" it's only a matter of time before the 1st Amendment becomes about as well honored as the 2nd"
It's about time we had reasonable, common sense restrictions on the press.
Scented inserts and metallic type should be illegal in magazines. No one needs high speed printing presses which can automatically feed reams of paper - they should be restricted for government and military use. Private citizens will still be able to use hand fed mimeograph machines, so their rights won't be violated. Anyone publishing news should have to be licensed, with a journalism degree from an accredited university.
Yes, the comms is essentially completely shielded, except for the external antennas. But the airframe is not a Faraday cage and personal devices are likely to be in proximity to the windows, so there is a path for interference. My understanding is that resistance to damage from 200 V/m isn't just for comms, but also for things which aren't shielded by more than the airframe, such as control and power wiring.
Every GPS receiver includes a tuned antenna, tuned circuits, and oscillators related to GPS frequencies. One must plan for not only properly operating and functioning ones, but ones which may have failed in unexpected ways.
It's not a matter of taking a plane down. It's a matter of increasing the risk. Deliberately causing that much interference on a single flight is unlikely to cause a crash, so it's not a good strategy - it would get noticed. But lessor, unintentional interference, spread across millions of flights per year, may increase the risk so that one (or more) has a life threatening problem.
A 1:1000 chance isn't good enough for a bad guy, who risks being caught. But doubling the risk of flying so people can use doodads for 30 minutes more per flight isn't good for the public, either.
The burden of proof is to show, not that personal electronics cause problems, but to show that they don't. And that's across all of the ones encountered, not just the ones working to factory specifications.
Reminds me of an old Shelley Berman joke - âoeYou put on your seat belt. That way, when the plane comes to a sudden stop, say against a mountain, only the top half of you will fly through the cabin, while the bottom half remains, legs crossed, in the seat.â
"The findings: An Amazon Kindle emitted less than 30 microvolts per meter when in use. That is only 0.00003 of a volt. A Boeing 747 must withstand 200 volts per square meter. "
EMF fields are measured in V/m. He's got one side right, but the "200 volts per square meter," is nonsense. Additionally, the actual 200 V/m measure is from RTCA DO-160 Section 20, and refers to external fields, which are in large part shielded by an aircraft's metal skin. And, the criteria for success is not a lack of interference, but whether the aircraft will continue to operate after experiencing a brief event of that magnitude. Indeed, there is every expectation that normal communications will be lost when subject to that level of signal.
A better, and more honest, comparison for that 30 uV/m the Kindle put out would be to consider that a decent FM radio can get stereo reception with a signal of 2 uV/M. That's reasonable, as FM frequencies (88-108 MHz) have similar characteristics compared to those used for aircraft communications (108-137 MHz), which are immediately adjacent. RTCA DO-196 assumes a radio sensitivity of 20 uV. So, a Kindle can compete in signal strength with those normally received by an aircraft communications receiver.
This issue is not what level of emissions from a device will cause damage, but whether they can interfere with aircraft operations. Just as the author conflates uV/m with uV/m^2, he's also ignorant of what's really important.
Having said that, it's unlikely that a Kindle (the example given) emits enough in the aircraft radio band to cause problems. I'd be more concerned with a bunch of cell phones, each with a GPS receiver built in, interfering with the aircraft's GPS based systems. GPS operates at even lower levels. But, I'd trust someone who actually understands the issues to make a real study to determine the risks, rather than take the word of an obviously biased ("writing skeptically for years") writer who gets even the basics wrong, after years of writing about the subject (or is being deliberately disingenuous).
"Holiday Inn" is a placeholder. Make it the local community college. Create a teleconference, so the Chinese don't have to be on site, and NASA doesn't have to spend money flying people around. For rocket scientists, they don't seem very creative.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a tautology.
What do they expect? Of course Bing is going to link to microsoft.com.
Eliza, is that you?
When there's an Android leak, is it oil, or battery acid?
It's the prosign for double space. It's commonly used to indicate a pause or "hold on a second."
" it's only a matter of time before the 1st Amendment becomes about as well honored as the 2nd"
It's about time we had reasonable, common sense restrictions on the press. Scented inserts and metallic type should be illegal in magazines. No one needs high speed printing presses which can automatically feed reams of paper - they should be restricted for government and military use. Private citizens will still be able to use hand fed mimeograph machines, so their rights won't be violated. Anyone publishing news should have to be licensed, with a journalism degree from an accredited university.
