The Risk Factor

From Spectrum senior associate editor Steven Cherry at Tech Talk:

Would electronic medical records save the United States $77 billion?

Hillary Clinton, Senator from New York and one of the leading candidates for the 2008 presidency, said so on Thursday night.

You can hear it for yourself. It’s about five and half minutes into this YouTube video.

If you don't want to listen, here’s the key soundbite:

According to the Rand Corporation, hardly a bastion of liberal thinking, they have said that we would save $77 billion dollars a year. That money could be put into prevention. It could be put into chronic care management. It can be put into making sure that our health care system has enough access so that if you are in a rural community somewhere in California or somewhere in Tennessee or somewhere in Georgia, you’ll have access to health care. If you’re in an inner city area, and you see your hospital, like the Drew Medical Center, closed on you, then you’re going to have a place once again where you can get health care in the immediate area.

A few weeks ago, the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division began contacting as many as 10,000 current and former federal employees who worked at the Naval Bases in Dahlgren, Va., Silver Spring, Md., and Panama City, Fla., on or before July 7, 1994, to warn them of potential identity theft, NSWC urged them to contact their creditor bureaus in the wake of a reported attempt to illegally obtain a credit card using an employee’s personal information.

NSWC was notified on Jan. 8 that four individuals had been arrested in Bensalem Township, Pa., on Jan. 5, 2008, for attempted identity fraud. The police informed a Dahlgren employee that someone had stolen his identity and was about to use his credit card to buy a big-screen TV at Sears.

The four had in their possession two pages of a hard copy report dated July 7, 1994, containing personally identifiable information (PII) – names, social security numbers and dates of birth – of nearly 100 individuals with the last name beginning with “B.”

So far, there is still no information as to how the individual(s) came to be in possession of employee personal information. The episode is currently under Secret Service investigation.

This theft shows how even older data records can pose a major threat. What is concerning is whether this was a one-off, aberration, or whether id thieves are now targeting archival information. It also points out that thieves might be very willing to hold on to stolen data - especially if it is a "high profile theft" - for a very long time, since its value doesn't decrease much.

There is a new book out by Seth Shulman titled, "The Telephone Gambit" which argues that Alexander Graham Bell didn't invent the telephone after all, and that he stole the critical technology from Elisha Gray. He appears to make a pretty compelling case. There are extensive reviews of the book on line, such as here and here.

The thrust of Shulman's thesis lays in his discovery that Bell was trying out all sorts of approaches that weren't panning out, as noted in Bell's notebooks of early 1876. Entries in the notebook about his different attempts continue until 24 February 1876, and then don't resume until 7 March 1876 when Bell tries a novel approach. A day and a half later, "Mr. Watson, come here. I need you," is supposedly transmitted.

The gap is important, Shulman argues, because Bell had just returned from a trip from Washington, DC, where it seems that Bell got improper access to Gray's patent application. Shulman also contends that Bell's subsequent reticent behavior indicates that he struggled to come to terms with his theft of Gray's invention.

The book reminds one a bit of the recent flap over the MS-DOS and how much credit for it is owed to Gary Kildall and CP/M. I wonder if there will be books about it a hundred and thirty years from now, or will anyone then even remember MS-DOS, Windows or even Microsoft.

The London Guardian published an article a few weeks back about the Starry Night Bed from Leggett & Platt, a computer-controlled bed that claims to "monitor your sleeping patterns, regulate your temperature and even intervene to stop you snoring."

The story goes on: "The Starry Night Bed contains vibration sensors that can monitor the sleeper's breathing. If the breathing stops, a built-in computer can call 999. If it detects snoring, the head of the bed automatically elevates by seven degrees to unblock the sleeper's airways. If the snoring continues, it goes up by a further seven degrees. When the snoring stops, the bed flattens out again."

"A thin layer of liquid sealed into the mattress allows the bed to provide heating or cooling anywhere between 20C and 47C (68 to 117 degrees Fahrenheit). Built-in ambient lighting switches on if the user goes wandering in the middle of the night. The bed's headboard contains a media centre with 1.5 terabytes of memory, enough to store 400,000 songs or 2,000 hours of video. There are also surround-sound speakers and an LCD-based projector in the headboard that casts a 10ft screen on the wall, projecting films, books or the internet."

