Just another hack with millions of people's data compromised, ho hum. And to think everyone first complains about too much regulation. With all these hacks, how about things like what Apple is really doing with future projects? (i.e. iphone has been in the works for decades). Or nuclear missile launch codes, what kind of words or character combination do they really use? Or Donald's taxes, Hillary's emails,...
There was a lot of mayhem and deaths due to a lot of bad engineering and lack of safety systems (also in those early days you are not sure what the dining car serves, could be prarie dog). The airbrakes had an interesting history, at first not considered (how can air stop a massive locomotive and several rail cars). Also early couplers where crewmen typically lose fingers. Railroad barons were reluctant to implement airbrakes and couplers but when they did, not only fatalities and injuries dropped, so did downtime.
We should be more intelligent at good engineering with hyperloop, but consider any inherent dangers? Probably the biggest question is can hyperloop scale up? Or will it be like helicopters or SSTs, that is transportation system for the wealthy while the masses stuck in the 20th century?
Reminds me someone (yep, a repost!) said "it is the cow theory" and explained it as a herd of cows in a corral. It only takes one cow to figure out how to open the gate, then the entire herd can leave the corral.
Unions and corporations are always playing a game of rope-pulling, and it is in everyones interest to maintain a healthy balance. You give some, you lose some. If one of either sides is able to "defeat" the opponent, everybody loses.
Though AC, this should be modded up. My perception is very few people know about economics, examples are larger numbers of people in debt, many companies and govt agencies just don't seem to explain budget problems. Though some like Google and FB do well, but for them it ain't economic brilliancy, they just happen to set up a business and the money comes rolling in so they can hire a bunch of people and have them go hog wild spending money on all kinds of projects (some are interesting but these people simply have access to "free money" so they can do whatever they want).
And as you set example, the first arguments are communists vs. capitalists. How many people really know how to read and interpret financial spreadsheets?
I've not dealt with sales engineers lately, I use this term for sales people that deal primarily with technical products for technical people. I'm thinking back in the days before internet there were some sales engineers that were very helpful, i.e. Jim from HP (back when HP was HP) on instrumentation controllers and he kept me informed of what products will work for me and which ones will not be applicable. At times I wonder how he ever made a profit but then when purchases are made, however, a lot of money was exchanged after a purchase so whatever time Jim spent on the phone, onsite visits, demo of gear, tutoring of use, mailing tech manuals all paid off. That HP gear in the days with Bill and David were with the company was not cheap but it was indestructible.
There were other sales engineers I became more involved with in engineering societies. I learned from them, I'm thinking of Lou Gado (now passed away) on measurement systems and connected me with other product people. These people helped be learn practical application of thermocouples and RTDs. Lots of interesting stories from Lou (he got his start in the Marines during WWII working on radar). So when I need to make purchases, I have their contact info and were the first ones I go to and this saved me lots of time.
though text base, I never was concerned about viruses. Problem I experienced was using my actual email address instead of creating "knownothing@nospam.com" then wonder why am I getting so much spam. But then the jpg images were just that, images. No hidden code within. Had lots of fun reading interesting stuff, ridiculous comments, etc. Maybe even if usenet is still popular, the computer is still vunerable by simply being online.
I wonder if movie makers have priced themselves out of the market. i.e. equipment, salaries for big time actors, lights, camera, gaffers, zillions of support staff (look at credits trailing end of movies, more people than those supporting a Falcon rocket launch) and all this equipment is really expensive and all these people want to be paid big bucks.
Way way way back even before Jerry (6400), there was this article from the magazine Radio Age, July 1924, which I always find an interesting read:
CONGRESS has adjourned without acting either way on pending radio legislation, according to the news dispatches from Washington.
Unless a special session is called, which does not seem likely at this time, radio will be untouched by legal attachments until next year, at least.
The two most important measures which were shelved by the adjournment of the well-meaning but unusually deliberative governmental bodies are the White Bill and the Dill Bill. The first proposes to establish governmental control over radio broadcasting, reception and perhaps the industry eventually. This bill, while not viciously attacked, did not go through because some representatives of the people wanted to know just why such a young and untried industry as radio should suffer the bonds of law so soon. Accordingly, it is unlikely that the White Bill will ever become a law -- so the fans may rest assured they will not be hindered for some time to come in that respect.
