Thanx for the pointer to the photographs - I didn't see the link when I originally put up my post.
I think the best shot to look at is Page 7, the side view of the platter and the 24 pin chip shows the best detail (or what I can see): a) The top platter seems to have dirt/grit on it. If you look at Page 5, you'll see an area at the top where it seems to have been wiped away. b) The top platter seems to have two divots in it on the right side. c) The chip pads on the PCB look undamaged and have visible solder (you can see the convex shape of the solder) on them. d) The chip's pins are not bent or deformed.
I don't think you can assume that the chip was removed due to sheer; the expected sheer force of a large SMT joint is on the order of 8kg and the mass of the part would around 15g. Thus, to sheer the chip off, you would require 192kgf and, taking the mass of the chip into account, the acceleration would be more than 12,000m/s^s or more than 1,300g - at this level of acceleration, I would expect there to be a visible distortion to the chip's pins as well as to the disk's platters and the case itself.
A much more likely explanation for the chip being removed is either that the chip desoldered itself due to the heat of re-entry. This makes the most sense to me because of how intact the pins look as well as the solder pads on the PCB. I should point out that there is a mark on the far right hand corner of the chip which could indicate an impact which knocked it off the PCB, although the lack of damage to the pins/pads (I would expect some pads to be ripped off the PCB) makes this less likely than the heat of the accident causing the chip to desolder itself.
I don't know if this would qualify for that simply because the article doesn't show what the platter(s) looked like after the accident. I'm sure the drive was under tremendous stresses, but I would be surprised if they significantly exceeded that of an aircraft accident followed by fire (and I know disks are recovered in these circumstances).
I'm not saying this to put down the skills of the data recovery team, just to say without seeing the condition of the platters with, ideally, pictures showing typical disks that come in for recovery that I wouldn't think that this would be an extreme case.
Reading through the article, I found that Qinetiq put in the following quote:
SWORDS is currently deployed in Iraq, and has been there uninterrupted for almost a year.
There have been no instances of uncommanded or unexpected movements by SWORDS during this period, whether in-theatre or elsewhere. A few years ago during the robot's development, there were three minor movement issues that were expected, identified and addressed during rigorous stateside testing--prior to the Army's Safety Confirmation back in 2006. Here is what actually happened: - One uncommanded movement was caused by a loose wire (result: redundant wiring on every circuit). - One was caused by a solder break (result: double solder). - The third, which may not even count, was a test of the robot sitting on a 45-degree incline in 90-degree heat to see how long it would last. After about two hours and 30 minutes, the motor started to overheat and shut down so it wouldn't burn out. That caused SWORDS to start to slide backward down the incline. The operator stopped it.
Any comments made after this timeframe about setbacks related to the robotics industry were hypothetical--never in response to some nonexistent SWORDS incident after the Safety Confirmation.
What is "double solder"? I can understand having redundant wiring and coming up with a way to automatically turn the robot perpendicularly to the slope to minimize energy lost keeping its place but you have to make sure the soldering is done correctly, you don't resolder something and expect it to be more reliable (actually, the reverse would be true).
I've gotten to the age where astigmatism and a loss of lens flexibility have necessitated the use of reading glasses. If I don't wear them, then I get a "spasm of accomodation" and my vision goes fuzzy.
To help minimize the problems, I have discovered the rules posted by neapolitan (1100101) * and I would suggest that others, as they reach 35+ do the same.
he was an actor and I don't think of Sci-Fi as an actor driven movie genre. Filmmakers like George Lucas, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, George Pal and Fritz Lang will be remembered for their impact on Sci-Fi well before the actors in their films are recognized. I'd argue that Stan Winston (creature/special effects) has also had more of an impact on Sci-Fi than the actors. Similarly, writers like ACC and Ron Serle (who wrote the screenplay for "Planet of the Apes") have had bigger impacts than the actors in the films.
