Less than a week before its scheduled date, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) have decided to withdraw a formal vote on unionization for Apple Store employees at Atlanta's Cumberland Mall location. As first reported by Bloomberg, the union — which has recentlyinvestedheavily in organizing tech workers — opted to hold back as a result of what it called "Apple’s repeated violations of the National Labor Relations Act."
The withdrawal follows weeks of escalating tensions between Apple and its retail staff. Shortly after Cumberland had gone public with its intentions it was reported Apple had retained Littler Mendelson, the same law firm Starbucks — which is undergoing a wave of store unionizations — has engaged. The firm's website states: "we excel in union avoidance." Shortly after, Apple corporate began circulating anti-union talking points to managers and Atlanta workers claim they were being force into so-called "captive audience meetings," a hallmark of union-busting campaigns. Earlier this week, audio leaked of an Apple VP, Deirdre O’Brien, expressing why she believed a union was a poor fit for the company. That message was reportedly sent to all 65,000 of Apple's retail staffers.
In a statement today, CWA stated that Apple's actions "have made a free and fair election impossible.” The group also expressed concern that COVID cases among the store's staff might further jeopardize their ability to vote in person.
One of the most significant reasons behind Cumberland staffers' decision to organize has been simple economics. In talking with Engadget, one of the store's workers, Elli Daniels, described stagnant wages that had failed to keep pace with either national inflation or local increases to cost of living. Notably, Apple has been one of the few companies to thrive under pandemic conditions, posting several consecutive record-breaking quarters.
Perhaps in an effort to stave off unrest among retail staff (Cumberland is onlyone of the stores currently exploring unionization) Apple has stated it will increase pay to a starting wage of $22 per hour. “We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full-time and part-time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits,” Apple told press today in a statement. (The pay increase, incidentally, was reported several hours after the aforementioned union-avoidance audio leaked to press.)
While an immediate setback, the withdrawal does not preclude CWA from attempting another union election — though it will have to wait at least six months to refile.
As part of Cooking Week, we set out to test some of the most niche (and, in some cases, ridiculous) kitchen gadgets we could find. We wanted to know if these impressive-looking appliances actually do what they claim and if they’re worth the splurge. These are our findings.
Some devices, through their longevity, ubiquity, market saturation and the frightening power of economies of scale, have become essentially unimprovable. Among these, arguably, is the humble toaster — a product which has in the 130-odd years since its invention become so thoroughly standardized and affordable that most consumers probably could not tell you what brand of the thing is sitting on their kitchen counter. They all do the same thing (turn bread into crunchy bread) and they're all somewhere in the neighborhood of $30.
Does such a device truly need to be improved upon? The team at Revolution evidently believe so, or one assumes they would not have spent time and money developing the InstaGLO R270 smart toaster.
Out of the box, the InstaGLO's distractingly bright touchscreen has a number of settings for the level of desired toasting based on different kinds of bread (sourdough, multigrain, bagel, etc.) or different states of bread readiness (fresh, frozen, reheat.) Then again, so does my fully analog $30 Cuisinart. And in the defense of the cheaper option, I'd feel comfortable with and capable of disassembling that toaster and replacing anything that broke while the InstaGLO presents an impenetrable enigma of unnecessary engineering complications.
The foremost of these is perhaps the most obvious feature upon use: there's no lever AKA the sticky-outie plastic tab you press down to carry the bread into its miniature furnace. Tapping 'BEGIN' on the front plate sends the bread gently downward all on its own, and shortly thereafter the same mechanism levitates it back up to a comfortable grabbing height, "so you never have to reach into the toaster with a fork again," so says Revolution's marketing copy. Grabbing hot food from the toaster has never presented much of an obstacle for me — perhaps I'm just built different! — but that is a problem easily solved by wooden toast tongs, which can be had for around $5. Or leftover takeout chopsticks, for free. Or just allowing the passage of time to cool the toast to a handleable temperature. Also free. (I can't recommend sticking a metal fork into an electrical device.)
