Airlines resisted putting in stronger cockpit doors

Airlines resisted putting in stronger cockpit doors, too, to protect against hijackers. If you wait for a business to do the right thing...Modern airplanes like the Boeing 777 are full of sophisticated devices to municate with air traffic controllers and broadcast their position, including two transponders, several VHF radios, a satellite phone and text and data-link systems. One of them, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, or ACARS, handles textlike transmissions over radio or satellite links.
This handout from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows the satellite images of the two objects that officials say could possibly be related to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Credit Australian Maritime Safety Authority

But those systems can be vulnerable to tampering by outsiders or can just be turned off by pilots, or anyone else knowledgeable with airplane operations. Industry officials say pilots need to be able to turn off any transmission system in case it starts a fire.Similar concerns emerged after the 9/11 attacks,
Part of building stronger munications capacity is having the technology to support it when terrorists turned off transponders that broadcast a plane's identification number and other information, hiding the planes' identities from civilian controllers. Once an airplane is outside radar range, usually 200 miles from the coast, American airlines insist on getting munications from pilots at least once an hour to track their aircraft. Without these updates, a plane might fly hundreds of miles beyond its last point of munications before anyone was even aware it was missing.

These shor ings could e to an end thanks to a long-planned transition from radar to satellite-based systems that are expected to greatly increase tracking accuracy by the end of the decade.But in the meantime, Robert W. Mann, an aviation consultant in Port Washington, N.Y., said rescue operations could be considerably accelerated if airplanes were required to automatically send basic flight information via satellite such as position, altitude, speed and direction at much shorter intervals.Such a system could also be designed to keep transmitting as long as an airplane was airborne or generated power.

Part of building stronger munications capacity is having the technology to support it

Over the last several years, airlines have been installing satellite-based Wi-Fi systems for passenger entertainment that could also be used to facilitate data-streaming, Mr. Mann said.
"It's ironic that we have this technology so passengers can pay to watch reruns of 'Charlie's Angels,' but that we still have to make the safety case for their use," he said.This shift is all the more critical as a new generation of airplanes can fly longer distances over water and traffic grows rapidly throughout Asia and the Pacific.Smaller nonprofits find it particularly difficult to keep up with the time and tools needed to create more visibility about their causes and to take advantage of the social network. This challenge directly impacts their capacity to build more relationships and fundraise.

Part of building stronger munications capacity is having the technology to support it. For many small nonprofits, that's the first hurdle. When there's inadequate internal capacity for focused munications efforts, attempts will be spotty. And inconsistency is the devil in the details.
Happily, there are tools that can help your nonprofit b e a sophisticated user of online and mobile media without it being cost prohibitive. Today there's so much demand for tools to take advantage of social networking platforms that sorting through the options can be overwhelming. Following are some popular and free or reasonably priced choices.

A Nonprofit Tech for Good r mendation, Wibbitz, converts text-based posts and articles into interactive videos. Since videos have proven to be a hugely popular form of engaging people online and via mobile phone, that makes Wibbitz a highly useful tool.It can be added to Web pages or articles and requires an iOS 7.0 or later operating system. Wibbitz is patible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is optimized for iPhone 5. You'll need to have iTunes on your device to use Wibbitz.Qwiki automatically turns pictures and videos from events you've captured on your iPhone into brief movies to share. Go to qwiki  to see impressive examples of how it works. It requires iOS 5.1 or later, is patible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch and is optimized for iPhone 5.
Nonprofit Tech for Good also suggests a look at Windows Live Writer to generate HTML code.

This musical play, set in an Islamic Baghdad of early medieval times

The fundraiser, which includes a raffle, food music and beer, is being held at Tom and Jerry's Sports Pub in Milmont Park from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.Follow Daily Local News staff writer Jeremy Gerrard on Twitter On Broadway in late 1953, the Tony Award production Kismet began its run of 583 performances.
This musical play, set in an Islamic Baghdad of early medieval times, featured two songs which attained wide popularity: the romantic Stranger in Paradise and the lively Baubles, Bangles and Bright Shiny Beads.Competitive Robotics club members battle it out at the Engineering Expo The latter, which occurs in a scene at a bazaar market lane, provides this column's focus on various words referring to trinkets: little items of little value, shiny or not as given below with background summaries.

"Bauble" derived from a"bination of French "beau" and "belle" and generally denoting any small pretty item as either a decorative wearable accessory hairpin, ring or a child's toy.
"Bangle" from a Hindi term meaning "circle:" bracelets or anklets worn in jingling sets of two or more."Bead" related to "bid" and "fide" faith with original basis as something "asked for by praying:" originally by means of a prayer per bead on a handheld string set, but later applied in designation of ornamental items like beads on a necklace."Trinket" has the root notion "piece" from the French basis "tranche" sliced or chopped off segment with "et" adding the idea of "small" to refer to debris bits from the crafting of gems from chunks of shiny metal or colourful crystallized rock.

