INTERESTING: A driver’s license, a privilege?

Monday, August 22, 2011

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-1108.html

Crypto-Gram Newsletter
August 15, 2011
by Bruce Schneier
Chief Security Technology Officer, BT
schneier@schneier.com
http://www.schneier.com

Developments in Facial Recognition

*** begin quote ***

“A driver’s license is not a matter of civil rights. It’s not a right. It’s a privilege,” she said. “Yes, it is an inconvenience [to have to clear your name], but lots of people have their identities stolen, and that’s an inconvenience, too.”

*** end quote ***

“Privilege”?

In the suburbs, it’s essential to travel.

Is this another form of population control?

When did I decide that the Gooferment has the power to restrict me from going to the grocery store?

How did I agree that the Gooferment has that power of me?

I don’t remember signing that.

Maybe I do need to go on strike against this and all the other Gooferment intrusions.

Oh yeah, I am!

Power to the people.

Note that the Gooferment can’t even do this right!

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POLITICAL: Corporations redomicile?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/when-an-american-company-redomiciles-to-the-cayman-islands-what-lesson-should-we-learn

When an American Company Redomiciles to the Cayman Islands, What Lesson Should We Learn?
Posted by Daniel J. Mitchell

*** begin quote ***

Another American company has decided to expatriate for tax reasons. This process has been going on for decades, with companies giving up their U.S. charters (a form of business citizenship) and redomiciling in low-tax jurisdictions such as Bermuda, Ireland, Switzerland, Panama, Hong Kong, and the Cayman Islands.

*** end quote ***

That “We, The Sheeple” are stupid?

There has to be a big red arrow drawn from “corporatocracy”, “crony capitalism”, and “too big to fail”.

Directly to absolute silly Gooferment diktats, policies, and other stupidity.

Even if you don’t accept my assertion that corporations don’t pay taxes, (they either pass them along to real people OR go out of business), then you must understand that if all the other “states” are ⅓ lower, where would you move your business?

The politicians and bureaucrats aren’t getting the message. I’m not sure that “We, The Sheeple” get it either. Do you?

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RANT: The lesson of Nagasaki

Sunday, August 21, 2011

http://lewrockwell.com/kohls/kohls12.1.html

Duty to Warn
The Bombing of Nagasaki August 9, 1945: Another Example of Christians Killing Christians in the Name of Christ
by Gary G. Kohls

*** begin quote ***

So, at 11:02 am, August 9, 1945, in the middle of morning mass, the Christians of Nagasaki were boiled, evaporated and carbonized in a scorching, radioactive fireball that was several times hotter than the sun. The vibrant center of Japanese Christianity was wiped out. It had become Ground Zero.

And what the Japanese Imperial government could not do in over 250 years of persecution, American Christians had done in 9 seconds. 8,500 of Nagasaki’s worshipping community of 12,000 perished that day. None of those who died were combatants.

*** and ***

Perhaps the next military atrocities like Nagasaki, Fallujah and My Lai can be prevented if a substantial number of Christian churches courageously and publicly start to resist the militaristic policies of their nations by actively refusing their government’s call for the bodies and souls of their sons and daughters.

If the churches start to exercise their sacred duty to warn their parishioners about the soul-destroying nature of war, it may not be too late to save our dying, war-torn, morally and financially bankrupt planet.

Heeding the lessons of Nagasaki is a good way to start.

*** end quote ***

Hard to read this or see the picture.

And, the various churches, who supposedly revere the Prince of Peace, seem to be out sync with the meme.

How does one reconcile this militarism, empire, and killing?

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RANT: Bankruptcy repairs?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/19/gm-impala-lawsuit-idUSN1E77I0Z820110819

GM says bankruptcy excuses it from Impala repairs
Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:47pm EDT
* New GM said not responsible to fix Impala made by old GM
* Suspension problem said to cause excessive tire wear
By Jonathan Stempel

*** begin quote ***

NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) is seeking to dismiss a lawsuit over a suspension problem on more than 400,000 Chevrolet Impalas from the 2007 and 2008 model years, saying it should not be responsible for repairs because the flaw predated its bankruptcy.