Bryan Menegus / Engadget
Of course if moving carbohydrates up and down a few inches was its only selling point the InstaGLO would be a transparent racket. No, the foremost stated innovation is faster heating, which Revolution claims "sears" bread rather than drying it out — crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, or so I'm told. While it certainly does manage to put a frozen slice of country wheat through the Maillard reaction a bit faster, whatever promises of a softer interior had been made were either unrealized or undetectable by my toast-stuffed mouth. And if several hundred dollars of unrealized toast dreams are already burning a hole in your pocket, maybe try one of those steam-based ones that were (are?) popular in Japan. Never tried it, but I hear good things.
It's possible — likely even — that there are more discerning toast connoisseurs who would notice, appreciate and feel comfortable paying a premium for that experience. The time saved was essentially immaterial to me, as I typically spend the time the bread is cooking to feed the cat, make tea or whatever other morning puttering needs doing. If money is no object and you absolutely have to choke down a slice of crisp multigrain between your morning spin class and 9AM executive meeting, sure, do what makes you happy. But that speedier toasting time also presents a major flaw when it comes to the InstaGLO's accessories. (Yes, there are now dongles. For a toaster. What bold and unprecedented times we live in.)
For a jaw-dropping $80 you can separately purchase a miniature panini press — another kitchen apparatus that can be had for $30 to $40 from any number of no-name manufacturers. Despite having two toasting slots, the InstaGlo Panini Press only works in the right-hand side, and in truth does a better job of smooshing bread into the approximate shape of a panini than actually cooking one. After several attempts using fresh and frozen bread, lightly oiling the insides of the press (or not), I was met with disappointing results every time. Not only did the exterior fail to reach the crunchiness one expects with a pressed sandwich, I suspect the faster cook time is to blame for the failure of the cheese to melt. At all. I gave this thing the easy task of thinly sliced, low-moisture mozzarella and it just couldn't stick the landing.
Bryan Menegus / Engadget
Notably, too, the InstaGLO Panini Press is tiny. Some fussing is required to fit even supermarket-style square loaf slices inside. And while I tend towards the Alton Brown axiom of never buying unitasker devices for my (small, already crowded) kitchen a true panini press — or hell, even one of those George Foreman things — can comfortably fit slices from the center of a boule (as god intended) or a halved baguette (if you're in a desperate situation. I'm not here to judge that.) And it bears mentioning, this problem isn't limited to the panini add-on either. As with any cheap, conventional toaster, and longer slices will require a flip-and-retoast maneuver, somewhat undermining Revolution's promise of "no double toasting needed."
The Warming Rack ($30) sits over top of the device and, despite the toaster as a whole having the ability to cook bread for varying amounts of time, the rack simply has no options whatsoever. It does its thing and if your pastry or whatever is not warm enough, either cycle it again or deal with it. I tested this with a slice of some banana bread I'd made a few days prior. The exterior facing the heating elements wasn't even warm enough to melt butter; the top was room temperature.
Should you buy a fancy toaster? Hell, we're probably heading into another major recession, but who am I to tell you what to do with your money. And this model's shockingly bright touchscreen (which as best as I can tell can never be turned off) makes a good night light if you're trying to find the bathroom at 3am. Despite bold claims though, there's very little that's revolutionary about the InstaGLO.
Intel, which is both the biggest semiconductor company by revenue and the largest private employer in Oregon, is facing an apparent bid for unionization among its exhausted engineering workforce. In a press conference Wednesday afternoon led by current engineer and Congressional hopeful Matt West, he described the employment arrangement at Intel as being "expect it to be on call at all times."
"For too long, my fellow engineers have worked 80+ hour weeks, transitioning at a whim between day shift and night shifts as management demanded. We are on call all of the time, to the point where you need a manager's approval to be more than two hours away from the factory," West said standing in front of the aforementioned factory in Hillsboro, Oregon, flanked by colleagues and local labor leaders. "If you were called at 2am on a Saturday, and you're supposed to have off, and if you don't answer that phone within 30 minutes, they call your manager instead. And there are consequences."
