Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Airline Cockpit Safety, the Supreme Court’s Diversity Problem, and Email
In the wake of Tuesday’s Germanwings Airbus crash, we look at safety rules and regulations for pilots in the cockpit: how have they changed over the years? And is it simply impossible to prepare for every possible catastrophe?
By Barbara Bogaev • • 51m ListenIn the wake of Tuesday’s Germanwings Airbus crash, we look at safety rules and regulations for pilots in the cockpit. Then, a two-part look at the U.S. Supreme Court. First, its ruling today on the case of a worker who sued UPS for not accommodating her pregnancy. Then, a look at the court’s lack of diversity and how it might be problematic. Next, we hear from a man who set out to improve email. Why doesn’t it work better? And finally, in our weekly web roundup, Twitter has a new streaming video service.
Banner Image Credit: Aero Icarus
In this episode
5 storiesAir Safety and Cockpit Protocol
During a press conference earlier today, French officials said that Tuesday’s crash of the Germanwing Airbus was deliberately caused by the plane’s co-pilot, a 28-year-old German man named Andreas Lubitz. According to voice recordings, in the minutes before the plane slammed into the Alps, Lubitz locked the captain out of the cockpit.
Read the story9 minSCOTUS Rules on Pregnant Woman’s Workplace Case
The U.S. Supreme Court decided yesterday in favor of a pregnant woman who sued her employer for putting her on unpaid leave. Peggy Young asked UPS if they would accommodate her because she couldn’t lift heavy boxes, and they said no.
Read the story6 minThe Supreme Court’s Diversity Problem
People have often complained that the country’s Supreme Court isn’t diverse enough: not enough women and not enough minorities. Still, it has improved. There are three women on the court now, one of them Hispanic. And there’s one African-American justice.
Read the story9 minThe Pain and Promise of Email
What happens almost two hundred billion times a day across this planet of ours? Probably not what you’re thinking. We’re talking about emails getting sent. There’s all that emailing going on, but does anyone even like it? All we seem to do is complain how much email clogs our inbox and how we can’t find old emails. We’re bombarded with it 24-7.
Read the story13 minWeb Roundup: Twitter Gets Into the Streaming Video Game
Twitter releases its very own streaming video app today. It’s called Periscope, and it allows you to run a live stream straight from your phone and into the eyeballs of all your fans/friends via Twitter. We discuss that and more in this week’s installment of our weekly web roundup.
Read the story10 min