*** end quote ***

Argh! So it wasn’t just the bondholders that got weenied. But I but the Big Unions are whole!

# – # – # – # – # 2011-Aug-19 @ 23:19

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RANT: Afghanistan until 2024?!?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8712701/US-troops-may-stay-in-Afghanistan-until-2024.html

US troops may stay in Afghanistan until 2024

America and Afghanistan are close to signing a strategic pact which would allow thousands of United States troops to remain in the country until at least 2024, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

# – # – #

Yah gotta be kidding me.

From the “hope and change” ersatz peace candidate!

Vote Ron Paul!

What the <synonym for the act of procreation>!

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POLITICAL: How do we end the warfare / welfare state?

Saturday, August 20, 2011

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/92943.html

August 12, 2011
The War To End All Wars Continues
Posted by Christopher Manion on August 12, 2011 06:34 PM

*** begin quote ***

My father, a student in Washington at the time, led Catholics for Wilson — “We want Wilson, one time more! We want peace, we don’t want war!” But Cardinal Gibbons, aware of the unfortunately widespread anti-Catholic sentiment in the US, feared that Catholic opposition to the war would brand Catholics as “unpatriotic.” As though we loved our country more than our government? No, that we were more loyal to “Rome” than to Wilson.

*** end quote ***

Maybe I’m a hopeless cynic.

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), I think that “We, The Sheeple” have been being hoodwinked by the effete elite for a very long time.

Wilson ran as a supposed “peace candidate” and, once firmly ensconced in power, took the USA to war.

When do “We, The Sheeple” wake up?

In history class, we learned about the “Hundred Years War”. How can a war go on for 100 years?

Now look at Korea?

Now look at Germany?

Why?

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INTERESTING: Hanks’ Personal Refund

Friday, August 19, 2011

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/tom-hanks-larry-crowne-refund/4090?wssac=164&wssaffid=news

Tom Hanks Personally Refunded Disappointed Couple’s ‘Larry Crowne’ Tickets

By Peter Hall Aug 16, 2011

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A novel way to make Customer’s happy. Now what about all the rest of the folks?

Guess not so much!

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POLITICAL: Gooferment diktats kill!

Friday, August 19, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=331793

A government that kills
Posted: August 09, 2011
John Stossel

*** begin quote ***

Life involves tradeoffs. If we want to minimize deaths from auto accidents, we may use more fuel than we might otherwise use. Who should make that decision, the government? Or you and I?

*** end quote ***

Why is it that when our Gooferment “protects” us that decisions suck?

“Cash for clunkers” deprive the “non-rich” of good quality at a fair price.

“Gooferment Motors” puts the Taxpayer into the car biz; screws the bond holders.

The FDA retards, and in some cases stops, drugs from deployment while raising the ante on development to stratospheric levels. And, prevents cheap supplements from being marketed as alternatives to expensive drugs.

Gooferment’s phony car mileage concern takes choices from us.

Argh!

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HARDWARE: HP betrays its Customer

Friday, August 19, 2011

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/hp-punts-on-webos-discontinues-touchpad-cuts-outlook/55386?tag=nl.e019

*** begin quote ***

HP’s move to shed the PC business as well as discontinue the TouchPad has its risks. For starters, HP will take a reputation hit for launching a TouchPad and then killing it.

*** end quote ***

Trust your hardware vendor to “vote you off the island”.

Argh!

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FUN: Old age ROI?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Interesting? The first question I ask every time is “what’s the roi?”. Is that too dumb? I rode by pton airport. Always wanted to fly; Frau nixed that. Now, while it might be “fun”, and a fast way to catch up with her, what would be my roi?

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RANT: “Big Church”, another failed concept

Thursday, August 18, 2011

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/diocese-of-orange-raises-bid-for-crystal-cathedral/

Diocese of Orange raises bid for Crystal Cathedral
By Marianne Medlin

*** begin quote ***

Garden Grove, Calif., Aug 11, 2011 / 05:59 am (CNA).- The Diocese of Orange upped its previous bid and signaled openness to new negotiations for the Crystal Cathedral after board members recently announced that the building is no longer for sale.

