mipnix

The definition relies on the mutual understanding of all parties. If you all agree that showing up in your underwear. hung over and smelling like a urinal is acceptable, then as long as you deliver, you have met your obligation.

Punctuality, on agreed conventions, is a sign of respect and a measure of professionalism.

Some would say, improperly editing a post or a comment is a sign of carelessness and therefore would indicate a tendency toward sloppiness in one's work. It all depends on the agreed upon conventions.

All else being equal, and it rarely is, if someone was late-as understood by societal norms- and someone else was on time, who would give you the warmer fuzzy?

Punctuality is a sign of professionalism.

The beauty of it, as far as the FAA goes, lies in the fact the public is not involved in the safety standards.

There is plenty of window dressing in what the travel industry does. A large part of it is because people want to see something being done. It makes them feel better. No matter how small or inconvenient.

The real safety measures are what we don't see or hear about. Every accident that doesn't happen is not JUST luck. It is the end result of a well thought out and executed process.

Is there room for improvement? Of course. But it beats anything else out there by open lengths.

FWIW. I never met someone, who worked for the FAA, who couldn't end my career because they were having a bad day. Pilots feel about FAA officials the way they feel about doctors.

That said, the FAA is the best and safest organization in the world, when it comes to doing what they do. It is bureaucratic, bloated and byzantine and I would take them over any other institution on this side of the Milky Way, any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Part of the problem is, everyone wants cheap tickets AND the best service. One of my advisors had a sign outside his door. It read: Good. Fast. Cheap. Pick any two.

There is no supporting evidence. That is part of the problem. The FAA has enough on their hands trying to get the air traffic control system into the latter half of the twentieth century, without trying to test for every stray signal and how it might affect the navigation. A blanket policy, restricting all devices does that.

The wiring is shielded to an extent but there is no special safe room for the avionics. A lot of it is in the nose, right in front of the crew. It is, after all, a very thin tube of aluminum we are all shooting around in. Weight is something to be avoided.

GPS approaches are allowed, FWIW.

I'm also not sure the localiser signal was involved since I don't think the crew would have gone to the back to get the passenger to mess around with the DVD during an approach.

I flew for the airlines.

The problem is not your everyday takeoff and landing. The problem arises when the weather deteriorates to near zero visibility and the crew is relying on instrumentation to find that strip of pavement, at 130 knots.

Instrument approaches rely on a narrowing volume of radio signals, the closer one is to the runway. The tighter the signal, therefore, the greater the deviation should something go wrong. Think of threading a string through a funnel, if you touch the edges, you lose. Now do it on a trampoline while someone else jumps on it. I assume we can all agree that wildly porpoising a 200k lb jet, 400 from the ground, chasing a signal, is not a good idea.

Vehicles on the ground are prevented from encroaching on the approach signal area, when aircraft are shooting approaches in reduced visibility conditions, to prevent them for interrupting the signal. In the cockpit you can see your signals fluctuate if someone does cross that threshold. It happens.

When visibility is good, it is a non event but when you can't see jack, having your guidance just start dancing around, gives one moments of pause.

The phones do interfere in some manner. TO what degree, I can't say. I have forgotten to turn my phone off before takeoff and get the annoying beep in the headset when we descend into an area with coverage, so something is going on.

The reason they ask you to turn it off is because they can't tell you its okay, because they haven't tested it. They can't say, well turn it off if it's cloudy or if the bases are below 300'. Some departures and arrivals require precise navigation, even in good weather, for traffic flow reasons. Missing a fix on departure or arrival could cause traffic alerts or aircraft deviations.

All rules exist for the worst possible scenario. Not the milk run. But how do you explain that to the traveling masses? You should be more concerned with the fact those little dixie cup oxygen masks they instruct you to put on in the event of a decompression, won't actually supply you with oxygen when the shit hits the fan at altitude. It's a partial pressure thing.

That's just between you and me...

Edit: At the end of the day, it is the law. If the crew is having a bad day and has a stick up their ass, they can make your day a lot worse. You need to ask yourself, does ignoring the rule, no matter how inane you think it is, really make a body cavity search worth checking the latest XKCD update?

