What's more important?

• The length of the blog post or
• The timeliness of the post

This is something that I have been agonizing over as I have started posting again on a more regular basis.

In terms of length, I guess I am trying to be 'complete' in terms of my whole thought process. But when I look back at some of my earlier posts, I split them up across multiple posts.

And I am trying to weight that against being timely. It took me over a week to get that post about the Chinese ASAT test to the point that I could publish it.

(and I have another post - that might see the light of day - by the end of the week, and I have been working on that one for almost two weeks now).

So either let me know in a comment, or drop me an email, and I'll see how things go.

What can a bug in a computer program do?

Let's ask the US Air Force, who when trying to deploy their brand spanking new F-22 Air-supremacy fighter to Japan the other week, and to turn back to Hawaii due to an initially unspecified computer bug.

Well - it is finally come out what that bug actually was.

The International Date Line.

Yep - you heard me. A line on a map - caused the computers on 6 F-22's to lock up. And the planes had to follow (yes - follow) their escort tankers back to Hawaii.

Here is the thread over on DefenseTech about this. I really like the comment in the most recent AP story - that said one of the pilots was able to contact a Lockheed-Martin engineer and try to reboot the computer.

What did this guy have his Cellphone w/ him? And was talking and flying at the same time? If he was - he must be Superman - since most people I see DRIVING and talking on a cellphone can barely handle it.

So - now that you know what a bug did to a bunch of brand spanking new Air Force planes - are your computers updated for the revised DST change next week ;) ?

---

If you want more info on the F-22's and their initial overseas deployment - keep an eye on David Axe. He is a Military Tech correspondent for Defense Tech International, and also publishes his stories on Wired's new Blog - the Danger Room (run by the guy who used to be in charge of the DefenseTech blog at Military.com).

You have been warned

OK - I have just gotten tired of it.

Consider this a warning - so that maybe you will think before you blindly spill your guts and send very personal things via email. Email you don't control.

I can guarantee that there is someone out that is watching your mail messages go by. How you say? Because that's what I am paid to do - day in and day out. I am a faceless Postmaster who runs email systems for several large companies.

If you don't run your own mail server - and encrypt your msgs from the time they leave your computer - until the time that your receipient gets them - then someone like me can read them.

I can see if you are floating your resume out to recruiters (and if they respond). I can see if you are doing personal (or competing) business on company time. I can see the pictures of your new child, your new house, your new car, your new boyfriend/girlfriend, or the latest MasterCard farce picture. I can see when you have broken up w/ your spouse, and are confiding w/ your best friend.

Oh - and hiding those pictures of Miss February in a PowerPoint presentation - just slows the system down - and doesn't hide them from anyone.

With the amount of spam that is going through the 'Net these days - the systems are getting smarter, but so are the spammers. So you have to check to see how well the filters are working. And when they don't work so well - you get a mess of mail that you really don't want to see.

Doubt what I am saying? Check your Acceptable use Policy from your ISP, or your Corporate Email policy. Don't have an email policy - well that can only spell trouble for your employer. When they go to let someone go for reading humor list posts all day long.

(Been there done that - have the T-Shirt - several in fact).

Space War - already begun?

Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last 3 weeks, you might have heard about the Chinese and their Anti-satellite test. The People's Liberation Army launched an old ballistic missile and scored a impact kill on one of their old Weather sat's (approx 500 miles up).

The reason that this test has scared the beegeebers out of everyone (esp the US) is that this altitude is considered key - because the majority of the intelligence gathering satellites are below this altitude. The New York Times published a graphical chart showing the altitude of this test - in relationship to the other satellites in orbit (shown on the right side of this page). Compare the number of blocks (each representing a satellite) in first column (the US) w/ the second column (China). Attacks against these satellites would only server to blind the US, but not make us impotent. The GPS constellaton - is located at a higher altitude - so it can still be used to rain precision guided munitions down on our enemies. We just might not hit the 'right' target - if we can't see where it is when it is time to attack. [For comparison purposes - the International Space Station orbits approx 190 nautical miles up, and the Ansari X prize - which was won by ScaledComposites SpaceShipOne only reached approx 62 nautical miles] Another key point about the altitude that this test occurred at - is that the expected 900 major pieces of debris will now have to make it through all of those orbital paths, before it can fall out of the sky (and safely disintegrate on re-entry to Earth's atmosphere). Space.com - continues to track this element of the story - most recently in this article. The one thing that no one seems to be talking about - is that the Chinese could successfully 'test' their new toy several times, and creaet a large amount of debris in orbit - and that debris could damage several satellites. Think about it - they can destroy satellites quicker and cheaper than anyone else can deploy replacements.

