The "News" thread.

[Unorthodox]

A guide to the world for americans

Austria: Alps, Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Pope, no kangaroos!

Australia, Kangaroos, Koalas and every deadly creature that slithers or scutters.

Sweden, beautiful blondes, ABBA and social democracy, NO cuckoo clocks!

Switzerland, alps, chocolate and cuckoo clocks.

Trollhunter (1/10) Movie CLIP - Troll! (2010) HD

[Unorthodox]

hm, no embed love? 

nvm, fixed. 

[Dale]

...BTW, I've always womdered how the Von Trapp family skied from Australia to Sweden...

[Pictoral expression of hostility removed]

[Unorthodox]

Aw, you could have at least replaced the pictoral expression of hostility with oopsy. 

[Unorthodox]

Or my daughter's ouchy...

[picture removed]

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm only leaving that because I like the model.

[Unorthodox]

It was a bit trollish, no hard feelings if it gets removed. 

[Zoid]

 

...BTW, I've always womdered how the Von Trapp family skied from Australia to Sweden...

I read that as Austria, now I see it's not...

[Buster's Uncle]

Yyyep!

[sisko]

I'm only leaving that because I like the model.

well.. i'm not!

[Zoid]

That's a bit harsh imo...

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno - I was tempted to do the same.  We don't need a bored soccer mom stumbling over our site and starting a crusade.

[Unorthodox]

That's a bit harsh imo...

Nah.  I probably would have done the same as a mod.  Nothing of any value to the forum has been removed.  I shouldn't have posted mine, honestly.  I was just in a mood this morning.   

[Unorthodox]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324081704578235370985104146.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

smaller Larger facebooktwittergoogle pluslinked ininShare.2EmailPrintSave ↓ More .
.smaller Larger 
By ANDY PASZTOR And JON OSTROWER
The Federal Aviation Administration, increasingly concerned about safety and reliability issues surrounding Boeing Co.'s BA -2.10%787 Dreamliner, said Friday it will launch a top-priority review of the plane focusing on its electrical system and quality controls used in the manufacturing process.

The review will cover the 787's critical systems, including design, manufacture, and assembly.

"This review will help us look at the root causes and do everything we can to safeguard against similar events in the future." Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement released at the start of a press conference Friday that included Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta and Ray Conner, head of Boeing's commercial aircraft arm.

More on Dreamliner
Heard on the Street: Boeing Buyers Still Can't Sleep Easy
."We are confident that the aircraft is safe. But we need to have a complete understanding of what is happening," Mr. Huerta said.

In its own statement, Boeing declared its confidence in "the design and performance of the 787," adding that it welcomes "the opportunity to conduct this joint review."

The unusual move by the FAA comes after the agency has spent months monitoring various electrical problems and other operational glitches affecting the planes, according to people familiar with the matter, but was specifically prompted by a battery fire on Monday aboard a Japan Airlines Co. 9201.TO +0.69%787 on the ground in Boston.

Industry and government officials said the anticipated review—slated to be headed by officials from the FAA's new-plane certification and transport directorate offices—marks the first time in recent years that the agency has gone back to reassess the safety of specific systems in a jetliner already in revenue service.

Timeline: Dream Diverted
View Interactive
..Nobody was hurt in this week's incident, but it ratcheted up pressure on the FAA to announce steps to find the root cause of the blaze and determine common factors that may have affected earlier problems stemming from improperly assembled wiring and other electrical issues.

The FAA's lead spokeswoman declined to comment.

A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on "the nature and content" of the company's communications with regulators, but said "we are working with the FAA and our customers to ensure we thoroughly understand" issues pertaining to introduction of the plane into widespread service. Spokesman Marc Birtel added, "we are absolutely confident in the reliability and performance of the 787."

The review won't ground planes or halt production, but the FAA has broad latitude to take action as a result of any findings. That could range from ordering new production procedures to revising designs of some electric components, which potentially could prompt further production delays and additional costs for Boeing.

In addition to reviewing technical and safety questions related to the design of the 787's groundbreaking electrical system, the FAA also will delve into manufacturing issues such as how well subcontractors are integrated into Boeing's overall production system, according to one person familiar with the details.

The decision to launch the review is bound to stoke concerns on Wall Street about potential negative fallout to Boeing's reputation and stock price. But the move also carries some political risks for Michael Huerta, the recently confirmed chief of the FAA, who now must oversee a high-profile review that could reopen some safety and manufacturing issues the agency was supposed to put to bed before it certified the Dreamliner in late 2011.