You can also connect the bed to something called Life|ware, which "connects the diagnostic and entertainment features of Starry Night with other electronic components in the bedroom and throughout the house," according to the website.

And yes, there is an iPod docking station included, but no, there is no espresso maker.

This is a story from last Thanksgiving time that slipped under the radar. Apparently, a computer glitch at a Kmart store in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin helped spark a brawl. It seems that the store was running a promotion in which it would give away $10 to anyone applying for its credit card. However, a computer error allowed everyone's application to be approved, thereby immediately giving $850 to $4,000 in instant credit to anyone who applied, regardless of credit history.

Naturally, word spread pretty quickly (claims of "free money at Kmart" was how it was phrased) and soon the store was overrun with people trying to sign up for credit cards. Things got ugly as credit card applications ran out, and a dozen police were need to restore order. A couple of folks were arrested as well.

Some innovative folks went to another Kmart when the credit card applications ran out, and started to sell them in the parking lot for $20 apiece. Now that's good old American enterprise at work.

KMart said that it was a localized, not national, problem - which is interesting in itself. Local stores can grant their own credit approvals?

" 'We have taken advantage of the delays to make sure our system level maturity is coming along at a rate that will avoid problems as we enter flight test.' " So said Boeing's Scott Carson, chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes last Wednesday in regard to the year-long slip in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner's flight testing. As I noted a few months back, the software folks were praying for some other part of the aircraft's development to be blamed for the slip, and not them. They got their wish - and they better make the most of it.

Carson says that the 787 is now on track - although we've heard that a couple of times before. There still has been no public disclosure of the penalties Boeing will have to pay airlines such as All Nippon Airways for the late delivery of the 787, but I doubt it will be minimal.

On a side note, I had a chance to see Boeing's major competitor the Airbus 380 arriving in Singapore last week. Others may disagree, but it looked to me like a cargo plane on steroids. It definitely looks better in pictures than up close.

Unfortunately - or maybe fortunately - I was outbound to Germany and did not get to see how baggage, customs and immigration handled the plane's passenger volume. The newly opened and spectacular terminal at Changi Airport (which I'll blog about soon) has been designed to handle Singapore Airline's future fleet of A380's (Singapore Airlines currently has two A380s in service, a further 17 on firm order and options on six more), but even though the new terminal is spacious, I don't think I would want to be around when a couple of A380s off-load at the same time.

It is not known how much Airbus had to pay in penalty costs to Singapore Airline for delivering the A380 two years late (operations started last October), but given that Singapore Air had very publicly committed its future business around it, the amount had to be pretty high.

For the second time in 10 months, Research in Motion's (RIM) Blackberry network suffered another outage affecting some 8 million of its customers. This one lasted only about 3 hours, while the one last April lasted more than 12 hours.

While many Blackberry users were forgiving of the first outage (a typical comment of the time was ""These things happen. Life goes on."), this time, Blackberry owners seem more irritated ("I don't know what happened, I don't care what happened. They need to save their excuses for someone who cares").

Part of the reason for the angst, other than the Blackberry addiction theory, is that RIM promised after the April fiasco - which was caused by poor software testing - that something like this wouldn't happen again claiming that it would put in back-up systems. So user expectations were naturally raised.

RIM also said that they would be more open about any problems in the future. Some of you may remember that RIM was very closed-mouth about the April outage, providing the press with a constant stream of "no comments," not only about its cause but during the event itself. Surprisingly, there is nothing about this latest one on their website this time either. Not a smart move, guys.

RIM now has two strikes against it, and if a third outage hits soon, expect the company to take a big share hit as it will get tagged with a reputation for unreliability. Not a good thing for a device that health, safety and security professionals and government officials depend on, nor with alternatives available to tempt Blackberry users.

I recently traveled around the world without either a cell phone or a laptop. It was very refreshing, with the only downside being a boatload of emails when I got back that I had to wade through. Still, it was a good trade.

In today's Wall Street Journal, there is a story about American and United Airlines taking precautions against the possibility ice accumulation in the fuel systems of Boeing 777s, which seems to be the leading theory for the crash of the British Airways 777 on 17 January. According to the paper, "The moves come amid growing indications that a buildup of ice crystals or slush simultaneously restricted fuel flow and reduced the thrust of both engines of the Boeing 777."

