Damn overheads
Earl Evleth
From the recent crash
"He said survivors had thought the plane was landing normally before there
was a series of jolts and luggage fell from overhead lockers."
I have long learned to hate overhead lockers and don't carry aboard the
plane extra baggage except those items I can place beneath the seat.
I boycott them 95%, reserving their use for a winter coat but never
baggage.
Several maddening processes occur.
1) on boarding the plane the aisle is often blocked with people
putting their stuff in the overheads, all too often too large
and too heavy. Those placing the items pay no attention
to the people wanting to get by them--it is an exercise in
pure egoism.
2) on deplaning the process is reversed. As soon as the plane
stops people rush to get their items. If they can't get to them
because the aisle is full of people, they haul their items
out while the aisle has already emptied in front of them,
so also blocking deplaning. The wise (like me) remain seated
until people start loving in the aisle and really getting off
the plane, sometimes a 5-10 minute wait between the moment the
plane has stopped and deplaning actually occurs.
3) in case of a serious accident the overheads will pop
open and dump their contents on the people below
also falling into the aisle blacking emergency
evacuation.
Jigsaw1695
I no longer fly unless it absolutly necessary and unavoidable.
Jigsaw
Bill Bonde {Colourless green ideas don't sleep furiously)
That's what the angels said:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/6860351/Angels-cant-fly-scientist-says.html
#begin quote
A leading biologist has compared the physiology of flighted species
with the representations of spiritual and mythical creatures in art
� and found the angels and fairies that sit atop of Christmas trees
did not get there under their own steam.
Prof Roger Wotton, from University College London, found that
flight would be impossible for angels portrayed with arms and
bird-like feathered wings.
�Even a cursory examination of the evidence in representational
arts shows that angels and cherubs cannot take off and cannot use
powered flight,� said Prof Wotton. �And even if they used gliding
flight, they would need to be exposed to very high wind velocities
at take off - such high winds that they would be blown away and
have no need for wings.
�Interestingly, the artist Giotto showed one angel with a rigid
'mono-wing� which could be an adaptation for gliding flight. But if
they do just glide, how are the wings folded, unfolded and held
rigid?�
Angels, cherubs and putti (babies with wings) adorn some the
world�s most famous religious paintings and architecture, hovering
in the air to witness the deeds of God and men.
Their power to capture the imagination is so strong that a survey
last year revealed that most Americans believe in angels.
The study by the Pew Forum on Religious and Public Life found that
68 per cent of the 36,000 adults polled thought that angels and
demons were at work in the world.
According to the latest study, birds� wings evolved from the
forearms of their ancestors and over time their whole body shape
was determined by the covering of feathers. The reduced density of
the bird skeleton provided a light but strong frame.
But angels have normal-sized bodies and cherubs and putti are often
given additional weight, portrayed as chubby babies with tiny
wings. They also lack the powerful muscles which allow birds to
beat their wings.
Fairies come under similar scrutiny in the paper - Angels, Putti,
Dragons and Fairies: Believing the Impossible - published in UCL�s
Opticon magazine.
They are generally shown with insect wings, often those of
damselfly or butterflies. Both insects have complex flight
mechanisms with major muscles in the thorax, the chest region,
which power the flapping of wings.
�The distortion of the thorax needed for flight in fairies with
butterfly wings would be exceedingly uncomfortable,� said the
academic. �For sure, fairies don�t fly.�
Angels have a special significance in the Judeo-Christian tradition
and also play a role in Islam. Numerous passages in the King James
Bible mention angels flying. In Isaiah 6: verses 2 and 6, Seraphim
are described with six wings each.
Prof Wotton�s paper explores why the mythology is so strong.
�Looking at these things teaches us something about what we believe
and what is concrete,� said the academic. �Angels are very powerful
religious icons for people with faith. Their similarity to humans
adds to their power. At the same time, they have wings on them
because they are more than human. They take messages to heaven and
therefore have to fly.
�Fairies of popular imagination are thought to come from a pleasant
underworld and commute between than and our world, so flying is a
way of decreasing travel time.�
#end quote
Earl Evleth
aa335f90-b0cb-49d9...@h10g2000vbm.googlegroups.com,
"Jigsaw1695" <Jigsa...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> I no longer fly unless it absolutly necessary and unavoidable.
Curious, I have always considered you a flighty. Very.