Dr. Matloff's assertion is utter crap! US students aren't pursuing "STEM" careers because one needs to pay a fortune in college tuition to make a mediocre salary. Why bother? Also, nerdy "STEM" careers aren't cool/trendy/whatever.
US culture doesn't value "STEM" careers. Why should US citizens go against their own culture?
Thomas Jefferson is believed to have drafted the Declaration of Independence (along with the help of Adams, Franklin, Livingston, and Sherman). He probably used quill pens that he cut to suit his writing style (as was commonly done at the time). John Hancock is believed to be the first signatory of the document (being the president of the Continental Congress at the time). The tradition is that he signed it in large lettering so that King George III would be able to read it without his glasses.
So, at least one iPad fanboy in Hungary uses their iPad for composing documents. I wonder how the drafts and revisions are being handled. It seems like a throwback to the days of Thomas Jefferson: one person, one quill, limited revisioning capability.
Yes, they are confiscating evidence, and taking ownership. These laws have been on the books for around 20 years and bypass trial. So, I ask again, why is this news? Because it's comic books?
Verizon isn't monitoring their own equipment, but they had to be told their system wasn't working by the County Sheriff. Shortly after that (approx 15 minutes) the system was restarted and working.
There was no blizzard on Dec. 17 or Jan 31. What's their excuse for these dates?
"Cmon now." You pay for these services. If they cannot keep it running, I would prefer to have a refund! This is hardly like Katrina, it's just routing a phone call.
Another article (http://www.gazette.net/stories/02162011/montnew184543_32539.php) shows that this has been an ongoing problem in a three-county area---perhaps even nationwide.
Verizon acknowledged the problem and are at fault for not notifying the 911 center that there was a problem. (In fact, the 911 center had to call Verizon to alert them of the problem.) Similar problems nearby occurred on Jan. 31, when cell phone calls could not be received between 9:36 p.m. and 2 a.m., an on Dec. 17, when cell phone callers could not reach 911 dispatchers for seven hours.
Verizon designed, installed, and operates these systems. Who's fault do you think it is?
Kathleen M. Grub Senior Vice President Public Affairs, Policy & Communications Verizon Communications 1300 I St. NW, Room 400W Washington, DC USA 20005
Re: Failed 9-1-1 Calls During January 26, 2011 Snowstorm
Dear Ms. Grub, The FCC has received reports that during the snowstorm that hit the Washington D.C. region on January 26, 2011, approximately 8,300 wireless 9-1-1 calls to the Montgomery County Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), routed over the Verizon network, were not connected, and an additional 1,700 wireless calls to the Prince George's County PSAP were not connected. I know that you will agree that any 9-1-1 call which is not connected can have serious consequences, but the large number of missed 9-1-1 calls on January 26 is truly alarming. I therefore request that Verizon provide an explanation of the causes of this and similar failures, provide Verizon's assessment of the possibility of occurrence in other locations and describe what actions Verizon is taking to prevent recurrence of these problems.
Here is a synopsis of what we understand so far. Through our initial discussions with various parties, including representatives of Verizon, we have learned that the Montgomery County PSAP has fourteen trunks that handle wireless calls, seven each from the Rockville and Hyattsville Selective Routers. The trunks from these Selective Routers to the PSAPs are maintained by Verizon (not Verizon Wireless), and there are separate trunks for wireline, wireless and VoIP calls. At approximately 5:15 p.m. on January 26, Verizon's system automatically took one of the wireless 9-1-1 trunks out of service. It is our understanding that this was not an overload. We understand that it is normal in large-scale emergencies for the call volume to exceed the trunk capacity, in which case calls will be blocked until another trunk opens up. In this instance, however, the Verizon system took each of the fourteen trunks handling wireless calls out of service sequentially so that they could not receive any more calls. By 8:45 p.m., the problem had cascaded to the other thirteen 9-1-1 trunks handling wireless calls, so that all of the trunks handling wireless 9-1-1 traffic in Montgomery County were taken out of service by the system.
