Schneier.com

See his blog entry for today.

HIV Positive Pilot gets no damages

Loss of income is not an actual damage.

Homeland Battle Field Law

via CourtHouseNews.

This site has been hacked

You might want to check your computer.

Pilot of JetBlue Aircraft Facing Charges

Delirium.

CourtHouseNews covers the story.

No one is safe, says FBI chief Cyber Cop

OutMatched.

JetBlue

Captain Meltdown.

The Web and Mobile Devices

Mobile Convergence.

EU

US Airlines Drop Carbon Emissions Lawsuit.

see schneier (dot) com March 26th blog entry for details

TSA Oversight Hearing.


Suing TSA.


See AviationPlanning(dot)com HotFlash Column for Mike Boyd's take on Hearings.Also March 26th entry

Transportation

GAO Studies.

Schneier at the Economist

Benefit vs Costs of Airport Security Screening.

Expansion of Global Entry Program

Federal Register.

AirBus AirSpeed Indicator Defect

AirWorthinessDirective.

7-4

Airworthiness Directive - Does anyone even fly these anymore.?

Maryland Airports

Enhanced Security.

AirBus Wing Nuts

Airwothiness Directive.

Tax obligations of "free" air miles

From CourtHouseNews.

South Africa, China

And Rare Earth Metals.

Qatar

And the Arab Spring.

Wired

The New Citizen Surveillance Center.


U.S.eases rules on use of data on American Citizen Communications.

Drones over America

From NPR.

16 of 450

Use Private Contractors for airport security.

The Temptations

Because without the Temps, life itself would be impossible:

copyright infringement.


Shakey Ground.

(best reason I know of to get airborne)


Here's a link to the Best Of Collection, for your inflight listening enjoyment.

FAA forecast thru 2032

More Money.

CRS

From the Federation of American Scientists, Change in the Middle East.

Air Consumer

Comparative Performance of Carriers.

AMR cash drain

News.

RPM

Forecast for Air Travel Demand.

Bodice Rippers

Interesting.

Here's my recommendation:

Delta of Venus, Kindle Edition.

Or better yet:

Mary Renault's series on Alexander the Great, starting with Fire from Heaven, then: The Persian Boy and finally, Funeral Games.(in that order)

Everyone will think you're reading History.

Also, for those who appreciate the Experience of the American Indian and see analogies to the occupation of Palestine there, your time would be well spent with

Empire of the Summer Moon. (which was a finalist for the best book of this year and gets my vote, hands down),

OR

Dee Brown's Classic: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.

Also, for those who enjoy reading about the period of the Reformation, (and the formative role of one man's appetites as an essential predicate to religious liberty) I highly recommend Margaret George's

The Autobiography of Henry the VIII.

For those who prefer a more contemporary diversion, take a look at the scintillating book by Joyce Carol Oates on the life of Marilyn Monroe, (and her involvement with the Kennedys)

Blonde.

Well, have a good flight.

Jetiquette

AA Flight Attendant brings comedy to the disciplinary process.

Comic Relief Terminated.


Take this job and shove it.

Update: as of April 12, 2012
Fired and Sued.

from MSNBC, the Saudis' Exodus from Florida after 9/11

Allies.

Moved Up For Developments

Space Weather News for March 14, 2012.

INCOMING CME: Sunspot AR1429 unleashed another strong flare (category M7.9) on March 13th. The explosion produced a significant coronal mass ejection (CME), which forecasters say should reach Earth on March 15th. Geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.


INCOMING CMEs: One and perhaps two CMEs are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field today. Of particular interest is a CME launched toward Earth by a powerful M8-class eruption on March 10. Forecasters say the cloud could spark minor to severe geomagnetic storms when it arrives on March 11-12. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.

WHAT DOES A SOLAR FLARE SOUND LIKE? Saturday's M8-class flare hit Earth with a burst of strong shortwave radio emissions. Today's edition of Spaceweather.com features an audio recording of the blast captured by an amateur astronomer in New Mexico.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Aurora alerts are available from

Here. (text)
and
Here. (voice).

