hashbangchris

Comment Threads

• Charlie Stross commented on Stranded
  On risk and statistics: the individual risk to aircraft is probably quite low with this particular ash cloud. However, there are roughly 22,000-25,000 aircraft movements in the affected zone daily. If the risk of a serious incident (e.g. loss of engines, forced landing) due to the ash cloud is only 1 in 100,000, then if normal operations had been pursued we'd probably have seen at least one serious incident already. And having airliners falling out of the sky over northern europe at a rate of two a week would, I think, be classed as unacceptable by the general public....
• Charlie Stross commented on Stranded
  Arthur: we spent ten days in Kyoto on our last trip to Japan (in 2007). We could do a day-trip, but it's two hours each way by Shinkansen, which somewhat eats into the available time....
• Charlie Stross commented on Stranded
  Do you take the flight? Probably yes. Reasoning: it's a Boeing 777ER wide-body, and it's going to be full (350+ passengers). Cost of airliner: $200M. Civil liability if they total it and kill everyone: well over $500M. Cost of adverse publicity: priceless. Coming on top of the existing losses from the volcano, it'd literally kill Air France. So they will not fly that plane into Paris CDG unless they're sure it'll land safely in front of the TV cameras. But that's not going to happen. Why? Well, the reason we had 30 hours' notice that our flight home was cancelled...
• Charlie Stross commented on Stranded
  Ian: acute stress and creativity do not, in my personal experience, play well together. That is: if I'm stressed to fuck by, for example, being stranded on the wrong side of the planet, I am much more likely to sit gibbering in a corner than to start writing. (I have occasionally written through stress, but it tended to be chronic stress, and it doesn't often work for me; "Lobsters" was an exception and happened after the immediate stress was relieved.)...
• giryan commented on Stranded
  A tourist sight that I can definitely recommend if you're in Tokyo and have the time to kill, is the Ghibli museum in Mitaka....