Well, it isParis, after all......  Seems to me they’re getting an authentic experience.  :-)

I guess I should be more clear. They jettison the tanks so that there’s less fuel on board when the plane comes down. It’s not about saving the airframe; it’s a decision based on the assumption the aircraft may be about to lose control and crash. The idea is to limit the devastation at the eventual crash site by…

Yes; the choice is “possible small explosions” versus “one really big explosion”. If it was carrying missiles or bombs, the hope would be to have them drop and hit the ground relatively intact and not ultimately cook off and explode in a burning aircraft fire.

They do have to be able to do that in an emergency situation. And that’s not all they can jettison. They can jettison all stores at once and get a completely clean jet in seconds, which is important preparation for an emergency landing so as to minimize the explosion at the site of their eventual possible crash. So,…

Well, for a long time, ambulances were pretty much the same vehicles as hearses, just with different trim.

Can it transport a person on a litter?  Or is it just for hauling around EMTs and their gear?  Because it seems to me it’d be a poor choice for an ambulance.  A station wagon would be a better pick if you wanted kind of a small ambulance.

It’s happening to me even in the middle of reading some articles.

What’s with the weasel word “claims” in the final sentence? It’s a simple fact that reentry opportunities exist through August. Strictly speaking, it’s been true for the entire mission — reentry opportunities have always existed.  That’s just how it works.

There’s a whole range of particularly nasty eww that can happen. Just . . . don’t. And yeah, I know what kind of injury you’re referring to, and not embedding the image is appreciated for those who haven’t seen it before and may possibly be enjoying a meal right now.

I guess it’s the nautical equivalent of a combi?

Well, as long as they don’t become a projectile, I’m okay with that.

Oh my lord, that is the most cringetastic when you think of the sorts of injuries that will result in an accident.

That one is definitely the stupidest. “I’m tough, and I will prove it by paying large sums of money to sit in silence for hours.” I mean . . okay? That’s . . . fine? I guess? But it baffles me what they think they are proving, and to whom.

It’s a stretch, I agree, but it’s about all I can think of.

I am petite, and safety aside, that posture looks EXTREMELY uncomfortable for sleeping. Now, I have been known to sit sort of on my hip and pull my knees up a bit into the seat, especially if I’m lucky enough to get a window seat, so I’m basically curled up against the fuselage. I can still have the seatbelt on…

Well, in theory, a French bulldog could be trained as a medical alert dog or to retrieve items for a patient who has limited mobility. (A similar job as a service monkey.) They’d need a suitable temperament, of course, and that’s often the clincher for small dogs.

The only conceivable argument I can think of is if the flight delay caused her to miss a critical chemo appointment, but even that seems like a stretch, given that cancer has an unpredictable course and treatment itself only offers odds, not guarantees.

Can we blame it on hiring a South African immigrant as CEO? ;-)

Well..... Soyuz has had some fairly serious problems, actually. And not just in the distant past, when it experienced two separate Loss of Crew incidents. During the ISS program, they’ve had a launch abort and multiple ballistic reentries, including at least one that injured a crew member on landing. Soyuz is a…

You can get shaved ice here in Minnesota too, but you definitely have to pay attention to the signage if you want shaved ice and not crushed ice, because yeah, if it just says snowcone, it’s gonna be crushed ice.