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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 »

Global Cooling : How Wrong Can You Get?

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

Global Cooling : How Wrong Can You Get?

Despite media reports to the contrary, the Antarctic ice is still melting, as noted here:

Climate change is warming the Amundsen Sea, which is at the southern margin of the Pacific Ocean. As rising sea levels push the warm water beneath the ice shelves, it melts them from below, pushing the grounding line higher up the continental shelf.

Filtering Information In The Information Age

Jan 15 2010 | comment(s)

Filtering Information In The Information Age

The Fortean Times appears never to have been mentioned on scientific blogging.com, much less cited as a reference source. Now, when you have quite finished falling about laughing, I would like, in all seriousness, to draw your attention to a recent Fortean Times article:

The New Information Order
How the Internet is freeing conspiracy theories from the control imposed by traditional media.
By Robin Ramsay, Fortean Times, December 2009.

Mailspam, Webspam, And Freedom Of Speech.

Jan 14 2010 | comment(s)

Mailspam, Webspam, and Freedom of Speech.

"given that the e-mail system has gone largely unchanged since 1965,
perhaps we should be grateful that it works at all. " - David A. Karp
PCmag.com

Spam is the biggest single threat to the continued operation of the entire internet. I'll explain shortly why I think it's such a big threat, but first, I'll explain what I mean by the term 'spam'.

What Is Spam?

To my way of thinking, spam is just another variant of malware. Even though most spam emails don't fire up software, they fit the simplest definition of malware.

The Buzzword Blog #6 : Customer

Jan 12 2010 | comment(s)

If you are unsure what a buzzword is, please first read:
The Buzzword Blog #2 : What is a Buzzword?

The Buzzword Blog #6 : Customer

The word 'customer' comes via old French from the Latin consuetudinem, meaning 'habit' or 'useage'. A customer is a person who habitually, as a matter of personal choice, exchanges his or her money for goods or services from a preferred supplier.

Where there is no possibility of personal choice, no real exercise of preference, the term 'customer' is entirely wrong.

Global Cooling: A Good Story, If Only It Were True.

Jan 12 2010 | comment(s)

Global Cooling: A Good Story, If Only It Were True.

According to Daily Mail reports of 10th and 11th January 2010, we are now entering a phase of global cooling. However, there is an old saying about newspaper reports: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

I am not here to 'knock' the Daily Mail. My earliest recollections of reading news stories are recollections of the Daily Mail. I still read the Daily Mail on line and enjoy the generally high standard of reporting, so it came as something of a shock to discover that Daily Mail reporters have got their facts entirely wrong about global warming.

Concern Who It May

Jan 10 2010 | comment(s)

Concern Who It May

When should one use 'who', and when 'whom'? A simple enough question on the face of it, but in practice a path through a quagmire.

Generally, making a choice between 'who' and 'whom' in constructs does not lead to a significant change in meaning. But it may. Consider the stock phrase "to whom it may concern." Here, the term 'concern' means 'be of interest'. By way of contrast, in the phrase "concern who it may", 'concern' may mean 'trouble', 'worry', or 'annoy'. Annoy who it may!