Posts by Tom 66

Can anyone explain the chunnel fiasco?

Eurostar Structure

"Maybe all five trains had entered the tunnel before the first one stalled? DUH!"

Something the author of the original article should have done was to estimate the actual length of time between the first train breaking down and the last train entering the tunnel, taking the perfectly sensible assumption that in order to get five trains into the tunnel the first must have got quite a long way through before expiring. I wouldn't be surprised if the time taken to get five trains beyond the point of no return was shorter than the delay loop in ascertaining a) that there was a problem and b) that it wasn't just related to a single train.

However, Eurostar do deserve a bucket of shit for this one, but for the passenger care response, not so much the railway operational side - in any case they're not actually a railway operator, they contract out the management of the service to an outfit called InterCapital and Regional Rail, in which the largest partner is National Express, along with SNCF, SNCB and British Airways. This explains why the Eurostar Board is full of people who are employed to run contracts and sales and marketing, not trains. Mind you, I'm not sure this multiplicity of entities is necessarily a great way to run a railroad, the only thing going for it is that it's not as mental as the original structure.

UK air traffic control goes after Wikileaks

hmm

If this was broadcast on BBC One at prime time the response of the vast majority of viewers would be 'fuck me, they're pretty calm and professional when it suddenly goes to shit in front of them, thank goodness NATS have got calm, solid, dependable guys there when we need them, I feel rather happier about getting in a plane now'. That was certainly my response. I'd put it on the screens at Piccadilly Circus, frankly.

We knew months ago that there was nothing NATS could have done to stop the crash, it was a fault on the aircraft. Give us some credit, eh?

Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2

S10e

I've got an S10e and it's great, so it's annoying to see them basically screwing up from a position of strength here - I was expecting bigger screens, more storage, more RAM, faster CPU, more ports, same price rather than 'hey, Win7'. I run Ubuntu 9.10 on mine which is perfectly adequate, so I'll stick with that for now.