Who doesn't love a cool new toy?

I was so glad to hear Salt Lake International isn't likely to be one of the 150 airports the FAA is singling out for problems with bird mitigation. I know, I could still fly into or out of one of those 150 - but it's good to know the folks here at home are on top of it. But in checking out our airport, I stumbled across a really neat tool through the FAA's website that I think you'll find as cool as I did. Accessed through this link, you can search by state and by species of wildlife to find out about plane strikes in your neck of the woods. I looked at Utah's bird and animal strikes for January 2009, mainly because that's the month a US Airways plane struck by birds had to ditch into the Hudson River, and found the Beehive State had just five incidents like that in the same month. No surprise - at least one involved that lovely state bird, the California Gull. You could do a search on how many gulls have been behind problems like this nationwide going as far back as 1990. You could look at just gulls and Utah if you really want. Bottom line, it's a neat tool and I love that it's out there for public consumption. Maybe a searchable database of restaurant inpsections isn't as critical as knowing about airport safety hazards, but I think it's just as cool. That's why I'm loving the new Salt Lake Valley Health Department feature. You can search by city or by restaurant name, and you can even click on a tab for restaurants that have been closed because of health violations. (Right now, there aren't any. Whew!) I think what I love so much about stuff like that isn't what it does all by itself. It's the idea of it - public accountability and information at your fingertips. Maybe it's the reporter in me appreciating open records. Whatever it is, it benefits us all!