The Miracle of Technology
A number of years ago I was flying from Los Angeles to New York on now defunct TWA. Shortly after takeoff the pilot came on the intercom and launched into a mini-lecture about how the Salton Sea, just east of Palm Springs, was formed. Not long after that he pointed out some volcanic formations, the starting point for his discussion of the geological history of the southwest. "Oh, brother," I thought to myself, "we've got ourselves a talker, I'm not going to get any reading done." But I quickly realized it was going to be the best coast to coast trip I would ever take. Our captain would go on to lecture about Lewis and Clark, and the Wright Brothers, and as he spoke about American pioneers he did S-turns over the Chisholm Trail so passengers on both sides of the plane could see the remnants. But the best part of the flight was when he described the GPS, the Geological Positioning System, that had just come into use for navigation. He told of how it utilized two arbitrary points in the heavens as vectors for triangulating our position, and wound up his discourse by saying, "so you see, this isn't just a trip across the country, it's an existential journey in time and space." I thought,"I don't know what he's smoking, but man, I want some."
posted by John M Crowther @ 7:23 AM
4 Comments:
hahahaha John that is so funny! Ahhh... gone are the days! I would have liked to have taken that trip too... (whatever he was on!) LOL LOL
Speaking as one who get constantly lost, I would welcome one of those systems. Love this cartoon, as I just took a short trip where this was used and it was fun hearing the woman giving instructions on how to proceed. Great commentary as usual. Wished that I had been on that trip with both you and Jean.
I seldom listen to what the pilots say, but on a flight to Washington D.C. I was fascinated to hear apilot named Kit Carson blurt out " We are now passing over the safest airport in the U.S. (Dullles) to land at the most dangerous Washington National. He was reprimanded by the airline. roger
hahaha Roger... that's a good one! Nothing like instilling a bit of confidence in the travelling public! I remember being on a Qantas flight attempting to land in LA... when after circling in a stack for over an hour we finally went into final approach only to take off again for another hours go around because the separation was deemed by the captain to be too small. Can't tell you how it feels to have been on a fully laden aircraft after a sixteen hour flight and then have to go round again for another hour!@#%$#^% I was wanting to get a look at the fuel gauge! LOL
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