Litmus test?
General Strike: "So what's all this about a wearable system to detect stress levels of soldiers in combat? It all sounds rather far-fetched to me." Captain Slog: "Not at all sir, it's simple: it works on a colour coding principle." Strike: "How?" Slog: "Trousers turn brown in high-stress circumstances."
Air league call
The Air League Educational Trust is once more opening its annual competition for flying scholarships, bursaries and engineering scholarships. There are an impressive 90 awards on offer to individuals who can show "an enthusiasm in flying and for a career in aviation, flying achievement, youth and voluntary service, academic ability and general get up and go".
So get up, and go and apply at www.airleague.co.uk.
Robot wars
Martian Chronicles, Episode Two. Just days after all hope of contacting the missing Beagle 2 lander is lost, NASA loses contact with its plucky Mars rover "Spirit". After desperate attempts to re-establish communications, "Spirit" confirms it has been waylaid by a mysterious alien force known only as "Windows 4.0 Fatal Error - Contact Your Local IT Professional".
In next week's episode: startling news of a one-in-a-trillion multi-vehicle collision between three rovers on the Martian surface.
We had it tough
"It's all right lad, you can come back in now. Windshield nice and clear - runway in sight. Of course we had it tough in my day - no sophisticated de-misting devices, no complicated laws about what youngsters can and cannot do. We used to get up at 4 in't morning, lick wings clean wi't tongue and then do a full day's work on the ramp. It was even tougher for me dad. He started on't H.P.42s and the dope played havoc wi'is innards - by 'eck and there was I moanin' about flush rivets and the sour taste of de-icing fluid."
Source: Flight International
