Europe: learning from air traffic disruption caused by snow

Air: Siim Kallas calls airports (an airport is all buildings and facilities of an airport serving air traffic in a city or region. These buildings and facilities are designed so that aircraft can takeoff and landing, the cargo and passengers can embark and disembark.) to learn from the air traffic disruption caused by snow.

Siim Kallas, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for transport, met Jan. 19, 2011 in Brussels CEOs of major European airports to discuss how to prevent the problems they faced due to heavy snowfall month (month (From Lat. mensis "month", and formerly in plur. "menses") is an arbitrary time period.) ago. Poor weather forced the major EU airports to close, at least in part, which has significantly disrupted air traffic throughout Europe. 35 000 flights - or more than all of 2009 - were canceled, forcing thousands of passengers to spend the night at airports. The Commission will present specific measures to address some of the most important in a package "Airports" which will be published later this year.

The Vice-President Siim Kallas said: "If the airline industry is hard to predict volcanic ash cloud, we know from cons that we face the winter each year (A year is a unit expressing the length of time between two occurrences of an event linked to the revolution of Earth around the Sun.) and we should be ready. The development and implementation of contingency plans the responsibility of the aviation sector. At European level, we can help by strengthening, if necessary (The needs are at the interaction between the individual and the environment. It is often a classification of human needs into three broad .. .) is the regulatory framework and in particular by requiring European airports to implement a minimum service and meet quality criteria in the interest of passengers. These requirements will be part of a series of legislative proposals contained in the package Airports planned for this year (A year is a unit expressing the time duration between two occurrences of an event linked to the revolution of Earth around the Sun.) . (MEMO/11/28).
The events of the past month
In December 2010, air traffic was severely disrupted. A large number (A number is a concept characterizing a unit, a collection of units or fractional units.) Platforms airports (hubs), among the largest in Europe (Europe is seen as a continent or part of Eurasia (western peninsula), or even the Eurafrasie, depending on the point of view. It is sometimes called the "Old Continent" (or "Old World"), as opposed to the "New ...) in terms of traffic, have a partially closed during the weekends the busiest year since it corresponded to the beginning of the Christmas holidays. Many flights were canceled and thousands of passengers were stranded in the airports all over Europe and even in other parts of the world (The word can describe the world:). This resulted in huge problems handling luggage. In some airports, concerns about a shortage of liquid (the liquid phase is a state of matter.) Deicing also night operations. Total (Total is the quality of what is complete, without exception. From an accounting perspective, a total is the result of an addition that is to say an amount. Example: "The total debts. "In physics the total is not necessarily achieved with the addition: example of the total capacity of a series of capacitors in series, which is not ...), tens of thousands of flights been canceled.

- During the meeting, airport representatives gave their views on events and shared their experiences and failures, and factors involved

- Heavy snowfalls hit the European hub airports that operate near the limit of their capabilities, and one of the busiest times of the year.

- Often, the snow removal operations were too slow.

- Heathrow, one of the platforms where traffic is most intense in the EU, was closed for several days. The closure (The term closure refers to) has led to the closure (The term closure refers to) other airports in cascade, because the airports are a system.

- Information for Travellers have been too slow to avoid waiting times at airports.

- The threat of a shortage of deicing fluid and limited disrupted airport operations.
How to ensure that this never happens again?
- Better emergency plans in case of snow at airports.

- We must ensure better cooperation between all stakeholders in the air and ground.

- We must ensure the proper functioning of the airport hubs. Because of the cascading effect, airports should be more integrated and network. They can not work while being isolated from each other.

- We must improve the quality and timeliness of information to passengers about delays and rerouting.

The aviation sector is primarily responsible for emergency plans. What the Commission can do is strengthen, if necessary, the regulatory framework and, in particular, ensure a minimum service and enforce compliance with quality standards at European airports in the interest of passengers.
Next Steps
Looking ahead to Christmas 2011, Mr. Vice-President Kallas asked European airports to submit as soon as possible a report on the state of affairs regarding plans for next winter.

Mr. Vice-President will present specific measures to solve the problems mentioned above in the package Airports normally expected before summer.

