Not sure how to get into this conversation (and I haven't RTFA), it reminds me of Smart Grids presentation. Speaker showed a diagram of how things were back in the days. One big power plant sending only power out, goes through transmission lines and distribution systems (only one way), and then to the users (only "feedback" is the electric meter with its disk going round and round, ticking the little numbers for the meter reader to note how much to bill you). Then he showed a diagram where the distribution system has all kinds of switches, loads measurement, and fault detection. And now you have users squirting power back into the system. On top of that there is digital information of system status in those lines. Actually quite fascinating, most of us don't even think about those light green boxes here and there occupying a small space along the highway. I've not studied it much but it's interesting. http://www.sandc.com/blogs/ind...
I do remember back in the days when PG&E did everything (north Calif). Generate the power, owned and serviced the transmission lines and distribution system, did the billing, etc. It also seemed there were more service trucks back then (I used to ask the PG&E guys if they had anything to spare, I got few hardware items that fun to have). PG&E does the billing and servicing of local lines but someone else owns the power plants and the big transmission lines.
Also weather can be an issue for FL in the summertime.
good reminder of difficulties scheduling launch from FL. The old joke goes what's the different between 20% chance of showers and 80% chance of showers in Florida? Answer is none. I always wondered when claims of several launches per week we've heard through out the years of various launch vehicles (beginning with Shuttle planning in early 1970s of hundreds of flights per year). Then there is limited windows, i.e. if you don't get your Delta launched by such-and-such a date, it will have to be scrubbed until next month because USAF needs to launch an Atlas because Range Safety can only deal with limited number of launches.
Then there is Baikonur Cosmodrome. They can set a launch date for a Soyuz about two years in advance and will be able to launch on that date with exception of technical problems because there is no "weather" (either really hot or really cold but no rain, no clouds, nothing). But there is issues of high inclination and dealing with a certain leader with Tsar ambitions.
I remember that broadcast, I missed the "joke" and was thinking it didn't make sense because about same time in other media one mentioned a different set of names, another mentioned names of crew withheld pending investigation. At the time I was looking into how will it effect my flight into SJC (about 40 miles south) and also what caused such a simple landing to go wrong (maybe it is not that simple). But later I cringed thinking about the KTVU falling for bad information. Supposably, they called FAA to confirm but got someone who was taking messages for a FAA official who asked another person, etc. I guess pressure to be the first to get the news before someone else (I think it is better to be second or third place and be right instead of first place and be wrong).
Yes and no. There is the "Dilbert Principle" which the ineffective engineer is promoted so they don't screw things up in engineering (at least what I've heard, it seems to me managers come in all types of skills and effectiveness). Supposably the successful technical person at least knows subject matter even if they are poor managers as compared to the PHB of Dilbert fame.
I see some with military experience reply to this, "hard to realistically rate one crew as being notably better than another."
Years ago talking with USAF officers and they said officer evaluation reports have these boxes for each particular line item from 1 to 10 (1 as lowest score, 10 highest), and a enough space to write one sentence. But all officers had all "10" boxes checked, if any other box even a 9 on any line were checked, then that officer will promptly lose his commission. (I never understood this, maybe I should ask some officers). So what it really came down to is what is written for each item. For non-pilot officer would have, "supervised mod to air refueling system" and pilot officers would have "logged 200 hrs on F15D." Since evaluation board of generals (all are pilots, i.e. if you don't have wings on chest, you're not getting stars on shoulders) they will then place the one who logged flying hours over the other. This was back in 1980s when to be a USAF general, you had to be pilot. Since air force has much less aircraft in inventory, how does this pan out? Just wondering.
this subject was discussed before, and there was this comment (I saved it as example of poor K-12 education, and those kids that get stuck with it):
"Black people tend to be poor. Poor people tend not to have good schools in their neighborhoods. Having a bad education makes you less qualified to do certain jobs. Rather than trying to get people to hire more black people, we should be trying to fix the massive gap in the quality of schools in rich and poor neighborhoods."
