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But can it predict future revolutions?

(Today is Octidi, le 38 Vendémiaire, Année 214 de la République, to you monarchist imperialist bastards!)

Look, I'll give you DTP and maybe even the slide puzzle, but CAD was born well before the Mac. In fact, I'll lay a buck that the Mac was designed using CAD.

(While you're at it, can I recommend John Walker's site, Fourmilab? His history of AutoDesk:

1. includes the following: "If only because of the support burden, we can't target every computer system in the world during the first few months. The current idea is to pursue the CPM (8080 and Z80) market immediately with all we've got. This means installing the Sierra Z80 board in lots of existing computers.
   
   We need to do more evaluation of the IBM and Apple situation with respect to both technical and marketing questions. We ought to be getting hardware for non-Z80 systems within 4-6 weeks.
   ", which I think makes it pretty clear that they were showing a CAD program back when Apples accepted CP/M cards,
   
2. and neat trivia like, "We're also looking closely at JPLDIS, a very useful data base system written in Univac Fortran. The program is in the public domain, so we have the right to convert it to microcomputers and sell it. In fact, it apparently is being sold now under the name of Dbase II, but there's nothing to stop us from getting into the act.
   

   Who knew that DBase sprang from a PD program?)
   

http://kossi.physics.hmc.edu/Courses/p23a/Experime nts/Cavendish.html
http://www.fourmilab.com/gravitation/

I already wrote a comment about this under the new launch vehicle topic, but it seems to be a better fit.

Those who haven't done so should read John Walker's (yep, the guy who wrote AutoCAD) paper written ten years ago on a different approach, one that *will* reduce the cost of spaceflight, and prove one way or the other if there is really enough commercial potential in space to build a sustainable space economy.

Here's the link to the paper: A Rocket a Day - Keeps the High Costs Away

Note especially how there is valid historical documentation to support the viability of this aproach - it's not just blowing hot air, we have hard economic evidence that this both is doable and affordable.

It's time to kill NASA and do this right. What are we waiting for?

It's worth pointing out that NASA is once again getting everything bass-ackwards and will once again try to use the highest (and therefore most expensive and unproven) technology possible to build it's future reusable spacecraft.

NASA has proven time and time again that it is unworthy of being entrusted with the US space effort and the enormous piles of taxpayer dollars it wastes through poor management and paralytic decision-making. (And yes, I've actually worked at JSC in Houston, so I speak with some insight.)

If space is really commercially viable (and that's a big if), there is a far better alternative that needs to be used, namely, the "Rocket a Day" approach. This was outlined by AutoCAD author John Walker in his paper titled "A Rocket a Day - Keeps the High Costs Away ten years ago now.

If you are even a little interested in an alternative way of looking at space travel, READ THIS PAPER, and pay special attention to the accomplishments of the Germans sixty years ago, which prove the argument.

A great read, and a direction that we should seriously investigate to replace the hopelessly outdated NASA juggernaut of waste, corruption, and buck-passing.

The Germans came frighteningly close to establishing complete control of the skies with jet aircraft, rockets, hybrids of the two, and atomic weapons. Fortunately, in the latter area, they were not on the right track, but there is some evidence that they had built a small but effective breeder reactor by the end of the war.

Here are a few sites that point out their capabilities toward the end of the war - they were literally decades ahead in some areas, and one could argue we still haven't caught up in others....

Luft46.Com A site giving an unprecedented insight in to what the German Luftwaffe might have looked like had the war in Europe continued for another year or so. There were incredible things in the works - the world's first stealth fighter-bomber, the first guided missiles, dozens of extremely advanced jet aircraft designs, the atmoshpheric skipping SAnger Amerika bomber, and more. This one can be a significantly enjoyable time sink. You've been warned. (Don't miss the "Luft Art" section showing many very skillful renderings of these superplanes.)

John Walker's "Rocket-a-Day" Paper Read this to get a feel for the truly incredible capabilities of the German A4/V2 program, and an eye-opening comparison the the incredibly inefficient way we get things in to space today. This is particularly relevant in the wake of the Columbia disaster. NASA needs to die, and this paper points out one big reason why.

Also of interest may be the "Oh My God Particle" from 1991. The research on this seems to be quite extensive, and pretty damn funny too.

Check it out at:

Oh My God Particle

Snowdog

John Walker's UnicardUnicard: Ubiquitous Computation, Global Connectivity, and the End of Privacy discusses how a variety of technological trends are converging to make possible a world in which privacy no longer exists. It argues that in most cases privacy is not taken away from individuals by governments and corporations, but is rather willingly relinquished in exchange for convenience and/or perceived security, and that the apparent benefits of these new technologies will be so compelling that resisting their adoption, or demanding that they are implemented in an inherently secure manner, will be a difficult challenge.

It looks like the usual scam - there's enough prior art to sink this if it was ever fought but they're hoping people will find it cheaper to pay the $80,000 protection money they're asking than the legal fees to fight it. The letter their lawyers sent listed several large companies that are being sued and asserted that many other companies have already paid for licenses.

I think the whole industry is starting to be challenged by those lusers. Outside of suing the US Patent Office for negligence, I think we need something like John Walker's PATO, where software companies could pool their resources to defend against these leeches.