I'll take my plate of crow now. FTR, what compels us is years of reading articles in credible computing circles that have said exactly what I said. Yes, upon further reflection, it does strike me that's industry bullshit from the folks who think automation works for everything. That said, I have not seen the claim credibly challenged before today. Clearly there is a lot of money out there selling the automated aircraft. I have known a lot of credible people in the computing, programming and robotics fields who have repeated this claim. My best response is that it is apparent pilots don't have the same sort of lobby out there explaining their side of the problem. Because frankly it looks like pilots have been decidedly left out of the discussion. Bear in mind, around these parts we're awfully prone to liking a good story about autonomous vehicles. Very simply put, good PR has sold me a lie that sits very easily with my mind.

Fair enough. I'll concede the pilots are still of utility when the shit hits the fan.

No they don't. If it's not a puddle jumper, the damn thing lands itself.

What's the big deal? The pilots on a commercial flight are just there to make the passengers feel better.

Just sayin . . .

I wonder if someone has a website of European budget carriers that allow this . . . because I could easily see Vuelling and Czech Air jumping on this. This is important stuff, folks. Otherwise, I'm taking sheets of plastic with me when I travel.

Oh, and a racist. So, about that . . . um, fuck Ron Paul.

150 years is daunting. And if you toss in no cure to Alzheimer's or the same relative physical decline around 40-80 years old, then the most likely single outcome will be an increase in suicides.

What they meant to say was "28 Days Later".

Good PR: the cure to shitty coding.

One, because to be honest up-sampled DVDs look pretty good.

Two, most movies are now shot in a style that looks like someone let a cat piss on the celluloid. Seriously, who the fuck wants to pop in the Battlestar Galactica Blu-Ray and see film grain and shitty lighting in hi-def!?

Three, for the price point, Blu-Ray doesn't deliver enough value except for the rare really well-shot movie.

Four, digital downloads. All things being equal, anything on disc is slightly antiquated. I rarely buy a disc of anything anymore.

Geez.

OMFG . . . when cluelessness attacks. How can anyone say that the post-Enron regulatory framework was anything except a clusterfuck? Show me the goddamned accountability in terms of real jail time.

Somewhere out there is a featherweight considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. Doesn't mean in a straight fight he wouldn't get killed by the best heavyweight.

Considering the number of hacked major websites I've now heard of storing their passwords in plaintext, my faith in industry standards is shot. When sites the size of Gawker, Reddit and Plenty of Fish fail this really braindead obvious level of security, I think people who implement plain MD5 start to feel like geniuses.