Bad things can happen when the Airbus’s electrical systems go out:
"Simply, the Airbus 330 is one of the few commercial aircraft that is completely fly-by-wire [i.e., fully automated by computer]. The Airbus 320, of Hudson River fame, has mechanical backups, but the Airbus 330 and 340 don’t."
So when their computers quit, what’s left? Exactly nothing. Not much. Except, uh, prayer.
Comments Off on Pulling an Airbus’s plug
Posted in Obituaries, Science/Engineering
Tagged 340, Airbus A330, computer automation, fly-by-wire
Scientists are getting so desperate for the return of sunspots that they are now counting sunspecks. The one on the left is fading away, the one in the middle is a "dead pixel," an artifact of the SOHO spacecraft, and the two on the right are the latest candidates for sunspots. I’m wondering if the lack of activity will mean a cooler-than-usual summer. Well, I can dream, anyhow, as our daytime temps at the rancho climb steadily into the 90s.
Via Watts Up With That.
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Posted in Science/Engineering, Space, Weather/Climate
Tagged SOHO, sunspecks, sunspots, Watts Up With That
And, above all, whatever you do, as Douglas Adams would say (did say, in fact): Don’t Panic.
Via Simply Jews.
Comments Off on Happy Belated Towel Day
Posted in Blogosphere, Library, Obituaries, Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy, Towel Day
If the Air Force isn’t telling the truth and the GPS system does go down, it would mean chaos for the aviation industry. Me, I could always go back to map and compass. I taught both as a counselor in Boy Scouts many moons ago. But I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the sat system isn’t really in jeopardy.
Cause we like our TomTom. We use the Jane voice, which is British. You have to remember to update the memory every so often. But even when the route she suggests is more circuitous than we like, she picks up on where we’re going and adjusts her guidance. Lots easier than when Mrs. Charm navigates.
Via The Fat Guy.
Comments Off on Map reading
Posted in Mrs. Charm, Rancho Roly Poly, Science/Engineering, Scribbles
Tagged GPS system, TomTom
our browser, which art in memory, mozilla be thy name
onLoad run, thy layout done, exactly like the PSD.
render us fast this gmail thread,
and forgive us our standards violations,
as we forgive those who use IE against us,
and lead us not into quirks mode,
but deliver our content
for thine is the pingdom
and the browser and the glory,
forever and e
what():St9bad_alloc Abort trap (core dumped)
Via Dustbury.
Comments Off on Aborted prayer of the Webdev
Posted in Blogosphere, Science/Engineering
Tagged Dustbury, Prayer of the Webdev
The ole Hubble has imaged a lot of strange beasts since it was launched nineteen years ago. This is one of the strangest, part of a slide show collection at The Daily Beast and explained there.
Comments Off on Death Star Galaxy
Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged Death Star Galaxy, Hubble Space Telescope, The Daily Beast
Watch the STS 125 Atlantis astronauts make the final visit to the Hubble Space Telescope live on NASA TV. It’s hard to overstate the beauty and scientific value of the Hubble’s nineteen years of discoveries.
Enjoy it while you can. As the Seablogger puts it "The remaining shuttles are soon to be retired, and no replacement is likely. I suspect much of the space program will be terminated as health care and other costs overwhelm the federal budget." That does seem likely, and that Barry will be content to grovel in the mud.
Comments Off on Shuttle mission
Posted in Science/Engineering, Space
Tagged federal budget, health care costs, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA TV, seablogger, Space Shuttle Atlantis
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 