Aviation
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
Aviation vs. Fire
3:22pm—Hats off to Miles Archer for the links below, one of which goes here— —showing all the aircraft and their paths at once. You can start here at https://globe.adsbexchange.com/, which is kind of your slate that’s blank except for live aircraft over the Palisades Fire: Meanwhile all the media are reporting one home loss, in… Continue reading
-
Palisades Fire on the Ridge
10:15pm—Here is a Google Earth Pro view of the Palisades fire crossing the wilderness north of Pacific Palisades and south of “Dry Mulholland”—the dirt road that serves as a firebreak along the ridge of the mountains south of the San Fernando Valley: The large squares are MODIS satellite fire detections. The smaller ones are VIIRS.… Continue reading
-
Please, United: Don’t Do It.
I’ve flown 1,500,242 miles with United Airlines. My wife has flown at least a million more. Both of us currently enjoy Premier status, though we’ve spent much of our time with United at the fancier 1K level. We are also both lifetime United Club members and have been so for thirty-three years. Unlike many passengers… Continue reading
-
From Hollywood Park Racetrack to SoFi Stadium
Hollywood Park Racetrack is gone. In its place is SoFi Stadium, the 77,000-seat home of Los Angeles’ two pro football teams and much else, including the 6,000-seat YouTube Theater. There’s also more to come in the surrounding vastness of Hollywood Park, named after the racetrack. Wikipedia says the park— consists of over 8.5 million square feet (790,000 m2)… Continue reading
-
On windowseat photography
A visitor to aerial photos on my Flickr site asked me where one should sit on a passenger plane to shoot pictures like mine. This post expands on what I wrote back to him. Here’s the main thing: you want a window seat on the side of the plane shaded from the Sun, and away… Continue reading
-
Making useful photographs
What does it mean when perhaps hundreds of thousands of one’s photos appear in articles, essays and posts all over the Web? It means they’re useful. That’s why I posted the originals in the first place, and licensed them to require only attribution. Because of that, I can at least guess at how many have… Continue reading
-
When a thunderstorm appears right on top of an airport
This is the situation at Newark Airport right now: Those blobs are thunderstorms. The little racetrack in upstate New York is an inbound flight from Lisbon in a holding pattern. Follow the link under that screen shot. Interesting to see, in close to real time, how flights on approach and departure dodge heavy weather. I’ll… Continue reading
-
A miracle of flight
That was the view to the south from 31,000 feet above the center of Greenland a few hours ago: a late afternoon aurora over a blue dusk. According to my little hand-held GPS, we were around here: “11/10/17, 11:48:32 AM” “2.4 mi” “0:00:16” “538 mph” “30072 ft” “283° true” “N70° 56′ 10.4″ W38° 52′ 59.1″”. That’s about four… Continue reading
-
A dark review for United’s Boeing 787
An update on 1 May 2024: Read what Cory Doctorow published today. Pro tip: avoid 787s if you can. On top of what Cory says in that piece, what I wrote here when the 787s were new is secondary stuff, but somehow consistent with how things are done at that company. I had wanted to… Continue reading
-
Heavy (but brief) weather
Here’s what flying in and out of Newark looks like right now: That storm is very heavy, but narrow. It’s going to wash over New York like a big wave. Hat tip to Flightaware. Continue reading