Steven Sinofsky wrote a good (and long) essay about why and how computers crash less often than they used to. Sinofsky says in part: … In the early days of PCs before Windows, crashes froze the computer—nothing worked, not even banging on the keyboard. The only recourse was to turn the computer off and start over, […]
Vehicles could be fitted with what they call an ‘Ethical Knob’, under a proposal by Giuseppe Contissa, Francesca Lagioia, and Giovanni Sartor of CIRSFID, at the University of Bologna, Italy. The device might help clarify ethical/legal issues with Autonomous Vehicles (AVs). What for example, should a self-driving car do when it ‘realizes’ (in an impending […]
A new project, promoted by a beer company, offers a promotional video called “How drones are helping to plant trees“: If successful, this project will to some extent offset the damage caused when drones crash into trees. Numerous videos document the phenomenon of drones crashing into trees. Here’s a video that compiles a very few […]
“An executive of a company that develops jetpacks is in serious condition after crashing during a test flight of one of his products in Denver,” reports the Associated Press. Photos, post-crash, are on display in the SFGate version of that AP report. (Thanks to Adam K. Olson for bringing this to our attention.) A CBS News […]
Would one expect to see an increased amount of jerks amongst drivers involved in accidents, rather than drivers who have not been involved in accidents? Yes, explain Omar Bagdadi [pictured] (of VTI, Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute, Borlänge, Sweden) and András Várhelyib (of Trafik och väg, Lunds Tekniska Högskola, Sweden), in a paper […]
Of all the highly-evolved skills that chickens can be said to have, flying’s not one of them. So although those concerned with animal-welfare will no-doubt welcome moves (afoot in some quarters) to provide more space for egg-laying hens, some have noted that : “This larger, more complex environment permits expression of behaviors not seen in […]
Writing with a clarity that appeals to certain accounting professors, two members of that profession tell how they discovered some sort of possible link between (A) some people being religious in certain ways; and (B) the risk of stock prices crashing for companies that technically have their corporate headquarters in the counties in which those […]
The Washington Post presents a classic physics problem, in the form of text from a court document in Fairfax County, Virginia. The case involves a man alleged to have been the driver in an automobile that crashed at high speed: Paragraph 10. “At the time of the collision, Defendant was going 85 miles per hour.” […]
Pizza is dangerous. Pizza is beneficial. If you hold either of these opinions, published research agrees with you, especially research in England and Italy. Two British studies highlight, darkly, some dangers that accompany pizza that’s served too speedily or too heartily. One, a monograph in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, explains that, whatever the good […]