Well, not really, but for those who (like me) couldn’t make it, Clark Lindsey has a link-rich wrapup of the Return to the Moon Conference.
Back In California
…and still busy with all the stuff I didn’t do on Friday and this weekend, but the Carnival of Tomorrow is up. There’s also lots of good stuff over at The Space Review today.
Wrong Incentives
Andrew Stuttaford points out an example of what he mistakenly views as bad government–removing a law that requires legislators to show up to work in order to get paid. But actually, considering how much damage and thievery they engage in when they do show up, I actually like my proposal better.
Unbalanced Transfer Offer
I got a call claiming to be from my Discover Card. The caller asked me if I wanted to make a balance transfer at an attractive rate. I said, “Sure, but I won’t give you my credit card numbers since you can’t authenticate that you really are Discover Card.”
Triumphantly, the agent told me the last four digits of my credit card number, my “member since” date and my last transaction. While this does indicate that the caller has access to my bill or account (or did at one time), it does not authenticate them as Discover Card because they could have stolen a bill from my mailbox.
More insidiously, they could have dialed a wrong number or a house guest or sitter could have picked up the phone. They did not authenticate me before giving me the personal information that they were so proud of. Not that they could have authenticated me since I would be reluctant to provide any personal information to someone who I did not already know was authentic and authorized.
I asked if there was a way to contact them through my number on the back of my card. They said no, but “I can make a notation on your account and customer service can verify its authenticity and you can call me back on a separate number.” While just possibly securely authentic (if the employee isn’t steering me to an illegitimate outsider), it requires me to make two calls. Why not just call the credit card directly and speak with someone else? I could, but my guy would have trouble getting a commission on the transaction. Maybe they should arrange for a share of any transfers I initiate in the next few minutes or ask for me to do a three-way call to my issuer.
I like checks better. They only go back to the offering party after they have been cashed and even then there might not be any evidence of what account I paid off.
Continued Light Blogging
I’m in Columbia, MO, attending a wedding, and visiting family. Weather’s decent today (probably low nineties, but humidity’s not bad), but that’s because there seems to be a major drought here, with less than an inch of rain in the last few weeks. Corn crop is down by half.
Transterrestrial–your source for space policy, and farm reports!
One More Thought On Fleet Grounding
I earlier noted the irony that the one part of the Shuttle that has actually been reliable (the Orbiter) is the one that Mike Griffin wants to retire. Both Shuttle disasters were caused by the non-Orbiter parts (SRB in the case of Challenger, ET in the case of Columbia), and those are the pieces that he wants to build the new vehicles out of (SRB as a lower stage for the crew vehicle, and SRB and modified ET for the heavy lifter).
Of course, the response will be that the only reason those failures were a problem was because of the overall system configuration with the Orbiter. Since both the new concepts will have the payload on top, where blow torching from joint leaks, and falling foam won’t cause problems, that makes it OK (though that’s actually not true with the heavy lifter, since the ET was the first casualty from the SRB failure, before the Orbiter broke up).
Which brings up a question: how much side forces were detected during the Challenger launch from the SRB leak (presumably from attempts by the TVC to keep the vehicle straight)? Does anyone know (I assume that the data may be in the Rogers Commission Report)? Would it have caused a problem with “the stick”?
It’s A Twofer!
So, I’m getting ready to go the airport this morning, and I hear on the news that Helen Thomas has promisedthreatened to kill herself if Dick Cheney runs for president. As if we needed more reasons for him to run.
It’s A Twofer!
So, I’m getting ready to go the airport this morning, and I hear on the news that Helen Thomas has promisedthreatened to kill herself if Dick Cheney runs for president. As if we needed more reasons for him to run.
It’s A Twofer!
So, I’m getting ready to go the airport this morning, and I hear on the news that Helen Thomas has promisedthreatened to kill herself if Dick Cheney runs for president. As if we needed more reasons for him to run.
Complex Failure Bleg
One of the things that I’m working on is a series of case studies for failure of complex technological systems, particularly where a failure cascades (perhaps inevitably) into others. Columbia is a good example, in which the fragile leading-edge TPS was damaged during launch, which resulted in initial burnthrough during entry, which caused more internal damage, which resulted in a bigger hole in the wing, which resulted in increasing asymmetric forces on the vehicle, which resulted in eventual inability to keep the nose pointed forward, which resulted in the destructive breakup of the vehicle from aerodynamic forces.
Is anyone aware of similar cases (preferably non-space, e.g., the Bonefish fire)?