♥ Friday, October 30
hello, people!!
happy holidays!! * even though there still bridaging*
oh, thanks everyone for the wonderful job on family day! three cheers for us!
we earn a total of $120.50 and that is something we can be happy about :)
and we all going to miss MR LAU and MS / MISS/ MDM/ YEO as our form teachers!
hope they will still be our form teacher next year :D
that all.
* i trying to save the blog ! *
- zishing(:
4/9 '10 loves x3 6:03 PM
♥ Tuesday, October 27
WASHINGTON - Pilots of a Northwest Airlines jetliner that overshot its destination by 150 miles last week told U.S. investigators they became distracted during an extended discussion of crew scheduling that included their use of personal laptops, officials said on Monday.
"The pilots said there was a concentrated period of discussion where they did not monitor the airplane or calls from said after interviewing the pair on Sunday.
"Both said they lost track of time," the safety board said in a report on its investigation, which included disclosures about the nature of the conversation and the use of laptop computers.
The two veteran commercial pilots said they were not fatigued during the evening flight on October 21 from San Diego to Minneapolis, countering speculation they may have fallen asleep.
Air controllers and airline dispatchers sought to contact Flight 188, an Airbus A320 with 144 passengers, for more than an hour with the plane at 37,000 feet.
Neither pilot was aware of the plane's wayward state until a flight attendant asked them about their scheduled arrival time, the NTSB said.
The captain looked at his flight display data, realized the mistake and then contacted controllers for permission to turn around. The plane landed without incident in Minneapolis.
Delta Air Lines, which owns Northwest, said in a statement the use of laptops or "engaging in activity unrelated to" flying the aircraft violates company policy.
The airline has suspended the pilots pending the outcome of government and internal investigations. They could be fired, Delta said.
The pilots said they were discussing new monthly crew schedules, which were put in place as a result of Northwest's merger with Delta in 2008.
Investigators are also reviewing information from the plane's flight data recorder.
~Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 6:12 PM
♥ Sunday, October 25
MINNEAPOLIS – The first officer of the Northwest Airlines jet that missed its destination by 150 miles says he and the captain were not sleeping or arguing in the cockpit but he wouldn't explain their lapse in response and the detour.
"It was not a serious event, from a safety issue," pilot Richard Cole said late Friday in front of his Salem, Ore., home. "I would tell you more, but I've already told you way too much."
Air traffic controllers and pilots had tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact the Minneapolis-bound flight. Officials on the ground alerted National Guard jets to prepare to chase the airliner, though none of the military planes left the runway.
The jet with 144 passengers aboard was being closely monitored by senior White House officials, White House spokesman Nick Shapiro told The Associated Press on Saturday. He didn't say if President Barack Obama was informed.
Many aviation safety experts and pilots say the most likely explanation is that the pilots fell asleep along their route from San Diego. NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said fatigue and cockpit distraction are factors that will be looked into.
"We were not asleep; we were not having an argument; we were not having a fight," Cole said, but would not discuss why it took so long for him and the flight's captain, Timothy B. Cheney, of Gig Harbor, Wash., to respond to radio calls.
"I can tell you that airplanes lose contact with the ground people all the time. It happens. Sometimes they get together right away; sometimes it takes awhile before one or the other notices that they are not in contact."
The FAA said Friday letters had been sent informing the pilots they are being investigated by the agency and it is possible their pilot's licenses could be suspended or revoked.
Investigators were in the process Saturday of scheduling interviews with the pilots, Holloway said, and audio from the cockpit voice recorder was downloaded at NTSB headquarters on Friday.
But they may not glean much from it. While new recorders retain as much as two hours of cockpit conversation and other noise, the older model aboard Northwest's Flight 188 includes just the last 30 minutes _ only the very end of the flight after the pilots realized their error over Wisconsin.
The NTSB recommended a decade ago that airlines be required to have two-hour cockpit voice recorders. The standard has been 15- to 30-minute recorders.
Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a rule requiring airplanes and helicopters seating 10 or more people to have the 2-hour audio recordings, but gave the industry time to comply. Aircraft made after March 2010 must come equipped with longer recorders, though many manufacturers have already been including them. Existing planes have until March 2012 to comply.
The FAA rule doesn't require cockpit video recordings, which the NTSB had also recommended. Pilots opposed the video recordings.
Northwest, which was acquired last year by Delta Air Lines, is also investigating the incident. Cheney and Cole have been suspended. Messages left at Cheney's home were not returned.
