Bill referenced an article in the journal Science about a possible means of treating severe anthrax cases. The full article is available online only for a fee (or to online members of AAAS), but a summary is available from
Science News.
{
permaLink}
Hoping for a little levity, Bill started off his one hour of filling in for Gene Burns by reading a few classic, funny
conversations between airplane pilots and air traffic control. There are
several different versions floating around the Web.
{
permaLink}
Bill started off the show talking about the impending BART strike, and two of the callers in the first 90 minutes challenged his statements about how overpaid BART employees are for the work they do. One claimed to be an employee, and the second clamed to be the president of one of the unions. Neither appeared to understand just how well Dr. Bill understands the train controll system that does almost all of the work of driving the trains. But you can read for yourself
how Dr. Bill Wattenburg fixed the BART system 30 years ago. This is a fascinating tale that includes how Bill predicted failures that would happen in the future, and what happend when his predictions came true.
{
permaLink}
Several callers from past shows have suggested adding sensors to cars to detect when children are locked inside and in danger of suffering from heatstroke. Popular Mechanics has a story on just such a scheme being designed at GM in the September 2001 issue on page 77.
GM describes the technology on its web site as well. It should be clear from reading this that the company is making a few assumptions that would make the system less than completely reliable, as Bill pointed out to the callers. In particular, note the area covered by the sensor and consider how likely people near the car are to recognize the alarm as something other than a normal car alarm, and then consider how many people ignore car alarms as it is.
{
permaLink}
The current issue of
The Economist has an article that presents a more balanced viewpoint on the health of the environment than you will find in most of the media.
The truth about the environment highlights evidence that “The ‘litany’ of environmental fears is not backed up by evidence”.
{
permaLink}
Many call or e-mail me for the number for
Absolutely Fresh Flowers as advertised on KGO. Their toll free number is 1 (800) 999-2109.
{
permaLink}
To get a free, no-contact estimate for top of the line dual-pane windows installed: Many are asking for the website that has been advertised on KGO. It is
www.newpane.com. You can phone them at 1 (530) 662-5216.
{
permaLink}
On last night’s show, David in San Francisco suggested that the San Francisco MUNI install GPS receivers on its busses, hook them up to a radio system, and then use the real-time location information to report when the next bus will arrive at any given stop. I called in a few minutes later to report that it’s already being done, but only on one bus line (the 22 Filmore) and most of the light rail lines. MUNI has partnered with
NEXTbus to offer the service, and you can
try the service yourself. Arrival information is also available for three AC Transit routes, and the Emery-Go-Round shuttle.
{
permaLink}