Illinois State University - As a woman was crossing the stage to accept 
her diploma at a commencement ceremony, something unusual and tragic 
happened. The woman's grandfather fell over, suffering from a heart 
attack. A few minutes later as she was leaving the platform, her 
grandmother had one as well. Consequently, the student notified
reporters that she will not be seeking her master's degree.

The following item is from the New York Times 24 Aug 96...

COMPUTER INTERFACE CONTRIBUTES TO PLANE CRASH
The crash of a Cali-bound American Airlines jet last December in Colombia,
S.A., occurred because the plane's captain entered an incomplete command
into the onboard computer -- and the default action taken by the software
pointed the plane in the wrong direction. The beacons at the Cali and
Bogota airports both begin with the letter R, which is the only character
the pilot typed; instead of proceeding toward Cali, the plane turned in 
the opposite direction (toward Bogata) and crashed into a mountain.

During a committee meeting at our college we were discussing 
how best to teach technology since it changed so fast. I made 
the statement that when teaching technology, most teachers 
were "flying by the seat of their pants." A few days later in a 
faculty retreat, a teacher from our committee told the members 
of the retreat that she liked my description of how we were trying 
to teach technology. She is, however, from eastern 
Europe and still struggles with American idioms. As she gave 
me credit for the quote, she said, "Most teachers are teaching 
by the fly of their pants!"