It is every traveler’s nightmare. Imagine this. The pilot has a mental breakdown mid-air and the flight attendant has to make an emergency landing. No, its not a Naked Gun remake, its real life.

The bizarre and terrifying incident occurred on board an Air Canada flight bound for the UK. It began with the co-pilot speaking in “rambling and disjointed” conversation, according to air accident investigators. He was then forcibly removed by the crew (one of which suffered minor injuries!), and restrained. The captain then ordered the crew to find someone who could fly a plane, and luckily, a female flight attendant offered her services as she had a commercial pilot’s license (so what was she doing being a flight attendant?).

The plane in peril made a safe emergency landing in Ireland’s Shannon Airport, and the disturbed co-pilot was whisked away to the psychiatric unit of a local hospital. According to the Telegraph newspaper:

“….The official report into the incident by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) did not explicitly refer to the co-pilot’s medical condition.

But it recorded the views of two doctors onboard that he was in a “confused and disorientated state”.

The captain also reported that his senior colleague became uncharacteristically “belligerent and unco-operative” and was “effectively incapacitated”.

One passenger at the time reported seeing the distraught co-pilot yelling for God as he was being restrained.

The AAIU praised the actions of both the captain and crew in diverting to the nearest airport and removing the co-pilot from the controls.

“For his own well-being and the safety of the aircraft, the most appropriate course of action was to stand him down from duty and seek medical attention which was available on board,” said the report.

“The commander (captain) realising he was faced with a difficult and serious situation used tact and understanding and kept control of the situation at all times.

“The situation was dealt with in a professional manner… As such the commander and flight attendants should be commended for their professionalism in the handling of this event.”

There were no safety recommendations from the investigation.”

Professor Gunther von Hagens, or rather, Dr. Death recently opened his BODYWORLDS exhibit at O2 in London. Its deeply macabre stuff, which at first may seem horrifying but then can actually be fascinating, educational and even entertaining.

I rang my sister to tell her about the chilling traveling show, of how Dr.D (who amazingly looks every inch the part) took corpses, flayed and used “plastination“(which he pioneered in the 70’s) to make them come alive by putting them in life-like poses, like the chess match as seen in the photo above, or a man riding a horse, both holding out their brains for us to compare.

I have to admit that while I find the whole spectacle incredibly disturbing (the idea of a pregnant woman and her baby in womb, gutted out for all to see is especially disconcerting), I am not put off to visit the exhibit and plan to go when I am next in London.
Because though one can see it as gruesome, it is the reality of our anatomy – and as a writer for the Times succinctly puts it:

“….the unique view von Hagen’s corpses offer into the reality of our human make-up, means that squirmishness soon gives way to fascinating.

Even more beautiful than the corpses, are the cross-sectional slices. Inspired by 3D MRI scans, von Hagens has cut wafer thin slices through hands, lungs, brains. The plastic gives them a translucent quality, which when they’re easily distinguishable, like the bones of a hand, look like colourful x-rays. When they’re more abstract they bring to mind amber fossils. They also tell some powerful stories. Smokers should pay particular attention to the cross sections of two lungs, one healthy, the other damaged by nicotine. While the brain flabby with Alzheimers is a graphic depiction of the relationship between the functioning of our minds and our physical bodies.”

Here’s an interesting interview with the good doctor on the BBC from 2002.

Ok, so this isn’t exactly what you’d call news, but I just had to share this amusing article written in 1961.

Some things slightly ring true, the bit where kids learn from TV (not entirely, but which parent hasn’t bought and educational DVD, CD rom or system like Leapfrog?), indoor swimming pools and tv telephones, juice powders (Tang), tablets for energy and overall healthier people (the eco-friendly organic craze worldwide).

But largely, the article proves to me that scientists really can’t predict the future after all, or we would have floating roofs on our houses by now!

The article was the the July 22 issue of Weekend Magazine (printed where? I have no idea, I doubt it still exists) found on the web in the Pixelmatic website.

Will Life Be Worth Living in 2000 AD?

What sort of life will you be living 39 years from now? Scientists have looked into the future and they can tell you.

It looks as if everything will be so easy that people will probably die from sheer boredom.

