The view from 34000 feet

I love my job and I am very lucky to have it. I'm. First Officer for a UK Airline flying the Airbus A320 series round Europe on a mix of schedule and charter flights. It's great- I get a fantastic view from my office window, and I get to fly with some interesting people, with wildly varied backgrounds.

So much badly researched nonsense hits the newspapers when there is an Aviation story (usually sparked by The CEO of a budget airline) that I thought I should use this blog to promote understanding of what I do as a First Officer, why it can be an utter pain in the body-clock, but why I love it anyway. I hope you find it interesting.

I'll start the ball rolling with some photos

Didcot, the Oxfordshire town where I am Warlord!





The Scilly Isles





Tenerife



Sunset over the Atlantic




Poole Harbour and early morning sea fog at Swanage






-Blogged from my iPad at 34000'

AVATAR- Speccy Twat Edition

I just got home from seeing Avatar Special Edition and since my blog really doesn't have a purpose yet, thought I would shoehorn in a movie review.

CAUTION- HERE BE SPOILERS!

First off, I loved it. But I loved it because it was AVATAR, which utterly blew me away last year. The visual experience was (and still is) stunning, a league above anything else that has hit the screen in 3D or otherwise – Lets see if TRON can come close at Christmas. I came out of the cinema with the same buzz that I got last year, and this is my 3rd viewing.

Well, I would have been happy with the chance to see it again on the big screen, but clearly to justify the new release to everyone else, something extra had to be added.
On reflection, the new stuff didn't really work. I know of at least one proper critic who disagrees with me, but here's a scene by scene breakdown of the new bits:

The School Ruins
When - Just after Jake, Grace and Norm get dropped off in the Jungle, and just before Jake gets chased by the Thanator they go to the ruined school to collect something.
And? - This is a fantastic scene, well shot and well acted. But fitting it in here is a bit clunky. The original cut has them walking into the jungle, and taking samples, and it's seamless.
It also runs against the story arc of the humans escalating their military action. Machine gun holes in the wall of a school? It paints the humans as too evil too early on.
And picking up the copy of the LORAX? We know its an environmentalists propaganda film, no need to bash us over the head thanks!
Verdict- would be better as a DVD extra.


Why the Mountains Float
When – as the link rooms get moved to the Halleluia mountains
And?- The science geekery that surrounded the original floundered with the floating mountains. Everything else seemed so scientifically plausible and well thought out. But floating mountains? Oh the wails of geek anguish! So in this version Jake's voiceover explains its a “Mag-lev effect, because unobtainium is a super-conductor or something”
Verdict- Superfluous. The mountains look stunning so just suspend your disbelief, and don't draw attention to the obviously dodgy physics.

The Rhino-thing Hunt
When – during the “Jake learns to fly and becomes a member of the tribe” montage, just before the Turuk attack.
Verdict - Absolutely brilliant. Great action, cuts perfectly into the montage and makes the previously disjointed comment about becoming “a stone cold aerial hunter” make much more sense.

Tsutei's Death
When- after the battle.
And?- In the original, Tsutei dies a Warrior-hero's death. In this version, he survives being shot and falling hundreds of feet to the jungle floor below, so that Jake can finish the job according to (previously unmentioned) tradition.
Verdict- detracts from Tsutei's heroic sacrifice. Should be left out altogether.

Overall verdict
If this had been the original theatrical release, then what we saw last year would be the internet fan edit. It's great to see Avatar on a big screen again and in 3D, but the new bits really don't add anything to the stunning vision of the film.

Arguing with a Bigot

I have been arguing with a bigot on his blog for the last week or so. As it is his blog, he can moderate the comments, and has failed to publish my most recent one. It may be an attempt to move on, as he has now published an even more unpleasant blog . I have posted the following, but suspect it wont get past his moderation. People who knew me at school may be surprised:

Richard,

It is ironic that you have (so far) failed to publish the comment in which I gave you credit for allowing all posts to be shown, even the personally insulting ones. I included a cheap shot myself (your parents should have used contraception) to see if I could get a rise from you, for which I apologise. The post is re-capped here, and adapted to fit your latest rant.

By no means take my apology as an endorsement. Your repugnant politics is ill conceived and poorly argued. Your bigotry has no place in mainstream politics, which is why you were expelled from the Tory party. Sephton didn't beat you in selection because he didn't have to; you had already been thrown out, which is more humiliating than losing fair and square.  Your previous blog post started as a jealous personal attack him, and weird imaginings of his behaviour, so your claim to be doing serious political work here is not valid.

In this recent case, the Lambeth registrars are required as part of their job to carry out civil partnerships. They are refusing to do their job, I would say that's professional misconduct. If I refused to fly to Spain on moral grounds as a stance against bullfighting, I would expect to lose my job. You describe their actions as "Honourable and Righteous"- I would describe them as unprofessional and prejudiced. You complained previously about homosexuality impairing a persons professional judgement, and relied on stereotypes and assumptions to back your statement. In this case you have a clear example of Christianity impairing a persons professional judgement, even their willingness to do their job and yet you defend them. Your hypocrisy is astounding.