*** and ***

The liturgist for the Orange diocese, Monsignor Arthur Holquin, said July 26 that several changes would need to take place in order for the Crystal Cathedral to become a Catholic worship space.

Along with a central altar, a tabernacle and a baptismal font, the building would need a “cathedra” or bishop’s chair. While renovations are needed to the building, “not much deconstruction would be required and the iconic personality of the original architecture and design would, for the most part, be retained,” he said.

Purchasing the Crystal Cathedral is an attractive option for the diocese because it provides an instant solution to its building needs and would cost roughly half the $100 million price tag for the planned Santa Ana cathedral.

Though the diocese made an official $50 million bid for the Crystal Cathedral on July 22, the church’s board later voted against selling it and decided to appeal to church members and viewers to donate the funds instead.

*** end quote ***

Guess I just don’t understand.

Couldn’t God be worshiped in an appropriately decorated warehouse?

As far as the “bishop’s chair”, I have a old folding chair to donate. Won’t that hold a butt.

$100M$?

Reminds me of the French’s Maginot Line and Patton’s famous apocryphal remark “fixed fortifications are monuments to man’s stupidity”.

Maybe a cathedral is marketing? Of an idea who’s time has past. “Big Church” must join the dustbin of failed concepts like: Big Gooferment, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Labor, Big Biz, “Too Big To Fail” (2B2F), Social Security “Insurance”, the misnamed Federal Reserve Bank, Wall Street, Fiat Paper aka “monopoly money”, and all such stupidity?

It’s always sad when the illusions and delusions die. And all we are left with is the wreckage.

Is it too late to rebuild from the pieces?

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POLITICAL: Cribs can be … anything

Thursday, August 18, 2011

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Feds-to-Issue-Massive-Drop-Down-Crib-Recall-71803397.html

Listened to the “news”.

One of the stories (at ~2310) was that “drop down cribs” were being sold on Craig’s List.

Interesting.

You can do anything but throw them away.

Isn’t that a Fifth Amendment “taking”?

The three that they cited were: 130, 150, and 175 each.

That’s a regulation that takes that wealth from individuals.

It’s to prevent 18 deaths over 5 years across 300,000,000 people.

That’s a tax. And, an infringement. And, it’s making a tradeoff decision for people.

But, maybe that’s a risk that a parent would take.

Maybe they’d rather have an old $130 crib rather than a new more expensive one. And, have the freedom to use the difference as they see fit. Maybe it’s for food, or rent, or a six pack.

It should be their choice.

Then Nanny State takes away our liberties.

Argh!

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QUOTE: … the tax would be paid by the cows

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

http://cafehayek.com/2011/08/quotation-of-the-day-35.html

Quotation of the Day…
by DON BOUDREAUX on AUGUST 16, 2011
in SEEN AND UNSEEN, TAXES

*** begin quote ***

… is from EconLog’s David Henderson who recalls how the Herbert Stein described the failure to understand that taxes on corporations are taxes on people:

“I remember that in addressing the issue in the 1980s, the late Herb Stein said that it’s as if people think that if the government imposed a tax on cows, the tax would be paid by the cows.”

*** end quote ***

This reaffirms my RANT about the fact that a “corporation” is a fiction for a mob of real people. WHICH does nothing but hide the taxes in costs passed along to REAL people.

Argh!

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TINFOILHAT: Obama Social Security Number

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=332041

Obama Social Security Number to become issue in 2012 race?
‘You better probe a little harder to make sure identity you’re dealing with is a real identity’
Posted: August 11, 2011
By Joe Kovacs

*** begin quote ***

President Obama has never explained why he has a Conncecticut-based Social Security Number

President Obama’s potentially criminal use of a mysterious, Connecticut-based Social Security Number should become an important issue in his quest for re-election in 2012, says a former presidential candidate and ambassador in Ronald Reagan’s administration.

*** end quote ***

Another question about BHO44 that needs an answer.

