Author: DOuG pRATt

Max on Max

I flew on 737 Max 8 planes for some of my trips to Arizona after my father’s stroke and subsequent death. I remember my first flight on a Max, taking my seat and looking out the window. The engine was much bigger and closer to the ground than I’d seen before on 737’s. The first overseas 737 Max crash, Lion Air Flight 610, happened just one month after my final return flight from Phoenix.

The recent near-disaster on a Max 9 highlights that Boeing has yet to put its house in order. I’ve been waiting for the main story from last Sunday’s Last Week Tonight to be posted. It popped up on YouTube this morning.

John Oliver notes the poor safety record of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, with its triple engines. During my busiest business travel years I flew on DC-10’s. Even more frequently I found myself on another triple-engine plane, that Oliver doesn’t mention, the Lockheed L-1011. Fortunately, I never had a scare on either aircraft, but overall I preferred the L-1011 because it was quieter at cruising altitude, which gets back to my recent comment about tinnitus.

Sine-us Wave Thoughts

AKG K240 Studio headphones, made in Austria
Some days, like yesterday, there is some ringing in my ears, and it’s best that I not aggravate it by wearing headphones. On certain other days, like today, there is only the usual sort of “head noise” that I suppose everybody has. I take advantage of that for listening to music, along with noticing the sonic characteristics of recordings and whatever gear I’m using. (If I haven’t mentioned it before, after turning 60 I had my hearing tested in an anechoic chamber by a PhD audiologist. I was able to correctly identify sounds that were just above the threshold of audibility.*)

My retirement activities are being determined in part by what my sinuses are doing to my ears on any given day. For all the countless hours I spent on airplanes traveling for work over many years, and then in the loud data centers at my destinations, I’m amazed I don’t have a much worse chronic case of tinnitus.

Adjusting to aging is something that those of us who last this long must do. I sit here rubbing my weak ankle that is also determining my retirement activities. It would otherwise be fine, if not for an elderly Russian man slamming into the back of my stopped car 22 years ago.

While sitting, rubbing and listening, I am worrying about someone near and dear to me who will undergo open heart surgery. We’re counting on world-class Boston heart surgeons to be as successful as a world-class Boston retina surgeon was in restoring the sight in my left eye.

* You are of course wondering what headphones were used in the test. The Beyerdynamic DT-150, that has been a standard at Abbey Road Studios for many years.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/beyerdynamic-dt150-review-closed-back-headphone.31257/

Prue True Love

OMG… look at what Pattie is auctioning, with no mention of Prue.

https://onlineonly.christies.com/s/pattie-boyd-collection/pattie-boyd-ringo-starr-a-hard-days-night-1964-3/211849

I sent the link and those pictures to Prue. She’s going to be so pissed, and if she isn’t, she should be. I haven’t heard from Prue in a few months, which is my fault really, and I hope she’s doing all right.

That photo is actually the second in a series. It comes after this one.