According to a spokesperson for West, the organizing efforts have been ongoing for over a year, but have not been public before today. The engineering unit, which covers an estimated 350+ workers, is "the biggest unionization effort Intel has ever faced," the spokesperson wrote.
"I once worked more than 80 hours in a week for three months straight. I only had three days off, total, in that time," West said. "I broke down. Both my mind and my body suffered. And at that point, my doctor mandated that I take a two-week emergency medical leave to recover." Once he returned to work he says he "was placed on formal notice for not having warned my manager in advance about my emergency medical leave."
In addition to working long hours — longer hours than allowed by Oregon law, according to West's office — and being asked to be available at the drop of a hat, West further accused Intel of intentionally hiring from the pool of workers who were fresh out of college or graduate school in order to have leverage over them. All this, he said, was doubly felt by those engineers who were working via H1B Visas. "They feel trapped," West said, paraphrasing conversations he's had with colleagues, "They say they cannot raise these issues themselves out of fear of deportation for them and their families."
Beyond his own experiences, West read out a number of anonymous statements from his colleagues, which recounted similar issues. One claimed that on "most days I work 10 to 16 hours," while another stated they were told to "cover a 14-hour night, shift seven nights in a row." A third wrote that "there is no proper path to promotion for high performing engineers." (Transparency around pay and promotions is another issue the union is organizing around.)
West called on Intel to sign a neutrality agreement (in effect, saying the company would not interfere with organizing efforts, subject workers to anti-union messaging, engage in captive audience meetings or other familiar tactics) and asked the company to voluntarily recognize the union. While it's not clear what union the engineers intend to join — or if, like Amazon workers in Staten Island they intend to form their own from the ground up — West's spokesperson confirmed the Intel cohort have been in touch with the Communications Workers of America.
As mentioned, West is — outside of his job at Intel and organizing activities — on the ballot to run for the House of Representatives for Oregon's 6th district. That election takes place less than a week from today.
Engadget has reached out to Intel for comment and will update if we hear back.
Intel, which is both the biggest semiconductor company by revenue and the largest private employer in Oregon, is facing an apparent bid for unionization among its exhausted engineering workforce. In a press conference Wednesday afternoon led by current engineer and Congressional hopeful Matt West, he described the employment arrangement at Intel as being "expect it to be on call at all times."
"For too long, my fellow engineers have worked 80+ hour weeks, transitioning at a whim between day shift and night shifts as management demanded. We are on call all of the time, to the point where you need a manager's approval to be more than two hours away from the factory," West said standing in front of the aforementioned factory in Hillsboro, Oregon, flanked by colleagues and local labor leaders. "If you were called at 2am on a Saturday, and you're supposed to have off, and if you don't answer that phone within 30 minutes, they call your manager instead. And there are consequences."
According to a spokesperson for West, the organizing efforts have been ongoing for over a year, but have not been public before today. The engineering unit, which covers an estimated 350+ workers, is "the biggest unionization effort Intel has ever faced," the spokesperson wrote.
"I once worked more than 80 hours in a week for three months straight. I only had three days off, total, in that time," West said. "I broke down. Both my mind and my body suffered. And at that point, my doctor mandated that I take a two-week emergency medical leave to recover." Once he returned to work he says he "was placed on formal notice for not having warned my manager in advance about my emergency medical leave."
In addition to working long hours — longer hours than allowed by Oregon law, according to West's office — and being asked to be available at the drop of a hat, West further accused Intel of intentionally hiring from the pool of workers who were fresh out of college or graduate school in order to have leverage over them. All this, he said, was doubly felt by those engineers who were working via H1B Visas. "They feel trapped," West said, paraphrasing conversations he's had with colleagues, "They say they cannot raise these issues themselves out of fear of deportation for them and their families."
Beyond his own experiences, West read out a number of anonymous statements from his colleagues, which recounted similar issues. One claimed that on "most days I work 10 to 16 hours," while another stated they were told to "cover a 14-hour night, shift seven nights in a row." A third wrote that "there is no proper path to promotion for high performing engineers." (Transparency around pay and promotions is another issue the union is organizing around.)
