Flying into Los Angeles at night was like falling into the stars themselves. Below the plane, the darkened sprawl stretched to the ends of the horizon, the streets bathed in a hundred thousand glimmering lights, flashing and twinkling as the cars on the expressway churned their way home. And welcoming them all was the LAX airport in the distance, its runways framed by strobing lights....

 said on
May 17, 2012
Is 抽风 used as a verb itself(他抽风了)or should I say 发抽风?

8'00 大家都登机了,你可能还在bi banr买东西

I guess it's 一边儿, but it sounds like "bi banr".

I like how an airline captain with recurring epileptic seizures isn't seen as a flight risk by his crew :-)
 said on
May 17, 2012
@murrayjames,

Yes, 抽风 can be used as a verb.

In that sentence, it's a very quick version of 一边儿 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
May 29, 2012
Is there a lot of overlap between 犯傻 and 犯神经?Usually when I do something stupid I have acted unthinkingly.

Also, if a plane is doing 60 knots, you better hope it's on the ground, not at 8,000 feet... and if any plane came from 8,000 to the ground in the space of less than a minute as per the podcast, the 降落 would be far from 安全!

Best

Paul
 said on
May 29, 2012
@mccartpr,

Haha, when you 犯傻 basically you are not normal as well, and being abnormal is 犯神经. But the speaker's emotion is different. When you say somebody 犯神经, it can be really not friendly, but 犯傻 is OK.

--Amber

amber@popupchinese.com

 said on
May 29, 2012
Thanks Amber.

犯神经 is still okay between friends, right?

Also: Just realised that 风速 is wind speed, not the aircraft speed. However, landing in wind of 60 knots would be horrific, so my nerdy point still stands!
 said on
May 29, 2012
@mccartpr,

Also, 犯傻 is doing sth stupid, and 犯神经 is doing sth crazy. Yes, you can use 犯神经 between friends, but be careful of your intonation. It can be a little bit rude.

Haha, you caught us there... None of us knows how to fly a plane.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
May 30, 2012
@maccartpr,

Haha, at the beginning I was trying to ignore your 'nerdy point', cuz as Echo said, really really none of us know plane. But afterward I can't help wondering that if taking this as a part of a science fiction, will it make sense though? I mean, is the problem about nature law or just technology thing?

--Amber

amber@popupchinese.com
 said on
May 30, 2012
@amber I'm no aeronautic engineer but I would guess that the problem is that aircraft wings are designed to use the wind for uplift so 60 knots will give you a real shaking, possibly flipping the plane. Also depends on direction - 50-60 knots headwind might be okay, crosswind would end in disaster. Military jets might be okay.

好的。 这不是航空微波!geek 怎么翻译?
 said on
May 31, 2012
Sounds like a good thing they had an experienced pilot then. :)
 said on
May 31, 2012
@trevelyan Yeah, he was all pro. I think you might have recorded this scene in any China Airlines cockpit.
 said on
May 31, 2012
@mccartpr,

Geek--书呆子

--Amber

amber@popupchinese.com
 said on
June 18, 2012
I like your review exercises. But whenever I have to type something (English translation or pinyin) the programme doesn't continue. What am I doing wrong?
 said on
January 29, 2013
Reviewing this lesson, I realized I was getting two similar words confused.

At the airport, first you 登记 (register/check in), then 登机 (board the plane)?
 said on
January 30, 2013
@murrayjames,

没错!

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com