These trunks have working alarms, but Verizon did not notify the PSAPs of the failure after the alarms went off. The Montgomery County PSAP recognized the problem just prior to 11:00 p.m. and notified Verizon. By 11:15 p.m., Verizon had placed all the trunks back into service.
Similarly, eight of the ten trunks that serve wireless calls for the Prince George's County PSAP were taken out of service automatically by Verizon on January 26 by approximately 8:30 p.m. A ninth trunk was taken out shortly thereafter. Four were restored by 10:30 p.m.; all trunks were finally restored by approximately 11:00 p.m.
It is not clear what caused these individual trunks to be taken out of service. Your experts have postulated that the increased call volume resulting from the snowstorm created a timing problem on the trunks which caused them to be automatically taken out of service. However, the Private Branch Exchange (PBX) in the Montgomery County PSAP is a relatively new CS1000E, which has the speed and capacity to handle the number of calls that were being routed. The Prince George's County PSAP's PBX is older, but since the PBX has fewer trunks connected to it, the PBX should be able handle the call volume. The slow response of the PBX's does not appear to be the cause of the failures.
I would note that the events of January 26 are not unique and that other similar 9-1-1 outages have occurred recently in the region. On December 17th, 2010, the Prince George's County PSAP and on July 25, 2010, the Montgomery County PSAP exper
It's not too early for Android. It may be too late. Android's biggest flaw is that Google isn't "steering the ship at all". Unfortunately, it's just about to hit a rock. Contrast that to Apple (run by obsessive-compulsive micro-managers) that tries to chart a course with millimeter tolerance. If it were not for so many people eschewing Apple (and it's closed platform) in favor of Android, it would all be over.
So many sectors are experiencing a bubble. Not just Dot Com companies. Many economies haven't truly recovered from the last recession and are prone to stall when oil prices get ridiculous.
One e-reader: everyone reads the same page. One book: everyone reads the same page. Two books: Two people can read. Each one reading a single book. (More, if they read the same page.) This, of course, can be extended to: Three books: Three people can read. Each one reading a single book. (More, if they read the same page.)
Yes, books are heavy, and take up more space. They also don't use electricity and are inexpensive. If you want to have something electronic, just get a netbook. How many devices does someone in a developing country need to purchase? Sure, e-readers can be preloaded, but who decides what is preloaded? How is new content put on the e-reader? What about copyrighted works?
Also, if people are really concerned with books made from "dead-trees", just pause to consider how much damage to the environment electronic devices do.
@Libertarian001: Epic misinterpretation = epic dumb-ass response! So-called "dead-tree" may go away, but the existing ones will outlast digital media. If you are so keen at ending "dead-tree" media, why don't you point your haughty finger at junk mail and let people keep their books?
E-readers are fragile, expensive, & hard to share compared to books. In a "developing" country I would wonder how you would service the e-reader. You cannot use an e-reader easily with two people. So, if one person wants to read something, everyone reads the same page. Books can be shared among several people. If you have two books, you can have two people reading at the same time. Let's see what a kindle costs: right now it's $139.00 in the US. ( What will it cost when you get to the "developing" country?) Some refubished netbooks cost this much. How do you get content onto the e-reader? Most need another computer or WLAN/WiFi internet connections. In a "developing" country, how easy is this to have access to? Also, in general, an e-reader isn't as flexible as a netbook in what you can achieve. E-readers make lousy netbooks. Netbooks make decent e-readers.
Poor Apple Stockholders. Steve Jobs is sick and all they worry about is pictures of their control-freak "sell the sizzle" CEO not looking well in the National Enquirer when he has pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that happens when you have a celebrity CEO.
Personally, I am surprised this hasn't happened until now. I guess they don't have Michael Jackson to write about anymore and have to branch out.
