Cop Car's Beat

Coordination, coordination, coordination

In real estate, it's location, location, location. In doing something that affects a lot of people, it's coordination, coordination, coordination.

A bit over one year ago, someone started a buzz around Wichita to change the name of the largest airport in the State of Kansas. Eventually, "The Wichita City Council, sitting as the airport authority, voted Tuesday to change the name of Mid-Continent Airport to Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport. (April 8, 2014) The Wichita Eagle". Below is the photo that accompanies the newspaper report.

The article continued:

The action Tuesday was largely symbolic, clearing the way for the new name to go to the Federal Aviation Administration for paperwork changes. The name change becomes effective next year when the new airport terminal opens.

The vote also cleans up a city omission from March, inserting the name “Wichita” officially into the new airport name.

Eisenhower, who was from Abilene, served as supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II and as United States president from 1953 to 1961.

Opponents of the change reiterated their criticisms Tuesday: the estimated $270,000 cost to the airport and city to change the name and highway signage, the 60 years that have passed since Ike was president.

Former county commissioner Dave Bayouth contended that young people today don’t know who Eisenhower is.

And city clerk Karen Sublett read into the record a statement from the city’s airport advisory board opposing the change. The board met Monday afternoon and voted 10-1 to oppose the name change.

But in the end, Mayor Carl Brewer said, “I could never come up with a reason not. There are more reasons why it’s the right thing to do.”

I changed some of the text to red in the above excerpt: "The name change becomes effective next year when the new airport terminal opens." Therein, lies the rub. No one thought about coordinating the name change with the FAA's schedule for publishing updated charts. Thus, although the signage remains the same (well, it looked just like the above photo when I took Hunky Husband to catch his flight last Sunday morning), the FAA has changed some charts. For instance, if a pilot looks up NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen), this is what greets them:

Data Current as of: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 13:37:00 UTC

---

 

ICT   WICHITA DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER NATIONAL

 

The new terminal is scheduled to open in about three months. I'll try to remember to share some photos at that time.

Please note that Pres Eisenhower had no ties to Wichita, other than having lived in the State of Kansas - in Abilene KS - about 120 miles distant from Wichita. The Eisenhower Memorial Highway (AKA Kansas Hiway 15 or K-15) runs through Wichita, leading to Abilene, the site of the Eisenhower Memorial Museum. From our house, driving a total of 1.75 miles west, 0.4 miles north puts us on K-15.

If you want a cool burial site, discover a planet...er...planetoid.

NASA's New Horizons To Arrive At Pluto With Clyde Tombaugh's Ashes 46                        

Posted by timothyon Sunday January 11, 2015 @12:09PM from the economy-rate dept.

hypnosec writes NASA's New Horizons is bringing with it the ashes of Clyde Tombaugh – its discoverer – as it cruises towards the now dwarf-planet or 'plutoid'. The probe will be close enough on January 15 to start observing Pluto. Clyde Tombaugh discovered the ice and rock-laden Pluto in 1930 and one of his final requests was that his ashes be sent into space. Tombaugh died on January 17, 1997. Fulfilling that wish NASA has fitted the upper deck of New Horizons probe with a small container containing Tombaugh's ashes alongside a total of 7 scientific instruments. "Interned herein are remains of American Clyde W. Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto and the solar system's 'third zone'", reads the inscription on the container.

I want to start a movement.

I don't know about your email provider, but my providers (2) do a great job of protecting me from scam and spam emails. Why can't my phone service providers (2) do a great job of protecting me from scam and spam phone calls?

A few years ago, I got into the habit of reporting scam emails to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). I don't know that it did a lot of good, but it could not have hurt. Eventually, incoming email filters were improved to the point that I don't recall the last time I received an actual scamming email.

Please tell me: Why have I not been reporting scamming phone calls? *shoulder shrug*

The following is from the FTC website - The FTC Complaint Assistant. Note that this site is not just for reporting phone calls, but for any type of problem that affects interstate commerce. (As consumers of internet and phone services, we are a part of the commerce equation.)

Welcome!

Complaints from consumers help us detect patterns of fraud and abuse. The FTC would like to know more about your complaint and the Complaint Assistant will help guide you. To use the Complaint Assistant:

• Choose a complaint category on the right [See below - CC]. If you can't find a match select "Other".
• Answer a few questions related to your complaint.
• Tell us what happened in your own words.

