I saw reports a few weeks back, suggesting that the pilot of the Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 that crashed off Indonesia last year spent the last minutes of his life frantically looking through the operating manual to find out how to prevent the aircraft from diving, against their control inputs. Just the day … More What happens when we’re caught by ‘automation surprise’?
This week’s obscure English word is zosteriform. It means something shaped like a girdle. Your challenge: make up a sentence using this word, in the comments. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019
It had to be 1 April, of course. Naturally. On a dark country back-road with no other witnesses, the sort of place with permanent rain that private detectives in Borsalino fedoras and trench coats haunt for no better reason than that it looks good to be there. It felt like a Friday night, the sort … More My close encounter of the hard boiled kind
Something I’ve noticed lately on social media has slightly puzzled me. It happens to me, and I’m sure it happens to others. I always post links to my blog on Facebook – it’s one of the tools available in WordPress, and why not? The link consists of the first words of the post along with … More Why do people react to headlines alone?
This week’s obscure English word is languescent. It means ‘to become languid’ – in effect, relaxed and without energy. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019
Back in 2001 I wrote a book on New Zealand’s naval history. Blue Water Kiwis was picked up by the Royal New Zealand Navy to mark their sixtieth anniversary that year, and launched (but not literally) on the flight-deck of HMNZS Te Mana. I remember that evening rather well, not least because my wife and … More Blue Water Kiwis – second edition out now!
One of the biggest logic traps humans fall into – which I see time and again in all kinds of places – is the false dichotomy fallacy. We are conditioned into it: the idea that the terms of discussion presented to us are the sole terms available. We therefore argue over whether one, or the … More Nature versus nurture: the problems of binary thinking