The paper goes on, "U.S. and British investigators are focusing on whether ice crystals may have clogged the plane's dual oil-cooler systems, according to people familiar with the details. The radiator-like devices use fuel flow from each of the wing tanks to cool engine oil, and fuel then flows from there to the nearby engine during flight. .... [it is] believed to be the first time ice contamination in fuel brought down a large, state-of-the-art jetliner with no apparent mechanical or computer malfunctions."

So much for it being software.

A very sad, but very unsurprising, story appeared in yesterday's Los Angeles Times about the LA Unified School District (LAUSD) payroll system fiasco that I have been blogging about for the past several months. The story shows how the system was in trouble from the start, tells of the warnings of trouble along the way, and how the warnings were ignored anyway until it was too late.

"In the weeks leading up to the launch of a new payroll system, Los Angeles Unified School District officials had plenty of warning that the $95-million technology project would have serious problems."

"Critical hardware had failed numerous times. Flawed data collected over decades proved difficult to clean up and input into the new system. Payroll clerks complained that training had fallen far short -- more than 60 schools didn't have a single staff member who'd received any training."

"Still, consultants hired to implement the system urged the district to proceed as scheduled in early January 2007. Three days before the system was to begin, they urged the district in a report to 'Go! Proceed . . . and go-live on January 1!' "

The story goes on to say that LAUSD officials admitted that they were too inexperienced - I say incompetent - to understand the issues, risks, and problems popping up all around them.

"Supt. David L. Brewer oversaw the district's clumsy recovery effort. It has taken a year to stabilize the system. The ordeal has weakened the superintendent, opening him to criticism that he has been ineffective."

" 'We were not ready to go live with this system, but we didn't have the internal expertise to know that,' Brewer said in a recent interview."

The LAUSD chief operating officer responsible for pushing through the payroll system also admitted that "he knows little about computer systems."

Helping matter along, the original payroll data was not cleansed before it was put into the new system, so the new system used inaccurate information. "The dirty data had produced bogus employee rosters. How, clerks wondered, do you cut a paycheck for a person the computer system says does not exist?"

The contractor responsible for the payroll, however, maintains that "throughout the project we not only did our part, but we in fact went above and beyond." I am sure, therefore, that they are going to use the project as a proud customer reference site in their future proposals.

All one can say is, sad, sad, sad, and another software project to add to the case study pile of what not to do - not that anyone will read it.

The New York Times reports that the Blackberry outage was caused by - drum roll please - "a flawed software upgrade." A very short communique that Research in Motion (RIM) released to the press via email (but didn't post on its website) said that there "was a problem with an internal data routing system" that had recently been upgraded, and that the "upgrade was part of RIM's routine and ongoing efforts to increase overall capacity for longer term growth." No further explanation was given.

RIM is setting up a team to investigate the problem and to avoid a future recurrence; just like last year.

Want to power your cell phone or iPod on a camping trip? Then you need the biomechanical energy harvester. As described here and here at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) website and discussed in the Washington Post:

"A new, knee-mounted device harvests energy from the end of a walker’s step, in the same way that hybrid-electric cars recycle power from braking. With a device on each leg, volunteers generated about 5 Watts of electricity, while using little additional energy. That’s enough power to run 10 cell phones at the same time, and twice the power needed for computers in developing regions."

There is some interesting graphics and video at the site as well.

I can hardly wait until these things become mandatory in Europe in an effort to reduce global warming. I wonder if they will be designed to be fashion accessories?

The Turing Test may be how a machine demonstrates artificial intelligence, but my own test is: can a machine interpret correctly the US Tax Code, and can one predict accurately winter weather in Northern Virginia three hours ahead of time?

Yesterday, an unpredicted ice storm hit Washington D.C. and its suburbs leading to accidents and severe icing that shut-down at rush hour I-95 south at the Springfield Mixing Bowl for over 8 hours. The storm was expected to hit well west and north of the Washington area, even as late as noon. This was the second "surprise" ice-storm to hit the DC metropolitan area this winter.

Those of you who know the location can image the mess - there is a nice photo from the Washington Post here.

Yup, I'll believe in AI when my two tests are met.

There was a story in last Sunday's Seattle Times about the fact that nearly 25% of the 637,000 aerospace workers in the US can retire next year, possibly posing a severe skills shortage in the commercial and defense aviation. In addition, the article notes that the demand for "aerospace, electrical, mechanical and computer engineering disciplines is expected to be double what it was 10 years ago."