Read More

More church websites invite posting of prayers

Need prayer power? Try the World Wide Web.
More than four in 10 Protestant churches with websites now invite people to post pleas to the Lord on the main church site so volunteers and staff can chime in on the soulful call, according to a new survey.


FAITH & REASON: Religion, spirituality, ethics

It's the latest cyberspin on religious life, updating traditional prayer rooms and supplementing other familiar prayer request paths such as e-mail or social networks.

"People today are accustomed to public sharing. Now, churches are giving public sharing an eternal purpose," says Ed Stetzer, president of LifeWay Research, a Nashville-based Christian research firm that surveyed 1,003 churches on use of technology.

Most (78%) had websites, including all the churches with more than 500 members and more than half of the smaller churches. That's up from 53% overall in 2006.

Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay, says many "use their website like a steeple in a small town" to point people to the church, but offering prayer requests at the website is rising fast in popularity.

One such site, mobberly.org/ministries/prayer_ministry, invites people: "Please pray with us for the following prayer requests. You can add your own prayer request by clicking on the 'Add Prayer Request' button."

People can post a prayer publicly, such as a recent posting in which a teacher asked for spiritual help for students badly hurt in a car accident. Or they can be private, seen only by staff and the volunteer prayer team at Mobberly Baptist Church.

The 2,500-member church in Longview, Texas, added online prayer requests to its website six weeks ago. Tammy Whitehurst, director of Mobberly's prayer ministry, says, "People need to be listened to — online or by any means. We always follow up, praying for them in our church prayer room and sending them notes of encouragement.

"We had one request from a lady who lost her husband. We have never seen her face. But we know from an e-mail that these prayers confirmed to her how much God loves her," she says.

Prayer room regular Cliff Desain, 80 and Internet-savvy, gave Whitehurst the Web idea because, he says, "a lot of us older folks can't drive so much, so we thought it would be good if we could pray from home."

Other church sites keep Web-submitted prayer requests private, as if you were clasping hands with a pastor or volunteer in person.

Vince Marotte, Internet pastor for the non-denominational, 5,000-member Gateway Church in Austin, launched its website two years ago. It invites people to submit a 400-character prayer (slightly less than three Tweet-lengths), by first name only, at gatewaychurch.com/help.

The site has handled more than 300 requests so far.

It promises, "Share with us where you are struggling to connect with or follow God and Gateway Church will pray for you."

Read More

Social-networking site Quora has answers to your questions

You seek answers to all sorts of questions on the Internet. But how often are the answers relevant or supplied by someone truly in the know?
There are often smart responses on Quora, a much buzzed about Silicon Valley social start-up that you'll be hearing a lot more about in the weeks ahead. Quora aims to build a constantly evolving collection of questions and answers that are created, edited and organized by the very people who use the free service. In my experience on Quora, I found many of the people answering questions have the intellectual chops or credentials to back up their words.

Curious how much AOL spent distributing all those CDs back in the 1990s? The Quora answer comes from AOL co-founder and former CEO Steve Case: ("A lot! I don't remember the total spending but do recall in the early 1990s our target was to spend 10% of lifetime revenue to get a new subscriber.")

Wonder what Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz thinks of The Social Network (Facebook movie)? Moskovitz weighs in: "It is interesting to see my past rewritten in a way that emphasizes things that didn't matter ... and leaves out things that really did.")


TV: Watch Baig on ABC's 'America This Morning' Fridays 4:30 a.m. ET or check local listings

Quora isn't going to make you ditch Google searches or visits to Wikipedia anytime soon, especially if you want a quick answer. Actually, Quora combines elements from Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo Answers, Ask.com, ChaCha.com and the Facebook Questions feature Facebook has opened up to some users.

As on Twitter, you can follow someone on Quora, which means following questions posed or answered by the person. You can also follow a topic area (technology trends, parenting, classical music). Or follow a specific question. It all shows up on your Quora home-page feed.

During setup, you can connect Quora to your Twitter or Facebook accounts, or your blog. You can share questions you post on Twitter or Facebook. You can also invite others to join Quora and suggest topics of interest to them. Pretty much any topic goes. But you're encouraged to word them in a manner likely to generate in-depth responses rather than yes/no answers or responses barely longer than Twitter's 140-character limit.

