iOS 8.0 can be downloaded on your personal iPad now.
For those of us who carry separate iPads (no EFB installed), the update works pretty well.
1. All of my installed apps work fine with this latest update. This includes Crew Web, Flight Track, and My Radar. I don't use Crew Buddy currently.
2. All webpages seem to open and run a just a little slower. I understand this can be expected with iPad 2 - the version I use.
3. Downloading the update and installation took 3 hours with strong wifi connection.
4. I like the keyboard upgrade with word suggestions. My keyboard shortcuts were not saved from the previous software. I would suggest writing them down before installing 8 if you used them before.
5. Family sharing of calendars is a great idea. Maybe not Apple's but whoever is getting paid for inventing it deserves the money.
For those who use EFB on the company paid iPad, software update 8 is not yet authorized.
Have fun with your tablet and check out SkyBlueMarket!
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Friday, September 5, 2014
The BBC, One Gun Range Death and Childhood
If there is one thing our European friends seem to be obsessed with when it comes to American news, it is our gun culture. Actually I'm not sure what that expression specifically refers to. But I hear it a lot on MSNBCforObama and find that network really likes to report on anything involving deadly weapons, our right to own them, and their misuse. Assault rifles, gun shows, military grade hardware, school shootings, stand-your ground, Chicago gang-violence, 2nd Amendment rights... the phrase list goes on. I suppose it all does make up some kind of "culture" but it is undeniable that media coverage is a loose bonding agent and invites us all to take a side and keep tuning in.
It's not surprising that the recent death of a range instructor near Las Vegas involving a nine year old girl and an Uzi weapon was instant fast news food for many in Europe. I listen to BBC when I have the chance and this story has been getting a lot of coverage these days. (It used to be 'Guantanamo' every day when Bush was president). The words scale and perspective seem to have no meaning when it comes to news editors and what they choose or how much they follow up certain stories. To many radio listening Brits, every other kid in the U.S. must be a delicate arm length and one unlocked gun away from mayhem.
Nine year old girls don't need to shoot an Uzi. Why her parents decided to allow her to handle that weapon is beyond me. I can understand the instructor's or the range owner's motive: they wanted to get paid. But if we're going to blame someone in this case, it is the parents.
A few weeks ago, I played a round of golf with my 17 year old son. We get to the course regularly and it is usually highlight of my week. On that particular day we were paired up with two other guys who brought a four year old on the course. The little boy was cute and seemed to be having fun, but had no earthly idea what was going on. He was too young. Had that day ended with the young one being seriously injured by a golf ball or club, it might have made the news - but probably not BBC.
I'll say it again. The average four year old belongs on a playground and not on a golf course or for that matter a gun range or the first class cabin of an airliner or a lot of other places. Maybe that golfing father heard the Harry Chapin song 'Cats on the Cradle' the day before we played. Or maybe he just does what a lot of parents do these days which is to expose their kids to things much more grown-up than they are ready for. A few young teens have died mountain climbing or trying to pilot a plane stupidly and needlessly. Many more youngsters are killed because of accidental gun violence - but just to keep it in perspective, more die in accidental pool drownings.
I know, Tiger Woods was televised shaping nine irons out of a bunker on the Mike Douglas Show at age 2. Good for him. But Tiger was and still is very not average. His ex-wife would be happy to elaborate on that.
It's not surprising that the recent death of a range instructor near Las Vegas involving a nine year old girl and an Uzi weapon was instant fast news food for many in Europe. I listen to BBC when I have the chance and this story has been getting a lot of coverage these days. (It used to be 'Guantanamo' every day when Bush was president). The words scale and perspective seem to have no meaning when it comes to news editors and what they choose or how much they follow up certain stories. To many radio listening Brits, every other kid in the U.S. must be a delicate arm length and one unlocked gun away from mayhem.