This is a listing of the menu items - not linked, here, but found at the linked website.

• Identity Theft
• Credit and Debt
• Unwanted Telemarketing, Text, or SPAM
• Mobile Devices or Telephones
• Internet Services, Online Shopping, or Computers
• Jobs and Making Money
• Other

-    Counterfeit Checks

-    Impostor Scams

-    Sweepstakes and Prize Promotions

-    Automobile

-    Satellite and Cable TV Provider

-    Magazines

-    Health and Fitness

-    Foreign Lottery

-    Grants or Education Scholarships

-    Charitable Solicitations

-    Romance Scams

-    Immigration or Tax Services

-    Travel, Vacations or Timeshares

-    No match found? Click Here

FTC has an interesting article posted, FTC shuts down multi-million dollar phone scam.

If you don't already avail yourself of the opportunity, join me in a movement to start reporting the scamming phone calls. It won't stop the annoyance of the spamming phone calls; but, one step at a time! Bitchin' ain't enough. I need to start telling the people who can do something about scamming phone calls!

P.S. Did I tell you that a few days after my previous posting (Pet Peeve#7), Hunky Husband picked up a similar call to the same phone line?

Observing Veterans Day

My great-grandfather fought in the so-called Spanish-American War. His father had been a Union soldier in the War Between the States. Since then, none of my close blood relatives has seen war service. However, I do recall my parents' actions during WWII toward people who were serving. They never missed an opportunity to give a "soldier boy" a lift and my mother went so far as to "adopt" a fellow who was serving in the army, sending him  home-baked cakes and small gifts that could travel through the mail. This relationship extended several years beyond the end of the war. WWII ended in 1945, of course. A little over one year later, we moved to Kansas City, Missouri.

Kansas City has a memorial*, downtown, honoring the people who served in WWI - the Liberty Memorial. A crowd of over 100,000 people gathered for the dedication of the site for the memorial in 1921. When construction was completed in 1926, a crowd of over 150,000 people gathered to see President Calvin Coolidge dedicate the edifice (photo, above). Thenceforth, each November 11th, a parade was held through downtown Kansas City, culminating at the Liberty Memorial. In a few of those years, Elder Brother and/or I marched in the parade on November 11th - including in 1949.

November 11, 1949, was a brisk day. Our mother didn't worry too much about Elder Brother who would be wearing a heavy woolen uniform as a member of our high school's marching band (he played baritone horn - a horn nearly as large as he was in those days); but, she worried about my legs' freezing. Although the temperatures were in the 20s (Farenheit) that day, with a little wind, I did not suffer from the cold. I am nearly always warm enough, and marching keeps anyone warm. (Photo, below: Our twirling instructor arranged for Mildred, Judy, and me to march with the band from our neighborhood's Catholic high school - Lillis.)

_______________________________________

* From the Liberty Memorial Association's website: "In 2004, the Museum was designated by Congress as the nation's official World War I Museum, and construction started on a new 80,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art museum and the Edward Jones Research Center underneath the Liberty Memorial."

Re-visiting the conditions of 2008

Slashdot.org posted this item (below) the other day.

The Secret Goldman Sachs Tapes 172                        

Posted by Soulskillon Friday September 26, 2014 @03:19PM from the everything-you-suspected dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The radio program "This American Life" has published an extraordinary investigative report on how the U.S. government regulators in charge of keeping an eye on the banks actually interact with powerful financial institutions (podcast here). Financial journalist Michael Lewis describes the report thus: "The Fed failed to regulate the banks because it did not encourage its employees to ask questions, to speak their minds or to point out problems. Just the opposite: The Fed encourages its employees to keep their heads down, to obey their managers and to appease the banks. That is, bank regulators failed to do their jobs properly not because they lacked the tools but because they were discouraged from using them. The report quotes Fed employees saying things like, 'until I know what my boss thinks I don't want to tell you,' and 'no one feels individually accountable for financial crisis mistakes because management is through consensus.'"

Speaking for myself, I think it is absolutely right to expect Federal Regulators to do their job by using the tools available to them. However, I think it absolutely wrong to blame the Feds for the wrong-doing, itself, rather than the investment industry scalliwags.

I don't know that the setup in the banking business is similar to the setup in the aerospace business; but, in the aerospace business, there are certain company employees who have appointment from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to keep an eye on things - to assure that things in their purview are done correctly (per Federal Aviation Regulations) and, more importantly, in a manner to assure the safety of the people flying their company's products.

