Not too often you see regular military fighter jets above San Francisco these days, you know, just flying around on some mission as opposed to performing an airshow. Last time for me seeing something like that was when a pair of U.S. Air Force F-15’s roared low and fast over the Western Addition about a half-decade ago.
Here’s the view from Haight Ashbury yesterday, through the Blue Gum Eucalyptus trees. Don’t bother looking at the misfocused photo ’cause you probably won’t be able to see them, but KPIX / CBS5 has some footage from Oakland International Airport yesterday. There they are lined up next to the King Airs and whatnot at OAK.
And of course, a crash like that one in San Diego wouldn’t kill anybody in San Francisco because the Blue Angels would react differently to a sudden loss of power. And if there were a crash for other reasons, it would be simply unpossible for that to kill “thousands.”
Anyway, if you ever want to say that you don’t like the Blue Angels, it’ll be up to you to just say that you don’t like the Blue Angels or, instead, to make a blog post going, “Blue Angel Kills Thousands in SF crash.”
Your choice.
Anyway again, this “Military Aircraft operation” might have brought a nuclear aircraft carrier to the waters of the Farallones, who knows.
Look to theskies!They are ever changing.
Suit and tie comes up to me
His face red
Like a rose on a thorn bush
Like all the colours of a royal flush
And he’s peeling off those dollars bills
Slapping them down, one hundred, two hundred, And I can see those fighter planes
And I can see the fighter planes
Across the mud huts as the children sleep
Through the alleys of a quiet city street
Up the staircase to the first floor
We turn the key and slowly unlock the door
A man breathes deep into saxophone
Through the walls we hear the city groan
Outside is America
Outside is America
Am I missing something here? Is there some reason why the SFPD shouldn’t have CED’s? Our Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol have access to TASERS when they’re on the job in SF, so why not the police?
“I’m going to wear a powder blue fucking suit, and a white shirt and a red tie and a fucking breast cancer pin…”
Comes now the fight loser “Michael” (who appears to be on a first-name-only basis with DJ “JV“):
“First of all, I’d like to aPOlogize to AC Transit…”
It goes on and on, Black History Month, 5150, bygones, veterans, arthritis, murder, parole, apologies, brothers, stolen money, leaking, ass kicking, Strike Force(?) Showtime TV, 10,000 kids, cocaine - it goes on and on.
Can’t remember which morning-zoo / dawg-pound joint this screengrab came from. Oh yes, it was from WILD 94.9 FM:
Now-famous 62-year-old Bay Arean Thomas Bruso (akaEpic Beard Man, Tom Swift, and Tom Vietnam) picks fights as he rides AC Transit in the East Bay, of course, (incident video now available in high def) but he also has been known to take BART to visit San Francisco from time to time. For example, here he is near Market Street back when he was just 48, as seen by Caliber photographer Troy Holden:
“Back in 1996, I was working at the intersection of 2nd & Market. Each and every day the man pictured above would walk by my shop, wave a loaf of sourdough in my face, and scream obscenities about the San Francisco 49′ers.”
Let’s find out, courtesy of footage of Tom at an Oakland A’s game last year. Is this a proper use of a Taser? I don’t know. It ended up being a time-saver for the cops, certainly. Would they have felt justified in shooting Tom with bullets at that moment? Obviously not. The question after any Taser discharge is what would you have done if you didn’t have the Taser, right?
Speaking of Tasers and the East Bay, check out this excellent report from Demian Bulwa about how the BART Police Department ran the initial stages of its Taser program.
That’s a poorly-run operation. What about the California Highway Patrol? They seem to do be doing better with Tasers these days. For them, a Taser is just another arrow in the quiver. Check it, a CHP officer on San Francisco’s Octavia Boulevard with his two primary weapons, a Smith & Wesson Model 4006 semi-automatic and a TASER International X26:
So why shouldn’t the SFPD have Tasers? We already trust them with handguns and assault rifles, right? We’ll end up with a few more lawsuits but with fewer dead civilians. Sounds like a win, overall.
And finally, let’s hear from the RAND Coporation. They pondered the use of Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) for the NYPD and had this to say:
“Our key less-than-lethal force recommendations:
We reviewed reports of about 455 NYPD shootings from 2004 to 2006 and identified 25 cases where we judged that had a less-lethal weapon been available, officers may have used it to subdue suspects instead of using their handguns.
We also note that when other departments have deployed Conducted Energy Devices or CEDs, commonly known by the brand name TASER, injuries to both suspects and officers have declined.
We recognize that some groups have criticized the deployment of CEDs, raising issues of safety, overuse, and misuse. As such we recommend that the NYPD undertake a pilot program for the deployment of CEDs.
Such a program should allow patrol officers in selected precincts to be trained and equipped with CEDs that can incapacitate suspects from a distance. We believe there is evidence that if NYPD officers had access to this device, some number of officer-involved shootings could be avoided, and injuries to both suspects and police officers will decline. A carefully designed pilot program conducted over six to 12 months in a few select precincts would give the department enough information to determine whether the devices would alter the way the NYPD officers apply force and whether the weapons could be used properly.”
Billions of bailout dollars (or whatever) later, the Swiss sort of have a vibrant national carrier again.
Anyway, if you’re flying to Switzerland, this will do. The Airbus A340 jumbo is nobody’s idea of a successful design (what with its surplus of fuel-sucking engines in this Big Twin Era), but it’ll get you there and back, six days a week, as a pampered guest of SWISS CEO Harry Hohmeister (his real name, srsly).
Maybe in Europe or Asia they still have something like the BundyBounce, but you’re not going to find anything like that at the big family-oriented car show in San Francisco, longstanding stereotypes of car shows notwithstanding. FYI.
Here’s what’s left of that bygone era.
The continuously-improvingKaizen-ettes (改善ettes - Jordan, Marisa and Laura) sing the praises of this 2010 Toyota Prius:
Chatting about a huge Dodge pick-em-up:
Talking to no one at all about the Chrysler 300 sedan:
That’s it.
Also, no beefcake (beefcake!). Maybe they had something like that ten years ago, but not anymore.
Hands up – who here has a Lexus? The SEMA boys painted this IS350 using the flattest finish known to Man. That’s not primer, it’s paint:
I think the South Koreans are arriving a little late at the boaty chromed-up car party, but anyway, here’s your giant 2010 Hyundai Equus – ask about their bullet-proof model:
A woody Mini Clubman station wagon, of course:
Honda makes jets? Sort of, with a little help from GE. Buy your HondaJet HA420 starting in 2011:
But then when Langewiesche gets a little blowback, he folds up like a deck chair, talking about how he’s surprised by Sully’s reaction, and how he’s neither pro- nor anti- fly-by-wire, and how he thinks cockpit automation is merely ”a part of the story,” anyway, of Flight 1549. Well, duh, it’s a part of the story.
But that’s Langewiesche’s “Truth About the Miracle on the Hudson” – that’s it, that’s all there is?
Haven’t read Fly by Wire myself. Probably would rather read it more than Sully’s less-techy book (mostly about the his Search for What Really Matters), which I haven’t read either.Oh well.
Obviously, there are pros and cons to Die by Wire. If William Langewiesche is now going around saying that, as he is, then there’s not much of a dispute anymore, we’ll take solace in the certainly that the bruised egos of French Airbus execs (who want Sully to thank Gaia for Airbus every chance he gets) will heal over time.
I don’t know, pretty cheesy (fromagey?) Monsieur William Langewiesche.
