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Record-Breaking Jet Stream Accelerates Air Travel, Flight Clocks In At 801 MPH (cbsnews.com)

pgmrdlm quotes CBS News: On Monday night, the river of air 35,000 feet above the New York City area, known as the jet stream, clocked in at a blazing 231 mph. This is the fastest jet stream on record since 1957 for the National Weather Service in Upton, New York — breaking the old record of 223 mph, according to NWS forecaster Carlie Buccola. This wind provided a turbo boost to commercial passenger planes along for the ride. With the help of this rapid tailwind, Virgin Atlantic Flight 8 from Los Angeles to London hit what could be a record high speed for a Boeing 787: 801 mph over Pennsylvania at 9:20 p.m. Monday night...

"The typical cruising speed of the Dreamliner is 561 mph," CBS News transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave points out. "The past record for the 787 is 776 mph set in January 2017 by a Norwegian 787-9 flying from JFK to London Gatwick. That flight set a record for the fastest subsonic transatlantic commercial airline flight -- 5 hours and 13 minutes, thanks to a 202 mph tailwind."

FlightAware, a global aviation data services company, reminds CBS that even a 100 mph increase in the jet stream can shorten a flight by an hour.

99 comments

  1. Idle speculation by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Of course, that could mean flights going the other direction will be *delayed* by an hour or more - either because they’re heading into the strong stream or because of the extra distance routing around it.

    I wonder if flights being an hour early creates headaches for air traffic control and gate management at the destination? It’s great for the passengers though.

    --
    #DeleteChrome
    1. Re:Idle speculation by supernova87a · · Score: 3, Informative

      Airline planners would likely have the routes deviate in the opposite direction to not be flying in the strongest part of the jetstream, so it's not an equal advantage / disadvantage for both directions.

      You may be interested to see the jetstream maps for how wide it typically is: generally several hundred miles wide

    2. Re:Idle speculation by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Flights in the other direction can usually be re-routed to a different altitude or route where the jet stream is not as strong. Likewise flights in the same direction as the jet stream can be preferentially routed to take advantage of it it's strong.

      I was on a flight from Asia to the U.S. which benefited from a particularly strong jet stream and arrived 3 hours early (11 hours instead of 14 hours). For that, we were punished by having to stay in the plane at the gate for nearly 2 hours, since the Customs and Immigration employees hadn't yet arrived for work that morning to process arrivals. I would imagine it's the same for domestic flights if there's insufficient room at the gates. The plane would probably have to stay somewhere on the tarmac until a gate opened up. I suppose that objectively it's slightly better for the passengers (same amount of time aboard the plane, but it's quieter). But subjectively, it's rather frustrating knowing that you're already at the destination, but are prohibited from deplaning by logistics.

    3. Re: Idle speculation by SocietyoftheFist · · Score: 1

      I had a similar experience Narita to LAX. We arrived two hours early, didnâ(TM)t sit in the plane, but had to wait in line for customs to show.

    4. Re:Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unlike roads where you have to follow a pre-set course, airplanes can adjust course to take advantage of tailwinds or to avoid headwinds. Just like your car (or truck) gets great gas mileage when you have a 20 mph tailwind (or sucks gas like a hoover vacuum when you have a strong headwind), planes can fly faster and use less fuel when they can go with the air stream.

    5. Re: Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Show us on the doll where he touched you.

    6. Re:Idle speculation by coastwalker · · Score: 1

      Some animated maps of North Atlantic jetstream forecasts.
      https://www.netweather.tv/char...
      I assume airlines already use these to take different routes but I do not know whether they do.

      --
      Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    7. Re:Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, arriving early is pretty much never an advantage due to logistics: last time my flight way early we spent 30 minutes sitting on the tarmac anyway.

    8. Re: Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why do you have to follow a pre set course in a car?

    9. Re:Idle speculation by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      It's the same idea with the Gulf stream...ships don't sail against it across the Atlantic...they go around it.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    10. Re:Idle speculation by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Ridiculous. This is a common occurrence that they should have planned for. I lived in Korea for many years, and flights to the US often pick up jet stream winds.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    11. Re:Idle speculation by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      It's the same idea with the Gulf stream...ships don't sail against it across the Atlantic...they go around it.

      ..and since you will be sailing by the west coast of Africa in your way to Connecticut....

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    12. Re:Idle speculation by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      It's the same idea with the Gulf stream...ships don't sail against it across the Atlantic...they go around it.

