If you can recall, a couple of years ago Air France flight 447 crashed in the Atlantic off the coast of South America. The follow-up investigation is returning a report finally, and the conclusion is a bit grim: It seems surprising that Airbus has conceived a system preventing one pilot from easily assessing the actions of the colleague beside him. And yet that is how their latest generations of aircraft are designed. The reason is that, for the vast majority of the time, side sticks are superb. “People are aware that they don’t know what is being done on the other side stick, but most of the time the crews fly in full automation; they are not even touching the stick,” says Captain King. “We hand-fly the aeroplane ever less now because automation is reliable and efficient, and because fatigue is an issue. [The side stick] is not an issue that comes up – very rarely does the other pilot’s input cause you concern.” ...

The Google Drive terms of service: When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content. The rights you grant in this license are for the limited purpose of operating**, promoting,** and improving our Services, and to develop new ones. This license continues even if you stop using our Services… ...

From some spam about exercise pills: Just for tonight, I emptied out my waterbed and refilled it with Diet Coke. Because I deserve the fucking best. Yes you do sir, yes you do indeed.

In case you are a Order of the Stick reader but haven’t heard, Rich Burlew (creator of OotS) is doing a reprint drive, raising some cash on Kickstarter. In fact, of the original target of $57,000, there’s a stunning amount of overfunding. Almost $900,000 in overfunding, that is. So: if you’ve ever read Order of the Stick, step up! Help us clear a cool million! You can get some great rewards, or pick up all the books for extra cheap while helping kick along this fantastic comic series! ...

Sherlock Holmes 2: A Game of Shadows: If you want to watch a Guy Ritchie movie set in the late 19th century starring a character whose name happens to be Sherlock following a plot that approximates Conan-Doyle’s writing in the way a Big Mac approximates a steak, watch this movie. If, on the other hand, you want to watch Sherlock Holmes in action, go watch the superlative Sherlock from the BBC. ...