Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Tal]

I mean it's a collection of different bits and bobs (each great in their own way), rather than a continuous story. The first means my last half dozen posts were a nice addition; the second means I was taking you off message.


From an unofficial source, heard it was a birdstrike......

Now the English language is quite a thing, isn't it?! A birdstrike?!

[RED-DOG]

I was going to apologise for the derail (I pretty much have an autotext for that on blonde), but I think that's the point of this thread, isn't it? An anthology, rather than a narrative?

No idea what that means, but if it is bollox & blather you want, Tom's Diary is the place.

An anthology is a degree for insects.

A narrative is the same but thinner.

[tikay]

Meanwhile, proper emergency at Heathrow this morning......


http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/515531-incident-heathrow.html

This turned into a nasty do, & it rather looks like dear old BA will be in a world of hurt when the Official Report is published.

The Engine Cowls on BOTH engines fell off, one of them, at least, maybe both, during "rotation" (the point of take off). ATC spotted one of them missing as it took off, alerted the Pilot, who did a quick u-turn & returned to Heathrow. It is not 100% certain, but ONE of the engines MAY have either caught fire, had a "flare-out", or just plumb failed during it's return to Heathrow.  

How could BOTH engines lose their cowls independently? The cowl panels are secured by latches, part of the pre-flight check procedures is for a visual check by the Crew to ensure the cowl latches are secured in the closed position. It would seem they were not properly closed, & it was not noticed.  

How did they come to be improperly closed?

The aircraft had undergone routine overnight maintenance (oil levels etc) & this was the first flight of the day.

So it would seem that the engineers failed to properly close the cowl latches, & the Crew failed to spot this.

It would also appear (according to google search) that this problem has arisen scores of times, though not previously on a BA plane.

The Engineers & Flight Crew are both in some difficulty now, it seems, & rightly so, but it looks like a process failure, too, for which higher Management will have to bear some responsibility. Stuff like this should not be possible to happen.

All pretty scary, actually.

The aircraft was an Airbus A-319, with European-made V2500 Engines. Glory be they were not RR powerplants.

The PPRuNe thread now runs to 15 pages for those of a geeky disposition.


http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/515531-incident-heathrow.html

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[RED-DOG]

Heads should roll, and not just at the lower end of the chain of responsibility.

There are people who are paid to do the maintenance.

There are people who are paid to ensure it is done properly.

There are flight crews who should carry out final inspections.

There are people who decide how much time and money is made available to carry out these tasks.  

All seem culpable here.

[tikay]

Does BSkyB/SkyGaming have an awards bash? Our office has one every year; an internal do somewhere moderately swanky, where awards are given in the style of the BAFTAs on 'Best...' in each department or 'Outstanding Contribution to...' something

It's largely viewed as a free meal an excuse to get drunk enough to justify making a pass at someone scandalworthy. Could only make it less "my bag" if they added karaoke.

However, it is an exercise in reward and recognition and I would say it is a net positive to the business.

Have you experienced anything similar?

Not so much an Awards "Bash" as an Awards System.

It is called "Believe in Better", & it all sounds, to a cynic or outsider, a bit cheesy, something like a scene from "The Office".

I actually buy into it though (or fell for it), & I try to apply it literally when I do my job. It may be just a Corporate slogan, but it really does work, or it does for me. Believe in Better is not a bad way to do our job, or even lead our lives. I certainly look at evrything I do in my day-job & ask myself can we do this better?

And of course, we CAN do most things better, & so I plague upper Management with relentless suggestions for improvement, constructive criticism, & ideas for stuff we could do different, or better. It treads on a few toes from time to time, but there you go.

I've actually won the monthly "Believe in Better" Award twice in the near 7 years I have been there. Sounds all rather cheesy, "Employee of the Month" type stuff, but if we are going to do a job, why would we not try to do it well, or better?

The prizes include weekends away in plush hotels & that sort of thing. One prize I got was to go in the Sky Bet Corporate box at York Races, funnily enough (because Tighty mentioned this very horse on Fred yesterday) on the day that Sole Power won the Nunthorpe Stakes at 100/1.

Quite a guest list that day, & I met some interesting folks, some of whom have become good friends since, including Alan McInally. I see a good bit of Alan now, & I like him very much, & he in turn introduced me to Charlotte Jackson. And I now do work with Charlotte about once a month, privately, as part of her Role as Ambassador next door. And through Charlotte, I then met Chris Coleman (football bloke), & that has led to some nice situations for me, too. Small world, but an interesting one.

The weirdest moment of the day at York Races was that we were in a Corporate Box stuffed with "Priority Clients" who punt a lot with SB&G, & the eerie silence & sort of embarassed "don't know where to look" moment when Sole Power bolted up in the Sky Bet sponsored Nunthorpe at 100/1 was quite something, a real moment to remember. All the staff were being polite, whilst mentally working out how much we had scooped on what was a proper skinner for the bookies. It was one of those "fart in church" moments. The stuff that life is made of, & it all fascinates me as I happily totter towards the buffers in my own little world.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Heads should roll, and not just at the lower end of the chain of responsibility.

