The Turkish airline industry has continued to see significant growth this year, with growth in traffic at all Turkey’s main airports. New reports from several organisations and individual airports point to growth in both domestic and international traffic through Turkish airports this year – of up to 40% in some cases.

Firstly the most impressive growth is in Istanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen, with traffic up 41% so far this year. This is based on a 50% growth in Domestic traffic, and a 20% growth in international traffic. Sabiha Gökçen is now the fourth busiest airport in the country and is likely to overtake Izmir in 2010, especially as it recently opened its New International Terminal.

Istanbul’ Ataturk airport is also doing well, with a 3% growth in international traffic in the first half of the year. According to the report this is because of new international routes started by Turkish Airlines, to Benghazi (Libya), Gothenburg (Sweden), Mashad (Iran), Nairobi (Kenya), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Toronto (Canada) and Ufa (Russia), and more. Domestic traffic fell 3% at Istanbul Ataturk.

This growth continued in subsequent months, and by the end of October international traffic through Istanbul Ataturk was up 6.6%.

Country-wide traffic increased by 4% in the first half of the year, with passenger numbers growing at 11 of the country’s top 12 airports in the second quarter. This was based on a 10% growth in domestic traffic, with international traffic down just 3%.

This growth has accelerated in the second half of the year. According to DHMI traffic to Turkish airports increased by 14% in September, and by 10% in October, including a significant growth in international traffic. Country-wide traffic for the 10 months ending October was up 5.2%, on an 11.9% increase in domestic traffic, and a 0.1% increase in international traffic. The latter a significant turnaround from the 3% contraction in the first half of the year.

The increasing traffic to Turkey’s airports backs up recent reports from the World Tourism Organisation and the Turkish tourism ministry, of rising tourism to Turkey in the first half, and first three quarters of 2009.

Europe wide airport traffic has been increasing in recent months. Analysis of schedule data provided by the world’s airlines to OAG reveals that seat capacity at Europe’s over 600 airports at the beginning of the winter season is down just 2% versus the same period last year.

Funding Source: NASA Headquarters
Funding Type: Discretionary, Cooperative Agreement
Total Available: N/A
Award Ceiling: N/A
Deadline: 12.01.09
Eligibility: Unrestricted

Description:

The NextGen-Airportal Project works in close collaboration with the NextGen- Airspace Project to conduct airspace and Airportal foundational research and discipline-based technology development for the nation. The Project focuses NASA’s technical expertise and world-class facilities to enable the highest possible efficiency in the use of gates, taxiways, runways, metroplex airspace, and other Airportal resources. In pursuit of that goal, the project is researching, developing, demonstrating, and validating operational concepts, proof-of-concept systems, algorithms, technologies, tools, and operational procedures designed to maximize capacity and throughput in the Airportal environment while enabling associated elements of the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) as defined by the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO). Project performance objectives seek to use 4-D trajectories (aircraft path from “block-to-block,” including the path along the ground) to plan and execute system-wide operations; integrate 4-D trajectory operations with safe, optimized surface and terminal area traffic operations (particularly those associated with wake hazard prediction and avoidance); balance environmental issues in, and around, airports; match surface and airside capacities with arrival and departure air traffic flow; and assess local benefits of Airportal transformation by modeling changes to the current airport configuration. In support of these objectives, research activities will focus on:

• Optimization of surface traffic
• Dynamic airport configuration management
• Advanced technologies to detect and avoid wake vortex hazards
• New procedures for performing safe, closely spaced and converging approaches at closer distances than are currently allowed
• Modeling, simulation, and experimental validation focused on efficient operations of single and multiple regional airports

For my 5th day of r 31 days of 31 activities my sister and I headed down to Alki Beach to do some sea kayaking on the Puget Sound. Known by Seattle residents as one of the only “real” beaches area in the city, Alki beach is often compared to Southern California for its rollerblading, bicycling and jogging activities along the waterfront. Reminiscent also of European seaside towns, its narrow strip of sand accents the bustling cafes along the boardwalk. Outdoor activities abound, and cultural opportunities are present within walking distance of the waterfront.