Examples: How can job seekers in their 40s and 50s improve their marketability in the job market? What are the best tips for potty training a child?

I got three relatively fast responses to my question on whether "augmented reality will garner mainstream interest anytime soon?" My question on if "it is worth gutting your (NBA) team to acquire Carmelo Anthony" received two responses.

Still, it was generally more fun browsing other people's questions and answers than asking my own.

There's no guarantee that answers are accurate or that respondents are who they claim to be. Quora is self-policed by users who vote on whether they like or don't like an answer. A team of Quora reviewers may edit or purge questions with inappropriate content. (Through a filter, you determine whether to allow adult content in your feed.)

Quora co-founder and former Facebook exec Charlie Cheever admitted to me that keeping the quality high "is going to be an incredible challenge" as more of the masses pile onto the service.

There are certain guidelines to posting questions on Quora. For starters, you need to sign up with your real name, and are advised to add a bio that demonstrates your expertise. You can, however, remain anonymous on a per-question basis — which is critical if you're asking or answering a question regarding a sensitive medical condition or potential sexual harassment episode.

Cheever says the goal of any Quora question page is to become the "best source" for folks seeking an answer. Whether that happens remains to be seen. These are early days for Quora. It has 16 employees and opened to the public in mid-2010. It won't say how many users it has.

Quora's interface could be more intuitive. It wasn't immediately evident to me that the box at the top of the page was a search box because of the clickable button next to it labeled "Ask Question." When you do start typing a question, you'll see questions already asked that are similar to yours.

Nor was it obvious that the tiny up-down arrows next to an answer are how you vote yea or nay on an answer. You can add Web links to answers but can't post videos to explain how something works. Quora most likely will be adding video in the future, but didn't share specific timing.

Read More

Has China's new jet launched a stealth arms race?

China's first flight test of its new high-tech J-20 stealth military jet on 11 January has drawn a lot of attention, particularly because it came during the visit of US defence secretary Robert Gates. What it means is another question, and the answers are complex.

Military analysts had known China was developing a combat plane in the class of the US F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, but they had not expected it to make its first appearance in December, Aviation Week and Space Technology reported. Several high-speed ground tests, in which the craft's front wheel rose off the ground, preceded the first flight.

China has released videos of the new jet on the ground, taking off, and landing at Chengdu. The New York Times quoted a Hong Kong analyst as saying the plane flew for 15 minutes over the airfield. With two distinctive angled tail fins like those of the F-22, it's clearly intended to be stealthy. The Times also reports it is intended carry missiles and fly long distances when refuelled in the air.

The demonstration worries some analysts because it's the first aircraft to challenge the performance of the F-22, the top of the US air force's fleet. "We have become accustomed to a world where our air power is dominant," Rand Corporation analyst Roger Cliff told Newsweek.

"But that dominance is now in question." Once the J-20 is deployed, in that scenario, US top guns would lose their high-performance stealth advantage and no longer rule the skies.

No so fast, says Aviation Week. New, more powerful radars using active electronically scaled arrays can pick up fainter and fainter targets, and are fast catching up to stealth technology. "Anti-stealth will bring into question all stealth designs," it says, hinting that the US may already have airborne radars able to spot stealth aircraft.

Moreover, perfecting stealth technology takes time. The US started its F-22 programme in the 1980s. To an experienced eye, the stealthy look of the Chinese jet "is just sort of cobbled together," Teal group analyst Richard Aboulafia told The Wall Street Journal. He thinks China may be able to deploy the new aircraft in a decade, but by then the US should have better technology.

Read More

U.S. approves Comcast-NBC merger

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The Federal Communications Commission and the Department of Justice on Tuesday approved -- with several conditions -- a merger of the country's largest cable operator, Comcast, and broadcasting company NBC Universal.

The FCC voted 4-1 in favor of the deal.

338Email Print "After a thorough review, we have adopted strong and fair merger conditions to ensure this transaction serves the public interest," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement.

The FCC said the Comcast-NBC Universal combination will be required to take steps to increase competition in the video marketplace. In addition, Comcast (CMCSA, Fortune 500) has committed to expanding local news coverage, expand programs for Spanish-speaking viewers and offer Internet access to schools and libraries.