Now, having said this I might say that Sigorney Weaver has had as significant impact as any of the filmmakers listed above. Certainly more than Douglas Rain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Michael Rennie, Leslie Neilson and Charleton Heston who all had leading roles in groundbreaking Sci-Fi features and whose performances come to mind when you're discussing the picture, but they really just carried out the roles they were given to them by the filmmakers.
When I saw the quote, I thought about the scene in the book where the Moti Engineer took apart and put together Lady Sally's palmtop computer which was thought to be impossible because everything was one single unit.
To hit $75 for a laptop, the same technology will be required.
Just looking at the screen, my first thought was that the format would be great for code/system development with seamless transition across multiple open applications.
It would also be great for different industries (I'm thinking the financial markets) where more than two screens are the norm. The curved structure might allow for a smaller workstation.
In any case, it's a kewl concept and it will be interesting to see where it goes.
I thought the original question was "would you go even if we couldn't guarantee that we could get you back" with the situation being that you would be sent there to settle (which implies raising a family there) with base expectation that you would be there for years and with the understanding tht NASA may not be able to develop the technology for a return flight.
When put in this context it is similar to that of a pioneer going west to settle and grow communities.
If this were the case, then I'd go in a heartbeat,
I think the term "environmentally friendly" is a reference to the residue left after the explosion. Apparently the ground after a conventional high explosive detonation is very toxic. I remember reading that the United States has been is working on a more environmentlly friendly explosive for at least ten years.
The motivation for making an explosive less toxic is because 80% of all weapons produced are used in training and not combat - resulting in large areas of friendly territory (often training grounds) that are hazardous to life and very expensive to clean up.
I think the only way space exploration will receive substantial funding is if energy can be provided from it more cost effectively than can be produced on earth. Part of this being successful is to develop a very heavy lifting capability.
This means that we must go away from a petroleum based economy to some form of fusion based economy - when I say "fusion", I mean either energy from the sun (in the form of O'Neill PowerSats) or from Moon based Helium-3.
In either case a large infrastructure would have to be created which would mean some kind of heavy lift capability (I remember a quote from one of the ISS project managers saying that it's hell trying to build a space station at 35,000 lb (the maximum payload capability of the shuttle) at a time). The heavy lift capability would have to be measured in millions of pounds (much more than the 200,000 lbs of the Saturn V).
In terms of how I see actually happening, I would expect a hybrid of the PowerSat solution and Helium-3 fueled power plants in that the Helium-3 would be sent to the PowerSats and the energy produced beamed down to the Earth. Somehow I don't see how it could ever be cost efficient if we are sending Mass back down (thinking of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") and I would expect people to be unwilling to allow nuclear fuel to be dropped down through the atmosphere.
In your question, you are asking what question to ask to educate the student body - I would think that this would be an opportunity to educate Mr. Taylor.
If you read some of the other replies, you'll see that people believe that the appropriate greeting for him is tear gas or an AK-47.
I would think that the meeting would be a chance for him to see your fellow faculty and students as people and not as criminals as we are always viewed by the **AAs. It could be a good chance for him to sit down with students and understand how they would like to enjoy the products that he represents and discuss ways that are mutually beneficial to both parties.
If he isn't receptive to this idea, then bring out the tear gas and AK-47s.
Sorry, I don't have the time to research the device, but what kind of testing/validation of this product was done? If this was for a government originally, shouldn't it have to have demonstrated some kind of hacker proof level of security? What was on the package was it marketing hype ("Protects your data from targeted attacks" which means nothing) or an indication that some kind of testing was done (ie "Meets MIL-1234 requirements for data security")?
It looks like that for $175, you get a 1GByte USB key, with a Windows access program on the Flash in a non-protected partition and a pretty box.
From the description it sounds like the product was just marketing razzamatazz with no real substance to back up marketing claims - so why would somebody have bought it in the first place?
This is half in jest, half wondering if any "pros" (ie NSA types) were in the competition? They definitely weren't listed in the TFA and I wonder if they'd be allowed to compete.
Of course, their cover could be working for the Mormons...
