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suffragette

suffragette's Journal
suffragette's Journal
March 30, 2019

Boeing has been reducing quality assurance positions and has plans to reduce more.

This article is from Feb 2019. I wonder if their plans are staying the same given the two recent crashes.

Shortcoming in Boeing quality-control audit draws scrutiny from inspectors, FAA
Originally published February 1, 2019 at 6:00 am Updated February 1, 2019 at 8:03 pm

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/boeings-move-toward-fewer-inspectors-questioned-following-quality-control-audit/


In the last quarter of 2018, Boeing failed one element of its quality control audit on the 747, 767 and 777 legacy airplane programs in Everett, a setback in its plan to shift its quality system to one that relies on fewer inspectors overseeing the work of mechanics.

Quality inspectors at Boeing, angry at management’s plan to streamline and automate some quality-control processes with fewer inspectors overseeing the work of mechanics, point to a recent quality-control audit that missed one of its targets as evidence that the company’s effort is unwise.

Boeing plans to eliminate up to 900 quality- inspector positions as part of a sweeping transformation of its manufacturing system over the next two years. The idea is to move away from reliance on inspections by a second set of eyes to find any defects after a mechanic does a job. Instead, Boeing is redesigning tasks to make it easier for mechanics to get things right first time, and deploying smart tools and digital technology to track and monitor quality.
March 23, 2019

One bright light. We have the House. Glad Mueller released now rather than earlier.

No doubt that when Republicans had the Senate and the House, they would have used a giant broom to sweep this under a large rug. Who knows how little of it we would have seem.

At least now Democrats are in a position to apply pressure to have as much as possible be known.

March 13, 2019

The racism of technology - and why driverless cars could be the most dangerous example yet

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2019/mar/13/driverless-cars-racist

There is a rule for dealing with computers: garbage in, garbage out. Put the wrong number of zeroes in your Excel spreadsheet and it will unthinkingly pay your staff pennies on the pound; train a self-driving car to recognise human figures by showing it millions of pictures of white people, and it might struggle to identify pedestrians of other races.

That was the finding of researchers from Georgia Tech, who analysed how effective various “machine vision” systems were at recognising pedestrians with different skin tones. The results were alarming: AI systems were consistently better at identifying pedestrians with lighter skin tones than darker. And not by a little bit: one headline comparison suggests that a white person was 10% more likely to be correctly identified as a pedestrian than a black person.

March 13, 2019

"First Southwest 737 MAX Breaks Down on Flight #2 With CEO on Board." So, problems from the start?

While searching for more info about the 737 MAX, I came across this blog post from 2017 about the early fights on Southwest when they first aquired the planes.

The blogger was set to fly on the 2nd Southwest flight of this type of plane, but the flight ended up being cancelled due to mechanical issues. I don’t follow this type of blog, so I don’t know how usual or unusual it is for this to occur.

It does make it seem that there were some probelms in using this plane from the start and I think it’s notable that the blame was placed on crew training rather than on the plane from the get-go.


https://thepointsguy.com/2017/10/first-sw-737-max-breaks-down/

However, once everyone had gotten a seat, the captain came on the PA system to alert passengers that a spoiler indicator light had illuminated in the cockpit. It needed to be solved before we could take off.