The pilots passed breathalyzer tests and were apologetic after the flight, according to a police report released Friday. Cheney and Cole had just started their work week and were coming off a 19-hour layover, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Saturday, citing an internal Northwest document it said was described to the newspaper.
The police report said that the crew indicated they had been having a heated discussion about airline policy.
___
AP Writers Joan Lowy in Washington and Amy Forliti in Minneapolis and AP Airlines Writers Joshua Freed in Minneapolis, Harry R. Weber in Atlanta and Dave Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report. Cain reported from Salem, Ore.
___
On the Net:
FlightAware.com tracking of Northwest Flight 188:
http://bit.ly/2QV9hXNational Transportation Safety Board
http://www.ntsb.gov~Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 7:42 PM
♥ Saturday, October 24
SYDNEY, Oct 23 - London's Heathrow Airport has been voted the worst airport in the world for the second year running in a poll of 14,500 frequent fliers while Singapore's Changi was again ranked as the best.
The survey participants, all member of airport lounge programme Priority Pass, rated Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport as the world's second worst with Los Angeles International Airport coming third despite a recent $1 billion overhaul.
"A result that suggests anyone wanting a romantic break in Paris should avoid the Heathrow-Charles de Gaulle route if they don't want to kill the mood," said a statement from Priority Pass.
"Sadly, Heathrow remains firmly entrenched as the airport the world loves to hate," added Jonathan French, head of brand for Priority Pass.
Also coming in the bottom five in the online poll were Frankfurt International and Miami International airports.
One of the few major countries whose travellers did not put Heathrow at or near the bottom of the list was the United States. U.S. fliers rated Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York JFK as the worst.
At the other end of the scale, the poll conducted in September among fliers from 160 countries found that Singapore Changi topped the list of the world's best airports followed by Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok.
This was the second consecutive year that these airports have come in the top two slots.
The favourite airport in Europe was Amsterdam Schiphol.
The respondents to the survey were all frequent travellers who have taken on average 17 flights in the past 12 months.
~Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 2:46 PM
♥
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – An official says a Malaysian woman has given premature birth to a boy on a domestic flight, minutes before it landed in Kuala Lumpur.
Liew Siaw Hsia gave birth on budget carrier AirAsia's flight from Penang to Kuching on Wednesday.
AirAsia spokesman Nazatul Mokhtar said Friday that the flight was diverted to nearby Kuala Lumpur for an emergency landing when Liew started labor pains.
A doctor on the flight helped the
31-year-old deliver while the plane was still 2,000 feet (600 meters) in the air in its final approach to land.
Nazatul says both
the mother and baby are healthy and will get lifetime of free flights. He says Liew was 27 weeks pregnant, 11 weeks short of the full term.
~Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 2:45 PM
♥ Wednesday, October 21
MANILA - Facebook users beware. Psychologists are now probing a new kind of addiction called Facebook Addiction Disorder (FAD).
Psychologist Dr. Michael Fenichel, who has published numerous writings on FAD online, describes it as a situation in which Facebook usage "overtakes" daily activities like waking up, getting dressed, using the telephone, or checking e-mail.
"The amazing thing is that, like cellphones, nobody seems to notice the vast amount of time and energy - at work, at home, and now while on the move - people are devoting to Facebook. It has become a given," Fenichel writes in an online post titled "Facebook Addiction Disorder- A New Challenge?"
FAD could be classified under the more broad "internet addiction disorder" or internet overuse.
Academic papers have already posed theories on internet addiction and social networking addiction, and even less, cellphone addiction.
"Like most activities, moderation and integration are key. Those that may seriously label and treat FAD as a behavioral addiction will clearly need to use context in determining if a behavior has become demonstrably harmful to overall social, work, or face-to-face interpersonal efficacy," Fenichel added.
You are a Facebook addict if...
According to Joanna Lipari, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was interviewed for a CNN report, here are some signs that you are addicted to Facebook:
1. You lose sleep over Facebook. When using Facebook becomes a compulsion and you spend entire nights logged on to the site, causing you to become tired the next day.
2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. Lipari said it is difficult to define how much is too much when it comes to Facebook usage, but that an average person need only spend half an hour on the site.
3. You become obsessed with old loves or exes you reconnect with on Facebook.
4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook. This means you do not do your job in order to sneak time on Facebook.
5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in cold sweat. If you try going a day without Facebook and it causes you stress and anxiety, this means you need help.