The story goes on to say that many younger workers view aerospace plants as "old fashion industries."

As I noted a few weeks ago, there is a controversy raging about whether universities and colleges are teaching future IT workers inappropriate skills, and that it is becoming increasingly hard to attract students into science and technology. Given this and the looming retirement situation, is the US poised to lose its aerospace dominance?

Also, with US is pouring more money into advance defense systems than any time since World War II, can these systems even be built, given the high-tech resource scarcity that will hit in the next decade?

Who is likely to dominate the aerospace field in the future? Is it automatically the Pac Rim, given Europe looks in even worse shape than the US, given its demographics and inability to attract high tech students into their universities as well?

And how much does it matter to the US, if at all? And if does matter, what can realistically be done about it?

I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

When I used to live in the UK, having an A - Z guide was mandatory for getting around. The UK is one of those countries that seems to have an attitude that if you are lost, you deserve to be. My memory is that I could always find a sign telling you were leaving a county, town or village, but not that you were ever entering one.

The UK attitude towards (not) providing clear directions on road signs seems to have extended to some of its former colonies like Virginia where I now live, where having an ADC map is absolutely vital if you want to get around without wandering in circles.

Anyway, IEEE Spectrum Associate Editor Joshua Romero pointed me to a story in the London Telegraph about the proliferation of GPS navigation in the UK, and the problems they are creating in the UK. It seems that Network Rail claims that 2,000 railroad crossing and bridges are hit annually - some 6 or 7 a day - by trucks that have been directed along inappropriate roads for their size. Network Rail said that it was now mapping the UK’s low bridges and level crossings so that information could be fed into GPS navigation software.

Part of the reason is that many of the trucks are being driven by non-English speaking drivers, who rely almost exclusively on the navigation system for guidance. Network Rails says that, "We are now trialling smart signs complete with laser detectors which will tell oncoming vehicles that they won't clear the bridge ahead."

It is not only Network Rail that is having problems. Small towns and villages are finding that trucks and coaches driving down roads and country lanes are also smacking into buildings and cottages, or getting stuck and blocking local traffic. Some village councils are now posting anti-satellite navigation system signs up.

Back in 2006, the UK Department for Transport supposedly was going to develop a "star rating system" that would tell consumers how reliable GPS navigation systems were, but I am not sure of its status. Still too soon to throw out those A -Z guides just yet, I reckon.

There is an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor (CSM) this week on the introduction of the first engineering program at a women's college. It is particularly relevant to some of the discussion (here and here, for example) on the potential future state of US high-tech.

The article says,

"The first women's college to offer an engineering degree, Smith is forging new paths in a field that's eager to swell its ranks in the United States. Women receive only 20 percent of bachelor's degrees in engineering, according to a new report by the National Science Board (NSB). Like a handful of other liberal arts colleges, Smith is producing graduates who've had a different type of engineering education – one that goes beyond technical training to focus on a broader context for finding solutions to humanity's problems; one that emphasizes ethics and communication; one so flexible that about half the students study abroad, which is rare, despite the multinational nature of many engineering jobs."

It also sounds like Smith has gone and hired some very gifted instructors, such as Professor Glen Ellis, who the CSM writes arrived "at his engineering class dressed as a mountain climber. He hooks a rope to the ceiling, projects snow-capped scenery on the wall, and asks a volunteer to join him in a mock ascent." Needless to say, the students pay attention to the lecture and get a broader view of what engineering as a subject means.

Ellis makes the point in a speech in accepting his US Professor of the Year award last November from Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education that,

"It is just not good enough to teach the way that we were taught. We know that doing so in engineering will surely exclude many of the young people we need to attract."

Amen to that.

The CSM article goes on to state that, "Much research in recent years points to the idea that the teaching of science, technology, engineering, and math, known collectively as STEM, is crying out for improvement. ... The NSB report says that 83 percent of professors still use lecture and discussion as their primary methods in undergraduate classes."

The trick is, of course, how to compete for the attention of young minds among all the other possibilities and get them interested in STEM without dumbing it down into becoming a clown college atmosphere. I don't think there are a lot of extroverted, innovative or self-confident STEM professors like Glenn Ellis's out there, or STEM departments that encourage this approach either. Maybe what is needed is a graduate school for STEM professors (and their Deans) to learn how to teach these subjects more interestingly to students who are increasingly skeptical of the value of these fields.

