Watercooler Stories

BOEING WORKING ON SUPER-RANGE JET

Even though it has only five firm orders, Boeing continues to work on a jet that will fly nearly 9,000 nautical miles -- about 10,300 regular miles. The plane would compete with two recently introduced Airbus creations but would go nearly 2,000 miles farther.

The goal is to create a jet that can stay in the air for about 18 hours and fly nearly halfway around the globe.

In spite of the five orders, Boeing officials in Seattle tell the Seattle Post-Intelligencer they think a slow rebound in world air travel will make the plane increasingly attractive.

Development of the super long-range transport jet was put on hiatus immediately after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, because of the sudden drop in airline travel and the concomitant drop in orders for new aircraft.

The plane will be built on the 777 airframe and will have extra fuel tanks in part of the normal cargo hold.

DELTA GIVES MORE DETAILS ON NEW CARRIER

The paint job is a "wow," the concept interesting and Delta says Song will get off the ground next month.

The new discount carrier, a replacement of Delta Express, also will serve Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport, a destination not in the original plans.

The Atlanta Journal and Constitution says the all-coach carrier will begin flying in just a few weeks. It was to have bypassed Delta's traditional hub, Atlanta, over-flying the city as it ferried passengers from cold-weather northern cities to sun-drenched cities in the south.

That flew in the face of the perception Atlanta and Delta are nearly synonymous -- some quip Delta really stands for "Departures Eventually Lead Through Atlanta."

STARGAZERS BEMOAN LIGHT POLLUTION

The problem of trying to clearly see the night sky is getting worse as urban sprawl increases and farms have outdoor lighting.

The advent of outdoor lighting and the increase in the size of cities has made it nearly impossible to see any but the brightest stars.

Even in rural cities in Colorado the sky isn't what it used to be. In a treatise on the increased pollution of the night sky with light, the Denver Post says more than two-thirds of Americans and half of the people in Europe can no longer see the Milky Way.

An increasing number of cities are passing ordinances against "over lighting" at night, and Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins and Durango are Colorado cities are working on similar standards.

In some cities depressed night lighting is the norm. In Flagstaff, Ariz., for example, city engineers have used low-level yellow street lighting for years so astronomers at the Lowell Observatory at the edge of the city won't have their nightly view of the heavens diluted by city lights.

C.S. LEWIS BIOPIC COPS TOP CHRISTIAN AWARD

The PBS documentary about C.S. Lewis is getting high praise from many quarters, including from Dr. Ted Baehr, the founder of MOVIEGUIDE.

Baehr, who also directs the Christian Film & Television Commission -- publishers of the ethics- and religion-oriented movie magazine -- tells Assist News Service the PBS work will receive his group's highest honor.

Lewis, considered to be one of the best-selling Christian authors of all time, was the subject of the public TV special "The Magic Never Ends: The Life and Works of C.S. Lewis."

That film will be given the award for Best Documentary when Baehr's group holds it's 11th annual Faith & Values Awards Gala next week. The presentations are often called the "Christian Oscars."