For instance, as a Designated Engineering Representative - Structural for the FAA while employed by the Little Airplane Company, it was my responsibility to assure the structural integrity of the design of certain aircraft, the design of installations in those aircraft, and the design of any modifications and/or repairs made to those aircraft by the Little Airplane Company. Note that I did not assure that the airplane, installation, or modification/repair conformed to design - that fell to Quality Assurance (QA or Inspection).

It was QA's responsibility to inform the FAA if it was determined that aircraft, installation, or modification/repair did not conform to design - and what specific units were suspected to have been non-conforming. It was up to me to, working with company employees, determine what should be done about the non-conformance. I coordinated these findings with my FAA counterpart. It was up to the FAA to assure that "what we were going to do about the non-conformance" would protect the safety of the public. In other words, the FAA acted as a back-up system.

If the other company employees and I did our jobs correctly and well, the FAA could have been completely "asleep at the switch" (which, by the way, I never found them to be!) and the safety of the public would have been taken care of as long as aircraft owner/operators complied with Airworthiness Directives* (Service Letters, issued for less critical issues, I won't address). The most help that FAA could be to the Little Airplane Company and me was to, by force of law, require aircraft owners and operators to comply with Airworthiness Directives that they received requiring corrective action on their aircraft, installations, and modifications/repairs. Neither the Little Airplane Company nor I wielded that big stick!

If the people in the financial institutions had done their jobs correctly and well, the security of the investors should have been assured.

_________________________

* Airworthiness Directives include a time or service span within which compliance must be made - sometimes immediately grounding an aircraft, sometimes specifying the number of hours OR the number of ground-air-ground operation cycles by which compliance must be made.

Military videos

Pergelator's posting, today, concerned the F/A-18. In doing some fact checking before I made comment to him, I ran into a bunch of interesting US Navy videos on one of their web sites. Two of my favorites are also available via YouTube - fortunately for me! The originals are posted on America's Navy website.

The first video concerns "Big MO".

USS Missouri Celebrates 69th Anniversary of the End of World War II

 Published on Sep 3, 2014          

All Hands Update September 3, 2014 #2 Service members and civilians celebrated the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II aboard USS Missouri.

Then there is a ship-based drone that resembles a mini B-2.

SUPER ADVANCED US Navy X-47 stealth UAV Aircraft take off and landing

 

Published on Aug 19, 2014          

A great idea for the US navy the x-47 uav aircraft will be useful in future conflicts. The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) designed for carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARPA's J-UCAS program, and is now part of the United States Navy's Unmanned Combat Air System Demonstration (UCAS-D) program. The X-47B first flew in 2011, and as of 2014, it is undergoing flight and operational integration testing, having successfully performed a series of land- and carrier-based demonstrations.[2][3][4] Northrop Grumman intends to develop the prototype X-47B into a battlefield-ready aircraft, the Unmanned Carrier-Launched Surveillance and Strike (UCLASS) system, which will enter service by 2019.[5] In August, 2014, the US Navy announced that it had integrated the X-47B into carrier operations alongside manned aircraft. 

Go to the YouTube posting for the history of the X-47's development. And, no, you are correct. The "wings" of the B-2 don't fold up. It doesn't attempt carrier operations!

A tale about Executive Order 12333 - from Slashdot

The Executive Order That Led To Mass Spying, As Told By NSA Alumni 94                        

Posted by samzenpuson Thursday August 28, 2014 @07:57PM from the I-see-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes with this Ars piece about the executive order that is the legal basis for the U.S. government's mass spying on citizens. One thing sits at the heart of what many consider a surveillance state within the US today. The problem does not begin with political systems that discourage transparency or technologies that can intercept everyday communications without notice. Like everything else in Washington, there's a legal basis for what many believe is extreme government overreach—in this case, it's Executive Order 12333, issued in 1981. “12333 is used to target foreigners abroad, and collection happens outside the US," whistleblower John Tye, a former State Department official, told Ars recently. "My complaint is not that they’re using it to target Americans, my complaint is that the volume of incidental collection on US persons is unconstitutional.” The document, known in government circles as "twelve triple three," gives incredible leeway to intelligence agencies sweeping up vast quantities of Americans' data. That data ranges from e-mail content to Facebook messages, from Skype chats to practically anything that passes over the Internet on an incidental basis. In other words, EO 12333 protects the tangential collection of Americans' data even when Americans aren't specifically targeted—otherwise it would be forbidden under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978.

