I have see it get progressively harder to find what I am looking for on search engines. This is the result of their slant toward commercial products. Look up 'quantum' and the top listing that turns up is a computer company, a little bit down the page is fishing tackle. And so it goes, a lot of misdirected searches. Spam is another thing that happens--the desire to gain free advertisement without paying for it. Advertisement kills the entertainment media. I no longer watch television, except for an occasional weather forecast. A movie on TV is a pain to watch whenever it is littered with too many, too long commercials. I would rather rent a DVD, and watch it without interruptions on the big screen.
Spam and Web Maintenance
The effect of scam on my blog is a tax on my time. I could buy a spam filter for WordPress; but otherwise I have to spend my own time hacking out the spam. I would rather be composing blogs. The effect of spam is like a swarm of flies at a picknick--not a pretty sight. As web traffic increases on my site, so does the spam. The time tax is on individuals. If you are creative, the drag of dealing with spam is a drag on creativity. Maybe the answer to this problem is to shut down the comment section of my blog. At the present, that seems not to be a great inconvenience, because I have very few real responses from my readers. In fact, I may have no real readers at all--only spammers flooding me with computer-generated comments.
The Vision of Operating Globally from Home
I was very excited about personal computers in combination with the Internet back in the 90s. I thought that they offered a means for an individual to globalize his talent, and thereby make a living from home. Some people have been able to realize that dream. I know of one person who lives in the mountains and does animation drawings for Hollywood. He does quite well, and he enjoys the tranquil life in the mountains. Somehow, this does not seem to happen in science; although I remain optimistic that it is possible.
My Blog is a Way of Letting Others Look over my Shoulder
I consider myself as being fairly self driven, and there are a lot of things that I want to do with my time. I like to write, and there are many ideas that I want to share. To write well requires that one write, all the time if possible. At the moment, there are some subjects that I do not write about in my blog. because they are private matters. I am interested in writing a book about physics, or on physics, and that lends itself to the blog format. In books of that type, it is best to have feedback from those who read such a book. Without feedback, I tend to race ahead leave out a lot of details. In this case, I write for a person such as I was as a young student. There is a lot of discussion in physics that needs motivation. Without knowing where an abstruse mathematical discussion is going, the reader tends to lose interest fast. The required motivation is different for different people, and that is why feedback is important. The increased load of useless spam is something that tends to hobble such a discussion, and it detracts from creative development because it creates a load of drudge work.
Wrap up
For the moment, I will search for better solutions in automatically filtering users' comments and continue the blog. The discouraging part is that most of the comments, perhaps all of them, are spam in one form or another, and that I am wasting my time with them toward no good purpose. If necessary, I will continue the blog, but not allow comments. Those who look over my shoulder must do so silently. In the short run, I may create a special e-mail account where all comments are directed. In that way I can use e-mail controls to eliminate spam and trash. I will then have a few remaining comments that I can deal with personally, and manually enter in the blogs.
I am an optimist. I am sure that I can solve the problem of an exponentially increasing stream of spam and still continue to blog.
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted
to give a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading through your articles.
Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that go over the same
topics? Thanks for your time!
Dear Dr. Caracena;
My name is Steve Pollock and I've been reading with great interest your website here,
as well as your pages at NOAA, and some of your work in the archives of Dr. Ted Fujita,
all as part of research for a new book. I also sent a copy of this e-mail to you at the e-mail
address on your site here, so please excuse the duplication, just want to make sure I
reach you.
Some background and then an explanation for this inquiry: I am a former journalist/
teacher and have studied airline history and operations since childhood. In August,
I signed a contract to write an aviation history book and am currently working on the
manuscript, due next March. The book's working title is currently: "Conquering an
Evil Wind: Braniff 250 and the Search for Safe Skies." The book will chart how certain
airliner accidents led to improvements in aviation operations during turbulence at
altitude and microbursts on approach/departure; it will discuss the high price paid
(in human terms) for advances in flight safety which we take for granted today.
The book will be published by McFarland Publishing (mcfarlandpub.com) in the
Christmas 2013/Spring 2014 time frame. McFarland is a quality publisher which
produces around 400 books per year for public and academic libraries, as well as
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and electronic vendors. They have been extremely supportive
of this project and I am excited to work with them and get the story into print.
I am writing you because of your key involvement in the investigations/research in this
area, as well as your work with Dr. Ted Fujita. I want to especially highlight the long
and detailed and extremely important work that you, Dr. Fujita, and many others
have done on these accident investigations and the subsequent impact of that work on
airliner safety.
The crash of Braniff Flight 250 of Aug. 6, 1966, will be the touchstone of the book,
providing the central "human" narrative (primarily because I have connections with
family members of the victims). However, other accidents will be discussed along the way.
That list includes Northwest 705 (Miami, 1963); Eastern 304 (New Orleans, 1964);
Braniff 250 (Falls City, 1966); Braniff 352 (Dawson, 1968); Continental 426 (Denver, 1975);
Eastern 66 (New York, 1976); Continental 63 (Tucson, 1977); Pan Am 759
(New Orleans, 1982); Delta 191 (Dallas, 1985); and USAir 1016 (Charlotte, 1994).
More may be added as the manuscript progresses.
A bit more about my background: While this will be my first published book, I am a
former small-town daily newspaper reporter, public education communications
director, and elementary/secondary teacher, with over 25 years writing experience
in a variety of media. Disability forced me to give up the demanding teaching field, so
I am returning to my first and second loves, flying and reporting/writing. I have a
bachelor's degree in English from Cameron University of Oklahoma and a master's in
education from the University of Michigan. I currently live in Nashville, TN.
I was at Texas Tech in Lubbock last month and spent many hours researching
Dr. Fujita's papers; I then went up to Falls City, NE, to meet with eyewitnesses and
visit the Braniff 250 crash site. I am now in the process of contacting Dr. Fujita's
contemporaries such as yourself to see if they would be interested in adding any thoughts
or observations to the book.
Generally, I am looking for anything you would wish to contribute; anything from a
typical formal interview or as short as a sentence or two or paragraph about anything
that comes to mind, as well as any graphics or images you might be willing to grant
permission to publish. I realize you are probably very busy, but if you would be willing
to speak with me, I'd love to add your perspective and memories, not to mention your
expertise, to the book.
I apologize for the length of this missive, and I thank you for your time and consideration;
if you have any time at all to speak with me, it would be greatly appreciated.
My contact information follows.
Regards,
Steve Pollock
________________________________________
Steve Pollock
247 Lisa Lane
Nashville, TN 37210-2405
airbeagle@gmail.com
or
airbeagle@stevepollock.net
615-423-4905
________________________________________