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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...

Patrick Lockerby

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 »

The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang

Mar 14 2010 | comment(s)

The Real Scuttlebutt On Sailing Slang

There are plenty of sites around the web which will give you the origins and meanings of nautical slang. Mostly the wrong ones. Etymology is a science: you can't just make stuff up.

What's the scuttlebutt?

Consensus Science

Mar 14 2010 | comment(s)

Consensus Science

In a democracy you can vote without needing to give reasons.

In science you have to give reasons or you aren't allowed to vote.

Let me explain that.

Suppose that I discover by experiment that splomks are vlatikers. My proof is that by coating a lens with praktonite I ensure that every time I examine a splomk with my lens it sure enough looks like a vlatiker.

Scientists across the world rush to replicate my experiment. Sure enough: a majority of them report that splomks are indeed vlatikers. We have a consensus.

A few experiments fail to replicate my results. This is put down to experimental error.

What Is Science?

Mar 13 2010 | comment(s)

What Is Science?

Some time ago I was visiting a college in Pakistan. I thought I was just there as an observer. My mistake. I was introduced to a physics class with final words that filled my soul with dread:
" ... from England who is going to give a talk on the topic What is science? ".

Now, when you are put on the spot like that, what do you do? Well - it's science, so you can't just make stuff up. You have to tell it like it is. Fortunately, my bottom line for what constitutes science is all a matter of questions and answers. Purely from memory, here is my little talk.

What is science?

Spring Forward

Mar 13 2010 | comment(s)

Spring Forward

Spring forward.
Seize the daylight hour.
We have but too few summers.
All mortals must fall back
in our autumn years.

.
Picture via Wikimedia, public domain, courtesy of P. Ingerson

Don't Say Cheese

Mar 13 2010 | comment(s)

Don't Say Cheese

Following a thorough scientific assessment of the risks involved in an experiment in the effects of gravity on round cheeses, a 200 year long experiment has been brought to a premature close.

Said a spokesmouthpiece for Tewkesbury Borough Council:

"We did some sums on the back of an envelope and it looks like all those cheeses rolling down the hill are creating a local gravitational anomaly. It's sucking in people from the other side of the world."

The council claims that the following picture in their press release shows architectural distortions due to local gravitational anomalies.

Here We Go Round The Binary

Mar 11 2010 | comment(s)

Here We Go Round The Binary

If this little piece of whimsy helps educators in any way,
that will make me very happy.

Here We Go Round The Binary

verse 0000
nothing.

nothing.

nothing-nothing twice.
nothing here - move on,
that's my advice.

verse 0001
oh oh oh one
that makes one.
one and three nothings
now wasn't that fun?

verse 0010
oh oh one oh
spells out two -
two and three nothings
look right to you?

verse 0011
oh oh one one
now we have three -
a two and a one -
add them up and see.