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User: k6mfw

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  1. NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation on Aircraft Responsible For 2.5% of Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions · · Score: 1

    FYI, NASA Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) Project explores and documents the feasibility, benefits and technical risk of vehicle concepts and enabling technologies to reduce aviation’s impact on the environment. http://www.aeronautics.nasa.go...

  2. sanctions on a country we have no interactions? on US Slaps Sanctions On North Korea After Sony Cyberattack · · Score: 1

    It's not like we provide financial assistance and loans to NK, so what kind of sanctions? I assume the tagline "you-can-have-cuba's-old-digs" as this country's policies changed for Cuba.

  3. Re:Branson philanthropy? When? on The Billionaires' Space Club · · Score: 1

    I believe he has funded various efforts to bring clean drinking water in deficit areas in Africa. Many civil wars, famine, etc. usually began when someone ruined the water supply. On the other hand, Branson has armies of accountants and lawyers moving monies from one country to another to avoid paying more taxes.

  4. Re:I'm not saying it was aliens... on CIA on UFO Sightings: 'It Was Us' · · Score: 1

    But it was aliens.

    H1B visa issues?

    Other than that, this U2/UFO thing has been kicking around for years. When first reading the headline, I'm thinking why did the CIA have say "it was us" (like why ruin a good story with facts)?

  5. I was thinking about a trip on What Northern Hemisphere Astronomers Are Missing From the Southern Hemisphere · · Score: 1

    but then I read "in the next thousand years" so I figure I don't have to immediately plan a trip to that portion of the planet real soon.

    Other than that, it would be interesting event unless there's tons of radioactive particles or a gamma ray burst (can may be nasty).

    And to think last time of a visible supernova was when Europeans spend all their time doing religious reading and writing, and Chinese did very little documentation (or if they did it got lost in bureaucracy of those dynasties).

  6. why why why why why? on Inside China's 'Christmas Factory' Town, Yiwu · · Score: 1

    this kind of stuff posted that distracts from engaging comments on a subject that needs discussion i.e. where all the christmas stuff comes from.

  7. framerates, and why 29.97 came about on Human Eye's Oscillation Rate Determines Smooth Frame Rate · · Score: 1

    I say the human eye does see more than 24 fps, pan your head back and forth, no blurring like you get panning a camera. OK so I haven't RTFA but I recently read/search info on framerates. From what I gather 24 fps came about from movies particularly when the talkies became standard for motion pictures. What they settled on enough fps to have smooth action and matching audio but not too much as film is/was very expensive. But each frame is shown twice (refresh rate in the movie theatres is 48 Hz). I read 24 fps is needed so brain perceives as smooth motion but need to show each one twice to remove flicker effect. Those 16mm and silent films were less fps but not as cinema quality of major motion pictures.

    Anyone have comments or corrections, jump in as many times I feel as if I'm still trying to figure out what and why of fps and refresh rates.

    Then television came along, first 60 fps seems good (match with powerline freq) but too much bandwidth so they make it 30 fps but to reduce flicker, they did interlace. Framerate has smooth motion and interlace does the refresh rate like motion picture showing each frame twice. Then color TV comes along but as OTA bandwidth was fixed, they reduce framerate a little to 29.97 to insert chroma signal.

    Then computers came along, why not use same CRTs as TV sets, so their framerate was 29.97 (but many simply rounded off to 30 when writing or talking about framerates). Then the flatscreens (VGA monitors) came along but used 29.97 to be compatible with existing computers, but refresh rate is 60 Hz to not have flicker effect. Gamers wanted higher framerates so 60 fps but I think it really is 59.94 fps.

    I did some different FPS exercises with a CRT monitor and a Canon EOS camera. I set Canon to 30 fps (actually it is 29.97) and connected the video output to the monitor. I panned camera back and forth including viewing monitor. I did the same with Canon at 24 fps, there was noticable blurring or choppy on monitor when I panned camera back and forth. Viewing monitor with camera I can see those rolling bars like you see in the movies with TV set in background (aha, so that's what the 24/30 fps mismatch is). I set camera to 60 fps (actually 59.94), it seemed smoother view when panning back and forth though monitor is fixed 30 fps.

    For many people, so what. However, I was looking at various cameras and spec sheets list framerates of 23.97, 24, 29.97, 30, 59.94, 60.... what's with all these variations? I don't think a camera can be set to exactly 30. Or is it sales and marketing people insists on lots more numbers for the spec sheets?

