Edition 21 – AI, Airlines, and Astronauts
Namaste and hello again! 👋
After a hiatus over the past few months, I am ready to restart writing blog posts and this newsletter, and also redesign my website over the next few weeks.
New on my blog
The Great IT Outage of 2024: Inside the Update that Stopped the World
On July 19, 2024, an update to CrowdStrike's Falcon security software sparked global chaos, leading to startup errors on over 8 million Windows machines. Critical sectors were hit hard, from airlines to emergency services. It's a stark reminder of the fragility of our digital infrastructure.
The Case for Vegetarian-First Airline Meals
A recent flight diversion due to spoiled food highlights the urgent need for airlines to reconsider their meal offerings. By adopting vegetarian meals as the default, airlines can improve passenger satisfaction, enhance food safety, support environmental sustainability, and streamline operations, ultimately leading to a better flying experience for all travelers.
The big stories
Astronauts Will Return Home on Dragon After Starliner Mission Fails
NASA has announced that astronauts will return to Earth aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft following a failure to fix issues with Boeing's CST-100 Starliner mission. The Starliner was intended to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) as part of NASA's Commercial Crew Program, but encountered issues during its first crewed test flight.
Despite Boeing's efforts to address the problems with Starliner, it could not gain confidence of NASA's safety teams to bring the astronauts back to Earth safely. Instead, Starliner will return to ground in autopilot mode, and the stuck astronauts will return home on a more proven and reliable SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
Airlines are running out of flight numbers, and they don't know what to do about it
Major U.S. airlines like American Airlines, Delta, and United are facing an unexpected problem: they're running out of flight numbers. With a limit of 9,999 four-digit flight numbers, the increase in flights and codeshare agreements with partner airlines has pushed this system to its limit.
Airlines are using temporary fixes, such as assigning the same flight number to flights that don't overlap and using a single flight number for both outgoing and return trips. However, old systems from the 1960s make it hard to implement long-term solutions, like adding more digits. It's like the Y2K problem from 2000 all over again.
Apple Intelligence is the most private way to use AI. This is how it works.
Artificial intelligence tools have sparked privacy concerns due to vague data collection and privacy practices. In contrast, Apple Intelligence plans to responsibly integrate AI capabilities in its latest OS versions with robust privacy safeguards, including the anonymization of user data. As a result, Apple Intelligence is poised to become the most secure platform for interacting with AI.
More interesting links
Plant Oils Should Replace Butter, Study Confirms
How America’s Fastest Swimmers Use Math to Win Gold
How Dalton, Georgia, went from Carpet Capital to Solartown, USA
The Ground Just Exploded in Front of Tourists at Yellowstone. Here’s Why.
Quote of the week
“The man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read them.”
~ Mark Twain
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