The Dill Bill is more far reaching in its scope. It is liberal and fair-minded. It asks that the copyright laws be amended so that copyrighted music can be broadcast without the payment of levies to the music publishers. Although this bill has been opposed at every step by huge organizations and moneyed interests, as well as several prominent music publishers, it was about to be passed with a fair majority when Congress adjourned.
There is still hope for the Dill Bill, then, and we hope that when it finally reaches the President's desk it will represent the result of a fair compromise between the broadcasters and the music publishers, in the interests of the fan who listens to broadcast music and helps the sale of the published article by buying the pieces he likes best.
Government legislation, we believe, appears to be the only means yet suggested which offers any kind of a solution to the bitter enmity between the broadcasters and the so-called music "trust."
Radio's recent jump to prominence in official circles such as Congress is only one indication of its growing importance. Big capital interests, legislators and public spirited citizens are realizing more and more that radio will some day control the destinies of our nation; and accordingly they are setting out to prevent its too sudden growth to an unwieldy influence. Quick government control, the legislators aver, will prevent radio from becoming a menace instead of the help and pleasure it should be.
In a measure these radio-legislators are right. Something must be done to prevent the air from becoming a bedlam of tangled wave lengths. Something must be done to prevent the ether from being clogged with propaganda and useless stuff that will discourage interest in the world's latest miracle.
If legislation works along those lines, it will be beneficial. But if it takes a political trend, this country will see a united uprising of righteously aroused fans -- lovers and promoters of the good in radio.
I haven’t listened to traditional radio for some time, usually listen to the 2-ways from CHP, media helos and ENG vans, and the hamsters. In another forum they talked about fewer media aircraft, I remember KCBS SF bay area had a number of aircraft flying around the bay area, I could either tune to their AM station or simply listen to their 450 MHz 2-ways (get more gossip). KCBS did away with all their aircraft, and many other media stations have reduced their staff.
I see a number of comments how ClearChannel monopolized the market, I can easily perceive how their programming is a complete disconnect from the young people. For older people they lose that sense of “connection” with the community of interests. I remember back in the days of a independent country radio station KFAT where the people find all kinds of obscure country songs including vinyl records from way way back at garage sales and flea markets. They also had bumper stickers, “I found it! and it’s hard to find too.” as they didn’t have a lot of RF power.
I see many references about NPR, maybe I will tune in (all these 23103s dispatches on CHP I never see). And I usually at work by the time N6NFI TalkNet gets started at 9 am.
So the traditional AM/FM radio will go away? May not make much difference as all cars have the screens for multiple systems so I don’t expect people to find a blank panel or a hole to fill with something else. What gets me is ***every vehicle*** has this big thing between driver and passenger seat. No room to conveniently put a 2-way radio except for some creativity with remote headsets. The last thing I need is another cup holder.
Some years ago an amateur radio operator purchasing a new car requested no AM/FM radio installed. His intention is to have a spot to insert his ham radio gear, people at dealership were baffled. They just didn’t understand how someone can have a car but no AM/FM radio installed. As if they felt the radio is like tires, car cannot run without it.
the Doonsberry cartoon, “radio in car?”
Urban dweller: “no, someone stole it already. Have you thought of getting a life?”
Suburban dweller: “yes, big sucker too. 300 watt Blaupunkt!”
Country dweller: “maybe I do, maybe I don’t. It ain’t none of your business.”
First comment I see here and it has a minus one which I don't know why because this person is generally saying Google is not like the Son of God coming to save us. Then lots of comments about evils of govts, socialism, net neutrality, etc. This same attitude is applied to other infrastructure done by governments and paid by taxes. But then taxes are bad, nobody wants to pay them and yet everyone bitches about our terrible infrastructure from traffic jams to slow internet.