West called on Intel to sign a neutrality agreement (in effect, saying the company would not interfere with organizing efforts, subject workers to anti-union messaging, engage in captive audience meetings or other familiar tactics) and asked the company to voluntarily recognize the union. While it's not clear what union the engineers intend to join — or if, like Amazon workers in Staten Island they intend to form their own from the ground up — West's spokesperson confirmed the Intel cohort have been in touch with the Communications Workers of America.
As mentioned, West is — outside of his job at Intel and organizing activities — on the ballot to run for the House of Representatives for Oregon's 6th district. That election takes place less than a week from today.
Engadget has reached out to Intel for comment and will update if we hear back.
For whatever reason that specific string of words seems to be enough to permanently brick a Google Docs page. Noted Google's support pages mere hours ago, the poster who seemingly discovered this unusual bug is quick to point out that the series of five conjunctions, separated by periods, is case-sensitive (at least if the goal is to cause the document in question to become unusable.)
Engadget was able to confirm the issue on a 16-inch 2019 MacBook Pro running Monteray 12.3.1 and Google Chrome 100.0.4896.127... and we were summarily greeted by the "Something went wrong" popover as well as its loathsome cousin "Unable to load file." Reloading the page as prompted results in the same popovers. In effect, a death loop.
Attempts to replicate the issue on Firefox 99.0.1 on a (significantly older, worse) MacBook Pro running Big Sur 11.1 were not successful but a respondent on the Google Support forums claims to have experienced the same problem on the same version of FireFox.
What exactly is happening here remains a mystery, though we've reached out for clarity on what is likely a small if amusing technical oversight. How this bug was even discovered is itself an enigma, given that there's rarely cause to pile a slew of Ands on top of each other like this. Project Gutenberg turned up no instances in its database, while a (cursory) search through Google Books produced at least one example — seemingly meant to reproduce the effect of stammering — though it did quite meet the punctuation or capitalization criteria. We'll update should we hear back.
Update 5/5/2022 6:00pm: Well, nothing from Google just yet, but a reader reached out on Twitter to illuminate how the and-polypse was found in the first place: poetry! A Hacker News user (who shares the same name as the Google Support poster and is, in all likeliness, the same person) writes: "Discovered by Eliza Callahan triggered by a poem in the middle of her novel. (Friend of a coworker)."
That poem's been posted online here if you feel inclined to read it — though the site it's hosted on notes the novel is "forthcoming." Here's hoping the draft was recoverable, Eliza!
Netflix assembled an impressive roster of writers and editors for its fan site project, Tudum, which launched in early December of 2021. Today, a significant portion of those new hires have been sent packing for reasons unknown.
A swath of the site's formerstaffannounced their departures today on Twitter, with former Vice culture writer Josh Terry claiming "laid off my team," suggesting the cuts may be drastic. Netflix claims there are no plans to mothball the site. It declined to comment on the number of workers who were impacted but confirmed that some amount of staff and contractors had been let go; The Hollywood Report placed its estimate at least 10 people.
Uh oh! Looks like I have to do this tweet again. Is anyone hiring? Netflix just laid off my team (my job included). It was an incredible few months and I'm grateful for it but I'm stoked about whatever's next. Email is in bio.
All a Netflix spokesperson would tell Engadget on the record was that "our fan website Tudum is an important priority for the company."
Tudum was billed by Netflix on launch as "a backstage pass that lets you dig deeper into the Netflix films, series, and stars you love" — essentially an attempt to prop up a media business on the strength of the streaming platform's original content. It's not clear at this time what kind of change in staffing or strategy prompted this round of layoffs, who remains at the site or if the newly-separated writers and editors were given any advance notice.
The job cuts come not long after Netflix announced during its quarterly earnings that it had lost subscribers (approximately 200,000 of them) for the first time in a decade. What followed was a swift and brutal backlash from the market that saw the streaming service's share price drop by 25 percent. So far it's plans to turn the ship around have been limited to trying to stop customers from sharing login information, and mulling the idea of a cheaper ad-supported subscription tier.
