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Air India Flight 171 - Flawed EE Bay Water Ingress Theory

Air India Flight 171 - Flawed EE Bay Water Ingress TheoryRichard Godfrey, in many videos on the...

Air India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key Findings

Air India Flight 171 Accident Summary - Key FindingsThe purpose of an air accident report is to...

Air India Flight 171 - Ask The experts

Air India Flight 171 - Ask The expertsAn open letter to H. Lawrence Culp, Jr., Chairman and Chief...

Air India Flight 171 - The Vital Seconds

Air India Flight 171 - The Vital SecondsThe Timeline - Vital Seconds.This timeline is constructed...

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Patrick LockerbyRSS Feed of this column.

Retired engineer, 79 years young. Computer builder and programmer. Linguist specialising in technical translation. Interested in every human endeavour except the scrooge theory of accountancy. Interested... Read More »

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Royally Screwed

Royally Screwed

Mar 16 2011 | comment(s)

Royally Screwed

Getting screwed - in the sense of being at the receiving end of a whole bunch of badness - has its origins in carpentry.  It's nothing to do with thumbscrews.  It has everything to do with keeping a thing under pressure - or releasing it.  Things can get literally screwed up or screwed down.

If you are trying to clamp something with screws you are screwing something down.  If you have a screw loose then your efforts will result in a screw-up.  A screw-up in a steam locomotive shop may result in a most public screw-up somewhere along the line.
What I Had For Breakfast #2

What I Had For Breakfast #2

Mar 16 2011 | comment(s)

What I Had For Breakfast #2

Four whole fried chickens, and a Coke.

My bike's got cop tires, cop suspensions, cop shocks. It's a model made before lycra was invented, so it'll run good on regular jeans and t-shirt - or the outfit described in the comments to What I Had For Breakfast #1.


I said I was going to reveal something about myself here, and I will continue to do so.  All you need do to extract meaningful data is to study psychoanalysis - or criminal psychology, whichever is least  likely to harm your street cred.


I am often accused of never finishing what I star
What Is A BLEVE?

What Is A BLEVE?

Mar 15 2011 | comment(s)

What is a BLEVE?

A BLEVE is a Boiling-Liquid Expanding-Vapor Explosion.

It is fairly common knowledge that removing the radiator cap of a vehicle with a hot engine will cause the ejection of boiling water.



Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods - Update

Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods - Update

Mar 15 2011 | comment(s)

Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods - Update


The latest reports coming from Japan indicate that the current nuclear emergency is not as great as some people had feared it might be.

Despite some media reports: there have been no reactor explosions.  Period.

Radiation levels are falling, according to the most recent news release by the Japanese government.
What I Had For Breakfast

What I Had For Breakfast

Mar 13 2011 | comment(s)

What I Had For Breakfast - Not Really

A short history of blogging

In the early days of blogging, a lot of people seemed to feel the need to share boring stuff about what they did all day.  A typical blogger would write stuff about what they'd eaten, where they had been, what their cat dragged in, etc.  And then came the bloggers who wrote some real cool stuff:

Do I know good science?
Not really, but I have watched a lot of Mr. Wizard and Quantum Leap, and I also worked at Sea World of Ohio (when it existed) for a summer. Hey, cleaning duck poop off the pavement taught me a lot about science!
Yvette Beaudoin
innergeek
Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods

Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods

Mar 12 2011 | comment(s)

Update: For the latest bulletins, please see my new article:
Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods - Update

original post begins here:
Japan's Nuclear Emergency - The Straight Goods

There is much speculative and inaccurate reporting in the world's media regarding the problems caused to nuclear power facilities in Japan by the recent earthquake.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company - TEPCO - is releasing frequent updates on the emergency situation which followed the earthquake.