Not too long thereafter around 9:40am, the issue was corrected. A round of applause followed the captain’s announcement and we thought we were on our way. But the spoiler indicator had other plans. After we had pulled away from the gate and begun taxiing to the runway, the indicator illuminated again and we were forced to turn around and head back to the gate.

~~~
Roughly 20 minutes into this third and final delay, the crew informed us that the carrier would be swapping aircraft. Passengers were asked to deplane and wait in the terminal. Disappointing, but something that was out of the control of many of those on board.

Southwest CEO Gary Kelly, who had been along for the duration of the day’s activities until that point, remained on board and talked to passengers throughout the delays. After we’d returned to the gate on the second go-around, I asked him if he planned on staying on board. He said it depended on the aircraft and whether it was operable. He added that the issues were likely due to the fact that crew and maintenance are getting used to the new plane.
February 14, 2019

Yesterday, Trump's FEMA Chief resigned. Today Trump threatens to sign emergency. Coincidence? No.

On Feb 13th, Trump’s FEMA Chief resigned.

Brock Long: US emergency management chief resigns

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47234227
13 February 2019


US Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Brock Long has announced his resignation, the latest senior name to leave the Donald Trump administration.
In the post since June 2017, he has led the response to several extreme natural disasters, including the heavily criticised operation in Puerto Rico after a devastating hurricane.
Mr Long was also involved in a row over the use of government resources.
In a statement, he said it was "time for me to go home to my family".


Today Trump is saying he will declare an emergency so he can divert funds to build his nonsense wall.

So, I wonder if these are related and if it’s because Trump’s newest plan is a step too far for even the lousy leader of FEMA that Long was.

Trump’s people have been floating the idea of using the emergency declaration to grab necessary funding away from California and Puerto Rico for months now. I keep thinking that trying to take punitive actions against the areas that support him the least is one of the main things he is attempting with the bogus emergency declaration.

Thoughts?
February 14, 2019

Harris scores big CBC endorsement in Barbara Lee

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/14/politics/kamala-harris-barbara-lee-cbc/index.html

Washington (CNN)Kamala Harris just picked up her biggest endorsement to date in her fledgling 2020 campaign: Congresswoman Barbara Lee, former Congressional Black Caucus chair and all-around anti-war and social justice activist star.

Lee, who has been called "the House's lefty conscience" will be California co-chair of Harris' presidential campaign.

"Watching Kamala's career in the East Bay and San Francisco for 20 years, I've witnessed her deep passion for justice and opportunity and I know she will be a president truly of the people, by the people, and for the people," Lee said in a statement obtained exclusively by CNN.

~~~
With her endorsement, Lee becomes the first CBC member to weigh in on the Democratic primary, a contest that for the first time includes two CBC members -- Harris and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey.


January 29, 2019

Howard Schultz attacks policy views as "not American" and "unAmerican."

Right out of the gate, Schultz has shown a fondness for attacking views and policies with which he disagrees as “not American” and “unAmerican.”

So far, he has used this slam against health care policy Kamala Harris has proposed and against the policy advisor to Ocasio-Cortez. It seems to be his knee-jerk response, which speaks volumes about his underlying views of the needs of people less well off than him.

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/427420-schultz-calls-harriss-call-to-get-rid-of-health-insurance-industry-not


Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO who made waves this weekend after declaring he was “seriously considering” an independent presidential bid, slammed Sen. Kamala Harris’s (D-Calif.) proposal to eliminate private health insurance.

“That’s not correct, that’s not American. What’s next? What industry are we going to abolish next?” he asked Tuesday on “CBS This Morning.”


https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-howard-schultz-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-20190129-story.html


Schultz also knocked the views of a policy adviser to Ocasio-Cortez as "un-American." The adviser, Dan Riffle, has said that he considers every billionaire to be a "policy failure."

"It's so un-American to think that way," Schultz said when presented with a quote from Riffle.



Yet Schultz has made cutting Social Security and Medicare a central point in what he hopes to accomplish. And he has pushed this for years.

To do so ignores that these successful programs have provided Americans a modicum of security for generations. It also ignores the large number of Americans who would be put at risk by losing the means for basic shelter and health care.

From a basic business view, having this position as his starting point in negotiating with Republicans to bring about supposed compromise and consensus, just picture how bad final agreements would likely be.


The following are from 2018 and 2011 and he has talked about cutting Social Security and Medicare in the past in local media in Seattle as well. It’s at the core of what he wants to do.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/05/howard-schultz-rips-democrats-for-veering-too-far-left.html

I think the greatest threat domestically to the country is this $21 trillion debt hanging over the cloud of America and future generations," Schultz said. "The only way we're going to get out of that is we've got to grow the economy, in my view, 4 percent or greater. And then we have to go after entitlements."



https://money.cnn.com/2011/08/16/news/economy/starbucks_boycott_washington/index.htm

He said politicians can still make it right by coming together and reaching a compromise deal that would lift the cloud of uncertainty that has hamstrung the economy.
"It means reaching a deal on debt, revenue, and spending long before the deadline arrives this fall," the letter said. "It means considering all options, from entitlement programs to taxes."
January 29, 2019

Children teach how to pronounce Kamala correctly.

This is a campaign ad with children teaching how to pronounce her name from her successful run for the Senate.

https://m.

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Gender: Female
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Member since: Mon Dec 13, 2004, 02:55 AM
Number of posts: 12,232
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