Cell Phones Really Cause Airline Safety Issues

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix


From ABC News - A confidential industry study obtained by ABC News indicates there really could be serious safety issues related to cellphones and other PEDs.

A report by the International Air Transport Association, a trade group representing more 230 passenger and cargo airlines worldwide, documents 75 separate incidents of possible electronic interference that airline pilots and other crew members believed were linked to mobile phones and other electronic devices. The report covers the years 2003 to 2009 and is based on survey responses from 125 airlines that account for a quarter of the world's air traffic.

Twenty-six of the incidents in the report affected the flight controls, including the autopilot, autothrust and landing gear. Seventeen affected navigation systems, while 15 affected communication systems. Thirteen of the incidents produced electronic warnings, including "engine indications." The type of personal device most often suspected in the incidents were cell phones, linked to four out of ten.

(Photo courtesy of Pentictontoday)

DVRs A Huge Waste of Energy

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

The Approval Matrix: Week of June 27, 2011

AWESOME PEOLPE HANGING OUT TOGETHER Tumbler

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Awesome People Hanging Out Together

Title is pretty self-explanatory...

Madonna, Sting and 2Pac

CELEBRATIONS OF CURIOUS CHARACTERS

2nd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Amazon\Product Description

Celebrations of Curious Characters cracks open the personal vaults of Ricky Jay—raconteur, historian, and one of the world’s great sleight-of-hand artists—exposing a wonderful world of amusing and arcane knowledge. Adapted from his popular radio series “Jay’s Journal of the Air,” Celebrations of Curious Characters features one-page anecdotes of mind-bending performers (limbless jugglers, banjo-picking birds, Anglo-Texan saxophone-playing siamese twins) paired with engravings, mezzotints, and broadsheets from the author’s remarkable collection. You’ll find engaging vignettes on a daunting variety of topics: musical prodigies, cannon-ball catchers, conmen, card cheats, and performing politicians. Plus, a man who made a model of Lincoln Cathedral out of 1,000,800 bottle corks; a woman continuously pregnant for six-and-a-half years; a theatrical strong man who became the world’s leading Egyptologist; and a healthy number of digressions on time, money, and the argot of thieves.

Ample Hills to Re-Open With Replenished Stores and New Flavors

2nd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Patch by Amy S Clark

Don't believe the rumors: Ample Hills Creamery, Prospect Heights' new ice cream shop is set to re-open Wednesday June 7, not Tuesday, at noon.
The store – the first in Brooklyn to make ice cream completely from scratch in the shop, instead of from a “dairy mix” of pre-pasteurized milk, cream, sugar and eggs – built up an eager foodie fan base in the months before it opened.

But the popularity was also its brief downfall. Ample Hills shut its doors over Memorial Day Weekend, four days after it opened when, due to unexpected demand, it ran out of ice cream. (See photos of opening day here.)

Since then, owner Brian Smith has hired more staff to make the ice cream and has replenished the stock.

"We're up to six tubs of salted crack in reserve.  Should last us a couple days!" he said via e-mail, referring to the shop's most popular flavor, (as opposed to the popular drug).

Smith said he will also roll out a few innovations next week, including traditional cones as a smaller alternative to the handmade waffle cones, and several new flavors including maple bacon, peanut butter, “black on white,” (white chocolate ice cream with a dark chocolate swirl), cinnamon and strawberries and cream and two dairy-free sorbets: coco mojo (coconut-lime-mint mojito flavored), and lemon sky (a lemon-ginger sorbet). But sorry vegans: while they’re dairy free, they include egg whites “for texture, according to Smith.

 

FIFA's One Candidate Leadership Election

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Goldman Sachs Lost 98% of Qaddafi's 1.3 Billion Investment!

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

The Approval Matrix: Week of June 13, 2011

Severed Head of Genital Disease Patron Saint for Sale

4th NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Gawker by Max Read

The head of St. Vitalis of Assisi — the patron saint of genital disease — is up for auction in Ireland.

The head was brought to the Emerald Isle by "an Anglo-Irish couple who had acquired it on [a] 'grand tour' of Europe," because who can turn down a saint's head, genital disease association aside? More recently, it was "stored in an old outhouse," as children were living at the home in which it once held a prominent place. (Remember, the auction house cannot guarantee that the head is, in fact, that of St. Vitalis.!)

St. Vitalis of Assisi, as you no doubt know, was a Benedictine monk who lived a life of poverty after "an early life marked by licentiousness and immorality." And be aware! He is the patron saint of genital disease, generally, and not venereal disease, specifically. The patron saint of venereal disease is, of course, St. Fiacre, who is, coincidentally, Irish.

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS Documentry by Werner Herzog

3rd NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

Novak Djokovic's Gluten-Free Diet Improved His Performance

1st NW Quadrant: The Approval Matrix

From Reuters by Julien Pretot

Novak Djokovic says his unbeaten run is due to his special, gluten-free diet and now Sabine Lisicki hopes she too will benefit in the long run after discovering she is intolerant to gluten, a protein in cereal grains.

Serbian Djokovic, who is on a 39-match winning streak in 2011, changed his diet nine months ago after his nutritionist carried out tests and established he was intolerant to gluten.

The new diet has definitely paid off for Djokovic.

"I have lost some weight but it's only helped me because my movement is much sharper now and I feel great physically," Djokovic, who has beaten Rafa Nadal in four finals this year, said recently.

The gluten-free diet is necessary for people who have celiac disease. It has been gaining in popularity among the general public, but doctors warn that people who eliminate gluten from their diet can also lose out on important nutrients.

Beyonce Inspired by Lorella Cuccarini Performance

Andrew Sullivan Wheat Triggered Back Rash

From The Daily Beast

This is probably TMI, but I've had a recurrent itchy, mild rash for a while now. At its worst, my whole back was a bumpy, red mess. I tried everything but nada. Eventually I went to an allergy specialist and took a test. The good news is that I'm pretty safe from sea-food, so that embarrassing episode years ago at Magdalen College High Table was probably nerves. (Yes, I ran down the medieval hall puking just outside the old oak doors down into the cloister. Lovely.) But the allergy that leapt out at the doctor was wheat. Not gluten. Just wheat.

You can read the rest of the post here...

The Approval Matrix: Week of June 6, 2011