Loss of institutional knowledge and experience at NASA and the Michoud plant because of "lots of old-timers retiring or taking buyouts" as the shuttle program reduced its workforce throughout the latter half of the 1990s.
"Loss of institutional knowledge and experience" is a big problem in many ongoing engineering endeavours. When cheap computing became available, many of the "old guys" retired/got fired rather than adapt/succumb to the relatively crappy software solutions available at the time. In theory, meticulous "as-built" drawings and documents are prepared but somehow this is always a half-hearted effort since there's always something newer and more interesting to move onto.
Who took over from the old guard in many cases? People that knew how to operate the computers and make deliverables look CAD-nice. It didn't necessarily matter if the documents were flawed or whether the details were sweated - there weren't many people left to check.
Now, instead of competent detail draftsmen/designers that have the ability to work within their discipline at a variety of employers we have employers demanding specific experience with specific software. Many of these guys are now button-pushers that discuss how to make "the damn machine" do what they want rather than talking about design details and getting excited about new ideas.
Don't get me wrong - it's fun to modify software to make it do what you want it to do, it's just that this is not what designers are supposed to be doing.
WaaahWaaah! Gimme back my pencil!
PS Anyone want to help out with BRL-CAD customization?
Five years ago linux seemed to be going places, whereas now Linux's situation seems largely static, little progressed from where it was five years ago.
Maybe Apple with Mac OSX took away some of the Linux momentum? I've just moved to Mac because of Bootcamp/Parallels' ability to run software I've been using for 15 years. Not to mention that my 15 month-old XP installation crapped out on me and the recovery CD didn't.
It's taking some time to get used to, but overall, so far so good.
Why not "math basics" where the complicated stuff is illustrated with computer graphics? Just enough to educate the non-math sudent what the general principles are and how they work.
It's when people start turning the justice system from a people-driven system to an algorithmic machine that real travesties start happening.
Look, I appreciate your insightful comments on this matter, but I don't know what transvestites have to do with the topic at hand. I'm also offended, as
On the other hand, legal limits for BAL always go down due to politicians' wanting to be seen as "doing something", so one "lite" beer at lunch might end up in an undeserved DUI. At the same time, sober, stupid, problem-causing drivers get away with risky behaviour regularly.
The worst is that there's no blood check for stupidity/obliviousness so those morons will almost always get away with dangerous driving.
There are other small-scale methods such as fractional distillation of air [to produce hydrogen]
Uh, no. Air is composed mostly of N2, O2 and other elements. Hydrogen most definitely is NOT distilled from air. Why do people (who sound like they know technical stuff) often think this?
Please mod this post up, as no one else has corrected this error yet. [I've done plant design work in cryogenics and various H2 production, storage and distribution facilities]
it's no longer a question of being a nanny state, or personal responsibility. It becomes a matter of public interest to stop something very dangerous - isn't that what government's for?
Drivers that are dangerous (but sober) are pretty easy to spot by other drivers - the cops don't go after them because stupidity is difficult to prove.
Yup. People from opposing "parties" get to know each other personally as they make sure of the honesty of the process. People can disagree on political issues but there's nothing better than bridging that divide. After all, most people have similar goals in life.
With a machine that calculates election results no one can really claim to be part of the verification process.
FFS, any draftsman that is old enough to know what Borco and T-squares are has inhaled ammonia at least a few dozen times. That was a job for the juniors and I well remember how unpleasant it was ~25 years ago. These days people are hyper-sensitive about ANY environmental concern, no matter how slight.
People worry too much about minor things these days, I for one haven't experiev kdsgigijfsdfy as a resuly of my exposeyte to mh3 fumez..
"Cheaper" as in "less people are involved"? Aren't elections supposed to be about people? Trying to minimize peoples involvement from the whole process seems a bit odd.
Perhaps most "managers and CEO's" don't have tech backgrounds and think that fundamental problems can be solved with lawyers and more PR/better marketing. It's probably relatively easy to turn a blind eye towards problems and paper over them if one's only concern is money.
