La Lettre de la SCM just came out
In "Eoliennes", there is a mention of wind turbine failures given as a very low probability by experts when, in fact in the course of four months, two have been destroyed (because of the wind!) What is fascinating is that with the increase in power ratings of wind turbines, we are likely to see these probabilities even go up. Indeed, three hundred of these turbines could replace one nuclear power plant. This is not to say that electricity would be cheaper (currently the wind power industry is subsidized by the government) nor that it would help France in fulfilling Kyoto's treaty CO2 levels promises since both energy sources do not produce any.
"La théorie n'est pas au point" mirrors my previous comment on orders of magnitude in the prediction business when it comes to the environment.
In "Identification", there is a mention made of the fiasco in using biometrics issues when it comes to identifying people and that smell may actually be a better classifier than face recognition. This is a good idea, as it stands, dog smell is already looked at to detect some cancers. Smell might actually be a better detector of intent than the currently flawed idea that databases are going to protect us. As a traveler, do I care more about a seating next to
1) a serial killer or,
2) a bomb ridden "peaceful" person ?
The database says 1. I say 2. In a related news, Smell study has netted some researchers the Nobel prize today.
The rest of this september issue of the SCM Letter is a very good and entertaining read (if you read french that is.)
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