News Cut: January 15, 2009 Archive

Erasing history

Posted at 9:55 AM on January 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)
Filed under: Northwest Airlines

Tucked within Delta's Airline's Web site is this video with a time-lapse look at the end of the red tails of Northwest Airlines.

In short order, it'll be almost like they were never here.

BTW, it takes 12 days to paint a 747.

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The State of the State

Posted at 12:18 PM on January 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (10 Comments)
Filed under: Pawlenty, Politics

Here's the Wordle depiction of Gov. Pawlenty's State of the State speech today. Note the absence of the word: "strong." Note the absence of almost any adjectives to describe Minnesota's condition. And one of the very smallest words is: "hope."

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New York plane crash

Posted at 2:56 PM on January 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Disasters

By way of Twitter, here's an image of the plane that crashed into the Hudson River today.

What's amazing to me is the lack of damage to the airplane which, when all is said and done, is simply thin-skinned aluminum.

3 pm. - It was an Airbus 320. How fast was it going? The takeoff speed for an A320 is about 170 mph, depending on how heavy it was. About 300 were said to be on board.

3:04 p.m. - Here's live video from WABC in New York.

3:05 p.m. - An eyewitness says the plane did not have its landing gear down. "This pilot is amazing how he brought that plane down.

3:07 p.m. - The FAA confirms the plane's engines were "disabled by a bird strike." Everyone appears to have survived. The plane -- US Airways Flight 1549 -- was enroute to Charlotte.

3:12 p.m. - This Wikipedia page has some images of the effect of other bird strikes on aircraft.

3:18 p.m. - Here's the flight log:

via Flightaware.com

3:21 p.m. - Here's a list of significant airplane-bird strike incidents.

A similar bird-ingestion incident occurred at LaGuardia in 2003

04 September 2003. A Fokker 100 struck a flock of at least 5 Canada geese over runway shortly after takeoff at LaGuardia Airport (NY), ingesting 1 or 2 geese into #2 engine. Engine vibration occurred. Pilot was unable to shut engine down with the fuel cutoff lever so fire handle was pulled and engine finally shut down, but vibration continued. The flight was diverted to nearby JFK International Airport where a landing was made. The NTSB found a 20- by 36-inch wide depression on right side of nose behind radome. Maximum depth was 4 inches. Impact marks on right wing. A fan blade separated from the disk and penetrated the fuselage. Several fan blades were deformed. Holes were found in the engine cowling. Remains were recovered and identified by Wildlife Services.

3:26 p.m.- This YouTube video shows what happens when a single bird is ingested into a jet engine.

3:29 p.m. -- More images from today's crash via this Flickr photostream.

3:34 p.m. - Closer to home, this newspaper article details a bird strike in Minnesota that led to a private plane to crash during a routine training flight from St. Paul to Grand Rapids.

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Bed bugs

Posted at 4:49 PM on January 15, 2009 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)
Filed under: Health

We don't have a shortage of things to worry about these days but just in case, here's a little number from Worthington: a bed bug infestation. A local motel had an infestation and the Daily Globe newspaper reported a private residence also had to be fumigated. Back in the day, our parents' greatest nightmare (other than that we wouldn't duck under our desks quickly enough when the nuclear bomb exploded over our town), was that we would be sent home with head lice. But at least the local newspaper didn't tell the rest of the town.

The description of a day in the life of a bed bug reads like a cheap sci-fi thriller:

Bedbugs are nocturnal feeders, meaning they come out at night and feed on human an animal hosts. They are similar to a mosquito in that they bite their host, suck blood, detach and then go back into hiding.

Bedbugs leave behind a bite mark on the host that may itch and cause skin irritations or lesions.

"Some will have bites that really itch," said Kloss.

The next night or a couple of nights later, the bedbugs return for another blood meal. The population grows as adults lay eggs that hatch into nymphs.

"The opportunities for bedbugs will only increase if they have human hosts," Kloss said.

Bedbugs can live dormant for up to six months without a human host.

Now comes the really worrisome news: Bed bugs are making a comeback because they've developed a resistance to poisons. Some experts say regular vacuuming take care of the problem, but many of us have developed a resistance to that.

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