      ..and since you will be sailing by the west coast of Africa in your way to Connecticut....

      Often, the most direct route is not the quickest.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    13. Re:Idle speculation by ls671 · · Score: 1

      planes can fly faster and use less fuel when they can go with the air stream.

      Planes seem to have to go at a given rpm to be efficient, which seems to be cruising speed (close to max) for a commercial airline flight.

      I would bet airlines don't slow down the planes because it would be less efficient and jet fuel cost money.

      Heck! Maybe they could even run out of fuel if they flew slower to meet the timetable like most other transportation modes do.

      Here is what I found so far:

      efficiency:
      http://www.thermopedia.com/con...

      fuel reserve:
      https://science.howstuffworks....

      fuel cost:
      https://www.indexmundi.com/com...

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    14. Re: Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In this case Iâ(TM)m pretty sure the Virgin plane would have ended up in a stack over SE UK doing circles for 30 mins or more due to Heathrow being at capacity, and mornings are particularly busy. A lot of flights arrive overnight from N America but wonâ(TM)t land before 6am due to the higher landing fees. I live between both flight paths and I see the planes coming in 90s apart on both of them. Any delays will back planes up for hours.

    15. Re:Idle speculation by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      Can someone translate the units used from furlongs-per-fortnight or whatever into something meaningful like km/h?

    16. Re:Idle speculation by mrvan · · Score: 1

      You wonder whether a multi-billion dollar industry would use a simple online tool to optimize their routes to reduce their 2 biggest costs (fuel and aircraft+crew hours) and service their customers better at the same time? :D

    17. Re: Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, piss off.

    18. Re:Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My friend coming to LA from NYC had to stop in Salt Lake to refuel because the headwinds used all the fuel. 3 hour delay.

    19. Re: Idle speculation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I looked on out of the window
      And I started countin' phone poles
      Going by at the rate of four to the seventh power
      Well, I put two and two together
      And added twelve and carried five
      Come up with twenty two thousand telephone poles an hour.

    20. Re:Idle speculation by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      Per hour? Surely m/s not this Babylonian hours rubbish?

    21. Re:Idle speculation by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      If you are 60 minutes late you may miss a connection. It's pretty unusual to miss one by arriving 60 minutes early, even if you have to wait 30 minutes.

    22. Re: Idle speculation by q_e_t · · Score: 1

      Well, you can go by whatever course you like if you have some sort of amphibious tracked vehicl, but that's pretty uncommon even if 30 years ago you could pick up a WW2-era M29 Weasel for under $2000.

    23. Re: Idle speculation by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      It's LAX. You would have had to wait in line for hours for customs regardless. :)

    24. Re:Idle speculation by GonzoPhysicist · · Score: 1

      seconds (second division of an hour) are also Babylonian, and a meter(French) is just as arbitrary as a mile(Roman?).

      --
      horror vacui
  2. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Creimer donated $71 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Silicon Valley. #SomethingPositive

  3. can't even help people understand? by supernova87a · · Score: 2

    This article didn't butcher it too badly. But still there's a layer of education opportunity that was missed.

    It wouldn't take more than 2 sentences to include an explanation about ground speed versus air speed. Not even talking about the differences in airspeed at different altitudes and densities, mach, etc. But I guess even that is too much for our technical details-allergic media.

    1. Re:can't even help people understand? by swillden · · Score: 1

      It wouldn't take more than 2 sentences to include an explanation about ground speed versus air speed. Not even talking about the differences in airspeed at different altitudes and densities, mach, etc. But I guess even that is too much for our technical details-allergic media.

      It never occurred to me that anyone would need that explanation. Everyone knows that a tailwind makes you go faster and a headwind makes you go slower. It's utterly obvious that if your engines make you go X mph, and you have a Y mph tailwind, you're going X + Y mph.

      Maybe the reporter also thought it was too obvious to waste words on.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    2. Re: can't even help people understand? by weilawei · · Score: 1

      I found this comment hilariously incisive, as the OP called them out for not explaining it, and then promptly didn't explain it for those of us who might be curious.

      +1, Funny.

    3. Re:can't even help people understand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It explains it right in the article. Nobody reads anymore, that's your problem.