While probably not solving the problem but displacing it, how about using old computers for the $100 computer initiative for developing countries.
They would definitely use more power than the $100 computers designed for this purpose but chances are they would provide the same amount of processing power, better graphics, more hard drive space and would have available monitors and network/WiFi adapters.
As I said, that this is displacing the problems as now the developing countries will have to deal with the waste at some point in time. But, it could give their economies & education systems a much needed boost.
From TFA "What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people." The article then goes on to say that there are 50 to 100 bulbs in an average house.
Therefore, if everyone bought one, they would displace the sales of 1-2% of the total bulbs.
But, later in the article, "Last year, U.S. consumers spent about $1 billion to buy about 2 billion lightbulbs--5.5 million every day. Just 5%, 100 million, were compact fluorescents."
So, if these numbers are true, then CFLs are already saving enough energy to power a city of 7.5 million people. Isn't this something that could be measured and shown as an overall drop in the average power used per household?
Personally, I only replace bulbs with CFLs, so I do believe in them, but I feel like the assertions in this article should be measureable.
Reading through TFA, I was reminded of similar ones, 20 years ago (mid to late '80s), when the Macintosh was out, but not performing really well, there were still being versions of the Apple ][ being produced and nothing exciting on the horizon.
It will be interesting to see if the complete cycle repeats with a stock slump, Steve being canned, looks around for the next big thing and brings it with him back to Apple for another triumphant return. If this is what's going to happen, then you should start buying up Apple stock in 2-3 years.
Of course, he's had cancer recently and maybe there's nothing this round for him to get excited about.
How about along with a analogous Driver STandard, how about a complete Linux version of "WHQL" (Windows Hardware Qualification Logo) which would indicate that a PC would be able to run a (standard?) version of Linux?
Doing this would also help push Linux as a driver towards hardware standards rather than responding to Wintel.
Slashdot Mirror
reason.
Here is the link explicitly: http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/05/09/columbia.data.ap/index.html
Take care,
myke
Hey, I thought you might be interested in this article at CNN which describes the damage somewhat more concisely.
Have a great weekend,
myke
Thanx for the pointer to the photographs - I didn't see the link when I originally put up my post.
I think the best shot to look at is Page 7, the side view of the platter and the 24 pin chip shows the best detail (or what I can see):
a) The top platter seems to have dirt/grit on it. If you look at Page 5, you'll see an area at the top where it seems to have been wiped away.
b) The top platter seems to have two divots in it on the right side.
c) The chip pads on the PCB look undamaged and have visible solder (you can see the convex shape of the solder) on them.
d) The chip's pins are not bent or deformed.
I don't think you can assume that the chip was removed due to sheer; the expected sheer force of a large SMT joint is on the order of 8kg and the mass of the part would around 15g. Thus, to sheer the chip off, you would require 192kgf and, taking the mass of the chip into account, the acceleration would be more than 12,000m/s^s or more than 1,300g - at this level of acceleration, I would expect there to be a visible distortion to the chip's pins as well as to the disk's platters and the case itself.
A much more likely explanation for the chip being removed is either that the chip desoldered itself due to the heat of re-entry. This makes the most sense to me because of how intact the pins look as well as the solder pads on the PCB. I should point out that there is a mark on the far right hand corner of the chip which could indicate an impact which knocked it off the PCB, although the lack of damage to the pins/pads (I would expect some pads to be ripped off the PCB) makes this less likely than the heat of the accident causing the chip to desolder itself.
myke
I don't know if this would qualify for that simply because the article doesn't show what the platter(s) looked like after the accident. I'm sure the drive was under tremendous stresses, but I would be surprised if they significantly exceeded that of an aircraft accident followed by fire (and I know disks are recovered in these circumstances).
I'm not saying this to put down the skills of the data recovery team, just to say without seeing the condition of the platters with, ideally, pictures showing typical disks that come in for recovery that I wouldn't think that this would be an extreme case.
myke
What is "double solder"? I can understand having redundant wiring and coming up with a way to automatically turn the robot perpendicularly to the slope to minimize energy lost keeping its place but you have to make sure the soldering is done correctly, you don't resolder something and expect it to be more reliable (actually, the reverse would be true).