"Trifle," meaning "something of little importance," was adapted in English from French "truffe" as also related to "truffle" with the sense "little lump" which arose from "tuber" for a globular root found at the base of some vegetables and thus also for a subterranean black lump mushroom as a delicacy of French cuisine."Bagatelle" also refers to something of little significance from the Italian "bacca" for "berry" probably from some types being inedible but used ornamentally.Old pieces of fabric often as rags of generally little value, yielded the following terms: frippery, falbala, and paltry.Small odd devices may carry indefinite designations such as "gadget" from French "gachette" meaning "little bolt" originally invented for sliding into a catch place for locking a gate or door or as "doo dad doo hickey" from an observer's uncertainty with the thought "What does it DO?".

Competitive Robotics club members battle it out at the Engineering Expo

Minutes before a tournament began, Sacramento State Competitive Robotics members can be seen preparing robots by tightening screws, examining movements of motors or testing"munication between robot and remote controller.The Engineering Expo Sunday featured eight 1-pound robots that were deployed into a glass encased arena to battle, using various weapons and techniques, including spinning, saw blades, or using  body weight to ram opponents against the glass walls."It is a nice way for students to be able to take some of their ideas and knowledge about science and mix it in freely with creativity, and not have to worry about harsh deadlines, grades and how they perform against their peers," said Daniel Fraga, mechanical engineering graduate student. "When you take that pressure away from students, it is amazing what they can"e up with."

Sophomore mechanical engineer David Sarver took first place. His robot, Jimmy No. 2, used a spinning technique that attacked by cutting into its opponents with blades.Although the matches last three minutes or less, the planning phase for the robots begins months in advance.For junior electrical engineering major Nitish Khazane, the brainstorming phase began after the last robot tournament fall 2013. It took three robot design drafts before he was inspired by a drill bit he found laying around in the shop."Think of a scorpion," Khazane said while describing his robot. "With a tail end that can rotate on a rod. At the end of the scorpion tail, I have a drill bit attached that will spin and lash out like a scorpion would."

'Scorpios" weapon is an offensive technique that seeks to capitalize on the exposed tops of robot rivals. Khazane began building the frame of the robot after winter break.Khazane, also vice president for Competitive Robotics at Sac State,  joined the club as a sophomore and has participated in the robot tournament every semester since. His a"plishments, he said, are in part to experienced club members whom have helped develop tool craftsmanship and club management.

The articulate and affable DeCoud always gave thoughtful and helpful responses

He started 15 games and had 83 tackles and two interceptions.
In 2011, the Falcons re signed DeCoud to a five year $17.5 million contract.General manager Thomas Dimitroff calls them "salary cap casualties," and it's a league wide practice.
"I believe in the NFL today, so-called cap casualties are an issue for every team unless you're at the top of the heap with $30 million to $40 million dollars available," he said. "It's something that we will get into as we continue to analyze and re-evaluate this roster as it stands."The Falcons have already cut veterans Asante Samuel, Stephen Nicholas and Garrett Reynolds. Also, running back Jason Snelling retired after seven seasons in the league.

A major part of DeCoud's contract was set to b"e guaranteed on March 15.Releasing DeCoud, 28, would save the Falcons $3 million.Last season, DeCoud took to social media to vent his frustrations with this season.Not because it had damaged the environment Earlier in the season, defensive coordinator Mike Nolan said DeCoud was in a slump and Nolan hoped that he'd pull out of it.On his verified Twitter account, @TwentyAte28, DeCoud wrote, "By no means am I sittin here acting like I'm balling' out there… but if you don't know those three things I state.. you really have no room talk…" He linked to what appeared to be a journal entry through Instagram that read: "I understand that someone has to be the lightning rod for everyone's frustration ... but if you don't know the huddle call....

 The rules of our defense... or our game plan…you have no clue what's goin' on out there... I don't care how much football you THINK you know...it's a lot more going on than you can fathom."DeCoud was known to appear in all of the open locker room sessions and was more than generous with his time, was selected as the Falcons' 2012 Good Guy Award winner by the local chapter of Professional Football Writers of America.
The articulate and affable DeCoud always gave thoughtful and helpful responses.The Good Guy Award is given to a player for his qualities and professional style in helping pro football writers do their jobs.DeCoud was apart of Dimitroff's first draft class in 2008. He was selected in the third round out of California.

Not because it had damaged the environment

 Citing "great inner city organizing against it" and an LA City Council-adopted resolution in support of a statewide fracking moratorium, Hayden sees increased prospects for moratorium legislation this year.Like nuclear fission power, fracking has a somewhat frightening sound to it. But after Brown blocked a huge pro-nuclear surge in the '70s, nuclear fission power in California declined not because of a serious deleterious impact on the environment but because it was inefficient. The San Onofre plant outside San Diego, where I once spoke at a huge anti nuclear rally in the early '80s, has finally been closed by the utility that owns it.