US sources claim that this did not come as a surprise, but the hue and cry over this test has been dramatic. The US shared the intel on this test w/ several in the international community (more than just the usual UK & NATO), and several countries came out against this test. And one of the more interesting facts about this was that the Chinese did not immediately come out acknowledging this test - and that they were perfectly within their right to do so.

About a week before the Chinese test was made public - the Space Review published an article talking about how the US had realized that a hard kill ASAT would result in orbit debris that could do as much if not more harm to the orbital environment - and has been looking at ways to 'soft' kill or temporarily neutralize someone else's orbital assets.

And the US has tested some basic ASAT techniques. Not only was there the ASAT launched from high-altitude by a F-15 pilot, but along the same lines as the Chinese test - there was a US Army ABM project - the Homing Overlay Experiment. The picture below is from a test vehicle for this project that is currently hanging in the Space wing of the National Air & Space Museum out in Dulles, VA.






Defense Tech - has a good series of articles about this event - best started w/ the first article - here. At the bottom of the article - they include links to the subsequent articles and revelations about this test (one of the keys ones is that it took a significant amount of time before the Chinese admitted what they had done).

Then there is this link to MSNBC which has an animation showing the orbits of the debris from this test - compared to the orbit of the International Space Station - Video.

The most interesting (and short) article about all of the hulabaloo - has been this Wired News article - that was posted this past Thursday. I love the last line of it;

"If there was any chance that our military space budget was going to be cut, the Chinese have just ended that," Lewis said.

As several of the articles above have mentioned - this test is going to have long term effects in the Space and Defense policies of the US for a long time to come (at least until the next Presidential election).

Stay tuned.

The Pool of Death

When you think of relief from high-heat, most people think of a swimming pool (right after the air conditioner - of course). Out here in Arizona, that was one of our requirements when we bought our house. It had to have a pool.

In some cases - a pool is like a boat. "A hole in the water where you pour money." And pour money you do. Chemicals (not just Chlorine), equipment repair (that one little plastic thingy is how much?!?!?), electricity and water. Every day - more water to replace that which has evaporated off in the previous day - more so when I deliberately turn on the water spray (to reduce the temperature of the water - I want to swim in something cooler than bath water).

After almost 2 years out here though - everything changed this summer. When my pool became the 'Pool of Death.' Within the space of 3 weeks - the pool had killed 4.

First an infant - who managed to get inside the pool fence (the State of Arizona mandates that pools have a safety fence/barrier around them) fell into the pool and drowned. I didn't find the body until at least a day later.

[For a desert - they take water safety out here seriously. California, Arizona and Florida lead the nation in drowning death's each year. When we first moved out here and actually cared enough about the local area to watch the local news everynight, it seemed that there was a drowning or near drowing every day that summer. If you have a pool and don't have the $$$ to put in a fence - there are programs set-up by several organizations that will give you a fence.]

Then about a week and a half later - it was an adolescent. Same thing - got into the pool and was unable to get out and eventually drowned.

A couple of days later - it was a pair of young ones. Have no idea how they got in, but neither came out alive.

Now - you would think that if 4 people had died in MY swimming pool - over the course of three weeks - it would have been national news and I would be investigated for why I allowed all of this to happen. But there has been no uproar, because while all of the deaths did happen - none of them were human. It was two birds (the first two) and two rabbit's (the second pair - together - never did figure this one out. Don't know if the first was trying to qualify for the Lifesaving merit badge or not - but he didn't pass :( )

But seriously - when I am in the pool w/ my 2 year old daughter - she is always within an arm's reach of an adult. ALWAYS. She is not allowed inside the pool fench without an adult - even though she has been taking swimming lessions for more than half her life now.

Stay cool this summer - and safe.

Quick Hit - Rapture

How many times have you seen the bumper sticker that says,

"Warning - in case of Rapture - car will be unoccupied"

Well - today I saw the counter sticker;

"In case of Rapture, can I have your car?"

Has general aptitude sunk so far?

Sorry for the extended absence. All of the usual things have been intruding, family, work, work, work - some more work, occasional friends, work - and then family. It is hard to come up w/ something that I feel strongly enough about to sacrifice my time putting it all down. But I have a new mantra that has caused me to re-evaluate what I spend my time on;

- Trying to please everyone is a sure cause of failure

So this is now one of my revamped priorities - so that I don't curl up in a fetal ball and start sucking my thumb. That said..on w/ the commentary.

