lookin

The swimmers have me stumped but I think I might be picking up something on the OP.

Be sure and check your hand towels after they leave.

I sure hope it wasn't anything we said.

Well, perhaps he can find redemption and forgiveness for his anti-gay marriage donation. But Javascript?

Glad you found someone to take over the 'suicide seat'. I hope he at least got an extra bag of peanuts.

Had I taken this quiz in the semi-rural parts of India where I spent a couple of years, I'd also have needed the 'zero option'. Water and a finger were often the only means available. Good thing too, as Indian toilet paper outside the luxury hotels was usually made from a gossamer blend of parchment and dust with just enough waxiness to guarantee a smear rather than a good scrub. I believe that those traditional water-users with excellent aim and an enthusiastic launch could dispense with the finger altogether, though it was still considered bad form to eat, or to offer something, with one's left hand. And, once again, I am indebted to the worthy posters who are kind enough to launch and nurture these coprophagistic threads whenever there's a lull in the conversation.

I never felt unsafe flying and I don't now. But I did enjoy it much more prior to 9/11. Today, it's the closest thing to a cattle car experience without the actual bovine camaraderie. Once I'm on the plane, I have little problem with cramped quarters and lack of amenities. But the experience of actually getting inside the plane is nearly unbearable. I remember the glory days of traveling for business in the seventies. It was a matter of pride to leave the office less than an hour before flight time, walk into the airport ten minutes before and know that I could sprint to the gate, check in, and squeeze through the doors just as they were closing. Flying was something to look forward to then and now it's drudgery. But, again, it's not the experience in the plane that queers the deal. It's the process of actually getting to the point of buckling up. On the plus side, I pay three hundred dollars for a coach seat today just as I did then, forty years ago.

Usually on the lower end. Not counting today of course.

That joke just keeps on giving, AdamSmith!

My doctor once suggested bringing mine to my next appointment to see if it matched hers. It did. If not, you'll know how much to tweak your home reading.

OK, let's see your old loofah do this!

The article also says that, after World War II, Soviet policy was to 'resettle' Balkan areas with non-native speakers from elsewhere in the Soviet Union in a deliberate attempt to 'water down Baltic culture and destroy local national sentiment'. Seems like the Soviets were as much the carvers as they were the carvees. And, as is often the case, who 'belongs' and who is an outsider depends on who you ask. And when. Interesting that these 'settlers' were not automatically given Latvian citizenship after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. They have to take a test to get it and learn to speak the language. Hmm. Where have I heard that before?

Looks like he wants to go to Palestine again. . . . . . I thought they were staying in Plains this summer. . . . . . Better put on another kettle of steam.

Angel Soft? Ain't that ours? . .. Sure is, Charlie. For sensitive asses, huh? . .. It's a big seller. Well, David, them boys got money. .. And we need it! We got some rivers to clean up. . Hahahah! - Oh, you're serious.

Personally, I'm not averse to speculation, however idle, or so-called 'conspiracy theories'. The fact that we humans do it with such regularity and enthusiasm suggests that there's a beneficial purpose to it. Not that there aren't downsides to it as well, but this post is about the helpful parts and understanding why we do it. One of my favorite commentators, Dave Ross, had this to say yesterday: Tell me I'm safe: When a really frightening news story breaks - like the missing Malaysian jet, or that enormous landslide north of Seattle - people want to hear every detail. Not so much to learn what happened - but to try to calculate the odds of it happening to them. We're waiting for that one detail that will distance us and tell us we're safe. Until we know what happened, there's no convincing way to reassure ourselves that it couldn't happen to us. And it will continue to gnaw at many of us until we do know. So I think we swap thoughts with others to help relieve the stress.

I've heard 'getting older sucks' but you seem to be turning the expression on its head. Or yours. Congrats!

I'll give it closer to a 10. The ping analysis done by the Inmarsat folks apparently reduced the search area to about three percent of the southern arc, still a large area, but a lot smaller than a few days ago. I also heard that the aircraft's 'black box' will continue to send out a radio signal for another week to ten days before its battery dies. That seems to be the best window of opportunity for finding the wreckage from a distance and I'm sure there will be a lot of folks trying before that signal goes dark. After that, I think it will be like looking for a sub in a large area of the ocean floor. The guy who found the Titanic has offered his services and I think his deep-diving submarine is at the scene or on the way. I'll continue to avoid speculating on what actually caused the plane to go off course in the first place but I think it's noteworthy that, once the plane did change course soon after the last voice contact, it seems to have continued on at roughly the same speed, in the same direction, and at the same altitude until it ran out of fuel. That suggests that there was no human intervention after the initial change of course and soon after the last voice contact, and that would seem to suggest that the pilots were somehow incapacitated and no one else was at the controls either. A breach of the fuselage, either through an equipment failure, or an explosive device in the cargo hold, would be consistent with the pilots' losing consciousness, along with passengers and crew, but I don't see how such a failure could also have also turned off the various pieces of signaling equipment. That's where the 'black box' will come in handy and I'll predict that this will be one of the last flights we'll see with all the flight data and cockpit recordings consigned to a single device that has to be located and recovered with fingers crossed.

Wonder why they don't transmit moving aircraft data back to some satellite receiver instead of storing it on a 'black box' that may never be found. At least for large commercial aircraft. And, if not all data, then at least GPS coordinates. It shouldn't cost any more than even the occasional massive search like this one. And it may even provide a deterrent if the pilot or hijacker knows it can't be turned off. I'm sure there's some excellent reason that this information needs to sink to the bottom of the sea, along with the plane, but it eludes me at the moment.

I wouldn't throw any of them out of bed, although with that last version I might encourage him to keep his head under the covers.

If you're lucky.

Congrats!

And why stop there?

Minsk or Bust!

Really enjoyable post, Planetime, as always. You say your trip is routine, without a lot of excitement, but it's just the kind of vacation that I would enjoy, and I thank you for sharing it.

Happy Fifty-First Birthday!