Can anybody comment?
myke
I've gotten to the age where astigmatism and a loss of lens flexibility have necessitated the use of reading glasses. If I don't wear them, then I get a "spasm of accomodation" and my vision goes fuzzy.
To help minimize the problems, I have discovered the rules posted by neapolitan (1100101) * and I would suggest that others, as they reach 35+ do the same.
myke
he was an actor and I don't think of Sci-Fi as an actor driven movie genre. Filmmakers like George Lucas, James Cameron, Ridley Scott, George Pal and Fritz Lang will be remembered for their impact on Sci-Fi well before the actors in their films are recognized. I'd argue that Stan Winston (creature/special effects) has also had more of an impact on Sci-Fi than the actors. Similarly, writers like ACC and Ron Serle (who wrote the screenplay for "Planet of the Apes") have had bigger impacts than the actors in the films.
Now, having said this I might say that Sigorney Weaver has had as significant impact as any of the filmmakers listed above. Certainly more than Douglas Rain, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Harrison Ford, Michael Rennie, Leslie Neilson and Charleton Heston who all had leading roles in groundbreaking Sci-Fi features and whose performances come to mind when you're discussing the picture, but they really just carried out the roles they were given to them by the filmmakers.
myke
When I saw the quote, I thought about the scene in the book where the Moti Engineer took apart and put together Lady Sally's palmtop computer which was thought to be impossible because everything was one single unit.
To hit $75 for a laptop, the same technology will be required.
myke
Just looking at the screen, my first thought was that the format would be great for code/system development with seamless transition across multiple open applications.
It would also be great for different industries (I'm thinking the financial markets) where more than two screens are the norm. The curved structure might allow for a smaller workstation.
In any case, it's a kewl concept and it will be interesting to see where it goes.
myke
"Single carbon nanotube, is there nothing that you can't do?"
myke
When I'm training new technicians and engineers in how to debug processor based systems, I always tell them look at:
1. Power
2. Reset
3. Clocks
Before looking at anything else. A good 80% of the time the problem is in one of these three areas.
myke
I thought the original question was "would you go even if we couldn't guarantee that we could get you back" with the situation being that you would be sent there to settle (which implies raising a family there) with base expectation that you would be there for years and with the understanding tht NASA may not be able to develop the technology for a return flight.
When put in this context it is similar to that of a pioneer going west to settle and grow communities.
If this were the case, then I'd go in a heartbeat,
myke
I think the term "environmentally friendly" is a reference to the residue left after the explosion. Apparently the ground after a conventional high explosive detonation is very toxic. I remember reading that the United States has been is working on a more environmentlly friendly explosive for at least ten years.
The motivation for making an explosive less toxic is because 80% of all weapons produced are used in training and not combat - resulting in large areas of friendly territory (often training grounds) that are hazardous to life and very expensive to clean up.
myke
I think the only way space exploration will receive substantial funding is if energy can be provided from it more cost effectively than can be produced on earth. Part of this being successful is to develop a very heavy lifting capability.
This means that we must go away from a petroleum based economy to some form of fusion based economy - when I say "fusion", I mean either energy from the sun (in the form of O'Neill PowerSats) or from Moon based Helium-3.
In either case a large infrastructure would have to be created which would mean some kind of heavy lift capability (I remember a quote from one of the ISS project managers saying that it's hell trying to build a space station at 35,000 lb (the maximum payload capability of the shuttle) at a time). The heavy lift capability would have to be measured in millions of pounds (much more than the 200,000 lbs of the Saturn V).
In terms of how I see actually happening, I would expect a hybrid of the PowerSat solution and Helium-3 fueled power plants in that the Helium-3 would be sent to the PowerSats and the energy produced beamed down to the Earth. Somehow I don't see how it could ever be cost efficient if we are sending Mass back down (thinking of "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress") and I would expect people to be unwilling to allow nuclear fuel to be dropped down through the atmosphere.
myke
In your question, you are asking what question to ask to educate the student body - I would think that this would be an opportunity to educate Mr. Taylor.
