Aviation Photography from John Fleck

Got this from a friend of mine this morning... some truly amazing aviation photography.

John Fleck Photography

Check out his other galleries as well, amazing stuff.

SCOTUS Rules on Student Strip Search

I've been waiting for this decision for several weeks, and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out. The NY Times has a great, concise article on the case and lays out the 7-1 decision pretty clearly.

I think the court actually walked a fine line here. They ruled that the strip search violated the constitutional rights of the middle school student, and that's a good thing. They also ruled that the administrators directly responsible (the assistant principal) cannot be held liable for the action.

This splits the issue cleanly. While most people agree that the search (in the clean light of retrospect and distance) was unreasonable, teachers and administrators cringed at the thought of being held liable for action they take in the classroom. By stating in the majority opinion that the administrator could not be held liable, the Court has prevented paralysis on the part of school officials in situations where they *might* be in the wrong.

In the end, it's always a balance between security and privacy, but I agree with the way this one finished up.

Judge Rules that Crunchberries Obviously Aren't Real

Here's a prime example of a flaw in our judicial system. That a 'consumer' could bring a lawsuit against a company because they though 'crunchberries' were a fruit is simply ludicrous. While it is humorous and I'm glad the judge tossed it; I wonder how much time and money was spent to get to this point. Ridiculous.

Lowering the Bar: Reasonable Consumer Would Know "Crunchberries" Are Not Real, Judge Rules

Concerns Over Recovering AF447 Recorders

Mass media has begin stating this morning that it's likely that the a/c broke up in flight based on the fact that multiple debris fields have been found. I think that it's too early to tell, frankly. I'm also skeptical that we'll ever have a complete view of what happened.

At this point, investigators say it is premature to determine whether the seen debris field indicates the aircraft impacted the water surface in tact (sic) or may have started disintegration while still airborne.

Suffice it to say, it's horrible for those who were aboard and their friends and families.

Concerns Over Recovering AF447 Recorders (from Aviation Week)

Windows 7 Dates Announced

Windows 7 has an official release date. It would appear that in a few months, my current OS (XP) will be two generations old. How is it that I never upgraded anything to Vista?

Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Timelines Shared