    4. Re: can't even help people understand? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iamverysmart

  4. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    imagine how much you could donate if you had a better-paying job
    get those certs you procrastinating big-talking snuffleupagus

  5. so much for by phantomfive · · Score: 0

    So much for the hypothesis that AGW would weaken the jet stream.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    1. Re: so much for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's going to wind itself running so fast. Will have to slow down to recover.

    2. Re: so much for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Stop trolling. You're conflating weather and climate. This is an extreme event, whereas the weakening of the jet stream and Arctic amplification is about long term statistics. One extreme event neither proves nor disproved AGW or related hypotheses.

    3. Re:so much for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      one of the things global warming does is increase the occurrences of weather extremes.. hottest summers, coldest winters, heavier rains, most severe droughts, more extreme major storms..

      this is just one of those things.

      global warming is not only "it's hot" and if you do believe that it is just that, you should go bury yourself in a fucking tar pit.

    4. Re: so much for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AGW also makes extremes of normal, too. So when the weather is perfectly normal that is because of thee trends of global warming. If you disagree you are a trump nazi.

    5. Re:so much for by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      So much for the hypothesis that AGW would weaken the jet stream.

      If glacial melting persists apace, the conveyor will shut down, and then the jet stream will follow. You're just off schedule.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:so much for by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So much for the hypothesis that AGW would weaken the jet stream.

      Hmm:

      The general assumption is that reduced snow cover and sea ice reflect less sunlight and therefore evaporation and transpiration increases, which in turn alters the pressure and temperature gradient of the polar vortex, causing it to weaken or collapse. This becomes apparent when the jet stream amplitude increases (meanders) over the northern hemisphere, causing Rossby waves to propagate farther to the south or north, which in turn transports warmer air to the north pole and polar air into lower latitudes. The jet stream amplitude increases with a weaker polar vortex, hence increases the chance for weather systems to become blocked.

      * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_vortex#Climate_change

      The effects of AGW, jet streams, and how they relate to the polar vortexes is a relatively recent (<20 years) area of study.

  6. While at it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... try again in metric.

    1. Re:While at it... by ukoda · · Score: 1

      I was thinking the same thing, so many numbers to convert to real values, just couldn't be bothered. I guess it was written by and for the 5% of the world's population not using the metric system.

  7. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    imagine how much better Slashdot would be if you stopped trolling for creimer's attention everyday by buying a clue and getting a life

  8. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you stop posting your irrelevant unwanted shitposting nonsense
    and stop attracting attention to yourself you puffed-up narcissistic ego-maniacal sociopath
    why don't you buy dentures and shave that beard
    it's not a substitute for a jawline
    guess you also quit your workouts and diet plans
    the same way you quit everything else that's even remotely hard
    can't write ebooks
    can't get certs
    can't lose weight
    can't find a woman
    can make irrelevant formulaic least-effort shitposts and videos
    that's the ticket

  9. Faster Than Sound! by crow · · Score: 3, Interesting

    That's significantly faster than the speed of sound! Sound travels at about 660 mph at a 787's cruising altitude. Of course, sound travels through the air, so the plane wasn't actually breaking the sound barrier, as the air speed was below that, so it wasn't really hitting Mach 1, but I suppose if the plane were to suddenly dive out of the jet stream into relatively still air, it would have done so; I wonder how well it would have handled the stress?

    1. Re:Faster Than Sound! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not well. Around mock 1 is when diving commercial airliners break up and rain down their constituent parts. They were already in trouble to make them dive like that but structural failures finish them off.

    2. Re:Faster Than Sound! by dcw3 · · Score: 1
      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    3. Re:Faster Than Sound! by crow · · Score: 1

      Yes. That was clearly implied by several parts of what I wrote. When I mentioned the speed of sound, I included the phrase "at a 787's cruising altitude." I also was quite clear on the speed being relative to the air speed, and the big deal was the plane's ground speed.

    4. Re:Faster Than Sound! by Kjella · · Score: 1

      so it wasn't really hitting Mach 1, but I suppose if the plane were to suddenly dive out of the jet stream into relatively still air, it would have done so; I wonder how well it would have handled the stress?