  8. Re:One reason: Annoyance on The Slow Death of Voice Mail · · Score: 1

    I must say: you posted exactly what I think of voicemail systems. I ***don't*** care about more options, I just wanna leave a message!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  9. about time on NASA Video Shows What It's Like To Reenter the Earth's Atmosphere · · Score: 2

    unlike a few Shuttle cockpit shots. Or previously few seconds clip from a Gemini re-entry that's replayed zillion times like the Saturn interstage separation between first and second stages. My question has Elon released any such footage?

  10. Re:I wonder if... on In Breakthrough, US and Cuba To Resume Diplomatic Relations · · Score: 1

    Those Cuban Exiles better shut the fuck up, because if we don't get Cuba on our side, Russia will, and I don't want to live through another Cuban missile crisis because some whiny right-wingers are so goddamn certain that if we keep turning the screws on Cuba, Fidel Castro will finally step down.

    ummm, Russia (or Soviet Russia) don't have the resources to place missiles in Cuba like they used to have. Regarding Castro, he has outlived just about everyone trying to knock him off the island.

  11. Re:These old farts are funny on Hollywood's Secret War With Google · · Score: 1

    Seriously, even these days I can find enough quality shows and even movies to watch on YouTube.

    but (at least for me) I have to use AT&T or comcast for internet service, which I find is marginal for watching video. Work site is great but that's not what work is for. Other than that, Youtube can be a huge time pit with so many interesting things posted by various people.

  12. Re:This isn't really surprising at all on U.S. Passenger Vehicle Fleet Dirtier After 2008 Recession · · Score: 1

    I've never bought a new car, always used cars (around 40K to 60K in mileage) and drive them till they drop (around 200K). Last one had 220K but failed smog check as one of cylinders had a leak of some sort. Other vehicles that got up to 200K I dumped because their transmissions failed (replacement costs more than the car). My latest is a 2008, I prefer an older because windows of new cars are getting smaller but yet MPG of this vehicle is much better than my previous vehicles.

    It seems there are some people who buy a new car every two or three years, that's were those like me pick up what they don't want. Speaking of keeping cars for a very long time, I remember in 1980s a Volvo commercial, "with a large interior and a average lifetime of 16 years, this is the space vehicle that will take you to the 21st century!" showing one of their station wagons superimposed against a background of stars. I know a couple research scientists that owned this same type of Volvo. One even had the classic rack on roof with the bars wrapped with carpet to prevent scrapes on stuff they carry.

  13. Re:Longtime employees? on How the FCC CIO Plans To Modernize 207 Legacy IT Systems · · Score: 1

    We must purge them completely every few years.

    and replace them with corporate types like Wheeler! yes, regulatory capture at its finest.

  14. Re:The 60's on Multi-National Crew Reaches Space Station · · Score: 1

    Pictures of astronauts will be as quaint as black and white pictures of Victorian men with handlebar mustaches and top hats.

    I think what will happen is astronauts will become a mythical character of sorts like the pirate and the cowboy. Though pirates and cowboys did exist, they were nothing like what is portrayed by Johnny Depp and John Wayne. I believe in a hundred years many people will have mixture of fact and fiction of the spaceman. In fact I encounter people these days who get 1960s astronauts confused with fictional characters.

  15. ISS is not forever on Multi-National Crew Reaches Space Station · · Score: 1

    It may happen sooner than you think. There was a time when people thought Shuttle will fly forever (like the B52), in fact before 2003 Columbia crash there were upgrade plans to continue Shuttle fleet into 2030s. Then in 2004 VSE announced Shuttle will stop flying in 2010 though many were in denial. All of sudden no more Shuttle which some felt like they were caught with their pants down. "What? we gotta buy seats from the Russians? Elon doesn't have something ready now?" I feel this may happen with ISS. US will pull out and nothing will be there to go. However, lots of stuff can happen between then and now.

  16. single source company town on Spaceport America Loses $1.7 Million Due To Virgin Galactic Delays · · Score: 1

    Seems to me obviously Spaceport has only one company. If Dallas Airport had only one airline that flew only one type of airplane, and if structural failure accident occurred, the entire airport will be shutdown for a long time.

  17. Barbie Remix on "Barbie: I Can Be a Computer Engineer" Pulled From Amazon · · Score: 3, Interesting
    http://caseyfiesler.com/2014/1...

