All Aircrash Disaster All The Time

I have been around long enough to see some strange shenaningans in the news media. From a newsroom that had model-coffin on the shelf with the image of a celeb that could be slipped in- and out in stages to document how "dead" that person currently was (after an ultimately fatal car crash) to the intern who slipped a doctored pic of Stevie Wonder and a German politician into copy that actually went to print and had a caption that read: "I hate prejudice and n------ at the bar!" 

Yet the strangest thing I have ever witnessed is the transformation of CNN from a news(y) organization to the Air Disaster Channel. Since Malaysia MH370 went into the drink four weeks ago the cable news outfit has essentially programmed nothing but speculation, rumination, insinuation and simulation of what might or might not have happened to that flight. Mixed in with the usual human drama with video of flailing relatives of the people lost and insipid interviews with far flung humanity ranging from the neighbors of the pilots to distant cousins of the dead. None of whom have anything of substance or relevance to contribute to the matter.

Let's not forget the implied slandering of the pilots. A rote "Thank you and Good Night" that is uttered by thousands of airmen when the sign off one flight sector an on to the next, becomes an hint of suicidal thought in the cockpit crew. The fact that the co-pilot had "only" 2700 flight hours (that translates to about two years of flight duty and is totally normal for a young co-pilot who has just line-checked on a new "type" [aircraft]. This is how it is done all over the world) creates a suspicion of incompetence. The fact the Captain had built himself a home-flight-simulator remains an indicator of nefarious conspiracy long after all questions about his motives have been answered. Sure, lets stir that toxic brew of half- and mis-information again, and again, and again to gin up the ratings.

Kyra Phillips

And the bullshit machine isn't just run by the usual suspects like Kyra "I'm appalled and offended" Phillips, Jake "I used to be a serious newsman" Tapper, Wolf "double take" Blitzer, Erin "little rodent" Burnett and Anderson "Upper East Side" Cooper. No, every anchor is being pressed into disaster-duty. It is sadly comical to see these other guys and gals stumble through interviews and prompter-copy that is either way far out of their news-beat or just above their pay-grade (and competency) The domestic crew is so incompetent that the always smart and way-too-realistic for US-tastes Richard Quest has been brought in from London and management snatched back aerospace-expert Miles O'Brien who was fired in favor of "human interest"-fluffers and resident assclowns like Phillips, Burnett, Don Lemon and Carol Costello (etc pp)

Even more comical is the use of "reporters" (many of whom have thin journalistic credentials to begin with) in the service of keeping the disaster bubbling like fresh lava: There is neurosurgeon Dr. Sanya Gupta blathering on and on and on about brain aneurisms and poisoning the airmen might have suffered. The same guy ruminating about the emotional state of relatives of the victims. One of my favorites is "severe weather expert" Chad Myers incessantly pushing around colored triangles and rectangles over maps of the Indian Ocean saying absolutely nothing about the "search area" but with great conviction.

At the same time my heart goes out to actual reporters like poor Martin Savidge who was dispatched to a privately owned, professional, for-rent 777-simulator in Ontario, Canada where he has been marooned on the co-pilots seat shoulder-to-shoulder with a semi-washed grumpy "flight instructor" (the true credentials of this shlup were never really explained), flying and re-flying every conceivable route MH370 could have possibly taken. With some courses in navigation and meteorology he can probably get his CPL before this clown-show is over.

While all this unfolds, the rest of the world is forgotten. The Crimea-Crisis that had been played up by CNN as the return of the Cold War and a potential pre-cursor to a shooting war, not worth a blip anymore. The "horrors" of Obamacare? Ah well, who cares anyway! Only if another nut-job soldier offs some of his own that gets a little coverage. Just as loud and sensational and thin on substance as the flight stuff.

Jeff Zucker
President, CNN WorldWide

I get it: Cable News is in crisis and CNN has seen its rating fall through the floor opposite partisan gab-fests on Fox News and MSNBC that have mostly abandoned the concept of "news" and opted for "commentary" on vastly different levels of quality. In this environment CNN is lost, as are the people who were pushing for news inside the organization instead of fluff. Fluff won. Yet, hiring Jeff Zucker, former entertainment monkey at NBC and one of the shallowest, dumbest and most cynical TV executives the industry has seen, might yet prove to be CNN's undoing.

CNN was my window into the US and to a degree the world when I still lived in Germany. Even later it guided me through seminal events like the Challengers and Columbia space shuttle disasters, the raid on Baghdad, the Waco siege and other seminal moments. Sadly, I am done with them!

Avoiding death at all, literally all cost!

There is this concept, that no price is too high to save a life. Aside from being a sentimental lie, it is impossible to make it real.

There is also this strong belief in the US that all risk in life can be and has to be eliminated. Which is total crap.

