Sunday Reads: Lost Again
Posted: December 28, 2014 Filed under: just because 12 CommentsGood morning
Well another commercial aircraft has gone missing in the area of Indonesia. This time it is an Air Asia flight: [Updated statement] QZ8501
https://m.facebook.com/notes/airasia/updated-statement-qz8501/10152667884908742
AirAsia Indonesia regrets to confirm that flight QZ8501 from Surabaya to Singapore has lost contact with air traffic control at 07:24 (Surabaya LT) this morning. The flight took off from Juanda International Airport in Surabaya at 0535hours.
The aircraft was an Airbus A320-200 with the registration number PK-AXC. There were two pilots, four flight attendants and one engineer on board.
The captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours
There were 155 passengers on board, with 138 adults, 16 children and 1 infant. Also on board were 2 pilots and 5 cabin crew.
And if that was not enough, a ferry with over 400 passengers is also in trouble: Norman Atlantic ablaze: Major rescue under way as Greece-Italy ferry evacuated in high winds – Europe – World – The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norman-atlantic-ablaze-major-rescue-under-way-as-greeceitaly-ferry-evacuated-in-high-winds-9946679.html
An international rescue effort was under way in high winds after a car ferry carrying 466 passengers and crew caught fire while sailing from Greece to Italy and its captain ordered its evacuation.
Passengers who telephoned Greek television stations gave dramatic testimony of conditions on the ship, which caught fire just before 6.00 a.m. local time (04:00 GMT) while travelling from Patras in western Greece to the eastern Italian city of Ancona.
“They tried to lower some boats, but not all of us could get in. There is no co-ordination,” one said. “It’s dark, the bottom of the vessel is on fire. We are on the bridge, we can see a boat approaching… we opened some boxes and got some life vests, we are trying to save ourselves.”
It was unclear whether there had been any casualties or whether any passengers were in the water, where cold winter temperatures would make survival difficult unless rescue came quickly.
The Norman Atlantic, carrying 222 vehicles, 411 passengers and 55 crew, was 44 nautical miles northwest of the island of Corfu when it sent a distress signal after a fire started in the lower deck, Greek coast guard officials said.
Makes you wonder what other massive transportation disaster will make headlines today…we have the air and sea covered, it will have to occur on land.
Since I am writing this post on my iPhone, the links are short and few.
GOP Figures used racist Ape imagery for Obama before North Korea did | Informed Comment
http://www.juancole.com/2014/12/figures-imagery-before.html
None of the examples should surprise you.
What to read something crazy? New York Police Trace Ismaaiyl Brinsley Gun to Georgia Arrowhead Shop | The New Republic
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120639/new-york-police-trace-ismaaiyl-brinsley-gun-georgia-arrowhead-shop
Investigators have traced the gun Ismaaiyl Brinsley used to kill two New York City police officers and wound his ex-girlfriend to a Georgia strip mall 900 miles away. The Arrowhead pawn shop, which bills itself as a “family-owned business dedicated to good prices, good customer service and good vibes,” as of 2010 was the fifth-largest source of guns used in crimes nationally and the number-one source of out-of-state guns seized by the New York Police Department.
What happened between the time the silver Taurus semiautomatic handgun was purchased in 1996 and Brinsley came across it? We don’t know. Brinsley was barred from owning a gun because he had committed multiple felonies; if he had to complete a background check, he would have failed it. But he never had to complete a background check. Police say the Asian man who bought the gun at Arrowhead later gave it to his cousin, and there have been no traceable purchases since, meaning it exchanged hands in private and illegal deals.
Weak federal laws and disparate state laws enable a black market where felons and domestic abusers can get their hands on guns. Georgia is among many southern states whose lax gun laws effectively supply firearms for criminal activity in states with stricter laws. Some 90 percent of guns traced in New York City crimes come from out-of-state sources. Compare New York’s laws to a state like Georgia, and it’s easy to see why these southern states are known as the Iron Pipeline.
Read more at the link, I suspect it is only going to get worse.
And my last link, because my index finger is getting tired. Yes, I type on my phone with my one finger…
How Humans Spend Their Time
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-humans-spend-their-time-2014-12?
Most human beings get about 75 years of existence.
That’s about 3,900 weeks. Or 27,000 days. Or 648,000 hours.
We spend about a third of those hours sleeping, a number that hasn’t changed much over the centuries.
What has changed is what we do with the remaining time.
As the following two charts show, over the past 150 years, thanks to the irrepressible inventiveness and ingenuity of the human animal, we have engineered a profound shift in what we do with our waking hours.
There are 168 hours in a week. 56 go to sleeping, which leaves 112 for everything else.
150 years ago, we spent about 70 of those 112 waking hours working.
Thanks to the remarkable productivity enhancements we have made over the past 150 years, the average workweek in most countries has dropped by about 30 hours:
Go figure?
Well, whatever you want to call it, I am off to spend my time sleeping.
Think of this as an open thread.
But wait…perhaps this is the third shoe to drop: One dead and 15,000 cars stranded in French Alps as snow sweeps region – Europe – World – The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/one-dead-and-15000-cars-stranded-in-french-alps-as-snow-sweeps-region-9946733.html
You read that right. 15,000 cars stranded. Ooof!
Speaking of Georgia to NYC gun running, the police just caught a guy flying guns from Atlanta to JFK – the last time, he carried 18 of them onto an airplane.
http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/delta-worker-smuggled-guns-flights-atlanta-jfk-article-1.2054257#bmb=1
(Not sure if that was mentioned here before)
Nope, didn’t see that one. But then, you know it is okay to bring guns to the airport now, at least here in Georgia.
Maybe it’s okay to bring them to the airport, but I have to assume that taking 18 guns on an airplane is still not okay even in Georgia.
I don’t know X, lol…things are so crazy, here in Banjoville they have their own standards of…free speech and what is considered “hate.” Case in point, from an editorial in our local Banjoville paper:
I would have to guess it was not the word God on the title of the book, but the hateful shit the woman said on the inside the book that caused such offense. Ah, the joys of living in a little southern mountain redneck shitkicker town.
Very sweet article.
JJ,
The flying elf/little person illustration is lovely.
Well, it was one of the pictures I was planning on using for my little e-card this year. Since I did this post via my iPhone it was one of the only holidayish pictures I had on my phone. lol
I’ve had a migraine the past day or so…just haven’t looked online till now.
God, I can’t wait until this year is over.
ditto
Very nice article!! keep on posting!!I really like it