When I see the kind of shit my colleagues from Sunnyvale, who are on 80+ hours/week schedules, tend to release, I'm not surprised one bit. Of course I'm a lazy European socialist who only work 40-50 hours a week so what do I know.
and this from a blog by Chuck Divine, "Some people argue that humans have not evolved to do intellectual work for more than a portion of a week that might be as low as 40 hours. Yes, you can go over that limit, but other things will suffer if you do."
the movie "The Aviator" was fascinating to watch when they portrayed the hearing. Howard Hughes then turned the tide against Brewster with bringing up certain "contributions" the senator received including reference to the painting of llamas (first scene earlier in the movie where Howard was being sociable asking about where Owen got the painting. But he was really gathering information to be used for his benefit later). I believe movie script used was direct from the transcripts of that hearing. And there were other aircraft contracts of other companies that never delivered anything to the Army Air Corps.
maybe the chief engineer trying get this thing through bureaucracy got fed up and yelled at Politburu (or whoever at top govt), "If I can't get this thing to fly, I will leave China!" They probably then gave him the resources he wanted. Most likely not true but don't ruin a good story with facts.
What you can't do is hang up a shingle and run your own business as Joe Bloggs, Engineer, unless you have a license.
true but I've seen non-licensed people who call themelves consulting engineers instead of consultants. Though many of these people use "engineer" but whaddaya gonna do, place them under citizen's arrest? However, civil engineers are very strict on licensing unlike vast number of silicon valley engineers.
Engineers are exempt from overtime because they are "professional" (having conducted a course of advanced study), Technicians are not.
reminds me of Dilbert cartoon where he is working lot of unpaid overtime where the hardhat maintenance technician either gets to go home at end of day or gets 1.5 or 2 times normal wage.
reading all this stuff of potential disasters... is it numbing our sense of urgency? There was a time when we had no idea of many dynamics of the Sun (there were no spacecraft). It is scientifically interesting, an IRIS scientists said the solar system is a system, the sun is not constant and causes non-constant interactions to planets. Speaking of disasters that have happened, might happen, a nearby star can go supernova. Or there could be a nearby gamma ray burst. But looming catastrophe is shrinking reserves of water that is safe to drink.
I second that. Yes, lots of people say it's safe, it's great, etc. but being one of the 0.01% is a chance I don't want to take.
There was PBS documentary about Mt Everest climbers, one of them went blind at altitude because his laser-surgery eyes deformed because of decreased pressure. Losing eyesight on that mountain is superbad because everyone else is struggling and leading another adds more difficultly and danger. He managed to get to lower elevations and eyesight came back. I don't know about other mentions in this thread regarding pilots and astronauts but I also heard that's why they don't accept those who had laser surgery because at pressure altitude of 30K they can lose eyesight.
NASA already renamed the Dryden Flight Research Facility (NASA's part of Edwards in California) after Armstrong
not sure why this was marked down (unless all of us tired of hearing same complaints). I remember the hoopla about renaming DFRC and politicians on the house floor giving glowing speeches of Armstrong, and then later that day they cut the NASA budget $600 million.
It seems to me Neil would want that NASA facility to remain under Hugh's name. Armstrong flew the X-15 but it was Dryden who was instrumental in creating the X-15 program.
Who Was Hugh Dryden and Why Should We Care? (page 163) http://history.nasa.gov/sp4112...
I heard verbally from someone they renamed Lewis Research Center after Glenn to discourage politicians from closing down the center.
