Remember back in October when one of Polish airline LOT’s Boeing 767-300ERs skidded to a graceful landing without landing-gear at Warsaw’s Frederick Chopin’s airport? Well, the first report of what happened is out. It’s embarassingly anticlimactic. Failure of the Primary Landing Gear Extension System The Boeing 767-300ER has various levels Continue Reading
UK Gov: Schools Should Become Banks If They Want the Money They Need
This Wednesday, 30th November, public sector workers (i.e. those employed by the Government) will go on strike over a dispute about pensions. The Government says that public sector pensions are “too good” and they should be reduced. What they’re not saying is that they’re doing this to pay for the Continue Reading
Happy 40th Birthday, CF-6!
You may not know it, but if you’ve traveled on an aircraft there’s a good chance that you were propelled, safely and competently, by a General Electric CF-6 turbofan engine. It first flew in 1970 and is still going strong today. Originally built for the US military’s collosal Lockheed C5 Continue Reading
Just What is SOCL?
Information is leaking out about a new social network called “SOCL”. What makes it different from the other bazillion social networks that are starting up, perhaps trying to cut into Facebook’s commercial success, is that is appears to be Microsoft’s own internal, corporate, social network. And it may be soon Continue Reading
New Xbox Dashboard, Dec 6th
Microsoft will begin rolling out a new dashboard for its Xbox 360 games console from 6th December. Apparently based on the forthcoming Windows 8 “Metro” user interface (UI) theme, the dashboard allows horizontal scrolling between “groups” of “tiles”, to use Microsoft parlance. Taking the metaphor one step further, the Xbox Continue Reading
Astraeus Goes Into Administration
At noon today, Monday 21st November, 2011, British charter airline, Astraeus, famous for having ex-Iron Maiden front-man, Bruce Dickinson, as Marketing Director and a Captain on their 757 fleet, grounded their fleet and called in the receivers. I shot the picture to the right at 6:30am on Sunday 28th August Continue Reading
Google, Facebook Will Cause the Next Economic Crisis
I had an enlightening discussion this week with a guy who works on the same product as I do. He is a tad older, wiser and more reflective, so when he said had identified a cycle in human history, I was all ears. Mike, who once designed a mechanism for Continue Reading
A Guide to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Perks
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a phenomenal commercial success. It has broken all the sales records that were so confidently smashed by its predecessor, Black Ops. An important part of the game is “perks”. Perks improve your performance by making your less susceptible to attack or improving your Continue Reading