flwyd: (bad decision dinosaur)
(1) How the heck did I misplace a 4-foot 20-pound bag of tent poles?

(2) Who would steal half of a heavy tent, especially when the bag of poles is in the same corner as steel tubes with more obvious scrap metal value?


Yesterday, I packed the truck for a festival next weekend. While trying to fall asleep last night I said "Oh, I forgot to grab the poles, that would be important. This morning I searched the shed, the other shed, the other-other shed, and the garage with confusion. I remember setting it up in the back yard in mid-April to dust off after the eclipse. I remember taking it down in a bit of a hurry because rain was coming. I remember the empty pole bag was hanging on the back of a chair, since it's accumulated a lot of playa dust over the years. But I'm pretty sure I remember putting it in the usual corner of the shed, and there's not a lot of places for a bag of Kodiak tent poles to hide around this house.


Added, Tuesday: (3) Did I disassociate while packing the truck?

Crisis averted. The poles were where they were supposed to be all along, and packing them was such a pedestrian task that I didn't remember I had done it. Clearly I need more sleep. Which I can get, in the mountains, in my nice big tent :-)
flwyd: (bad decision dinosaur)
The Atlantic has an interesting in-depth article about what we've learned in the six years since Malaysian Airlines flight 370. It's worth a read, but in case you don't have the time, a summary is that
  • Pieces of the plane have been washing up on the western shores of the southern Indian Ocean for a few years
  • The known portion of the flight path can only be explained by a human at the controls
  • The person at the controls appears to have turned the electrical and communication systems off and then back on again
  • It's likely that this depressurized the cabin, leading to the relatively quick and painless death of all the passengers and flight attendants, but not the pilot
  • Folks who know the captain say he showed signs of social trouble and mental health challenges
  • The captain ran through the fatal flight path on Microsoft Flight Simulator
  • The Malaysian government, not known for transparency and good governance, has covered up a lot of evidence and wasn't forthcoming with accurate information during the initial emergency response


I found the article fascinating in part by how much can be learned from a few small pieces of data and a lot of collaborative investigative work. If you're of an appetite for more air travel mystery, the story of the hijacking and parachuting by D. B. Cooper is a fantastic rathole.
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