I worked as a contractor to NASA from STS-6 (well before Challenger) through the disaster and for several years afterward. I was an engineering manager on the payload side rather than the oribiter itself but I was heavily involved in all phases of prepration and launch. That qualifies me to say: this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
There was enormous pressure to launch on time. Did the President call the Launch Director and tell him to launch? No, of course not. But NASA's budget depended on getting those launches off and beleive me that is a big motivator.
Did stupid managers ignore the advice of engineers? Not really. Remember that you're dealing with the "fog of war". Nobody knows anything 100% for sure and nobody communicates 100% perfectly. Incomplete data, poorly constructed PowerPoint slides, fear of rocking the boat, preconceived ideas, all contribute to this. Would someone intentionally put the astronauts lives at risk? Of course not, but in the absence of clear information most people just go with what the group wants to do.
Did the astronauts accept the risk? I knew many astronauts (OK actually it was 5 or 6) and they were some of the smartest people I have ever met. They TOTALLY accepted the risk of what they were doing. Just as much as a Marine going into battle accepts the risks. In this case though they were even more educated and aware of the odds. The astronauts I knew usually had multiple degrees, dozens of certifications, and 1000s of hours of training. They knew exactly what they were doing.
I use one of the older generation Sprint AirCards (until my contract expires) but one of my employees uses EV-DO. Recently we were doing an online presentation using a system similar to NetMeeting. He stopped along the side of the highway outside Washington DC and participated in the session at full speed. No one could discern any lag or tell that he wasn't on a tethered connection.
After they installed cockpit monitoring devices in all vehicles, the insurance companies analyzed the data and found an amazing coincidence. The last words said in 80% of all pickup truck accidents were the same: "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"
If someone were walking aroung with AR goggles on (see recent articles here and on k5) you could broadcast an enhanced version of your appearance to them. You could appear in their vision as any object you chose, even animated. This brings Flash to a whole new level!
I was there before, during, and after
on
The Challenger
·
· Score: 1
From these posts it is obvious that the average/. reader is much younger than me. I worked at Kennedy Space Center before, during, and after the Challenger accident. My office was right above the area you see in the video of the crew smiling and waving as they board the bus for the launchpad. My wife worked there too right across the street from the Launch Control Center, about 3 miles from the pad. I was there that day having lunch with my wife in her office when it happened. It was indeed an unforgetable day. The smoke from the explosion stayed there in the air for many hours afterward, the radio/TV/papers ran the story nonstop, and everyone could talk of nothing else. The only way to get away from it was to go home, close the curtains, turn off the lights and try to forget that horrible sight. I don't think I ever felt the same about participating in the space program after that. It permanently changed me and many of my coworkers.
I stayed there for several years afterward and for quite awhile things really were different. People listened to the engineers, safety mattered, and money was not the king. Slowly though, that began to change. As time passed people forgot the lesson learned that day. Politics began to be more important than doing things right again. Nobody wanted to hear it when the engineers said the schedule was unrealistic or the design was poor. The best and the brightest began to leave. They could see what was happening and didn't want to be there when the next "accident" occurred. Many of them (including me) left to join software firms.
I hope that things have changed in the years since I left, but I doubt it.
It was called TSS for Tethered Satellite System. I worked on it several years ago when I was still at Kennedy Space Center. What happened was that someone installed a screw on the reel late in the testing and didn't consult the drawings or go through th proper design reviews. Once in space the tether was unrolled and at a certain point the keeper on the reel jammed against the screw. It couldn't be unrolled any further nor could it be reeled back in so they cut the tether. Before they cut it they managed to get some useful data though that confirmed the predictions. I think I heard that they tried it again on a later launch with much more success.
I work for SAIC and we use the same processes (SEI) in our software development. Our clients include banks, airlines, brokerages, the IRS, etc. We made >$5 billion last year alone doing this. It costs a bundle to set it up initially and requires a ton of training to make sure people do it right but the result is outstanding software and very, very few all-nighters.