Were you recently let go from Tudum? I'd like to hear from you. Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and text me confidentially at 646 983 9846.
successfully voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Now the company has fired Jesse Mason, a worker at the nearby Seattle Northgate and Aurora Village locations. He contends his sudden separation from the company was an illegal attempt to prevent more stores from organizing, and has, with the help of the CWA, filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.
Mason, who previously worked with AT&T (which is unionized under CWA), started at Verizon in August and had received no prior disciplinary actions — in fact, he told Engadget, he was one of the top Specialists at his branch. It wasn't until his annual review that he started to wonder if maybe unionization could be a path toward making Verizon more equitable.
"They were like, 'Well, you're newer to Verizon, therefore because you're new your raise for the whole year is going to be 1 percent. It is not negotiable," he told Engadget. Performance notwithstanding, 1 percent did little to offset the cost of living in the greater Seattle area, or the country's soaring 8 percent inflation rate. "When you're giving people a 1 percent raise, that's the same thing as giving them a pay cut," he said.
What solidified his decision to reach out to CWA was seeing the nationwide push by Starbucks workers to organize. In specific, attending a rally in his area sometime in February.
"A week after the Everett and Lynnwood vote went public, that they pulled me aside and told me that they were launching an investigation," Mason said, though he was unable to go into details on the nature of the investigation pending his ULP, "But it was about something very minor and easily correctable." What made this stranger, was the speed and lack of adherence to internal processes in his case. "There's some progressive discipline, like verbal warning, and a written warning and a final, final warning," he said "With me, the next shift that I worked after I was at the watch party to celebrate those stores unionizing, they said that the result of the investigation was my immediate separation from Verizon."
Mason claimed to have never been given any of the documentation related to the investigation.
In between the union drive going public a few miles away at his sister stores and Mason's firing, he also claimed Verizon flew in several company higher-ups — something a worker at the Lynnwood and Everett locations also alleged happened after going public. One manager, according to Mason, pushed misinformation regarding the cost of union dues to CWA, despite such contracts being publicly available.
"Mr. Mason's termination had absolutely nothing to do with union activity. While we're not going to publicly discuss the reasons for the dismissal, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless accusations," a Verizon spokesperson told Engadget. "We respect the rights of our employees to choose whether or not they wish to be union-represented and we routinely provide facts to our employees so that they can make an informed decision for themselves."
CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens has called Mason's firing "a clear tactic meant to intimidate other workers,” and it's difficult to argue that Verizon's actions may have a chilling effect on organizing efforts in the area. Still, Mason said he's fully confident the NLRB will find in his favor and reinstate his job with backpay. But the among of rigamarole in the meantime shows the limits of the agency's power.
"I think that this case really shows some of the weaknesses of the NLRB currently, not just being understaffed, but that even if I do get my job back, it's not like one of those lawsuits where someone slips and falls and they get millions of dollars in settlements," Mason said. "There's no real consequence for this kind of retaliatory union busting." He added wryly, "I think it's a bad idea, because it's only going to have me work on union stuff full time until I'm back there."
Updated with comment from Verizon.
Are you a Verizon worker looking to organize? I'd like to hear from you. Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and text me confidentially at 646 983 9846.
A group of 21 quality assurance testers at Raven Software have received the blessing of the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a union vote, per a 27-page ruling from the agency released Friday. Raven's parent company — Activision Blizzard —did not respond in time to a request for voluntary recognition for the new union, the Game Workers Alliance, back in January.
Tensions within the company came to a head last December, when approximately a third of the group's QA testers were suddenly laid off — after several months of promises to improve compensation. Raven workers began organizing shortly thereafter, and engaged in a weeks-long strike.
Once they returned to work, however, they were informed their unit would be broken up. "Our QA colleagues will embed directly within various teams across the studio," was how Raven Studio head Brian Raffel put it at the time, a move the seemed intended to stymie unionization efforts.
