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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Finally: EU bans obviously false claim that water can prevent dehydration

It is about time that government got these reckless prevaricators under control!

EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact. 
Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

Then again, it seems the science is not quite settled:  Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

Read the rest as they say.

More to follow...

Braun Tacon
4:16 pm pst 

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The Earth as seen from the ISS

Breathtaking, spectacular and just plain cool.  5 minutes of time-lapse video compiled during September and October of this year at an altitude of 217 miles (350 kilometers).  More from Space.Com

For all those who've ever yearned to look out the window of the International Space Station and see the magnificent Earth pass by beneath it, an incredible new video offers a five-minute glimpse. And it's even more breathtaking than you might have guessed.

Give it a watch.  You won't be disappointed.

More to follow...

Braun Tacon

9:12 am pst 

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Black Swan Remembered: The North East Power Outage of Nov 9th, 1965

Black Swan:  An event or occurrence that deviates beyond what is normally expected of a situation and that would be extremely difficult to predict.

On Nov 9th, 1965 one of the largest power blackouts ever to impact the North American Continent occurred.  In retrospect, the cause was clear.  In the days preceding the outage, during reoutine maintance, a safety relay was misconfigured and set too low for peak electrical demand.  This human error in turn brought about a series of cascading events culminating in over 30 million residents of Ontario Canada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New York, and New Jersey experiencing a significant disruption of electrical power which lasted upwards of 12 hours.

This event is a classic example of a Black Swan and one which serves to highlight both the unpredictability and potential impact of Major Incidents.  Major Incidents happenAre you prepared?

More to follow...

Braun Tacon
7:29 pm pst 


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BraunsBlog...Random musings on specific topics.  The central themes will be ITIL V.3, Information Security, and other sundry ITSM topics.  That said, there are many more things in this world on which to opine, so don't be surprised if I do now and then.

About me...Braun Tacon, Portland Oregon.  Husband, father, aviator and former Air Traffic Controller with over 20 years experience in the Information Technology and IT Service Management field, the last thirteen years of which having been spent at a Fortune 500 in the Pacific Northwest. 

Professional background and certifications include Aviation Management, Education, Systems Management, Information Security and Process, Standards and Quality Management.  Always delivered with a strong focus on ITIL and similar Process Improvement Frameworks such as LEAN, SixSigma and TQM (Thank you Mr. Deming!).

Hobbies include reading, writing, and even the occasional Karaoke contest!

All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone.

Contact me...

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?  You may contact me at btacon@BraunsBlog.com.

BraunsBlog - 99 and 44 one hundredth percent pure ITIL...66 one hundredth percent pure Braun

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