The Pattern 2.0.08 — J.T. Kalnay

In 1993, the Federal Government mandated that wind shear detection and warning systems be installed on all aircraft by January 1, 1994. Yet a record seven hundred and ninety three people died in wind shear related airplane crashes in 1994. The FAA tried to explain away the wrecks by blaming faulty aircraft components. For example, a thirty-seven cent screw in a rudder actuator was blamed for the crash of a Boeing 737 near Pittsburgh on September 8th, 1994. As recounted in The Pattern, a handful of computer geeks knew the explanations were wrong, and that a video game that relied on polymorphic code was to blame. Exactly seven hundred and ninety three people also died in thirty one separate crashes north of the 49th parallel between January 20, 2008 and September 28, 2008. The notable list of victims of this cluster of crashes is remarkable. Among those who perished were Alaska Senator Ted Stephens, a former director of NASA, the CEO of a large defense contractor, the President of Poland, the director of Poland's national bank, and the MVP of the premiere Russian hockey league. The list of near victims, who are classified as people who travelled on planes that crashed within two days of having been flown by the near victims is even more remarkable, including Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, David Johnston, the Governor General of Canada, Andre Medvedev, President of Russia, and Bill Oefelein, former space shuttle pilot. Most of the wrecks were explained to the public by bad weather, pilot error, or faulty maintenance. Once again, a surviving subset of that same handful of west coast computer geeks know that these explanations are dead wrong.