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Japanese Airlines Ban DS, PSP
Gamespot is reporting that Japanese Airlines such as Japan Airlines and ANA have banned the use of wifi-capable game devices, including the DS and PSP, over 'safety concerns'. From the article: "A law banning on gaming systems with wireless capabilities came into force on Monday, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Japan's transport ministry has concluded that the electromagnetic waves from the wireless networks can interfere with aircraft navigation systems, so it's no Nintendogs for passengers flying with Japanese airlines. The new law also bans wireless computer mice, and headphones that have not been provided by the airlines, although the use of electric razors, calculators, and cassette players is permitted, readers may be relieved to know."
Any RF transmitter has the potential to cause interference with the aircraft's communication and navigation systems. Besides the intended signal, transmitters also produce spurious outputs and noise at other frequencies. This can be a real problem for systems that deal with weak signals like GPS receivers. It doesn't take much power to jam a GPS receiver. A plane full of wifi devices could create an interference nightmare.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Sorry, but I fly on noisy commercial turboprops a lot (EMB 120 Brasilias), and I wear noise canceling headphones starting the instant those loud bastards start up. Many regular passengers do. I don't plug them into my ipod until the "OK to start your electronic devices" announcement. I've never had any question from a flight attendant. They're all wearing hearing protection too.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
"Airplanes are getting stuck in lots of traffic jams this summer, but Amtrak is on a roll. Ridership on the passenger rail system is up 6% so far this year, the biggest jump since the late 1970s. On the Acela Express, trains that run at higher speeds between Washington, New York and Boston, the number of riders has surged 20% over the past 10 months. That's enough new passengers to fill 2,000 Boeing 757 jets,"
--Dan Machalaba, Wall St Journal August 23, as quoted from http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df2/df08272007.shtml#Wall
---PCJ
Ok. Lets say you have a kid. this kid is so allergic to peanuts that they could die, not from eating, but simply by being around someone that is eating peanuts or a product prepared with peanuts.
No, let's not say that. First, let's see if there's any evidence at all to back up claims of such hypersensitivity, because without some I simply cannot believe that anyone could suffer any reaction at all from being near me as I eat peanut butter. If it were true, then those people would have to refrain from going anywhere where nuts could be consumed - restaurants, cafes, bars, coffee shops, even just out and about. They'd be prisoners in their own home.
Yes they do have some nutritional value but 2/3 of the calories are pure FAT . ! I know this is offtopic
It is, but so was the OP bringing up the fact that they're tasty and nutritional. It's completely irrelevant - unless it can be demonstrated that a significant risk exists from someone eating peanuts or peanut-containing food in proximity to someone who is allergic, then there simply is no need to ban them.
It's official. Most of you are morons.
Though one thing I still cannot understand in both Europe and Japan is why are plane tickets more often than not cheaper than train tickets?
Not sure if this is true for anywhere else, but here in Germany fuel and energy is heavily taxed, which factors into the train ticket prices. Airplanes, however, are excempt. We pay about EUR 0.60 per liter of gas, the airlines pay EUR 0.00 per liter of kerosene. Compared to driving in a car, railway travel is somewhat competitive.
That's not the only reason, but it's one reason.
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