Posts by Chemical Engineer

Samsung Quality Problems

I had two different Captivates. The first one had GPS issues even after the patch came down that was supposed to fix GPS issues. The second one the GPS worked but not near as well as my wife's Iphone but it crashed every few minutes. I like the Android's operating system but with no good Android offerings other than the Captivate on ATT's network I ended up with an Iphone.

I would much rather have had an Android phone since Iphones are heavy and fragile. I am going to try and get away from ATT as soon as I can but I will be an Iphone user until I switch.

Office as Development Platform

The company where I work, and I imagine many others, use office as a development platform. We have numerous addins and considerable specialized vba code for Excel. Google Docs will probably never be as extensible as Office. You can't query a relational database directly from Google docs.

SCADA Systems Don't Control Refineries

Refineries don't run on SCADA systems. Pipelines and terminals do, but not refineries. The equipment that controls refineries is very specialized and expensive so crafting an attack is unlikely. PC's are in the mix now but they don't directly control much of the process. Dedicated controllers are what are actually hooked to the final control elements in most cases. Standalone networks are common and when there are connections to other networks firewalls are used. You don't check your email from a control system network and you sure as heck can't surf the web.

Should Not Have Water

Jet Fuel should be dry. It is usually salt dried to remove water. I agree that the fuel was likely substandard. The freeze point spec of Jet A is -47 C/-53 F. China has big quality issues on lots of products.