* Posts by Beachrider

590 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Jun 2010

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IBM's outgoing boss Rometty awarded $20m+ in 2019 for growing revenue 0.1%

Beachrider

Her times were among the WORST for growth...

It is fair to say that she has presided over the worst growth-period versus EVERY other IBM Chief Executive.

Ref: https://www.mbiconcepts.com/comparing-revenue-growth.html

What could power an early-warning system for harmful radiation storms in Earth's Van Allen belts? AI? Let's see, say Los Alamos boffins

Beachrider

Orion depends on space storm detection...

The Orion space capsule has a 'predictor' mechanism that tells astronauts to get-inside special 'radiation suits'. Perhaps similar detection technology can be improved to meet a broader need. Ref: https://www.popsci.com/this-is-how-orion-astronauts-might-protect-themselves-from-radiation-storms/

How many times do we have to tell you? A Tesla isn't a self-driving car, say investigators after Apple man's fatal crash

Beachrider

FWIW SuperCruise is available on Canadian roads, too

Coverage with SuperCruise in Canada is well established. 'Above' Quebec-City to Detroit is mapped. Winnepeg to Calgary and Edmonton is also mapped. Maine to Halifax has also been added. They have LOTS of work to complete their 'map', GM is CLEARLY trying to reap price-margins to pay for this infrastructure investment.

Beachrider

Re: Alternatives to Autopilot in the USA

@Coward, Cadillac CT-4 is a LUXURY vehicle that can get Supercruise. Its EPA Highway mileage is 34 MPG (6.9 l/100km). Not a gas guzzler. The 10 speed transmission helps on that, a lot. Certainly the biggest SUVs don't meet your criterion, though.

Beachrider

Alternatives to Autopilot in the USA

An interesting (and much lower selling) alternative to Autopilot is GM's Supercruise. Its literature/marketing is quite different. Consumer Reports rates it 'safer' than Autopilot. You cannot get it in the UK, so far. It coordinates car-data with a very detailed road-surface map and will assimilate V2V (vehicle to vehicle) information, too. Supercruise spends a LOT of its focus by tracking the driver's eyes and doesn't need any hands on the steering UNTIL. When UNTIL happens, it begins a warning regimen that could result in stopping the vehicle. It doesn't change lanes for you. It only works on 200,000 miles of limited access highways. It will stop driving when roads are merging, etc. Supercruise is only offered on SOME Cadillacs until Fall 2020, when it expands to some non-Cadillac SUVs.

Uncle Sam tells F-35B allies they'll have to fly the things a lot more if they want to help out around South China Sea

Beachrider

Re: !!!

I don't think that ANY of the other VTOLs (which F-35B is) have high MTTF. F-35B maintenance procedures ARE evolving to improve MTTF, though.

Beware, Tesla might take away your car's autopilot if you buy its vehicles from third party dealerships – plus more news

Beachrider

Tesla and "Dealerships"?

Tesla doesn't even operate "regular" dealerships in America. They have repair sites, though. Tesla intends to sell vehicles off-the-web. I have a 'repair site' in my town, there is no showroom there, though.

Things I learned from Y2K (pt 87): How to swap a mainframe for Microsoft Access

Beachrider

Taking charge of one's OWN decisions...

If someone converted from 'mainframes' to 'MS Access', they notice an IMMENSE difference in cost and staffing. To have them 'discover' that their decision had unintended outcomes is just... stupid

Starliner: Boeing, Boeing... it's back! Borked capsule makes a successful return to Earth

Beachrider

Re: Time Zones?

@Boeingspace announced that Starliner's clock was off by 11 hours. They haven't explained how it got so-far off. It isn't like the USA is in 11 time zones...

End of an era for ULA as the last Delta IV Medium rocket leaves launch pad

Beachrider

Re: If I recall...

Hmmmm, some may not appreciate the breadth and depth of US support at Ascension. The sidewinder missiles were put on scores of Harriers and were KEY to the protection of tankers and bombers. 250 plane-take-offs and landings in 10 days. This did more damage at Ascension than at Stanley airport. Both were repaired quickly, though. Falklands was won by ships, but the RAF parried the threat from mainland-based Argentinian air assets.

Beachrider

Re: If I recall...

