Interesting Links for 14-04-2020

[andrewducker]

Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

(tags:airplanes fail )

As Divisions Harden, Is Time Running Out for Cyprus Reunification?

(tags:Cyprus )

Otherworldly Images of Andromeda Galaxy Over a Tiny Swiss Village

(tags:Switzerland space photography beautiful )

UK scraps plans to buy thousands of BlueSky ventilators

(tags:technology medicine pandemic UK )

The four largest protective equipment manufacturers in the UK saying they will limit supplies to England, leaving Scotland lacking

(tags:pandemic Scotland England UK )

Cheeky Scots students go viral with hilarious lockdown window display in Edinburgh

(tags:Edinburgh pandemic viaDanielDWilliam )

Mongolia to restore traditional alphabet

(tags:mongolia language )

A Comic Strip Tour Of The Wild World Of Pandemic Modeling

(tags:comic pandemic models )

The UK government is ignoring offers of ventilators

(tags:UK government medicine OhForFucksSake Doom )

Comments

[jjhunter]

"In addition, the stress of surprise has been magnified by the complete lack of military aviation experience."

That article was a wild ride from start to finish.

[armiphlage]

What exactly is the relationship between England and Scotland/Wales/NI in the UK? Is it like provinces in Canada? I don't see how it could be possible to limit the output of a country's ventilators to just one region's people, without the federal government stepping in and fixing things.

[andrewducker]

There is a UK parliament. And then certain matters are devolved to the Scotland/Wales/NI parliaments.

Thankfully, in this case, the Scottish government has now said that actually they are able to get PPE: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52279578

[jducoeur]

I can't help but bring up the fact that the US federal government is itself the entity trying to prevent certain of its states from receiving PPE. Good sense loses to tribal animosity...

Cyprus

[lsanderson]

Story is from 2019?

Re: Cyprus

[andrewducker]

Yup - but I was reading about it yesterday, and found it interesting, so you get it!

Sadly there doesn't seem to be anything more recent.

Re: Cyprus

[lsanderson]

Crushed! I was going to fire it off to a friend whose mother lives there, but between the headline and the date, it's luster wuz lost! ;-)

Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[jack]

Can anyone read the original report? The description sounded suspicious to me. I thought they avoided putting untrained people into fighter jets without disabling that sort of thing because the ejection is usually pretty brutal. But it's the sort of stupidity that people DO do every so often.

Re: Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[danieldwilliam]

I recall reading an answer to a Quora question about what disciplinary action, in any, were taken against a pilot who ejected too many times. The answer was that if you ejected more than a few times from a jet fighter you were grounded on medical grounds because of the compression damage done to your spine.

Re: Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[errolwi]

Yes, several of the French Air Force's rules about such rides were broken. There is meant to be a 3(?) week gap between the medical check and the flight, for instance. One reason is to give the rider the chance to think things over and pull out. I saw elsewhere that the medical limits (e.g. no negative G) were not passed on to the pilot, who then broke them, it being a standard training mission rather than a specific demo flight.

Re: Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[calimac]

The whole story reminds me of the old joke about the Scout troupe who reported that their good deed of the day was to help an old lady across the street. "Why did it take all of you to do it?" they were asked. Answer: "She didn't want to go."

Re: Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[jack]

Wow! I guess they really did just do all that :( I didn't want to believe it.

Re: Pensioner Accidentally Ejected Out Of Jet

[errolwi]

Additional info and comparisions.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/14/1937265/-Air-Minded-Give-Me-Some-Incentive#comment_77031643

[threemeninaboat]

(when I have time) I approve the Pokemon Go Stops on Cyprus! I always want to hear about Cyprus..

[hutchingsmusic]

The Guardian article is missing a lot of context: according to the BBC, the Bluesky design has been scrapped, but this is only one of three distinct ventilator strands being developed by F1. Over 20,000 have been ordered from the remaining two strands. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/52274270

[redbird]

I read something a few days ago suggesting that cross-border cooperation over the pandemic might make Cypriot reunification more likely.

Whereas the "PPE to England and maybe later to the rest of the UK if there's extra" seems like it might make Irish reunification more likely. It's not clear from the story whether this is "England gets it before Scotland, we're not sure what's going on with Wales and Northern Ireland" or if only England is getting any.