U.S. aviation regulators raised questions about the reliability of the Dreamliner during long transocean flights months before the advanced new jet suffered a spate of electrical and other problems this week, according to people familiar with the matter.

The ability of the Dreamliner to fly long routes, such as the 7,400-mile trek between Houston and Auckland, New Zealand, was touted as one of the plane's game-changing characteristics by Boeing and airline customers alike, with the jet's lightweight body and fuel-efficient engines linking cities out of the range of similarly sized aircraft.

Reaching that ambitious goal quickly now will be a challenge, according to government and industry officials, limiting the routes available to airlines just as Boeing boosts production to satisfy carriers that have waited years for their Dreamliners after a succession of delays.

Electrical issues, leaking fuel lines and a series of other malfunctions have caused a string of operational problems and emergency landings stretching back several months.

Regulators and airlines around the world, including the eight who fly the 787 today, will look to the FAA for guidance because the plane is built in the U.S. and the agency leads the certification of the new jet.

From its inception, the 787's advanced design, featuring weight-saving carbon-fiber composite materials and two fuel-efficient engines, was intended to make it suitable to fly practically any global route—crossing long stretches of ocean or spanning remote polar regions.

Chicago-based Boeing, by the middle of the past decade, had hoped that soon after introduction into service, safety regulators would allow 787s to fly up to 330 minutes, or 5½ hours, from the nearest emergency-landing strip.

When the first Dreamliner began carrying passengers in October 2011, 3½ years behind schedule, the FAA and overseas regulators permitted the jets to fly no longer than 180 minutes, or three hours, from any suitable airport. At the time, Boeing said it expected to extend that to 330 minutes by early 2012, citing work under way to modify some fuel-gauge software.

But FAA experts have been monitoring a variety of reliability issues that arose in the past few months and attracted attention inside and outside the agency, prompting FAA officials to adopt a go-slow approach in extending the three-hour restriction, according to people familiar with the matter.

The FAA's concerns, these people said, moved beyond the fuel-system-related software to include a range of power-supply issues along with questions about quality controls during Boeing's manufacturing process.

For now, Dreamliners remain under the 180-minute rule, a substantially tighter restriction than the FAA imposes on the Boeing 777, the 787's larger twin-engine sibling, which started flying in 1995 and is now offered with 330-minute certification only as of late-2011.The lead-up to the 787's original approval suggested both Boeing and the FAA believed the same factors would play out. Both Rolls-Royce RR.LN -0.34%PLC and General Electric Co. GE -0.31%engines offered on the Dreamliner were granted approved for 330-minute extended operations ahead of their first deliveries to their respective launch customers, All Nippon Airways Co. 9202.TO +0.55%and Japan Airlines. During initial testing and certification, Boeing flew the 787 for 345 minutes on one engine, and five of six power generators disconnected, according to Mr. Sinnett.

That rules out airlines flying the 787 between, for example, Dallas and Sydney—a route Qantas Airways Ltd. now flies with the larger four-engine 747.

Continental Airlines, now part of United Continental Holdings Inc. UAL +0.47%and the U.S. launch customer for the 787, highlighted its hopes for the jet by naming Houston-Auckland as the first route for the plane. That plan has since been shelved for other reasons, but United has identified routes from the U.S. to Australia as another target market for its 787s, six of which are now flying.

A United spokeswoman said the airline doesn't comment on future route plans but said that it "looks forward to more opportunities to where we could fly" with the Dreamliner.

Oi.  That's not going to be good for my 401K from Boeing...

[Unorthodox]

http://news.msn.com/rumors/rumor-meth-can-cure-the-flu

A study found that meth could suppress replication of the influenza A virus responsible for the flu. While the researchers conclude that meth “might not enhance influenza A virus infection and spread among meth abusers,” it cautions that further investigation is needed.

But just how does meth suppress the flu, if it really does? The researchers, from the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan and the University of Regensburg in Germany, found that meth “exerts an anti-influenza effect predominantly during the viral replication stage” of the flu. This means that the flu virus was unable to reproduce and spread, giving users reduced susceptibility to the disease.

The findings run counter to previous studies into meth’s effects on disease. The drug has previously been found to enhance the infection and replication of HIV because it suppresses immune response. In general, meth is believed to make users dramatically more likely to pick up viruses.

Gizmodo points out that the study was only conducted on one strain of flu. It’s impossible to know right now if the results would be the same for every strain of flu. Gizmodo also noted that the experiment took place in a lab on cells in Petri dishes – a very different scenario than real people in the real world.

The study is especially relevant this year, when flu cases have skyrocketed across the nation and a new strain of norovirus has started to spread around the world.

What could possibly go wrong?