By the number of posts in response to your question it's obvious you have hit a resonant chord with the/. readers. What does that mean? Good sci-fi, like the books on these lists, makes you think. It opens your mind to new possibilities. The best of it even permanently alters the way you perveive your surroundings. I know this happened to me when I read "Stranger in a Strange Land". I would never think of religion in the same way again. The/. readers are a pretty free-thinking lot. Many of them were probably shaped in adolescence by the books on these lists. The question then becomes, are you ready for your daughter to think for herself and ask you some very uncomfortable questions? I have a 13 year old son who has read some of the books listed here. He asks difficult questions which I try to answer with as much candor as possible. I would rather have a curious, free-thinking child that occaisionally makes me uncomfortable than a bland conformist. You must however gauge your daughter's readiness as well as your own. Some of the books people have listed deal with subjects most 13 year olds are not ready for yet. "Cryptonomicon" for example is an excellent book but has very mature sexual themes. I have suggested to my son that he wait a few years before reading it. Note that I said _suggested_. At this age ordering him not to read it would only make it more desirable and defeat the whole purpose of opening his mind to think for himself. I guess my advice would be to take the many excellent lists presented here and condense them into a reading list for yourself. As you read them, create an ordered list for your daughter of increasingly mature themes. Then sit back, watch her grow, and look out for some tough questions and brilliant new ideas!
A really thorough treatment of this whole subject was done by Douglas Hofstader in "The Mind's I". In it he explores the implications of several processes similar to uploading your brain. The obvious conclusion that can be drawn is: How do you know it hasn't already be done to YOU?
The South China Morning Post published an arti cle about another media crackdown in China where an editor was removed for publishing stories not approved by Party officials. "One recent edition explained to Internet users how to tap into mirror Web sites abroad, which could help them skirt government blocks on Internet sites that officials did not like." This quote is from the Internet version of a paper published in Hong Kong supposedly under the same rules. My, my, my how this Internet thing does seem to get out of control! .
In the CNN version of the story there is the following interesting line: "Some major international companies, including Intel, IBM, and Yahoo! have already made substantial investments in Chinese Web sites, despite government restrictions on outside investments." Does this mean they will submit to the same invasive tactics? What if Yahoo! distributes the content over servers that do not all sit in China? If Yahoo! allows Joe Chopstick to anonymously set up webpages on a Chinese Geocities will they be responsible for anything posted?
Slashdot Mirror
I worked as a contractor to NASA from STS-6 (well before Challenger) through the disaster and for several years afterward. I was an engineering manager on the payload side rather than the oribiter itself but I was heavily involved in all phases of prepration and launch. That qualifies me to say: this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
There was enormous pressure to launch on time. Did the President call the Launch Director and tell him to launch? No, of course not. But NASA's budget depended on getting those launches off and beleive me that is a big motivator.
Did stupid managers ignore the advice of engineers? Not really. Remember that you're dealing with the "fog of war". Nobody knows anything 100% for sure and nobody communicates 100% perfectly. Incomplete data, poorly constructed PowerPoint slides, fear of rocking the boat, preconceived ideas, all contribute to this. Would someone intentionally put the astronauts lives at risk? Of course not, but in the absence of clear information most people just go with what the group wants to do.
Did the astronauts accept the risk? I knew many astronauts (OK actually it was 5 or 6) and they were some of the smartest people I have ever met. They TOTALLY accepted the risk of what they were doing. Just as much as a Marine going into battle accepts the risks. In this case though they were even more educated and aware of the odds. The astronauts I knew usually had multiple degrees, dozens of certifications, and 1000s of hours of training. They knew exactly what they were doing.
I use one of the older generation Sprint AirCards (until my contract expires) but one of my employees uses EV-DO. Recently we were doing an online presentation using a system similar to NetMeeting. He stopped along the side of the highway outside Washington DC and participated in the session at full speed. No one could discern any lag or tell that he wasn't on a tethered connection.
Obviously, if they were running Linux this wouldn't be happening now would it?
After they installed cockpit monitoring devices in all vehicles, the insurance companies analyzed the data and found an amazing coincidence. The last words said in 80% of all pickup truck accidents were the same: "Hey, hold my beer and watch this!"
Before anyone flames me: I drive an F-150.
Here is the info directly from NEC:
http://www.nec-design.co.jp/showcase/
and a quote: "These are concept models and not planned to be commercialized at this point"
If someone were walking aroung with AR goggles on (see recent articles here and on k5) you could broadcast an enhanced version of your appearance to them. You could appear in their vision as any object you chose, even animated. This brings Flash to a whole new level!