The first thing that came to mind is the character "Kuni" in the movie UHF. He shouts "Sooooooo Stupid!" many times in the movie. He knows the police are checking his Facebook postings. The guy is a moron The second post is the clincher: From the Philadelphia Inquirer snip in the referenced article: The victim told police that she left a party June 29 on South High Street in West Chester after consuming three drinks and feeling nauseous. She said Adams jumped into her car and later raped her. The woman called West Chester police July 1 and said she had accused Adams of raping her. She also told police she saw a posting on his Facebook page offering $500 for “a girls head,” and feared for her safety. At the preliminary hearing, West Chester Police Det. Stan Billie testified that he went to Adams’ home and that Adams agreed to meet with him at the police station. Less than 10 minutes later, Adams posted a second Facebook message that said he “needed this girl knocked off right now.
Honestly. Many people simply do not have the need, desire, temperament, or extra money required to purchase something other than a "dumbphone". Also, "dumbphones" make phone calls just as well as the so-called "smartphones". It has nothing to do with being smart enough to realize you don't need one.
Apparently DARPA does not. Just crack open a history book an read. For example, Hitler was an expert at the "Big Lie" and could feed people a line of BS (ahem, I meant "propaganda"). Also, it's not just what you say, it's how you say it.
Besides, if you want to really, really want to get this down, just get the news media to explain it to you. CNN, Fox News, and many "journalist" personalities could teach DARPA exactly what they want to know.
So true! In college I had tried several times to travel from Pittsburgh PA to Philadelphia PA. Sometimes I arrived only a few hours late, but often I arrived 18 or 24h later later than scheduled. (No had nothing to do with the weather!)
Let's get the facts straight: Obama isn't the proponent here, it's our choo-choo loving Vice President Joe Biden. Obama just cannot say no to anything with a multi-billion dollar pricetag. Besides, Christmas is over and Mr. Biden didn't get the set of trains he wanted soooo much!
Anyhow, given Amtrak's past record, can anyone expect a new rail system to work well? It would be like giving the US Post office a few billion dollars and expect them to recreate FedEx. It just isn't going to happen.
As it is now, Amtrak needs tremendous subsidies from the government just to maintain the only rails it actually owns (the "Northeast Corridor"). The $53 billion is just the beginning. We will be paying billions more every year to maintain a system that will not work in the US.
Yes, it does have a larger performance envelope than the Corvair. However, the Corvair was available as a convertible.
Seriously, though. NASA has a long history of ignoring conventional US and Soviet technologies---insisting on a "must be invented here" mentality (even eschewing other NASA programs) and ignoring common sense & safety. Unfortunately, this has often resulted in tragedy.
Well, just for starters: Placing the crew compartment/Shuttle craft along side the solid rocket boosters and LOX/LH2 tank is a big mistake. The crew is more vulnerable to catastrophic failures of these devices. (No Apollo-style or Soyuz-style escape system is possible with this type of configuration). Also, not being the leading portion of the whole assembly (rockets, shuttle, & tanks) during a launch, the Shuttle craft is vulnerable to strikes from debris falling from the leading surfaces. (This is the reason that the ice strike that doomed the Shuttle Columbia happened.)
Then there's the vertical stabilizer and wings that are vulnerable to damage (especially on reentry) and require elaborate protection schemes. Unfortunately, these "appendages" are critical for controlled reentry and landing.
I understand the difference between lobbing a capsule 100km into the air and orbital flight. My point is that a company or group of technical individuals, such as Scaled Composites, would be able to better design and operate a craft (using 20-20 hindsight and lessons learned) with $1.5 billion than keeping the original Shuttles going.
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Dr. Matloff's assertion is utter crap! US students aren't pursuing "STEM" careers because one needs to pay a fortune in college tuition to make a mediocre salary. Why bother? Also, nerdy "STEM" careers aren't cool/trendy/whatever.
US culture doesn't value "STEM" careers. Why should US citizens go against their own culture?
