I like reminiscing about the rope-and-pulley days but i've been stranded with a broken clutch steel-rope cable, I've had another one snap on a bike, and points-and-condenser ignitions are inhumane and intolerant of lapses in maintenance. That peculiar smell that old cars and old planes had? incomplete combustion.

I like this computer-controlled world. Things work much better.

The rope-and-pulley analog here would be "Hey Bertie, did you put the cotter pin on that rod?" "Ya ya, sure sure!"

Meanwhile, as the plane reaches 400 ft:

*clink* "Hey.. what was that?" "Hey man the thrott*BLAM* (impact on ground)

Apple pays attention to sound quality. This is evident from what comes out of the iphone, ipad, mac mini.

Beats, on the other hand, dips the music in sweet syrup, then wraps it in a soft blanket and then gives the bass a +10db boost. That's what their headphones sounded like to me.

I can only hope Apple will show beats what music really sounds like.

And as for bluetooth speakers, I use a JBL Clip. At least JBL remembers how to make good sound. Beats never learned. Plus it's really hard to clip a Pill to your backpack.. unless you improvise a carrying handle out of 1/2 inch velcro like a bud of mine did.

Where's my pothead hippie atheist science enthusiast candidate? Preferably one that also likes the military.

And yes, one can be a pacifist *and* still carry a wicked weapon. Speak softly, and carry a big stick?

I am frustrated to no end with the current political climate, and by extension the slow steady decline of this nation (usa) in the past 30+ years.

One is the car "key" (that round mini / bmw thing), that has a cast metal enamel Wakko Warner in a rather acrobatic pose dangling from it. Looks great when I'm hard left and he's sticking almost sideways

The other is the rest of the keys, on that i have a piston (complete with connecting rod and piston pin - the whole thing is maybe an inch long), a small pill bottle, a maglite led solitaire, the fob to get into the building i work at, and that's it. The rest is keys.

When I had an RX8 the fob had a working model of a rotary engine -- just one rotor though. But it did make the motions of a real wankel rotary. Great to illustrate to people how they work.

Oh come *on!* It's not too hard to guess, it's the same one in 10 Downing St!

Scr3w7h3pr0le5

Simple - those things have reached a certain degree of maturity - just like microwave ovens, hi-fi, TV/monitors, cars, airplanes, etc. For the most part we're just refining things that existed many decades ago in slightly different forms.

Generally speaking, the only places left to innovate are software ("apps") and integration of All Of The Above -- so really, the only place left for true innovation is the Internet of Things -- and even then.. it's just mashing disparate technologies together using a 40+ year old network.

Every now and then some genuine innovation does come along - smartphones, UCS, SSD, Moonshot, that new intel computer-on-a-usb-stick.

We're doomed. Dooooooomed!

Blind spots don't exist because car design makes for them, blind spots exist because drivers never were taught, or never learned, how to properly set up their car.

I've had old cars and new cars, and none of them have had blind spots. Including the Miata what with it's "huge" c-pillars when top-up, an Rx-8 that people insist had huge blind spots and bad visibility, and a Mini with a small back window and fat c-pillars. All these criticisms are bogus, but people *hate* being told they're wrong.

I could spend many bytes explaining why there is no such thing as blind spots, but you'll likely dismiss my explanation. So here, spend some time educating yourself on the problem and the solution.

One way.

Car and Driver's Way.

This is the one I use, they all mean the same thing anyway.

Se we should all be mindless sheeple who accelerate so slowly you get passed by a scooter, and corner so peacefully that the keychain barely moves away form vertical?

The insurance industry is suggesting we all drive like scared 80 year olds?

I'd rather die or just give the fuck up and get a driverless car.

You're welcome to your opinion, but I fail to see how taking off smartly from a light is going to confuse other drivers.

Are you thinking about me tearing off with smoke coming off my tires? No man. That's not at all what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about doing 50 in a 40, I'm not talking about being an obnoxious hoon. You seem to confuse brisk driving with mad, crazy driving.

The behavior I'm calling out is hazardous -- literally crawling out of a light, and doing 10 freaking miles per hours on a wide sweeper of a left turn at an intersection, with a column of cars behind. As if the road was ice. As if even slightly putting any G at all is going to make the car slide off into the curb. I'm not exaggerating, that's how people drive here.

It that the kind of driving your advocating?

Is someone who briskly takes off from a light -- not doing burnouts or other kinds of hooning, -- automatically less safe than someone who rolls out at snails' pace?

Is someone who goes around a corner with some amount of G automatically less safe than those who take forever to negotiate the same corner?

At least it should catch those who wait until the last moment to brake when approaching a light or other traffic.

This app is going to penalize people that aren't in fact less safe, and it will utterly fail at detecting some truly dangerous driving: Will it detect someone who follows too close? Will it detect eating a double cheeseburger with one hand while applying makeup with
the other? Will it detect someone who's texting while driving? Reaching back to smack the kiddies around? Taking eyes off the road to fuck with the radio or satnav?

Will it detect all those who have their side mirrors way too far in?

No, it won't detect truly dangerous behavior and will penalize those who like to have a little fun with their cars without endangering anyone. Because, you know, not everyone sees cars as a mere conveyance or appliance.

Well then, I respect your credentials, but will still say that I'd like the pilot to have final say.

I"m still WTF on AF 442. Bewildered, if you will. I can't wrap my brain around the fact that entire aircrew disregarded all their other instruments. I expect that out of a rookie like me, perhaps, if I got caught IFR while not being trained for it, but.. eh, I'll just stop right here. It happened, even if I can't comprehend how.

100% correct. So you believe your primary instruments: your artificial horizon, your altimeter, variometer, airspeed. You also must use your VOR, DME, ILS, ADF or whatever nav you're using.

So why did AF 447 not do any of that? It's obvious they could not / did not correctly interpret what their panel surely must've shown: Zero airspeed (false), unwinding altimeter (true), high sink rate (true), artificial horizon mostly blue (True)

Why was that?