Helicopter Lift, Golden Gate Bridge [Video]

I was mesmerized with this video of a Sikorsky S-58T helicopter removing & installating a microwave repeater radio from atop the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. 
Watch the remarkable skills & courage of people doing their jobs, trusting in the engineering prowess that makes such things possible.

Internet Nationalism, & a common-sense approach [Article]

Bruce Schneier, writing in the MIT Technology Review warns of the danger that is growing in the name of Internet Nationalism, & reminds us what it really covers up:
But remember: none of this is cyberwar. It’s all espionage, something that’s been going on between countries ever since countries were invented. What moves public opinion is less the facts and more the rhetoric, and the rhetoric of war is what we’re hearing.
He calls for a more sensible approach:
We need to damp down the rhetoric and—more importantly—stop believing the propaganda from those who profit from this Internet nationalism.  Those who are beating the drums of cyberwar don’t have the best interests of society, or the Internet, at heart.

A 12 year old entrepreneur [Article]

He’s 12 years old, but age did not stop Ethan Duggan from showcasing his creation at the recently concluded SXSW conference. Called LazyHusband, the app was inspired by a (routinely heard) question from his mom about how her new dresses looked on her.  He taught himself to code from Codeacademy, & has mentors from the industry providing him crash courses in programming languages. The story is inspiring, even though I think the app may not be something of use to me (that can change quickly, of course!)

God’s Olympics [Article]

Simon Jenkins, in a recent article in the Guardian, shares his view on the Catholic Church that is celebrating the election of a new Pope:
..[The Catholic Church]claims an authority over not just the souls but the lives of millions far beyond the borders of its private Vatican republic. Its followers cannot vote for their rulers, and their rulers show little accountability in return.

The Catholic church is not as intolerant as the fundamentalist Islamic ayatollahs with which it is sometimes compared. Its intolerance is largely towards its own adherents. The west waxes eloquent in denouncing the role of religion in the politics of Muslim states, in the archaic penal codes, the treatment of women and the response to apostasy. It should sometimes examine the religious mote in its own eye.

Listening (& understanding) without hearing [Article]

Rachel Kolb explains how she hears people speak: by reading their lips. Kolb is deaf in both ears, but that hasn’t stopped her from earning her bachelor’s in English with a minor in human biology and is working on a master’s degree in English. She is managing editor of the literary magazine Leland Quarterly, active with Christian ministries and as a disability advocate, and president of the Stanford Equestrian Team. In November, she was named a 2013 Rhodes Scholar.
An excerpt:

Even the most skilled lipreaders in English, I have read, can discern an average of 30 percent of what is being said. I believe this figure to be true. There are people with whom I catch almost every word—people I know well, or who take care to speak at a reasonable rate, or whose faces are just easier on the eyes (for lack of a better phrase). But there are also people whom I cannot understand at all. On average, 30 percent is a reasonable number.
But 30 percent is also rather unreasonable. How does one have a meaningful conversation at 30 percent? It is like functioning at 30 percent of normal oxygen, or eating 30 percent of recommended calories—possible to subsist, but difficult to feel at your best and all but impossible to excel.

“Technology breeds Crime” [Interview]

A former conman, Frank Abagnale (remember the movie Con Man, about the man who pretended to be a PanAm pilot?), shows how easy it is to forge something these days, in this article from Wired: “Technology Breeds Crime”.  Prepare to be stunned, if you didn’t already know this. 

Fifty years ago, information was hard to come by. When you created a cheque you had no way of knowing where in reality British Airways’ bank was, who was authorised to sign their cheques and you didn’t know their account number. Today you can call any corporation in the world and tell them you are getting ready to wire them money and they will tell you the bank, the wiring number, the account number. You can then ask for a copy of the annual report and on page three are the signatures of the chairman of the board, the CEO and the treasurer. It’s all on white glossy paper with black ink — scanner ready art. You then just print it onto the cheque.

The affairs of the heart [Article]

Why bypass surgery and angioplasty aren’t all they’re cracked up to be
 Each intervention, promising lifesaving relief, was embraced with enthusiasm by cardiologists and cardiac surgeons—and both techniques often do provide rapid, dramatic reduction of the alarming pain associated with angina. Yet, as Jones painstakingly explains, it took years to show whether the procedures prolonged lives; in both cases, subsequent research deflated those early hopes. The interventions—major procedures, with potentially significant side effects—provided little or no improvement in survival rates over standard medical and lifestyle treatment except in the very sickest patients. …