Alki beach steches for 2 1/2 miles along the coastline of the Puget Sound, from Alki Point to Duwamish Head on Elliott Bay, the Alki Beach Park runs parallel with Beach Drive in West Seattle. It is public land, teeming with life year-round. In the summers, the people-watching is reason enough to be there, with rollerbladers, bicyclers, volleyball games, boarders and more. Stay into the evening for a bonfire right on the beach; Alki is one of only two public beaches in Seattle that allow them.

Whether you want to join a guided tour or strike out on your own, kayaks are available from Alki Kayak Tours. The guided tours include an Alki Lighthouse Sea Kayak Tour, one on the Duwamish River, Elliott Bay, Blake Island, and a sunset tour. No experience is necessary and the guides teach you all you need to know on the spot. Hourly rentals are also offered to those who are confident in their abilities already and wish to explore the Seattle waters in their own way. Singles and doubles are available, and a three-seater, which provides an opportunity to take your kids out in a kayak.

Go out joing the fun and make sure to share your experience on NWevolution.

If a small atomic bomb were to explode 400km above Chicago it could fry all electronically-based technology from Chicago to Dallas affecting the infrastructure of all major cities on the east coast and as far as South Dakota.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack is as instantaneous as an atomic bomb blast. It moves like a wall of energy overloading, and destroying all computer based technology. Such an attack would shut down the power grid.  Air traffic would be grounded, telephone, internet and other communications would be shut down. America would be reduced to the agricultural economy we had in the 1800s.

Despite having developed the technology to protect our infrastructure in the event of an EMP attack, this technology has not been integrated into our infrastructure – our infrastructure has not been hardened: backed up by non-computerized components yet. EMP is not a sci-fi War of the Worlds theory. EMP is a legitimate weapon, and a legitimate threat to the security of our nation.

Brief analysis shows that our computerized, electronically-dependent society offers any rogue nation a perfect target: an EMP-vulnerable power grid susceptible of a sucker punch to the heart of our infrastructure. On the floor of the House, Rep. Roscoe Barlett (R-Md) recounted a story of a Russian, who, prior to the G-8 meeting said “If we really wanted to hurt you, with no fear of retaliation, we’d launch an SLBM, submarine launch missile. We wouldn’t know where it came from; it came from the sea. And we’d detonate a nuclear weapon high above your country, and it would shut down your power grid and your communications for 6 months or so.” Our enemies are well aware of what an EMP attack is, and just what precisely it would do.

The incentive to attack America through EMP is high because the cost to America would be catastrophic. As the 2004 commission report said “The current vulnerability of our critical infrastructures can both invite and reward attack if not corrected. Correction is feasible and well within the Nation’s means and resources to accomplish.” Our electric grid systems, communication networks, financial system, fuel/energy infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, food infrastructure, and most importantly water supply would be corrupted to an un-workable extent in the event of an attack, because we have yet to make the vital corrections.

If America were hit with an EMP over the course of one year 90% of Americans would be dead. America would be reduced to third world status.

Additionally the expense to produce an EMP attack is less than a nuclear attack. Counter to logic the less developed the warhead, the more range and greater effect. An EMP attack does not require highly developed delivery technology because the effect of the attack is so widespread, although its closeness to the surface does affect its severity. Both of these factors make it easier for less developed nations to develop this technology.

Defensive deterrence coupled with decreasing our vulnerability to an EMP attack is the way to counter the high incentive to attack us.

Throughout the cold war little success was made in nuclear deterrence until the power of a nuclear bomb was neutralized with the Ballistic Missile Defense program. From its inception in the late 80’s Ballistic Missile Defense has increasingly had its budget slashed in favor of arms limitations, and non-proliferation efforts.

Key to deterring an EMP attack is a reinvestment in our Ballistic Missile Defense program. Having a multi layer defense system of land, sea, and space would utilize our technological advances to fully remove the threat of nuclear warfare — and thus an EMP attack. Sadly, and counter to the recommendation of many within the Ballistic Missile Defense program 1.4 billion was just cut from the missile defense budget. This may be the only effectual method for foreign policy deterrence of EMP development.

Domestically, substantial upgrades to our infrastructure are required to decrease our vulnerability. We need to “harden” our infrastructure in all sectors. To harden a system is to provide a shield system, often made from steel, which will route an EMP field away from the electronic components. Hardening also entails the use of a system monitoring device which can respond like a circuit breaker to an EMP attack. Lastly hardening requires an infrastructure to be outfitted with “black start” generators, reserved power such as independent diesel generators, hydro-electric power, and geothermal power.

