prod & ponder

You might have noticed that the web link to the NTSB report I posted below isn’t working. But the thing is, it was working. Apparently someone decided to yank the document, and for the life of me I can’t think of any good reason to do that. I can, however, think of plenty of poop-headed rationales for it.

Now if Cryptome has taught us anything, it’s that the good stuff on the web–and by that I mean primary source documents that actually support transparency in governance and regulation–has a habit of disappearing. And that friends is why I also downloaded the document, and now I’m posting it here.

Sure, it might be totally unrelated to the crash, but at first glance this April 2006 NTSB advisory to WMATA (that went unaddressed) sure seems to foreshadow what happened: http://www.ntsb.gov/Recs/letters/2006/R06_01_02.pdf.

I’ve seen the NTSB memo mentioned by a few news sources, but with no direct link. I’m at a loss why news sources so rarely link to primary source documents.

I’m a zealous advocate for deep and inclusive democracy, but it would help if I could be dictator for the day. Just saying.

LiLu asked a question that got a lot of feedback: what are your blogging pet peeves?

Here was my response…
1. Lengthy explanations about why you’ve taken so long to post (dude, I haven’t been on pins and needles) or proclamations that you’re not dead (who really jumps to that conclusion?).

2. Teh instead of the. Teh lameness, it overwhelms. In the same vein: intertubes or any net-as-plumbing metaphors. Also, news flash: using nothing but lowercase does not magically elevate your prose into E. E. Cummings’ league.

3. Using other people’s photographs without giving them prominent credit. If someone stole text from your blog without prominent attribution, you’d freak. Images are no different.

That’s a very cool (get it, cool… hahaha … cool. I crack myself up) fan.

No, seriously, it’s out of this world.
Bwah! Hahaha. Out of this world, ‘cause it’s got a globe. See what I did there?

Seriously though, it’s FANtastic.
John

There are many ideas I have for improving stuff. Sadly, creators of stuff rarely consult me. Their loss, sure, but still, perhaps I should start sharing the ideas more freely.

For starters, I suggest that Real Housewives of New Jersey be merged with Shark Week. It’d be a subtle shift, but a positive one.

Sure, it looks nice enough from a distance (especially when you go a bit overboard in photoshop, like I just did), but you know when it’s not so cool… when you’re standing in the middle of the circle, squatting down to take a photo of your super cute kid, and all of a sudden the fountain gets turned on. Without any warning whatsoever.

Thankfully, the G1 seems to be reasonably sealed and survived just fine. Kiddo was equally unamused at the unannounced dowsing.

I’d kind of like to know who’s bright idea it was to put the fountain on an automatic timer (or worse yet, who just flipped the switch without bothering to look if anyone was there)–because I have a couple of water balloons I’d like to share with them.

Ok, yes, Ben might have questionable survival instincts. But he’s got a healthy dose of curiosity, which I think is about the best trait a person can cultivate. There’s even some good research to back that view.

This was taken at Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which I’m happy to report has some terrific new (to me) exhibits.

You’d think that once classes are over for the semester, life settles down in academia. Alas, not so much. Course grades are due Friday, and I have a knee-high stack of final papers I’m digging through.

On the plus side, today is graduation, and I get to wear the spiffy robes. Perhaps it’ll grow old some day, but not yet.