If you read some of the other replies, you'll see that people believe that the appropriate greeting for him is tear gas or an AK-47.
I would think that the meeting would be a chance for him to see your fellow faculty and students as people and not as criminals as we are always viewed by the **AAs. It could be a good chance for him to sit down with students and understand how they would like to enjoy the products that he represents and discuss ways that are mutually beneficial to both parties.
If he isn't receptive to this idea, then bring out the tear gas and AK-47s.
myke
Maybe all 247 of those lawsuits will be demanding /. for the IP addresses of each "Mr. Anonymous Coward".
myke
Sorry, I don't have the time to research the device, but what kind of testing/validation of this product was done? If this was for a government originally, shouldn't it have to have demonstrated some kind of hacker proof level of security? What was on the package was it marketing hype ("Protects your data from targeted attacks" which means nothing) or an indication that some kind of testing was done (ie "Meets MIL-1234 requirements for data security")?
It looks like that for $175, you get a 1GByte USB key, with a Windows access program on the Flash in a non-protected partition and a pretty box.
From the description it sounds like the product was just marketing razzamatazz with no real substance to back up marketing claims - so why would somebody have bought it in the first place?
myke
The one we did in High School:
"If Betty goes out with 5001 men and charges each one $7, what is she?"
The answer is the product and looked at upside down.
myke
This is half in jest, half wondering if any "pros" (ie NSA types) were in the competition? They definitely weren't listed in the TFA and I wonder if they'd be allowed to compete.
Of course, their cover could be working for the Mormons...
myke
While probably not solving the problem but displacing it, how about using old computers for the $100 computer initiative for developing countries.
They would definitely use more power than the $100 computers designed for this purpose but chances are they would provide the same amount of processing power, better graphics, more hard drive space and would have available monitors and network/WiFi adapters.
As I said, that this is displacing the problems as now the developing countries will have to deal with the waste at some point in time. But, it could give their economies & education systems a much needed boost.
myke
So, I went and used them on the 10 geek wallets article.
myke
From TFA "What that means is that if every one of 110 million American households bought just one ice-cream-cone bulb, took it home, and screwed it in the place of an ordinary 60-watt bulb, the energy saved would be enough to power a city of 1.5 million people." The article then goes on to say that there are 50 to 100 bulbs in an average house.
Therefore, if everyone bought one, they would displace the sales of 1-2% of the total bulbs.
But, later in the article, "Last year, U.S. consumers spent about $1 billion to buy about 2 billion lightbulbs--5.5 million every day. Just 5%, 100 million, were compact fluorescents."
So, if these numbers are true, then CFLs are already saving enough energy to power a city of 7.5 million people. Isn't this something that could be measured and shown as an overall drop in the average power used per household?
Personally, I only replace bulbs with CFLs, so I do believe in them, but I feel like the assertions in this article should be measureable.
myke
Reading through TFA, I was reminded of similar ones, 20 years ago (mid to late '80s), when the Macintosh was out, but not performing really well, there were still being versions of the Apple ][ being produced and nothing exciting on the horizon.
It will be interesting to see if the complete cycle repeats with a stock slump, Steve being canned, looks around for the next big thing and brings it with him back to Apple for another triumphant return. If this is what's going to happen, then you should start buying up Apple stock in 2-3 years.
Of course, he's had cancer recently and maybe there's nothing this round for him to get excited about.
myke
How about along with a analogous Driver STandard, how about a complete Linux version of "WHQL" (Windows Hardware Qualification Logo) which would indicate that a PC would be able to run a (standard?) version of Linux?
Doing this would also help push Linux as a driver towards hardware standards rather than responding to Wintel.
myke
The obvious question is, who or what put in the remaining 0.1% up there?
Enquiring minds want to know!
myke