      Well my impression is that it's more a problem for everybody else, like the first supersonic flights were a success it's not like they ran into a brick wall and had to redo the designs. Maybe it'd eat into the lifespan but my guess is it'd be fine.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    5. Re:Faster Than Sound! by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Maybe implied, but I'd say lacking in clarity. Not a criticism, and no need to be defensive, I just added to what you wrote.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    6. Re:Faster Than Sound! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

      Airspeed =/= ground speed. The aircraft was flying at a normal airspeed, which is definitely subsonic. The air around it was moving over 200mph in the same direction. So the ground speed was the airspeed+the speed of the air, or about 800mph. No magic required. Story should have mentioned that the ridiculous speed (less than ludicrous speed or lightspeed) was ground speed.

    7. Re: Faster Than Sound! by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      I wonder how well it would have handled the stress?

      Not well. Certainly the passengers would not have enjoyed the sudden deceleration. As far as the plane, neither the flight controls nor the engines are designed to handle a supersonic airstream. At the very least you would probably get a compressor stall on all engines, which would not do anything good.

      It's a pretty unlikely scenario though .... it's not like there's a sharp line with the wind on one side moving at 200 mph and zero movement on the other side.

    8. Re:Faster Than Sound! by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      That's significantly faster than the speed of sound! Sound travels at about 660 mph at a 787's cruising altitude. Of course, sound travels through the air, so the plane wasn't actually breaking the sound barrier, as the air speed was below that, so it wasn't really hitting Mach 1, but I suppose if the plane were to suddenly dive out of the jet stream into relatively still air, it would have done so; I wonder how well it would have handled the stress?

      Except that isn't airspeed, it's ground speed. Airspeed is actually much lower than that. Airliners fly high because the higher you go, the faster the winds are, and if you're lucky, you can catch the jetstream to get you a nice ground speed boost.

      Airspeed is the speed the plane goes through the air. Groundspeed is generally the vector addition of airspeed of the plane plus local wind conditions.

      Here the plane entered the jetstream which was moving exceptionally fast creating a really fast groundspeed. At worst the passengers felt a little turbulence as the plane entered the jetstream.

      At no point in time did the plane exceed the local speed of sound. It is simply impossible for the plane to do so without losing control.

    9. Re:Faster Than Sound! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems you don't understand what the parent was talking about

    10. Re:Faster Than Sound! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. There have been several instances of commercial airliners exceeding Mach 1 during emergency descents or during flight testing. They can't sustain it for long, but they don't blow apart either.

    11. Re:Faster Than Sound! by crow · · Score: 1

      Yes. Read what I wrote, not just the subject line.

  10. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you certainly are creimer
    i have matched the time of your posts to usgs seismograph readings that match a large mammal pounding a keyboard
    who could that be
    who
    hmmm
    it is a mystery

  11. Mach 1.044 by xlsior · · Score: 1

    To put that in perspective: 801MPH is Mach 1.044. (The speed of sound is 767.27 mph).

    Its relative speed to the ground would be faster than the speed of sound

    1. Re:Mach 1.044 by tsqr · · Score: 4, Informative

      Mach number is the ratio of the speed of an object thorough an air mass (aka, airspeed) to the speed of sound through the same air mass. The speed of sound you cite is the speed of sound in dry air at 20 C. Since the airliner was flying at 35,000 feet, or 10.7 km, we can assume (using the standard lapse rate of 6.5 C per kilometer) a much lower temperature of approximately -50 C, and thus a significantly lower speed of sound.

      Having said all that, it is meaningless to speak of Mach in relation to ground speed. Note the quote from TFS: "The past record for the 787 is 776 mph set in January 2017 by a Norwegian 787-9 flying from JFK to London Gatwick. That flight set a record for the fastest subsonic transatlantic commercial airline flight -- 5 hours and 13 minutes, thanks to a 202 mph tailwind."

    2. Re:Mach 1.044 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This seems as good a place as any to mention Brian Shul's SR-71 L.A. Speed Story!

  12. The jetstream doesn't help me a bit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not in the New York area.

  13. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    r u retarded

  14. Global Warming by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It must be teh global warmingz!!11!!

  15. Reverse by dohzer · · Score: 1

    Well sure, but what about the reverse leg of the trip?

    1. Re:Reverse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Probably would just fly lower to avoid it

    2. Re:Reverse by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      They simply keep flying in same direction until they've gone around,

  16. Saw This by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Last week, I tracked my wife on a flight from LAX->IAD on a 737-900 at ~715mph. Yes, mph is what Flightaware showed...not knots. The "planned" speed was somewhere in the mid-500s. Her flight had taken off nearly half an hour late, and arrived well ahead of schedule.

