In keeping with yesterday’s post of how law enforcement deals with challenging situations, police in California seemed a bit too aggressive in the case below. Perhaps they followed procedure … but if innocent, an incident like this can be frightening. Should police have handled John and Martha King differently?
John King shared his “guns drawn/detained in handcuffs” incident in an AOPA video conference call. What we learn is that a reassigned N-number and lousy research by the government’s El Paso Intelligence Center left local police with a black-eye and a pilot and his wife shaken.
Do you know the history of the planes and N-numbers you fly before planning an IFR flight?
Hopefully listening, reading and keeping an open mind to a variety of opinions — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and even Socialists — will give me informed opinions when I head to the polls to elect a representative.
Last night an interesting statistic was toss out by self-professed Libertarian John Stossel – it was a statistic that I needed to verify. Although personally I’ve already hypothesized that extending unemployment benefits does dissuade some people from aggressively finding jobs, I was surprise to hear the high numbers. The “one-third” comment Stossel made came from a 2003 Pennsylvania study which concluded that “28% of unemployed workers found work within a week of their unemployment benefits running out.” *
Disturbing considering unemployment benefits were just extended again … I do wonder if these statistics are realistic in today’s economy?
What would you do if you were security or police and asked to escort someone from the Alaska State Fair (private property) who was “loudly” exercising his constitutionally protected right to Freedom of Speech?
Some say security used excessive force … others express concern that the “provoked and angry Palmer Alaska resident, Sidney Hill was asking for trouble.
When security personnel discovered Hill had a handgun on him, “that’s when the whole thing changed … All the supporters went away when they saw there was a gun.”
Every once in a while, the point of sale technique works on me … and today was the day. I coughed up $1.43 for a Palm Pre app called Neato! It’s a simple little application that runs on the webOS smartphone and receives webpage links, copied text and maps from a computer browser using a javascript bookmark button (installed on Chrome and Firefox).
Once installed and running on the Pre, the bookmarklet added to the browser bar can be clicked to send the page or text to the registered smartphone … so as long as the app Neato! is running in the background AND the screen is active (battery saving feature). The current productive use that I’ve found is with maps; I often look something up while at the desk and with a single click can quickly send it to the phone before heading out of the office.
A second use is to send a highlighted bit of text that contains an name and/or phone number and send it to the phone. One click and it is waiting to be used or copied to my contacts or calendar (slightly easier than adding to Google Contacts or Calendar and hoping it syncs before I need it). Nevertheless, I’d like to see a bit more two way communication (ie. phone to computer) and an archiving feature that saves and perhaps edits previous items. The app works easy with YouTube clips and photos/images too.
As the tropical activity heats up in the Atlantic, I wanted to play a little more with raw data to see exactly what kind of projections are concluded. For those not in the bluewater sailing or weather watching world, the data is downloaded and run in GRIB file readers. I’m using UGRIB and imported the data about 17:00 EST on Monday.
Currently the storm centers of Danielle and Earl are both spinning around in the Atlantic Ocean and they were impressively captured by NASA’s Terra satellite (be sure to click for larger files). Both of these storms are expected to impact land with Earl seemingly the biggest threat to the US east coast later this week. Below is a short video projecting the path.
Danielle started causing problems for U.S. east coast residents this past weekend with large waves and dangerous surf conditions and reports indicated that more than 100 people were rescued from dangerous currents in beaches from Maryland to New Jersey. According to reports, “large waves and dangerous surf conditions are diminishing around Bermuda today, and will gradually subside along the U.S. east coast over the next couple of days. Waves near 10 feet however are expected to develop this afternoon along parts of Newfoundland, Canada as Danielle tracks northward. Danielle’s maximum sustained winds were near 75 mph, and it is expected to weaken in the next 48 hours and become extratropical.
After reading the Winding Road review of the 2010 Audi A3 TDI, there isn’t a good reason to envy those forking over additional dollars to own the Audi (over $30K).
A few years ago Donna Lange sailed alone around the world on her small well built Southern Cross 28 sailboat (see PDF Brochure). I enjoyed staying in touch with her and posting on my blog. Brenda and I also enjoyed catching up with her as well last year in Annapolis for a boatshow and get her to sign a copy of her book, Captain D & Wise Mother Ocean. After her circumnavigation, she settled in West Palm Beach and is teaching nursing as well as continuing to speak, write, sing and volunteer with the organization Ocean Watch(see North American link). This summer, after prepping her sailboat Inspired Insanity, she set sail on a 1000 mile 12 day sail from Rhode Island to West Palm Beach – but all did not go as planned. She tells of her trouble off Duck, North Carolina.
My father-in-law was taken to the hospital on Wednesday this week and since I was conveniently working in NE Ohio, I opted to head to Jamestown NY in order to lend a hand. Getting him to the hospital ended up being the right move and he is resting far more comfortably under doctor and nursing care than remaining at home. My mother-in-law appreciated having me around as all three daughters needed a couple days to adjust their schedules; I was glad to be able to help.
While here, I also took some time to take care of a few home projects, haul some stuff to the dump and mow grass. Interestingly, there is also a black bear spending time eating the ripening berries behind the barn and bulldozer shed. I failed in getting his picture, but can post a photo of his “droppings” … but won’t. Instead, how about a mistake that all of us make at least once in our lives? I stopped at McDonald’s on my way home and whoops!!!
USA Today reported last week that civil servants received average pay and benefits of $123,049 last year, while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation. The report, using data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, also said the federal compensation advantage had grown from $30,415 in 2000 to $62,000 last year … when did this happen?
Drugs, teens, alcohol and driving … not good combinations.
Eden arrested and released before crash
BEAVERCREEK, Ohio (WDTN) – Brennan Eden, the driver of the car that went airborne and crashed on I-675 in Beavercreek, Ohio Aug. 23 had been arrested and released by Beavercreek Police approximately an hour before the crash occurred.
According to a statement by the Beavercreek Police Department, Eden, 19, of Mason, Ohio, was arrested at approximately 6:13 a.m.
Police said the Eden was found in his car with a juvenile female in a parking lot near the corner of Beaver Vu Dr. and N. Fairfield Rd. Police said they found an unopened can of alcohol, a trace of marijuana, and drug paraphernalia inside Eden’s car.
A couple day’s before our vacation, Sprint pushed out the webOS 1.4.5 update to Palm webOS phones. I resisted the urge to update prior to leaving (thankfully), as I had some concern that the Pre Backup Utility wouldn’t be sufficient to restore the ‘homebrew’ apps, patches and tweaks I installed over the past year, an assumption was correct in my case.
The actually update pushed overnight and was no problem, but attempting to restore the customization to the phone was a complete failure. The “restore” feature from the Pre Backup Utility whirled endlessly and by morning after a reboot had restored my phone to factory specs and no personal data whatsoever. The balance of the morning was spent synchronizing data via “the cloud” so I could at least have my contacts and calendar functioning again.