======

I know that for years that educator's have been saying that America is dumbing down. What with Spell Checkers and Google - does anyone really have to think any more? All they have to do is hit a button on the computer and all of the answer's - correct or not - come right up.

Then it hit me as I was waiting for my connecting flight yesterday (yes - I am travelling on business this weekend). Take a look at the mainstream media and news reports, and I think we are actually seeing the results of this in every day society.

For airlines - they no longer have confidence in the public's ability to read the seat off of the ticket - you are assigned to a group to board the airplane. I know some of the airlines actually group the passenger's intelligently so to try to minimize the boarding times, but I swear others are just "split the passengers up into a couple of groups, based on the (pasenger) count."

That's one - and yeah - that one is a little weak - but look - there is more.....

Years ago - people worked the newspaper crossword puzzles to keep the mind in shape. What do we have today? Soduku. I saw someone sitting in the boarding area - w/ get this 'Sudoku for Dummies' (I think we all know that the '.. for Dummies' books are one of the signs of the apocalypse - or at least at sign that the Writer's for Pauley Shore's last movie - still live).

Have you ever tried to play Sudoku? It isn't that hard - most newspapers are printing them
daily now - instead of or in addition to crossword puzzles. Take a grid - 3x3 - and put 9 of those together. In a 3x3 grid of 3x3 grids (so you have a 9 by 9 grid). Now - each square in the grid can have one number in it, and each number (1-9) can only appear ONCE in each 3x3 grid, ONCE in each ROW, and ONCE in each column.

Sounds simple right? Sort of - no longer does the reader need to have a dictionary to be able to spell the word correctly (dictionary - a fault tolerant, power independant, public domain reference on English words). All they have to do is to be able to count to 9 (not even 10, just 9).

Now admittedly - there are variants out there that are a little more challenging, using shapes and colors - or the alphabet, but this is more problem and pattern solving rather than expanding someone's knowledge. Imagine being a member of a College Admission's office - and having someone put down on their application - that they can solve a Sudoku in under 5 minutes. They would probably get laughed at.

Now - also match up the decline in knowledge of the general public - w/ the currently successful game shows of the last 30 years. For a while it was Jeopardy then it became Wheel of Fortune (and how much of this was Vanna - who now just has to walk back and forth and touch the letter, not even having to turn it anymore), then it was Millionaire, and now it is Deal or No Deal.

+ Jeopardy - general, specific knowledge w/ trivia thrown in
+ Wheel of Fortune - word/phrase knowledge/spelling
+ Millionaire - knowledge, w/ the twist of audience/outside participation
+ Deal or No Deal - luck

Luck? Yes - luck - and a little bit of odds/probability. If you haven't seen this show yet - watch it at least once. It is an interesting study on social pressure. The premise is simple - 26 cases that represent Money in the amounts between 1 penny and 1 million dollars (or more - depending on if it is a sweeps week or not). Each case is held on stage by an attractive woman (yeah - a little eye candy never hurts) and the contestant has to pick one that they think contains the Million dollars.

Once they pick the initial one, then they have to pick additional cases to eliminate those cases from contention. Each time they eliminate a set, the 'Bank' (a producer hidden at the top of the set) will offer the contestant an amount of cash in exchange for the contestant's case. The Bank offer is usually the average of the total amount of money outstanding (unreveiled) minus 5-10k.

This Bank offer starts small - and as the number of cases dwindle, and the success of the contestant in picking cases, this number can get up in the 6 digit area. But inevitably - the larger values are picked (above $100k) and that offer starts to crash down. Usually after the first big value that is exposed, the contestant can still walk away w/ a pretty hefty sum. And this is where the host comes in. Howie Mandel.

I am not sure who Howie eggs on more - the contestant - or the studio audience - who will then chant 'No Deal' when they think that the 1 in 15 chance that the contestant's case has more than $100,000 is worth walking away from a guaranteed X amount of money. He talks about how much money that is still on the board, and
how many times the annual average American salary that is.

(The producers do a good job picking contestants too. I have seen high school coaches, beat cops, a Marine fresh out of the service trying to start again, a Dr trying to pay off his Med School bills.

[If you liked this one - and odds - I guess I started thinking about this last summer - in this blog - when I was talking about baffling the cashier's by handing them penny's to make their 'change math' a little easier]