time.
It’s been over 50 years since a new cloud has been added to the International Cloud Atlas. The undulatus asperatus (turbulent undulation) shown above just might make the cut.
Reported over hilly country, the formation comes with a theory as to how it is formed. Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the UK-based Cloud Appreciation Society says: “It’s warmer, moister air above and colder, drier air below, with an abrupt boundary in between” giving “the same wavy effect as on the surface of water.”
Whatever causes it, that’s one ominous looking cloud.
Two years ago I made a visit to the Swiss Transportation Museum in Lucerne Switzerland. Observant me just figured out that I didn’t upload many of the pictures to Flickr.