You will be whisked around in monorail vehicles at 200 miles an hour and you will think nothing of taking a fortnight’s holiday in outer space.

Your house will probably have air walls, and a floating roof, adjustable to the angle of the sun.

Doors will open automatically, and clothing will be put away by remote control. The heating and cooling systems will be built into the furniture and rugs.

You’ll have a home control room – an electronics centre, where messages will be recorded when you’re away from home. This will play back when you return, and also give you up-to-the minute world news, and transcribe your latest mail.

You’ll have wall-to-wall global TV, an indoor swimming pool, TV-telephones and room-to-room TV. Press a button and you can change the décor of a room.

The status symbol of the year 2000 will be the home computer help, which will help mother tend the children, cook the meals and issue reminders of appointments.

Cooking will be in solar ovens with microwave controls. Garbage will be refrigerated, and pressed into fertiliser pellets.

Food won’t be very different from 1961, but there will be a few new dishes – instant bread, sugar made from sawdust, foodless foods (minus nutritional properties), juice powders and synthetic tea and cocoa. Energy will come in tablet form.

At work, Dad will operate on a 24 hour week. The office will be air-conditioned with stimulating scents and extra oxygen – to give a physical and psychological lift.

Mail and newspapers will be reproduced instantly anywhere in the world by facsimile.

There will be machines doing the work of clerks, shorthand writers and translators. Machines will “talk” to each other.

It will be the age of press-button transportation. Rocket belts will increase a man’s stride to 30 feet, and bus-type helicopters will travel along crowded air skyways. There will be moving plastic-covered pavements, individual hoppicopters, and 200 m.p.h. monorail trains operating in all large cities.

The family car will be soundless, vibrationless and self-propelled thermostatically. The engine will be smaller than a typewriter. Cars will travel overland on an 18 inch air cushion.

Railways will have one central dispatcher, who will control a whole nation’s traffic. Jet trains will be guided by electronic brains.

In commercial transportation, there will be travel at 1000 m.p.h. at a penny a mile. Hypersonic passenger planes, using solid fuels, will reach any part of the world in an hour.

By the year 2020, five per cent of the world’s population will have emigrated into space. Many will have visited the moon and beyond.

Our children will learn from TV, recorders and teaching machines. They will get pills to make them learn faster. We shall be healthier, too. There will be no common colds, cancer, tooth decay or mental illness.

Medically induced growth of amputated limbs will be possible. Rejuvenation will be in the middle stages of research, and people will live, healthily, to 85 or 100.

There’s a lot more besides to make H.G. Wells and George Orwell sound like they’re getting left behind.

And this isn’t science fiction. It’s science fact – futuristic ideas, conceived by imaginative young men, whose crazy-sounding schemes have got the nod from the scientists.

It’s the way they think the world will live in the next century – if there’s any world left!

Well, according to English UFO expert Philip Mantle at least. Mr. Mantle, who is also editor of UFO Data Magazine , has been studying the vegetation, rocks and soil at the famous UFO crash site in Roswell, New Mexico, which apparently really does looks like a scene out of a sci-fi film “….surrounded by charred trees and bushes and a mysterious blue substance that dribbles down rocks.”

Mantle is due to to come out with a highly-anticipated report at the UFO International Conference at the end of the month, which they say will prove that there truly is “life out there”.

Speaking of proof, even more incredible is the news that the “real X-Files“, have also begun to be released by no less than the UK’s Ministry of Defence, who over the next 3 years will be “de-classifying” UFO-related documents never seen before by the public.

The files, which date from 1978-2002 can now be downloaded here. On the same page, you’ll also find great links to a podcast from UK expert Dr. David Clarke, a videocast from Nick Pope, former UFO investigator at the Ministry of Defence and now independent expert on the unexplained, and a great guide with background material.

The thing about newspapers is that they need to make catchy headlines about current events to solicit the attention of the people who look towards the paper as a means of information on current events today anywhere. Politics, the economy and current situation of the country are among the top attention-catching headlines that papers would normally get.

The level of attention that people would get from most would largely depend on the area of interest a potential reader would look for. This is not to point towards these current events as stimulating points of interest. Rather it should be considered as a person�s need to be aware of what is going on around him.