Thomas Jefferson is believed to have drafted the Declaration of Independence (along with the help of Adams, Franklin, Livingston, and Sherman). He probably used quill pens that he cut to suit his writing style (as was commonly done at the time). John Hancock is believed to be the first signatory of the document (being the president of the Continental Congress at the time). The tradition is that he signed it in large lettering so that King George III would be able to read it without his glasses.
So, at least one iPad fanboy in Hungary uses their iPad for composing documents. I wonder how the drafts and revisions are being handled.
It seems like a throwback to the days of Thomas Jefferson: one person, one quill, limited revisioning capability.
Yes, they are confiscating evidence, and taking ownership. These laws have been on the books for around 20 years and bypass trial.
So, I ask again, why is this news? Because it's comic books?
Here's an interesting opinion piece from 1993 (18 years ago):
http://www.fff.org/freedom/1093c.asp
http://www.fff.org/freedom/1193c.asp
The guy is allegedly laundering money with the comic books. The police are confiscating the evidence. What makes this unusual?
The National Broadband Map gives erroneous results. For example, it states that Verizon has broadband service for my address, but it doesn't.
Comeback via supercomputing? What does that even mean?
Well, a supercomputer doesn't actually have a centrifuge. There's just threads spinlocking. Stuxnet isn't as destructive here.
Verizon isn't monitoring their own equipment, but they had to be told their system wasn't working by the County Sheriff. Shortly after that (approx 15 minutes) the system was restarted and working.
There was no blizzard on Dec. 17 or Jan 31. What's their excuse for these dates?
"Cmon now." You pay for these services. If they cannot keep it running, I would prefer to have a refund! This is hardly like Katrina, it's just routing a phone call.
Another article (http://www.gazette.net/stories/02162011/montnew184543_32539.php) shows that this has been an ongoing problem in a three-county area---perhaps even nationwide.
Verizon acknowledged the problem and are at fault for not notifying the 911 center that there was a problem. (In fact, the 911 center had to call Verizon to alert them of the problem.) Similar problems nearby occurred on Jan. 31, when cell phone calls could not be received between 9:36 p.m. and 2 a.m., an on Dec. 17, when cell phone callers could not reach 911 dispatchers for seven hours.
Verizon designed, installed, and operates these systems. Who's fault do you think it is?
http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2011/db0218/DA-11-328A1.pdf
Kathleen M. Grub
Senior Vice President
Public Affairs, Policy & Communications
Verizon Communications
1300 I St. NW, Room 400W
Washington, DC USA 20005
Re: Failed 9-1-1 Calls During January 26, 2011 Snowstorm
Dear Ms. Grub,
The FCC has received reports that during the snowstorm that hit the Washington D.C. region on January 26, 2011, approximately 8,300 wireless
9-1-1 calls to the Montgomery County Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP), routed over the Verizon network, were not connected, and an additional 1,700
wireless calls to the Prince George's County PSAP were not connected. I know that you will agree that any 9-1-1 call which is not connected can have serious
consequences, but the large number of missed 9-1-1 calls on January 26 is truly alarming. I therefore request that Verizon provide an explanation of the causes
of this and similar failures, provide Verizon's assessment of the possibility of occurrence in other locations and describe what actions Verizon is taking to
prevent recurrence of these problems.
Here is a synopsis of what we understand so far. Through our initial discussions with various parties, including representatives of Verizon, we have
learned that the Montgomery County PSAP has fourteen trunks that handle wireless calls, seven each from the Rockville and Hyattsville Selective Routers.
The trunks from these Selective Routers to the PSAPs are maintained by Verizon (not Verizon Wireless), and there are separate trunks for wireline, wireless and
VoIP calls. At approximately 5:15 p.m. on January 26, Verizon's system automatically took one of the wireless 9-1-1 trunks out of service. It is our
understanding that this was not an overload. We understand that it is normal in large-scale emergencies for the call volume to exceed the trunk capacity, in
which case calls will be blocked until another trunk opens up. In this instance, however, the Verizon system took each of the fourteen trunks handling wireless
calls out of service sequentially so that they could not receive any more calls. By 8:45 p.m., the problem had cascaded to the other thirteen 9-1-1 trunks handling
wireless calls, so that all of the trunks handling wireless 9-1-1 traffic in Montgomery County were taken out of service by the system.