Hardening specific centers of our infrastructure would permit a graceful failure and simplified recovery after an EMP attack. Most importantly decreasing our vulnerability to an attack will reduce the incentive for an EMP attack. As defense spending continues to be cut, we are building a policy that supports and provokes an EMP attack. As the 2004 Commission report said “our current vulnerability invites attack.”

It has often been said that 9-11 was a failure of our imagination. There are certain things that our imagination, out of self-preservation resists thinking about — an electromagnetic pulse attack falls into that category. The current administration is failing to imagine, and so resists planning for an EMP attack. The government is failing in its primary task of protecting the citizens.

By Kathryn Gaines, a journalism major and philosophy minor at Washington University in Saint Louis. She is a frequent contributor on the Principia College internet radio conservative talk shows and an intern for HUMAN EVENTS. http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=32480

During some routine cleanup of my stuff today, I came across this old clip I received some time ago, showing the air traffic patterns around the world, over a 24-hour stretch. (I have, however, included a link to the YouTube version instead…)
It highlights all large aircraft (as yellow spots), and it is interesting to note the “swarms” and their relation to daylight times in the US and Europe, for example. This clip has been around for a while, but I’m not actually sure where it comes from, can anyone help out?

NYC 9/11/01 Courtesy of International Space Station

On September 11, 2001 we still lived in New Jersey, very close to Manhattan. So close in fact that we could see the skyline. Like many other people, the details of that day are forever burned into my memory. We were on our way to work when I hear over the news radio that what they thought was a small plane had struck one of the Twin Towers. I amusingly called my husband who was carpooling to work with a friend and neighbor who was at the time taking flying lessons. “How can someone miss the Twin Towers?” I joked to them. Shortly later, our amusement at the apparent idiocy of some newbie pilot turned to fear and horror that none of us have felt in our lives. One by one, we learned of the attacks on the towers, the attack on the Pentagon and the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Still not convinced that this was even real, I begrudgingly complied with my husband’s pleas to leave work, go home and get the boys from school. Feeling still rather foolish, I called and then went to the school to find that most of the other children had already been picked up by frightened parents and those remaining would be taken to a “shelter” by the police at the end of the day if their parents did not pick them up since it was unknown, who if anyone, might not be coming back to pick up a child that day. Many of the parents of children in the boys’ private school worked in the city. It was truly frightening.

Later that day, it was eerie just how noisy the area really had been now that it was silent since no planes were allowed to fly. We lived very close to the three major NYC airports and a small airport very close by – planes were always flying overhead. That day, however, it was so, so quiet – and very scary. It was difficult to explain to the boys what was happening, especially when we didn’t know ourselves. They were frightened, we were frightened and there really wasn’t much information to be had. Luckily none of the boys’ classmates suffered losses in their families, although one of the teachers in town, lost her husband that day. We grieved as a community, we pulled together as a nation as we never did before. We were right in the center of the action. It was very frightening.

Today, we live in a very different place. We are in Vermont and it is quiet here 99% of the time. There is the occasional small plane flying by on a beautiful clear day from a local, small airport. It is odd to think how strange this silence was to me, eight years ago. It was a day that changed life for a lot of people and in some way, for all of us. It is a day to pause to remember.

Deze heb ik jullie te goed. Ik post de laatste tijd zo weinig hier dat ik hier een extra lange post van wil maken: Wat vond ik het beste, het slechtste en het verrassendste van afgelopen Pukkelpop 2009. Laat me beginnen bij het begin, dag 1:

Het Belgische electro-duo Sound of Stereo. Zeker niet slecht maar als ze gewoon DJ’en vind ik electro en danceacts toch iets te plat. Sorry!

Het hoogtepunt van de dag was zonder twijfel Passion Pit. Als je dacht dat castraten uitgestorven waren, think again. Deze Amerikaanse jongens hebben met hun zeer hoge vocals en dansbare elektronische ritmes zeker toekomst. Spijtig genoeg zijn ze niet de enigen die deze richting momenteel uit gaan. Maar wel ongeveer één van de betere acts. Vooral bij hun Studio Brussel-hitje The Reeling was het even feest in de Club.

Tomàn daarentegen was niet al te denderend. Deze Gentenaren hebben volgens mij meer te bieden op plaat dan op het podium. Het kan ook aan de inmense hitte in de Wablief? gelegen hebben natuurlijk.

