sappquest comments

I suspect that this is an April Fools' Day joke...

What about persons who may not have smartphones? Does it mean that they will not be among the privileged number who are permitted to travel? Believe it or not, there are many people across the world (both in developing and developed countries) who do not have smart devices or tablets.

Something similar was developed a year ago, but with a self-cleaning function

https://thecommonwealth.org/media/news/young-jamaican%E2%80%99s-invention-could-help-tackle-spread-viruses-covid-19

"the company has vowed to make safety its top priority" -- really? is that why they are going to wait until "the end of January" to check the undercarriages? Are they giving employees "time off" to enjoy O-Shogatsu? What is their logic?

Tatami,

The impression I get is that they will complete the checks by then, meaning it will take roughly one month to carry out detailed inspections.

That sounds reasonable, doesn't it, considering that they can't pull all carriages out of service simultaneously and shut down the system.

They may be looking too far south.

Just a thought - early in the investigation, a Vietnamese plane identified and photographed what appeared to be an aircraft door, which was not seen again the next day when ships went to the area.

Hear me out on this...suppose it was in fact a door from the aircraft which sunk before the ship arrived or was just missed by the ship. It would have implied that the door had been opened/separated from the aircraft (whether intentionally or not). That would have led to immediate decompression and possibly some persons being sucked out of the plane, while the remaining passengers still strapped into their seats would likely have died from lack of oxygen/cold.

While the plane's route may have been reprogrammed, the wrong waypoints could have been entered by accident during the confusion, and the pilot may have subsequently lost consciousness.

Even though Inmarsat data points to a southern turn, the distance travelled would not have been as great because the poor aerodynamics caused by the loss of the door would have reduced the effective range of the aircraft.

Any thoughts?

They may be looking too far south.

Just a thought - early in the investigation, a Vietnamese plane identified and photographed what appeared to be an aircraft door, which was not seen again the next day when ships went to the area.

Hear me out on this...suppose it was in fact a door from the aircraft which sunk before the ship arrived or was just missed by the ship. It would have implied that the door had been opened/separated from the aircraft (whether intentionally or not). That would have led to immediate decompression and possibly some persons being sucked out of the plane, while the remaining passengers still strapped into their seats would likely have died from lack of oxygen/cold.

While the plane's route may have been reprogrammed, the wrong waypoints could have been entered by accident during the confusion, and the pilot may have subsequently lost consciousness.

Even though Inmarsat data points to a southern turn, the distance travelled would not have been as great because the poor aerodynamics caused by the loss of the door would have reduced the effective range of the aircraft.

Any thoughts?

Note China's recent statement that it is going to search its west and southern regions along the 'arc' to see if the plane could have landed there. They then turned attention away from that region by providing fake pictures supposedly in the South China Sea. If they do happen to 'find' the plane there, then I'd be inclined to think that the 'Chinese' employees of the American technology firm on board (the company that deals with high-tech radar related issues) took over the plane on behalf of their government, flew a radar avoiding path to China, where the secrets of the 777 are being extracted (the other passengers would be collateral damage of course, as they couldn't afford for their guilt to be exposed). Of course, China's own airlines could simply try to buy some of the jets from Boeing, but maybe there are US government export restrictions where this is concerned.

China has been criticizing Malaysia's response, yet these pictures that were taken on sunday are just being released on Wednesday. By now, the ocean currents could have taken them anywhere!

Now it is reported that it was detected by military radar over west malaysia with its transponder turned off. It may have been hijacked and flown to indonesia or be in the water over the malacca strait between west malaysia and sumatra. In the case of the latter, the beacons would have been activated though right?

Several years ago, I had boxes picked at my aptment by Japan Post for overseas delivery. The maximum allowed weight to my destination was 20kg per box. One of them was 20.1kg on the deliveryman's portable scale. I kid you not, he said I would have to remove something so I fished around until I found a cassette tape!! after which it just went under 20kg. He then gave the finger sign "OK". If nothing else, I learned that day that a cassette tape weighs about 100g.

Several years ago, I had boxes picked at my aptment by Japan Post for overseas delivery. The maximum allowed weight to my destination was 20kg per box. One of them was 20.1kg on the deliveryman's portable scale. I kid you not, he said I would hav

The BBC is reporting that the US has flown 2 B2 bombers in that area in defiance of the Chinese...

...and even though they are tested so many times over the years (including Asafa Powell who has been tested over 100 times, including twice before competing at the Olympics last year), people still say that there is a 'doping culture' among the Jamaicans.

