The recent landing of a Airbus A320 on the Hudson was a tragedy narrowly avoided - thanks in no small part to the quick thinking of the pilot after a flock of birds took out both engines on the plane.  But bird strikes unfortunately aren't a new or unusual problem. 

Airports and airstrips are pretty controlled environments - designed that way to avoid and eliminate as many safety concerns as possible.  But all the controls in the world can't necessarily convince a flock of Canadian geese to avoid the flightpath of a commercial jet.  And as we saw on Thursday, the combination isn't pretty - for the plane, or the geese.

Once upon a time, I worked in an office that had a beat-up, steel bookcase in the break room.  This was our unofficial lending library, where anyone could drop off a book they had read and were willing to part with, and swap it for another selection on the shelf that had been left by someone else. 

The concept is a simple one, and probably still exists today on bookshelves in buildings across the country.  But the next generation of the lending library is here.  And now you can browse available books - as well as movies, music, and games - from bookshelves far beyond just those found in your local neighborhood or office.

I had this video forwarded to me, and have to say that initially I was stunned.

"Man!  This pilot is one lucky guy!" 

But then I immediately began to wonder, why didn't I see this on the news - like a billion times?  I mean, if a camera happens to capture a horse running loose on the highway, all the major networks seem to carry it on the 5:00 news.  But this?  I hadn't seen it on a single channel.