Though another problem most don't know about is budget cuts of IRS meaning less staff such as competent auditors to quickly tell difference of simple math mistakes from tax evaders. I was talking with a accountant who said couple auditors she has interacted with (they were not the "out-to-get-you" types) that occasionally call her for a tax audit. They were competent, reviewed the figures just to confirm some info then quickly close the case.
in ballroom dancing (foxtrot, waltz). Though I knew need to keep knees flexed, maintain consistent connection with dance partner along with "step into her and go around, she steps into me and go around" instead a twirl-twirl. The key item I learned when she goes around, I need to think of going forward on the left (but not really), and this was the big breakthrough for me. Unfortunately had to wait 17% into the 21st century to really get the feel.
Regarding 5 star reviews, I read an article about hotel reviews and it said ignore those hotels that call themselves a 5-star hotel because there are less than 200 of them in existence. You say reviews are comedy gold, reminds me of Yelp reviews of Blue Pheasant in Cupertino, CA. Some say there's a lot of 40 and 50 somethings acting like 20 somethings (which is not a bad thing when cooped up in a cubicle and battling traffic jams all week). Or some write "there's a lot of working girls" which just because some of the women wear too much makeup which actually they're just wearing a lot of makeup and simply want to have fun (actually I love women do that so I take it as a positive review).
Yes. The question is can it scale up? How I see it is hyperloop is great for a few thousand but cannot scale up like highspeed or medium speed rail for hundreds of thousands of people. May sound great like the flying car, a helicopter in every garage, and wide use of SSTs but all these don't scale up like cars and subsonic transports. And what we are bitching about is cars have scaled up too much.
Interesting. I was thinking the line from the 1947 movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" as Rex Harrison as a crusty old sea captain says something like "typical landlubbers don't know it is ships and men that bring them precious goods from far away lands." And how Europeans particularly England became a global force with transoceanic commerce and warships to dominate countries on the other side of the world. Also debated what if China (Ming Dynasty) maintained their large navies (debate is they were faced with threats from the Mongols, issue of gunboats from Europe became a big problem later on but it was too late for the Chinese at that time). People talk about air freight but even the US Army relies more on ships to move equipment and resources instead of airplanes. Exception of fast response forces, i.e. 82nd.
Besides the ships the container concept to unload the vessel rapidly. Your mention reminds me of this site cargolaw.com which has lots of examples of container ships getting into trouble, http://www.cargolaw.com/2011ni...
You have to wonder how many containers sitting at the bottom of the ocean, and all the cheap crap from China these contain.
Speaking of ships, a slashdotter posted his thoughts from readings of many books about sailing ships when European countries began expanding beyond, mainly wrote about misconception that all those ships had crews that were mostly slaves. On the contrary many vessel captains reminded him of people leading a Silicon Valley startup. They were in their 20s, very knowledgable of ship handling and navigation but like successful startups knew how to motivate and organize people. If the captain were to leave the ship to command another vessel, many sailors will follow the captain. This person went on to write royal and noble families saw this would be a good career opportunity for their sons so they were able to manipulate the system to get their boys as captains but many did not have that talent to lead and motivate sharp crews. This led to many vessels being lost such as taking the ship around the Cape of Good Hope where eventually wind direction will abruptly change so switching sails has to be timed just right. Most didn't get it and they'd lose the mast. I don't know the specific details or facts but it would be interesting comparing successful startup presidents to effective sailing ship captains of back in the days.
A friend returned from recent vacation in S. Korea and Japan was amazed by the rail systems and speaking of bay area Caltrains, "It is so 3rd world country."
I saved this from one of you posters here on slashdot, worth a mention as I was talking with someone who said high speed rail and other such things are guvmint boondoggles. For me I use a car but then I've moved here in the 20th century so I don't have to commute hundreds of miles.
“give out surveys where people rate the relative importance of things.”
That’s likely not going to get you anything useful. What it gets you is a survey of what people think is best for them. And they’re not right a lot of the time, because few people are investors and visionaries. Most people are short-term practical people.
As an example, traffic is getting worse and worse in my little city. Everyone is talking about how we can improve the roads and highways, we’re widening some, improving intersections at others, but nobody is really talking about public transportation. What we need are a couple of light rail lines from the growing suburbs to downtown and the job hubs. That would likely fix a lot of the traffic problems. But that requires people to think longer-term, and rethink how they go about their daily life.