    As a former (stopped years ago) Cessna pilot, I once flew from Korea to Japan. Normal airspeed in the 172 is around 110 knots, and with a 70 knot smooth tailwind, we arrived over an hour ahead of plan.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
    1. Re:Saw This by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last week, I tracked my wife on a flight from LAX->IAD on a 737-900 at ~715mph.

      There's gotta be a humorous response to that - sounds like a Rodney Dangerfield line...

    2. Re:Saw This by yes-but-no · · Score: 1

      Do you know what the flight instruments show as speed? Since the pitot tube uses airflow to measure speed, I assume it should only measure the relative speed which shd be say mid-500s and not the absolute (ground speed) which is 715 mph. I guess lot of stall crashes are due to wrong relative speed measurement (hence a gps solution may not help)

    3. Re:Saw This by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      It's called an Air Speed Indicator. We didn't have GPS back when I flew, but speed isn't your first warning of a stall. Typically, the nose will fall over, and your stall warning horn will start blaring at you. Recovery (at least in small craft) is easy, and learned very early in flight training.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    4. Re:Saw This by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      Recovery (at least in small craft) is easy

      I'm guessing that's along the lines of "Point the nose downward," correct? I've always kinda wanted to be a pilot, but cost and physical disabilities (hearing) got in the way. But, just in case I'm ever on a commercial flight and both pilots conk out and I'm the last line of defense against a flaming fireball into the ground, I'd like to have at least an idea how to recover from a stall.

    5. Re:Saw This by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      The nose will go over on its own. Apply full power...full opposite rudder if it's starting to spin. Once you have air speed back in the green, level the nose, and you're pretty much done.

      I was fortunate to work at an Air Base back in the late 80s where it cost $250 for a block of 10 hours in the Cessna 152s, or a bit more for the 172. If you needed an instructor pilot, that was another $11/hr. I spent around $3k before I was able to test...mostly because we had to wait on the elevator to come from Okinawa (usually just a couple times a year), so I had a lot more hours flight time than was required. I kept flying up and was nearly ready for the Instrument rating exam when my daughter was born in '91, and I had to give up something to make time. It was fun, but also scary flying around Korea with so many military aircraft, and I experienced enough close calls in only ~140 hours of flight time that it just seemed too risky.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  17. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    r u morbidly obese

  18. Buh Metric anyone? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I and the world have no idea how fast or how high up that is. Scientist should be using the Metric system like everyone else which makes it easier to understand and do calculations with.

    1. Re:Buh Metric anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aircraft use a wild collection of units. While metric is often used, it's not official. Altitudes are in feet, or (for higher altitudes, flight levels which are 100's of feet. Speed is in knots. Pressure is either mb or in/Hg depending on where you are. Temp is usually reported by airports and aircraft instrumentation in C. Have fun.

      Oh yes, and the official language of international air traffic control is English. Even in Russia. Though domestic flights often if not usually use the local lingo.

    2. Re:Buh Metric anyone? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're a moron anyways and probably wouldn't understand. Go back to shilling for microsoft.

  19. Didn't I see this before? by roc97007 · · Score: 2

    Wait, didn't I see this somewhere before?

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    1. Re:Didn't I see this before? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep. And there's a current series, Manifest, that seems to be built around a similar idea though without the excessive speed zone.

  20. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nope
    just a random ac
    trolling your sorry ass

  21. Welcome to the world of aviation units by virtig01 · · Score: 2

    In aviation -- almost everywhere -- feet is used for elevation, miles are used for distance, and knots are used for speed.

    1. Re:Welcome to the world of aviation units by stud9920 · · Score: 1

      Depends what aviation. Paragliding is pretty much metric all worlds around ('muricans don't fly that much, Brittons don't fly that much in UK). Airspace zones are computed in advance and either avoided or ignored by idiots

    2. Re:Welcome to the world of aviation units by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nautical miles are used for distance.

      Otherwise I agree with you, and irks me when the TV documentaries translate knots to mph or km/h or whatever.

    3. Re:Welcome to the world of aviation units by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In aviation -- almost everywhere -- feet is used for elevation, miles are used for distance, and knots are used for speed.

      And degrees are listed base 60. Degrees, minutes, seconds. The whole system is moronic and highly resistant to change.

  22. NYC ?? by Tom · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the river of air 35,000 feet above the New York City area, known as the jet stream

    That's a way to describe a planet-circling phenomenon, if you are one of those morons whose map of the world has written "here be dragons" on everything outside the USA.