The lone dissenter, Commissioner Michael Copps, expressed concern that the merger will limit communications choices and drive up costs to consumers.

"At the end of the day, the public interest requires more -- much more -- than it is receiving," Copps said in a statement.

Comcast also agreed to cease its management of the News Corp., (NWS, Fortune 500) NBC Universal, and Disney (DIS, Fortune 500)-owned video sharing site Hulu - though Comcast and NBC Universal can still maintain a financial stake in the site.

Assistant Attorney General Christine Varney said the move was essential so that, "Comcast cannot use NBCU's partial ownership of Hulu to diminish its competitive significance."

Varney added that she's confident in the settlement. "The conditions imposed will maintain an open and fair marketplace while at the same time allow the innovative aspects of the transaction to go forward," she said in a statement.


0:00 /1:49Why Internet on your TV is a mess
The merger should be complete by the end of January and the new venture will be managed by Comcast, according to a joint press release from both Comcast and NBCU. Comcast will own 51% of the company, NBC Universal will own 49%, the press release said.

Comcast CEO and Chairman Brian L. Roberts said the company was "proud" and "excited" about today's FCC decision.

Read More

Apple's stock poised for 5% drop

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Apple's stock price dropped in premarket trading Tuesday after chief executive and co-founder Steve Jobs took another leave of absence because of health problems.

The stock price for Apple Inc., (AAPL, Fortune 500) creator of the iPhone, iPod and Mac computers, dipped 5%, helping to drag down the Nasdaq 100 futures by 0.5%.

6Email Print This is the second time in two years that Jobs, 55, has taken time off from his company because of a medical condition. This time the leave of absence was unexpected, and it occurs as Apple is preparing to announce its quarterly earnings after Tuesday's closing bell.

Apple is expected to post a 47% gain in profit for the quarter ended Dec. 31, to $5.40 earnings per share, according to a consensus of analyst forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters. Apple is also expected to announce a 56% gain in revenue to $24.4 billion.

Jobs informed Apple employees of the situation in a letter. Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, will run the company in his absence.

"At my request, the board of directors has granted me a medical leave of absence so I can focus on my health," said Jobs in the letter. "I will continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company."

Jobs did not provide details on his recent health problems, which have been a source of speculation in the past. The problems first became apparent in 2003, when he was treated for pancreatic cancer. After he lost a noticeable amount of weight, he took a leave of absence starting in January 2009, returning to work in June after receiving a liver transplant.

Read More

School buses add cameras to catch drivers endangering kids

School districts nationwide are trying out video cameras as a way to deter drivers from passing buses that are loading or unloading children.
Districts in Dallas County, Texas, Montgomery and Frederick counties in Maryland and Cobb County, Ga., are among the latest to test the cameras on some school buses in their fleets.

Michael Warner, associate director of fleet maintenance for the Cobb County School District, says an incident there in December 2009 prompted them to install cameras on two of their buses last spring.

"A bus was stopped, unloading students, and a car behind the bus stopped and a second car behind that car swerved, went around the right side of the bus and ran over a kindergarten girl and killed her," Warner says.

Warner says the stop-arm cameras were added to a digital video system already on the buses. "The digital video system runs between $1,500 and $1,800, and we pay an extra $200 for the stop-arm camera," he says.

Warner says the school district works with the local police department concerning violators, and the police have conducted stings where violators have been caught.

"A couple of months ago, they were able to catch five violators that they pulled over," Warner says.

Montgomery County's cameras were installed last summer. Lesli Maxwell, spokeswoman for Montgomery County Public Schools, says they are on 96 of about 1,200 buses.

"It's very much a pilot program at this point," she says. The cost, she says, is $500 per bus to install the equipment.

Although the cameras have captured video of drivers bypassing a stopped bus, Maxwell says no Maryland law allows that video footage to be used for ticketing drivers.

"Our transportation people can review that video and share it with the county police, who can issue warning letters to these drivers, but there's no real enforcement teeth yet," she says.

Larry Duncan, president of the board of trustees for Dallas County Schools, says they are faced with the same issue — no legislation. But he says having the cameras will pay off in the long run.

Read More