Rumor has it they want to rename Ames Research Center after Sally Ride. Of course Sally is a fine person and but consider Joe Ames was the first NACA administrator and later he kept the NACA alive when Herbert Hoover tried to eliminate it and transfer its duties to industry. And here's another from a NASA history page (I kept this but lost the url):
"Ames accepted a nomination by Air Minister Hermann Goring to the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfartforschung. Ames then considered it an honor, many Americans did, and was surprised to learn about the massive Nazi investment in aeronautical infrastructure, then six times larger than the NACA. Ames urged the funding for a second laboratory and expansion of the NACA facilities to prepare for war. " It was these facilities and infrastructure that helped allies win WWII, helped US aerospace industries, laid down the foundations for NASA able to make Neil the first man to step the moon.
I find something lacking, a habitat module. I see lots of articles, PPT, etc. describing how Orion will go beyond but yet I haven't found much on additional space for food, supplies, tools and parts (yes, things can break down needing replacements and repairs), exercise equipment. Maybe there is but I haven't seen anything consistent (I admit I'm not involved in Orion or other HSF programs, and haven't fully searched the internet for references). I see lots of articles about Orion and SLS launch vehicle but that's it. Perhaps a little here and there for habitat modules but no major development program like someone getting a big contract to design and build modules.
I view Orion as a high speed entry vehicle when screaming back into earth's atmosphere but other than that it is limited. It carries only four people, has no airlock, no toilet, not much space for supplies, and has less room per person than the Shuttle Orbiter.
is that who that is? I find frequently on my answering machine something pertaining to cardholder, I don't bother to listen as it sounds like another telemarketer, I hit delete button without bothering to listen to the rest of message. I have been getting a slew of calls from some kind of collection agency leaving a phone number with area code I don't recognize. And long distance too so I ain't gonna call.
I am surprised of an agency like FTC actually doing something that can benefit us little people on the user side of the "tubes."
I guess if you're old enough to remember when the world was only two pieces (US and USSR along each their allied countries), Pluto was a planet and many think it still is. At least for me it still seems like a planet. Though that's for the astronomers to argue it out.
I believe we are fortunate that money and effort was devoted to New Horizons to examine Pluto. Imagine what the surface is like, what would the sun look like at Pluto? Yes, much smaller than here on earth but kind of fun to imagine.
"Deals of this size are done all the time, and think what having access to and rights over a billion kilos of platinum would do for your corporate portfolio."
this is a hint on how to build a "solar system railroad" is to build a Space Navy. Paradigm of a "Space Force" has been modeled after an air force of airplanes to command the sky. But airplanes are short duration on a specific mission. A navy to command the seas needs ships of long duration and logistics ships to keep them on station for months at a time. So think of a Space Navy to conquer the solar system.
Though first commercial ventures to asteroids would not need a navy, unless "space pirates" are to appear which may happen. One country may observe another taking the lead and then license privateers to attack those vessels and steal their ore. It's happened before on the oceans.
It's been there for years only needing "a few weekends of work" but he's always watching TV on the weekends instead of being in the garage.(Car analogy for/.)
back on that fateful night of Dec 31, 1999 in Santa Clara County CA, all police depts and sheriff units had all three shifts and reserves on duty. May seem silly but local officials wanted to be sure just in case. So in middle of night, someone figures he's gonna rob a liquor store (for much of the county it was pretty quiet). 211 call comes in, many many units respond, and arrive on scene quickly. "Damn, looks like I picked the wrong night to do a stick-up!"
I remember back in 20th century when it began as the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter. Really. Planners were seeing every new fighter was far more expensive and prohibitively so preventing sizable quantities for adequate forces. I've read some but so many different viewpoints and analysis. I still wonder what went wrong.
Pretty much everyone in my town knows where the local substations are
maybe remove these from maps both printed and Google? Yes it's ridiculous but I'm sure these ideas are kicking around. I read someplace that shortly after 9-11, some cities removed addresses of fire department stations because they felt if terrorists knew where these are they can disrupt first responders.
