That myth only pops up with a certain subset of people who are utterly convinced that NASA spinoffs include computers and ICs. Even though it's trivial to show that these things existed before and independently of NASA.
"The video probably shows a futuristic "we tried it who cares what it costs""
It is very long, yes, but they show actual parts being designed and built for the B-58 bomber. Besides, wasn't the whole Moon landing a "we tried it and who cares what it costs" type of exercise as well?
Computer assisted design. Do you understand that when you ask a computer to add numbers for a design, it's computer assisted design? Do you think that they didn't have any of that in the '60s?
It just goes to show that putting people on the Moon isn't even as useful as a Roman road. You could at least walk on them, and have other people walk to them so you could show them. Going to the Moon was more about creating a mythology. This is why you can never get rid of the idea like you can get rid of old computers or steam engines. Going to the Moon is less about anything concrete, it's more of an ideal.
They had CAD applications, just not what you think as CAD. Anyways, this is interesting, because when do you think CAD applications started? Did the whole thing just pop into existence fully formed, or were there intermediary steps?
Just on the electronics side, look at something like SPICE. It didn't pop into existence with a GUI on a personal computer, it started as a punch-card reading batch application on a mainframe. Boom, computer aided design.
Why do you think it's called "numerically controlled" and not "digital"? It's because the whole concept is so old that the wording has had time to become obsolete.
Getting all the solder to come out of a hole on a multilayer board isn't as easy as you think it is.
Is your iron good enough? Can the tip transfer enough heat quickly enough? What temperature you set it at? Is it a RoHS board? Is your desoldering braid past its "best before" date? Oh you didn't know it had one? The flux on the braid gets stale over time. You do have a little bottle of flux lying around? Are the holes in a tight location so you melt parts around the holes?
Using a drill won't ruin your board unless you're fumble-fingered, spastic, and legally blind.
Besides, you'll never get a better hole finish than with a tiny machine drill bit.
It's probably easier to drill out the solder than to try to desolder the holes. It's more likely you can find fine machine # drill bits at a decent hardware store than random people being able to desolder.
Good, so I can get the same services as here for a tenth of the price as well. And why does your logic never seem to apply to managers, CEOs and other cancer cells?
We don't even do anything about stopping wars which *kill* people. Get over it, nerds, there ain't no combination of real, possible technologies and energy sources that will do what you want it to do. Even if it did, no one cares. People die driving, do we make perfect cars? Nope. People die in plane crashes, do we make perfect planes?
Because we can't anyways. The risks of these meteor strikes are so remote, so laughable that no one cares.
I see that it's time to accept that technology means not everyone has to work. We create our own social model, we can change it. Why can't we accept a 20 hour work week for the same standard of living? What else is technology good for if not to help us?
I can't find a better endorsement for life extension technology than this. Youth is better than oldth. Can we PLEASE just get on with it and start understanding aging so we can reverse it?
Yes, what's left in North America in EE (and I'm making sweeping generalisations here) is power engineering and telecomms. Power is needed to keep our infrastructure going, and also to support what industry is left here. Power engineering in the sense of large devices to control huge currents and voltages. Telecomms is basically what hardware design is these days, simulating VHDL or Verilog to see what can fit into what FPGA. The old-school electronics of the '60s, '70s and '80s has died. No one designs audio or video hardware anymore. Or repairs anything. There are countless hacker spaces and hobbyists, but that ain't a paying job.
Slashdot Mirror
Fair enough. But do you really think the amount of computers NASA was using counts as "barest"? Just look at the amount of 360s they were using.
"The video probably shows a futuristic "we tried it who cares what it costs""
It is very long, yes, but they show actual parts being designed and built for the B-58 bomber. Besides, wasn't the whole Moon landing a "we tried it and who cares what it costs" type of exercise as well?
Computer assisted design. Do you understand that when you ask a computer to add numbers for a design, it's computer assisted design? Do you think that they didn't have any of that in the '60s?
It just goes to show that putting people on the Moon isn't even as useful as a Roman road. You could at least walk on them, and have other people walk to them so you could show them. Going to the Moon was more about creating a mythology. This is why you can never get rid of the idea like you can get rid of old computers or steam engines. Going to the Moon is less about anything concrete, it's more of an ideal.
Just on the electronics side, look at something like SPICE. It didn't pop into existence with a GUI on a personal computer, it started as a punch-card reading batch application on a mainframe. Boom, computer aided design.
They had no computers, or they invented them?
It's neither, actually. But by 1963 manufacturing, at least for the money-means-nothing military, was already computerized.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=_1g1b_EeVHw&NR=1
Why do you think it's called "numerically controlled" and not "digital"? It's because the whole concept is so old that the wording has had time to become obsolete.
Is your iron good enough? Can the tip transfer enough heat quickly enough? What temperature you set it at? Is it a RoHS board? Is your desoldering braid past its "best before" date? Oh you didn't know it had one? The flux on the braid gets stale over time. You do have a little bottle of flux lying around? Are the holes in a tight location so you melt parts around the holes?
Using a drill won't ruin your board unless you're fumble-fingered, spastic, and legally blind.
Besides, you'll never get a better hole finish than with a tiny machine drill bit.
It's probably easier to drill out the solder than to try to desolder the holes. It's more likely you can find fine machine # drill bits at a decent hardware store than random people being able to desolder.
Good, so I can get the same services as here for a tenth of the price as well. And why does your logic never seem to apply to managers, CEOs and other cancer cells?
Yes, that must be it. Woooo OOOOO ooooohhhhh.....
Because we can't anyways. The risks of these meteor strikes are so remote, so laughable that no one cares.
Do you put titanium plates on your home's roof?
Then why are you asking the human race to do it?
I see that it's time to accept that technology means not everyone has to work. We create our own social model, we can change it. Why can't we accept a 20 hour work week for the same standard of living? What else is technology good for if not to help us?
Shush. Reality is not welcome in any story to do with space. Let the nice man think space is like a giant IKEA just a balloon ride away.
Hmm, you new here? Hyperbole is the bread and butter of anything remotely to do with space, or 3D printing.
Yes, that's hilarious for about six hours. What happens in six hours? You are very hungry and need to eat.
I can't find a better endorsement for life extension technology than this. Youth is better than oldth. Can we PLEASE just get on with it and start understanding aging so we can reverse it?
Yes, what's left in North America in EE (and I'm making sweeping generalisations here) is power engineering and telecomms. Power is needed to keep our infrastructure going, and also to support what industry is left here. Power engineering in the sense of large devices to control huge currents and voltages. Telecomms is basically what hardware design is these days, simulating VHDL or Verilog to see what can fit into what FPGA. The old-school electronics of the '60s, '70s and '80s has died. No one designs audio or video hardware anymore. Or repairs anything. There are countless hacker spaces and hobbyists, but that ain't a paying job.
Can't have that at Apple, can we?
That was IBM all the way back in the early 1960s, even. Then you had Ivor Catt, before he went nuts, with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wafer_scale_integration.
If that's the Montreal Metro, you better not take it at rush hour or it might just stop for a few hours.
University as a business above all? No way! It's all about learning to think!
Please do.
Yes, there are no parts that will wear out or overheat. Nope, engineering is magic. So, about that cretin...
Can you read, my son?
Right here on Earth. And Germany and Italy still exist today... Say, Germany looks a lot better than the US, have you noticed that?