When you're in your twenties, you could eat styrofoam and still function appropriately. I like to believe I can still do what I used to do in my twenties...just can't do it as often.

A twenty minute nap in the middle of the day is hugely beneficial. Just enough to not get into deep REM. I read somewhere, maybe it was apocryphal, DaVinci or Michelangelo would doze off with a spoon in their hand, over a metal platter. When they were just about to fall into deep sleep, the spoon would fall out and hit the platter and wake them up.

We don't NEED caffeine but in moderation it is no more detrimental than working at your desk. http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/showArticle.jht...

Check out: www.manager-tools.com/2010/01/how-transfer-between-states-industries-part-1 - 2010-09-24

This is the best podcast for tech/management types. These guys provide actionable, concrete steps one can take to become a better manager, person and employee. Their sister podcast, career tools, is full of amazing advice as well.

Requires free registration. Worth it's weight in bits...

It all depends on what your plan for the money is and when you might need it. Don't play with your living expenses. Don't play with your beer money.

Assume that what you play with will lose value-that is not what you are striving for but if you take that approach you're already a winner. You'll sleep better.

Pay yourself first. Avoid credit at ALL costs.

Live beneath your means:

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." -Dickens

Have some money with which to make outrageous and stupid bets on the market.

Beyond that, there is no magic. Nobody knows what the market is going to do and if they tell you they do, clench your sphincter muscle.

Diversify. Everything in moderation...including moderation.

Cheers.

I'm not sure that is correct.

The fear of inflation is there but the latest figures I am aware of put the inflation rate at below 1.0% (If you never need to buy food or fuel). Some even worry about the prospect of deflation.

Thank you.

I guess it all comes down to a looping sequence. Iterate through the pain as it were.

Wow. Great essay. Thanks.

Too late about the C++ Java thing though...

Thank you kindly.

I'm nothing if not bull headed.

Thank you.

Thank you. Helps indeed.

The breakdown is what I have been looking for. Part of my problem is I was so shell shocked from losing my job, I felt I had to know all the languages and all their frameworks in order to have a chance in the market.

Thanks again.

Great link. Thanks.

C++ and Java is where I started, because I didn't know any better. I then pursued C++ because it is what they use in the master's program to which I was accepted.

Thanks for the links. I would love to learn what is involved in graphics programming.

Too late. Already went through data structures in C++. It's what I am most comfortable with right now, which is not saying much.

I don't understand what actually happens at the kernel level but the language makes sense to me for some reason.

My professor thought I was insane when I signed up for C++, Java and VB.Net all in the same semester and all with no prior programming experience.

I started the Google pyhton tutorial.

Thanks.

Very kind. Thank you.

I now have a goal. Thank you.

...Now what?

It is a personal record. Very much on the honor system. It is used during interviews as a culling criterion. Must meet certain minimum hours and so on.

Would you care to help me build an app as j* suggests?

I have an account but just have no idea what I am doing. I am taking a Linux class right now to try and figure it all out.

I am doing just that. The learning curve is steep-I am so far behind. I am not discouraged though, just hungry to learn.

Thanks.

I love it when a plan comes together. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks. The comments have been insightful.

I guess I don't know what I don't know. I can find out how to work through relatively simple tasks by research but my common core of experience is so out of line with what most people in the field take for granted, I find I am spending most of my time just trying to separate the wheat from the chaff.

I guess I don't want to feel like I am wasting someone's time with what might be a dumb question.

I am teaching myself LAMP and just spent the weekend trying to figure out how to install all the android packages on my Linux laptop.

You are right about the iterations. Thanks.

Right now my portfolio is tied up in food and shelter. Apple, while a fine product, is out of my reach.

I watch all the Stanford videos and MIT OCW. I will check out the Mac community. Thank you.

Done. Thanks. Didn't realize the email in my profile wasn't public.

Thank you. The logbook idea is brilliant. That was the most annoying thing about flying.

Brilliant.