The Weather (at Airports)

Cold temperatures have set in over much of the country.

The current temperature in Atlanta is 30 degrees, and it's sunny; in Chicago it's 18 degrees and snowing; in New York it's partly sunny and 28 degrees; and in San Francisco it's a balmy 50 degrees and partly cloudy.

The temperatures in local weather reports usually originate from that city's airport. The question is: why does anyone care what the temperature is at the airport? The weather should be reported from downtown (where people work), or in some suburb (where people live).

Nobody cares what the temperature is at Hartsfield, O'Hare, or Kennedy. If you're going to the airport, you probably won't be there very long. And you likely will drive, or take some other kind of covered/protected transport to get there. The only people who will be there for any significant length of time are the employees. And there aren't enough of them to warrant making the weather reports give information from airports.

Maybe the thermometers at airports are just more accurate....

Blizzards and Airports

It appears that a blizzard is striking the Western United States, and shutting down the Denver Airport. The airport is apparently the fifth busiest in the United States. No doubt, this is in part due to the fact that it is a hub for United Airlines and Frontier.

[You can check out the Denver Airport's website at: http://www.flydenver.com/]

Because of the hub-and-spoke system that most airlines use, when a major airport/hub is shut-down, it creates problems throughout the national air-traffic system (and possibly internationally as well). So, if an airport like Denver is shut down, would it be possible to divert "hub activity" to somewhere else, like Boise, Idaho?

Obviously, there would be a lot of difficulties. Boise is a much smaller airport, has fewer runways, fewer gates, and fewer employees. But even with delays, wouldn't it be better to keep moving the passengers until the Denver airport could re-open?

It would work a little like this: the planes that were supposed to arrive in Denver could land in Boise, and then be used to carry the passengers who are going out-bound from Denver. Because Denver is a hub, most passengers are not staying there, but moving on to somewhere else. The passengers who are wanting to go to Denver could just stay in whichever city they were starting from; they are no worse than they would be. Meanwhile, the passengers going somewhere else could pass through Boise instead of Denver.

This plan is probably fraught with too many difficulties, but it's interesting to think about.

Highway driving

It seems like whenever you're on the highway, there are a couple of things that are bound to happen. And they happen because there are a lot of stupid, bad drivers out there.

For example, you're driving along, and someone comes from behind you, passes you, and then moves back into your lane in front of you. Then, they immediately start going slower than you are. Why did you pass me if you're going to slow down once you get in front of me?!?! Plus, it's really annoying if you had already passed the other guy first - they were going slow, you have to go around them, then they come up and pass you, and start going slower immediately....

And how about this one: there's a car who is in front of you, moving at a snail's pace, and then you try to pass them. Suddenly, they decide that that is the moment when they'll start going a lot faster - just so you can't pass - it's like a little race! once you stop accelerating, they stop, too.

I think that the reason why there are multiple lanes is so that cars may travel at different speeds in those different lanes. Preferably, the cars in the left lane are driving faster than those in the right lane - thus giving the left lane the moniker, "passing lane". This concept is quite foreign to many people, who believe that it is best to drive the exact same speed as the car in the lane next to them. This way, all the cars can gather together on the highway, and noone is left to roam free.

Some people should have their licenses taken away.