There are people who are paid to do the maintenance.

There are people who are paid to ensure it is done properly.

There are flight crews who should carry out final inspections.

There are people who decide how much time and money is made available to carry out these tasks.  

All seem culpable here.

Well, for sure, IF the hypothesis is correct, yes, my main point being not just at "ground level", this would seem to be a failure of system, of process.

I really do think, unless I have read this all wrong, that BA (or IAG as they now officially are) are going to be in some serious trouble here. This story has a long way to travel yet.

Don't fret though, I'll keep you excitingly updated.

[tikay]

I get quite a lot of fairly aggressive questioning about why & how Charlotte came to be, or has the credentials, to be an Ambassador next door.

What does she know about poker? sorta thing.

I can't really reply, but I think to mysrlf, "& what do YOU know about Marketing on an Online Poker Site my friend?"

There are a whole basket of reasons why Gaming Sites engage with Celebs (think Boris Becker, Shane Warne etc, but necessarily on a smaller scale). Explaining the reason why we use Charlotte (235,000 Twitter followers) is not that easy to those who have no grasp of how Marketing & Social-Media work these days. We engage with Sky Sports, too (1,400,000 Twitter followers), & once the re-tweet software works it's magic, you can easily lever 225,000 into 10 million in a single evening. Assume 98% of people take no notice, & you are left with 200,000 peeps who might just sign up.....that is a big number.

Same with the Cash Games which were my responsibility, which we produced for Sky Sports. The regulars bay for more online players to be included, but I had a different remit, I was trying to cross-sell to people who do not have poker accounts. They did not much enjoy Norman Whiteside, fair enough, but his 175,000 Twitter followers helped......ditto Jimmy White, Wayne Mardle, Mick Fitzgerald, James Haskell, Rob Yong, da de da, they also give entertainment & cross-sell balance. Rob Yong was, in that respect, sensational, as was Sam Razavi. Oddly, I'm doing the Live Show with Sam tomorrow evening.

For balance, we just finished another series, which will air on Sky Sports in June. And it included arguably THE hottest property in UK Online Poker right now, someone who all the hardcore poker types admire & respect, & he was absolutely fantastic. Barely any Twitter followers though.

What is most often not realised is WHY Online Sites make TV shows, & WHO they are targeted at. Give you a clue. They are NOT aimed at "mature" poker players. They are already a done deal, wherever they play. We need virgins. Virgins are nice. 

Balance, schmalance.....

[DaveShoelace]

SPAM

I wrote about this and agree with you.

http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/Column:-Are-Sports-Star-Sponsorships-Good-For-Poker-_70965/

[Tal]

Some wonderfully written posts today, Tikay. A lovely way to start the day.

[tikay]

SPAM

I wrote about this and agree with you.

http://www.pokerstrategy.com/news/world-of-poker/Column:-Are-Sports-Star-Sponsorships-Good-For-Poker-_70965/

I had not seen that before, Barry, but that is a terrific piece.

Yes, it deffo divides the poker community!

We know that, say, Sam Trickett, much liked & respected, plays poker a zillion times better than, say, Boris, or Ronaldo. But who attracts most media noise, who works Twitter, & even more importantly, SEO, better? The folks who, quite reasonably, like & respect Sam (as I do, too) already have poker accounts. They are mature players. Every mature player has already signed up. 

Any why do guys like Teddy not get more & better deals? There is an answer to that, which you know, but it is best I don't go too deeply into that right now.

The nut poker ambassador in my opinion was Greg Raymer, but those wheels fell off recently, too. He was a guy who understood SEO & all that stuff. Widely popular? Not so much. Really good at profile raising for 'Stars? Just a bit.

Remember, at the top of every successful Company are bean-counters. Quite right too.

Anyway, that is a great article Barry, congrats.

[tikay]

Some wonderfully written posts today, Tikay. A lovely way to start the day.

Why thank you! (Why preface that with "why"? Another one that SOUNDS right but READS wrong).

I had a really bad day yesterday, aggro schmaggro, something got badly under my skin, & I'm a bit melancholy & waffly this morning. Writing is therapautic, makes me feel better.

[Tal]

Some wonderfully written posts today, Tikay. A lovely way to start the day.

Why thank you! (Why preface that with "why"? Another one that SOUNDS right but READS wrong).

I had a really bad day yesterday, aggro schmaggro, something got badly under my skin, & I'm a bit melancholy & waffly this morning. Writing is therapautic, makes me feel better.

A great day of sport ahead:

Cricket
Racing (couple of Sir Henry osses going to walk home today)
Grand Prix Qualifying in Monte Carlo
Champions League Final
Froch v Kessler

There's even some chess on the interweb if you're me.

[MANTIS01]

What got under your skin mate?

[tikay]

What got under your skin mate?

I can't recall right now, & I don't intend to try.

[MANTIS01]

What got under your skin mate?

I can't recall right now, & I don't intend to try.

*innocent face*