A federal aviation official says the plane that crashed into a house near Buffalo, killing 50 people, was on autopilot when it went down, a possible violation of airline policy in icy weather.
For those that don’t already know why being on autopilot is a very bad thing, watch this video.
For a change, we are putting forth a short, simple, and easy to understand essay for this week’s essay of the week. Like all short and simple things, The German Hyperinflation by George J.W. Goodman has its shortcomings. For one thing, the author’s knowledge of economics is poor. There is nothing mysterious or hard to fix about hyper inflation. One simply has to stop running the printing presses.
But such quibbles aside, the essay is full of valuable anecdotes for those who are not well acquainted with the history of German hyper inflation. The one lesson to take from this short essay is that inflation can get very bad and still not bring about the apocalypse. The apocalypse did come to Germany, but it came after the hyperinflation had been brought under control.
In other words, hell on earth does not come from economic systems that are not functioning properly. Rather, it comes from men who have been deified.
A discussion on the latest evidence on the effectiveness of Satins. Comments more interesting then the post.
The socks that America’s special forces want to wear. Here is the company web site.
Texas tries to decided how it will deal with the fall out if Mexico collapses. The debate centers around the question of whether they should shoot them as they cross the river or build concentration camps? (I am exaggerating for shock value, but actual practices probably won’t differ too much from the spin I am putting on the choices being considered.)
From the Wall Street Journal….
Pentagon brass, satellite industry executives and NASA leaders for years have publicly expressed concern about the dangers of orbital debris. But the odds of a direct hit between satellites were considered so small as to be basically unthinkable. The ground-based and space-based reconnaissance tools available to the Pentagon generally were considered adequate to keep close track of larger objects.
40% of coma patients in a ‘vegetative state’ may be misdiagnosed, says a new report.
Trapped inside their bodies, apparently switched off to the world, but still alive: they are the undead. Or so we thought. Forty per cent of patients in a ‘vegetative state’ are misdiagnosed. Now British scientists are leading the field in trying to put that right
Egyptian archaeologists have found about 30 mummies and at least one unopened sarcophagus in a burial chamber about 4,300 years old, the government said in a statement on Monday.
I am slightly amazed whenever I here of finds like this. Egypt has got to be one of the best covered areas of the world archaeologically speaking and yet they are still finding things like this. You would think it would be all played out.
Marie Jones, who was visiting Kinglake, where about 12 people perished, told Melbourne’s The Age newspaper that a badly-burnt man had arrived at the property where she was staying with his baby daughter, and told her his wife and other child had been killed.
“He was so badly burnt. … his little girl was burnt, but not as badly as her dad, and he just came down and he said `Look, I’ve lost my wife, I’ve lost my other kid, I just need you to save [my daughter]’,” Ms Jones told the newspaper.
A lot of people have died in the current round of brush fires in Australia. You can read all you want to know about them here.
This from the Telegraph….
French fighter planes were unable to take off after military computers were infected by a computer virus, an intelligence magazine claims.
Another story from the Telegraph details what another hacker was able to do to US computers without really trying.
These stories are nothing by themselves. But they make you wonder what a bunch of disciplined professionals working with the backing of a national government could accomplish via computer hacking if they put their mind to it.
The nationalist cyber mob that Russia throws at nations that annoy it does not count as professional in my book.
The worst drought in half a century has parched fields across eight provinces in northern China and left nearly four million people without proper drinking water.
Not a drop of rain has fallen on Beijing for more than 100 days, the longest dry spell for 38 years in a city known for its arid climate.
And from later on in the article….
The drought could hardly have come at a worse time for the leadership, which is already gearing for possible social instability with some 20 million rural migrants now out of work after losing their jobs in coastal factories and in cities. Many have returned to work their farms while they wait for the economic climate to improve but may now find they are unable to grow a harvest with no water for irrigation.
“The duration, scope and impact of the drought are rare,” said Zheng Guoguang, chief of the China Meteorological Administration.
Among the worst hit provinces is central Henan, the most populous in China and source of the highest number of migrant workers. No rain has fallen in the province for 105 days, state media said today.
If you don’t know what the Mandate From Heaven is read about it here. Drought was one of the tradtional ways in which it became apparent that the Mandate From Heaven was lost. But I will bet that economic depressions help the idea along as well.
If I was a Chinese ruler I would be on my best behavior just in case. It has a better chance of working than their weather control technology.
Scientists have found the fossilised bones of a “monster” snake that was more than 40 feet long and weighed more than a ton.