Kyodo News agency reported Saturday that Japanese electronics maker Toshiba may withdraw its HD DVD next-generation video format. This comes after Wal-Mart announced that it would only sell only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware and no longer carry HD DVD offerings.

Toshiba's decision effectively puts the kibosh on HD DVD.

Also, midnight a year from today, analog TV ends, and digital TV takes over the US. The US Congress created the TV Converter Box Coupon Program for households wishing to keep using their analog TV sets after February 17, 2009. The Program allows U.S. households to www.dtv2009.gov to get yours), each worth $40, that can be applied toward the cost of eligible converter boxes.

So now you can feel safe to invest in Blue-ray discs to watch on your new digital TV.

UPDATE: It is now official - Toshiba is scrapping its HD DVDs, a little more than a month after it released its second generation players. So much for its "early lead" in the market place "proving the strength of the HD DVD format."

Erico Guizzo has an interesting post at the Tech Talk blog about the National Academy of Engineering 14 grand challenges:

* Make solar energy economical
* Provide energy from fusion
* Develop carbon sequestration methods
* Manage the nitrogen cycle
* Provide access to clean water
* Restore and improve urban infrastructure
* Advance health informatics
* Engineer better medicines
* Reverse-engineer the brain
* Prevent nuclear terror
* Secure cyberspace
* Enhance virtual reality
* Advance personalized learning
* Engineer the tools of scientific discovery

Notice how many will require major improvements in software development and computer technology. These could be the long pole in the tent, but I don't see this as one of the grand challenges. I wonder why?

An article in today's Los Angeles Times tells the story of how, "Six years ago, Los Angeles County began using a ballot for nonpartisan voters that had a little-noticed design flaw. Confusion over how to mark the ballot, critics say, caused tens of thousands of votes to go uncounted in three elections between 2002 and 2006."

The story goes on, "At the time, election officials knew that some votes were not being counted but saw no need to make changes. After all, the missing votes went unnoticed in the three primary elections and no one complained."

However, a grass-roots advocacy group complained about it on the day before the 5th of February presidential primary in California. The advocacy group argued that "the ballot was defective because it required nonpartisans wanting to vote in a party primary to mark an extra bubble designating which party they were choosing."

Many voters would likely miss the bubble, and therefore invalidate their vote. Now it appears that about 50,000 voters did miss it, and didn't have their votes counted.

Needless to say, lots of folks are ticked off.

There may be flaws with e-voting systems which California has severely limited, but are they worse than this?

Tony Collins, over at ComputerWeekly, has written a fascinating story about the secret (until now) political decisions to create the UK National Program for IT (NPfIT), the UK's attempt at creating a national electronic health record (EHR) system, similar to what Sen. Hillary Clinton (my apologies for not using her proper title before) is currently advocating, and what President Bush wants in place by 2014.

In papers obtained by the UK Freedom of Information Act, it appears that former Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2002 wanted a full fledged EHR system by early in the year 2005, before the next general election he would have to call. Even an EHR system operational by the 2005 date was seen by Blair as taking too long!

It is apparent that the potential for improved patient health care that EHRs promise was cavalierly traded off for immediate political gain - not a big surprise, of course. The haste and lack of concern for the technological implications in which the NPfIT decision was made is still breath-taking, nevertheless.

Best guess is that it will be 2013 before NPfIT is fully up and running; however, doctors aren't particularly supportive of it; nine out of ten doctors don't believe that the UK government can protect patient data; many doctors and privacy advocates are suggesting patients opt of of it; and support contractors are thinking of pulling out.

As I have mentioned, politicians seem to believe that they are the most brilliant and clever IT system architects that exist.

In a Chicago Tribune story this morning, Boeing's Randy Tinseth, vice president of marketing for commercial airplanes, was quoted as saying that while Boeing was confident of its new delivery schedule, it wouldn't rule out further delays.

Tinseth further said, "We have not finished the production plan yet. We are waiting until the end of the first quarter to finish the production plan and then we can make better projections on deliveries for 2009 and beyond. It is a reasonable plan but you never know."