From these posts it is obvious that the average /. reader is much younger than me. I worked at Kennedy Space Center before, during, and after the Challenger accident. My office was right above the area you see in the video of the crew smiling and waving as they board the bus for the launchpad. My wife worked there too right across the street from the Launch Control Center, about 3 miles from the pad. I was there that day having lunch with my wife in her office when it happened. It was indeed an unforgetable day. The smoke from the explosion stayed there in the air for many hours afterward, the radio/TV/papers ran the story nonstop, and everyone could talk of nothing else. The only way to get away from it was to go home, close the curtains, turn off the lights and try to forget that horrible sight. I don't think I ever felt the same about participating in the space program after that. It permanently changed me and many of my coworkers.
I stayed there for several years afterward and for quite awhile things really were different. People listened to the engineers, safety mattered, and money was not the king. Slowly though, that began to change. As time passed people forgot the lesson learned that day. Politics began to be more important than doing things right again. Nobody wanted to hear it when the engineers said the schedule was unrealistic or the design was poor. The best and the brightest began to leave. They could see what was happening and didn't want to be there when the next "accident" occurred. Many of them (including me) left to join software firms.
I hope that things have changed in the years since I left, but I doubt it.
It was called TSS for Tethered Satellite System. I worked on it several years ago when I was still at Kennedy Space Center. What happened was that someone installed a screw on the reel late in the testing and didn't consult the drawings or go through th proper design reviews. Once in space the tether was unrolled and at a certain point the keeper on the reel jammed against the screw. It couldn't be unrolled any further nor could it be reeled back in so they cut the tether. Before they cut it they managed to get some useful data though that confirmed the predictions. I think I heard that they tried it again on a later launch with much more success.
I work for SAIC and we use the same processes (SEI) in our software development. Our clients include banks, airlines, brokerages, the IRS, etc. We made >$5 billion last year alone doing this. It costs a bundle to set it up initially and requires a ton of training to make sure people do it right but the result is outstanding software and very, very few all-nighters.
By the number of posts in response to your question it's obvious you have hit a resonant chord with the /. readers. What does that mean? Good sci-fi, like the books on these lists, makes you think. It opens your mind to new possibilities. The best of it even permanently alters the way you perveive your surroundings. I know this happened to me when I read "Stranger in a Strange Land". I would never think of religion in the same way again. The /. readers are a pretty free-thinking lot. Many of them were probably shaped in adolescence by the books on these lists. The question then becomes, are you ready for your daughter to think for herself and ask you some very uncomfortable questions? I have a 13 year old son who has read some of the books listed here. He asks difficult questions which I try to answer with as much candor as possible. I would rather have a curious, free-thinking child that occaisionally makes me uncomfortable than a bland conformist. You must however gauge your daughter's readiness as well as your own. Some of the books people have listed deal with subjects most 13 year olds are not ready for yet. "Cryptonomicon" for example is an excellent book but has very mature sexual themes. I have suggested to my son that he wait a few years before reading it. Note that I said _suggested_. At this age ordering him not to read it would only make it more desirable and defeat the whole purpose of opening his mind to think for himself. I guess my advice would be to take the many excellent lists presented here and condense them into a reading list for yourself. As you read them, create an ordered list for your daughter of increasingly mature themes. Then sit back, watch her grow, and look out for some tough questions and brilliant new ideas!
A really thorough treatment of this whole subject was done by Douglas Hofstader in "The Mind's I". In it he explores the implications of several processes similar to uploading your brain. The obvious conclusion that can be drawn is: How do you know it hasn't already be done to YOU?
The South China Morning Post published an arti cle about another media crackdown in China where an editor was removed for publishing stories not approved by Party officials. "One recent edition explained to Internet users how to tap into mirror Web sites abroad, which could help them skirt government blocks on Internet sites that officials did not like." This quote is from the Internet version of a paper published in Hong Kong supposedly under the same rules. My, my, my how this Internet thing does seem to get out of control! .
In the CNN version of the story there is the following interesting line: "Some major international companies, including Intel, IBM, and Yahoo! have already made substantial investments in Chinese Web sites, despite government restrictions on outside investments." Does this mean they will submit to the same invasive tactics? What if Yahoo! distributes the content over servers that do not all sit in China? If Yahoo! allows Joe Chopstick to anonymously set up webpages on a Chinese Geocities will they be responsible for anything posted?