Maybe I'm going OT or maybe I don't really know what FOSS is or whatever. However I remember back in 1990s you can post questions, read interesting subjects from real people, sometimes get your ass flamed for saying something stupid, but it all seem to get wiped out by spammers. There was a time when I can post questions about "anyone know of a frequency synthesizer for Motorola HT220s?" or "I'm having problems with my Mac G3 and cannot upgrade it to OS9, any suggestions?"
But these days if I have a question such as "I'm having problems with XP when I tried installing such-and-such software" or "anyone know about the software to upgrade the Firestore FS4 from SD to HD?" Well these days the people that can answer these questions are in some group that you must be a member of group. But if you already are then you already know the answers to these questions. So then only option is to "google it" but only to find other people post same question on forums and people given non-answer solutions. Or psuedo-techie articles that are really sales and marketing site. Or the ***worst*** are fixya.com postings that are aggregates from posts from bankrupted answers on dopey forums.
My latest find, 1980s pre-internet tutorial on medical measurements, discusses how to measure ECGs and EEGs. Has diagrams and voltage levels, real cool. It is the kind of thing perfect for Usenet, there might be websites that discuss this subject but probably subject matter buried in 1000 page PDF or aggregated site with a lot of other stuff you dont need to know. FYI, Heart potential (ECG) 1 mV, 0.1 to 100 Hz. Brain potential (EEG) 10 uV, 0.1 to 100 Hz. Muscle potential (EMG) 0.2 uV to 5 mV, DC to 1000 Hz. Because this document was written on typewriter then manuscript sent to typesetter, authors had to exercise good proofreading and could not do lotsa copy-and-paste and could not use lots of flashy graphics. Only let one option. Make it the best you can because once it's printed and distributed, too late to fix any mistakes.
Well, another analogy from the "entertainment industry" regarding robots in the workplace. Mad Magazine had a parody of the movie Camelot and story was "Can-A-Lot" about a cannery factory run by same characters as in the movie (storyline follows similar to movie). CEO "King Arthur" constantly dealing battles with the union but comes up with idea of replacing workers with robots. As the robots are forced to work more, they keep breaking down. One of the board members suggests it is cheaper to replace robots instead of fixing them. CEO says "this is the best idea I have!" Board member: "your idea?" But the robots rebelled and burned down the factory.
On a serious question it seems it takes a lot of people to design, build, test, implement, service, etc. robots and other automation systems. Are they all in China these days?
there is an episode from the early 1960s "Twilight Zone" where the CEO begins installing automated systems in the factory to replace people. Those laid off are obviously not happy but CEO says that is progress, otherwise his company will not be able to compete with other companies. CEO (played by an actor who also appeared on many 60s shows i.e. Dick Van Dyke and Beverly Hillbillies) carries and twirls keys on end of a short chain. So more and more workers are replaced eventually only left are a few techs to run systems diagnostics. Last one that is replaced is glad to be laid off, "there's no life, no interactions with people." Last part of this episode the CEO is in a bar across the street from the plant, "they discard people with no feelings!" as last footage of this show has a robot (they used Robbie The Robot from "Forbidden Planet" to play this character) and the robot walks in CEO office pushing buttons and twirling keys on end of a short chain like what the CEO used to do.
Someone's gotta pay for global military to be sure air bandits, pirates, and dubious govts don't steal corporate commerce as it moves around the world. And these companies have plenty of cash to pay taxes. Though not sure how deal with dubious governments....
20 years ago, Ed Teller was a speaker at an Engineers Week banquet. He suggested instead of a few large nuclear plants with all complexities of sheer size plus containment vessel and security, make many smaller plants that are more manageable. I wish this was taped, I took some notes and published in one of local engineering society newsletters (did best I could capturing Teller's actual phrases). Seems to be a reasonable idea, a friend who was in Navy sub service said there are about 30 different emergency procedures (or steps?) on dealing with reactor problems. He feels large commercial plants are so complex, certain situations which can overwhelm operators. Of course there are many issues when dealing with lots of small nuclear power plants. I'm just throwing out some things I've heard.