Instead of spending 25 minutes, now 30, now 35 minutes in the car commuting, they need to think about catching a 5 min bus ride, then sitting and checking email for 20 min before getting off near work. But that’s far harder to wrap your head around than “I wish I could shave 10 minutes off my drive to work.” Survey people, and they want less traffic congestion and a better drive to work. That frankly can’t happen without public transportation, but nobody wants that.
Hmmm, our featured person already spends a lot of time on the train.
Oh wait, this has been debated before but it was about cars! https://www.c-span.org/video/?...
He can issue orders that generals don't take as orders, and suddenly it is an opinion, not policy, and a personal account.
I read an article where Trump visited latest Navy carrier Gerald Ford that uses electromagnetic catapult, Trump said something like "why use something only Einstein can understand, use steam!" Obviously admirals will ignore him and not specify retrofits.
I haven't RTFA so will just jump in with a comment (like everybody else). There might be some science, perhaps inspiring youth can get hands-on experience that includes defining the experiment, gathering resources, arguing with others on payload (balloon can't carry everybody's favorite package), design tradeoffs, performing useful tests, meeting deadlines, pulling a lot of allnighters and not freak-out when things don't go according to plan. But predicting the flight and have the balloon stay in the area of totality, get some awesome pictures ON YOUR OWN (team) CAMERA instead of downloading from high flying airplanes like everybody else. It can all be like a carnival atmosphere. Be sure you have proper viewing googles and put away the phone.
I was thinking while everyone argues about sexism in tech, the anti-diversity memo... meanwhile I see people with huge incomes and fancy cars, houses, yachts. Go across the freeway and find huge amounts of people living in tents and cars. All this within walking distance.
Besides this and other stuff people are debating on this topic, how about election day on a SATURDAY when people can make it to the polls (as suggested by another slashdotter). I wonder why your system is excellent, maybe people and officials are comfortable and not having to feel the need for greed?
Slashdot Mirror
Just another hack with millions of people's data compromised, ho hum. And to think everyone first complains about too much regulation. With all these hacks, how about things like what Apple is really doing with future projects? (i.e. iphone has been in the works for decades). Or nuclear missile launch codes, what kind of words or character combination do they really use? Or Donald's taxes, Hillary's emails, ...
There was a lot of mayhem and deaths due to a lot of bad engineering and lack of safety systems (also in those early days you are not sure what the dining car serves, could be prarie dog). The airbrakes had an interesting history, at first not considered (how can air stop a massive locomotive and several rail cars). Also early couplers where crewmen typically lose fingers. Railroad barons were reluctant to implement airbrakes and couplers but when they did, not only fatalities and injuries dropped, so did downtime.
We should be more intelligent at good engineering with hyperloop, but consider any inherent dangers? Probably the biggest question is can hyperloop scale up? Or will it be like helicopters or SSTs, that is transportation system for the wealthy while the masses stuck in the 20th century?
Slashdot has become a bastion of luddite nut-jobs, who seem to purposefully ignore physics.
I think it is purposefully commenting and ignoring the article.
Reminds me someone (yep, a repost!) said "it is the cow theory" and explained it as a herd of cows in a corral. It only takes one cow to figure out how to open the gate, then the entire herd can leave the corral.
Unions and corporations are always playing a game of rope-pulling, and it is in everyones interest to maintain a healthy balance. You give some, you lose some. If one of either sides is able to "defeat" the opponent, everybody loses.
The best non-idiot post of the month!
Though AC, this should be modded up. My perception is very few people know about economics, examples are larger numbers of people in debt, many companies and govt agencies just don't seem to explain budget problems. Though some like Google and FB do well, but for them it ain't economic brilliancy, they just happen to set up a business and the money comes rolling in so they can hire a bunch of people and have them go hog wild spending money on all kinds of projects (some are interesting but these people simply have access to "free money" so they can do whatever they want).
And as you set example, the first arguments are communists vs. capitalists. How many people really know how to read and interpret financial spreadsheets?
