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Bumping into doors with Capt. Kirk

Tuesday, June 20, 2006
In Omaha while my daughter had some minor surgery, I kept thinking about an old Star Trek episode.

You may recall the one I mean, where Spock (wearing a stocking cap over his ears), Captain Kirk & Co. found themselves in the 1960s.

As I recall (hard-core Trekkers will certainly straighten me out if I'm wrong), Kirk kept bumping into doors which didn't automatically open themselves, like they did back on the Enterprise.

Actually, the door to the bathroom at Children's Hospital wasn't automatic, but everything else was.

Not only did the "porcelain appliances" automatically flush, the water turned on and off automatically and the dispenser spit out a paper towel when my hands got near.

Come to think of it, it's a pretty good system for a hospital, where they're especially conscious of germs on surfaces.

But it's nothing to the typical high school student who was born in the late 1980s or early 1990s.

Transported back into the '60s, they'd be bumping into doors with Captain Kirk.


I enjoyed the State Fly-In this weekend, but wish I would have known they were offering rides in the powered parachutes. Then again, I'm not sure there were any there with enough horsepower (see today's editorial).

Checking out the Nebraska State Patrol helicopter, I couldn't help but think about the demonstration I saw last year of a UAV -- "unoccupied aerial vehicle" in today's politically-correct nomenclature -- used by the U.S. military.

About the size, and using many of the same components used in hobbyists' radio controlled airplanes, it had many of the capabilities of the NSP's aircraft.

The UAV I saw demonstrated had daylight or infrared cameras, GPS positioning and was capable of being controlled by a laptop computer.

I see in today's news that the Los Angeles County sheriff's department plans to use similar UAVs when they need a bird's eye view of situations. While their version is too slow for car chases -- the TV helicopters can take care of those -- the UAVs are so small and quiet, the bad guys might not even know they are there.

And, while they cost many thousand dollars, the unmanned versions are certainly cheaper than the manned helicopters at several millions apiece.


Am I the only one who dislikes Nebraska's new aluminum license plates?

I've accidentally torn the one on my boat trailer off several times, and it's not unusual to see one so bent up it's unreadable.

Perhaps, with the price of aluminum going up, the flimsy plates will price themselves out of business.

Laminated plastic, anyone?


What are the rules for making weather forecasts?

It doesn't seem fair that forecasters can change their predictions as the day goes along, and they see the thunderstorm forming faster than they thought, or the sky clearing up when they thought it would be foggy.

They should have to place their bets and stick with them, just like the folks who buy lottery tickets or place their bets at the horse track.

When is post time, anyway?



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