The latest analysis of the programmatic disaster to come. With bonus Orion problems.
This is simply insane.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Light And Scattered Posting
I have a niece and nephew visiting from Michigan. We went out whale watching today from Dana Point (saw at least two blue whales and a mother and calf fin whale, and hundreds of common long-nose dolphin). Then Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. Tomorrow, it’s California Adventure in Anaheim (where I’ve never been).
[Tuesday-morning update]
It was a long day, but we had a good time. Advice in the comments about getting there early for the Cars Racers is right — they were sold out of Fast Pass, and the wait was in the two-hour range for the bulk of the day. But we saw everything else (that we wanted to Bugs — the insects, not the Bunny, which is a different cartoon franchise– World was worth a miss unless you had little kids), and toward the end of the day, we went in the singles line, and only waited twenty-five minutes. Since the car seating is three and three, it’s not that big a deal to split up the party anyway, and it actually gave the kids an opportunity to race each other instead of being in the same car.
My overall verdict: like an alternate-universe Disneyland, with more California flavor (the restaurant we ate at had vineyards leading up to it), and with more modern, as opposed to classic characters. Disneyland has Cinderella’s Castle, CA has the Mermaid. Disneyland has Thunder Mountain, CA has Grizzly Rapids. Disneyland has Frontierland and Tom Sawyer’s Island, CA has the Redwood hiking/rope trail. I’m not a roller coaster connoisseur, but California Screamin’ seemed to pull some good gees, particularly backward at the launch. And I have to say that the World of Color light/water/flaming-gas-jets show was pretty spectacular. I was impressed by the power of the pumps that could generate eighty feet of head, and the precision and control over the valves. I’d never seen lasers painting on mist before. No one, including Disney, could have done this twenty years ago, I think, without modern computer technology. And we got a bonus of watching the early fireworks display across the way at Disneyland. So definitely worth a do once.
A Fiat Muscle Car
This is pretty cool.
Bad News For Boeing
Another 787 has caught fire, at Heathrow. Here is some BBC video. Fortunately, no one aboard, and it was on the ground. As noted, they are announcing there that another Dreamliner has just returned to Manchester, though its unclear if the incidents are related.
The Proton Failure
Wow. That’s bad design and bad QC.
a) You shouldn’t be able to install an angular-rate (or any kind of attitude) sensor upside down.
b) The vehicle should be able to sense that it has an upside-down sensor and automatically abort.
It did look like it was having guidance problems in the video, and that would sure explain why.
Gmail
What it knows about you.
This is one of the reasons that I rarely use Gmail. I only use my account as a backup, if my own server is down.
The New ITAR Rules
Today is the last day to comment. We need to try to get crewed space vehicles off the munitions list.
Million-Dollar Planetary Missions
This would revolutionize space exploration. It would allow massively parallel data gathering.
Root Canals
Will stem cells bring them to an end? And allow tooth regrowth?
Dr. D’Souza estimates that human clinical trials of the hydrogel strategy could begin as soon as two or three years from now and be available as a therapy within five years. Other researchers working on different methods estimate that human trials may take place within the decade.
Faster, please.
Kim Jong-Un Will Be Pleased
We had a failed test of an interceptor.
This is why we test, but I think that an administration more serious about missile defense would be stepping up the testing.