Landing in the Fog

While Albert Hammonds was almost correct in his 1972 song, It Never Rains In Southern California, that doesn’t mean the sun is always shining. We call our own special brand of fog marine layer. It’s a dense layer of fog that rolls in off the ocean in Southern California, drawn in by the warm air over the […]

Seeing With Fresh Eyes

French novelist Marcel Proust wrote that, “The real act of discovery consists not in finding new lands but in seeing with new eyes.” To me, this sounds like the exact opposite of déjà vu. We all know that déjà vu feeling. It’s the distinct feeling that, even though we are in a completely unfamiliar place, somehow, we’ve […]

A Follow-up on Out-of-Control Controls

A few months ago I authored a screed on out-of-control controls, where I took on the FAA for its seemingly impossible to navigate process for approval of safety related controls for a new US-based airline. It struck a chord with at least some of my readers, who related their own frustration with controls and control […]

“Out-of-Control” Controls

How often do you encounter a situation where the attempt to “control” something has itself gotten out of control?  Usually it is the result of an overly zealous attempt to “protect” someone or something from the bad behavior or bad results of someone else’s behavior [whether that behavior was ill-intended or otherwise]. The Sarbannes-Oxley legislation of […]