As I am sure you know by now, a US Airways A320 ditched into the Hudson River this afternoon, just minutes after departing from LaGuardia Airport. The accident appears to have been caused by multiple bird strikes. It is truly amazing that the simplest things, from ice to birds, can bring down our most promising […]
Paranoia Is Not Safety II
I have ranted about our national paranoia before. We are still paranoid and it still bothers me. Over the last few days, I have read about: AirTran Airways ejected nine people from a flight (including two women and three children, ages 7, 4, and 2) because two of the men in the group discussed the […]
How to Spot a Child Predator
I know what I am going to dress up as tonight. A Halloween costume so scary that my wife will be upset that I am wearing it in public. I am going to wear a disguise so socially unacceptable that three entire school districts will close for a day to assure they their students do […]
Airport Security: What a Waste
I love the inconvenience of airport security. The fact that I am paying for the privilege of being inconvenienced, in lieu of having my security enhanced, makes the whole experience all the more charming. Recently, Jeffrey Goldberg took all of these goodies through airport security at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Read Goldberg’s entire article on […]
Assuming
Technology is challenging enough when we really know what is going on. The situation deteriorates rapidly as we progress through only thinking we know what is going on to being completely clueless. My step-mother just started using a computer, the first computer that has been solely hers, the first one where she can do whatever […]
Risk Analysis: NOT!
I just read a letter to the editor in my local newspaper. It begins, Are you kidding me? Jefferson Middle School says that no kids can bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch because there are kids with peanut allergies? Peanut butter is dangerous to the 1.3% of Americans who have peanut allergies. We […]
Shut Up and Let Me Drive
We all know that distractions make driving significantly more difficult and dangerous. Cell phones top the list, at least from lawmakers’ perspectives, and we now have laws in several states which limit cell phone use while driving. Sadly, lawmakers have not found a way to make children stop bugging their parents during car trips. “She’s […]
Paranoia Is Not Safety
Our country is founded on several key values and two of the most important are the right to vote and the belief in presumed innocence. Several school districts in St. Charles county, Missouri, seem determined to teach some important lessons to their students vis á vis these rights: United States citizens of voting age are […]
Those Born 1930-1979
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !! First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep […]
Ignore Safety, Reduce Airline Costs
There is a tempest brewing in the Washington tea cup. Congress has to pass a bill that provides funding for the FAA by the end of September or the FAA ceases to exist. Background The airlines and the FAA are pushing hard to reduce the costs imposed on airlines while increasing the costs for pretty […]
Single Sign On – Finally
Don MacAskill over at SmugMug (my favorite photo sharing site) brought my attention to OpenID, a budding solution to an old computer problem: If you use a computer, you have way too many passwords to conveniently remember. You might use one or two passwords, perhaps a simple one for web sites that you do not […]
Machine Gun Sentry Robot
NewLaunches.com brings news that Samsung develops machine gun sentry robot. Samsung has partnered with Korea university and developed the machine-gun equipped robotic sentry. Do you remember the scientists who worked on the atomic bombs and later regreted their decisions to do so? I am afraid that we are about to see history repeat itself. One […]
Reaction to Cory Lidle’s Airplane Accident
Tragically, Cory Lidle and his flight instructor died yesterday afternoon when the Cirrus SR-20 airplane that they were flying crashed into a high rise building in New York City. {Added 11/19/06} The New York Times has created a wonderfully informative, interactive graphic showing the flight path. AVweb’s article, New York City Crash Aftermath, nicely brings […]
What happens when lightning strikes an airplane?
What happens when lightening strikes an airplane? According to Edward J Rupke, senior engineer at Lighting Technologies, Inc., not much. (Image courtesy of Edward J. Rupke and borrowed from Scientific American.com.) Although passengers and crew may see a flash and hear a loud noise if lightning strikes their plane, nothing serious should happen because of […]
Experience with OpenDNS
It has been almost three weeks since we began using OpenDNS and I am ready to Pronounce Judgement: Use OpenDNS. It works. We had only one small problem. My wife uses a virtual private network (VPN) to access her company’s intranet. The default OpenDNS settings are incompatible with the VPN’S need to provide DNS resolution […]
What is OpenDNS and Why Should You Care?
OpenDNS opened it’s doors on Monday, which was a nice birthday present; thank you very much. Why should you care? DNS, or domain name service, is one of the key underpinnings of the internet to which little attention is paid. It is the service which turns domain names like “cheerfulcurmudgeon.com” and “cnn.com” into addresses of […]
Information About Identity Theft
Are you worried about identity theft? Me, too. My friend, Chris Kramer, has put together a web site Identity Theft, Information to help you understand the scope of this crime and it includes useful information on topics like FACTA, the Fair and Accruate Credit Transaction Act, FACTA and the FTC, and things you can do […]