Regarding a "rescue wagon" which I don't think will be practical. Unlike other disaster response plans (i.e. for various natural disasters), events of large scale nuclear disasters are very few in between. Having an effective team with resources will continually on "high state of combat readiness" will be very taxing with highly trained crews waiting years for The Big One. Perhaps if going with large nuclear plants, put in extra protection i.e. backup systems. Yes, these backup systems cost additional money but far cheaper than cost of the disaster itself if it were to occur. And some of these "once in 10,000 years events" do actually happen in your lifetime.
About 10 years ago a post on/. began with, "If you are responsible for computer security, you can't be too secure. A shotgun will help." Article went on with more about guns, "if your server room is being approached by a band of swarmy thugs with boxcutters, you are to pull out the company manual saying 'firearms are not allowed.'?" Writer went on more of same theme, "If choosing a handgun, be sure your wimpy arm can handle it. A 22 slug in the gut is more effective than a 357 in the ceiling." Not sure what intent writer had unless promoting a reason for guns post 9-11. Not sure why I mentioned it here but title of this article envisions early years of "security" as practiced in ancient times with Feuds was The World. I saved article text but lost in my zillion files of saved files since the 20th century.
Regarding security, how does companies like Coca Cola been able to keep their formula secret? Obviously not stored in The Cloud. Any techniques that can be applied for other safeguards? Besides limiting it to just three people.
>remember that the other name for an orbital launcher is an ICBM.
I asked someone that worked on the CSXT spaceshot (private rocket that went to 67 miles in 2004 or about then) about such a thing be used as a weapon. His answer was, "don't let your imagination go wild. There are many things [besides rockets] that are dual use technology."
I asked Al Stern at SETIcon II panel on commercial space if there is "conspiracy" in government making spaceflight so difficult to have a high barrier of entry to prevent small countries from acquiring ICBM capability. His answer was "that's BS."
Main argument is programs such as Nanosat challenge that provide entry level are getting cut but money pits (SLS) charge on. And forget this about "They" are going to steal our secrets. There is no need for foreign spies to work in US as we simply export the engineering to other countries. Going back to commercial space, Spacex and others do it cheaper because legacy launch vehicles built by Boeing, LM (no, NASA never built rockets as there is no US Govt Rocket Factory) is because LV such as Atlas, Delta, etc were designed as military rockets where performance is the issue, not the cost.
May have to do it a number of times. I once did something like this on a ocean liner back in 1970s with an apple. It was at nighttime and being a teenager I found the whole vessel activities boring. Spent a lot of time outside on the deck, the portion above the bridge and above that was the antenna mast with a rotating dish (classic oval about 5 ft wide). I threw the apple into its beam and (I didn't catch it, hit the floor) when retrieved it was warm. Was going to do it again but some passenger stopped me.
Another option is hang turkey in front of a commercial microwave dish.
Why do people insist on technological solutions for problems that don't need them?
Because some sales guy persuaded those with money to spend lotsa bux with guarentees it will fix a problem (including manufactured problems). Decades ago your business or agency occasionally gets a visit by someone insisting you buy "protection" or else. I think nowadays these guys figured how to do it cleaner.
where you put money in and you get something RIGHT NOW. Other than that, will they find organics? If so, any of significant quantity and where? What parts of the surface contain higher concentrations of organics? For me what would be exciting is finding fossilized lifeforms like a trilobite of sorts.
Problem is nowadays movies with CGI have lots more action and adventure and it is difficult for NASA to compete with this. Speaking of movies what if Curiosity were to find a British flag?
>Mod parent up.
>Provide movies that can't be downloaded.
He is already modded to max. I second to provide movies that cannot be downloaded, heck provide movies that are no longer available, and there's a lot of them out there. There have been some fully produced films with major stars but pulled from circulation either right before or shortly after (either by a lawsuit or it became politically incorrect). There are also huge number of performers from singers to comedians to magicians that performed on variety shows from Jack Paar to Phil Donahue but much of this footage is lost, it is either in the vaults (that will never be re-leased or on a VHS from a 16mm telecine transfer sitting in someone's basement).
