.22 is a tiny caliber...but it's not much smaller than .223 (AR15/M16). You can do a lot of damage with a .22, you just have to hit the right things to get a kill with it.

OK, now you're clearly just trolling.

That's because manning the aircraft is pointless. The pilot is the most valuable thing on the plane.

That may seem a bit emotional, but look at the costs. Life-support, weight, cockpit space and the associated drag, the need to provide some way of seeing, the ability to get the pilot out in an emergency, visible screens or gauges, interior lighting, pilot training, survivor benefits/retirement pay, salaries, all needing to withstand the forces at that speed, and all protecting the least predictable part of the combination.

And that's added to the idea that we have to care whether we can recover the pilot in an emergency.

Just tack some sufficient self-destruct mechanism to sensitive equipment. Even disable external control on any craft that may need to loiter, and pre-program the entire route if you want. At worst, we lose a robot.

Doesn't matter, unless the Tea Partier was forced to bring the set amount of cookies only to have them taken away. Most Tea Partiers are angry about what they were forced to bring only to see it wasted, not upset about what other people might offer them.

It's too late on a Friday for that kind of moral dilemma. And definitely too late on Friday for a meeting.

Assault rifles don't exist until someone commits assault with a rifle. At that point, any rifle is an assault rifle.

Any time I see a news article or press release with the term "assault rifle" in it I know I'm dealing with someone who doesn't know anything at all about guns. A quick scan of TFA, BTW, does not name or picture the weapon. For all we know, it could be a deer rifle with a black stock, a Warsaw Pact semiauto AK, any of dozens of M4/M14/M16/AR15 semiauto clones, or a really tricked out Ruger 10-22 (and a lucky shot on the one kill). A more attentive reading might tell us more, but I doubt it.

It wouldn't be half as offensive if what the government did were in some way related to keeping us safe. The TSA is the least convincing theatre troupe I have ever encountered.

Well, if you need to identify something deplorable, may as well ask the experts.

True, but 120+ won't compete with Boeing and Airbus.

I understand the realities of it, I'm just saying that as soon as we took to the skies, we essentially ditched what in today's TSA-riddled travel experiences would be a great alternative if we'd simply hung onto it.

My subtle jab at the inability of the US to build and sustain high speed passenger rail seems to have been lost in the text format. There was nothing this trip accomplished that was cheaper than flying. Even on a fairly plush ticket. Mildly interesting, sure, but this trip was largely just stupid.

It seems like if you can do this with a car, where there are traffic laws and speed limits, there's no good reason why a NY-LA bullet train wouldn't work.

I may not be a cell-phone-in-a-business-meeting guy, but I am firmly of the opinion that the more of someone's time you waste while holding a meeting, the more likely people are to find something else to do while attending.

Most people who hold "meetings" in today's business world confuse meeting with lectures and slideshows.

Watch anything where a meeting takes place from your grandparents' generation. Someone is in charge, someone is taking down the minutes, the presentations are quick, efficient, and unembellished beyond what is effective. There is an agenda, and it is adhered to. If it is not on the agenda, it can wait until another meeting, or be discussed during new business. Everyone is expected to bring something other than their body to the meeting, and everyone gets an opportunity to contribute.

Go to an average meeting today. At almost every job I've had, what is called a meeting is really a "this should have been a brief email" coupled with "your input is only desired if you agree with me".

I don't know, but I've been having a hell of a time updating my Geocities site.

Businesses are groups of one or more people banded together with a common commercial purposes. At present, grouping together does not waive their rights as citizens.