Nothing to do with GPS, but since you mentioned it. The USAF built the strip in 1942, under agreement with UK. USAF did landing strip improvements in 1980 (for Space Shuttle). No facilities for RAF existed before "provisioning" in 1982. The USAF was concerned about the integrity of the airstrip and refueling for such heavy wear. That was the only 'pushback', but it was real.

Wanted: Big iron geeks to help restore IBM 360 mainframe rescued from defunct German factory by other big iron geeks

Beachrider

The last that I saw a 360

I went to work at an insurance company in the early 1980s where they still had a 360/50 bolted to the floor. They were using it for 7070 emulation. One of my key projects was to take an AO Smith 7070 emulator work on MVS/XA. The guy that built it, in the 1970s, was succumbing to disease. My company needed to be his last paying customer. With a little adapting, it worked.

Beachrider

Re: Be quick... Brexit looms....

They kept the asbestos in the high-order 16-bits of the registers...

Slip-sliding to May: Another Dragon delay and JAXA makes a bigger splash

Beachrider

Don't forget Orbital...

Northrup-Grumman's launch of the 10th Cygnus (on Antares, from coastal Virginia) happened on April 17, too. The "Roger Chaffee" capsule was emptied out and disposed already.

Thanks to the NASA InSight probe (and British tools), you can now listen to the sound of a Martian earthquake

Beachrider

Re: I'm glad to hear that Mars is still somewhat tectonically active.

What if we find something that was ONCE common on Mars, but now clings to extancy? Does "the prime directive' come into play?

Boeing nowhere fast: Starliner space taxi schedule slips once again to August

Beachrider

It was the Armstrong lever arms...

Since the rockets, themselves, are the same as ULA stuff for years...

It has to be something about the special parts of the capsule. Doggone MGB parts are SO hard to find!

VP Mike Pence: I want Americans back on the Moon by 2024 (or before the Chinese get there)

Beachrider

Doesn't Pence need to spend on the wall, first?

I don't think that #45 will let the VP divert funds to NASA until that whole wall-thing is built...

Beachrider

Re: Lead the way

Trump unsuccessfully ran for president in 2000. Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_2000_presidential_campaign

2 weeks till Brexit and Defra, at the very least, looks set to be caught with its IT pants down

Beachrider

Re: No Cheese for you...

The EFTA is a DRAMATICALLY smaller environment than the EEC (which the UK is leaving). Get back into the EFTA, if you like. Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway are TINY trade partners for the UK

Beachrider

No Cheese for you...

The UK economy has leveraged cheap and efficient goods from other countries for years (back to the Common Market (EEC) back to 1958. Things should be VERY noticeable when the curtain comes down on that.

NASA's crap infosec could be 'significant threat' to space ops

Beachrider

Air-gapping IS Security, but...

NASA still relies on air-gapping for the highest security. If the 'gap' is SOLID, then great, but there are always tendrils...

It's the end of 2018, and this is your year in security

Beachrider

Isn't AMD Epyc immune to Meltdown?

the AMD CTO is shown saying that the Epyc line of processors is immune to known-variants of Meltdown, no? He does NOT say the same thing about Spectre, though.

Falcon 9 gets its feet wet as SpaceX notch up two more launch successes

Beachrider

Did they recover the Ariane...

Just because it was so MUCH of the topic for SpaceX. Nothing on recovering Ariane...

NASA gently nudges sleeping space 'scopes Chandra, Hubble out of gyro-induced stupor

Beachrider

Re: If we extrapolate from the directions they were pointing in when they failed

inductive thought requires that conclusions are validated, somehow. Otherwise it is something like Astrology.

Airbus issues patch to prevent A350 airliner fuel tanks exploding

Beachrider

Well, there’s your problem...

I miss Mythbusters...

Elon Musk's mighty erection fires sperm at orbiting space station

Beachrider

Does anyone need hand cleaner?

In the interest of international cleanliness...

Anyone need some Purell?

Leaning tower of NASA receives last big arm

Beachrider

Re: Crew?

Musk needs to get his rating with Dragon2 and Falcon9 before he can build with Dragon2 and FH. BFR would be another major step after that. Look for the first cert in the next 10 months (somewhere between August and January). FH has only one payload on its agenda (Air Force), and THAT doesn't have a timeframe, yet. BFR still awaits its first full-size rocket-build for testing, it is not likely to fly for 3+ years. I wish Elon well, but the commercial-market for FH-size loads has not-yet developed (probably because such launches were $400Mn+, previously).

