birdguy

Why is it that almost every new technological advance comes back to bite us in the butt? Unforseen circumstances are seldom recognized before they occur. My pet peeve are automobile touch screens. I have one in my Prius (yes, at the ripe old age of 90 I am still driving...but very carefully). I need it to change the fan speed on the heater-airconditioner. I won't do it while driving. If I have to use the touch screen for anything I park and make the adjustments. That even goes for changing radio stations. I recall the olden days when automobiles had knobs on the dash to adjust the heater and change the fan speed or increase the volume of the radio or change stations. You quickly learned where the position of the knobs were and you never had to take you eyes off the road. Just because you can do it doesn't mean you should. Perhaps of branch of engineering should be developed for just trying to foresee future problems and unforeseen consequences during the design of new materials and products. Noel

Somewhat lengthy but quite good article on Boeing. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/boeing-planes-problems-stock-price-shareholders.html Noel

Luckily, Bill, I don't have that problem yet. I hit the sack at 11:30 and don't wake up until 5:30. I find 6 hours sleep enough for me. Noel

The history of the implementation of science and technology for good also has a history of the same implementation of science and technology for evil. As we close in on mind control for good how can we prevent that good from being used for evil? I don't think we can. This one is truly scary. While a miracle for it's use as described in the following link it also has potential for great evil if misused in the wrong hands. https://www.ign.com/articles/first-human-patient-to-receive-a-neuralink-brain-implant-used-it-to-stay-up-all-night-playing-civilization-6 This can go orders of magnitude beyond The Manchurian Candidate. Is the risk worth it? The futurists and techies among us will say not to worry. But if I were a young man I certainly would be worried. Especially if the military-industrial complex gets a hold of it. Fortunately I won't be around to see if it is. But my grand kids and great grand kids will. We talk of science fiction becoming non-fiction reality. Michael Chrichton's 'The Terminal Man' comes to mind. Noel

AI listeners will love it! Noel

If they have been observing us for very long they are well aware of our propensity for shooting first and asking question later not to mention that humankind has been at war since the first humanoid species cracked the skull of another one with a rock. As for our blood sport of war The Hittites, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Philistines, the Israelites, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, Genghis Khan, Attila the Hun, Cyrus the Great, Alexander the Great, European wars and colonization, African tribal warfare, America's westward expansion under Manifest Destiny, the War of 1812, WW1, WW2, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, etc-etc-etc (I could go on for pages) would give any extraterrestrial observer cause for concern before landing here in person unless he wanted to serve humanity fattened up on the pastures of Sol 3. Noel

One of the advantages here in the warehouse with having virtually nothing to do is watching old TV series and movies. While gunsmoke is my favorite I had a real treat this afternoon watching and old 1941 movie titled 'Dive Bomber' starring Fred MacMurray and Errol Flynn. It was fun to watch and had some laughable moments that weren't intended to be funny. The plot of picture is the Navy is trying to find ways to fly at high altitudes. They start out by pressurizing the cabin of a Lockheed Electra and flying it to 41,000 feet on it's two reciprocatng engines. Then, at 41,000 feet in clear air it starts icing up. Great shots of the Electra's icing boots cracking a thick layer of ice off the leading edge of the wing. They scrap that idea and finally come up with flight suits with deep sea diving helmets mounted on them. That works! Ya gotta love what Hollywood came up with in those days. But how they got that Electra and those pre WW2 dive bombers got up to 40,000 feet still eludes me. Another gaff are is the footage of the Electra in flight. Sometimes it's bare metal and they switch to the cockpit and some dialog and when they go back to the outside view the aircraft is painted olive drab. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dive_Bomber_(film) Noel

Having crossed the Pacific Ocean three times on troop ships and being bored silly most of the time I would think on-line boredom would be more than I would care for unless the sim included pornographic novels to read while cruising the ocean blue. Noel

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/12/feels-like-the-enemy-is-within-boeing-airplanes-says-pilot-who-flew-for-the-air-force-during-operation-desert-storm.html Noel

Especially during rush hour in Los Angeles. Noel

I think the significance of the occasion has been lost over the years. I was 12 years old on VJ Day and recall what a momentous occasion it was. More than a victory it was so many loved ones coming back home. The sailor in that photo wasn't going to be sent into harms way anymore and was going to shed that uniform and go home to his family and perhaps his wife or girl friend. Time has a way of diluting memories and those of us who still have them are replaced by those who don't. Words and pictures are all we have left of WW2. Very few who lived through it and still feel the memories of it are left. Not just the fighting men who were over there, but those left behind on the 'home front'. It was called the 'home front' with gasoline and meat and sugar rationing. The paper and scrap metal drives. Once a month my Boy Scout Troop went from door to door collecting tin cans for the war effort. We were made to feel a part of the war unlike today when few us know what wars were fighting and who is out there fighting them. Walking down the street and seeing the little flags with blue or perhaps gold stars on them signifying one or members of that household were out there in harms way or, if the star was gold, had been killed in action. I suppose the memories die away as those of us who remember die away until all we left have are pictures and printed words. Like the picture of the flag raising on Iwo Jima the picture of the sailor kissing a young woman in Times Square on VJ day. Please leave those to our children and grand children and great grand children to remember the huge sacrifices those who fought made and the lesser sacrifices those of us left behind on the 'home front' made. Noel

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/03/05/va-order-remove-iconic-world-war-ii-kiss-photo-facilities-reversed-secretary-mcdonough.html Noel

Retiring Lufthansa performs a wing salute on his last flight in an Airbus A380 at KLAX. https://supercarblondie.com/lufthansa-airbus-a380-wing-wave/ Noel

Shows how behind the times I am Bob. Even more so now that I am almost sequestered in an old folks home. Noel

Ride along with a current day training flight in a B-52 which made it's first flight in 1952, 72 years ago. https://www.militarytimes.com/video/2024/03/04/ride-along-for-a-simulated-bombing-run-in-a-b-52-stratofortress/ One thing in the video disturbed me. Is 1st Lt Hulgren's haircut in compliance with current Air Force grooming standards. In my day if one of my troops showed up to work with a hair looking like that I would have have sent him home and told him not to come back until he got a haircut in compliance with AFR 35-10 (Air Force grooming standards). Have things changed that much? Noel