Slashdot Mirror
Not sure how to get into this conversation (and I haven't RTFA), it reminds me of Smart Grids presentation. Speaker showed a diagram of how things were back in the days. One big power plant sending only power out, goes through transmission lines and distribution systems (only one way), and then to the users (only "feedback" is the electric meter with its disk going round and round, ticking the little numbers for the meter reader to note how much to bill you). Then he showed a diagram where the distribution system has all kinds of switches, loads measurement, and fault detection. And now you have users squirting power back into the system. On top of that there is digital information of system status in those lines. Actually quite fascinating, most of us don't even think about those light green boxes here and there occupying a small space along the highway. I've not studied it much but it's interesting. http://www.sandc.com/blogs/ind...
I do remember back in the days when PG&E did everything (north Calif). Generate the power, owned and serviced the transmission lines and distribution system, did the billing, etc. It also seemed there were more service trucks back then (I used to ask the PG&E guys if they had anything to spare, I got few hardware items that fun to have). PG&E does the billing and servicing of local lines but someone else owns the power plants and the big transmission lines.
Also weather can be an issue for FL in the summertime.
good reminder of difficulties scheduling launch from FL. The old joke goes what's the different between 20% chance of showers and 80% chance of showers in Florida? Answer is none. I always wondered when claims of several launches per week we've heard through out the years of various launch vehicles (beginning with Shuttle planning in early 1970s of hundreds of flights per year). Then there is limited windows, i.e. if you don't get your Delta launched by such-and-such a date, it will have to be scrubbed until next month because USAF needs to launch an Atlas because Range Safety can only deal with limited number of launches.
Then there is Baikonur Cosmodrome. They can set a launch date for a Soyuz about two years in advance and will be able to launch on that date with exception of technical problems because there is no "weather" (either really hot or really cold but no rain, no clouds, nothing). But there is issues of high inclination and dealing with a certain leader with Tsar ambitions.
I remember that broadcast, I missed the "joke" and was thinking it didn't make sense because about same time in other media one mentioned a different set of names, another mentioned names of crew withheld pending investigation. At the time I was looking into how will it effect my flight into SJC (about 40 miles south) and also what caused such a simple landing to go wrong (maybe it is not that simple). But later I cringed thinking about the KTVU falling for bad information. Supposably, they called FAA to confirm but got someone who was taking messages for a FAA official who asked another person, etc. I guess pressure to be the first to get the news before someone else (I think it is better to be second or third place and be right instead of first place and be wrong).
Yes and no. There is the "Dilbert Principle" which the ineffective engineer is promoted so they don't screw things up in engineering (at least what I've heard, it seems to me managers come in all types of skills and effectiveness). Supposably the successful technical person at least knows subject matter even if they are poor managers as compared to the PHB of Dilbert fame.
I see some with military experience reply to this, "hard to realistically rate one crew as being notably better than another."
Years ago talking with USAF officers and they said officer evaluation reports have these boxes for each particular line item from 1 to 10 (1 as lowest score, 10 highest), and a enough space to write one sentence. But all officers had all "10" boxes checked, if any other box even a 9 on any line were checked, then that officer will promptly lose his commission. (I never understood this, maybe I should ask some officers). So what it really came down to is what is written for each item. For non-pilot officer would have, "supervised mod to air refueling system" and pilot officers would have "logged 200 hrs on F15D." Since evaluation board of generals (all are pilots, i.e. if you don't have wings on chest, you're not getting stars on shoulders) they will then place the one who logged flying hours over the other. This was back in 1980s when to be a USAF general, you had to be pilot. Since air force has much less aircraft in inventory, how does this pan out? Just wondering.
this subject was discussed before, and there was this comment (I saved it as example of poor K-12 education, and those kids that get stuck with it):
"Black people tend to be poor. Poor people tend not to have good schools in their neighborhoods. Having a bad education makes you less qualified to do certain jobs. Rather than trying to get people to hire more black people, we should be trying to fix the massive gap in the quality of schools in rich and poor neighborhoods."