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PRODUCTIVITY: Track your vacinations?

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/08/tetanus_a_nasty_fascinating_bu.html

Tetanus: A Nasty, Fascinating Bug, by Dr. Bob

By James Wesley, Rawles on August 15, 2011 12:25 AM

*** begin quote ***

Nearly everyone has heard of the famous “lockjaw”, but not everyone knows that the cause is tetanus infection. Even fewer people have actually seen a case of tetanus, even in the medical circles it is a rare event in the U.S. There are only 233 cases reported from 2001 to 2008–or 1/10,000,000. Deaths are even more rare here in the States, and of those 233, 31 were fatalities. Most deaths were people over 65, presumed to be less than optimally immunized.

*** and ***

Don’t go the way of blues musician Joe Hill Louis, Henry David Thoreau’s brother, and Robert E. Lee’s favorite horse Traveller–all dying of tetanus. Keep up with your vaccinations and get your kids vaccinated too against tetanus. Kids start at two months of age getting a Tdap shot, don’t miss this chance to protect your child.

Stay strong and stay vaccinated against tetanus.

*** end quote ***

Does anyone even keep track of their vaccinations?

www.nfid.org/pdf/influenza/adultizcard.pdf

Put your card with your passport?

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PRODUCTIVITY: Vague? Accuracy and precision

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

http://lifehacker.com/5829224/how-embracing-vagueness-can-help-you-achieve-your-goals

How Embracing Vagueness Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

*** begin quote ***

We live in a world or precision where data-generating technology is available for practically aspect of your life. We’re also bombarded by tools to help us plan everything down to the smallest detail. But without uncertainty you’re stuck in a place where you always think you know the answer, and this can be a major encumbrance when you’re trying to get things done.

*** end quote ***

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_precision

*** begin quote ***

False precision (also called overprecision, fake precision, misplaced precision and spurious accuracy) occurs when numerical data are presented in a manner that implies better precision than is actually the case; since precision is a limit to accuracy, this often leads to overconfidence in the accuracy as well.[1]

In science and engineering, convention dictates that unless a margin of error is explicitly stated, the number of significant figures used in the presentation of data should be limited to what is warranted by the precision of those data. For example, if an instrument can be read to an accuracy of tenths of a unit of measurement, results of calculations using data obtained from that instrument can only be confidently stated to the tenths place, regardless of what the raw calculation returns or whether other data used in the calculation are more accurate. Even outside these disciplines, there is a tendency to assume that all the non-zero digits of a number are meaningful; thus, providing excessive figures may lead the viewer to expect better precision than actually exists.

However, in contrast, it is good practice to retain more significant figures than this in the intermediate stages of a calculation, in order to avoid accumulated rounding errors.

False precision commonly arises when high-precision and low-precision data are combined, and in conversion of units.

*** end quote ***

I can remember a wise old Christian Brother in injineering skrule saying: “Gentlemen, … <he always used it perjoratively> … you will make blunders, mistakes, and errors, but a sure way to get an F in injineering measurements is to tell me that anything that is ⅓ is .333333333333333.” False precision in injineering is like goal and objectives that aren’t vague enough to stretch.

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SOFTWARE: My first FORTRAN primer was his

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

http://www.readwriteweb.com/hack/2011/08/some-thoughts-on-the-passing-o.php

Some Thoughts on the Passing of Dan McCracken (1930 – 2011)
By Scott M. Fulton, III / August 15, 2011 2:03 PM / 0 Comments

*** begin quote ***

What Daniel D. McCracken managed to accomplish as early as 1957 was to give a knowledgeable layperson a strong, sensible foundation for understanding the terribly foreign concept of describing business processes with procedural mathematics. As a young author decades ago, I studied McCracken’s methods and I attempted to take his lessons to heart. In some of my first books on Visual Basic, I was inspired by McCracken to demonstrate a relatively simple concept using a substantively more complex tool: I demonstrated program control using sort algorithms.

*** end quote ***

Sadly, I never knew the fellow, but he’s responsible for me knowing anything about FORTRAN.

