July 29, 2011

There were 3 posts published on July 29, 2011 (this is page 1 of 1).

Ultimate neighborhood compliment

In the midst of a challenging day at work today, I was delighted to find that my neighborhood received the ultimate compliment today. A police officer is looking to move into the neighborhood. Why is this a compliment? Because cops know crime and they don’t want to live near crime.

We as a society ask an awful lot of our men and women in uniform. Our officers work long hours for low pay and frequently get no thanks for what they do. As they like to say, if an officer visits you you’re usually having a bad day. Also, their work can be intense. And dangerous. They deal with dangerous people every day so the rest of us don’t have to.
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‘Pilots could have saved’ Air France plane

A new report on the Air France 447 crash confirms that the pilots did not take proper action to recover from a stall, pointing the nose up when instead they should’ve pointed it down. Even beginner pilots know how to recover from stalls.

Again, there’s still no clear idea why the pilots didn’t follow this simple procedure.

The pilots of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 ignored repeated stall warnings and failed to follow textbook procedures, French investigators have found.

The updated account confirmed an earlier finding which said the crew responded to stall warnings by pointing the nose up instead of down.

“It seems obvious the crew didn’t recognise the situation they were in, for whatever reason, and more training could have helped,” said Paul Hayes, safety director at UK consultancy Ascend Aviation.

An aerodynamic stall — not to be confused with stalled engines — is a dangerous condition that occurs when wings are unable to support the aircraft. The textbook way of responding is to point the nose downwards to capture air at a better angle.

via ‘Pilots could have saved’ Air France plane – Europe – Al Jazeera English.

When is a parking violation not a parking violation?

My neighbor Mike Stenke runs a food truck business, Klausie’s Pizza. Recently there’s been a battle between the food truck operators and some downtown restaurants, who want some rules put in place on operating food trucks on public streets.

While I can sympathize with the restaurant owner’s arguments, I find it curious that no one’s raised a stink about the hot dog vendors that operate around town. I figure if a hot dog vendor can operate his food establishment on a public street, why not a food truck? Also, why should a required distance be placed between a food truck and a restaurant when no rule would keep a brick-and-mortar restaurant from opening right next to an existing restaurant? Do the existing restaurant owners want to legislate buffers between all potential competitors? If a restaurant owner is going to have a competitor, one would think he would prefer a competitor that could go away once in a while.

Anyway, the City Council heard the issues in a session last week and Stenke, because his livelihood depends on it, was also present for the discussion. After the meeting, though, someone pulled a dirty trick on Stenke, calling the cops about how his truck was parked.
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