    And the problem isn’t even that Barbie isn’t a “real” computer scientist because she isn’t coding. (I am one of those mostly-non-coding computer scientists myself, though now I’m tempted to make a game about robot puppies shooting lasers anyway.) The problem is the assumption that she is a designer, not a coder, and the coders are boys. (There are also problems with nonsense explanations for computer viruses, taking credit for other people’s work, and inexplicable pillow fights.) I happen to study remix, so one of my first thoughts upon seeing this was: someone is obviously going to remix this. I figured, why wait? I also have at my disposal my roommate Miranda Parker, a student of Mark Guzdial, who studies computing education and broadening participation in STEM. So with her input, I rewrote the book with a slightly different spin. (I also kept her as a “computer engineer” even though she’s really more of a computer scientist, software developer, etc.) I hope you like this new narrative better, too!

  18. lots of luck with that on NYC To Replace Most of Its Payphones With Free Gigabit WiFi In 2015 · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of free wifi by Google in Mountain View, slower than dialup. But I occasionally use it to test Ubiquiti long haul products.

  19. plug for Tektronix test equipment on Battlestar Galactica Creator Glen A. Larson Dead At 77 · · Score: 1

    I remember watching the episodes though got bored watching the same approaches and barrel rolls of colonial fighters. I remember seeing the racks of Tektronix test equipment. Front panels of that gear was real "space age" (though trying to find power switch the o-scopes was always a challenge, other controls were easy). I wonder if the company got extra business with so much of the gear "advertised."

    When they did the remake, I found it amusing the only Battlestar that survived massive Cylon attack was Galactica because it was an old vintage ship (captained by an old guy with old school military thinking) with PDP-11 computers, Tektronix gear, Mocom-70 communications systems, etc. stuff that lack network systems so they were not hacked.

    Getting back to Larson, I wonder what other ideas he had that never made it to the TV? Maybe they will find some story ideas, probably much better than typical remakes of decades old genres.

  20. Re:"Computer" on Real Steampunk Computer Brought Back To Life · · Score: 1

    Funny. I always thought of Michelson as of one of the two guys involved in the "failed" mirror experiments that allowed A. Einstein to come up with the theory of Special Relativity.

    What also impresses me is him and Morley were wondering how fast Earth was moving through space during the times of cowboys and indians. Because their mirror set kept producing same c, they continued to build more elaborate sets (which were more complex engineering feats).

  21. Big question is... on Google's Lease of NASA Airfield Criticized By Consumer Group · · Score: 1

    in 25 years will we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ames Research Center or celebrate 25th anniversary of Google International Airport? People criticize NASA for screwing things up by saying they used to do all kinds of really great stuff years ago. But then NASA doesn't have the budget or resources like they had years ago. People should know what NASA does, it is written in the Space Act, and they (should) serve the people. If not, then complain or complain to elected representatives. Google doesn't have to say what they do, they serve themselves and shareholders. Nothing wrong with a business serving themselves within reason as long as customers pay money, But govt agencies and private businesses are two different thigs (it gets confusing i.e. private companies performing government functions like police services).

  22. Re:Didn't google allow NASA on Google's Lease of NASA Airfield Criticized By Consumer Group · · Score: 1

    not really, from what I heard that was intended but to do research flights then instrumentation and other mods would void their FAA certification (135 I think) for using commercial airports. And other things like carrying passengers.

  23. Re:Some thoughts... on 25th Anniversary: When the Berlin Wall Fell · · Score: 1

    uh, capitalism is where man exploits man. With communism, it's the other way around.

  24. Re:Some thoughts... on 25th Anniversary: When the Berlin Wall Fell · · Score: 1

    Excellent post, you also illustrated wars are decided by a few politicos and not common folk. What is your analysis of the 2003 movie "Goodbye Lenin!"?

  25. Goodbye Lenin! on 25th Anniversary: When the Berlin Wall Fell · · Score: 1

    A movie made about fall of Berlin Wall where the mom awakened from a coma but doctor tells son his mom must not get too excited. However, while she was in a coma the wall came down so he has make it convincing things are still the same (their resident was on the east side). He gets help from friends including one who wires up a TV set to a VCR and they create various programs from East Germany. There's a few things he has to mitigate like explaining the big Coca Cola billboard that appears in her window view. An interesting film that also illustrates some German culture of the time. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt03...