As the typical fat old white guy injineer nerd I could make that language sing. All do to him.

For better or worse.

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INSPIRATIONAL: Ideas as sad little orphans

Monday, August 15, 2011

http://the99percent.com/videos/7066/Starlee-Kine-Fear-Heartbreak-and-Making-It-Happen-Against-All-Odds

Starlee Kine: Fear, Heartbreak, and Making It Happen Against All Odds

# – # – #

Twenty minutes, but very interesting. A motivator.

A good label for ideas — Little Orphan Annie — Tomorrow.

I’ve blogged about “you are what you sing”; this lady reenforces the idea.

Overly dramatic about her breakup? I don’t think so. It’s a terrible thing to lose your soul mate.

Like the Biblical story of Adam’s rib, it that completion.

And, what does one do?

Haven’t figured that out yet. I wonder if I ever will?

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TINFOILHAT: OBL raid official story differ

Monday, August 15, 2011

http://lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts320.html

Pakistan TV Report Contradicts US Claim of Bin Laden’s Death
by Paul Craig Roberts

*** begin quote ***

In Bashair’s account, every member of the landing party and anyone brought from the house died when the helicopter exploded on lift-off. I wrote that a qualified person could easily provide a translation of the interview, but that no American print or TV news organization had investigated Bashir’s account.

*** end quote ***

Here’s the first story in the OBL raid.

The whole story was suspect imho. Why tell anyone anything? Why kill him? Why dump the body?

Interesting?

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INTERESTING: Corporations are just people in disguise

Sunday, August 14, 2011

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ROMNEY_2012?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-08-11-12-34-40

Aug 11, 8:50 PM EDT
Romney: ‘Corporations are people, my friend’
By PHILIP ELLIOTT Associated Press

*** begin quote ***

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, clearly irritated by a handful of hecklers amid supporters at the Iowa State Fair, insisted Thursday that “corporations are people,” a comment Democrats gleefully predicted would be a defining moment of his campaign.

*** end quote ***

I’ve tried to convince folks that the correct rate of corporate tax is zero.

(I think I could make a case for a 1% tax on gross receipts so the Gooferment could collect some un-fudge-able statistics. And, since “corporations” are a creation of the Gooferment, then any Gooferment intervention is just a fee fro their existence.)

Just last night, I was in a heated discussion about Exon Mobil. Taxes paid by them is merely wealth redirected from real people via pension funds to the Gooferment.

Sigh!

There is some validity to the argument that executive compensation is out of control. And corporations engaging in crony capitalism are bribing politicians and bureaucrats to insulate them from competition and secure “franchises”.

Socialists always want to control everything. This is no different. Hitler, Stalin, Mai. They all need control.

We have to be clear in our paradigms and memes.

Corporations are merely a useful fiction for a bunch of people.

Argh!

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INITIALISMS: STEEP

Sunday, August 14, 2011

http://www.competitivefutures.com/methodology/steep-analysis

*** begin quote ***

At the basis of our competitive analysis is the application of a tool called STEEP Analysis. Used by futurists, this mnemonic device reminds us to consider a wide variety of trends outside of our own industry, specifically:

Social trends: aging populations, urbanization, mixed families, increased prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and kidney failure

Technology trends: increased distribution of GPS, IPv6 networking, decreasing price and increase application of robotics in the home, genomic medicine, electric automobiles, nanotechnology

Economic trends: Real estate occupancy rates, unemployment rates, sovereign debt, household debt, corporate debt, government intervention in markets, corporate merger and acquisition activity, energy factors, raw material availability

Ecological trends: Water availability, biodiversity, soil health, wetlands integrity, climate change

Political trends: Legislation, regulation, political parties, authoritarianism versus liberal democracy

*** end quote ***

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POLITICAL: Empty flights?

Saturday, August 13, 2011

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AVIATION_SHUTDOWN_RURAL_SUBSIDIES

Gov’t pays for empty flights to rural airports
By KEVIN BEGOS and ADRIAN SAINZ
Associated Press

*** begin quote ***

On some days, the pilots with Great Lakes Airlines fire up a twin-engine Beechcraft 1900 at the Ely, Nev., airport and depart for Las Vegas without a single passenger on board. And the federal government pays them to do it.