These trunks have working alarms, but Verizon did not notify the PSAPs of the failure after the alarms went off. The Montgomery County PSAP
recognized the problem just prior to 11:00 p.m. and notified Verizon. By 11:15 p.m., Verizon had placed all the trunks back into service.
Similarly, eight of the ten trunks that serve wireless calls for the Prince George's County PSAP were taken out of service automatically by Verizon on
January 26 by approximately 8:30 p.m. A ninth trunk was taken out shortly thereafter. Four were restored by 10:30 p.m.; all trunks were finally restored by
approximately 11:00 p.m.
It is not clear what caused these individual trunks to be taken out of service. Your experts have postulated that the increased call volume resulting
from the snowstorm created a timing problem on the trunks which caused them to be automatically taken out of service. However, the Private Branch Exchange
(PBX) in the Montgomery County PSAP is a relatively new CS1000E, which has the speed and capacity to handle the number of calls that were being routed.
The Prince George's County PSAP's PBX is older, but since the PBX has fewer trunks connected to it, the PBX should be able handle the call volume. The slow
response of the PBX's does not appear to be the cause of the failures.
I would note that the events of January 26 are not unique and that other similar 9-1-1 outages have occurred recently in the region. On December 17th,
2010, the Prince George's County PSAP and on July 25, 2010, the Montgomery County PSAP exper
It's not too early for Android. It may be too late. Android's biggest flaw is that Google isn't "steering the ship at all". Unfortunately, it's just about to hit a rock. Contrast that to Apple (run by obsessive-compulsive micro-managers) that tries to chart a course with millimeter tolerance.
If it were not for so many people eschewing Apple (and it's closed platform) in favor of Android, it would all be over.
So many sectors are experiencing a bubble. Not just Dot Com companies. Many economies haven't truly recovered from the last recession and are prone to stall when oil prices get ridiculous.
One e-reader: everyone reads the same page.
One book: everyone reads the same page.
Two books: Two people can read. Each one reading a single book. (More, if they read the same page.)
This, of course, can be extended to:
Three books: Three people can read. Each one reading a single book. (More, if they read the same page.)
Yes, books are heavy, and take up more space. They also don't use electricity and are inexpensive. If you want to have something electronic, just get a netbook. How many devices does someone in a developing country need to purchase?
Sure, e-readers can be preloaded, but who decides what is preloaded? How is new content put on the e-reader? What about copyrighted works?
Also, if people are really concerned with books made from "dead-trees", just pause to consider how much damage to the environment electronic devices do.
@Libertarian001: Epic misinterpretation = epic dumb-ass response!
So-called "dead-tree" may go away, but the existing ones will outlast digital media. If you are so keen at ending "dead-tree" media, why don't you point your haughty finger at junk mail and let people keep their books?
E-readers are fragile, expensive, & hard to share compared to books. In a "developing" country I would wonder how you would service the e-reader.
You cannot use an e-reader easily with two people. So, if one person wants to read something, everyone reads the same page. Books can be shared among several people. If you have two books, you can have two people reading at the same time.
Let's see what a kindle costs: right now it's $139.00 in the US. ( What will it cost when you get to the "developing" country?) Some refubished netbooks cost this much.
How do you get content onto the e-reader? Most need another computer or WLAN/WiFi internet connections. In a "developing" country, how easy is this to have access to?
Also, in general, an e-reader isn't as flexible as a netbook in what you can achieve. E-readers make lousy netbooks. Netbooks make decent e-readers.
Well, apparently Verizon has some friends in high places.
Poor Apple Stockholders. Steve Jobs is sick and all they worry about is pictures of their control-freak "sell the sizzle" CEO not looking well in the National Enquirer when he has pancreatic cancer. Unfortunately, this is the kind of thing that happens when you have a celebrity CEO.