Bradley Manning

Update on Manning,via CourtHouseNews.

Here's a good college admissions essay:
Compare/Contrast the missions of these men:

Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning

See CourtHouseNews for Manning update.



See The Pentagon Papers on DVD.

Update, from CourtHouseNews.

Update, from CourtHouseNews on allegations that Manning Helped Al-Qaida Through Wikileaks.

Chaos on Doomed Ship

From CourtHouseNews.

Social Networking and Political Views

Divergent Views/ Aberrations and Social Networks.

Nuc'ler States

Big Marbles.

NorthAfrica

Economic and Trade Relations w/North Africa.

The "new" Clear

Is this a JOKE.?

What part of KeepTSAOutOfOurPants do they not "get".?

More on the (in my view) absurdity of the plan, from Schneier.

My entire orientation to the subject of this blog is predicated upon the analogy of the frog in the sauce pan:

"The boiling frog story is a widespread anecdote describing a frog slowly being boiled alive. The premise is that if a frog is placed in boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is slowly heated, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death. The story is often used as a metaphor for the inability of people to react to significant changes that occur gradually." (and that threaten their liberty)see Gradually Turning Up The Heat, from Wikipedia.

The fact of the matter is that all of this posturing has not done one thing to reduce the threat of Foreign Pilots. taking over commercial aircraft (if anyone stops them, it will be YOU) or of foreign citizens hiding explosives in their underwear or their shoes.

It didn't stop the Millineum Bomber from trying to cross into our Territory and is in general, a waste of time, money and resources which have been entirely constructed to boost the confidence of those who are afraid to fly. However low your confidence in our aviation security measures are, these charades will not do one thing to improve them, but will gradually acclimate you to government surveillance of every kind, type and method. seeThe New Citizen Surveillance Center via Wired Magazine.

CyberAttack from Beijing

B/c that's where they make the routers.

Enemy of the State

Killing Citizens.

Code of Conduct for NewsAggregators

Pointing readers to the original source.

SXSW

Be There or Be Square Next Year.

Did not know about Nation Builder.


The Smart Set.

36 hours in AUS.

TexasMonthly.

SXSW.

AirWorthinessDirective

AirBUS.

Anonymous

from CourtHouseNews.

Indictment.


In case you missed it: Background:
VideoConferencing.

PBS on Conferencing.

FBI.

BTS

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Contact: Dave Smallen

Tel: 202-366-5568





MEDIA ADVISORY



BTS Releases January Airline Fuel Cost and Consumption Data




The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), today updated its Airline Fuel Cost and Consumption web page with preliminary January data.



Cost per gallon for U.S. airlines’ scheduled services:



January 2011 $2.62

December 2011 $2.76

January 2012 $2.93




The page provides scheduled service cost and consumption numbers. Use the “Select a Service” dropdown to see all services or non-scheduled.

More.






Preliminary fuel cost and consumption numbers are industry summaries only. Airline fuel costs may be affected by hedging. The next monthly web update is scheduled for April 12.



Individual airline numbers are available through September on the BTS website. Individual airline numbers for October, November and December will be available with the BTS fourth-quarter financial release scheduled for May 10. Individual airline numbers for January will be available with the BTS first-quarter financial release scheduled for June 27.

Bi-Polar

Still Crazy After All These Years.

Drones Over America

Morphing into SkyNET.

Sworn Statement

Of Refugee Applying for Asylum.

Incoming!

Space Weather News for March 14, 2012.

INCOMING CME: Sunspot AR1429 unleashed another strong flare (category M7.9) on March 13th. The explosion produced a significant coronal mass ejection (CME), which forecasters say should reach Earth on March 15th. Geomagnetic storms are possible when the cloud arrives. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.


INCOMING CMEs: One and perhaps two CMEs are expected to hit Earth's magnetic field today. Of particular interest is a CME launched toward Earth by a powerful M8-class eruption on March 10. Forecasters say the cloud could spark minor to severe geomagnetic storms when it arrives on March 11-12. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.

