Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
For one thing, no more parking spaces. "In peak periods, virtually all cars will be on the roads driving people around. In off-peak periods, cars will still be on the roads, they’ll just pull over to the side of the road and stop"
Security expert Schneier replies to Sam Harris's call for targeted profiling of Muslims at airports. "Invasive TSA screening is nothing more than security theatre. It doesn’t make us safer, and it’s not worth the cost"
A small plane in China. "When you're in the clouds, it's like driving a car while blindfolded, but worse. In a plane it's simply impossible to tell up from down by your own bodily senses, if you can't see the ground or the horizon"
Airbus went down three years ago in equatorial waters between Brazil and Africa. 228 dead. Two years to find flight recorders, another year to write report. Official verdict: Pilot error. But why didn't other crew members intervene?
Reconstruction of the night the Costa Concordia became the largest passenger ship ever wrecked. It's a "story of heroism and disgrace, and also, in the mistakes of its captain and certain officers, a tale of monumental human folly"
Buying a $45k Chevy Volt is not a realistic option for most, so how could we reduce our consumption of liquid fossil fuels for transport? Physicist runs rule over the options (and, yes, the answer does include taking the bus)
You want to see market failure? Try metered taxi cabs. Frustrated customers. Angry drivers. Zombified by over-regulation. It doesn't have to be this way. As a hire-car start-up called Uber is showing. You call them, they come
"It’s dangerous work, and like other dangerous work it fosters a strong sense of community, an informal support network focused on races, drinking, and listening to each other’s stories about lucrative jobs and satisfying runs"
Rhetorical assault on Kip Hawley, America's airline safety boss. "He wants us to trust that a 400-ml bottle of liquid is dangerous, but transferring it to four 100-ml bottles magically makes it safe"
Juliane Koepcke was flying over Peru when lightning struck her plane. It broke apart in mid-air and she was catapulted into the outside, plummeting two miles down, still strapped into her seat. She awoke in the rainforest below
Surely not, I hear you say. What with teams monitoring the ice daily, satellite imaging and ship radar. But you'd be wrong. There were 57 incidents involving icebergs in the 25 years to 2005. Fewer now, but still the odd cruise ship
"Tesla Motors almost certainly represents the most extreme test of the limits and capabilities of the Silicon Valley model of innovation." And now it's crunch time, as it prepares for launch of its first mid-market electric vehicle