"Pirates" can provide movies either for download or sales, which many are simply not available from legitimate sources because there is not enough financial incentive to release (not enough buyers to make it worthwhile). But there are some fiercely dedicated fans and "non-official" sources can fill this need. However, this leads to problems with a jihad against piracy so some of these fan favorites or cult classics go underground. So there are some interesting movies but you either have to specifically know the person (or some guy with a long coat in a dark alley, "You want rare movie, talk show? Come, I show you. Very good. Nice price!") Yes, you readers can pick up my frustrations because I see a lot of excellent films and compelling documentaries becoming lost.
Hostess (like Kodak), maybe they should have considered the same couple decades ago with more emphasis on healthy eating? That's a tough call (tougher if executives wanting to pad themselves with million dollar bonuses). OTOH in someways it doesn't seem in real practical terms we are working on more healthy eating as US population getting more obese. But maybe it depends on what culture (higher ups as compared to working stiffs in urban cities). I cannot help but think of a PBS show few years ago which this person described how society emphasizes unhealthy eating habits by constant promotion of fast food that is loaded with way too much protein and fat in easy to get quantities. He suggested a national program to discourage eating unhealthy foods like programs that discourage smoking. Fast food is a huge industry so that's a big lobby to deal with. However, circumstances can put a big company out of business.
There was a time when camera film was The Thing and Kodak ruled. But along came digital technology that made film irrelevant. What should Kodak have done? Some say as far back as 1980s use their huge cash reserves to buy new technology startups and get into something besides film. I was reading Richard Elkus' book "Winner Take All" which it described there were people way back when looking into digital cameras (they didn't call it that but were considering emerging technologies i.e. ICs, video recording, etc. and how it can be put together).
It seems Hostess was a large infrastructure with a lot of people that have gone down the drain like what used to be in Rochester NY. A significant loss.
Not sure how my post will be interpreted but this reminds me a blog post in late 90s "I love computers" by a former special forces guy (did all the stuff like weapons, explosives, scuba, parachuting including freefall,etc.) which his diatribe was about computers being implemented so logistics and supply can better manage things. [ ok let me try remembering the details of what I read 15 years ago] He went on writing how everything had to be formatted and input just right or else back to the beginning of the line. His diatribe continues of how he prepare requests for items but logistics person says you gotta do it like this and that (he says will comply but really thinking "f--- you). He went on about armies have been planning and conducting operations for centuries and move logistics of everything from beans to bullets without computers. His last sentence was "why should they listen to me, I'm just a joe."
I keep reading headlines one right after another about security hacks. And I feel like I'm getting warning fatigue*, I cannot comprehend how you IT security people are dealing with it. For me I got some computers that ***never*** connect to internet, and damned if I put critical stuff in The Cloud.
*Warning fatigue: Described in the book, "Breaking The Mishap Chain" http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/break_mishap_chain_detail.html where authors describe when crews of a B1 flight test kept getting caution warnings that were not urgent so habitually ignored even though one of those warnings was center-of-gravity parameter. Ignoring this warning was serious as it caused aircraft to go out of control when wings were swept and aircraft not balanced.
I might be in the minority here but I think that low airfares are actually part of the problem. Look what it has given us...baggage and other fees, fewer routes, lower salaries for the people that work at the airlines. Airlines, in an attempt to keep fares low and continuing to squeeze every cent they can get. Air travel used to be a pleasurable experience back in the day.
I can see someone will write a book sometime in future when airlines are really bad, "Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Airfares" modeled after the book "Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion" http://www.amazon.com/Overdressed-Shockingly-High-Cheap-Fashion/dp/1591844614 where it talks about how such low cost obiterated quality clothing, industries, and craftsmanship.
Post-election is a time for healing and a time to work towards unity.
Reminds me of the Star Trek TOS on the planet where everyone emulates early 20th century gangsters. Kirk says they should stop fighting each other and work towards unity. Mob boss says, "I agree but I gotta be the unity!" Fact follows fiction is what we have today.
I haven't followed much of this Apple vs. Samsung but this slide from a presentation caught my attention:
The Tube Business in the ’20s
[snip]
Tube Shops’ Challenges
Design around ~250 RCA triode patents
– Enormously difficult task (Samsung vs Apple case)
– RCA had shut down Sylvania’s tube business
– Ordering materials difficult (Corning in NY)
Hired locally (many hams); got resources from IT&T (French engineers)
– Eitel, Litton collaborated with each other (novel!)
