Air Travel - General Musings

It occurred to me on a recent flight that a big part of the delay in boarding and de-boarding airplanes, or, as they are known in the business, 'the equipment', is the storing and un-storing of carry-on baggage. Because checking bags is such a hassle in terms of time, effort and money, almost everyone who can, will attempt to stuff everything that will fit, into a container of luggage, usually restricted to a size between 14" and 22", weighing less than 40 lbs, and every available crevice of a laptop case or mega-purse.

It might have been a good idea, at some point, but it is clearly not a good idea anymore. Common sense will alert you to the fact that the math is flawed. The solution is pretty simple, really, and I'm kind've surprised that no one has floated it. The formula has probably been debated in the War Rooms of all the big airline companies, but something is holding them back. I suspect it has something to do with money.

This is my idea: Just reduce the size of the overhead luggage requirement so that all passengers can stuff it in the compartment above their head, and designate that space accordingly.

Think about this in terms of the payoff: Airlines reduce their load and boarding time, thereby increasing profits (potentially reducing fares): Passengers reduce their total time-to-destination, which is really of much more value than the three extra pairs of socks and shorts they were previously stuffing into their bags. The luggage business (and retailers) get a windfall profit from the sale of new suit cases.

Just an idea. Must be something I'm missing.

Favorite Rock and Roll Guitarists

In some semblence of order, but certainly not precise:
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Eric Clapton
Eddie Van Halen
Steve Howe
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Billy Gibbons
Carlos Santana
Duane Allman
Brian May
David Gilmore
Frank Zappa
Angus Young
Tommy Iomi
Joe Walsh
Lindsey Buckingham
Dicky Betts
Stephen Stills
Todd Rundgren
Joe Satriani
The Edge
Pete Townsend
Ritchie Blackmore
Jeff Beck
Mark Knopfler
Keith Richards
Leslie West
Slash
George Harrison
Chuck Berry

Al Di Meola is the best guitarist I've ever heard, but he's not really rock and roll.

Let me know if I left anyone obvious out.

Writing and Delivering High Quality, Supportable Software

Possible Chapter Titles

• Speed Kills
• Requirements are Requirements
• Don't touch that stove (Design rules)
• Its Just Data
• Its Just a Website
• 1 great coder > 5 average coders
• Only You can Prevent Forest Fires (cfg mgt, src cntrl, build and deploy processes)
• Deja Vu (don't solve problems twice - use open source, buy, or re-use internal solutions)
• Divide and conquer (modularize components to improve speed of development and supportablity)
• Nothing is done until its documented
• Requirements Document  (Provide template)
• Project Management (Must be web-based, collaborative UI - Provide template)
• Configuration Management (Structure of project folders, build and deploy plan. Provide an example in .Net an Java)
• Mock ups (Web UI mock-ups for customer sign-off. Reduce any potential confusion.)
• Proof of Concepts (Do the hard stuff first)
• Iterative Releases and Demos
• Environments
• Testing
• Help (Build your technical documentation into your software via html help modules)
• Production Migration Best Practices (Release steps in worksheet. Post production testing. Sign-offs. Support model)
• Support models.