GET OUR HEAD OUT OF OUR ASSES AND READ A F------- BOOK.
by golly that's a really good idea! Really, it takes time, it takes skill, it encourages using your brain, etc.
ok, now back to whining on the forums.
When I see the kind of shit my colleagues from Sunnyvale, who are on 80+ hours/week schedules, tend to release, I'm not surprised one bit. Of course I'm a lazy European socialist who only work 40-50 hours a week so what do I know.
"we Americans are becoming an ever-more-exhausted and accident-prone society due to sleep debt"
http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Th...
and this from a blog by Chuck Divine, "Some people argue that humans have not evolved to do intellectual work for more than a portion of a week that might be as low as 40 hours. Yes, you can go over that limit, but other things will suffer if you do."
if that were to happen all guvmint agencies will collapse as all are coffee drinkers.
the movie "The Aviator" was fascinating to watch when they portrayed the hearing. Howard Hughes then turned the tide against Brewster with bringing up certain "contributions" the senator received including reference to the painting of llamas (first scene earlier in the movie where Howard was being sociable asking about where Owen got the painting. But he was really gathering information to be used for his benefit later). I believe movie script used was direct from the transcripts of that hearing. And there were other aircraft contracts of other companies that never delivered anything to the Army Air Corps.
maybe the chief engineer trying get this thing through bureaucracy got fed up and yelled at Politburu (or whoever at top govt), "If I can't get this thing to fly, I will leave China!" They probably then gave him the resources he wanted. Most likely not true but don't ruin a good story with facts.
What you can't do is hang up a shingle and run your own business as Joe Bloggs, Engineer, unless you have a license.
true but I've seen non-licensed people who call themelves consulting engineers instead of consultants. Though many of these people use "engineer" but whaddaya gonna do, place them under citizen's arrest? However, civil engineers are very strict on licensing unlike vast number of silicon valley engineers.
Engineers are exempt from overtime because they are "professional" (having conducted a course of advanced study), Technicians are not.
reminds me of Dilbert cartoon where he is working lot of unpaid overtime where the hardhat maintenance technician either gets to go home at end of day or gets 1.5 or 2 times normal wage.
reading all this stuff of potential disasters... is it numbing our sense of urgency? There was a time when we had no idea of many dynamics of the Sun (there were no spacecraft). It is scientifically interesting, an IRIS scientists said the solar system is a system, the sun is not constant and causes non-constant interactions to planets. Speaking of disasters that have happened, might happen, a nearby star can go supernova. Or there could be a nearby gamma ray burst. But looming catastrophe is shrinking reserves of water that is safe to drink.
I second that. Yes, lots of people say it's safe, it's great, etc. but being one of the 0.01% is a chance I don't want to take.
There was PBS documentary about Mt Everest climbers, one of them went blind at altitude because his laser-surgery eyes deformed because of decreased pressure. Losing eyesight on that mountain is superbad because everyone else is struggling and leading another adds more difficultly and danger. He managed to get to lower elevations and eyesight came back. I don't know about other mentions in this thread regarding pilots and astronauts but I also heard that's why they don't accept those who had laser surgery because at pressure altitude of 30K they can lose eyesight.
NASA already renamed the Dryden Flight Research Facility (NASA's part of Edwards in California) after Armstrong
not sure why this was marked down (unless all of us tired of hearing same complaints). I remember the hoopla about renaming DFRC and politicians on the house floor giving glowing speeches of Armstrong, and then later that day they cut the NASA budget $600 million.
It seems to me Neil would want that NASA facility to remain under Hugh's name. Armstrong flew the X-15 but it was Dryden who was instrumental in creating the X-15 program.
Who Was Hugh Dryden and Why Should We Care? (page 163)
http://history.nasa.gov/sp4112...
I heard verbally from someone they renamed Lewis Research Center after Glenn to discourage politicians from closing down the center.
