US Intensifies Attacks In Pakistan

Supporters of a Pakistani religious group hold a rally against U.S. drone missile strikes on the country's tribal areas, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010 in Karachi, Pakistan. (AP)

Supporters of a Pakistani religious group hold a rally against U.S. drone missile strikes on the country's tribal areas. (AP)

Pakistan’s foreign ministry says deadly weekend attacks in Taliban strongholds by piloted American military helicopters are a violation of its sovereignty. The tension between Pakistan and the U.S. comes as the U.S. also launched more than 20 attacks with armed drones this month — the most ever during a single month. We speak with the BBC’s Adam Mynott in Islamabad.

GOP Targets State Houses In Highly Democratic Northeast

We’re continuing our look at heated races around the country. In New York, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is running against real estate developer and first time candidate, Carl Paladino. In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick is getting challenged by the state’s Treasurer, Tim Cahill, and by businessman Charles Baker. Republicans are smelling opportunity to get into the corner office in both states. Our guests are Alan Chartock of WAMC in Albany, N.Y. and David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix.

High-Powered Lasers Are A Danger To Pilots

Federal authorities say they’re going to crack down on people who point high powered lasers — the kind used by stargazers — into the cockpits of airliners and helicopters. In the latest case, a Rhode Island man has been charged with interfering with an aircraft after temporarily blinding a pilot during his landing attempt. The latest FBI statistics list 1,700 laser incidents in the first eight months of this year alone. We check in with the U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, Peter F. Neronha.

FAA Flight Simulator: What a laser illumination flash looks like

Grieving Father Launches A Personal Crusade To Stop Texting While Driving

(poka0059/Flickr)

On Thursday, Massachusetts becomes one of 30 states with bans on texting while driving. As part of the law, Massachusetts teenagers will be banned from using a cellphone while behind the wheel of a car. Jerry Cibley of Foxboro, Mass. tells us about his efforts to get this law passed after his 18-year-old son, Jordan, died in 2007. Jordan was driving while talking to his parents when his car slammed into a tree.

New York Times: Texting while driving online game
Driving tips from the Safe Roads Alliance
Consumer Reports: 2010 Distracted Driving Summit

Pastry Competition Puts The Heat On Master Chefs

Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer sets up his buffet for the final Meilleurs Ouvriers de France judging, while a MOF judge looks on. (D.A. Pennebaker)

We speak to filmmakers Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker about their new film “Kings of Pastry.” It documents the 2007 competition to find new Meilleurs Ouvriers de France or “Best Craftsmen in France” of pastry making. During the three day competition sixteen finalists have to make a dizzying array of pastries, sculptures, candies and cakes under extreme time pressures as well as the watchful eyes and discriminating palates of judges.

Music From The Show

Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”

Christian McBride, “Theme for Kareem”

Paul Simon, “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover”

Dean & Britta, “Herringbone Tweed”

Ken Vandermark, “New Acrylic”

Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”

Sebastien Giniaux “Rue St. Maur” performed by Django Memory

Elizabeth Sensoli

I think that the issue of dangerous distracted driving is broader than cell phones. There are so many distractions for drivers today. Traffic is more complex, car controls are all different and more complicated. I have a new Ford Escape, and the dash is a maze of buttons, plus an led screen. The other day I realized that I kept looking back to that screen to see what on earth the radio station I was listening to was advertising – they had a scrolling ad on my display for a local business. I don’t use GPS, but many do – and to be lost, and trying to read a screen and navigate traffic at the same time seems to me to be insanity. We have taken multi-tasking too far.
Wendell Burton

On lasers; I have been in commercial construction for nearly 30 years. During that time lasers were developed for use in the construction industry. Today they are a valuable tool used everyday by every trade. In their early days they cost thousands of dollars. Now we can buy a high quality laser for a few hundred dollars. From my experience, the lasers we use are not effective past a few hundred feet. It seems to me that hitting a moving aircraft seven hundred feet away with a twenty dollar laser pointer would be nearly impossible. I realize that lasers are used as targeting devices on rifles and pistols but the range is limited on them also. The military uses lasers but these are expensive and not readily available to the public. There has got to be more to this than was reported.
Mike

Re: High-Powered Lasers Are A Danger To Pilots.
Other than known, on duty, police and security personnel whom I have confirmed ARE covered under the law in many jurisdictions (resulting in a possible felony charge), are there currently any documented laws in the U.S. concerning pointing lasers at people on the street or sidewalk or into house/building windows? I can’t seem to find ANY.
Wendell Burton

I’m not questioning the danger to pilots or anyone else. As a matter of fact, we have to post warning signs throughout the areas where we set up lasers. Your comment mentions ‘high powered lasers’. I’m under the impression that the lasers mentioned on the radio are the ball-point pen size and cost twenty bucks. These are hardly high powered lasers. I have one here that will barely shine a spot the size of half dollar at 100 feet. My construction lasers are barely visible at 500 feet and can be difficult to aim. Maybe there are new, more advanced, and inexpensive lasers out there that I have not seen.
Richard Cole

High-Powered Lasers Are A Danger To Pilots:

For some time I’ve been hearing reports of people with hand-held lasers, allegedly the types used in lectures and presentations, targeting and threatening aircraft. All of these reports, including yours, seem bogus.

As pointed out in the (barely legible) caption of the linked simulation and a previous post, hand holding a pointer on a moving target miles away, at night, is going to be virtually impossible. (Most lecturers have difficulty pointing for more than a fraction of a second on any part of their projections only twenty feet away.) At four miles a typical 5mw green pointer will have a spot size about ten feet in diameter and beam intensity of about 0.025 micro-watts per sq. cm., one twentieth of the lowest image in the simulation.

Why do I say four miles? At 700 feet altitude the plane on final approach will still be a couple miles from the runway, which is also a couple miles long. Thus if the pointer is positioned at the far end of the runway it’s four miles from the plane.

Now, it would be a much different story if the lasers in question were truly high powered. For example the light-show lasers used at Sea World. Those are actually high-powered, outputs in watts, not milli-watts, and because they have larger beam diameters at the generator the spot size at distance is smaller. They cost beau coup bucks and would be difficult to conceal when the cops show up. The user would still have the problem of aiming at a moving object at a great distance at night.