– Based on friendships over the years
– Didn’t compete with other’s market
Worked closely with patent attorneys
paraphrase from other slides:
Eimac (Eitel, Litton) made tubes that work on VHF after WWII, RCA tubes did not work. Eimac sued RCA and GE. Let them buy Eimac products and resell them under their own names.
forgot to add, I waited a few minutes behind two people, overall it was quick. Person in front had to complete form for provisional ballot. A fair number of cars but found parking in front of poll station. I had my voter info booklet with me (name and address label), showed it to clerk to make it easy for her to see my name in writing then look it up in register which I signed my name and wrote address. Ballot was paper which you draw a thin line using a black or blue pin. Fast and easy, no need to have electricity for a voting machine. No chads! Dang, ain't like them other states with all kinds of weird stuff for people to bitch about.
Unlike FL where it's action and adventure (news is hopping with stories of long lines, impatient people). Unlike here in California it's like stopping at AM/PM to get gas and coffee. I stopped at polling place this morning to cast my ballot (voted for Jill Stein to increase third party attention since ***all*** CA delegates already allocated to Obama). I must say polling place had lots of people to help and they set up signs from main road to actual poll station to help voters find it.
If Obama is re-elected, then divisiveness will get worse. If Romney elected, then divisiveness will get worse. Overall, it seems most people have little regard in their national politics and leadership but go along with it. Hey, like what else are you going to do? Much like Soviet Russia where most citizenship had little regard for national leadership. China on the other hand... I don't know what do their citizenship think of their national leadership? In some cases many are proud to be Chinese. But there are other stories of some providences, some still in the 6th century, and others have a very different view of politics which we (USA) have no idea of what they think.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe I'm going OT or maybe I don't really know what FOSS is or whatever. However I remember back in 1990s you can post questions, read interesting subjects from real people, sometimes get your ass flamed for saying something stupid, but it all seem to get wiped out by spammers. There was a time when I can post questions about "anyone know of a frequency synthesizer for Motorola HT220s?" or "I'm having problems with my Mac G3 and cannot upgrade it to OS9, any suggestions?"
But these days if I have a question such as "I'm having problems with XP when I tried installing such-and-such software" or "anyone know about the software to upgrade the Firestore FS4 from SD to HD?" Well these days the people that can answer these questions are in some group that you must be a member of group. But if you already are then you already know the answers to these questions. So then only option is to "google it" but only to find other people post same question on forums and people given non-answer solutions. Or psuedo-techie articles that are really sales and marketing site. Or the ***worst*** are fixya.com postings that are aggregates from posts from bankrupted answers on dopey forums.
My latest find, 1980s pre-internet tutorial on medical measurements, discusses how to measure ECGs and EEGs. Has diagrams and voltage levels, real cool. It is the kind of thing perfect for Usenet, there might be websites that discuss this subject but probably subject matter buried in 1000 page PDF or aggregated site with a lot of other stuff you dont need to know. FYI, Heart potential (ECG) 1 mV, 0.1 to 100 Hz. Brain potential (EEG) 10 uV, 0.1 to 100 Hz. Muscle potential (EMG) 0.2 uV to 5 mV, DC to 1000 Hz. Because this document was written on typewriter then manuscript sent to typesetter, authors had to exercise good proofreading and could not do lotsa copy-and-paste and could not use lots of flashy graphics. Only let one option. Make it the best you can because once it's printed and distributed, too late to fix any mistakes.
Well, another analogy from the "entertainment industry" regarding robots in the workplace. Mad Magazine had a parody of the movie Camelot and story was "Can-A-Lot" about a cannery factory run by same characters as in the movie (storyline follows similar to movie). CEO "King Arthur" constantly dealing battles with the union but comes up with idea of replacing workers with robots. As the robots are forced to work more, they keep breaking down. One of the board members suggests it is cheaper to replace robots instead of fixing them. CEO says "this is the best idea I have!" Board member: "your idea?" But the robots rebelled and burned down the factory.