There were other sales engineers I became more involved with in engineering societies. I learned from them, I'm thinking of Lou Gado (now passed away) on measurement systems and connected me with other product people. These people helped be learn practical application of thermocouples and RTDs. Lots of interesting stories from Lou (he got his start in the Marines during WWII working on radar). So when I need to make purchases, I have their contact info and were the first ones I go to and this saved me lots of time.
though text base, I never was concerned about viruses. Problem I experienced was using my actual email address instead of creating "knownothing@nospam.com" then wonder why am I getting so much spam. But then the jpg images were just that, images. No hidden code within. Had lots of fun reading interesting stuff, ridiculous comments, etc. Maybe even if usenet is still popular, the computer is still vunerable by simply being online.
sounds like the USA... I see hyperloop same as SST aircraft. Fast and impressive but not scalable to be useful for large numbers of people.
I wonder if movie makers have priced themselves out of the market. i.e. equipment, salaries for big time actors, lights, camera, gaffers, zillions of support staff (look at credits trailing end of movies, more people than those supporting a Falcon rocket launch) and all this equipment is really expensive and all these people want to be paid big bucks.
Interesting comment, I looked up that station, found this http://www.modestoradiomuseum....
Way way way back even before Jerry (6400), there was this article from the magazine Radio Age, July 1924, which I always find an interesting read:
CONGRESS has adjourned without acting either way on pending radio legislation, according to the news dispatches from Washington.
Unless a special session is called, which does not seem likely at this time, radio will be untouched by legal attachments until next year, at least.
The two most important measures which were shelved by the adjournment of the well-meaning but unusually deliberative governmental bodies are the White Bill and the Dill Bill. The first proposes to establish governmental control over radio broadcasting, reception and perhaps the industry eventually. This bill, while not viciously attacked, did not go through because some representatives of the people wanted to know just why such a young and untried industry as radio should suffer the bonds of law so soon. Accordingly, it is unlikely that the White Bill will ever become a law -- so the fans may rest assured they will not be hindered for some time to come in that respect.
The Dill Bill is more far reaching in its scope. It is liberal and fair-minded. It asks that the copyright laws be amended so that copyrighted music can be broadcast without the payment of levies to the music publishers. Although this bill has been opposed at every step by huge organizations and moneyed interests, as well as several prominent music publishers, it was about to be passed with a fair majority when Congress adjourned.
There is still hope for the Dill Bill, then, and we hope that when it finally reaches the President's desk it will represent the result of a fair compromise between the broadcasters and the music publishers, in the interests of the fan who listens to broadcast music and helps the sale of the published article by buying the pieces he likes best.
Government legislation, we believe, appears to be the only means yet suggested which offers any kind of a solution to the bitter enmity between the broadcasters and the so-called music "trust."
Radio's recent jump to prominence in official circles such as Congress is only one indication of its growing importance. Big capital interests, legislators and public spirited citizens are realizing more and more that radio will some day control the destinies of our nation; and accordingly they are setting out to prevent its too sudden growth to an unwieldy influence. Quick government control, the legislators aver, will prevent radio from becoming a menace instead of the help and pleasure it should be.
In a measure these radio-legislators are right. Something must be done to prevent the air from becoming a bedlam of tangled wave lengths. Something must be done to prevent the ether from being clogged with propaganda and useless stuff that will discourage interest in the world's latest miracle.
If legislation works along those lines, it will be beneficial. But if it takes a political trend, this country will see a united uprising of righteously aroused fans -- lovers and promoters of the good in radio.
Ah yes, all kinds of stuff comes to my mind.
I haven’t listened to traditional radio for some time, usually listen to the 2-ways from CHP, media helos and ENG vans, and the hamsters. In another forum they talked about fewer media aircraft, I remember KCBS SF bay area had a number of aircraft flying around the bay area, I could either tune to their AM station or simply listen to their 450 MHz 2-ways (get more gossip). KCBS did away with all their aircraft, and many other media stations have reduced their staff.