When these two brain farts meet, you get the "Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act" that will require rear-view cameras on all new cars. These systems will cost the car buying public in the US about $400 Million (roughly $ 250 apiece) a year to prevent - wait - 210, yes twohundredandten fatalities a year.

That is 1.9 Million per death, assuming that everybody will be saved and distracted, careless or harried drivers will not keep running over people while backing up and backing out (they will!)

So, toxic emission from coal-burning kill about 12 Mio (!) Americans, but because these deaths are accumulate and occur from related illness (can't see the immediate cause, don't care - like climate change) it is ok for the energy industries to carry on, but if we have 210 deaths that can be decorated with crying parents it is desirable to gouge the population (especially since it brings in another 80 buck of profit per car for the makers).

Yeah, that totally makes sense!

Halloween Candy Possessed by Demons (according to CBN.com network)

Religulousness taken to its absurd extreme:


Preacher Pat Robertsons CBN.com network claims most Halloween candy has been demonized by witches. And no, they were not joking.

CBN.com staff writer Kimberly Daniels verbatim: "THE DANGERS OF CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN --- Most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches, I do not buy candy during the Halloween season. Curses are sent through the tricks and treats of the innocent whether they get it by going door to door or by purchasing it from the local grocery store. The demons cannot tell the difference.
Halloween is much more than a holiday filled with fun and tricks or treats, it is a time for the gathering of evil that masquerades behind the fictitious characters of Dracula, werewolves, mummies and witches on brooms. The truth is that these demons that have been presented as scary cartoons actually exist. I have prayed for witches who are addicted to drinking blood and howling at the moon".

Be warned thusly: Eat to much candy and you start howling at the moon and drinking blood. Alternatively you can become a clinically paranound Christian nut job!

Advertising Gone Wild :: Cool actually!

Los Angeles sort of inoculates one against awe. Yet, once in a while you see something just remarkable. I just had my jaw drop, when I plucked the current issue of Entertainment Weekly from the mailbox. The magazine was a little stiff and though “yeah another stinkvertisement  or a promo CD. Yet, when I opened it a the fold I saw this 

and had my mind blown: A fully functional videoplayer sandwiched into a magazine.The actual picture- and audio-quality was stunningly good: A 2.5" (6.35cm) clean and crisp video screen and a 1.5" (~ 4 cm) not-to-tinny speaker. The whole package not even 5mm <1/4" thick.

The entire contraption presented as a double-page spread:

 

promoting the CBS-TV Fall 2009 season and Pepsi Max (Slogan: The only diet cola for men).  In total it contains about a half hour of previews and Pepsi ads suggesting a rather beefy memory chip.

This is marketing really taken to a completely different level. It is a stunning eye-catcher, but I can only imagine it comes at equally stunning cost. A quick check at a newsstand on Main Street, St. Monica revealed, that the over-the-counter copies of the magazine do not contain the player. Yet, I can actually not imagine that all ~ 700.000 subscription copies were so equipped, the cost would be plainly prohibitive. It is easy to see why:

A little destructive materials testing revealed this. A quite sophisti- cated setup that has the processor and memory under the shielding foil to the right of the screen. Five buttons with excellent tactile quality allow to select five indvidual video clips in additon to the auto-start message shown above. 

In the center of the page is the power switch that is triggered in conventional manner by a plastic tongue that pulls out when the left leaf is opened. Remarkably the device is equipped with a rather capable 350 mA/h rechargable Li-Ion battery (blue) and even a USB-recharging port (below the screen) that can be accessed through a punch-out flap in the back.

Let's assume all the hardware is sourced a bargain-basement prices in China. The screen will probably come in at about $ 5.-, battery $ 3.- processor, memory and miscellaneous parts another $ 5.- Add assembly (clearly a manual job), programming and printing for another $ 2.- the cost of the whole thingamajig is somewhere around $ 15.- and that is before the fee charged by Entertainment Weekly. 

That cost level suggests that the campaign is most likely limited to subscribers in certain target areas in Los Angeles and New York City where there is a perceived concentration of entertainment industry and media workers.

Will I now rush to my couch and watch and gush about such drivel as "Two and a half men", and "Accidentally on purpose" or the rather lame NCIS spin-off "NCIS Los Angeles"? Probably - make that definitively - not! Will I keep this thing, charge it and show it off as proof that I was there when advertisement jumped the shark? You betcha! 

Footnote: Given, that is is pretty much a deconstructed iPod in a cardboard sandwich you get a pretty good idea how much Apple is making on these things, even given a somewhat better screen, a nice aluminum housing and 16GB of memory ($20.-)

Cheney cleans up

Dick Cheney doing some post-interrogation clean-up??? Just wondering...