The Offspring op het hoofdpodium dan maar. Daar was het publiek duidelijk wel mee. Ook ik ontdekte dat ik meer nummers van hun ken dan ervoor gedacht. Goedzo!

Dag 2 was dan weer de mooiste dag op gebied van muziek. Namen zoals Das Pop, Metric, Air Traffic, The Ting Tings en Snow Patrol doen bij elke indiekid het water in de mond lopen.

Voor onze Belgische vrienden van Das Pop was het moeilijk om de wei wakker te schudden. Bij hun toekomstige hit ‘Never Get Enough’ lukte het dan toch om even de zandmannetjes te verdrijven. Spijtig van het publiek, want de show en het optreden zelf vond ik super! De kleine fan in mij werd een iets groter bewonderaar!

Al een geluk zocht ik tijdens Delphic even de shaduw van de Marquee op later op de dag. Daar hoorde ik toevallig hun eerste single ‘Counterpoint’ die mij deed hunkeren naar meer. Het leek wel twangy gitaar/trance/poprock. Maar ga zeker zelf luisteren (en download de gratis 3 track EP) op http://www.delphic.cc/ . Spijtig genoeg is het op deze gasten hun plaat nog even wachten.

Metric was weer een leuk optreden. Meer of minder niet. ‘Help I’m Alive’ toverde even een lach op m’n gezicht en ‘Gimme Sympathy’ blijkt live iets beter te klinken dan op plaat. Die mooie benen mochten wel nog iets langer paraderen.

Want de snor van de excentrieke Eagles of Death Metal frontman was ik ook al moe gezien na Werchter. Toch nog leuk om te zien hoe enthousiast het publiek en hij zelf van zijn optredens worden.

Air Traffic moest ik maar gedeeltelijk kijken (een 4e keer hetzelfde) want in de Marquee stond Glasvegas.

Spijt had ik totaal niet. Ik durf hun optreden zelfs het beste van mijn Pukkelpop noemen. Meerdere malen kippenvel en meekweel momenten. Meer moet ik niet hebben! De frontman hield duidelijk ook van het Belgische bier.

De volgende morgen werd ik wakker geschud met Diablo Blvd. in The Shelter. Niet dat ik nog veel wakker zal liggen van dat optreden. Alleen het feit dat Alex Agnew wel borsten heeft gezien en ik niet ligt me wat dwars.

Tijd voor Team William! Moe dat ik was nam ik een zitplaats en ik had er na afloop al direct spijt van. Arne hield zich wat meer in dan op Gladiolen maar het publiek vond het een feest. De telecaster van Floris werd ook bespeeld door een enthousiasteling in het publiek die blijkbaar nerveus was. En moest die regenboog echt kapot?

The Whitest Boy Alive was dan weer een hippie dansfeestje. Niet de electrodance die we gewoon zijn tegenwoordig. Echt: back to basic dansbare ritmes en meezingbare melodieën op gitaar.  De droge frontman zag ik daarna nog in het publiek bij 50 cent. Hij was blijkbaar meer fan van de rapper dan ik.

Nee, ik bleef nog even in de Marquee voor Klaxons. Die speelden daar nieuwe nummers en bekende nummers. Het enthousiasme was geweldig, alleen de technische problemen van de gitarist waren een beetje spijtig (hoort die technieker dan niet dat ie veel te stil staat?).

Met of zonder technische problemen was Pukkelpop al bij al een leuk festival dit jaar. De sfeer is er geweldig en er zijn massa’s goeie en nieuwe bands om te bekijken. Volgend jaar zien ze mij er zeker terug!

Hailing from Bournemouth, England, Air Traffic has made a great debut album from their eclectic way of music creation. Air Traffic get their name from hearing air traffic signals on their amplifiers as they rehearsed. Their debut album, Fractured Life, has made me a fan of them. I was introduced to them though “Shooting Star” which a friend suggested. The song was actually not their typical work. The band makes both slow, piano rock-esque songs and also upbeat, fast-paced songs. One good song that always puts me a good mood is “Charlotte” which is a very happy and friendly sound song that everyone should give a listen to. The album reached 42 on UK charts, “Never Told Me Her Name” was named “Hottest Record In The World” and “Single Of The Week” by Zane Lowe on Radio 1. I suggest listening to at least 4-5 songs from the album before you make any judgments of the album. Good suggestions: Charlotte, Never Told Me Her Name, Shooting Star, Time Goes By, No More Running Away and all the rest from me. :]

The band has been touring a lot lately and have also worked on their new album, untitled still. They haven’t been solid about anything beside the first single called “Ambulate” which we’re including links to download from (the single is free for everyone to download).