Nine year old girls don't need to shoot an Uzi. Why her parents decided to allow her to handle that weapon is beyond me. I can understand the instructor's or the range owner's motive: they wanted to get paid. But if we're going to blame someone in this case, it is the parents.
A few weeks ago, I played a round of golf with my 17 year old son. We get to the course regularly and it is usually highlight of my week. On that particular day we were paired up with two other guys who brought a four year old on the course. The little boy was cute and seemed to be having fun, but had no earthly idea what was going on. He was too young. Had that day ended with the young one being seriously injured by a golf ball or club, it might have made the news - but probably not BBC.
I'll say it again. The average four year old belongs on a playground and not on a golf course or for that matter a gun range or the first class cabin of an airliner or a lot of other places. Maybe that golfing father heard the Harry Chapin song 'Cats on the Cradle' the day before we played. Or maybe he just does what a lot of parents do these days which is to expose their kids to things much more grown-up than they are ready for. A few young teens have died mountain climbing or trying to pilot a plane stupidly and needlessly. Many more youngsters are killed because of accidental gun violence - but just to keep it in perspective, more die in accidental pool drownings.
I know, Tiger Woods was televised shaping nine irons out of a bunker on the Mike Douglas Show at age 2. Good for him. But Tiger was and still is very not average. His ex-wife would be happy to elaborate on that.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Office Remodel Finished
Master Bedroom / Office Remodel 2014 is very nearly complete.
The space is divided into a bedroom area and home office area. I used a four foot high knee wall (below right) to help distinguish between the areas which are decorated differently. The bedroom area is carpet and lighter colors. The office is more wood, tile floor and a stone veneer fire-place.
The desk is unique. It's construction is wood frame with tile on the outside - except for the areas which face the chair - they are hardwood face-frame. The top is granite.
The walls of the bedroom area are pictures themed with affectionate couples and umbrellas. If you ever see artwork or any kind of room decoration with this sort of style, please let me know.
View from the Office to the Bedroom Area
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View from the Bedroom to the Office
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Office Area
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Details on the first phase of this project can be found on a blog from earlier in the year.
Bike Ride Through Italy
The planning and training for international bike trip #3 has officially begun. I've been overseas twice for extended rides on the bike (bicycle). First was Germany in 2002. I rode from Wurzburg to Augsburg in mid-September along a route known as the Romantische Strabe or Romantic Road. I was solo on that trip so it was not too romantic. Beautiful, though. Fall colors were everywhere and the weather was clear and bright for 6 days along well kept paths between small German towns like Nordlingen and Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Highlight was a 70 mile day to the fortress city of Rothenburg overlooking a river below. The last ten or fifteen miles were uphill to the ancient defended highgound that is now home to dungeon museums, small hotels and of course the most welcome of sights after 7 hours on the bike- beer gardens.
In March 2006 I packed up the same bike, flew off to the hemisphere down under, and rode through the South Island of New Zealand from Christchurch to Queenstown. Here are some numbers: 7 days on the left side of the road. A dozen (or so) Kiwi beers. Zero flat tires or breakdowns. 5 million sheep. One beautiful country.
Last Sunday, training for a ride through Italy began. I woke up early and pedaled for a couple of hours before breakfast. Phoenix mornings could almost be considered a little cool now with near zero humidity and Sundays are the best time for street riding just about anywhere. I told my teenage son at breakfast that I had pedaled my bike for 30 miles in about two hours. He remarked that it sounded like I'd just been through a school zone.
Future updates on the trip planning and training can be found here:
update 9/10 - The Route is Set:
Firenzie (Florence) - 31 miles to
San Gimignano - 22 miles to
Radda in Chianti - 15 miles to
Siena - 23 miles to
Montalcino - 22 miles to
Montepulciano - 19 miles to
Cortona - 42 miles to
Assisi - 29 miles to
Todi - 23 miles to
Orvieto - Train back to Firenzie
Total distance 226 miles (planned 5 days)
update 9/17 - Ship or Rent:
On the past two trips, I transported my own bike overseas. In both cases, there was no charge to ship the bike by either American Airlines (to Germany) or on Air New Zealand. Times have definitely changed. It is now a significant additional fee to ship a bike international (or anywhere). Plus, both times I had to break down the bike and place it in a cardboard box for protection from the baggage manglers. When I arrived out of country, I had to re-assemble the bike and store the box, parts and some airline travel clothes in one location. Then when the ride was over I had to re pack the thing for the flight home.
