Wednesday, November 26, 2003

Today, the Cal/OSHA released their findings on the Big Thunder Mountain accident. After reading an initial report from the Orange County Register (free registration required), I had assumed that Disney's maintenance procedures were being blamed for this tragedy.

I just spent a few minutes reading the entirety of the report, which was posted and later removed from the Cal/OSHA website. Isn't that odd? I found a copy, and have placed it here for your purusal.

When learning to fly, managing risks is often a topic that receives considerable attention. Most aviation related accidents occur because of several events, chained together, ultimately ending in an accident. The goal of managing risks while flying is to break that chain somewhere along the line. This seems to be the case in this accident. The chain of events regarding Big Thunder Mountain were:

1. Two bolts were not properly tightened to tolerances.
2. Safety wire was not installed where these bolts resided, as required.
3. No procedure existed for ride operators to act upon the train exhibiting an unusual sound.

Had any one of these problems been corrected, then there would not have been an accident. There's also a great deal of rumbling in the report about how green and yellow tag procedures were not followed, which apparently didn't have a result on the accident.

After reading the report, what is very clear to me is that Disney is not at fault at all. Disney had proper procedures in place and the operators and maintenance people failed to follow those procedures. What's frightening is that Disney will escape this unscathed except for a large under the table payment to the deceased's family.

If you've been to Disneyland in the last 5 years, it's obvious that it is not maintained as it used to be. Here's hoping against hope that the new President of the Disneyland Resort, Matt Ouimet, will actually reverse his predecessors objective of maximizing revenue. He obviously has a very rough road ahead of him, and with someone like Eisner leading the company, I don't think he's going to be able to get things back to how they used to be run. My two cents.
My life is now complete! The return of Bloom County! Outstanding!

Thursday, November 20, 2003

Let's face it. Putting the "Star Wars Kid" into Episode III wouldn't make the movie suck more than it's going to already.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

April Winchell is one of a few people that can make me laugh until it hurts. I about fell over her commentary on Bill Gates' child's name. Search on "Adelle" and play the file.
My boss at work is a bit of a Blade Runner fan. Who can blame him? Here's a link he sent me about how the Millennium Falcon model was used as a building on the movie!

Friday, November 14, 2003

A belated Happy Birthday Marine Corps! OOOHRAH! I actually remembered the birthday, but forgot to blog it. D'oh.

A public service announcement: Being at a technical conference recently reminded me of a few conferences I attended while serving in the military. Without fail, my badge would always list my organization as "United States Marine Corp." This is really, really, really irritating. The USMC is not a for profit organization, and the least people can do is try to understand the difference between "Corp." and "Corps." Okay, I'm done bitching now.

Semper Fidelis and Happy Birthday Marines! Our prayers and best wishes are with those of you that are placed in harms way.

Tuesday, November 11, 2003

Unfortunately, this article sums up my Tivo relationship.
Although I’ve known about RSS feeds for quite some time now, I never really thought they were that useful. After attending the Microsoft PDC conference a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been busy trying to soak up as much information as possible on Microsoft technologies. It turns out that the best way to do this is through blogs that are maintained the key designers and developers at Microsoft.


BlogExpress


I’m currently using a RSS Reader named BlogExpress. It’s very easy to use, and while it’s missing some features that I’d like, it makes consolidating all of this information in one place a snap! It also makes reading Slashdot much easier.

Monday, November 10, 2003

This is a pretty funny video of a low flyby by a Spitfire. I've heard those engines roaring from a good 100 yards and they're damn load. That guy must have been as close to a heart attack as you can be!
An good piece of reporting from the L.A. Times? Wow!

Disneyland's Ride Upkeep Criticized by Park Workers

Park management's quote, "We have to ride these rides to failure to save money."

Sunday, November 09, 2003

We had planned a larger mountain bike expedition with friends this weekend, but canceled it believe the rain would make conditions difficult. Well, the rain didn't show up, so Dave and I decided to take advantage at go riding. Dave made the drive down to my place, and then we headed over to Palos Verdes.


The view from the top.


For some reason, the thought didn't cross our minds that we could just go down half way and then return to the top. So, the two out of shape geeks rode all the way down to the main road and then started the arduous climb back up.


The view from the bottom.


All in all, it was a great ride, if not an exhausting one. Clearly, this trail needs you to be in serious shape to be able to get back up the hill without much trouble. Since Dave and I are realists, we'll just park one of our cars at the bottom next time. :)


Friday, November 07, 2003

This has got to be the best idea ever. Really. Okay, maybe not ever, but this Internet thing might just have its uses after all.

Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Whew. I’m exhausted.

You can tell you’re at a developer conference when it ends without a giant production. The last session ended and everyone went home. No song and dance, just good technical information presented at blinding speed. All in all, this is the best conference I have ever been to. Right now, Microsoft only holds these events when they have some major new technologies to show to developers to get us to start building our applications with an eye toward the future. They should really think about holding these things on a yearly basis.

Since my focus was on the conference last week, my educational performance suffered and I’m now trying to play catch up for the lost week, which has proven more difficult than I thought. My goal to keep my GPA high is in serious jeopardy after a lackluster performance on a math quiz last week and a psychology exam last night. I have ultimate respect for those that have completed their degrees while working full-time!

We have some very good news on the Disneyland Resort front this morning. You can read the whole update, but it essentially boils down to that new management has taken over the resort and in the short few weeks they’ve been in power, they’re already making changes that are focused on the customer, not on retail. Good stuff.

Back to the trenches…