Personally, I am surprised this hasn't happened until now. I guess they don't have Michael Jackson to write about anymore and have to branch out.
The first thing that came to mind is the character "Kuni" in the movie UHF. He shouts "Sooooooo Stupid!" many times in the movie.
He knows the police are checking his Facebook postings. The guy is a moron The second post is the clincher:
From the Philadelphia Inquirer snip in the referenced article:
The victim told police that she left a party June 29 on South High Street in West Chester after consuming three drinks and feeling nauseous. She said Adams jumped into her car and later raped her. The woman called West Chester police July 1 and said she had accused Adams of raping her. She also told police she saw a posting on his Facebook page offering $500 for “a girls head,” and feared for her safety. At the preliminary hearing, West Chester Police Det. Stan Billie testified that he went to Adams’ home and that Adams agreed to meet with him at the police station. Less than 10 minutes later, Adams posted a second Facebook message that said he “needed this girl knocked off right now.
If Nokia is Toast, Apple must be scrapple.
Honestly. Many people simply do not have the need, desire, temperament, or extra money required to purchase something other than a "dumbphone". Also, "dumbphones" make phone calls just as well as the so-called "smartphones".
It has nothing to do with being smart enough to realize you don't need one.
This isn't really news. Geologists have been debating this for years. It would be news if a Saudi geologist would officially state this.
Apparently DARPA does not. Just crack open a history book an read. For example, Hitler was an expert at the "Big Lie" and could feed people a line of BS (ahem, I meant "propaganda"). Also, it's not just what you say, it's how you say it.
Besides, if you want to really, really want to get this down, just get the news media to explain it to you. CNN, Fox News, and many "journalist" personalities could teach DARPA exactly what they want to know.
So true! In college I had tried several times to travel from Pittsburgh PA to Philadelphia PA. Sometimes I arrived only a few hours late, but often I arrived 18 or 24h later later than scheduled. (No had nothing to do with the weather!)
Let's get the facts straight: Obama isn't the proponent here, it's our choo-choo loving Vice President Joe Biden. Obama just cannot say no to anything with a multi-billion dollar pricetag. Besides, Christmas is over and Mr. Biden didn't get the set of trains he wanted soooo much!
Anyhow, given Amtrak's past record, can anyone expect a new rail system to work well? It would be like giving the US Post office a few billion dollars and expect them to recreate FedEx. It just isn't going to happen.
As it is now, Amtrak needs tremendous subsidies from the government just to maintain the only rails it actually owns (the "Northeast Corridor"). The $53 billion is just the beginning. We will be paying billions more every year to maintain a system that will not work in the US.
Yes, it does have a larger performance envelope than the Corvair. However, the Corvair was available as a convertible.
Seriously, though. NASA has a long history of ignoring conventional US and Soviet technologies---insisting on a "must be invented here" mentality (even eschewing other NASA programs) and ignoring common sense & safety. Unfortunately, this has often resulted in tragedy.
Well, just for starters:
Placing the crew compartment/Shuttle craft along side the solid rocket boosters and LOX/LH2 tank is a big mistake. The crew is more vulnerable to catastrophic failures of these devices. (No Apollo-style or Soyuz-style escape system is possible with this type of configuration). Also, not being the leading portion of the whole assembly (rockets, shuttle, & tanks) during a launch, the Shuttle craft is vulnerable to strikes from debris falling from the leading surfaces. (This is the reason that the ice strike that doomed the Shuttle Columbia happened.)
Then there's the vertical stabilizer and wings that are vulnerable to damage (especially on reentry) and require elaborate protection schemes. Unfortunately, these "appendages" are critical for controlled reentry and landing.
I understand the difference between lobbing a capsule 100km into the air and orbital flight.
My point is that a company or group of technical individuals, such as Scaled Composites, would be able to better design and operate a craft (using 20-20 hindsight and lessons learned) with $1.5 billion than keeping the original Shuttles going.