@david_megginson@mstdn.ca
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

david_megginson

@david_megginson@mstdn.ca

#Tea drinker. Urban dweller. #Gardener. Classical guitarist. #Standards wonk. Grounded pilot. Pantheist. Jane Jacobs fanboy. #Language nerd. 25-year #vegetarian. 30-year #Linux user. #Disabled. Open-* and humanitarian #aid person. Former medieval philologist (Ph.D, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto, 1993). Living on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory.

Header picture: Large reddish-orange letters spelling "Hintonburg", some lying flat on the sidewalk for use as benches.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

david_megginson, to random
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

… That's not quite true with light piston twins, many of which can barely hold altitude with one engine out, and which demand a quick reaction and very good-pilot technique.

The grim pilot joke about piston twins is that the second engine is there to take you to the scene of the accident — until a few years ago, they had a much-higher fatal accident rate than piston singles, but that has been improving with better training and more awareness of the limitations.

david_megginson, to fediBots
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

I notice spambots at newsmast.community have started reposting everything I write with certain hashtags.

I'm blocking the bots individually as they pop up, but I wonder if we need more concerted action for the entire site.

david_megginson, to books
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

Big 💡moments in history

"Hey! What if we cut that scroll into pieces and sew them all together on one side, so that a reader can easily jump straight into the middle?"

Main benefit: Random access to information (dictionaries, encyclopedias, tables of contents, indices, etc).

Side benefit: reduction in repetitive strain injuries from unrolling scrolls.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@mpjgregoire If you have Glitch-flavoured Mastodon, put a greater-than sign at the start of each quoted paragraph. Feel free to test it in a reply to me. 🙂

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@mpjgregoire You did it correctly, but it didn't come through. Perhaps your site doesn't have the Glitch add-on, or you haven't enabled it yet in your settings.

david_megginson, to Aviation
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

Once there was a saying "If it ain't Boeing, I'm not going " Back then, Airbus had been plagued by issues with its fly-by-wire control systems, which (at the time) could override the pilot's inputs and fly a plane into the ground.

Fast foward a few decades and Airbus's systems are pretty reliable, since they've been forced to allow that their algorithms aren't always smarter than the pilots (aviation regulations are written in blood, as another saying goes).

…/more

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

… Now it's Boeing that's in the news every few days because of quality-control issues.

The thing about taking shortcuts, cutting oversight, and squeezing pennies in aviation is that the problems don't always surface right away.

You think you got away with it, but then years or decades later stuff starts falling off b/c of wrong fasteners, shoddy work, poor design, etc. You might never win back that public trust, even if your overall safety record is still good.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@clolsonus From what I understand, it's a good system for normal flying, and has probably averted some unknown number of pilot-error accidents, but it took them a few decades to harden it into a good system for abnormal flying.

As we discovered initially with our new LRT system in Ottawa (trains by Alstom), whenever a manufacturer says their new system can't fail because of its great technology, just start counting down … 🙁 (fortunately, we haven't had any major injuries, just delays).

david_megginson, to Aviation
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

News-O-Matic: Discount airline ___ strands ___ passengers in ___ for ___ days during March Break because of (bankruptcy | cancelled flights | misc. shenanigans).

It's frustrating for the people involved, but when it's so predictable every year does it qualify as news?

timbray, to random
@timbray@cosocial.ca avatar

They’re thinking of changing the name of Powell River: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/name-change-powell-river-divide-1.7145873?cmp=rss

OK, but how about we do “British Columbia”? It’s a horrible name, picked by Queen Victoria in 1858, and the locals hated it even back then.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@timbray Given the long list of Canadian placenames to reconsider, the province's name is likely less urgent because it doesn't honour a specific person who perpetrated indigenous genocide (including abducting children to send them to residential schools).

inquiline, to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Why a transition to electric vehicles is not a panacea, exhibit no. 18,567:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/microplastics-linked-to-heart-attack-stroke-and-death/

https://www.thedrive.com/news/tire-dust-makes-up-the-majority-of-ocean-microplastics-study-finds

#Microplastics #tires #pollution

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@inquiline I agree. At best, electric vehicles (EVs) are a slightly-less awful approach than internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles, carbon-wise, and it's trickier to compare the non-carbon costs like human suffering (mining the minerals used by the batteries) and other ecological damage (not just micro-plastics, but creating and disposing of those batteries).

