pacman

Of course Archie is right. Anyway, it didn't take long for changes to occur, the Australian Government announced this morning that legislation is being introduced to ensure there are two people in the cockpit at all times. And other countries made similar announcements over the weekend. Without denying your experience Arch, that's a big call. And I am not just referring to different airlines having different hiring policies, the problem for any airline is that individuals can change personality. The man they hired a few years back can develop mental illness due to any number of reasons. And smart people can keep it hidden for a very long time. I think airlines have to be given special dispensation to be able to sack any pilot whenever they show symptoms of 'ab-normalcy'. Even if it just a report from fellow pilots who express alarm at someone's behaviour.

Stroker, this is a very inflammatory post - asking a leading question accompanied with a picture of a rather unappealing male. No prizes for guessing what sort of response you are looking for. Nice folks are too polite to say what they honestly think, impolite people will use the invitation to pour scorn on these hapless bastards who are too stupid to know any better as to how they should dress when visiting a foreign country. And the unfortunate fact that most of them are dangerously overweight just provides more reason to ridicule them & their lack of dress standards. I have gone past the age where I take any pleasure in mocking those who don't share my views. Though I still find anyone who would choose to go out dressed like this to be beyond the pale.

Yes, it would have cost too much to sack the idiot. If German industrial laws are similar to other first world countries (and I'm sure they are if not worse) then the airline would be sued for unfair dismissal if their only reason for sacking him was depression. They were paying already for the regular psychiatric tests that had been ordered, I'm sure they would have loved the freedom to fire him. I hope this tragedy brings about the changes necessary to ensure that anyone in command of a plane who starts to lose the plot can be shown the door immediately without penalising the airline.

Ahh, this is the stuff of conspiracies.... IMO there are two possiblitlies, either the pilot left alone in the cockpit had a death wish & decided to commit suicide by plane or.... the more likely scenario, he had either a seizure, heart attack or fit & was rendered unable to open the door or fly the plane. I can only imagine the terror for those in the cabin. Watching & listening to a pilot banging on the cockpit door with increasing urgency, people must have been shitting their pants. This is another plane disaster that can be attributed to Al Qaeda / Taliban / ISIS. It was only after 9/11 that the decision was made to have all cabin doors on commercial planes lockable. And secured so they couldn't be broken down. The pilot would have known that as he banged away in vain.

The first few episodes of last season's The Simpsons were amazing. I don't know which shows exactly but the early ones I caught I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Political correctness was tossed out the window, the writers delved into areas I never thought I would see in any TV series. Can anyone verify this? I would be surprised if no one else here saw these episodes.

I agree. It went right off the boil & was heading to an inglorious demise. However last season saw a renaissance with the most outrageous storylines & dialogue ever presented on the show. There are some episodes where I simply couldn't believe where the writers were going. If you haven't seen them I suggest the series is worth revisiting. Most of last season were among the best shows ever. Of course once I alerted friends to the revamped show the stories lagged a bit. Not too much but they didn't have the jaw-dropping effect of the earlier episodes. It has ever been thus....

I'm a grown-up & I watch cartoons... good ones that is. I've seen a few over the years, I'm damned if I can remember a bar in any of them. Shrek? Nope, don't think so. Up? Nope. Roger Rabbit? Possibly but I can't remember one. Wall-E? Nope. Wallace & Gromit? Surely not? I don't watch cartoons on TV these days Oh fuck............... MOE'S!! I love the Simpsons, it's a great metaphor on life & anyone who doesn't get its appeal for adults can't be my friend. And I know a few people who think it is aimed at kids. They refuse to watch it or consider it adult entertainment. I love the show but I assume Seven doesn't care for it much, I could never describe the bar where Homer, Barney, Lenny (my avatar) & Karl drink as boring. I hope I have the right answer....

It's got me stumped. Boring? What sort of clue is that? I don't how a bar in a movie can be called boring. I need another clue, this is distracting me.

I'll hazard a guess that one is Rick's Bar in Casablanca....

That's a nasty wound from a stiletto heel, it could easily have blinded her. High heels are no different from a knife attack IMO. I hope they throw the book at her.

You wouldn't want to fart after eating a packet of them....

I was on a trans-Australian flight (that's one that flies from one side to the other, not one full of cross dressers) late at night when a lady sitting behind me passed a note asking me to close my window because it was blowing in her face. I stood up & shut off the air nozzle above her head that was fully open blowing straight at her. I never spoke to her, she was hiding her face when she realised how silly she was. I had no desire to make her feel worse but I do regret throwing away the note. I had several people dismiss my story as fanciful. As if I haven't better things to do than invent stories about dumb passengers. If I needed to do that I would have said it was a trans-American flight..... (apologies to Kahuna)

I would have thought Billy....

It's Vernazza, the first town you come to from Monterosso on the Cinque Terre. I have been there twice when I walked the Cinque Terre, it's as nice as the picture even if the colours have been exaggerated. I had drinks at a little bar overlooking the harbour the last time while I waited for the ferry to arrive to take us back to Monterosso. The walking path between the two towns is hard, it takes several hours on an ancient track that goes up hill & down dale the whole way. Walked it once, never again.