This project has been going on for a while, with previous flights covered here on/. Evidently they're somewhat serious about making this practical (maybe not).
That said... they had to reroute a lot of airspace for this thing to fly, and the "only solar" thing seems a gimmick-- perhaps a gimmick that drives innovation, but a gimmick.
How about the batteries, for instance? How much lighter can you get such an energy source?
I am not going to argue with you if the claim that Israel's attitude towards the world might be due for a little change:).
The policy is in a nutshell that El Al is under greater threat and that there should be intelligent human verification of the identity and intent of travellers, with 100% accuracy. I invite you to consider how such a system would have fared on 9/11, in any other incident such as Lockerie, or how it might be preferable (though step on some toes) in place of the hit-or-miss, hope-we're-lucky regime of the US TSA today.
Given your clarification, it sounds like the security personnel did what they were trained to do, which is use whatever means necessary to assess whether you are who you say you are, or if you are intent on killing someone or the like.
All it takes is one dying body in front of you, when it could have been prevented, to drive this point home in a concrete manner. Trust me.
Since I am not orthodox by far, the El Al and Tel Aviv security folks will usually give me a good and thorough questioning, right down to where I learned Hebrew and who from exactly, (etc etc), while checking the databases.
Or would you prefer to be on a flight with a bomb?
Screaming at El Al Security is, of course, certainly guaranteed to speed your passage. Try louder next time.
>While I mostly agree with your post, I'd like to say that Dutch and German are pretty similar. >It might hurt your pride, but they're basically the same language with a slightly different grammar and pronunciation.
So are English, Welsh, Dutch, and Danish. They're all Western Germanics. Virtually indistinguishable.
Yeah, sure. And records can be sealed or expunged later. In reality, once it gets into a private company's database in the US, even if the defendant wins, even if there is a prohibition, certainly if the record is later expunged, it's in the database. The private companies often pick up the court filings daily or weekly, and pay local courts for the privilege-- with no privacy laws to prevent it, the only recourse is to sue, and a poor bloke with little or no education, in fact anyone but the very privileged, are simply "screwed."
The NYT carried an article today about how the credit bureaus keep "VIP" lists of judges and politicians, correcting errors in their credit reports immediately-- while average citizens often spends years trying to correct mistakes, while they are denied credit, loans, leases (for rental property etc.) and even jobs as a result. It's unbelievable and unconscionable, but what the United States has become. I'm glad to have the opportunity to exit whenever I wish.
I must apologize for the incident at the border crossing in Israel. Though most of the world seems unaware of it, our resources are very strained, and the education system is unfortunately rather poor in many areas. In contrast to the United States, I believe we are relatively aware of it, and would like to change it.
If that happened at an airport security check, and was not a ploy used to test you, it should be a reason for dismissal of the security agent. Please post again if it did.
The incident at Schiphol reminds me both of the depth of Dutch humour, and of the fact that while the Western Germanic languages are in fact very similar, speaking German in the Dutch lands (or not knowing the difference) is mistake not to be made twice. (IMO they are even kinder than most of Eastern Europe, to anyone who bothers to learn their language, much less some of the local dialects and customs).
The Swiss are somewhat a different story, but they have their own charms, as well.
It is hard for me to think any Schengen zone member (that excludes UK) would make the mistake of placing Brussels in Switzerland, except as a typo. And it should have been corrected by the moderators who accepted the article.
Your objection is neatly address in the works of Douglas Adams, I believe. However Adam's theory suggests the the circles are oriented in a manner most likely to fuck with human beings.
But the opposite of this is, if there's no publicity, no one sees the abuses (which may be and likely are much more common in the US).
At this point, defendants in the US, especially those without counsel, (other than the joke of appointed counsel), are subject to abuse of rights in what is essentially invisibilty-- many courtrooms do not allow any reporting other than what can be carries out on a notepad. In a completely adversarial system, one which has no formal or procedural obligation to pursue truth-- if your lawyer doesn't defend you, too bad, it's not the judge's concern-- this is not only ripe for abuse. Abuse is rampant.
A project such as this has the potential to turn that around, and make the reality of the United States "Justice" system evident and recorded for all.
Well, it's one way to solve the US budgetary "crisis." How about $1 million for a seat in the room? $50 million to pull the switch! American capitalist enterprise at work!!!
I *hope* you are aware that all court records are already databased and searchable by potential employers, regardless of this, and are being sarcastic. Because if not... SlashDot's intelligence level is dropping even faster than I thought.
Brussels is in Belgium. Obviously the Article was submitted by an American. I assume this was a Switzerland to Brussels flight. A few hundred kilometers. More if I see flight details.
Slashdot Mirror
Who gives a darn? How many baby iPads were damaged? Will they survive? How are they doing and what are their prospects for recovery?
DOES TOO! DOES TOO!
{experiment continues}
Does not!
We'll see if this works...
U kent het probleem met je Nederlandse volk? Geen gevoel voor humor.
What's an American doing in Pakistan? Shooting innocents again? :P
This project has been going on for a while, with previous flights covered here on /. Evidently they're somewhat serious about making this practical (maybe not).
That said... they had to reroute a lot of airspace for this thing to fly, and the "only solar" thing seems a gimmick-- perhaps a gimmick that drives innovation, but a gimmick.
