Posts by anothercynic

Re: Hanlon's other razor

It's also happened to a pub in London. Had to be rebuilt perfectly.

Good old HMRC - Let's make things even more complicated... and let's tax everyone and their dog even if they just sell something they've already been taxed on (I refer specifically to those flogging some stuff on FleaBay that they don't want anymore)... No wonder everyone and their dog now use Facebook Marketplace (because eBay actually report stuff to HMRC).

That said, the relationship between personal tax allowance and trading (as a side hustle) is not particularly made clear to people by the platforms either, it should at the very least be part of the ongoing comms process for those who earn most of their money off those, erm, visual platforms.

Re: Ireland

Ireland will continue to do business... It's countries like the Netherlands and Luxembourg that will have to consider their options, given their history of being part of 'sandwiches' (Netherlands) and sweetheart tax deals (Luxembourg).

The recipients weren't visible in the first place. They used an Exchange distribution list, which dutifully sent the emails on to everyone else in the list. And, as you know, if you reply to an email from a mailing list (or distribution list) where the Reply-To is not configured correctly, eventually the To list grows and grows regardless of whether the distribution list is eventually locked down.

And yes, it's possible (although this hasn't been mentioned whether this was the case) that someone used the option in Outlook to 'expand' the distribution list in Exchange to put the actual addresses into the To list (which is a cockup you can lay on Microsoft's doorstep).

Re: When it all started

Yes, agreed, distribution lists like that one should be locked down.

That would've stopped this mess in its tracks.

Re: Not quite

Funny that... The party with the most votes (Sinn Féin, *not* the DUP) is held hostage by the party who didn't get the most votes, but who has traditionally had the most (because Unionist).

Sinn Féin is just as keen to get things sorted, but the DUP are being twats by holding up the processes under the Good Friday Agreement (whilst claiming to have the GFA in mind). I hope the next election (as promised by the Tories) costs the DUP even more votes just to drive home the point that they are no longer the grand poobah in Norn Iron and that people are fed up with having their lives f***ed with just because a Unionist party didn't like the end result.

I'll see your Viscount and raise you the VC-10. Now that was a sweet bird (although the Super VC-10 was even better). She was a damn sight quieter than the 707, and had some innovations that Boeing copied to make their 707s work better at H&H airports. Passengers loved the VC-10, but BA's management were suckers for Boeing planes and actively worked against Vickers on the improved versions.

Re: The end of an era

You would've hated the old South African Airways 747SP (later leased to Namib Air, later Air Namibia, and used by them for years to fly to Frankfurt and Gatwick with) - The original seats were low-slung and in economy (even at my age at the time) it was excruciatingly uncomfortable. Pre-pandemic, the -400s that BA had were comfortable in World Traveller and World Traveller+ because they actually had a cabin uplift, which was so welcome. Firmer seats with legroom was something the South Africans didn't understand, I think...

Re: The end of an era

Sorry to have to correct you, but yes, Airbus *did* have a freight version in mind when the plane was designed. But the decision was taken to stop work on the freight version when it became clear that the passenger version was running horribly late (thanks to various things, like the mis-matched cable runs, the additional weight, etc etc). Fedex was one of the great proponents of the A380F, as was UPS, and both cancelled their orders when it became clear that Airbus wasn't going to work on an F version for a long while yet. And when all those orders disappeared, along went Airbus's desire to dig into building one. The primary problem with the A380 was the middle and the upper floor, not the cockpit position in particular. Strengthening both would have reduced the total freight it could carry (because of increased weight) and the economic case for it disappeared.

And no, the 747 was *not* designed as a freighter first. Juan Trippe (PAN-AM's famous leader) didn't ask for a freight plane, he wanted passenger jets that doubled the capacity of the existing 707s. But Joe Sutter, the 'father of the 747', said that it would make sense to use the broad design cues of the CX-HLS project (which Boeing lost to Lockheed and which Lockheed developed to the C-5A Galaxy) because keeping the cockpit up and out of the way would make the plane ideal for freight also, and that the area behind the cockpit could be used for other things, like a lounge, which PAN-AM did have originally. But when you then realise that you can shove more self-loading freight up in there, why not! Initial design studies had some versions of the 747 with the cockpit in various locations, including the "ant eater", which did what the Airbus Beluga and Beluga XL (based on the A300 and the A330 respectively) do now, i.e. a lowered cockpit. The B777 shows that even with the cockpit in the way, you can still load big things for the vast majority of cargo cases, and the 747 DreamLifter (designed and built by Evergreen) didn't use the nose either, but rather had the *tail* hinged for those 787 fuselage sections coming from Italy and Japan.

That said, the 747 was revolutionary. It made modern air travel possible because of scale of economy, and it makes outsized air freight possible in a way that 'normal' air freight (of which the majority is transported in the belly cargo holds of the world's passenger airliners) can't. The older 747s and the modern B777F are close in total weight capacity they can lift, the modern 8F is more a step change in fuel economy (given it uses the GE-nx) than total volume being lifted. :)

The old bird will be missed by those who flew them. It was nice to see a Magma 747 BCF on the tarmac in virtual touching distance the other week... if only the pesky apron staff hadn't been around... ;-)

Re: Had it been a success....

Well, the BVI and the Channel Islands are still British territories...

So it's halvesies right now. But your point is valid...

Re: standing upright and keeping still

I want to see you dash for the button before the 30 mph robot arm gets you... Ready? GO!

Re: Water and IT

A manager. A beancounter. A PHB?

Re: Water and IT

I know some people who might be able to scare those pictures up... ;-)

It isn't a risky move if the airline knows which flights they cancelled on which day. Which they do.

Re: What about the operational costs?

This is why the grand idea of small nuclear reactors is a monumentally stupid one. "Oh, but they are just like the nuclear reactors on submarines!" they say... but imagine having to decommission more than the handful of nuclear reactors that are currently in use by the current Astute class and the future Dreadnoughts, it's going to be a mess.

Stick to two or three sites with the massive 4-digit megawatt class that make more sense in terms of decommissioning and economy of scale.

Re: probably wasn't an act of terrorism

They need to be found, prosecuted and jailed with maximum terms. That's the only language they understand.