I loved having my own bike for those two trips. It was 100 percent reliable. I never had a flat or any mechanical problem in all of those hundreds of miles. I will certainly miss this. But I think renting is the way to go, now.
There are many bike hire companies around Italy. I chose one in Florence where I will begin and end the Tuscany ride-adventure. The price is not too far from what it would cost me to ship my own.
update 9/10 - The Route is Set:
Firenzie (Florence) - 31 miles to
San Gimignano - 22 miles to
Radda in Chianti - 15 miles to
Siena - 23 miles to
Montalcino - 22 miles to
Montepulciano - 19 miles to
Cortona - 42 miles to
Assisi - 29 miles to
Todi - 23 miles to
Orvieto - Train back to Firenzie
Total distance 226 miles (planned 5 days)
update 9/17 - Ship or Rent:
On the past two trips, I transported my own bike overseas. In both cases, there was no charge to ship the bike by either American Airlines (to Germany) or on Air New Zealand. Times have definitely changed. It is now a significant additional fee to ship a bike international (or anywhere). Plus, both times I had to break down the bike and place it in a cardboard box for protection from the baggage manglers. When I arrived out of country, I had to re-assemble the bike and store the box, parts and some airline travel clothes in one location. Then when the ride was over I had to re pack the thing for the flight home.
I loved having my own bike for those two trips. It was 100 percent reliable. I never had a flat or any mechanical problem in all of those hundreds of miles. I will certainly miss this. But I think renting is the way to go, now.
There are many bike hire companies around Italy. I chose one in Florence where I will begin and end the Tuscany ride-adventure. The price is not too far from what it would cost me to ship my own.
Voting and Hitting the Jackpot
In a bid to boost voter turnout, Los Angeles election officials are considering some sort of lottery / cash prize system.
By participating in the voting process, citizens would be automatically entered in a contest to win money. Seems almost reasonable for a moment. But think about it. You would have to continue this process for every election into the future. Because if the incentive ever went away, a community would be right back to the same old problem. Maybe worse, since you could see even more voter cynicism at the thought of a prize or monetary incentive that "used to be there, so why bother now?"
And if it is truly a good idea, why stop with voting? How about a prize incentive to promote the civic responsibility of filing a tax return? Or jury duty?
Voting is an important right and responsibility. It's made much easier in my community through mail-in ballots. Choosing through voting is not the same as filling out a lottery ticket at the convenience store. You're already a winner every time you turn in a ballot.
By participating in the voting process, citizens would be automatically entered in a contest to win money. Seems almost reasonable for a moment. But think about it. You would have to continue this process for every election into the future. Because if the incentive ever went away, a community would be right back to the same old problem. Maybe worse, since you could see even more voter cynicism at the thought of a prize or monetary incentive that "used to be there, so why bother now?"
And if it is truly a good idea, why stop with voting? How about a prize incentive to promote the civic responsibility of filing a tax return? Or jury duty?
Voting is an important right and responsibility. It's made much easier in my community through mail-in ballots. Choosing through voting is not the same as filling out a lottery ticket at the convenience store. You're already a winner every time you turn in a ballot.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Editorials Above the Darkness
Who is the creepy guy in this picture? His name is William Bradfield and he is even more creepy than you might think. More at the end of this post.
This is a page from my February 1978 school newspaper: The Upper Merion Emissary. During my sophomore year, I wrote several articles for the journalism class paper. It was very interesting to read through the stuff - especially an opinion piece I wrote on the death penalty. Funny to see how my views on that issue have changed.