How about the batteries, for instance? How much lighter can you get such an energy source?
Niihau, ma? /me opens Google maps.
Nope, neither Africa nor China have rearranged their borders and cities since I was last there.
Shezinii.
LOL. Well played.
Yeah yeah.
I used SZ because I'm used to the NATO designations and because CH is generally unfamiliar to an American audience, which is what we have here.
I am not going to argue with you if the claim that Israel's attitude towards the world might be due for a little change :).
The policy is in a nutshell that El Al is under greater threat and that there should be intelligent human verification of the identity and intent of travellers, with 100% accuracy. I invite you to consider how such a system would have fared on 9/11, in any other incident such as Lockerie, or how it might be preferable (though step on some toes) in place of the hit-or-miss, hope-we're-lucky regime of the US TSA today.
Given your clarification, it sounds like the security personnel did what they were trained to do, which is use whatever means necessary to assess whether you are who you say you are, or if you are intent on killing someone or the like.
All it takes is one dying body in front of you, when it could have been prevented, to drive this point home in a concrete manner. Trust me.
Since I am not orthodox by far, the El Al and Tel Aviv security folks will usually give me a good and thorough questioning, right down to where I learned Hebrew and who from exactly, (etc etc), while checking the databases.
Or would you prefer to be on a flight with a bomb?
Screaming at El Al Security is, of course, certainly guaranteed to speed your passage. Try louder next time.
Apology withdrawn.
BlackPig opineth:
>While I mostly agree with your post, I'd like to say that Dutch and German are pretty similar.
>It might hurt your pride, but they're basically the same language with a slightly different grammar and pronunciation.
So are English, Welsh, Dutch, and Danish. They're all Western Germanics. Virtually indistinguishable.
Yeah, sure. And records can be sealed or expunged later. In reality, once it gets into a private company's database in the US, even if the defendant wins, even if there is a prohibition, certainly if the record is later expunged, it's in the database. The private companies often pick up the court filings daily or weekly, and pay local courts for the privilege-- with no privacy laws to prevent it, the only recourse is to sue, and a poor bloke with little or no education, in fact anyone but the very privileged, are simply "screwed."
The NYT carried an article today about how the credit bureaus keep "VIP" lists of judges and politicians, correcting errors in their credit reports immediately-- while average citizens often spends years trying to correct mistakes, while they are denied credit, loans, leases (for rental property etc.) and even jobs as a result. It's unbelievable and unconscionable, but what the United States has become. I'm glad to have the opportunity to exit whenever I wish.
I must apologize for the incident at the border crossing in Israel. Though most of the world seems unaware of it, our resources are very strained, and the education system is unfortunately rather poor in many areas. In contrast to the United States, I believe we are relatively aware of it, and would like to change it.
If that happened at an airport security check, and was not a ploy used to test you, it should be a reason for dismissal of the security agent. Please post again if it did.
The incident at Schiphol reminds me both of the depth of Dutch humour, and of the fact that while the Western Germanic languages are in fact very similar, speaking German in the Dutch lands (or not knowing the difference) is mistake not to be made twice. (IMO they are even kinder than most of Eastern Europe, to anyone who bothers to learn their language, much less some of the local dialects and customs).
The Swiss are somewhat a different story, but they have their own charms, as well.
It is hard for me to think any Schengen zone member (that excludes UK) would make the mistake of placing Brussels in Switzerland, except as a typo. And it should have been corrected by the moderators who accepted the article.
Earth-like planets? Carbonists! Discrimination! Unfair!
Your objection is neatly address in the works of Douglas Adams, I believe. However Adam's theory suggests the the circles are oriented in a manner most likely to fuck with human beings.
Evidently you were assuming I was using tlds? Doch nein.
But the opposite of this is, if there's no publicity, no one sees the abuses (which may be and likely are much more common in the US). At this point, defendants in the US, especially those without counsel, (other than the joke of appointed counsel), are subject to abuse of rights in what is essentially invisibilty-- many courtrooms do not allow any reporting other than what can be carries out on a notepad. In a completely adversarial system, one which has no formal or procedural obligation to pursue truth-- if your lawyer doesn't defend you, too bad, it's not the judge's concern-- this is not only ripe for abuse. Abuse is rampant. A project such as this has the potential to turn that around, and make the reality of the United States "Justice" system evident and recorded for all.
Well, it's one way to solve the US budgetary "crisis." How about $1 million for a seat in the room? $50 million to pull the switch! American capitalist enterprise at work!!!
I *hope* you are aware that all court records are already databased and searchable by potential employers, regardless of this, and are being sarcastic. Because if not... SlashDot's intelligence level is dropping even faster than I thought.
Ever heard of a channel changer? DVR? Fast forward? Slashdot, where the infinity of noise rapidly approaches the limit of signal.
Actual flight path in title. Approx 660km @ 50km / hr, with cleared airspace due to special needs. See http://www.solarimpulse.com/blog/2011/05/13/all-lights-at-green/ Herzliche Glückwünsche to the team.
Maar, ik wiet niet !
Brussels is in Belgium. Obviously the Article was submitted by an American. I assume this was a Switzerland to Brussels flight. A few hundred kilometers. More if I see flight details.
Ja wohl, mein Freund.