System Malfunction

This one was a lot of fun to write.

I came across this article from The Huffington Post about a woman who was hit by a car during a vacation in Park City, Utah. She says Google Maps told her to walk along the side of a highway to get to her destination. So, naturally, she does whatever the website tells her and leaves common sense behind.

I don't mean to insult and criticize, because I fall victim to similar circumstances as well. That's what the column was about. About the hold that technology has on our lives, for better or worse.

System Malfunction - Computers v. Common Sense

(This just in: I found an updated article on Huffington Post that gives a little bit more information on what happened, and puts a little less blame on the woman's lack of competent judgment. But, it doesn't really put that blame on Google. So, still a frivolous lawsuit.)

Also on the Issues & Ideas page today:

A viewpoint from Brent Gilchrist, a BYU political science professor. There's an execution coming up in Utah, and so Rich had the idea to get viewpoints from BYU professors on both sides of the capital punishment debate. After multiple e-mails to everyone in the BYU Department of Political Science, this was the only one we got. It's good and definitely well done. But it would have been cool to get a "point/counterpoint" sort of thing going on. BYU Political Science, the offer still stands!

And, two cartoons! (That's what happens when no one writes letters to the editor.)


For anyone not obsessed about baseball this summer like I am, Stephen Strasburg is a pitcher in the Washington Nationals farm system who will be coming up to the majors on June 8 in the Nationals game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. There has been a lot of talk about how great this guy is. He was the number one pick in the 2009 draft, and according to his stats on the Minor League Baseball website he has a record of 6-2 with a 1.43 ERA. Now the question is, will he keep it up on the major league level?

Fun fact: Strasburg played for the San Diego State Aztecs, one of the schools in the Mountain West Conference with BYU. His last season with SDSU, he had a perfect 13-0 record and a 1.24 ERA.