Rumor has it they want to rename Ames Research Center after Sally Ride. Of course Sally is a fine person and but consider Joe Ames was the first NACA administrator and later he kept the NACA alive when Herbert Hoover tried to eliminate it and transfer its duties to industry. And here's another from a NASA history page (I kept this but lost the url):
"Ames accepted a nomination by Air Minister Hermann Goring to the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfartforschung. Ames then considered it an honor, many Americans did, and was surprised to learn about the massive Nazi investment in aeronautical infrastructure, then six times larger than the NACA. Ames urged the funding for a second laboratory and expansion of the NACA facilities to prepare for war. " It was these facilities and infrastructure that helped allies win WWII, helped US aerospace industries, laid down the foundations for NASA able to make Neil the first man to step the moon.
I find something lacking, a habitat module. I see lots of articles, PPT, etc. describing how Orion will go beyond but yet I haven't found much on additional space for food, supplies, tools and parts (yes, things can break down needing replacements and repairs), exercise equipment. Maybe there is but I haven't seen anything consistent (I admit I'm not involved in Orion or other HSF programs, and haven't fully searched the internet for references). I see lots of articles about Orion and SLS launch vehicle but that's it. Perhaps a little here and there for habitat modules but no major development program like someone getting a big contract to design and build modules.
I view Orion as a high speed entry vehicle when screaming back into earth's atmosphere but other than that it is limited. It carries only four people, has no airlock, no toilet, not much space for supplies, and has less room per person than the Shuttle Orbiter.
is that who that is? I find frequently on my answering machine something pertaining to cardholder, I don't bother to listen as it sounds like another telemarketer, I hit delete button without bothering to listen to the rest of message. I have been getting a slew of calls from some kind of collection agency leaving a phone number with area code I don't recognize. And long distance too so I ain't gonna call.
I am surprised of an agency like FTC actually doing something that can benefit us little people on the user side of the "tubes."
A layperson might call that a "typewriter".
imagine if they thought it was some useless kind of foreign typewriter, put it for sale at a flea market for $5.
I believe we are fortunate that money and effort was devoted to New Horizons to examine Pluto. Imagine what the surface is like, what would the sun look like at Pluto? Yes, much smaller than here on earth but kind of fun to imagine.
"Deals of this size are done all the time, and think what having access to and rights over a billion kilos of platinum would do for your corporate portfolio."
yes, I think this phrase is worth repeating.
Strong Navy
this is a hint on how to build a "solar system railroad" is to build a Space Navy. Paradigm of a "Space Force" has been modeled after an air force of airplanes to command the sky. But airplanes are short duration on a specific mission. A navy to command the seas needs ships of long duration and logistics ships to keep them on station for months at a time. So think of a Space Navy to conquer the solar system.
Though first commercial ventures to asteroids would not need a navy, unless "space pirates" are to appear which may happen. One country may observe another taking the lead and then license privateers to attack those vessels and steal their ore. It's happened before on the oceans.
It's been there for years only needing "a few weekends of work" but he's always watching TV on the weekends instead of being in the garage.(Car analogy for /.)
good one, I'll remember this.
back on that fateful night of Dec 31, 1999 in Santa Clara County CA, all police depts and sheriff units had all three shifts and reserves on duty. May seem silly but local officials wanted to be sure just in case. So in middle of night, someone figures he's gonna rob a liquor store (for much of the county it was pretty quiet). 211 call comes in, many many units respond, and arrive on scene quickly. "Damn, looks like I picked the wrong night to do a stick-up!"
I remember back in 20th century when it began as the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter. Really. Planners were seeing every new fighter was far more expensive and prohibitively so preventing sizable quantities for adequate forces. I've read some but so many different viewpoints and analysis. I still wonder what went wrong.
Pretty much everyone in my town knows where the local substations are
maybe remove these from maps both printed and Google? Yes it's ridiculous but I'm sure these ideas are kicking around. I read someplace that shortly after 9-11, some cities removed addresses of fire department stations because they felt if terrorists knew where these are they can disrupt first responders.