Scientists change their minds, think water may be all over the Moon

Beachrider

Rehash of the Hydroxyl stuff from 10 years ago...

The "hydroxyl radicals/ions" found are a different thing than actually finding water. They don't have to be water at all. The current belief is that they are 'radicals' and NOT ions, on Luna. There also is no evidence (yet) of free Hydrogen on Luna. That means that these Hydroxyls are NOT doing what they do on Earth (i.e. bond to Carbon, Nitrogen and/or Oxygen to generate free-Hydrogen). IF you find peroxide, THAT would be very interesting, though.

We all hate Word docs and PDFs, but have they ever led you to being hit with 32 indictments?

Beachrider

Manafort and the pre-2014 Ukraine...

Manifort is interesting because of his Yanukovych-Putin connection. He offered to work 'for free' for Trump's campaign in June, July and August of 2016. These document 'forgeries' are conceded by Gates in guilty plea. The 'accepting' of forged documents appear to be a quid-pro-quo agreement with a Bank Manager in Michigan, we will see. There is CLEARLY nothing 'truthy' about a document, just because it is a PDF.

Opportunity knocked? Rover survives Martian winter, may not survive budget cuts

Beachrider

Re: It won't save any money

There ARE costs at 3 levels. First is the Deepspace Network costs. Second is Mars-relay-orbiter costs. Third is project-direct costsfor MER.

NASA finds satellite, realises it has lost the software and kit that talk to it

Beachrider

Re: Nasa and the preservation of knowledge

Dragon II is NOT configured for deepspace. It relies on the Van Allen belts to shield substantial radiation, just like any LEO device.

NASA reconfirms 2019 will see first launch of Space Launch System

Beachrider

Re: It's Apollo 8... minus the people

Shuttle contractors have been out of work for 6 years.

Beachrider

Re: Bit small for a Mars shot

They won't be in the capsule. The Apollo astronauts weren't in the capsule for Lunar trip, either.

Did Oracle just sign tape's death warrant? Depends what 'no comment' means

Beachrider

CTAM

... and old word for the 'Chevy Truck Access Method'. Rather Mainframe-ish for this audience, though.

Protest against Trump's US travel ban leaves ‪PasswordsCon‬ in limbo

Beachrider

North Carolina has HB2 in 2016 which overturns LGBT issues...

It wasn't about water fountains in NC in the 1960s. It wasn't about bathrooms in NC in 2016. The laws need to project a sense of decency and agree to deal with issues that need to be addressed.

Cassini sends back best ring-shots yet en route to self-destruct dive

Beachrider

Future probes for Saturn...

NASA doesn't have a funded project that plans to return to Saturn, right now. They are focussing on Mars, Europa, Asteroids and near-Earth measurements. Things always change, especially when commercial lift begins to deliver more non-NASA payloads for 'basic research'...

IBM old guard dropping like flies in POWER and cloud restructure

Beachrider

If you think that 'cloud' is a huge frigging mainframe...

Then you don't understand the offering from cloud providers. They dominantly provide virtualized Intel platforms with Windows or Linux. Faaaaaaaaaaar from mainframes....

Doctor AI: Good news, I'm better at predicting when you'll die of a heart attack. Bad news is...

Beachrider

Heart failure and Heart Attack ARE different...

Heart failure (CHF) and Heart Attach (MI) both CLEARLY affect the heart. They are REALLY different things, though. CHF does not typically take down 1/3 of its victims with its initial detection. MI really DOES end up with 1/3 of initial detection resulting in death.

CHF is what this study works on. GREAT, it is a very important thing. MI has different causes and aren't referenced in the article, so why is the title about Heart Attacks?

Elon's SpaceX gets permission to blow up another satellite or two

Beachrider

Soooo, crashing it into Mars would be OK?

Just askin'

50 years on, the Soviet-era Soyuz rocket is still our favorite space truck

Beachrider

@cynic

You need to compare similar systems before drawing conclusions. The Russians have famously tried their Gemini-like (Vostok) rocket systems vastly beyond what NASA did with Titan. It evolved into Soyuz, but kept the manned vessels in LEO for 54 years, now.

NASA redirected its basic research prime work to Apollo immediately after their FIRST Mercury/Redstone manned launch. Russia tried Energia for ONE launch, but it was unsuccessful and shortly abandoned. Russia has NEVER gotten a large rocket to 'work'.