The opinion piece above the photo is uncredited. I wrote it as a project of amateur investigative journalism. Some of those high school teachers were not happy about it, but my teacher liked it and I got a good grade in the class. Looking back, I really enjoyed Ms. Hutson's class and the other kids on the school paper.
As for the bearded fellow, in addition to planning bible lectures, Bill Bradfield also planned and committed murder. Three of them: the victims were a fellow English teacher named Sue Reinert and her two children. Ms. Reinert was found beaten and drugged to death in her car 16 months after this photo and her kids were never found. Bradfield, along with our school principal Dr. Jay Smith were convicted of the murders.
More information can be found about this famous Philadelphia area case by googling "main line murders" or checking out Joseph Wambaugh's book "Echoes in the Darkness." Wambaugh is a very good police and true-crime writer.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Movie Review - "Locke" (no spoilers)
Guys like cars. We like movies with cars. Really fast cars - chasing, being chased, launching into the air, crashing, driving on, crashing again. I think what we especially like is the idea of one man behind the wheel - escaping a menace ("Duel"), seeking justice ("The Seven-Ups"), rocketing toward an inevitable nowhere ("Vanishing Point"), being a hero to a family ("Drive"). Doing, as the old cliche goes, what a man's gotta do.
Hitchcock used cars a lot in his movies to wind up the story tension. The main character in Psycho steals money from a bank and drives through the desert on the way to the Bates motel. By the time she gets out of the car, the story has barely begun but we are already nervous for her and can imagine it will turn out badly.
"Locke" is the story of a British engineer who specializes in concrete - driving his car for eighty minutes. In the beginning, very briefly, we see his current project - a skyscraper construction site, and from then on it's all a single character in his BMW. His name is Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy. He speaks on his hands-free cell to family, colleagues and one other very important person for the entirety of the film. He speaks to his dead father as an empty seat in the rear-view. He speaks to the movie audience through expressions, gestures, gulps of cough medicine. No radio. No flashbacks. No crashes, no chases, nothing that makes you hold your breath except for cell conversations that range from frantic to comical. Then Locke's reaction to one desperate and emotional voicemail which I think is as good as you'll ever see in a movie performance.
Ivan Locke has made a decision. He must do one thing in the next few hours - be in one certain place and this will put at risk everything he has achieved in life. But it must happen. It must happen - to borrow a small riff from Hardy's chilling way of phrasing throughout the film. Millions of pounds currency and billions of future life events hinge on what happens with Locke's obligations to his employer. But he has made a human choice. And with an engineer's mind, he'll manage the rest.
Hitchcock used cars a lot in his movies to wind up the story tension. The main character in Psycho steals money from a bank and drives through the desert on the way to the Bates motel. By the time she gets out of the car, the story has barely begun but we are already nervous for her and can imagine it will turn out badly.
"Locke" is the story of a British engineer who specializes in concrete - driving his car for eighty minutes. In the beginning, very briefly, we see his current project - a skyscraper construction site, and from then on it's all a single character in his BMW. His name is Ivan Locke, played by Tom Hardy. He speaks on his hands-free cell to family, colleagues and one other very important person for the entirety of the film. He speaks to his dead father as an empty seat in the rear-view. He speaks to the movie audience through expressions, gestures, gulps of cough medicine. No radio. No flashbacks. No crashes, no chases, nothing that makes you hold your breath except for cell conversations that range from frantic to comical. Then Locke's reaction to one desperate and emotional voicemail which I think is as good as you'll ever see in a movie performance.
Ivan Locke has made a decision. He must do one thing in the next few hours - be in one certain place and this will put at risk everything he has achieved in life. But it must happen. It must happen - to borrow a small riff from Hardy's chilling way of phrasing throughout the film. Millions of pounds currency and billions of future life events hinge on what happens with Locke's obligations to his employer. But he has made a human choice. And with an engineer's mind, he'll manage the rest.
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