Aviation
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Endweek
Make America Grate Again Yesterday's depressing news was Trump's latest attempted slaying of the Hudson Tunnel Project, which may be more expensive to shut own than to complete. But that's just my off-the-wall take. The real story is far more complicated. Today's depressing news is the end of the CIA World Factbook, one of the Continue reading
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Flying Fckery
Go now to FlightAware’s MiseryMap. Cick on the blue Play button and watch The Great Storm of January 25-26 move across the land and cause massive delays at airports in its path. I have a 1.59 GB movie (.mov) of what you just saw. What should I do with it? Bonus image: Continue reading
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Who New?
Might be Winter Every day it snows a little here. Required reading. Seriously. Adrian Gropper: Taking Control of Your Healthcare is More Important Than Ever—Get help from a private AI that works for you – and only you. Announcing the North Atlantic Takeover Organization I avoid politics here, but it’s hard not to hear echoes Continue reading
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Dept. of Overstate
Pull almost-quote: Never mistake malice for stupidity Says here that 4% support for the U.S. taking over Greenland is in the lizardman range. When will he come to the US? Peter Bence is an amazing pianist. Made it a bit punchier I just gave The Only Way to Get Privacy Online a fresh edit, based on Continue reading
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O’Hare can you see?
Always buy in the past In 1991, my bride bought us both lifetime memberships in United Airlines’ airport lounge, then called the Red Carpet Club. I forget the price, but it was cheap, considering. I’m guessing it was less than what one would pay now for just a year’s worth of club membership. Naturally (and Continue reading
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Rethinkings Out Loud
Anchors Away Nothing is more North Atlantic than Greenland. If the US siezes it, NATO will transform from an alliance to a war zone, where allies become combatants. Does anyone outside Trump’s amen corner want that? But what if the US buys Greenland from Denmark, like it bought the Louisiana Territory from France and Alaska Continue reading
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Not the other thing
Location, Location, Location I'm 30 kilofeet above the Missouri River, westbound from IND to DEN, with (United tells me) eight minutes to get from Gate B24 to Gate…?. It's blank. Doesn't say. I guess we'll find out. Update over Nebraska: We need to get from B45 to B25 in 8 minutes or less. It'll be Continue reading
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States of Pay
Say Aaaahg! I try to publish interesting and useful stuff every day. And yet. And yet. Of the 17+ million views my photos on Flickr have had since 2004, the most-viewed, by far, is the scary one above*. Second-most is this one. Less dental, but just in-your-face (and mine). *All those gold crowns and inlays Continue reading
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Cerebrations
Can you guess the two voices? Mr. Rogers meets the bass player. Still funny 50 years later. It burped in our direction How and why the Sun grounded 6000 planes last month. Watch out above As of 7pm ET, a solar storm is starting, causing auroras that may be visible in North America across many Continue reading
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Breaking Points
Dana Blankenhorn, part-time Nederlander, calls bullsit on this. Facebook Marketplace, from which I have only bought cheap local furniture, recommends (no shit) that I buy (and I quote by plaintext copy/paste) a 2001 Prevost H345 Prevost H345 Team bus $35,000 Louisville, KY. Jim Fallows on air travel. Neal Stephenson on a weird kind of big Continue reading
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Life after SeatGuru
As a devout window-sitter on planes, SeatGuru was a must-have for avoiding misaligned or absent windows on booked flights. But now it’s gone, because its owner, Tripadvisor, failed to keep it fresh. I didn’t know SeatGuru was gone until I read this story about a class-action suit against United for the airline’s failure to let passengers know when a Continue reading
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Flying Wide
The crash of UPS Airlines Flight 2976 at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) yesterday afternoon was 76 miles from here. Feels closer. A house in the middle of nowhere, Texas, contains a Boeing 727 fuselage. French words in English for airplane parts: fuselage, nacelle, aileron, empennage. This is largely because the Wright Brothers held tight Continue reading
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This is a Test. Or a Taste. Or both.
What see ye? I shot the photo above last night on approach to SFO. My window seat was on the left side of the plane. Tell me where this is, what the two most standout features are, and what was happening in the brigher one at the time. Just for fun. No rewards. I’ll say Continue reading
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Monday, 7 July 2025
Entrails. This vs. this. Bonus link. Earth is a tiny blue exception to it. Here is why space matters. Bargains. Amazon currently has the Airpods 4 for $89 and the Airpods Pro 2 for $149. They are [$179 and $249 at Apple](Amazon currently has the Airpods 4 for $89 and the Airpods Pro 2 for $149. Continue reading
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Weekendings
Finals thoughts. I'm a lifelong Knicks fan who felt that the Knicks and the Pacers are (or were) so evenly matched that the difference would be coaching. And that's why I thought the Knicks would win game six in Indianapolis last night, and close the series with game seven in New York. Tom Thibodeau did Continue reading
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Coming to Understandings, and Perhaps Actions
Looking for one reporter—just one—from Wired or any other major news organization, to dig into this. Michaela Neville's A Starter Guide to Protecting Your Data From Hackers and Corporations in Wired gives good advice, but neglects to visit the magazine's own participation in the vast personal data harvesting adtech fecosystem. Here's a PageXray of the river delta out Continue reading
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Motherings
Trump will be flying Qatar One instead of (or as) Air Force One: Aaaand,,,, Call your mother, if she’s still around. If she’s not, remember her anyway. I did that here. I’m pointing to A look at broadcast history happening because it came up in a conversation about archives. Also because that history (especially concerning Continue reading
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Flyings
Neither here nor there, yet. At BWI, about to board an SWA flight to IND. There are thunderstorms between the airports and more on the way, but no delay so far. Meanwhile, this gives me chance to talk weather apps. My current fave is Windy, which visualizes winds at all altitudes, real time lightning (with visuals Continue reading
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Thoughts
An important extinction. Overheard (between veteran unemployed journalists): “I’m not a has-been. I’m a still-was.” Because you’re the only one who might employ you. “DIY journalism” just got uttered in a call I’m on. Its the windows, mostly. I didn’t like Boeing’s 787 eight years ago, and still don’t like it now. That’s my response Continue reading
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A Hat Tip to United
United Airlines details 6 big inflight entertainment updates, including all-new Control Tower map, by Zach Griff in The Points Guy, is thick with welcome news for frequent United fliers, of which my wife and I are two. (So far I have clocked 1,533,214 miles with United, and she has about double that. We are also Continue reading