"I know a fellow who earned beer money in medical school by killing cats with an icepick for purposes of dissection"
He killed way more yeast than cats.
They're not going to torture them, only waterboard them.
Risk/benefit analysis is obviously an unfamiliar concept to you.
All events will involve Wii-motes.
Yes, the comms is essentially completely shielded, except for the external antennas. But the airframe is not a Faraday cage and personal devices are likely to be in proximity to the windows, so there is a path for interference. My understanding is that resistance to damage from 200 V/m isn't just for comms, but also for things which aren't shielded by more than the airframe, such as control and power wiring.
Every GPS receiver includes a tuned antenna, tuned circuits, and oscillators related to GPS frequencies. One must plan for not only properly operating and functioning ones, but ones which may have failed in unexpected ways.
"Wonkette" is an appeal to authority? Try the Onion next time.
It's not a matter of taking a plane down. It's a matter of increasing the risk. Deliberately causing that much interference on a single flight is unlikely to cause a crash, so it's not a good strategy - it would get noticed. But lessor, unintentional interference, spread across millions of flights per year, may increase the risk so that one (or more) has a life threatening problem.
A 1:1000 chance isn't good enough for a bad guy, who risks being caught. But doubling the risk of flying so people can use doodads for 30 minutes more per flight isn't good for the public, either.
The burden of proof is to show, not that personal electronics cause problems, but to show that they don't. And that's across all of the ones encountered, not just the ones working to factory specifications.
Reminds me of an old Shelley Berman joke - âoeYou put on your seat belt. That way, when the plane comes to a sudden stop, say against a mountain, only the top half of you will fly through the cabin, while the bottom half remains, legs crossed, in the seat.â
...but two or three cans of Coke combined together are a danger. Just ask Michael Bloomberg.
"The findings: An Amazon Kindle emitted less than 30 microvolts per meter when in use. That is only 0.00003 of a volt. A Boeing 747 must withstand 200 volts per square meter. "
EMF fields are measured in V/m. He's got one side right, but the "200 volts per square meter," is nonsense. Additionally, the actual 200 V/m measure is from RTCA DO-160 Section 20, and refers to external fields, which are in large part shielded by an aircraft's metal skin. And, the criteria for success is not a lack of interference, but whether the aircraft will continue to operate after experiencing a brief event of that magnitude. Indeed, there is every expectation that normal communications will be lost when subject to that level of signal.
A better, and more honest, comparison for that 30 uV/m the Kindle put out would be to consider that a decent FM radio can get stereo reception with a signal of 2 uV/M. That's reasonable, as FM frequencies (88-108 MHz) have similar characteristics compared to those used for aircraft communications (108-137 MHz), which are immediately adjacent. RTCA DO-196 assumes a radio sensitivity of 20 uV. So, a Kindle can compete in signal strength with those normally received by an aircraft communications receiver.
This issue is not what level of emissions from a device will cause damage, but whether they can interfere with aircraft operations. Just as the author conflates uV/m with uV/m^2, he's also ignorant of what's really important.
Having said that, it's unlikely that a Kindle (the example given) emits enough in the aircraft radio band to cause problems. I'd be more concerned with a bunch of cell phones, each with a GPS receiver built in, interfering with the aircraft's GPS based systems. GPS operates at even lower levels. But, I'd trust someone who actually understands the issues to make a real study to determine the risks, rather than take the word of an obviously biased ("writing skeptically for years") writer who gets even the basics wrong, after years of writing about the subject (or is being deliberately disingenuous).
You are provably wrong.
Nope. $25 annual filing fee.
"Holiday Inn" is a placeholder. Make it the local community college. Create a teleconference, so the Chinese don't have to be on site, and NASA doesn't have to spend money flying people around. For rocket scientists, they don't seem very creative.
Instead of having it at NASA, can't they just have it at the local Holiday Inn?
It cost less than $50 to form an LLC in my state, which insulates your personal assets from business ones.
It costs even less if you simply turn the server off.
OK. Paper airplanes aren't tethered, and engage in free flight.
Too bad it's not powered by flaming Anonymous Cowards. Travel would be free!