Text 8668, 138 rader
Skriven 2011-03-22 09:36:00 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: FLYING HIGH 98 10322
============================
 -=> Quoting Michael Loo to Glen Jamieson <=-

 ML> Helsinki was fun in February. I had a difficult time struggling
 ML> up the ice-covered hills while old babushkas, or the Finnish
 ML> equivalent, scooted past me.

Shudder!  I have been similarly embarrassed by little old ladies in
the PNG Highlands, striding past me up mountain paths carrying huge
loads of sweet potato and leading a pig on a string.

 ML> Tasmania at least has trees, does it not? Scotland not so
 ML> much, and it's hard to get those pennypinching Celts to
 ML> put on the heating.

When my religious sister visited Scotland and stayed in a farmhouse,
she was obligated to kneel for what seemed like hours on cold stone
floor while her host demonstrated his piety.  She said it was agony!
 
 ML> Interestingly, I've been on the 340 but never on the 330,
 ML> essentially the same plane but with two big engines rather

What airline runs A330s?

 ML> than four little ones. And I've yet to taste the 380 service,
 ML> though have been on a couple of the aircraft on the ground.

Not yet for me.  I saw the engineering report on the initial cause of
failure of the aircraft which is still stuck in Singapore.  Bad
workmanship, with an off-centre counterbore in an oil pipe which
thinned down one side, where a fatigue crack started.  The pipe broke
and lubricating oil poured into the combustion chamber, resulting in
considerable over-speed, which in turn resulted in the turbine disk
being "liberated" (in the language of the report), with parts hurtling
through softer parts of the wing.

 ML> Looking forward to the new release of the 737NG+, which is
 ML> said to have horizontally oriented windows. With any luck
 ML> my flight on Wednesday will be on such a craft.

What does the "NG" stand for?  (Not a good model name...)

 GJ> that model, but was re-booked the next day on a Singapore 777.
 ML> No heartbreaker that.

My favourite plane for long-haul economy travel, particularly SIL's.
 
 ML> They don't neutralize the magnetism, just counteract. So they
 ML> would double the trouble.
 GJ> Picky, picky!  Same difference.
 ML> Quite a big difference. The fields may counteract, but
 ML> the essential magnetic nature of the substance will be
 ML> unchanged. You can't stealth a piece of metal by
 ML> balancing it with another piece of metal, sad to say.

As far as the compass is concerned, the magnetic field of the metal
in the body would disappear once the corrective magnets were correctly
placed.  That is what is done in ships.
 
 GJ> can be very strong, as most of them still run on direct current, and
 GJ> it can actually spin the compass for several revolutions.

 ML> Recently my compass was confused by an electrified
 ML> tram wire, tall steel buildings, and construction
 ML> equipment, all at once. I didn't know which way
 ML> was up, after a while, much less north and south.

That is when you needed a sighting of the sun.
 
 GJ> world-wide that if you can afford to fly in an aeroplane, you will be
 GJ> prepared to pay more for ground transport.

 ML> There is usually a cheap option for the hordes of
 ML> workers to use. In Brussels, for example, there is a
 ML> bus, which costs E3 (with bulk tickets and passes much
 ML> less, of course), versus the train at E3.10 ... but
 ML> the train is subject to the appropriately named Diabolo
 ML> tax of E2.30, whereas the bus is exempt.

My last time in Brussels was at night, in an almost deserted station,
where I and my niece waited for hours for an overdue train, with just
the toilet-cleaning lady and satirical posters of Prince Charles for
company.  German railways did not live up to our expectations of
efficiency, although subsequent delays gave us a few hours in Hamburg
to walk by the Aussenal lake and enjoy a pub lunch of fish in white
sauce and a schnitzel, with the excellent local Budweisser.  By the
station was a genuine, classic, French-style "pissoir".
 
 ML> The Singaporeans, not missing much, have decided that the

 ML> The finest alternative is the 24-hour free movie theater, where,
 ML> if you have an effective set of earplugs, you can sleep to your
 ML> heart's content in a seat with a reasonable recline and relatively
 ML> few neighbors, most of whom are doing the same thing.

Isn't that much the same as your business class seat in the plane?
 
 GJ> little extreme.  I think you can still be fined for failing to flush a
 GJ> public toilet after use.
 ML> Hardly extreme.

I think the fine is or was $50, which I think is a bit extreme,
although the idea is to be commended.
 
 GJ> I have dragged my luggage past those places.  What I found on my last
 GJ> visit to Singapore was that the airport now has 2 luggage
 GJ> depositories.  Unaware of this, we left our bags in one and

 ML> Three, actually, one in each terminal. One is run by the transit
 ML> hotel people, the others by another outside contractor.

We travel on the cheap and try to avoid airport hotels.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: Plain Old Cheap Pie
 Categories: Historical
      Yield: 4 servings
 
           See dir
 
  Take 1 quart of water and 4 tbsp of strong vinegar and mix with a cup
  of sugar and 3 tbsp butter.  Boil.  While boiling, add a cupful of
  flour wet in cold water and boil 2 minutes more.  Let cool.  Once
  cool, if you do not have a solid mass of glue, pour into three pans
  lined with paste and bake in a quick oven.
  
  from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
  From: Lee Lofaso                      Date: 05-15-10
 
MMMMM
 


... Two can live as cheap as one if one don't eat.
___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)