New Japanese RobotHi again and yep, from the ramparts of the Bastion on the Puget Sound, it’s been another interesting week. Well, even as this goes to press, we’re still waiting to really find out how two airline pilots could overrun one of the larger airports in America by 150 miles/241 kilometers and stay out of contact with air traffic controllers for almost an hour and a half.
They’ve said they were just preoccupied with this new software program Northwest Airlines was switching over to and that since everything was cool weatherwise, etc., why not take some company time to learn this? I mean, close the cockpit door, put the plane on automatic pilot and land on time in the Twin Cities wiser men, for the good of the company and ultimately, the public. Somebody forgot to set the alarm, maybe? Like that’s the point?
Umm, no. Maybe it’s just me but when I ride a bus, I really appreciate it if the driver didn’t chat it up with other passengers when the rig is rolling. My life is in that driver’s hands and I do not want him focused on anything except getting me where I need to go safely and with no close calls.
It’s not a big leap to figure out that people using cell phones in their cars is not a real turn on for me either. And the cabbie who wants to chat me and an out of town guest up for a bigger tip from SeaTac to the U District? Buddy, no offense but just drive, okay?
What’s ironic is that I’ve never actually had to explain it to a bus driver, a cabbie or a pilot before and it tweaks me a little to think that it needs to be said to these two flying shepherds.
What rankles me even more is that they’re both from the Pacific Northwest and that this land of recent settlement and neo-trail blazing could produce two sons who could miss a familiar major airport by 150 miles and part of the state of Wisconsin shames me deeply. I no more want this region judged by these two jackasses than I do the commercial aviation industry by these two clowns. They are not, thank you Oroville and Wilbur, typical of either.
I kid around a lot about not flying in anything put together by the lowest bidder but the reality is that I love aviation and I’ve flown in everything from a C54 to a Boeing 707 to a single engine Piper Cub to a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter. I’ve never been afraid to fly because the people who mann the aircraft I’ve flown on have been topnotch and their first concern was for passenger safety.
There is something really wrong with these two Northwest pilots and I’m neither a priest nor a psychologist. I just know that these men are not worthy of either the fraternity nor the legacy of aviators. And especially not when the acts of one airliner crew and passengers on 9/11 and another safely landing in the Hudson River are taken into consideration.
I therefore stand totally behind the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to revoke the licenses of these two escapees from a flying circus. The only time I want to see those boys in the air again is with their own wings and a halo.
Well, given the impact the swine flu is having all over the world, I have got to totally love this one from Japan, even though it creeped me out a little. As most of you know, they’re a leader in creating useful robots which resemble human beings in eerie detail. They’ve developed one now which mimics all the symptoms of swine flu, systemically, and if the right treatment isn’t applied, this robot “dies” No, despite the timing, this is NOT a Halloween story and no, sigh, I am not making this up. So ye of little faith, check it out here.
And on second thought, maybe this one’s fun to play with after all. Aside from the fantastic diagnostic applications across the health spectrum and around the world, think of how a robot like this could otherwise instruct. If appropriately programmed. Everything from having that first sex talk with the kids to resisting politicians of another persuasion. Think of the ultimate commercial. “Are they real or only Simulants? Only their programmer knows for sure.” So okay, Happy Halloween from the folks at The Northstar Journal. I just know you yahoos are going to have a ball with this one. One of these days I will learn. But apparently not tonight. Sigh.
At a time when people are still losing homes they can no longer afford due to layoffs, ill-advised investments, etc., it’s nice to know that as they recover and can again consider buying a new one that for the market more energy efficient and environmentally appropriate options are being prepared. Imagine having a fully heated house with no pipelines or conduits and a monthly bill of about $25.00, even during a Minnesota winter. And that’s without the option of adding solar panels for the energy source.
Yep, it’s along the same lines as that straw and plaster house being manufactured in the San Francisco Bay area and that we mentioned in an earlier column. This one’s out of Montana, though and to learn more about it, please go here.
My undying gratitude goes out to the reader who sent us this real simple health test to determine how young one’s brain is. (No, don’t engage the mind on this one, not unless it can contact the mothership and get back down here again as fast as I can.) Apparently how young your brain is can be determined by how long you can stand on one leg. Again with the skepticism. So, I quote:
The longer you can stand (on one leg) without losing your balance, the younger your brain is. If you're 45 or over, 15 seconds is very good; if you're 30 or so, 30 seconds is fine.
Well, okay for the general population but what about people into Zen stuff? Like standing on one leg as a form of meditation and body control. And for the challenge of doing it outside, in a high wind and other kinds of interesting weather.
The bastion on the Puget Sound has interesting neighbors who do this weird stuff and a lot of them do it together. I’m not a philosopher and I’m not trying to sound like one now but it just seems to me that if there is one lesson we should be picking up from these trying times, it’s that true “control” does not come from the outside and building things so powerful, so transient, so expensive and so all consuming. I’m suggesting that yes, there are worse ways to grow old than standing on one leg in the face of a lashing rain and celebrating the power and control that comes from within.
I ran the math on our local storks by the way. Most of them have brains too young to be born yet.
Well, that’s it for this week, folks. Take care, stay well and thanks once again for the ear.
Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
TO YOUR HEALTH
If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.
ONLINE TOOLS FOR THE KIT
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.
Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.
MEDIA
Entertainment
U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.
News
They’ve said they were just preoccupied with this new software program Northwest Airlines was switching over to and that since everything was cool weatherwise, etc., why not take some company time to learn this? I mean, close the cockpit door, put the plane on automatic pilot and land on time in the Twin Cities wiser men, for the good of the company and ultimately, the public. Somebody forgot to set the alarm, maybe? Like that’s the point?