“Ambulate” mp3 download:

• airtrafficlive.com download
• box.net link

Air Traffic can be found at: Official Website and their twitter.

I am finding it hard to concentrate on news of the Perseid meteor shower set to light up the sky tonight. The pitches are back and here I am sitting in the hot seat, sifting through the finalists in search of the perfect dating quip to nab a hotty online. 

Fancy a flutter on a painted lady? Put your money where your moth is!

Forget tonight’s meteor shower. You’ll see stars when you hop in a bath with me.

Crazy lady, likes a good drink and owns pets who eat their own poo.

Hmmm. Love the first one from new Diaries’ fan Sean but might have to go with Al who, with the simplest ingredients, has concocted a fail-safe dating potion with ’Cute, clever, creative. Careful, I might make you smile.’ I plop both in the maybe pile before googling ‘How to write a personal ad’.

 ”Hey you!” shrieks Rita Templeton from the web pages of http://googoobits.com.  “Yeah, you, the one staring at the blank document on your computer screen. Wanna know how to write a personal ad so attention-grabbing it’s like you’ve reached out and poked someone? Read on.” I scroll down, while wondering whether I should really be getting dating tips off  a lady who could box Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs into a corner? According to Rita you need to be honest, engaging, witty and wise but add  a hint of urgency to get the dates flooding in. Propose a time-sensitive date. Chuck a free ticket to accompany you to a gig and he’s hooked, by which stage Rita would probably be saying, “Eat mat, suckerrr!”

Brrrrr. Uhoh, text from G – remember man with inane grin who is now the talk of the neighbourhood?

Round 2? x

Lordy. I need a boyfriend fast.

“Maybe we could market you as the next big thing ” says Ange, in the kitchen over a glass and a half a few hours later. “Ever hear about those guys who dreamed up http://datelance.com? They listed their friend Lance’s best attributes as bullet points and left a billboard on a busy highway emblazoned with the poor guy’s phone number.”

 My friend might not sell herself to the intelligensia, what with her sized down Amy Winehouse do and sized up silicon bust, but, believe me, she is a copywriting supremo. She works in advertising, giving her the computer equipment and access to placements that could just make this happen. Gotta nip this one in the bud. NOW.

“Think I’m more the Crop Circle type, Ange. Cut my personal ad in a field like those poor lonely farmers who direct theirs to local air traffic and I might just bag me a pilot.”

“A Red Arrow?”

“Wouldn’t say No.”

“What if he’s the wrong side of fifty?”

“Come on Ange. A RED ARROW? It wouldn’t matter what he looked like, you’d HAVE to shag him.”

I sleep through my Perseid meteor shower alarm call and instead dream of coloured smoke, red planes and G naked and laughing inanely from the pilot seat. I wake up dripping in sweat and gasping for air. Scary.

Photographer Kevin Gilmour
National Museum of Flight, East Fortune, East Lothian, Scotland

Official Red Arrows Fansite http://www.raf.mod.uk/reds

Well i have been at home sick this past week and have been bored out of my mind! Then i rememberd this App i have on my iphone called Scan America or something and so i found the web site and have been hooked ever since.

Basically it just streams Police, Fire and Air Trafic control radio to your computer…. May sound boring but once you put it on you will be hooked.

scanamerica.us/

pink shirted fast-paced tower at Oshkosh

There are twenty million stairs leading up to the cab of the control tower at Oshkosh.

Maybe not that many, but with the elevator out, it seemed more like Jacobs ladder
than a government issued staircase.

Once atop the stairs I got to spend a quality twenty minutes watching the three four-person
controller teams work the traffic.

Oshkosh tower works more traffic than O’Hare on certain days and at O’Hare they don’t
have to work with non-radio aircraft, blimps, helicopters, space ships, giant A-380s, the
Thunderbirds and flying parachutes.

Quite a view. These controllers have to be the hardest working people at the fly-in.