On a serious question it seems it takes a lot of people to design, build, test, implement, service, etc. robots and other automation systems. Are they all in China these days?
there is an episode from the early 1960s "Twilight Zone" where the CEO begins installing automated systems in the factory to replace people. Those laid off are obviously not happy but CEO says that is progress, otherwise his company will not be able to compete with other companies. CEO (played by an actor who also appeared on many 60s shows i.e. Dick Van Dyke and Beverly Hillbillies) carries and twirls keys on end of a short chain. So more and more workers are replaced eventually only left are a few techs to run systems diagnostics. Last one that is replaced is glad to be laid off, "there's no life, no interactions with people." Last part of this episode the CEO is in a bar across the street from the plant, "they discard people with no feelings!" as last footage of this show has a robot (they used Robbie The Robot from "Forbidden Planet" to play this character) and the robot walks in CEO office pushing buttons and twirling keys on end of a short chain like what the CEO used to do.
excellent analysis, I can't mod right now otherwise I'd give you a few ++++.
>How is it that government protects Google's commerce?
Google guys travel a lot plus data centers around the world.
Someone's gotta pay for global military to be sure air bandits, pirates, and dubious govts don't steal corporate commerce as it moves around the world. And these companies have plenty of cash to pay taxes. Though not sure how deal with dubious governments....
20 years ago, Ed Teller was a speaker at an Engineers Week banquet. He suggested instead of a few large nuclear plants with all complexities of sheer size plus containment vessel and security, make many smaller plants that are more manageable. I wish this was taped, I took some notes and published in one of local engineering society newsletters (did best I could capturing Teller's actual phrases). Seems to be a reasonable idea, a friend who was in Navy sub service said there are about 30 different emergency procedures (or steps?) on dealing with reactor problems. He feels large commercial plants are so complex, certain situations which can overwhelm operators. Of course there are many issues when dealing with lots of small nuclear power plants. I'm just throwing out some things I've heard.
Regarding a "rescue wagon" which I don't think will be practical. Unlike other disaster response plans (i.e. for various natural disasters), events of large scale nuclear disasters are very few in between. Having an effective team with resources will continually on "high state of combat readiness" will be very taxing with highly trained crews waiting years for The Big One. Perhaps if going with large nuclear plants, put in extra protection i.e. backup systems. Yes, these backup systems cost additional money but far cheaper than cost of the disaster itself if it were to occur. And some of these "once in 10,000 years events" do actually happen in your lifetime.
About 10 years ago a post on /. began with, "If you are responsible for computer security, you can't be too secure. A shotgun will help." Article went on with more about guns, "if your server room is being approached by a band of swarmy thugs with boxcutters, you are to pull out the company manual saying 'firearms are not allowed.'?" Writer went on more of same theme, "If choosing a handgun, be sure your wimpy arm can handle it. A 22 slug in the gut is more effective than a 357 in the ceiling." Not sure what intent writer had unless promoting a reason for guns post 9-11. Not sure why I mentioned it here but title of this article envisions early years of "security" as practiced in ancient times with Feuds was The World. I saved article text but lost in my zillion files of saved files since the 20th century.
Regarding security, how does companies like Coca Cola been able to keep their formula secret? Obviously not stored in The Cloud. Any techniques that can be applied for other safeguards? Besides limiting it to just three people.
>remember that the other name for an orbital launcher is an ICBM.
I asked someone that worked on the CSXT spaceshot (private rocket that went to 67 miles in 2004 or about then) about such a thing be used as a weapon. His answer was, "don't let your imagination go wild. There are many things [besides rockets] that are dual use technology."
I asked Al Stern at SETIcon II panel on commercial space if there is "conspiracy" in government making spaceflight so difficult to have a high barrier of entry to prevent small countries from acquiring ICBM capability. His answer was "that's BS."