It is one thing to test positive for a banned substance (from the complicated list of banned substances that changes regularly and which prevents you from taking simple medication like panadol multisymptom), but it is another thing to have a culture of deliberate doping. Jamaicans does not have the funds or the desire to embark on a 'sophisticated system of doping', but take pride in the fact that their success is due to natural and raw talent.

For years, there has been much talk locally in Jamaica about the need for the athletes to be vigilant because it is recognized that many persons worldwide are jealous of their continued success at the sprints (in the same way that the Kenyans and Ethiopians are always successful at long distance running).

...and I thought she was in her 40s or 50s..

Just to give some additional info:

Every year, their MVP track club has an extended camp lasting several months in Europe. This allows the athletes to be in Europe and more easily attend the many meets that take place at this time of year.

After hearing from WADA that a sample had tested postive, the athletes and their agent contacted the Italian police to search the room of the physio trainer, and the majority of the supplements/bottles were taken from the trainer's room for further testing.

The athletes and their coach did background checks on the supplement that they recently began to take from this trainer and there was no indication that it had the banned substance.

In Jamaica where I am currently residing, there have been many calls for sometime now for the world athletics body and WADA to certify the manufacturers of supplements that meet the required criteria. Athletes cannot take the majority of medication for simple things like cold etc. Even panadol multisymptom contains banned substances so a lot of pressure is on athletes (many of whom do not have a chemistry background) to constantly be aware of variations in the chemical structure of simple substances and how they are combined with other substances.

There was an initial report that one of the athletes is considering suing the manufacturer of the supplement. I think that only when such an action is taken will manufacturers be put under pressure to ensure that there is correct labelling of ALL the ingredients in their products.

i.e. the Boston Marathon that has just been affected by the explosions.

What a thing if the tactics employed by NK were mainly to divert from plans to strike the US on their own territory!

Maybe they are testing tokyo's response time to know how far their real jets will get before interception in the event if a real war.

In his article in the Observer on Monday, February 4, 2013, Javed Jaghai appealed to the public to "stop demonising gays". While we should not treat persons as inferior and unacceptable, it is wisdom - and in some cases, a matter of survival - to perceive certain behaviours as such.

Source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130206/letters/letters1.html

Just read this all the way from the Caribbean. Brought tears to my eyes...

I am in Jamaica now, and the eye made landfall last Wednesday a couple days after it formed in the Central Caribbean. It left lots of damage and I can only imagine what it will be like to experience that for several days, as some persons in the US will feel for the next few days.

This "law" being signed doesn't make it right. Just as "laws" in countries that legalize forced marriages don't make them right.

So, after 15 minutes of flying there's an emergency. It then takes an hour and thirty-five minutes to get the plane back on the ground and 2 hours to evacuate all the people?! Isn't that a bit long?

I understand that they were dumping fuel before landing. That could take a while.

I've heard it said that B.I.G.O.T. now means - "Brown Is Gone On Thursday"

The UK asked Iceland to send C-A-S-H, not A-S-H.

The setting for the 1st one was completely wrong too. Even though it was filmed in the Caribbean (Dominica), its portrayal of Port Royal (Jamaica) was completely inaccurate. For example, there are no cliffs in Port Royal as it is at sea level.

I think this article explains it pretty well:

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Maxwell-Jan-17

Branded, other countries have been sending doctors and aid and have been turned back at the airport. The BBC is now reporting that a deal has been reached between the UN and US where the US decide to allow more slots for humanitarian flights, instead of the 60% humanitarian : 40% MILITARY that they have been allowing since taking over the airport.

Even Doctors without Borders is questioning the priorities of the airport 'management':

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583250,00.html

When Hilary Clinton went to Haiti a few days ago, it was reported that the Coast Guard plane she landed in was to evacuate some US citizens and had several hundred meals for US embassy staff. Is that a priority for the Haitian people? Haiti is also a part of Caricom...*Caribbean Community) one thing that hasn't been reported is how other Caribbean islands have been responding and attempting to send aid.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Caricom-Haiti-blocked http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Haiti-aid

One of the major telecoms companies in Haiti (Digicel) which has a big presence in neighbouring Jamaica, was attempting to fly in equipment which would expedite the recovery of the communications links that were damaged in the quake, but their flights were turned back. Isn't the restoration of communications also important?

Among others, I think that part of the US's reason for 'taking control of the situation' is to ensure that there is no mass exodus of boats trying to go to Florida as was the case many years ago.