In some cases, they are contributing factors as well in decision-making in both personal and professional aspects necessary to ensure the convenient mindset that a person should always be up to date with. People are just to cautious since nothing around them should be taken for granted, especially if it concerns them as a whole.

A lot of criticism has been made with the use of computer graphical enhancements in most movies that we see today, but people are still at awe on how such technology has magnificently complemented movies in the manner to which they have been seen today. Such has been the critics review for the expected movie release of the movie 300. The movie �300� dates back towards the time of Greece�s medieval times. With the setting based on the early rule of swords, arrows, spears and shields, such excitement has been in the works, especially for people who love a good historical adventure story.

While there have been feedbacks of too much graphical imagery for the movie, the response on the expected release of the movie is still at an all time high. The trailers have been wonderfully done and this is something that has caused excitement to most people, especially the followers from earlier flicks such as �Gladiator� and �Lord of the Rings�.

Again and again, people call it global warming. Change in weather, the weird set of climates from the usually normal warm and cold day shifts have totally been amazing and strange to people since clearly, adjustments to the obvious movement of the usual seasons have been a necessity.

As it stands right now, summer, spring or winter have been moved out of the usual months where they are expected to fall. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) showed records that January showed the warmest winter experienced to date. 10 warmest winters have occurred since 1995 and the second warmest was experienced in 2004 based on the records of NOAA.

A lot of the change in climate has been pointed towards the ever growing issue of pollution, notably the rise in greenhouse gas emissions. Many are expecting the El Nino phenomenon to take place and from all indications, the warm climate that most parts of the world is experiencing is just a glimpse of warmer days to come.

Things couldn’t have been worse for Indonesia. Two events in the news from this part of the world shocked people for simultaneous tragedies, a rarity in this world but heartbreaking as well for loss of human lives without reason.

First was the earthquake which shook the country that claimed 52 lives last March 6, 2007 in Sumatra Islands Jakarta, Indonesia. Then there was the plane crash that followed that killed 23 people of a packed Indonesian jetliner which crashed and erupted in flames. Dozens of people, bloodied and severely injured were the sight that Indonesia had on this faithful day.

Of the two tragedies, it is the plane crash coming from its original destination, Australia which has been put under close investigation, considering that it has now become a trend for commercial jetliners coming in the country. Similar incidents where a jet plunged into sea and killed 102 passengers on New Year’s Day also occurred. The Indonesian government has started to make probes to find out the actual causes and possible relations if any.

For the past years, the climate has been changing. Initially some people considered the cold climate to fall in the holiday season, something that has been apparent from past years. The warm climate on the other hand would usually set in the summer where people would troop to the beaches and go surfing or swimming.

However, the change in climate has been mind-boggling. A lot has to be connected with the polluting air which has been known to affect the ozone layers leading to a global warming shift. While people have resorted to various practices to attend to such issues, it is obvious that the efforts have not been enough.

The effects can be seen in the rising case of illnesses and weird weathers during known seasons. Natural disasters such as storms, earthquakes and tsunamis have been coming one after another. Could it be the wrath of nature perhaps? Whatever the case may be, one thing is for sure, a lot of changes in the natural course of living are sure to be waiting in the wings.

Controversial as her life may have been, Anna Nicole Smith’s remains need to be peacefully laid down to rest. Perhaps if only her soul could speak, this would be her immediate request.

Weeks have passed since the sudden death of one of the most heralded sex symbol in the world and such has not been a peaceful and systematic one. Allegations and disputes with regards to the left riches, wealth and corpse of the actress-model have been in the news. While such would have been expected from someone who has had a colorful and bumpy life, she was finally given her due respect.

Anna Nicole Smith’s remains were finally laid to rest beside her son in the Bahamas. Curiously, both died from seemingly the same reasons that of which were drugs. While Smith has been linked to using such drugs, a lot of different views have been looked at as well, including that of her lawyer boyfriend who was thrown in the mix for possible foul play. But getting entangled in the web of controversies and the limelight may also have its shortcomings, something that Smith’s boyfriend found out the hard way.

[tags]anna nicole smith, death, drugs, celebrity, model[/tags]