I found this interesting little video on Design You Trust.  It comes without explanation or comment.

I noticed the obvious stuff. Daylight has a big impact on volumes in the air corridors.

The population centres of the world really stand out.

Hawaii gets a noticeable stream of flights off the mainland.

Flights don’t go over the South Pole to get places the way they do over the North.

Flying over Russia or Africa in the middle of the night significantly reduces the chance of hitting another plane.

É hoje que vou fazer o meu relato pormenorizado do Optimus Alive. Vai ser um texto tipico de “meu querido diário” mas eu faço mesmo questão de ficar com isto tudo escrito com alguns promenores!

Quinta de manhã, saímos da Póvoa às 9 e tal. O parque de campismo abria às 10h e nós queriamos um lugar bom. Já há muito que tinhamos decidido ir acampar se fosse barato e se o parque tivesse condições mesmo morando relativamente perto. Os motivos são simples: era muito mais cansativo estar a ir e vir todos os dias, ía sair muito mais caro e, por último, pelo convívio claro.

Chegámos, encontrámo-nos com o resto do pessoal e entrámos. Foi fácil arranjar um bom lugar, perto das casas de banho e com sombra. O resto da tarde foi passada a montar as tendas, a ir às compras (o Alegro era mesmo muito perto), a beber e a fazer planos para o resto dos dias.

Chegou a hora de irmos para o recinto. Já estávamos todos animados e seguimos para um autocarro completamente cheio de pessoal espanhol que gritava e cantava de 5 em 5 minutos xD. O calor nesta altura era insuportável…

O recinto já estava super cheio quando chegámos. O preto predominava em grande escala ora não fosse o dia do metal x) Foi sem duvida o dia que esteve mais cheio.

Começámos a separar-nos porque enquantos uns queriam estar no palco principal a ver as bandas de metal, outros queriam estar no palco secundário. Ainda nos encontrámos também com mais gente e daí fomos ver um bocado do 1ºconcerto: Lamb of God. Não gosto da banda, não vale a pena… Demasiado pesado para mim. Mas acho que deram um bom concerto (pelo menos daquilo que vi) e o pessoal estava muito animado. Daí fui para o palco Super Bock porque queria ver o concerto de Air Traffic dos quais só conhecia uma música mas tinha curiosidade de ver o concerto. E gostei bastante! São muito bons em palco e gostei imenso do piano. Sem duvida, uma banda para investigar Ah e btw, os rapazinhos são fofos xD

Mais uma voltinha pelo recinto em que tirámos fotos com umas meninas da limpeza que lá andavam a fazer publicidade não sei bem a quê e com os guardadores de lugares. Sim, isso mesmo… Guardadores de lugares humanos que, sem lhes pagar nada ficavam nas filas por nós xD

A seguir fui para a entrada esperar pela Pi para depois irmos uma hora de Slipknot. Daquilo que vi, gostei. Não é definitivamente o meu género de música favorito mas gosto de algumas músicas e ao vivo é muito bom. É impossível não ficar a olhar de boca aberta para aquele monte de gajos cheio de máscaras a saltar de um lado para o outro no palco. Infelizmente, foi nesta altura que o som começou a ficar muito mau… Não sei o que se passou, mas o som a partir de Slipknot ficou super baixo =/

Saímos a meio do concerto para ir ver Klaxons. Que concerto brutal!! As músicas ao vivo são basicamente iguais às do cd. Tenho que falar da roupa deles, cheia de brilhantes e coisa esquisitas, um deles até tinha uma capinha! Muito muito fixe x)

A minha máquina a tirar fotos em concertos é a maior m*rda, peço desculpa pela qualidade.

Também não consegui ver o concerto até ao fim porque queria ir ver Metallica desde o início. Esta história dos dois palcos era mesmo muito irritante…

Arranjámos um lugar relativamente bom  e esperámos, já um bocado nervosas, pelo início do concerto. Foi o nosso (meu e da Lili) quarto concerto de Metallica. E foi bom como sempre… Muito bom :’) Tocaram a Fade to Black, a One continua a trazer-me lágrimas aos olhos, a Nothing Else Matters continua a arrepiar-me. A maneira como o James puxa pelo público, o fogo de artifício que já sabemos de cor em que músicas é que aparece continuam a fazer com que Metallica seja das minhas bandas favotitas. Os únicos pontos negativos foram o som e as músicas do novo album.