The real solution isn't tech magic like EVs, but significantly reducing the use of personal vehicles (however they're powered).

david_megginson, to Ottawa
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

The Remic Rapids lookout beside the Ottawa river is almost accessible for wheelchairs and walkers, except for one small step between the two ramps. C'mon Ottawa, we can fix this kind of thing.

cc @jleiper (though it's probably an NCC thing).

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@stephanie Just a cc, not a request. It's probably an NCC thing, which would mean screaming into the void if I tried to take it up with them. 😕

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@stephanie (Also, I should note that the small step is no longer a barrier for me personally, but I remember how it felt when it would have been.)

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@ottawasteph Email sent -- thanks again!

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

Also, I strongly encourage able people to report any accessibility issues they see to the city, the province, the feds, the NCC, or the business involved (as appropriate), like @ottawasteph did. ❤️ (Update below)

My mobility is improved now and I'm happy to help with the reporting, but when I was in a wheelchair just coping with all the small daily accessibility barriers wore me down: leaving disabled people to shoulder the reporting burden as well can be too much.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@ottawasteph Thanks for the extra info. I checked your profile before I posted, but (of course) no one is under any obligation to share info about disability or anything else there.

david_megginson, to gardening
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

Last year I started plants from seed indoors without a heat mat, and it typically took a couple of weeks before I saw the first sprouts.

This year I'm using a heat mat, and the time to first sprout has been much shorter:

  • Cherry tomatoes: 4 days
  • Eggplants: 7 days
  • Basil: 3 days

Still waiting on peppers (7 days) and dill (4 days). Other seeds will go in soon.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

I've also managed to force myself to thin my tomato seedlings early, which is heart-breaking (I got all these seedlings to sprout, and now I have to kill 2/3 of them?!?!) but improves the chances for the most-viable ones by uncrowding them.

No one warned me that gardening is a cruel and ruthless pursuit.

david_megginson, to academia
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

The European Middle Ages to non-medievalists: knights, damsels, castles, jousts, vikings, and stories about dragons!

The European Middle Ages to medievalists: land charters, church councils, Latin manuscripts, corroded remnants of farming implements, and counting the animal bones in excavations of middens.

(p.s. Knights were mostly a**holes, and the Crusades were mass war crimes.)

#MiddleAges #Medieval #academia

ottaross, to Ottawa
@ottaross@mastodon.social avatar

About to go out for a walk. Seeing passers-by, they are really bundled up. I guess they've adjusted to the warm temps already? It's about 3°C now.

Gotta beat that pending snow, though the weather radar doesn't look very threatening yet. Change of wind direction expected?

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@ottaross It's our fault. We managed to leave the heavy sleet behind in Brockville, but a few sneaky light flurries followed us up the 416 to Ottawa.

david_megginson, to random
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

Obligatory complaint: Why did they take my morning sunlight away? 😥

deborahh, to til
@deborahh@mstdn.ca avatar

:
Saw the word jingoism twice today, so i looked it up.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@deborahh Yes, Western chest-thumping towards Russia goes back a long way.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@deborahh You're right that "jingoism" now applies to all nationalist military sloganeering. It's originally from the chorus of a popular 1878 British music-hall song:

We don't want to fight but by Jingo if we do,
We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got the money too,
We've fought the Bear before, and while we're Britons true,
The Russians shall not have Constantinople

"By Jingo!" (for "By Jesus!) is older, but the song's use of it gives us the term.

chad, to random
@chad@mstdn.ca avatar

I don't care what anyone says, Nickelback is a rock band of our generation.

Fight me.

david_megginson,
@david_megginson@mstdn.ca avatar

@chad Nickleback's fine for Alberta. Here in Ontario, we have/had our own OK-but-overhyped band, The Tragically Hip.

Let's have an inter-provincial competition to see which band's songs bore me to sleep first. 🙂

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