Unsympathetic news reader?

While watching report of Air France tragedy on CNN, I noticed an odd thing; the news reader on the left side seems to have a little smile on her face. I don't know what was running through her mind at that time but the expression on her face was quite disrespectful, to not only the people who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy but to their families and friends as well. I hope such behavior is not repeated.

Air france tragedy

As we have all heard by now, Air France went down in Atlantic few days back on its way to Paris from Rio. 228 people all dead. Was it bad weather... complete failure of electrical systems, it seems no one will ever know as from the media reports it appears that it is highly unlikely to locate the black box considering that it may be at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean or stuck in the mountainous region in that part part of the Atlantic. This made me think why don't they make black box to be floatable. I googled it and came across the following:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090603083335AAxBlmS

Particularly, I found following reply from a person named "propman" quite relevant:

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Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR) would certainly be easier to locate if they floated but there are serious engineering problems to overcome. The recorders are usually located in the rearmost compartment, near the centerline of the fuselage and as such is surrounded by the structure of the aircraft. This is done to provide the recorders with as much mechanical protection as possible in a crash. The recorders can also record up to several dozen (in the case of FDRs) channels of information. This means the electrical connectors are very large and require a bit of work sometimes to disconnect. The recorders are also big and heavy. 

In order to separate the recorder from the aircraft would require some mechanical means to eject the unit from the aircraft during the beginning of the impact event, before the tail structure became distorted. The “Launching Charge” must not present any danger of starting a fire and be powerful enough to push the recorder a safe distance from the plane. Think of an scaled down ejection seat, only pushing against a heavy steel box. The box would still be heavy since it would need to suvive the crash in case it didn't eject. The electrical connectors must also release instantly, completely and reliably. Perhaps just cutting the wires with a squib charge.

Now we have to get the box to float. Floatation foam is simple enough, but the shear volume required would make an already unwieldy box even more difficult. Perhaps a self inflating bag, like a life vest? That may work. And if the box is floating, an Emergency Locator Beacon (ELT) would assist in locating it. The recorders are already fitted with a device for finding it if it sinks. This device is called an Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) and is NOT part of the recorder but is separate and located on the outside of the recorder case attached by brackets.

There we have it: Recorders that jettison from aircraft during impact and float.

So why don’t we have them?

The answer is MONEY.

To design such a system and maintain it would not only cost a large amount of money, but that cost would provide a disproportionate cost-benefit. That is to say it’s not worth it. The purpose of the recorders is to assist in crash investigation but they are not the only source of information and as such are nice to have but not absolutely necessary.. Besides, there have been recorders that have been recoverable in water crashes by other means. Very few have been ‘lost’.

Perhaps in the future we may have a palm sized combination CVR-FDR that weighs mere ounces and be mounted on top of the rudder under plastic film.... 

Hmmmm……Maybe……..But not today.

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LTTE is gone. What Mahinda Rajapaksa must do now...

It is time for the world to congratulate Sri Lankans for having taken out LTTE, a home grown group of separatists who had used terror and suicide killing to further their agenda. The approach of using terrorism as a means of achieving an independent state has seldom worked (it worked in case of Nepal Maoists whose main agenda was to give equal rights for lower-caste people). To understand more about Maoists and its movement refer to these (BBC, Time) links.

In any case, at this juncture in Sri Lanka it is important that President Rajapaksa works towards providing a equitable life for Tamilians in Sri Lanka otherwise it could be a matter of time when someone fills in the shoes of Prabhakaran. 

Name of countries and the radical groups that are known to use violence

Country   Radical Group   Why Status

Peru Shining Path  Marxism Ongoing

Nepal Maoists Marxism Currently form the official govt. of Nepal

Sri Lanka  LTTE Separate State Eradicated

Columbia        ELN Marxism Ongoing

....

Popular phrases by profession...

What do people belonging to a particular profession/situation say most often :-)

A Witness: I don't recall...

A Manager: It depends...

A Lawyer: I object...

Design Gotchas

Apple is known for its cool, innovative and user-friendly designs and rightly so: iPods and iPhones have revolutionized the otherwise lackluster electronic consumer product market. However, it is equally surprising when a design conscious company makes some very obvious design blunders. I recently bought an iMac and as much as I was amazed by the beauty of the product, I was disappointed to see the extra-ordinarily short keyboard and mouse wires. Even if I place the desktop at an arm length, the mouse wire comes really short. Sometimes I like to place the keyboard on the tray, in which case the keyboard wire falls short. Honestly, this is frustrating. Moreover, I was hoping to not get a laptop-sized keyboard with a Desktop computer. Maybe they could have packaged an ergonomically designed keyboard with Bluetooth (so that I can reduce the wire clutter on the table).

I am reminded of another product design annoyance from an otherwise design conscious company - Ikea. Ikea never stops to amaze the new shopper setting a step in their store and even for the regular shoppers it is a pleasant experience looking at the diverse and beautifully arranged room settings. On my first visit several years back, while I was enjoying the unique experience, I remember almost feeling disoriented in the big showroom; easy navigation in a store with large real estate is a rare phenomenon. In any case, the design gotcha that was most glaringly obvious was when I went to the check-out counter. The conveyor belt was quite narrow and it was difficult to place even modestly small items on the belt. It could be a small thing but it was definitely a bit annoying to try manage putting all the products on the belt. If you have been to Ikea, I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts.

1st Customer of HYC

Today, I drove my first customer of Help-You-Carry. She was an old lady living in San Jose. She had gotten information about HYC from Los Gatos Senior Center and she wanted to utilize the driving+shopping service, as she couldnt drive herself. My wife had accompanied me this time and that helped: the lady was using a walker and having my wife helped in overall logistics. Also, while the lady was shopping in the Target store, my wife and I did some of our own shopping. Overall it took about 3+ hrs from the time we left our home to the time when we were back.  It felt really good to be able to help someone!

Does California owe money to you?

Heard this on a local news channel:

Go to the following site and enter your name/city information to see if you are owed some money (at least I wasn't)

http://scoweb.sco.ca.gov/UCP/