Your self-comparison to the BoB pilots is as offensive as the BNPs use of Churchill's image in the last election. If you are so determined to champion the cause of good over evil you should maybe direct your anger toward the atrocities committed in the name of your religion over the past two centuries. the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Witch hunts, and more recently the treatment of "Child-witches" in Africa, to name but a few. In contrast the Homosexual agenda has been about striving for equal treatment and respect - something these two state servants were trying to deny them.

You argue that chastity before marriage and fidelity within (which I do not disagree is a sound principle) contributes significantly to the reduction of STDs. Why then would you deny Homosexuals the chance to join in civil partnership- a long term relationship which can serve as an equivalent to marriage?
Civil partnerships in the UK have not undermined marriage in any way. Elton and Dave making a public commitment to each other has not made anyone rush out and get a divorce, or encouraged anyone to have an affair. You have still failed to answer the key question
"Is the idea of marriage so fragile that it cannot stand alongside commitment by two men (or two women) to each other?"

The health problems you mention are by no means isolated to homosexuals. Your inclusion of anal dysfunction points out your ignorance of the condition, which is more to do with nerve damage than anything else. The most common causes are Childbirth, Constipation, and Haemorrhoid surgery. (Wikipedia)
Do you think it possible that a higher suicide rate amongst homosexuals could be due to people in authority (Parents, Pastors, Registrars etc) constantly calling them sick and perverted? You make the classic error of confusing correlation with cause. The Suicide rate amongst men is significantly higher than that amongst women. Should we ban being male too?

Simply because most people are straight does not make people who are not straight wrong. As a non RC Christian, you are in a pretty small minority yourself.

For someone not willing to discuss theology, you seem very keen to do so. Is it just that you stop when you are losing? you brought up creationism twice in the comments section, but I'm not going to  bite and start arguing Evolution vs Fairy Tales with you, I'm bored enough with your nonsense already. If you choose to live your life according to rules written 3000+ years ago by a desert nomad, then go ahead. A problem arises when you choose to apply only the ones that suit your narrow and bigoted world view, but it's your problem, and you can stew in your own misery and hatred. When you insist that your rules apply to everyone outside your club, you become everyone's problem and your errors need highlighting.  It's a pity that more people aren't taking you on- it is surprisingly easy to make you look foolish.



Some housekeeping:

Where I said (13 Aug) ANYBODY I meant of course 'any consenting adult'.

My pseudonym is the result of a joke with a university friend of mine, not an attempt at deceit or cowardice. I was going to get around to writing a bio on my blog site, but I lost interest. Blogging just isn't that important to me. So why sign in here as the First High Warlord? Firefox did it automatically. And why sign off FHW of Didcot? Because i was already signed in that way. Make of that what you will, but it's essentially a mix of laziness and a sense of humour.

MI5 - YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!

BRITISH SPY:



RUSSIAN SPY:

BT? More like BS

So I have an iPad, but I don't really take it out much. I actually do use it for work every so often, and there's a wifi hotspot at Birmingham Airport which I could use to pick up weather maps, Volcanic Ash forecasts and the like.

This morning I thought it might be an idea to sign up for a BT Open Zone account. But when I entered my details their credit check company couldn't find me. I didn't fail their check, they simply couldn't find me. At an address with BT phone and broadband services where I have lived for 6 years.
And why in God's name do they need a credit check? I want to download a couple of emails, not apply for a farking mortgage!

There was a number to call in case of a problem, 0800 169 1397.

Unfortunately, this is their business sales team, who seemed rather annoyed that I had the temerity to have been directed to the wrong department. They fobbed me off with various incorrect phone numbers to try to get rid of me, but I always ended up redirected to their department. I lost my temper when one of them gave me a premium rate number to call.

I have some questions for BT.
Do you want me to use your services?
Why do you need a credit check for what will amount to maybe 3 quid a month?
Why are the credit company you use incapable of finding one of your own customers?
Why is the helpline number on your website incorrect?
Why are your business sales team so reluctant to help sell your services?
If this is how you handle a simple sale, why have I entrusted my phone and broadband to your care?

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about excellent customer service. Why can't it always be like that?

I have a day off on Monday, and there's an O2 shop and an Orange shop over the road. And I may give Sky a ring, too.


- Blogged from my iPad

Somebody told me, that you had an iPad, you want to read eBooks that I had in February of last year...

I first got an iPhone around 12 months ago. At about the same time, a chap I work with got a Sony reader. I was impressed by the easy to read display and battery life, but inspired by the ad campaign I wondered if there was an app for that. Turns out, there was. And now the iPad is here, there is even more choice in the app market, so here is a quick review of your choices:

Classics (iPhone only)
You never forget your first. And this award winning app is really fantastic. A


growing selection of public domain books have been lovingly optimized for this app, the text, and in some cases illustrations fit beautifully onto sepia pages that turn with a satisfying swish, and your library is stored on a bookshelf "front page". Unfortunately this attention to detail means that you are limited just to the books that have been formatted for the app.
http://www.classicsapp.com/

If you have been following the development of the iPad, and you think this format looks familiar, you are not wrong.
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2010/01/29/apples-new-ibooks-sure-looks-like-classics-iphone-app/
And all the developers have been able to do is post this little note in the app store.


