X Kyle M Thompson

Kyle Thompson's Internet Treehouse blog

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

How do you make oxygen?

All this week I have been learning about aircraft safety systems, one of which is a series of emergency oxygen systems. Those on the C17 claim to contain a solid state oxygen source, whilst other aircraft contain Dräger brand emergency breathing apparatus that the promo video claims crates a burst of pure oxygen and then converts exhaled carbon dioxide to oxygen.
I wonder how they could possibly work?

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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Hypoxia training

We've just been in the hypobaric chamber at RAF Henlow, dissapointed that I didn't feel quite as inebriated as some people I've seen.
 
Now I know what to do when an airplane door blows out at 30,000 ft - panic!

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Bowling

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Here is my rather unusual bowling style, but as you can see it works! Appologies for the bigheaddedness.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Fever Ray

Have just got home from the Fever Ray gig at the Bristol O2 Academy, was really rather good, kind to the ear, and a spectacle to the eye, all in a top performance. Thanks @ianrobinson for bringing it to my attention.

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Monday, July 13, 2009

Social skills, gadgets and making friends

I was in the London Apple shop the other day and fell into talking with someone about something or other, probably the iPhone, as this was just before the 3GS came out. Then this chap told me that he went to the Apple shop every day after work to charge his iPhone as his charger was broken and he couldn't afford another one, I thought this was odd as surely the time he spent in the shop could easily have been spent more wisely doing other things around town, but each to their own.
It was only afterwards that something stranger about that conversation had passed me by - here I was, talking to a total stranger, in public about something other than the weather. Perhaps gadgets and technology are the new football or whatever, giving people a common ground, an area of conversation. But rather than breaking up friendships and reducing social skills, gadgets and talking about them are helping us form friendships and new social networks. How many people do you know who you have met only virtually, but with whom you converse more regularly than people you know in real life? Rather than being a sign of the demise of our social skills, technology is actually helping us strengthen existing friendships and make new ones.

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Serpentine falls

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Big jump into the lake at Serpentine falls, Western Australia.

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New iMac

Ah, new computer, how wonderful thou art. Finally stopped hemming and hawing on Wednesday and went out and got myself the iMac I've been thinking of for the past few months. Well worth it, wonderful, wonderful machine. Obviously minor niggles, but then I wouldn't be British if I couldn't find somehting to complain about, eh?

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