Brave does not have to mean stupid. And your freedom has boundaries when it bumps up against others' freedom. Just as you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater, you should not expect the freedom to put others at risk.

(Written on 01/05/2020)(Permalink)

There's a term for it -- "moral hazard". From wikipedia: "In economics, moral hazard occurs when an actor has an incentive to increase their exposure to risk because they don't bear the full costs of that risk." But it's worse than that. The companies' officers put their companies at risk in order to line their own pockets. They used the gobs of cash that they earned to buy back stock, thereby raising the stock price, thereby triggering bonuses and pumping up their own shares. And then they borrowed cash, which they're now in danger of not being able to make the loan payments on, and now need help from the U.S. Taxpayer. The companies' officers weakened the airlines financially in order to help themselves. They are the winners and airlines' customers, employees, and the U.S. Taxpayers are the losers. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_hazard

(Written on 20/03/2020)(Permalink)

I guess I'm surprised to hear that issues such as levels of redundancy and cockpit layout cannot be updated over time. Do you have citations for these claims? I would like to learn more.

(Written on 13/03/2020)(Permalink)

National security and the well-being of citizens is a key responsibility of government.

(Written on 13/03/2020)(Permalink)

I realize that Al Gore gets a lot of hate in these boards by some users. And I further realize that the truth doesn't count for much these days. But it's still worth trying. You're clearly making a reference to the claims that Al Gore said he invented the internet. He never said that. If you're curious to what he did say and how it was distorted, the snopes.com article on the matter gives a good history (https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/internet-of-lies/). Here's the actual quote from Al Gore: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country’s economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system." Quoting further from the snopes article: 'But a spirited defense of Gore’s statement penned by Internet pioneers Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf (the latter often referred to as the “father of

(Written on 06/12/2019)(Permalink)

Here's once such video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsnAlNpkNuw

(Written on 06/12/2019)(Permalink)

Yeah, I am biased towards science over other self-proclaimed experts. What are your biases?

(Written on 01/12/2019)(Permalink)

Because he has a degree in journalism? Because he did TV weather?

(Written on 01/12/2019)(Permalink)

Wow, thank you for that detailed description!

(Written on 11/10/2019)(Permalink)

According to the NYTimes article, it was 40 seconds *unless* the crew engaged the thumb switch on the yoke to stop MCAS and adjust the trim bring the nose up. Engaging the thumb switch would reset MCAS, and then it could start another round. See: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/business/boeing-simulation-error.html

(Written on 29/03/2019)(Permalink)