Obnoxious little heckler boy

Despite the fact, that certain elements of the Republican Party have been mining for a bottom ever since Barak Obama was inaugurated President, a new low in the American political discourse has been reached earlier today, when Joe Wilson a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representative (2^nd District, South Carolina) shouts out to taunt and interrupt the President during his address to the Joint Session of Congress, in fact calling him a liar. Obviously the guy is a nimrod, since quick perusal of the document in question would have revealed, that the President in fact was correct, yet the lack of civility is astonishing. But that is not the end of it…

Little heckler boy Joe Wilson

Now, as Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) readily pointed out, Barak Obama "is a big boy", who can take silly stuff like this, and in fact the President just gave Wilson a quick stink-eye and moved on. This could also be easily dismissed as just another manifestation of the belligerent heckling, that all things democratic get these days from the right-wingnuts.

However, this was not an incident at some county fair in the sticks of the Deep South, no, this was in legislative chambers in D.C., giving it a different quality altogether.

What really makes this so appalling, is the fact it coming from one of the same guys who – during the previous administration – incessantly and loudly demanded “respect for the office [of the President]” at any and all times. Even when somebody raised the most  timid – and heavens beware, legitimate – question or criticism. At the same time this country had a government for eight years that immediately and aggressively labeled anybody not willing to  goose-step with bowed head and cap in hand behind their ideas as "un-American".  The petty little boys that run the Party of Lincoln these days have some serious growing up to do!

Update: Apparently many citizens of this country are entirely not happy with Hecklejoe's behavior. His official website at http://www.joewilson.house.gov/ was taken "down for maintenance" only a few ours after his solipsistic and sophomoric outbreak.

Update: Creep boy apologizes. Sort of... "I was contacted by the [Republican] leadership and told that my comments were inappropriate. They suggested that I called the White House to apologize and I did." He needed the leadership to tell him that?

The beauty of disaster

With the "Station"-Fire now into its sixth day and no wind to speak of, the sky over Los Angeles is blanketed by a gossamer of smoke, creating a mesmerizing yet somewhat eerie spectrum of colors. 

Oldtimers tell me, that the smog ca. 1960 had a similar effect, but this is certainly very pronounced. Yet, while decidedly unhealthy to breathe, the smoke creates spectacular sunsets.

More pictures here.

The Mighty Martin Mars (Fire fighting aircraft)

There are a lot of fire-fighting aircraft buzzing over L.A. these days: The helos: Bell 412's, Eurocopter AS 350B2 Ecureuil , Sikorsky S-70A Firehawks, Sikorsky S-64E Skycranes and the fixed wings: DC-3, DC-4, DC-7, Lockheed P-3 Orion, Canadair CL-215, Bombardier CL-415, Consolidated PBY Catalina, Grumman S-2 Tracker, Lockheed C-130 Hercules and now DC-10's and even a Boeing 747. If you can cram a tank into it, it is now flying over the "Station"-Fire in the Angeles National Forest. 

(Hawaii Mars, above, in current paint,
Philipine Mars, below, at NAS Alameda, CA in 1945) 

I thought I had seen it all. Until today, when a 1945' Martin-Mars (Coulson Flying Tankers' "Hawaii Mars") swooped in from Canada to join the fray. The biggest flying boat of all times has a wingspan (200 ft, 60m) wider than a Boeing 747 and while considerably shorter, it is several stories high, looks very intimidating floating, and even more impressive flying. 

Only seven were ever built, "Hawaii Mars" and "Philippine Mars" are the last two surviving specimens. Now tanking up at Lake Elsinore "Hawaii Mars", (video) - doing drop-after-drop - is an amazing WWII museum piece, doing some very impressive work and awing airplane fans in the process.

However, the cost is stunning: At $ 2.50 per gallon of water ($ 0.66/liter) dropped the Martin Mars is one of the cheapest fire-fighting aircraft. Average cost for all aircraft is $ 4.00 / gal ( $ 1.06 / liter )

The health care discussion.

The whole health care discussion summed up in one cartoon panel by Mike Luckovich in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Nuff said.

http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/2009/08/27/aug-28-cartoon/

Teaching yoga to nude gay men

As far as life goals go, "teaching yoga to nude gay men" is certainly one of the more interesting ones. Life from New York (by way of Sweden) it's ... naked guys twisted into a pretzel! (Thank you Aftonbladet thank you!)

100 years of misguided fire management biting us in the butt.

Heavy plumes of smoke from the STATION fire near La Cañada Flintridge billow up to 15,000 ft over the Hollywood Hills on Saturday Aug. 29, at 4:00pm.

I can't but gasp at the fire in the Angeles National Forest. An area larger than the size of the District of Columbia has now burned.

An area, where fuel has been allowed to accumulate for 40+ years, because the pigheaded policy of the U.S. Forest Service in the last 100- year has been suppression at all cost and allowing humans to settle in natural burn areas.

