Post Your Amusements!

[Klaudandus]

The thing is that some of the accidents are literally for the want of a nail...

* The Air France that crashed in the south atlantic? main culprit is pitot tubes got clogged up with ice.
* THY DC-10 that crashed due to faulty DC-10 door design
* There was another crash where a *wasp* is suspected of having made a nest in the pitot tube of a plane, that caused it to crash in Caribbean waters (part of it was also design failure by the manufacturer on which pitot tubes feed which air speed meters)
* The Comet was doomed due to square windows and punch rivets
* The 737 originally had a hydraulic pump that would make it work IN REVERSE due to thermal shock.
* The infamous AA Flight 191 was caused by AA trying to take shortcuts in how to dismount an engine and the pylon...
* A 737 crashed when a mechanic moved a switched that is hardly ever touched at all ('cept when testing the plane for pressure leaks) and caused the plane not to pressure the cabin... killing everyone in the process...
* A plane in the Mediterranean crashed after it ran out of fuel... the wrong fuel gauge had been installed after the previous one had shorted out.


If my kia's engine blows up, I expect to lose the car and end up stranded... not die...

[theckhd]

The book Freakonomics gave a pretty compelling argument correlating legalized abortion and crime in general, though if my memory serves not specifically mass murder or gun violence. Their argument made sense, though (fewer children being brought up in abusive/unwanted situations and ending up in gangs was the bulk of it, I think).

I could see the same argument being made for mass murder, but I'm not sure if it would hold water. For one, the number of incidents is so small that it's probably not a large enough sample size to make any statistically significant statement about them. And it seems like there are other factors that are much more important in mass murders (mental illness, primarily).

[theckhd]

The thing is that some of the accidents are literally for the want of a nail...

* The Air France that crashed in the south atlantic? main culprit is pitot tubes got clogged up with ice.
* THY DC-10 that crashed due to faulty DC-10 door design
* There was another crash where a *wasp* is suspected of having made a nest in the pitot tube of a plane, that caused it to crash in Caribbean waters (part of it was also design failure by the manufacturer on which pitot tubes feed which air speed meters)
* The Comet was doomed due to square windows and punch rivets
* The 737 originally had a hydraulic pump that would make it work IN REVERSE due to thermal shock.
* The infamous AA Flight 191 was caused by AA trying to take shortcuts in how to dismount an engine and the pylon...

If my kia's engine blows up, I expect to lose the car and end up stranded... not die...

Right, but none of those are statistical arguments. You're saying that one tiny thing going wrong can be catastrophic, which is true. It can also be more or less unimportant. I'm sure far more planes have successfully landed with minor problems than have catastrophically failed - we just don't hear about the ones that landed safely because it isn't news.

Also, to be fair, your car can fail catastrophically too. Losing your breaks or steering at high speed, for example.

[Klaudandus]

True... but my little kia is packed with airbags... kinda makes me feel I'll survive (if quite injured) if something catastrophic happens... the only exception is being involved in a huge pileup, or getting hit by an 18 wheeler/train...

[Era]

Well guuu-uuuu-uuys, this is why I said there's no point in bringing actual chance of death into the equation. Phobias are rarely rational to begin with (if ever? I haven't checked the definition), so I think it's fair to assume that we can't cure his fear of flying and/or heights through statistics.

I'm not saying there ISN'T a mathematical solution to the problem, because let's face it, there probably is - I'm just saying we probably won't figure it out in time anyway (we'd perhaps die in a car accident first).

Thus, I tried AWESOME SPEEDS and AMAZING VIEWS! Did it work??

[Amirya]

One of my colleagues asked me if I was "pretty young." I asked her to clarify what "pretty young" means, and she said, "I don't know, twenty-four?"

"No. In fact, in March is when I'm turning thirty-four."

"...no way!"

[Klaudandus]

Doesnt mean I won't fly, but its really the last option to be considered... and I have consumed a large amount of relaxants to mellow out when I have had to in the past...

as for other phobias... spiders make me scream like a little girl...

[Klaudandus]

A New Zealander has the declared war on cats!
http://news.yahoo.com/nz-eradicate-pet- ... 42599.html

[Flex]

The book Freakonomics gave a pretty compelling argument correlating legalized abortion and crime in general, though if my memory serves not specifically mass murder or gun violence. Their argument made sense, though (fewer children being brought up in abusive/unwanted situations and ending up in gangs was the bulk of it, I think).

There's a pretty solid correlation between environmental lead and crime rates. With studies done from the individual level to the national level.

[Era]

A New Zealander has the declared war on cats!
http://news.yahoo.com/nz-eradicate-pet- ... 42599.html

One does not simply declare war on cats! That's suicide!

[Klaudandus]

Holy shit, Japan was able to make Adventure Time even more awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy0BEWgI ... e=youtu.be

[halabar]

Thanks Klaud, I'm flying across the pacific again in a few days...

But for me, its not flying itself that scares me, it's the turbulence that scares the hell out of me, and the lack of control feeling that it creates. I've seen the stress tests on plane wings, but I'll still be wide awake for a 22 hour flight if it's bumping at all...

[Kelerei]

The South African Airways is a toss-up. At the time, South African Airways was really controlled by the government and because SA was under embargo, it is said that the Helderberg was carrying stuff they shouldn't have and it exploded in the cargo hold. Chalk this one up to conspiracy theory.

And there's still a lot of conspiracy theories around that one in these parts.

[Sagara]

Regardless of conviction, Daily Blink strikes home again!

[Nooska]

Phobias are rarely rational to begin with (if ever? I haven't checked the definition), so I think it's fair to assume that we can't cure his fear of flying and/or heights through statistics.

Well a phobia has to be irrational by definition, becuase a rational fear isn't a phobia, its just common sense (a fear of deadly venemous snakes or spiders for instance is healthy).

A phobia, if I remember my psychology course correctly, is the brains overreaction to a rational base fear developed over thousands of years by virtue of the fearless dieing to the stuff otehrs avoided - survival of the fittest is a harsh mistress when it comes to mistakes.

Edit: and lets face it, hurtling along at lift.generating speeds in - essentially - a metal tube 30.000 feet in the air is - not - natural. We've only had flight for ~100 years.