I see a number of comments how ClearChannel monopolized the market, I can easily perceive how their programming is a complete disconnect from the young people. For older people they lose that sense of “connection” with the community of interests. I remember back in the days of a independent country radio station KFAT where the people find all kinds of obscure country songs including vinyl records from way way back at garage sales and flea markets. They also had bumper stickers, “I found it! and it’s hard to find too.” as they didn’t have a lot of RF power. I see many references about NPR, maybe I will tune in (all these 23103s dispatches on CHP I never see). And I usually at work by the time N6NFI TalkNet gets started at 9 am.
So the traditional AM/FM radio will go away? May not make much difference as all cars have the screens for multiple systems so I don’t expect people to find a blank panel or a hole to fill with something else. What gets me is ***every vehicle*** has this big thing between driver and passenger seat. No room to conveniently put a 2-way radio except for some creativity with remote headsets. The last thing I need is another cup holder.
Some years ago an amateur radio operator purchasing a new car requested no AM/FM radio installed. His intention is to have a spot to insert his ham radio gear, people at dealership were baffled. They just didn’t understand how someone can have a car but no AM/FM radio installed. As if they felt the radio is like tires, car cannot run without it.
the Doonsberry cartoon, “radio in car?”
Urban dweller: “no, someone stole it already. Have you thought of getting a life?”
Suburban dweller: “yes, big sucker too. 300 watt Blaupunkt!”
Country dweller: “maybe I do, maybe I don’t. It ain’t none of your business.”
First comment I see here and it has a minus one which I don't know why because this person is generally saying Google is not like the Son of God coming to save us. Then lots of comments about evils of govts, socialism, net neutrality, etc. This same attitude is applied to other infrastructure done by governments and paid by taxes. But then taxes are bad, nobody wants to pay them and yet everyone bitches about our terrible infrastructure from traffic jams to slow internet.
Reminds me the line posted on FB, "demands Obama present a birth certificate showing born a US citizen but refuses to present his tax returns."
Though another problem most don't know about is budget cuts of IRS meaning less staff such as competent auditors to quickly tell difference of simple math mistakes from tax evaders. I was talking with a accountant who said couple auditors she has interacted with (they were not the "out-to-get-you" types) that occasionally call her for a tax audit. They were competent, reviewed the figures just to confirm some info then quickly close the case.
in ballroom dancing (foxtrot, waltz). Though I knew need to keep knees flexed, maintain consistent connection with dance partner along with "step into her and go around, she steps into me and go around" instead a twirl-twirl. The key item I learned when she goes around, I need to think of going forward on the left (but not really), and this was the big breakthrough for me. Unfortunately had to wait 17% into the 21st century to really get the feel.
Regarding 5 star reviews, I read an article about hotel reviews and it said ignore those hotels that call themselves a 5-star hotel because there are less than 200 of them in existence. You say reviews are comedy gold, reminds me of Yelp reviews of Blue Pheasant in Cupertino, CA. Some say there's a lot of 40 and 50 somethings acting like 20 somethings (which is not a bad thing when cooped up in a cubicle and battling traffic jams all week). Or some write "there's a lot of working girls" which just because some of the women wear too much makeup which actually they're just wearing a lot of makeup and simply want to have fun (actually I love women do that so I take it as a positive review).
Yes. The question is can it scale up? How I see it is hyperloop is great for a few thousand but cannot scale up like highspeed or medium speed rail for hundreds of thousands of people. May sound great like the flying car, a helicopter in every garage, and wide use of SSTs but all these don't scale up like cars and subsonic transports. And what we are bitching about is cars have scaled up too much.
Interesting. I was thinking the line from the 1947 movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" as Rex Harrison as a crusty old sea captain says something like "typical landlubbers don't know it is ships and men that bring them precious goods from far away lands." And how Europeans particularly England became a global force with transoceanic commerce and warships to dominate countries on the other side of the world. Also debated what if China (Ming Dynasty) maintained their large navies (debate is they were faced with threats from the Mongols, issue of gunboats from Europe became a big problem later on but it was too late for the Chinese at that time). People talk about air freight but even the US Army relies more on ships to move equipment and resources instead of airplanes. Exception of fast response forces, i.e. 82nd.