Main argument is programs such as Nanosat challenge that provide entry level are getting cut but money pits (SLS) charge on. And forget this about "They" are going to steal our secrets. There is no need for foreign spies to work in US as we simply export the engineering to other countries. Going back to commercial space, Spacex and others do it cheaper because legacy launch vehicles built by Boeing, LM (no, NASA never built rockets as there is no US Govt Rocket Factory) is because LV such as Atlas, Delta, etc were designed as military rockets where performance is the issue, not the cost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krxtt6jXE0w
May have to do it a number of times. I once did something like this on a ocean liner back in 1970s with an apple. It was at nighttime and being a teenager I found the whole vessel activities boring. Spent a lot of time outside on the deck, the portion above the bridge and above that was the antenna mast with a rotating dish (classic oval about 5 ft wide). I threw the apple into its beam and (I didn't catch it, hit the floor) when retrieved it was warm. Was going to do it again but some passenger stopped me.
Another option is hang turkey in front of a commercial microwave dish.
Why do people insist on technological solutions for problems that don't need them?
Because some sales guy persuaded those with money to spend lotsa bux with guarentees it will fix a problem (including manufactured problems). Decades ago your business or agency occasionally gets a visit by someone insisting you buy "protection" or else. I think nowadays these guys figured how to do it cleaner.
and those before me, had gone through the gauntlet of taunts and shovings and beatings, just because we think differently.
sounds like what many adults put up with in daily life.
where you put money in and you get something RIGHT NOW. Other than that, will they find organics? If so, any of significant quantity and where? What parts of the surface contain higher concentrations of organics? For me what would be exciting is finding fossilized lifeforms like a trilobite of sorts.
Problem is nowadays movies with CGI have lots more action and adventure and it is difficult for NASA to compete with this. Speaking of movies what if Curiosity were to find a British flag?
>Mod parent up.
>Provide movies that can't be downloaded.
He is already modded to max. I second to provide movies that cannot be downloaded, heck provide movies that are no longer available, and there's a lot of them out there. There have been some fully produced films with major stars but pulled from circulation either right before or shortly after (either by a lawsuit or it became politically incorrect). There are also huge number of performers from singers to comedians to magicians that performed on variety shows from Jack Paar to Phil Donahue but much of this footage is lost, it is either in the vaults (that will never be re-leased or on a VHS from a 16mm telecine transfer sitting in someone's basement).
"Pirates" can provide movies either for download or sales, which many are simply not available from legitimate sources because there is not enough financial incentive to release (not enough buyers to make it worthwhile). But there are some fiercely dedicated fans and "non-official" sources can fill this need. However, this leads to problems with a jihad against piracy so some of these fan favorites or cult classics go underground. So there are some interesting movies but you either have to specifically know the person (or some guy with a long coat in a dark alley, "You want rare movie, talk show? Come, I show you. Very good. Nice price!") Yes, you readers can pick up my frustrations because I see a lot of excellent films and compelling documentaries becoming lost.
Hostess (like Kodak), maybe they should have considered the same couple decades ago with more emphasis on healthy eating? That's a tough call (tougher if executives wanting to pad themselves with million dollar bonuses). OTOH in someways it doesn't seem in real practical terms we are working on more healthy eating as US population getting more obese. But maybe it depends on what culture (higher ups as compared to working stiffs in urban cities). I cannot help but think of a PBS show few years ago which this person described how society emphasizes unhealthy eating habits by constant promotion of fast food that is loaded with way too much protein and fat in easy to get quantities. He suggested a national program to discourage eating unhealthy foods like programs that discourage smoking. Fast food is a huge industry so that's a big lobby to deal with. However, circumstances can put a big company out of business.
There was a time when camera film was The Thing and Kodak ruled. But along came digital technology that made film irrelevant. What should Kodak have done? Some say as far back as 1980s use their huge cash reserves to buy new technology startups and get into something besides film. I was reading Richard Elkus' book "Winner Take All" which it described there were people way back when looking into digital cameras (they didn't call it that but were considering emerging technologies i.e. ICs, video recording, etc. and how it can be put together).
It seems Hostess was a large infrastructure with a lot of people that have gone down the drain like what used to be in Rochester NY. A significant loss.