Russia has also kept Proton in its quiver, but has never qualified it for manned use. It has a track record of severe failures 10 percent of the time, too. Proton is 4-5 times the lift of Soyuz, no where near the 25-30 times Soyuz for Saturn.

It is MUCH harder to build big rockets for manned work, especially for Lunar or Martian missions.

Beachrider

to Gene, about the 6 hour launch...

As part of the 1998 ISS agreement, the orbit of ISS is inclined 50+ degrees from the celestial equator. That was a special dispensation to the Russians to enable more Russian monitoring and cheaper Russian launches. NASA would have MUCH preferred a ZERO degree orbit.

That being said, at least the Russians exploited the arrangement.

Beachrider

Are you saying that it was ONLY Germans?

Von Braun did not get a job on American rocketry until 1957. The Redstone and Titan ICBM projects (even the F-1, which became central to Saturn V) predated this time. He was reviled for his wait-and-be-sure approach with Redstone rockets for project Mercury. There WAS a way for the USA to get someone in space before Russia, but his cautiousness caused the USA to not-risk a person on the March 1961 Mercury/Redstone successful launch. The next one would be May. The Russians launched in April.

He was part of a team for Apollo (started RIGHT after the May 1961 Redstone launch). He had nothing to do with the capsule and his design for LEM was merged with others. The second & third stage (HydroLOX) rockets were mainly outside of his control, too. He had a LOT to do with adapting F-1 to Saturn V and refining the RP-1/LOX design. None of the electronics was derived from German technology.

He stood on his head and did a LOT of work, but he was a member of a team.

He did care VERY little for the human cost at Peenemünde

Level 3 celebrates $34bn CenturyLink gobble by blacking out Eastern US

Beachrider

Re: Interesting Picture...

Suffice it to say that, in the northeastern US, true end-to-end carrier diversity is QUITE available. There are resellers that vend a mixture of circuits (usually to meet a price). Certainly the internet can have surprising conduit non-diversity. Most companies do business with backup circuits that have clear carrier separation, though.

Beachrider

Interesting Picture...

The picture that accompanies the article would leave one to infer that NOTHING was accessible in the Washington-Philadelphia-NewYork-Boston megopolis. That simply isn't true. If you have carrier diversity, you wouldn't have been affected at all.

Possible reprieve for the venerable A-10 Warthog

Beachrider

Costs per hour for F-35

I get it that the press ALWAYS cites noisy dissenters for less-mature aircraft (e.g. A350). F-35 will be much cheaper to operate than F-22. F-22's special paint and other stealth technology is quite expensive to maintain (not quite as bad a space shuttle 'tiles', but it give you the idea). F-35 is more practical, in that regard.

F-35 is not going to 'linger', like A-10 did. It is designed to function in contested airspace, where A-10 is VERY susceptible to Drones and faster Aircraft. ISIS has been getting quite good with Drones, that is why you don't hear much about A-10 in the middle east, these days.

Beachrider

Harriers in the US Marine Corps...

Harrier is a completely different thing than A-10. A-10 is just very susceptible whenever other aircraft or drones are nearby. It drags refueling craft within 250 miles of the warzone, too. It is NOT useless, just becoming more limited in scope. A-35 and Drones are supposed to take-on this work, but they will do it very differently.

There are no more Hawker Siddeleys in active service, since the late 1980s.

Judges put FCC back in its box: No, you can't override state laws, not even for city broadband

Beachrider

Re: So, only the constitution is valid?

@Dial, the Constitution enabled slavery. It did not allow women to vote in elections (statements about their eligibility to serve as electors and representatives miss this key point). Remember that the first 10 amendment showed that other foundational requirements were not met with the original Constitution.

Beachrider

Re: Reg said that States cannot be pushed around by a federal regulator...

@Dial, these municipal ISPs are solely about public WiFi. They are NOT about wired broadband, to the public.

Beachrider

Re: The view from the UK

@frj, for the USA, this one, they aren't declaring state supremecy. They are advising that a general ruling by the FCC goes beyond the FCC's charter. The FCC can still force a break in the logjam, they will just need to use a bigger hammer and o get on-the-street wifi available label with reluctant providers. New competition for frequency awards and federal rights-of-way will just be used, while the consumers wait...

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