True story.

The elevator I was in yesterday were made by a company called Schindler.

So that would make them Schindler's Lifts.

For Emano

Books, books and books, oh my!

A local pub where I have spent a great deal of time over the last few months has an amazing array of books spread around it. Every window sill, several ancient cupboards and shelves are home to hundreds of books. Among them are the occasional copy of Reader's Digest, or Royal horticultural Society periodical from the last twenty years or so. However most are books from (what I have seen) pre-1970 with some from around the turn of the previous century. All the books are, naturally, covered in dust and the odd cobweb or dead spider.

All those forgotten books. Authors whose names mean nothing to me. Wonderful sounding titles like "Encyclopaedia of Article Ideas", containing, yep, ideas to inspire writers of articles. "A house called Creepers". "Portrait of a man with red hair". Books which could, for all I know, be the only copy still around.

A pencilled scrawl in the flyleaf might indicate that the book was given as a gift to someone in 1956. One wonders who the giver and receiver might have been; was the book the equivalent of The Da Vinci Code, and selected as the book of the week? Perhaps the book was the result of hours spent in every book shop in town to find the right gift.

I have to speculate the value of such a collection. In monetary terms, perhaps a great deal, perhaps nothing at all. From a literary point of view, this could be the dregs of work that have been resigned to never see the light of day again.

But how much history is captured within the pages, or have been seen by the books themselves?

Librarything

Dana, Sky...thanks. Thanks a lot. I really needed another excuse to sit at the computer.

Only kidding ;)

My fledgling library can be seen here.

I'm still adding books to it - it's scary just how many I seem to have here.

Oh, and to those adding books, a neat trick I found to speed up adding new books, saving you time typing in search terms etc is to create txt files of your ISBN numbers. Save, then you can upload the list.

Once entered into the system, it will take a while to locate the information for each book, but it's faster than going through them one at a time!

Geeky

Since I seem to have an ineptitude with Java, my thanks to Dana for getting the Random Quotes working at last.

Liberty and the Harlequins

Last year I was wandering around the art gallery at the local mall, and spotted a picture by Joy Kirton-Smith, a UK contempory artist. However, as a limited edition print there was very little I could do about it at the time.

Time passed, and on receiving this year's bonus thought once again about the picture.

Deciding where it was going to go was an issue - it's not small, especially with the frame - and I realised it was not going to either fit, or go with the other contents in my lounge. I realised that the only wall for it was in the bedroom, and ironically, the duvet set matches perfectly with the colours. So I took a deep breath and went back to buy it. Luckily, the one on display at the gallery was the last one the company had - there are only 150 copies - but it was available.

Given the investment, I wanted it to be perfect so the picture went back to be re-framed (you get a choice from a range of frames at no extra charge) which took a couple of weeks.

Yesterday, the picture was ready for collection. Not only did it (just about) fit, but it looks great in place.

International Starwars Day!

You may not be aware that today is International StarWars day.

 

May the 4th be with you!

 

I'll get my coat...

Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds

I've been a fan of the 1970's musical album "The War of the Worlds" that has, it seems, developed an almost cult status over the last 30 years. When I heard of a live version being performed, I initially thought it was going to be an orchestra performing it, as has been done before.

However, I was surprised to hear that Jeff Wayne himself had put together a touring live stage version. I immediately booked my tickets...

The concert itself was amazing. As well as the band and the 30-odd piece orchestra conducted by Jeff Wayne, Justin Haywood reprised his original role of the singing voice of the Journalist.
David Essex was, alas, too old to play the young artillery man who has the Plan, but was replaced by someone who more than did credit to the role. Finally, Russell Watson played the doomed Parson Nathaniel. The live cast was supported by a back drop projection of live action and CGI film, along with a 50ft high Martian fighting machine, along with a dazzling array of lights and other special effects.

Oh, and as for the Journalist, originally played by Richard Burton, his role was played by... Richard Burton.

Using a double and some technical jiggerypokery, Richard Burton's moving face was projected onto a floating head above the stage, to light up and perform his lines through. Eerie doesn't begin to cover it.

All in all, a wonderful performance. The music was just as good as ever, and to hear "Forever Autumn" performed live by Justin, with suitable graphics in the back ground was great.

A good night out! Now, when was the DVD coming out...

April 1st on Aeronews.net

Encouraged By A380 Tests, Boeing Moves Up 787 Evac Drills
But Uses Real Americans... Not Gym Club Or Dance Troupe Members
In an unprecedented adjustment to the typical development cycle of a new airliner, Boeing announced last week the company would conduct what was described as a "preliminary evacuation exercise" of its upcoming 787 Dreamliner.
The tests, conducted early Saturday morning, utilized a full-scale mock-up of the 787's fuselage and what Boeing described as "real American citizens, not those handpicked 'evacuees' our friends across the pond used for the whalejet."
The result? All 262 passengers and crew were evacuated relatively safely from the Dreamliner cabin mockup... in 34 minutes and 17 seconds.
In the days leading up to the drill, Boeing said it would use "real people, with real issues" selected from among those waiting in line to tour Boeing's Everett, WA plant. Denizens of a local Wal-Mart were also among chosen to participate in the test.
Much of the 34-minute delay Saturday was caused by a Highland Park, TX woman who couldn't find her lipstick, and refused to leave the simulator until she found it -- thus holding up 87 passengers behind her, waiting to deplane through one of the Dreamliner mock-up's two overwing exits.
While those passengers would be almost assuredly doomed had the evacuation been an actual emergency, in the drill they were instead treated to a half-hour-long running commentary of said search, given by the woman as she talked on her cell phone.
Boeing reports approximately 127 participants were injured in the evacuation exercise -- including 43 who suffered fractured limbs tripping over the supersized "carry-on" luggage strewn throughout the darkened cabin. An additional 74 people suffered minor gluteal trauma when the evacuation slides deflated due to exceeding their rated weight limit.
There was one fatality -- although details were unavailable at press time, eyewitnesses state Boeing employees were quick to cover the body, with only a hand clutching a cell phone visible under the tarp.
"We knew we were in for some difficulties when we discovered nearly all of the participants we pulled had flown in, via Southwest, on a group-saver fare from Omaha," Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally said.
"Before we continue development on the Dreamliner, however, we felt we needed an accurate assessment of a realistic passenger evacuation scenario... and this way, inelegant as it may seem, gave us that data."
There are unofficial reports the study was, in fact, commissioned by the Dallas-based LCC, as the airline looks ahead to replacing its fleet of Boeing 737s and possible overseas expansion, upon repeal of the Wright Amendment.
Sources within the Boeing supplier network, however, said Northwest Airlines -- one of only two domestic carriers to have Dreamliners on their order books (the other is Continental) -- requested the evacuation drill, in order to ascertain (theoretically, of course) how a typical compliment of passengers from Northwest's hub in Minneapolis would be able to evacuate a Dreamliner that was recently serviced by nonunion mechanics.
While Boeing said the tests met internal expectations and would not be repeated in the near future, the less-than-stellar results come as a disappointment to the company -- especially as rival Airbus conducted a successful evacuation of its upcoming A380 superjumbo last weekend, deplaning 873 passengers in less than 80 seconds.
While one "evacuee" suffered a broken leg in the ordeal, and 32 others suffered minor injuries, not one of the handpicked members of Toulouse gymnasiums and dance troupes was killed in the A380 test.
"I knew we shouldn't have allowed those Southwest passengers who had to buy two seats to get their fat butts here from Omaha," said one Boeing source close to the exercise.

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Life's mysteries

Thermos flasks. They keep stuff hot, or they keep stuff cold. But...how does it know?