Not sure how my post will be interpreted but this reminds me a blog post in late 90s "I love computers" by a former special forces guy (did all the stuff like weapons, explosives, scuba, parachuting including freefall,etc.) which his diatribe was about computers being implemented so logistics and supply can better manage things. [ ok let me try remembering the details of what I read 15 years ago] He went on writing how everything had to be formatted and input just right or else back to the beginning of the line. His diatribe continues of how he prepare requests for items but logistics person says you gotta do it like this and that (he says will comply but really thinking "f--- you). He went on about armies have been planning and conducting operations for centuries and move logistics of everything from beans to bullets without computers. His last sentence was "why should they listen to me, I'm just a joe."
I keep reading headlines one right after another about security hacks. And I feel like I'm getting warning fatigue*, I cannot comprehend how you IT security people are dealing with it. For me I got some computers that ***never*** connect to internet, and damned if I put critical stuff in The Cloud.
*Warning fatigue: Described in the book, "Breaking The Mishap Chain" http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/break_mishap_chain_detail.html where authors describe when crews of a B1 flight test kept getting caution warnings that were not urgent so habitually ignored even though one of those warnings was center-of-gravity parameter. Ignoring this warning was serious as it caused aircraft to go out of control when wings were swept and aircraft not balanced.
I might be in the minority here but I think that low airfares are actually part of the problem. Look what it has given us...baggage and other fees, fewer routes, lower salaries for the people that work at the airlines. Airlines, in an attempt to keep fares low and continuing to squeeze every cent they can get. Air travel used to be a pleasurable experience back in the day.
I can see someone will write a book sometime in future when airlines are really bad, "Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Airfares" modeled after the book "Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion" http://www.amazon.com/Overdressed-Shockingly-High-Cheap-Fashion/dp/1591844614 where it talks about how such low cost obiterated quality clothing, industries, and craftsmanship.
Post-election is a time for healing and a time to work towards unity.
Reminds me of the Star Trek TOS on the planet where everyone emulates early 20th century gangsters. Kirk says they should stop fighting each other and work towards unity. Mob boss says, "I agree but I gotta be the unity!" Fact follows fiction is what we have today.
I haven't followed much of this Apple vs. Samsung but this slide from a presentation caught my attention:
The Tube Business in the ’20s
[snip]
Tube Shops’ Challenges
Design around ~250 RCA triode patents
– Enormously difficult task (Samsung vs Apple case)
– RCA had shut down Sylvania’s tube business
– Ordering materials difficult (Corning in NY)
Hired locally (many hams); got resources from IT&T (French engineers)
– Eitel, Litton collaborated with each other (novel!)
– Based on friendships over the years
– Didn’t compete with other’s market
Worked closely with patent attorneys
paraphrase from other slides:
Eimac (Eitel, Litton) made tubes that work on VHF after WWII, RCA tubes did not work. Eimac sued RCA and GE. Let them buy Eimac products and resell them under their own names.
PDF of slides from which above info, http://www.cpmt.org/scv/meetings/cpmt1209l.html
Government is smaller since 2008.
except guvmint people (including military personnel) replaced by contractors.
forgot to add, I waited a few minutes behind two people, overall it was quick. Person in front had to complete form for provisional ballot. A fair number of cars but found parking in front of poll station. I had my voter info booklet with me (name and address label), showed it to clerk to make it easy for her to see my name in writing then look it up in register which I signed my name and wrote address. Ballot was paper which you draw a thin line using a black or blue pin. Fast and easy, no need to have electricity for a voting machine. No chads! Dang, ain't like them other states with all kinds of weird stuff for people to bitch about.
Unlike FL where it's action and adventure (news is hopping with stories of long lines, impatient people). Unlike here in California it's like stopping at AM/PM to get gas and coffee. I stopped at polling place this morning to cast my ballot (voted for Jill Stein to increase third party attention since ***all*** CA delegates already allocated to Obama). I must say polling place had lots of people to help and they set up signs from main road to actual poll station to help voters find it.
If Obama is re-elected, then divisiveness will get worse. If Romney elected, then divisiveness will get worse. Overall, it seems most people have little regard in their national politics and leadership but go along with it. Hey, like what else are you going to do? Much like Soviet Russia where most citizenship had little regard for national leadership. China on the other hand... I don't know what do their citizenship think of their national leadership? In some cases many are proud to be Chinese. But there are other stories of some providences, some still in the 6th century, and others have a very different view of politics which we (USA) have no idea of what they think.