Since then, Activision tried to convince the NLRB that the dispersed nature of the QA team should be grounds to dismiss the vote. But as per today's ruling, the agency didn't sign on to that view. According to Jennifer Hadsall, a regional director of the agency, there is “no evidence that Q.A. testers are being eliminated or that their role would fundamentally change with the embed process.” Activision also tried (and failed) to convince the NLRB that the entirety of Raven Studio's estimated 230 employees would need to be included in the vote.
"We are pleased that after reviewing the evidence, the National Labor Relations Board rejected Raven Software management’s attempts to undermine our efforts to form a union," a group of Game Workers Alliance organizers told Engadget over email. "It’s now time for Raven management to stop trying to prevent us from exercising our rights. We are looking forward to voting for - and winning - our union."
According to a statement from Activision, the company is “disappointed that a decision that could significantly impact the future of our entire studio will be made by fewer than 10 percent of our employees.” The company is also seeking avenues to appeal the NLRB's ruling.
Raven software was founded over 30 years ago and had a hand in producing some beloved games like Heretic and Hexen during the golden age of first-person shooters. Since its acquisition by Activision in 1997, it's role has largely been reduced to maintaining the Call of Duty franchise.
Tensions between Raven and its owners have mirrored those within Activision Blizzard at large, where sexual misconduct claims, allegedly covered up by the company's top brass have roiled rank-and-file workers. Employees staged a walkout last November in disgust, to voice dissent against the corporate culture in general and CEO Bobby Kotick in specific. Earlier this week it was reported that on two separate occasions, Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg used her influence to allegedly quash negative stories about Kotick, her then-boyfriend, that were in the works at British tabloid The Daily Mail.
The NLRB will begin mailing out ballots to eligible part-time and full-time QA workers, who will have until May 20 to cast; a vote count is presently schedule to take place on May 23.
Are you an Activision Blizzard worker with a tip to share? You can reach me confidentially on Signal messengered at 646 983 9846.
When Elli Daniels started working at the Apple Store in Cumberland Mall location in Atlanta, her hourly wage was $16.50 — rosy by comparison to the federal minimum Georgia adopts, but below average for sales in her metro region. Three years later and in spite of several raises, her pay has nowhere near kept up pace with national inflation, or Apple's soaring profits for that matter.
She's one of the 100 eligible workers at the Apple Store location that petitioned the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, with the backing of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), to hold a union election. It will be the first such election for an Apple retail location in the US.
"One of the biggest things that we're fighting for is going to be for fair pay and a livable wage, because with Atlanta being such a huge city, it's just getting more and more expensive to live here," Daniels told Engadget. "Everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to not worry about whether they can afford food or pay their bills. Everybody deserves to be able to afford to live in the city that they work in."
Daniels, a product zone specialist, was clear however, that her and her coworkers' desire for better pay isn't borne out of grievance. By all indications a sincere devotee of Apple's products, she specified that "we want to do this because we love this company, not because we want to turn our back on them."
Similarly to the Google Fiber retail workers who recently unionized in Kansas City, Missouri, Apple has been completely silent on the issues, according to Daniels. "We haven't heard anything from Apple corporate at all." Consequently, the workers and CWA opted to file for both voluntary recognition and a union election simultaneously. Apple's silence seems to indicate the company intends to let things go to a vote, though we've reached out to them for confirmation.
Over the pandemic years, Apple has raked in tremendous profits, even as the economy at large suffers. It has posted record-breaking quarters over and over, but the winnings aren't being distributed equally, according to Daniels. Raising wages is an obvious way to relieve material hardship for Apple Store workers, some of whom have "had to leave the company because they just needed more money to be able to pay their bills, because they were growing a family." But it's also a philosophical means to "try to close the gap" between corporate and retail employees. "It's really important that both sides of the coin get fair treatment in the company that we all work for," she said.