Stanza (iPhone only)
http://www.lexcycle.com/
Wanting to read more than was available on the classics app, I also downloaded Stanza, which had the advantage of in-app purchasing from several eBook stores, and free downloads from Project Gutenberg. The app is highly customisable, with multiple fonts, colours, backgrounds and page turning/scrolling. Unfortunately, there is to be no iPad version of this highly customisable reader app, and the recently introduced regional restrictions in the stores have really pissed me off.

Kindle (iPad and iPhone)
Probably the most bland of the dedicated reader apps, books on the Kindle app can be read in black on white, white on black or sepia tones. Page "turning" is a jarring swipe across your field of view, all very disappointing seeing as they own the versatile Stanza.
It's major advantage over all the other readers is it's access to the Amazon ebook store, which is vast, and has no region based bars to reading the books you have bought. Also, with the clever little "whispersync" function your downloads and bookmarks will automatically update on your iPad, iPhone or kindle device wherever you are in the world. However, the kindle app is restricted purely to the amazon store and has no free content whatever. With the availability of so many classics texts from the Project Gutenberg this is a serious limitation, and makes me think Amazon are not bothered about you actually using their app, they just want you to use their store.




Good Reader(iPad)
Not really an eBook reader, but if you can download your books as .PDF files, convert formats like epub to .PDF files, this will allow you to read them. Straightforward

iBooks (iPad)
I wanted to hate iBooks. For what Apple did to Andrew Kaz and Phill Ryu. For the inflated prices that I was sure would come with the iBook store.




But when it was released earlier this week, it came with a free book. And not just any free book, Winnie the Pooh. A.A. Milne's full colour illustrations look beautiful on the large screen, and the interface is closer to reading a real book than the classics app, simply because of the size. I wanted to rant about the cost of the books available, but for the first 3 days (before the iPad was released in the UK) the UK iTunes bookstore was populated by free books from Project Gutenberg. I may yet get a chance to rant about DRM and pricing for a non-physical media, but so far, damn it all, Apple got it right again.

Paper
iBooks is good, but I don't think it will replace real physical books just yet. You can read a book in the bath, or throw it at your annoying big sister. You can scribble your own notes in the margins of a textbook, or you can use it to prop up your iPad while watching a film. You can buy a book and hold it in your hand. The bookshop cant take it away because they decided that you live the wrong country. You can carry it across international borders. There is no glare on the screen, and the batteries dont run down, ever. I am watching the iBook store closely, but I don't think it's a threat to Waterstones just yet.





- Blogged from my iPad

A Brew by any other name

All aspiring Warlords should know their beverage of choice.

I like a nice cup of tea. And the cup of tea I just had was very nice indeed. But it's not the flavour that was the best thing about this cuppa.



I drink a lot of tea, and a couple of years ago decided it would be a good idea to know what the hell I was drinking. So I sampled some different varieties and It was during this experimental phase that I discovered Rose Pouchong. This is a black tea from South East China, dried between layers of rose petals so that the volatile rose oils (and therefore the flavour), is absorbed. It's a bit like drinking high quality Turkish Delight without the sticky fingers.
Well, back in November 2008, I was coming to the end of my box, and went to look for some more. All the other flavours were available but not the rose. After a fruitless search of supermarkets between London and Birmingham, I sent off an email to their customer services department. I received a very prompt reply explaining that Twinings was having some difficulty obtaining ingredients which, given the tea's origin was easy to understand . I savoured my last teabag, and then switched to Darjeeling.
Then, four months later, and quite out of the blue a package arrived. The Twinings blenders had been experimenting. They had perfected their rose blend, and had sent me a sample packet of loose leaf rose tea!
I was frankly amazed that they had remembered my enquiry at all, and impressed that they would send out a sample on the strength of a 4 month old email enquiry. So I sent an email of thanks. It was the least I could do.

Well, it appears that they kept that email on file, too, because last week,
a full 18 months after my initial email, the Twinings team did it again. Out of the blue, a box of (now rebranded) "Rose Garden" arrived on my doorstep with a personal letter from Pete Rowe their Customer Services Manager.


You don't often see customer services this good, and when you do I think attention should be drawn to the people getting it right. So Laura H, Lindsey and Pete, Thank you, please keep up the good work!

The Twinings website is well worth a visit especially the section on tea production, which is short enough to read while your cup is brewing.

At the time of writing, Twinings have a special offer on. You can sample two of their speciality teas for free, and I suggest you do, the Tea is lovely, and the people are even more so.

- Blogged from my kitchen, while the kettle boils.