The first thing I did with my new MacBook Pro on Wednesday was to tape over the little camera lens (yes, after 15 years of using PCs I finally switched - but only because of the BootCamp/Parallels option).
the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. It failed shortly before Christmas in 1967 resulting in 46 deaths. A single piece of hardware failed due to a tiny manufacturing defect
I've got mod points at the moment - what happens if I attempt to rate a Taco post as "Overrated"? Does my Karma auto-reset to minus a bizgillion and they cancel my subscription?
Anyway, it seems to me that the current title of "editor" is relatively new but I forget what they were called before.
You can't hope to achieve smooth 360+ degree rotation on an fps. You have to move your thumb at some point.
3DConnexion's entry-level controllers are good for 3D navigation inside engineering models with some software - I don't know if they work with games. The device is designed to be used with the non-mousing hand and is "puck-like", allowing forward, back, side-to-side, up/down, tilt, rotate.
When it does work, it works quite nicely and intuitively.
I prefer ethics over morality. Integrity is part of it all.
To me, morality implies adherence to a predescribed code of conduct. Things that you "should do".
Everyone has their own code of do/do not do. I'd hesitate to enforce my morals on you, but ethically you and I are already bound by the unspoken code of human conduct. For example: I'd not hesitate to help someone in dire need based upon their beliefs, I'd just act (and have done so in the past) without considering if it was the moral thing to do.
If voting is the core of a democracy then the transparency of the process MUST be paramount. Chuck out the whole concept of voting if average citizens have to understand and correctly interpret the latest whiz-bang technology.
Slashdot Mirror
Loss of institutional knowledge and experience at NASA and the Michoud plant because of "lots of old-timers retiring or taking buyouts" as the shuttle program reduced its workforce throughout the latter half of the 1990s.
"Loss of institutional knowledge and experience" is a big problem in many ongoing engineering endeavours. When cheap computing became available, many of the "old guys" retired/got fired rather than adapt/succumb to the relatively crappy software solutions available at the time. In theory, meticulous "as-built" drawings and documents are prepared but somehow this is always a half-hearted effort since there's always something newer and more interesting to move onto.
Who took over from the old guard in many cases? People that knew how to operate the computers and make deliverables look CAD-nice. It didn't necessarily matter if the documents were flawed or whether the details were sweated - there weren't many people left to check.
Now, instead of competent detail draftsmen/designers that have the ability to work within their discipline at a variety of employers we have employers demanding specific experience with specific software. Many of these guys are now button-pushers that discuss how to make "the damn machine" do what they want rather than talking about design details and getting excited about new ideas.
Don't get me wrong - it's fun to modify software to make it do what you want it to do, it's just that this is not what designers are supposed to be doing.
WaaahWaaah! Gimme back my pencil!
PS Anyone want to help out with BRL-CAD customization?
Why wasn't it dismissed out of hand right at the start?
Because lawyers need to feed their children, too.
Five years ago linux seemed to be going places, whereas now Linux's situation seems largely static, little progressed from where it was five years ago.
Maybe Apple with Mac OSX took away some of the Linux momentum? I've just moved to Mac because of Bootcamp/Parallels' ability to run software I've been using for 15 years. Not to mention that my 15 month-old XP installation crapped out on me and the recovery CD didn't.
It's taking some time to get used to, but overall, so far so good.
Stelllaaaaaa!
Why not "math basics" where the complicated stuff is illustrated with computer graphics? Just enough to educate the non-math sudent what the general principles are and how they work.
Perhaps the patrol routes are determined in advance by higher-ups.
It's when people start turning the justice system from a people-driven system to an algorithmic machine that real travesties start happening.
Look, I appreciate your insightful comments on this matter, but I don't know what transvestites have to do with the topic at hand. I'm also offended, as
[puts down beer]
Oh, sorry.
On the other hand, legal limits for BAL always go down due to politicians' wanting to be seen as "doing something", so one "lite" beer at lunch might end up in an undeserved DUI. At the same time, sober, stupid, problem-causing drivers get away with risky behaviour regularly.