Besides the ships the container concept to unload the vessel rapidly. Your mention reminds me of this site cargolaw.com which has lots of examples of container ships getting into trouble, http://www.cargolaw.com/2011ni... You have to wonder how many containers sitting at the bottom of the ocean, and all the cheap crap from China these contain.
Speaking of ships, a slashdotter posted his thoughts from readings of many books about sailing ships when European countries began expanding beyond, mainly wrote about misconception that all those ships had crews that were mostly slaves. On the contrary many vessel captains reminded him of people leading a Silicon Valley startup. They were in their 20s, very knowledgable of ship handling and navigation but like successful startups knew how to motivate and organize people. If the captain were to leave the ship to command another vessel, many sailors will follow the captain. This person went on to write royal and noble families saw this would be a good career opportunity for their sons so they were able to manipulate the system to get their boys as captains but many did not have that talent to lead and motivate sharp crews. This led to many vessels being lost such as taking the ship around the Cape of Good Hope where eventually wind direction will abruptly change so switching sails has to be timed just right. Most didn't get it and they'd lose the mast. I don't know the specific details or facts but it would be interesting comparing successful startup presidents to effective sailing ship captains of back in the days.
A friend returned from recent vacation in S. Korea and Japan was amazed by the rail systems and speaking of bay area Caltrains, "It is so 3rd world country."
I saved this from one of you posters here on slashdot, worth a mention as I was talking with someone who said high speed rail and other such things are guvmint boondoggles. For me I use a car but then I've moved here in the 20th century so I don't have to commute hundreds of miles.
“give out surveys where people rate the relative importance of things.”
That’s likely not going to get you anything useful. What it gets you is a survey of what people think is best for them. And they’re not right a lot of the time, because few people are investors and visionaries. Most people are short-term practical people.
As an example, traffic is getting worse and worse in my little city. Everyone is talking about how we can improve the roads and highways, we’re widening some, improving intersections at others, but nobody is really talking about public transportation. What we need are a couple of light rail lines from the growing suburbs to downtown and the job hubs. That would likely fix a lot of the traffic problems. But that requires people to think longer-term, and rethink how they go about their daily life.
Instead of spending 25 minutes, now 30, now 35 minutes in the car commuting, they need to think about catching a 5 min bus ride, then sitting and checking email for 20 min before getting off near work. But that’s far harder to wrap your head around than “I wish I could shave 10 minutes off my drive to work.” Survey people, and they want less traffic congestion and a better drive to work. That frankly can’t happen without public transportation, but nobody wants that.
Hmmm, our featured person already spends a lot of time on the train. Oh wait, this has been debated before but it was about cars! https://www.c-span.org/video/?...
He can issue orders that generals don't take as orders, and suddenly it is an opinion, not policy, and a personal account.
I read an article where Trump visited latest Navy carrier Gerald Ford that uses electromagnetic catapult, Trump said something like "why use something only Einstein can understand, use steam!" Obviously admirals will ignore him and not specify retrofits.
I haven't RTFA so will just jump in with a comment (like everybody else). There might be some science, perhaps inspiring youth can get hands-on experience that includes defining the experiment, gathering resources, arguing with others on payload (balloon can't carry everybody's favorite package), design tradeoffs, performing useful tests, meeting deadlines, pulling a lot of allnighters and not freak-out when things don't go according to plan. But predicting the flight and have the balloon stay in the area of totality, get some awesome pictures ON YOUR OWN (team) CAMERA instead of downloading from high flying airplanes like everybody else. It can all be like a carnival atmosphere. Be sure you have proper viewing googles and put away the phone.
I was thinking while everyone argues about sexism in tech, the anti-diversity memo... meanwhile I see people with huge incomes and fancy cars, houses, yachts. Go across the freeway and find huge amounts of people living in tents and cars. All this within walking distance.
Besides this and other stuff people are debating on this topic, how about election day on a SATURDAY when people can make it to the polls (as suggested by another slashdotter). I wonder why your system is excellent, maybe people and officials are comfortable and not having to feel the need for greed?