According to the same report by Elizabeth Cohen, Senior CNN Medical Correspondent, Facebook addiction is not yet an actual medical diagnosis.
However, the report notes that several therapists in the United States have noticed a rise in the number of clients who get hooked on social networking, to the point of social dysfunction.
Facebook fun
Facebook, launched by the world's youngest billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, has over 300 million users worldwide, half of whom log on to the site every day.
Further, about 2 billion photos and 14 million videos are uploaded on various Facebook pages a month and about 6 billion minutes are spent on Facebook a day, worldwide.
According to Willis Wee, founder of the social media and marketing blog Penn-Olson.com, this is twice as much time that people spend on Google.
The global social networking website allows users to post and share content (like photos, links, videos, and notes), play casual games and applications, and interact with friends and family through messaging and chat. abs-cbnNEWS.com. With reports from CNN.com.
~
Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 10:08 PM
♥ Tuesday, October 20
SINGAPORE: Singapore and Malaysian carriers will soon be able to fly freely between Changi and six new destinations in Malaysia after both countries agreed to expand their air services agreement.
The new agreement gives carriers of both countries the rights to operate passenger services between Singapore and Malaysia’s Alor Setar, Bintulu, Labuan, Kerteh, Kota Bahru and Sibu.
Carriers from both sides will each have traffic rights to operate 28 weekly passenger services to each of these destinations.
The new agreement will also see an increase in the number of services to 10 existing destinations in Malaysia. — 938LIVE/vm
Published By:
Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 5:31 PM
♥ Sunday, October 18
LONDON (AFP) - –
The Arctic ice cap will disappear completely in summer months within 20 to 30 years, a polar research team said as they presented findings from an expedition led by adventurer Pen Hadow.
It is likely to be largely ice-free during the warmer months within a decade, the experts added.
Veteran polar explorer Hadow and two other Britons went out on the Arctic ice cap for 73 days during the northern spring, taking more than 6,000 measurements and observations of the sea ice.
The raw data they collected from March to May has been analysed, producing some stark predictions about the state of the ice cap.
"The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated," said Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.
"In about 10 years, the Arctic ice will be considered as open sea."
Starting off from northern Canada, Hadow, Martin Hartley and Ann Daniels skied over the ice cap to measure the thickness of the remaining ice, assessing its density and the depth of overlying snow, as well as taking weather and sea temperature readings.
Across their 450-kilometre (290 mile) route, the average thickness of the ice floes was 1.8 metres (six feet), while it was 4.8 metres when incorporating the compressed ridges of ice.
"An average thickness of 1.8 metres is typical of first year ice, which is more vulnerable in the summer. And the multi-year ice is shrinking back more rapidly," said Wadhams.
"It's a concrete example of global change in action.
"With a larger part of the region now in first year ice, it is clearly more vulnerable. The area is now more likely to become open water each summer, bringing forward the potential date when the summer sea ice will be completely gone."
Doctor Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change adviser for the World Wide Fund for Nature's international Arctic programme, said the survey painted a sombre picture of the ice meltdown, which was happening "faster than we thought".
"Remove the Arctic ice cap and we are left with a very different and much warmer world," he said.
Loss of sea ice cover will "set in motion powerful climate feedbacks which will have an impact far beyond the Arctic itself," he added.
"This could lead to flooding affecting one quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emission from massive carbon pools and extreme global weather changes."
"Today's findings provide yet another urgent call for action to world leaders ahead of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December to rapidly and effectively curb global greenhouse gas emissions."
Published by:
Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 8:55 PM
♥ Wednesday, October 7
MUMBAI - A mid-air scuffle between pilots and crew of an Air India flight at the weekend did not endanger the 106 passengers on board, said a spokesman for the airline which has ordered an inquiry.
Two pilots and two crew members have been grounded following the incident on a Sharjah-Lucknow-Delhi flight, said Jitender Bhargava, which began as a heated exchange on a charge of sexual harassment against the pilots by a crew member.
Blows were also exchanged in the scuffle that spilled into the cabin late on Saturday night, according to media reports.
"At no stage was safety compromised. It was a clear case of indiscipline," Bhargava said.
"Our report is still awaited. We will decide on the course of action when it is ready," he said, adding that Delhi police were also investigating.
The ailing state-run carrier last week canceled dozens of flights when about 250 pilots went on strike to protest against plans to cut pay incentives as part of a broader cost-cutting exercise.
Published by: Raymond Lim
4/9 '10 loves x3 9:14 PM