The worst is that there's no blood check for stupidity/obliviousness so those morons will almost always get away with dangerous driving.
There are other small-scale methods such as fractional distillation of air [to produce hydrogen]
Uh, no. Air is composed mostly of N2, O2 and other elements. Hydrogen most definitely is NOT distilled from air. Why do people (who sound like they know technical stuff) often think this?
Please mod this post up, as no one else has corrected this error yet. [I've done plant design work in cryogenics and various H2 production, storage and distribution facilities]
it's no longer a question of being a nanny state, or personal responsibility. It becomes a matter of public interest to stop something very dangerous - isn't that what government's for?
Drivers that are dangerous (but sober) are pretty easy to spot by other drivers - the cops don't go after them because stupidity is difficult to prove.
Does ChaCha have its own engine or does it rely on all the other ones? The "personal service" feature will die-off if enough people try to use it.
Yup. People from opposing "parties" get to know each other personally as they make sure of the honesty of the process. People can disagree on political issues but there's nothing better than bridging that divide. After all, most people have similar goals in life.
With a machine that calculates election results no one can really claim to be part of the verification process.
FFS, any draftsman that is old enough to know what Borco and T-squares are has inhaled ammonia at least a few dozen times. That was a job for the juniors and I well remember how unpleasant it was ~25 years ago. These days people are hyper-sensitive about ANY environmental concern, no matter how slight.
People worry too much about minor things these days, I for one haven't experiev kdsgigijfsdfy as a resuly of my exposeyte to mh3 fumez..
"Cheaper" as in "less people are involved"? Aren't elections supposed to be about people? Trying to minimize peoples involvement from the whole process seems a bit odd.
It's gotten to the point that the developers want to know what methods will be used in the pen tests so that they can protect against them.
This is absurd and dishonest. Did these same people cheat on tests when in school?
Perhaps most "managers and CEO's" don't have tech backgrounds and think that fundamental problems can be solved with lawyers and more PR/better marketing. It's probably relatively easy to turn a blind eye towards problems and paper over them if one's only concern is money.
Could this be why most statements from "officials" (or whatever sort) often contain so much bafflegab and buzzwords?
The first thing I did with my new MacBook Pro on Wednesday was to tape over the little camera lens (yes, after 15 years of using PCs I finally switched - but only because of the BootCamp/Parallels option).
the Silver Bridge over the Ohio River. It failed shortly before Christmas in 1967 resulting in 46 deaths. A single piece of hardware failed due to a tiny manufacturing defect
I thought Mothman caused that one.
I've got mod points at the moment - what happens if I attempt to rate a Taco post as "Overrated"? Does my Karma auto-reset to minus a bizgillion and they cancel my subscription?
Anyway, it seems to me that the current title of "editor" is relatively new but I forget what they were called before.
You can't hope to achieve smooth 360+ degree rotation on an fps. You have to move your thumb at some point.
3DConnexion's entry-level controllers are good for 3D navigation inside engineering models with some software - I don't know if they work with games. The device is designed to be used with the non-mousing hand and is "puck-like", allowing forward, back, side-to-side, up/down, tilt, rotate.
When it does work, it works quite nicely and intuitively.
Alberta already has something similar for monitors and televisions.
I prefer ethics over morality. Integrity is part of it all.
To me, morality implies adherence to a predescribed code of conduct. Things that you "should do".
Everyone has their own code of do/do not do. I'd hesitate to enforce my morals on you, but ethically you and I are already bound by the unspoken code of human conduct. For example: I'd not hesitate to help someone in dire need based upon their beliefs, I'd just act (and have done so in the past) without considering if it was the moral thing to do.
Probably I'm explaining things poorly.
If voting is the core of a democracy then the transparency of the process MUST be paramount. Chuck out the whole concept of voting if average citizens have to understand and correctly interpret the latest whiz-bang technology.
Blah-blah. Just listen to "Fat Bottomed Girls"!