*** end quote ***

Typical Gooferment!

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QUOTE: Reduce …

Saturday, August 13, 2011

“Reduce everything you want to do, to an action you can do right now.” —Jason Randal #99conf

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RANT: Bike Lanes = ~1m$ jobs

Friday, August 12, 2011

http://brownlovesgreen.com/2011/08/10/hopeful-green-job-facts-to-lift-your-spirits/

Hopeful Green Job Facts to Lift Your Spirits

AUGUST 10, 2011

by Lindsay E. Brown

*** begin quote ***

Bike Lanes Create Jobs. You did indeed, read that correctly. A recent study from the University of Massachusetts found that bike infrastructure projects create more jobs than road infrastructure. Their latest study showed that bike and pedestrian projects generate 46 percent more employment than roads. Researchers looked at 58 projects in 11 states, and found that cycle-oriented infrastructure created 11.6 jobs for every $1 million spent, versus 7.8 for road-only projects. There you have it! Building the U.S.’ bike infrastructure to solve the job crisis. Voila!

*** end quote ***

Argh! Typical muddy thinking. Divide 11 into a million = 900K PER JOB!!!! For an infrastructure that no one in their right mind would build at those costs.

That’s what’s wrong with thinking that the Gooferment can do anything. The oft said maxim is that the Gooferment can’t do ANYTHING right. This just demonstrates it.

The Tea Party is right. Cut the Gooferment’s spending. Go Ron Paul!

Did anyone study economics in a business class?

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TECHNOLOGY: Toy Truck; not so toy

Friday, August 12, 2011

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/remote-controlled-truck-soldier-afghanistan-saves-soldiers-lives/story?id=14225434

Afghanistan War: Hobbyists’ Toy Truck Saves 6 Soldiers’ Lives
By NED POTTER (@NedPotterABC)
Aug. 4, 2011

*** begin quote ***

Staff Sgt. Christopher Fessenden is on duty in Afghanistan now after tours with the Army in Iraq. He has traveled with standard-issue equipment — weapons, helmet, uniform, boots and so forth — plus a radio-controlled model truck his brother Ernie sent.

*** end quote ***

Like the body armor!

(When a young man I know went to the sandbox, I volunteered to buy him a dragon. The Army was woefully unprepared; I wasn’t. I studied ballistic armor. Six months later, towns were having fund raising to properly equip their children. Argh!)

Like the Civil War, the Generals fought using tactics developed in the English and French wars a century before. With bloody consequences.

We need to be like Switzerland. Defend our borders and MYOB!

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HARDWARE: Human Factors and training have to compensate for hardware failure

Thursday, August 11, 2011

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Final-words-of-Air-France-crash-pilot-I-cant-control-the-plane-127332423.html

Final words of Air France crash pilot ‘I can’t control the plane’
Black box reveals secrets of crash the killed 228 passengers including three Irish doctors
By KATE HICKEY, IrishCentral.com Editor

*** begin quote ***

Posted by colkelley on Aug 10, 2011, 10:08 AM EDT

This is a great example of why you do not want to fly with commercial pilots who do not have military aviation experience. Here we have an entire flight crew that could not recognize that they had stalled the aircraft and just kept cutting power and pulling the nose higher and higher – never realizing that their airspeed indicator was wrong because of icing. When I was a Navy Airborne Electronic Warfare Officer we practiced aircraft emergencies and responses at least once on every flight. In my last three years flying jets in the Navy I had three fires in flight, seven emergency field-arrested (cable) landings, and 13 other declared airborne emergencies – and one of them was EXACTLY the same problem with icing and incorrect airspeed. I survived them all because we PRACTICED emergencies incessantly. Air France has a fatal flaw with both hiring pilots and training them…and 228 people died as a result of their failure.

*** end quote ***

How do we know that hardware has failed?

And, what do we do to recognize it.

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