Tattoos on military personnel

Last Monday, Pergelator  posted Soldiers concerning a young woman who was denied enlistment into the US Army because she had a tattoo on the back of her neck. Immediately, I thought of all the tattoos gracing the bodily parts of men in the US Navy. (I was an AMS-1 in the USNR 1980-1986.) Curious, I looked up the US Navy policy concerning grooming of sailors.

To my surprise, the young woman mentioned above would not have met US Navy policy. In BUPERS' (Bureau of Personnel's) Grooming Standards  (updated online: 5/21/2014 3:26 PM) we are told (I have changed the most relevant part to red text):

7.  TATTOOS/BODY ART/BRANDS.  Four Criteria will be used to determine whether tattoos/body art/brands are permitted for Navy personnel:  content, location, size and cosmetic. 

          a.  Content.  Tattoos/body art/brands located anywhere on the body that are prejudicial to good order, discipline, and morale or are of a nature to bring discredit upon the naval service are prohibited.  For example, tattoos/body art/brands that are obscene, sexually explicit, and or advocate discrimination based on sex, race, religion, ethnic, or national origin are prohibited. In addition, tattoos/body art/brands that symbolize affiliation with gangs, supremacist or extremist groups, or advocate illegal drug use are prohibited. 

          b.  Location.  No tattoos/body art/brands on the head, face, neck, or scalp.  The neck area for purposes of this regulation is any portion visible when wearing a crew neck T-shirt or open collar uniform shirt.  In addition, otherwise permissible tattoos/body art/brands on the torso area of the body shall not be visible through white uniform clothing. 

          c.  Size.  Individual tattoos/body art/brands exposed by wearing a short sleeve uniform shirt shall be no larger in size than the wearer’s hand with fingers extended and joined with the thumb touching the base of the index finger.  Pre-existing tattoos/body art/brands that exceed size criteria are waiverable provided they do not violate the content and/or location criteria. 

          d.  Cosmetic.  This regulation does not prohibit cosmetic tattooing to correct medical conditions requiring such treatment.  For the purpose of this regulation, cosmetic tattooing refers to medical or surgical procedures conducted by licensed, qualified medical personnel.

As I've never had a tattoo, this part of the regs had never come to my attention. While I was at it, I read through the whole chapter and learned that the regs on wearing of earrings had not changed much, as far as I know. (I did not have pierced ears until 15 years later, but I happen to somewhat remember the regs on the wearing of them.) The Grooming Standards tell us: 

6.  JEWELRY.  Conservative jewelry is authorized for all personnel and shall be in good taste while in uniform.  Eccentricities or faddishness are not permitted.  Jewelry shall not present a safety or FOD (Foreign Object Damage) hazard.  Jewelry shall be worn within the following guidelines: 

a.  Rings.  While in uniform, only one ring per hand is authorized, plus a wedding/engagement ring set.  Rings are not authorized for wear on thumbs.  

b.  Earrings  

             (1) Men.  Not authorized while in uniform. Additionally, earrings are not authorized in civilian attire when in a duty status or while in/aboard any ship, craft, aircraft, or in any military vehicle or within any base or other place under military jurisdiction, or while participating in any organized military recreational activities.  When considered appropriate by the prescribing authority under article 7201.2, earrings may be prohibited while in foreign countries.  

             (2) Women.  One earring per ear (centered on earlobe) may be worn while in uniform.  Earrings shall be 4mm - 6mm ball (approximately 1/8 - 1/4 inch), plain with shiny or brushed matte finish, screw on or with posts.  Gold for officers/CPOs, and silver for enlisted personnel.  Small single pearl earrings are authorized for wear with Dinner and Formal Dress uniforms.

What I did not recall was that the metals were prescribed for officers/CPOs (Chief Petty Officers) and for enlisted personnel. I would have been authorized to wear silver. Note the inversion of the status of gold versus silver in this case, recalling that in general, silver outranks gold in US military insignia. Never having owned Dinner or Formal Dress uniforms, I would never have been able to wear pearl earrings. 

For obvious safety reasons, as a mechanic (AMS-1 is Aircraft Mechanic, Structural - Petty Officer First Class), I wore no jewelry while on duty. This is a photo of a rating badge like the one I wore on short-sleeved white uniform shirts.