 Not because it had damaged the environment, as most of the rally speakers claimed it would, but because a history of problems with equipment, which caused it to be off line for much of the state's ballyhooed electric power crisis early in the last decade, finally made it more trouble than it was worth.If the oil and gas industry can get ahead of the curve on fracking by taking steps to make it clear the industry is confident in its technology and practices, and if Brown and other state leaders make sure the state is exercising clear oversight, fracking could have a promising future in California.

In the meantime, the future is back in California, with the state's people contemplating and debating things off in the distance, free from having to constantly worry about the state's chronic operating budget deficit.A study last month from the policy center Schwarzenegger started a year and a half ago, the USC Schwarzenegger Institute on State and Global Policy, released at a forum featuring MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, strongly suggested that political reform initiatives pushed by the former governor tamed the wild beast of "hyper partisanship" and created a more moderate and productive state legislature.The USC prof who conducted the study used floor votes on Chamber of Commerce priority bills to gauge this end of gridlock in California even as Congress was b"ing more gridlocked and polarized. The finding?

The new faces have to step up their game if they're going to catch up

Do not doubt RuPaul. The goddess has a plan. While I stand by my opinion that splitting the queens into two groups led to a lackluster first half of the sixth-season premiere, that decision pays off big time in "RuPaul's Big Opening: Part Two," which uses the events of last week's episode to turn up the pressure for a group of queens that is simply more memorable than what showed up last week. Nobody in part one was as shady as Bianca Del Rio, as fishy as Courtney Act, as ballsy as Milk, or as large as Darienne Lake. And there was definitely nobody that was a hotter mess than Magnolia Crawford, who is incredibly easy to hate thanks to her busted appearance and disastrous attitude. The personalities are bigger, the looks are bolder, and the noses are way thinner, making this episode a triumphant return to form for TV's best reality'petition.

"RuPaul's Big Opening: Part Two" begins by checking in with the queens from last week after Kelly Mantle's elimination, who walk into the workroom to discover a party set up to celebrate their safety. While everyone is drinking champagne and eating cupcakes, Gia scrawls "Beware Bitchez" in lipstick on the mirror, an ominous message that encapsulates why the two-group dynamic ends up working so well. Six of the contestants have already made it through the first challenge before this week's queens even debut, and one of them has already gone home. When tonight's group learns what happened last week, the stakes raise dramatically, because not only are they immediately reminded of how real the risk of elimination is, but they also now know that there are six queens that have a head start on them.

 The new faces have to step up their game if they're going to catch up, and that leads to a considerable increase in energy for the second part of the season premiere.The girls are having a great time celebrating victory and building sisterly bonds, but the party's over when Mama Ru'es down in her curlers, face mask, and pink bathrobe and orders her girls to go to bed because she's expecting'pany in the morning, Her first guest to arrive is Bianca Del Rio, 37,A lot of the show had that same 'wait, why? an insult'ic queen who immediately establishes herself as the person to beat this season, bringing a fiercely hilarious personality, beautifully polished clothes, and a wildly exaggerated paint job that emphasizes her huge expressions.

A lot of the show had that same 'wait, why?

and Italy's The Great Beauty took Best Foreign-Language Feature; these awards weren't exactly preordained, but neither did they really surprise anybody.I was more surprised when 20 Feet From Stardom took Best Documentary over The Act Of Killing. Yes, 20 Feet From Stardom is entertaining and bouncy, but The Act Of Killing is a work of art, and the Documentary category is one of the slots that's often able to reward genuinely exceptional filmmaking. Not this year, though … but 20 Feet's win did lead to the sight of Darlene Love belting out a gospel tune from the stage of the Dolby Theater, triggering the evening's first truly enthusiastic standing ovation.

Yeah, about the show itself. Ellen DeGeneres was a game host, her self-effacing manner nicely undercutting the enormous self-regard of the evening … but after the first 90 minutes, she was just another drag on the running time, fumbling through an undercooked bit about serving pizza to the hungry people in the front row and taking a selfie with her Samsung phone in the night's second most awkward piece of product placement. The first was the shameless pimping of The Wizard Of Oz – now available on Blu-ray in a restored 75th-anniversary edition, folks!  with Judy Garland's famous and less famous children being serenaded with a rendition of Over The Rainbow by Pink. Good song, good performance, entirely unnecessary to the evening.

A lot of the show had that same 'wait, why?" quality: the evening was organized around a theme of heroes that never quite gelled, but allowed for two lengthy montages of movies that somehow typified heroism – the first built around films based on true stories, the second on superheroes that found a way to include clips from Jaws, Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Back To The Future. Maybe the night's real hero was Steven Spielberg.It certainly wasn't Rob Ford, who spent the hours before the Oscars wandering around Hollywood Blvd. in the general vicinity of the Dolby Theater'plex, hoping people would recognize him and buying a cheap tuxedo for a cameo appearance on Jimmy Kimmel's post-Oscar show.Is this the first time in the entire evening we have heard someone refer to God and thank Him?