Cumberland workers aren't alone, either. Apple Store workers in New York City's Grand Central terminal, backed by the Fruit Stand Workers United, recently called for a minimum wage of $30 per hour. They're also riding a wave of newfound union sentiment displayed by the first successful unionization vote at a US Amazon warehouse, as well as a rash of successful union drives across Starbucks locations nationwide. As yet, Apple has not seemingly deployed the same captive audience meetings and union-busting techniques those companies have become increasingly associated with.
"We love Apple no matter what," Daniels stressed, "I think it's all just making sure that we all can put our heads together and really make Cumberland the best place that it can be for all of us — both for us that are here now, as well as people that are that are here in the future."
Earlier this evening, the Capitol Police in Washington, D.C. called for an evacuation of Congress due to an "aircraft that poses probable threat" which was flying circles around Capitol Building airspace, according to the Associated Press's Zeke Miller. Given the violent riot and attempted insurrection that recently took place there, one could forgive USCP for operating with an abundance of caution.
What became clear in short order was that the aircraft in question, according to Flight Radar, had taken off from nearby Joint Base Andrews, and was of a make and model in use by Army parachute teams as well as commercial skydivers. Incidentally, that's because the payload of this suspicious Viking DHC-6-400 was, in fact, parachutists. Parachutists from the Army's Golden Knights, specifically, who were dropping into Nationals Park during tonight's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. (At the time of this writing, the Diamondbacks are winning, handily.)
As later reported by severaljournalists, the airspace incursion was part of a preplanned Military Appreciation Day — which appears on the Nat's game schedule and entitles two free tickets to (as it's written on their website) "ACTIVE DUTY, DEPENDENTS, VETERANS, AND RESERVISTS WITH MILITARY ID OR PROOF OF SERVICE, WHILE SUPPLIES LAST." Whatever your feelings on reverence for the armed forces during sporting events, undeniably these sorts of these happen regularly, and the subset of those displays that involve parachuting service members are not uncommon.
It's not precisely clear where the breakdown in communication occurred. Did the Army forget to tell the Capitol Police? Did USCP get the memo but simply lose track of things, as one does in our busy, hyperconnected lives? According to NBC, Capitol Police "were not notified in advance of the planned Golden Knights jump" according to "a law enforcement source."
We've reached out both USCP and Joint Base Andrews to illuminate the situation. But rather than mock an honest of nationally panic-inducing mistake from the comfort of our keyboards, we thought it best to led our expertise in order to prevent such a situation from occurring again.
Google Calendar [Free]
It hardly bears mentioning, but Google Calendar is a standby for keeping track of important dates, like birthdays, meetings or when someone might be flying into restricted airspace. There are options to set up push notifications or emails to nudge you when those events are getting close. The last thing you want to do is come up against a deadline and panic!
Slack Notifications [Free with enterprise options]
Do the police or military even use Slack? I have no way to know. But given tonights events maybe they should! Setting up reminders in the workplace messaging application is pretty straightforward.
Calendar [Free]
Been using Mac's Calendar software a lot lately and pretty rarely blank on the stuff I'm supposed to be doing (or not doing!) Microsoft has a parallel product in Outlook Calendar, for the Windows users among you. No one trusts me with important stuff like national security, but my hit-rate on never issuing an unnecessary evacuation is 100 percent. I think that speaks for itself.
Calendly [Free with enterprise options]
Increasingly I seem to be getting invites through this service. I don't like it very much, but it still beats making a nation of 330 million people believe they're about to bear witness to a potential tragedy.
Any.do [Free with premium options]
Haven't used this task reminder app and don't plan to. Keep seeing it on lists of 'best reminder software' though. Just trying to be helpful.
A simple text message will do in a pinch [negligible cost per message]
Sometimes things slip! It's ok. Nearly everyone on the planet has a cell phone on their person at all times these days. Send the relevant party a quick message. While having something potentially annoying drop in your lap last minute is never ideal, it is always preferable to no communication at all.
We'll update if we hear back about what exactly happened tonight. The Nationals' 'Patriotic Series' continues on May 29 (Memorial Day), July 4 and September 1, although those dates don't seem to feature any more parachuting.