    It's not a way to talk to an educated audience like /.ers who know, many from first-hand experience, that places outside the three locations Hollywood places movies in actually do exist.

    Especially in a story that doesn't make sense unless you understand the actual reach of the jet stream.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
    1. Re:NYC ?? by Highdude702 · · Score: 1

      ARRRGH! You be dragon!

    2. Re:NYC ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe it's a journalistic gaffe. It was supposed to read "the jet stream measured 231 mph above NYC" but journalists be journalists.

  23. Martian Units? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sorry, but heavier than air aviation, computers, and tons of other stuff were invented in the US by people using the American version of Imperial Units. The only nation to put a man on the moon (USA) is non-metric. The nation with the record of successfully landing probes on Mars (USA) is non-metric. The American probe that missed Mars used (partly) metric.

    What's the magic of Metric? It's decimal, so some of the math is easier for simpletons who do not have a handy calculator? It's basic unit of length is based on an arbitrary division of the Earth's circumference (and a faulty calc at that) and so it's supposedly superior?

    We have computers now to handle math, so the idea that a system must be based on 10 to allow dummies an easier life is obsolete; math can be done in any base and translated between bases. As a related matter, measurements can be made in any system and a compuer can instantly translate, so the primary consideration in choice of measurement systems now should be usefulness and convenience, and that's where imperial units win every time.

    Metric is just plain annoying. The basic units are basically dumb and not handy in daily use; an inch, a foot, and a mile are handy sizes.

    Centimeter and Millimeter? Too small for most applications unless you like lots of extra decimal digits you would not need if you had common sense ;-)

    Meter? Too big for many things that a Centimeter is too small for; it's a slightly-wrong yard which itself is a handy way of saying "three feet" and not used as often as a foot.

    Celsius? Too coarse, unless of course you're into extra digits after a decimal point that you would not need if you used Farenheit.

    And while I'm on the subject.... If you are simple minded enough to need everything to be divisible by ten, then why no metric clocks? Surely you could invent a 10 hour day or a hundred hour day (a Milliday?) and then a one hundred minute hour (a millihour?) and perhaps a metric calendar with either 10 or 100 months?

    Sure, it's handy to have a measurement system based on 10 since we all used base10 math in our non computer programming lives, but metric blows it by sizing the physical units stupidly, and by not making a metric clock the proponents essentially admit that people are perfectly able to use non-decimal measurement systems and that some things just do not easily and conveniently divide by 10.

    1. Re:Martian Units? by ukoda · · Score: 1

      Well Mr Anonymous Coward 95% of use would disagree with you arbitrary impressions and I would point out most of the recent USA tech you are so proud of is mostly NASA, who use the metric system.

  24. Re:it basically means by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hey can I subscribe to your guys' newsletter?

    +1, Justin Bieber.

  25. the least meaning ever put in a phrase by kamakazi · · Score: 1

    -FlightAware, a global aviation data services company, reminds CBS that even a 100 mph increase in the jet stream can shorten a flight by an hour.-

    Lets take this apart.
    FilghtAware 'reminds' CBS. This denotatively means that CBS previously knew this. Can you even remind corporate knowledge?
    'even a 100 mph increase in the jet stream' really downplays the significance of what sounds to me to be a pretty significant number. In the article they say it hit a max recorded speed of 231 mph, how can 44% of the highest speed ever recorded rate an 'even'? That is like saying "driving 'just' 20 miles an hour faster can cut out an hour from your trip" Even on an interstate 20 miles an hour faster than normal is pretty significant, especially to the guy with flashy lights on his car.
    'can shorten a flight by an hour' Oh really? How about taking an hour out of my Pittsburgh to Newark flight?
    This last sentence just jumped out me as so useless that I actually looked at TFA. I found to my immense relief that the original was actually informative:
    -"A 100 mph increase in the jet stream above typical can add or remove about an hour from a five to six hour flight," according to a spokesperson from FlightAware, a global aviation software and data services company based in Houston.-
    Apparently journalism isn't quite dead, but critical reading skills among /. submitters sometimes seem to be in short supply. It is kind of amazing how much the connotative meaning changed in that small excerpt.

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    "Proximity to wonder has blunted our perception and appreciation of it" --Tim Hartnell in 'Exploring ARTIFICIAL INTELLI