Sitting here scratching my head

The carpeting in our bedrooms is being replaced, today (I guess I never got around to posting about it when the rest of the carpeted rooms in our house got new carpet - not wishing to bore everyone to tears?), I have more time for posting. Thus, I'll share with you that I find a recent US Patent & Trademark Office ruling beyond comprehension.

Washington Redskins Stripped of Trademarks 546                        

Posted by Soulskillon Wednesday June 18, 2014 @04:17PM from the i'm-sure-this-will-pass-without-debate dept.

BillCable writes: Politico reports, "In a major blow to the Washington Redskins, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Wednesday canceled six federal trademarks of the 'Washington Redskins' team name because it was found to be 'disparaging' to Native Americans. 'We decide, based on the evidence properly before us, that these registrations must be canceled because they were disparaging to Native Americans at the respective times they were registered,' the PTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal Board wrote. The panel voted 2-1 in favor of the decision." Perhaps this move will speed up the inevitable name change, which was expected within the next few years."

 

 

I can understand that folks might not appreciate some names; but, their being disparaging should be a reason for barring issuance of a trademark? Obviously, this must stem from some anti-discrimination law or another, but it is beyond my understanding. I'm wondering if companies that make products such as the line of Tired Old Ass bath products are denied trademarking? The name, after all, disparages elders. Aren't elders protected from discrimination? *wandering off mumbling to myself*

Gleanings from Slashdot.org

Things have been pretty hectic for me during the past couple of weeks, and will continue in that vein for at least another three weeks; but, that isn't the reason I've fallen behind in visiting Slashdot.org. They are Beta testing a new display that I despise! It is all cutesy-wootsy, but few postings are entirely displayed. One must hit a "more" button to see the whole thing. This is a waste of my time and interest. Fortunately, just now the display that I pulled up was the older version - compact and easily read without hassle. So...I'll catch you up on a few items that they've posted within the past week or two.

How About a Megatons To Megawatts Program For US Nuclear Weapons? 146                        

Posted by timothyon Saturday February 22, 2014 @11:18AM from the hot-water-on-tap dept.

Lasrick writes "Dawn Stover looks at the incredibly successful Megatons to Megawatts program, which turned dismantled Russian nuclear warheads into lower-grade uranium fuel that can be used to produce electricity. The 1993 agreement between the U.S. and Russia not only eliminated 500 tons of weapons-grade uranium, but generated nearly 10% of U.S. electricity consumption. The Megatons to Megawatts program ended in December, but Stover points out that the U.S. has plenty of surplus nuclear weapons that could keep the program going, without the added risk of shipping it over such huge distances. A domestic Megatons to Megawatts, if you will. This would be very cost effective and have the added benefit of keeping USEC, the only American company in the uranium enrichment field, in business."

 

We Can Avoid a Surveillance State Dystopia 263                        

Posted by Soulskillon Friday February 21, 2014 @06:11PM from the with-only-the-power-of-love-and-maybe-some-napalm dept.

An anonymous reader writes "After the past year's revelations about NSA spying, it's hard to read any commentary about society without dire warnings of the coming (or already present) surveillance state. Sci-fi author Ramez Naam makes the point that while government surveillance needs to be fought, it's actually not as bad as what we were promised in decades past. 'Aldous Huxley published Brave New World in 1932. And while Brave New World is remembered more for predicting government-controlled biological engineering of the masses, it also features government surveillance, media manipulation, and thought control. This is an old idea. Yet somehow, today, in most of the world, governments have dramatically less control over their people than they did when Huxley and Orwell wrote those words. Indeed, the average person on Earth is more free today, in 2014, than he or she would have been in the actual year 1984. The arc of history has bent towards more freedom.' Naam also explains that the technological advances allowing the bulk collection of personal data also provide us with cheap and easy means to fight government overreach."

 

Stack Overflow Could Explain Toyota Vehicles' Unintended Acceleration 650                        

Posted by timothyon Friday February 21, 2014 @06:57PM from the go-ahead-ask-your-car-a-question dept.

New submitter robertchin writes "Michael Barr recently testified in the Bookout v. Toyota Motor Corp lawsuit that the likely cause of unintentional acceleration in the Toyota Camry may have been caused by a stack overflow. Due to recursion overwriting critical data past the end of the stack and into the real time operating system memory area, the throttle was left in an open state and the process that controlled the throttle was terminated. How can users protect themselves from sometimes life endangering software bugs?"