Scary impressive firepix here, and here

An updated fire-map is here

Fighting brush fires in the Southland

Buschfeuer sind in der Steppenlandschaft rund um L.A. grundsätzlich nicht zu vermeiden. Der "Brush" trocknet irgendwann im Sommer / Herbst aus und dann zündelt es schnell: Ein Auto fährt um die Kurve, der  Auspuff schlägt auf, Funken stieben, brushfire... ... eine achtlos weggeworfene Kippe ... Bauarbeiter ... Funkenflug aus dem Schornstein eine Kamins ... Blitzschlag ... downed power lines ... und immer wieder Brandstifter.

More pictures about firefighting efforts in Southern California are here.

Wie schlimm es dann wird hängt von den klimatischen Umständen ab. Jeden Herbst haben wir hier eine Wetterlage, die sich "Santa Ana Winds" nennt, wenn es sehr warm und sehr trocken aus der Wüste bläst.

Falls dann ein Feuer ausbricht, gibt es kein Halten mehr: Trockener Treibstoff auf den Hängen und 40C Winde die die Flammen die Hänge hochtreiben.

Die Santa Ana's haben in diesem Jahr (2009) noch keine sehr große Rolle gespielt, aber wir hatten einige sehr trockene Winter mit Niederschlägen unter 50% des normalen Mittels. Seit März sind wir hier offziell auf "drought-conditions" einschließlich Wasserrationierung. Sprinkler sind nur noch Dienstag und Donnerstag nach 19:00 erlaubt!

Bereits im Juni konnte man sehen, wie die Hügel braun wurden. Das passiert jedes Jahr, aber normalerweise im Oktober - mit Feuern im Oktober und November - wie die dokumentierten Bemühungen das Corral Fire im November 2007 zu bekämpfen. Was die aktuelle (2009) Lage so besonders schlimm macht ist der Umstand, daß die Temperaturen im Okt. und Nov. generell niedrigern sind, als jetzt - hier in L.A. - noch im Hochsommer.

Natürlich haben wir hier eine großartige Feuerwehr, oder besser Feuerwehren. Siehe diese Bildstrecke.

Allein hier in L.A. gibt es das

* Los Angeles City Fire Department das sich in erster Linie mit Bränden in der urbanen Stadt beschäftigt und darum eher konventionell städtischen Löschfahrzeuge hat. (Tanklöschfahrzeug, Drehleiterwagen, Rüstwagen etc.) Aber sie haben auch eine handvoll sehr nützlicher Feuerlöschhubschrauber.

* Los Angeles County Fire Department das sich in den "unicorporated areas" auch um die Stadtfeuer kümmert, aber ansonsten gaaaanz viel Landkreis um sich herum hat. Dort kommen Flugzeuge, Hubschrauber, Speziallöschfahrzeuge, konventionelle Löschfahrzeuge und Hand Crews zum Einsatz. Hand Crews sind Teams, die nur wenig mit Wasser ausrichten und in erster Linie mit Axt, Kettensäge, Spaten und Feuerpatsche unterwegs sind um Fire Breaks zu schneiden (über die das Feuer nicht hinwegbrennt) oder kontrollierte Back Fires zu legen (die dann auch einen Fire Break schaffen)

• Californa Dept. of Forestry (CDF) / Department of Corrections - Das ist die Sträflingsfeuerwehr, die die allerschmutzigsten, allerheißesten, allertrockensten Jobs bekommt, und die oft tagelang nur mit Bergmarschausrüstung unterwegs sind.
• Californa Office of Emergency Services - Landesweite Einsatzteams im Bereitschaftsystem.
• US-Deptartment of Forestry Smoke Jumper - ( www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/smokejumpers/ ) Die kommen wenn gar nix mehr geht. Die springen mit Fallschirmen aus wackeligen Schrottfliegern direkt ins Feuer, Kettensäge und Schaufel auf dem Rücken. Und wenn sie ihre Arbeit gemacht haben, sind sie oft Tage unterwegs um wieder aus dem Walt in bewohnte Gegenden zu marschieren.
• Amtshilfe: Wie man auch auf den Bildern sehen kann, kommt Mann und Gerät von Agenturen der Umgebung, oder sogar aus anderen Bundesstaaten. Bei den großen Malibu Feuern in den 90er hatten wir hier sogar New Yorker Teams.
  

Die einzig richtige Antwort auf die Feuer wäre eigentlich den ganze Schrott brennen zu lassen. Die Natur ist halt so eingerichtet. Es gibt in der Mesa sogar verschieden Planzensorten, deren Samen nur dann aufplatzen, wenn die Pflanze verbrennt! Aber um das zuzulassen, müßte man über die Besiedelung der Steppe nachdenken aber nach 150 Jahren Siedlungsdrang und 100 Jahren "fire suppression policy" ist mit solchen Ideen natürlich kein Blumentopf zu gewinnen