Posts by cd27idw

Scientists speak their brains: Please don’t call us boffins

Re: Eloi vs Boffins

I don't know why they're getting so het up about the media. How they relate us (or don't ) is irrelevant. Everyone creates their own gods and demons, none more so than the media. It's how impose order on the world about us. As engineers and scientists we facilitate and enable societies, we have done since the Industrial Revolution. The media on the other hand, is a bourgeious construct, whose sole predication is hegemony. They will always marginalise and/or negate anyone who raises their head above the parapet. It's the only way they can invest themselves with any societal value.

Singapore Airlines 777 catches fire after engine alarm

Re: They did well to keep everyone calm and not deploy the slides!

The a330 case was apparently what's colloquially known in the west of Scotland as a "reekie lum", or less prosaicly as apu exhaust needing de-coked. Can be diconserting if you're onboard when it happens, as it was when it happened to me on a flybe dash8 a few years ago. Looking out the window,while wondering why things were taking so long, realised we had number of fire tenders parked at our rear. Swift evacuation, and a four hour delay waiting for new aircraft and crew followed, but no real worries.