WHAT DOES A SOLAR FLARE SOUND LIKE? Saturday's M8-class flare hit Earth with a burst of strong shortwave radio emissions. Today's edition of Spaceweather.com features an audio recording of the blast captured by an amateur astronomer in New Mexico.

SPACE WEATHER ALERTS: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Aurora alerts are available from

Here. (text)
and
Here. (voice).

Defeating the TSA's Monitors

Hey, not invented here, just passing it along.

Update, as of March 12, 2012.

KeepTSAOutOfOurPants.!

All you have to do is incorporate

Getting a Pass.

Forecast

Aviation.

Foreign Body

Language.

via Schneier.com

Heads Up Funny.

One must consider the possibility, as apparent from some of these follow on posts, that folks will just cut and paste the prohibited terms into their facebook pages. If enough people did that, it would overwhelm the program and defeat the intended surveillance. Well, they must have already thought of that.

Iran

In Context.

Major Findings.

CRS

Financial Performance of the Major Oil Companies.

Gasoline Prices.

Americans Abroad and Targeted Killings

Listen to the Podcast from NPR.


Why Drones Target USCitizens.

ACLU Responds.

More from CourtHouseNews.

Enemy of the State.

Glancing Blow

March 6th.

From the Federation of American Scientists

CRS on Eurozone Crisis.

Quantas Gets Nailed

DOT 28-12
Friday, March 2, 2012
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel. (202) 366-4570


DOT Fines Qantas for Violating Price Advertising Rules

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today assessed a civil penalty of $40,000 against Qantas Airways, a carrier based in Australia, for violating federal aviation laws and the Department’s rules prohibiting deceptive price advertising in air travel.

“Ensuring that travelers know the full cost of their airline tickets before they buy them is just one way that DOT is continuing to protect consumers’ rights,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. “Passengers deserve fair and honest treatment when they fly, and DOT’s passenger protections will help ensure that they receive that treatment before, during, and after their flights.”

For a period of time in the fall of last year, Qantas displayed advertisements on numerous websites that did not provide any information on additional taxes and fees. Even after consumers clicking on the advertised fare were taken to a page on the carrier’s website where sample routes and prices were displayed, the type and amounts of additional taxes and fees could be seen only if a consumer scrolled to the bottom of the page.

Qantas’s website violated DOT rules requiring any advertising that includes a price for air transportation to state the full price to be paid by the consumer, including all carrier-imposed surcharges. Until Jan. 26, 2012, government-imposed taxes and fees assessed on a per-passenger basis, such as passenger facility charges, could be stated separately from the advertised fare but had to be clearly disclosed in the advertisement so that passengers could easily determine the full price to be paid. Internet fare listings were permitted to disclose these separate taxes and fees through a prominent link next to the fare stating that government taxes and fees were extra, and the link had to take the viewer directly to information where the type and amount of taxes and fees were displayed.

Under DOT’s recently adopted consumer rule that enhances protections for air travelers, carriers and ticket agents have been required to include all government taxes and fees in every advertised fare since Jan. 26. DOT’s airline price advertising rules apply to both U.S. and foreign carriers as well as ticket agents.

The consent order is available on the Internet Here.

Use docket DOT-OST-2012-0002 as a search term.

Border

Security Checks.

Migrant Workers and Canada

Assimilation.

Studies

Doing Business in Indonesia.

Doing business in Columbia.

Doing Business in South Africa.

Brazil.

Iran.
(from the Federation of American Scientists)

EU Emissions Trading

Paper.

Japan, After Fukushima

CRS Report.

Latest.

Fighting the Unthinkable.


Evacuating Tokyo.

PBS.

PBS2.

Doing Business In Indonesia

Study.

Opt IN

From CourtHouseNews.

Tarmac Delay

Contingency Plans.

Fuel Tank Ignition

Boeing Aircraft.

Dramatic Facts

AMR.