sundries

[rm]

Pretty and my wallet survived the vet without anything too dramatic happening. Yay. She's at work with me now.

Plane makes emergency landing when dude tries to open emergency door mid-flight. This part of the story makes me furious and puzzled: "A passenger, Casey Coleman, told 7News that flight attendants directed all of the females to the back of the plane and all of the males to the front. Coleman said a flight attendant ordered the men to hold down the passenger over the intercom."

Dogboy & Justine did not win the festival, which is fine and as I suspected. The plays that tied for first place I actually liked a good deal. I remain baffled how one of the others even made the finals and interested in the degree that I don't think short play audiences want the content of these things to linger.

A Buffalo woman has been charged with blinding a lesbian in one eye in an anti-gay assault.

sparkindarkness brings us a list of recent trans-related news items, most of them appalling. I keep saying this over and over, but trans issues, gay issues, and feminist issues are everyone's issues. In a world where gender isn't a supposed dichotomy and "feminine" isn't a dirty word EVERYONE -- even straight cis-gendered men -- is safer.

This story on medical radiation errors is almost impossible to read it's so awful, but should be read anyway. I wonder, to what degree, I can barely read it is impacted by my Cold War childhood. This was, in a way, how we all thought we were going to die.

I like Patty times-evelentybillion. So I'm going to get some work done now (cat is in the office with me!) so I can get home to her!

Comments

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

Did "Fallout" make it? My friend was in "Tommy O'Reilly" and I'd be interested to see what you thought. I also thought that "Winners" and Traffic Jam" might make it, but I never did find out!

I saw everything in the first rounds, and I'd enjoy hearing your take on the different plays!

[rm.livejournal.com]

"Fallout" and "Tommy O'Reilly" tied for the win, and I did enjoy watching both of those a good deal.

"Winners" was in the final, and "Traffic Jam" made it, but then was not performed because of a schedule conflict one of the actors had. The other one in the final's beside mine was the Othello spoof, which I found really and truly terrible, although I liked one of the actors in it a good deal.

[bethynyc.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised that "Fallout" and "Tommy O'Reilly" tied! I liked "Winners" though it made me very wary of participating in a work lottery again. And though the Othello spoof was cute in some ways, I think Stephen Calkins who played Ignatius was probably the best part of it.

What I liked about both "Winners" and "Traffic Jam" were the moments of physicality in both of them, where they really made great use of the space and of movement.

Of all of them, I did think that "Dogboy and Justine" would be served well by being expanded. I don't think any of the others would work if they were longer.

[seaopaque.livejournal.com]

and the writer is having some problems too, unless they really did hold the passenger over the intercom, whatever that means.

[5251962.livejournal.com]

That comment there. "She looks smug"- uh, no, she looks like someone who's had her eyeball poked out. Kinda tends to make you make faces. :(

*Eeerg in regards to the woman who was assaulted. The comments there are somewhat barftastic in some cases.

[delchi.livejournal.com]

I'm kinda curious about that myself. It's not part of any regulation or standard that I'm aware of. It might have been a heat of the moment decision by the flight attendant. Still some toerag trying to open the door while in the air ... well I'll add that to the ever growing list of reasons I don't fly anymore.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering how in the hell one moves a plane full of people around mid flight and in a panic given how narrow the aisles are on the average plane. The planes I ride on from here to the East Coast have only one aisle.

One would have to possess the strength of the Incredible Hulk to get a door open midflight, the pressure difference pushes the door shut. Still, what is with folks flipping out and charging the cockpit or trying to open a door? Or doing so in a post 9/11 world and act surprised when they get dogpiled and charged with a felony? Is there an air rager hivemind that overtakes these people?

[delchi.livejournal.com]

One can only guess, but here are a few things ....

Based on experience, it's not hard to open the door. There are hydraulic systems in place, and also they are designed to open in emergency cases - so there are mechanisims that allow most anyone to do so.

As far as the pressure goes, the higher you get the LESS pressure there is from the outside ... this is why the interior of the plane is pressurized. It is referred to as explosive decompression. If one was to open a door in flight it would most likely be ripped open shortly after the airtight seal is broken.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabin_pressurization )

Also in the case of some doors, on some airplanes, explosive bolts are present to open things up in a emergency. Usually this is the sort of thing you see in the tail end of the aircraft where the bottom part of the tail is blown off and a rubber slide is inflated for exit.

As far as people flipping out - claustrophobia can make people do amazing and irrational things. Also the effects of altitude, panic attacks, and other mental/physical conditions can put people into a 'fight or flight' mode in which opening the door at altitude the most sensible thing to do. The last thing on their mind is the legal ramifications of their actions.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

i assure you the emergency exit doors CAN be opened mid flight. and would cause a massive out rushing of air as the higher pressure INSIDE the plane tried to leave.

the article i read said nothing about this moving of the passengers.. nor did it say the stews asked anyone to restrain him. the passengers who said they did restrain him acted on their own in the interview i saw? has the story changed this much?

from the stories i saw (and as i said, stories change) he was taking pills, and drinking, prior to the event.. so i suspect other problems.

[malle-babbe.livejournal.com]

Well, I guess I'll make sure my seatbelt is extra snug then...

[imaginarycircus.livejournal.com]

I read that Times article this morning and I cried and cried when I saw the picture of that man with his arms outstretched saying he wanted to just fly away from his body and pain.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

I read the first page of the radiation article and felt so queasy I had to stop. I might try later. But god, talk about my worst nightmares.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

That was also my reaction *shudder*.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

I totally met that guy who died in the radiation article. His wife was in the church choir with Alan. It was a really awful, awful situation.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

hold him over the intercom? That sentence structure needs help badly :)

I'm not sure why they felt the need to separate the passengers - sure, i can see asking men to hold him down because, on average, men are physically stronger. But why split them up?


I'm afraid I am often a purveyor of the bad news, but it needs to be seen to be changed :)

[shiverelectric]

I read it as, since it was a door towards the front the man was trying to open, if something did happen to it, the safest place would be in the back of the plane. From my experiences women and children are put as far way from danger as possible (such as lock down procedures to ensure their safety), and the men aboard the plane were charged with restraining the man.

[dorei.livejournal.com]

sparkindarkness missed one. One of our board of supervisors, a total dickhead, referred to transgendered folks as "it". Charming eh?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/23/AR2010012300051.html?wprss=rss_metro/va

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

head desk

i dont suppose it was from reading Lois Bujold? where the Betan hermaphrodites use the pronoun "it" ?
i didnt think so....

[dorei.livejournal.com]

for the record, I didn't vote for the asshole.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

in some , you need to be cheered up maybe? news.
a interesting post on gender, sex appeal, and etc....
over at ladysisyphus
"even if its bold italics"

the video is fun, anyway...

[dvanulya.livejournal.com]

I am dealing with the probability that I will need radiotherapy to kill my thyroid in the next year or two, and it's scaring me shitless. I'm thinking that I'd rather have my throat cut open, tbh.

[lyorn.livejournal.com]

Medical radiation: This is a two-pronged nightmare for me, because I've seen what it can do if they go wrong (my music teacher lost the use of his hands due to one of a series of errors with RT in a nearby hospital in the 80s), and because I work in software development for these. (I got the link to the NYT article in my work inbox.) It's not quite as bad for one's peace of mind as working on software for nuclear reactors...

[bodlon.livejournal.com]

There is nothing about that medical radiation errors article that isn't alarming. From the problem itself, to the bits where the software is inadequately tested, to the bit where it's hard to tell if something's gone wrong...just really, the whole thing. And I def. get the Cold War angle. (I also have Trinitite in the house. Well, the boyf does.)