Cheios de sede e sem sentir as pernas, voltámos a encontrar-nos todos para irmos esperar pelo autocarro que nos levaria para o parque de campismo. Agora imaginem que o autocarro estava cheio de dinheiro… Imaginem um concerto de Tokio Hotel… A confusão para entrar no autocarro foi exactamente igual. Fomos tão empurrados, tão esmagados, completamente surreal. Um autêntico National Geographic ao vivo tal como disse a Maggie. As pessoas nunca deixam de me surpreender.

No parque, depois de nos rirmos à gargalhada por aquilo que se tinha passado no autocarro, foi cada um para a sua tenda e não tardámos a adormecer. Queriamos descansar porque no dia a seguir era o dia mais aguardado por todos.

Depois conto-vos como foi

]]> http://wearepajamas.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/alive-09-de-julho/ Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:44:06 +0000 Miguel http://wearepajamas.wordpress.com/2009/07/09/alive-09-de-julho/

Já começou um dos maiores e melhores festivais de Portugal. O dia é dedicado ao metal com grandes nomes do género, mas hoje já há nomes para destacar a nível de Indie e Electro.

Vamos acompanhar o festival dia a dia, concerto a concerto e trazer sempre ao WAP um cheirinho do que se passa nos palcos do Alive!

Erol Alkan (Palco Super Bock – 01h50)
Myspace
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Zero (Erol Alkan Rework)

Crystal Castles (Palco Super Bock – 00h30)
Myspace
Crystal Castles – Crimewave (Crystal Castles vs. Health)
Crystal Castles – Hunting For Witches (Crystal Castles Remix vs Bloc Party)

Klaxons (Palco Super Bock – 22h45)
Myspace
Klaxons – Golden Skans (SebastiAn)
Klaxons – Atlantis to Interzone (Crystal Castles Remix)

Tv On The Radio (Palco Super Bock – 21h20)
Myspace
TV on the Radio – Golden Age

Air Traffic (Palco Super Bock – 20h10)
Myspace
Air Traffic – Charlotte

Delphic (Palco Super Bock – 19h00)
Myspace
Delphic – Counterpoint

Miguel

On special invitation, a couple of colleagues of Wacom recently spent a day at the headquarter of DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (German Air Navigation Services) in Langen. They also took the chance to visit the neighbouring Center of DFS, the biggest in Europe. It was quite impressive to see the air traffic controllers at work, ensuring that the airspace in Central Germany is safe. From their desks they observe and manage every flight movement between Dusseldorf and Munich.

Up to now, this is done using paper strips with each aeroplane’s flight information. These strips are continuously modified and moved around. Nowadays, more and more digital solutions are being developed, often incorporating  Wacom’s interactive pen display Cintiq21 UX. The advantages of switching to such a solution are obvious: digital data can be used and analysed far more effectively than it is possible with paper-based information. It allows for a more efficient workflow and is, last but not least, rather cost-effective.

The key issue is to help the controller make the switch from paper to panel without too much of a change in the workflow routine, at the same time as ensuring 100% reliability of the system: this is critical indeed. The controller’s job (albeit well-paid) can be very stressful at times and carries huge responsibilities: every dot on the controller’s monitor represents a plane with some 200 passangers – one controller is responsible for some five such planes at any one time!

At the end of the tour, they also visited the tower of the Rhein-Main-Airport to see the traffic management of landing and departing aeroplanes. To visit one of the busiest airports was an impressive experience as well! Because of the expansion of the Rhein-Main-Airport,  the present tower will soon be replaced by a newer one, which is currently still under construction. This one will be fitted with state-of-the-art equipment, including Wacom’s interactive pen displays, of course.

The amazing House of Cards video for Radiohead works so well due to the brilliant work of Aaron Koblin, currently at Google. The video here is another work by Aaron and is a visual representation of air traffic flight path data. Its one thing to read that there are 20,000 planes in the air at any one time and its another to see them all at once. This type of visual representation brings a much deeper connection to information and allows the viewer to integrate data as more than a set of facts. You can see what the meaning behind the numbers is.

Flight Patterns, by Aaron Koblin

This is a link to a great interview with Aaron on the French site Etapes. Along with some great peeks at many of his other projects he talks about data visualization and design and the new hybrid approach to design.