FanFare

This week.... Biden "hopes" for a cease fire in Gaza. The Supreme Court says they will take up Donald Trump's claim of absolute immunity while in office. And Now: Newscasters React to a Seasonal Phenomenon (iguanas falling out of trees). Main Story: The problems with aircraft manufacturer Boeing, which has fallen from grace in recent decades, after their merger with McDonnell Douglas brought with it a focus on using stock buybacks to juice their shares at the cost of all else, paid for by cutting corners on safety. LWT presents a more honest ad for Boeing at the end of the episode. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 4, 2024 - 3 comments

Homer Simpson finds a new purpose in life when he starts advocating for a safer community. [more inside]
posted by chinesefood on Jan 25, 2023 - 10 comments

A small-town girl (Annalise Basso), already gripped with social anxiety, moves to a big city with her mother (Maura Tierney). For the first time she is exposed to urban society's emphasis on security and terrorist prevention. Her school days are soon consumed by fear and paranoia, but she finds guidance and companionship in the most unexpected of places. [Channel 4 summary] [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Jan 22, 2018 - 6 comments

"A NATION AT HIS MERCY!" "INVISIBLE and DEADLY" Ahem! An escaped convict teams up with a mad scientist and gets turned invisibabble, but then have a disagreement as to how he should use his invisibabibility. With short The Days of Our Years: A minister tells us about his parishiners, who have to a man all been maimed, blinded or killed by machines, because God is just and holy. The poster for this movie, besides comparing the antagonist to a fart, also warned that the invisible man himself had vowed to make a personal appearance in every theater showing the film. Sigh. There is a particularly hilarious pre-movie host segment here, where Dr. F and Frank, as "Auntie McFrank," ask Mike and the bots to provide "local color" for their bed and breakfast. "Y'all got any matches for Mikey?" Jonah Ray is going to have a hard time living up this. We've also got a great short, the second of the two railroad-sponsored industrials, this one devoted to telling us about all the ways terrible, terrible machinery wages war against its creators. By the way, this is "TV's" Frank Conniff's penultimate show as Dr. F's assistant. YouTube (1h35m) Premiered March 18, 1995. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Mar 29, 2017 - 12 comments

Two years after Westworld (FanFare), the Delos corporation have reopened the park. Newspaper reporter Chuck Browning (Peter Fonda) and TV reporter Tracy Ballard (Blythe Danner) are invited to review the newly re-opened (and expanded) park, though Chuck has an ulterior motive. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Oct 17, 2016 - 4 comments

The story of Chesley Sullenberger, who became a hero after gliding his plane along the water in the Hudson River, saving all of the airplane flights 155 crew and passengers.
posted by misfish on Sep 12, 2016 - 24 comments

More than 90% of all automobile accidents are all attributable to human error. For some car industry people, a fully-automated car is a kind of holy grail. However, as automation makes our lives easier and safer, it also creates more complex systems, and fewer humans who understand those systems. Which means when problems do arise—people can be left unable to deal with them. Human factors engineers call this “the automation paradox.”
posted by radioamy on Jul 1, 2015 - 5 comments