Umm, no. Maybe it’s just me but when I ride a bus, I really appreciate it if the driver didn’t chat it up with other passengers when the rig is rolling. My life is in that driver’s hands and I do not want him focused on anything except getting me where I need to go safely and with no close calls.
It’s not a big leap to figure out that people using cell phones in their cars is not a real turn on for me either. And the cabbie who wants to chat me and an out of town guest up for a bigger tip from SeaTac to the U District? Buddy, no offense but just drive, okay?
What’s ironic is that I’ve never actually had to explain it to a bus driver, a cabbie or a pilot before and it tweaks me a little to think that it needs to be said to these two flying shepherds.
What rankles me even more is that they’re both from the Pacific Northwest and that this land of recent settlement and neo-trail blazing could produce two sons who could miss a familiar major airport by 150 miles and part of the state of Wisconsin shames me deeply. I no more want this region judged by these two jackasses than I do the commercial aviation industry by these two clowns. They are not, thank you Oroville and Wilbur, typical of either.
I kid around a lot about not flying in anything put together by the lowest bidder but the reality is that I love aviation and I’ve flown in everything from a C54 to a Boeing 707 to a single engine Piper Cub to a Bell Jet Ranger helicopter. I’ve never been afraid to fly because the people who mann the aircraft I’ve flown on have been topnotch and their first concern was for passenger safety.
There is something really wrong with these two Northwest pilots and I’m neither a priest nor a psychologist. I just know that these men are not worthy of either the fraternity nor the legacy of aviators. And especially not when the acts of one airliner crew and passengers on 9/11 and another safely landing in the Hudson River are taken into consideration.
I therefore stand totally behind the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to revoke the licenses of these two escapees from a flying circus. The only time I want to see those boys in the air again is with their own wings and a halo.
Well, given the impact the swine flu is having all over the world, I have got to totally love this one from Japan, even though it creeped me out a little. As most of you know, they’re a leader in creating useful robots which resemble human beings in eerie detail. They’ve developed one now which mimics all the symptoms of swine flu, systemically, and if the right treatment isn’t applied, this robot “dies” No, despite the timing, this is NOT a Halloween story and no, sigh, I am not making this up. So ye of little faith, check it out here.
And on second thought, maybe this one’s fun to play with after all. Aside from the fantastic diagnostic applications across the health spectrum and around the world, think of how a robot like this could otherwise instruct. If appropriately programmed. Everything from having that first sex talk with the kids to resisting politicians of another persuasion. Think of the ultimate commercial. “Are they real or only Simulants? Only their programmer knows for sure.” So okay, Happy Halloween from the folks at The Northstar Journal. I just know you yahoos are going to have a ball with this one. One of these days I will learn. But apparently not tonight. Sigh.
At a time when people are still losing homes they can no longer afford due to layoffs, ill-advised investments, etc., it’s nice to know that as they recover and can again consider buying a new one that for the market more energy efficient and environmentally appropriate options are being prepared. Imagine having a fully heated house with no pipelines or conduits and a monthly bill of about $25.00, even during a Minnesota winter. And that’s without the option of adding solar panels for the energy source.
Yep, it’s along the same lines as that straw and plaster house being manufactured in the San Francisco Bay area and that we mentioned in an earlier column. This one’s out of Montana, though and to learn more about it, please go here.
My undying gratitude goes out to the reader who sent us this real simple health test to determine how young one’s brain is. (No, don’t engage the mind on this one, not unless it can contact the mothership and get back down here again as fast as I can.) Apparently how young your brain is can be determined by how long you can stand on one leg. Again with the skepticism. So, I quote:
The longer you can stand (on one leg) without losing your balance, the younger your brain is. If you're 45 or over, 15 seconds is very good; if you're 30 or so, 30 seconds is fine.
Well, okay for the general population but what about people into Zen stuff? Like standing on one leg as a form of meditation and body control. And for the challenge of doing it outside, in a high wind and other kinds of interesting weather.
The bastion on the Puget Sound has interesting neighbors who do this weird stuff and a lot of them do it together. I’m not a philosopher and I’m not trying to sound like one now but it just seems to me that if there is one lesson we should be picking up from these trying times, it’s that true “control” does not come from the outside and building things so powerful, so transient, so expensive and so all consuming. I’m suggesting that yes, there are worse ways to grow old than standing on one leg in the face of a lashing rain and celebrating the power and control that comes from within.
I ran the math on our local storks by the way. Most of them have brains too young to be born yet.
Well, that’s it for this week, folks. Take care, stay well and thanks once again for the ear.
Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
TO YOUR HEALTH
If you’d like to know whether your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Ever had trouble getting behind eating a lot of fruits and vegetables despite how good they are for you? Ever had trouble selling that one to your kids and grandkids? Ever been totally sold on the idea then gone to the market and been totally tasered by the price of good health in some places? If your answer is yes to any or all of the above, you really need to check this site out. Fruits and veggies: more matters.
ONLINE TOOLS FOR THE KIT
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.
Know Thy Elected Officials - Just type in your zip code and this site will supply you with the names and contact information for your legislators from the state level up. This is a two click site with a host of other relevant features.
MEDIA
Entertainment
U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.
News
The New York Times - best source of American news.
Reuters – Best in world news and an international perspective on American headlines..
Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West”. Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.
The Vancouver Sun -- outstanding source for Canadian and world news.
TALENT FOR HIRE
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist – Whether it’s a one time press release, book or product review, difficult business correspondence, resume or classified ad composition you need, take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and we’ll get together on it.
Are you a travel editor looking for color shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale
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