- Fascinating article — via NPR — about one of the risks of the new Air Traffic Control system the FAA is trying to implement around the country. The next generation of ATC is based in GPS and internet, as oppose to radar and old-school communications systems. In the past airplanes used transponders that interacted with ground based radar stations sprinkled around the country. With NextGen, aircraft will eventually be forced to have a GPS transponder system called ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast). It supposedly works great: fast (with taking out the simple act of compulsory reporting points and having the A/C’s basic information always verified controllers have that much more time to deal with more pressing matters), reliable (GPS gets down to tens of feet with it’s accuracy), and efficient (taking out all the formality and making it automated).
But as this article points out, every system has its weaknesses. In dry runs, several hackers have already been able to corrupt the system, including inserting aircraft (an ADS-B signal) that isn’t really there. Of course, this is why we have dry runs, to hash these things out.
- I have posted another single from my upcoming album on Soundcloud. It comes out Monday, and I’m super excited to share it with people!
- To promote the upcoming film Lawless (one of my most anticipated movies of the year), Vice is asking people to submit Prohibition propaganda art. The movie should be at least good, if not great, with John Hillcoat at the helm. The music I’m sure will be great, with Nick Cave spearheading it.
Downtown, Ramallah is bustling. The city’s commercial and geographical center is shaped like a starfish, with five arteries meeting at Al Manara square, a plaza surrounded by four concrete lions, each said to represent one of the families who originally settled the city. Every day, the city’s population more than doubles in size; villagers from the surrounding area arrive to buy and sell goods. Fruit and vegetable vendors—mostly young men from northern Palestine—hawk Israeli carrots, dates, tangerines, and eggplants. Coffee sellers with red fezzes on their heads pour Arabic coffee from elaborate silver vessels. Teenage girls peruse shop windows. Money-changers shift eagerly outside of a juice bar, and buses and shared taxi cabs roll in and out of the central station.
-Sonny