Is this just being realistic, or is this a warning flare to Wall Street analysts that not to jump down Boeing's throat if another slip is announced? Just a month ago, Boeing was saying after the latest slip, everything "no worries" we got it covered.

To now publicly sow some doubt - well, my take is to expect another slip announcement. And I bet the software guys continue to be happy.

Investigators are still stumped why the Boeing 777 crashed at Heathrow airport last month. The prevalent theory about ice in the fuel seems not to be able to stand scrutiny. Excessive water or other contaminants in the fuel was not found.

Investigators still being the problem is in the fuel system. The latest speculation now seems to be that the plan encountered "unusually low" temperatures that dipped to minus 76 Celsius (minus 105 Fahrenheit) between the Ural Mountains and Scandinavia. This may have affected the operation of the high-pressure fuel fuel pumps.

Yesterday, it was reported that both Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility announced (for example, here) new flat-rate plans costing $99.99 per month that eliminate not only long-distance and roaming charges, but also any time limitations on calls.

While wireless carriers like T-Mobile have been trying to convince people that they don't need a wired phone, these announcements to their respective customer bases by two major wireline carriers to basically do the same marks a major shift in strategic positioning. With one of these plans, you don't need a wireline phone, except, of course, if your connectivity and reliability pretty much stinks, like mine does regardless of carrier.

Anyway, T-Mobile which last year let its customers call free and use Wi-Fi connections at their homes or elsewhere, said it will also offer unlimited calling and messaging for under $100 per month.

I wonder how long it will be before the wireline carriers really start to jack up their landline connection costs, citing increased operational and overhead costs.

A computer malfunction in the baggage system at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 has caused chaos for over 4,000 passengers flying British Airways (BA) and several others over the past several days. It appears that about noon Tuesday, a software upgrade to Terminal 4's computerized baggage handling system caused the the belts that route and or transfer luggage from check-in desks to specific aircraft luggage loading and off-loading areas to stop working.

As a result, BA told all of its economy class passengers who were leaving Terminal 4 (which handles long-haul flights to other countries) or transferring to other flights at the terminal that they could not check in anything but a small carry on bag. Business class and first class passengers were not affected (a travel class-specific software bug - how interesting). It must have been very thrilling for those passengers who were already on long-haul flights and landed at Heathrow only to be told they could go, but their luggage had to stay.

BA economy passengers were told they could try to ship their luggage to their destinations by other means, wait for some future BA flight when the system was working, try to get on another airline (BA said it would try to get other airlines to honor their tickets) or get a refund. Of course, I guess you could always upgrade if there was room.

The other airlines like Qantas, KLM and Air Malta that also use Terminal 4 quickly decided to manually moved passenger luggage, and therefore were only temporarily affected. BA claimed that the sheer quantity of their luggage meant this was not possible except for the aforementioned business and first class passengers.

As of today, the baggage system seems to be working again, except for transfer passengers. Heathrow has always been an awful place to transfer flights - this latest problem just adds to its notoriety, and a desire of experienced passengers to avoid Heathrow (and BA) at all costs.

According to reports, this is the 10th baggage system breakdown at Heathrow since last May.

In what could have been better timing for BA, while this situation was unfolding, it was announced that BA was the second worst airline in Europe for losing bags: 26.5 bags for every 1,000 passengers. Only TAP, the Portuguese carrier, lost more, some 27.8 bags per 1,000 passengers.

BA next announced a £12 fuel surcharge increase. As the Telegraph once more reported, that from "Monday, the surcharge for long-haul flights of less than nine hours will rise from £96 for a return flight to £106. For return long-haul flights of more than nine hours, the charge will increase from £116 to £128."

BA, with more exquisite timing, unveiled its new Terminal 5 to the press, which is supposedly going to solve the passenger baggage system problem once and for all. As the Telegraph reported, "Gary Ranns, lounges manager at British Airways, said: 'Terminal 5 will be a fantastic experience. It will make travelling a pleasure again and not a chore.' " Given what was happening over at Terminal 4 at the time, Ranns might have chosen better language.

And finally, to add to the positive publicity, BA pilots also have decided today that they would go on strike over the coming Easter holidays, and just before when Terminal 5 is supposed to open on 27 March.

Of course, BA apologizes for any inconvenience.

UPDATE: Friday, 22 February, BA announced everything was back to "normal" at Terminal 4 - which means routine chaos rather than computer enhanced chaos.