The world won’t end with a bang or a whimper

I spring out of bed hours early, show up at work three hours ahead of time, log in ready to play with some software … and the entire system is down for an undetermined period of time for no reason that anyone can figure out. I’m literally just sitting here watching people play phone games and gossip. I don’t know how many zillions in company resources are lost every year due to computer crashes, but it must be staggering.

Just a few days ago it was really windy in central Texas. A tree fell across some power lines twenty miles away. It caused a surge that skipped down the line for dozens of miles, knocking off power and crashing systems in every building along the way, or at least those that were too cheap to use proper surge protectors. Our system was knocked to smithereens, everyone one that was logged into our servers — including something on the order of tens of thousands of customers — were kicked off, every single PC inside the building went dead and with it every piec eof data on every spreadsheet that hadn’t been saved, the power flickered, and because our phones go through our comnputers, every phone call dropped in mid sentence. It took over an hour to get everything back up. Again, I don’t know the total dollar lost, but it must be enormous, and this happens here several times a year.

When the world ends, it won’t be with a bang or a whimper, it will be with a completely avoidable systemic electronic crash.

Back at work!

It’s a strange world we live in. My cardio rehab nurses get nervous when I slow jog a mile on a treadmill or report a mildly stressful event of any kind. My disability insurance company insists I’m completely 100% healthy and able to resume normal activities without restriction, which they know include walking across a giant facility for a couple of miles every day from one stressful event to another. I wonder what could possibly explain the discrepancy …

Ryan’s big budget day

Paul Ryan’s lively new budget comes out today, to much fanfare and catcalling. Alas, it is already dead. It died last year when Ryan lost in his bid to become Vice President. But maybe we shouldn’t be so hasty: it’s built on such hypocrisy and so many howlers it stands in its own right as a satirical masterpiece: [Read more…]

House Science Committee to hold hearings on impact danger

Forgive my absence gentle readers, I was on a well deserved R & R after the preceding, and life changing, two months (I had some evergreen content timed to go, I thought. But, well, for whatever reason Microsoft won again …). After which I was deemed healthy enough to return to work full time. So, last week the House was supposed to hold an important hearing on the danger posed by Near Earth Objects, a hearing so important it was at first postponed indefinitely and, I’m now told by trustworthy sources, rescheduled for next week on March 19. It’s interesting to hear what planetary scientists think of the people who are actually on that committee and by extension the party that controls it: [Read more…]

Our precious bodily fluids

 

We are made of lots of water. It’s sobering to think if we run just a quart or two low, madness, misery and eventually death awaits. I was reminded of this in gruesome detail starting Saturday. It was either a stomach bug masquerading as a migraine or vice-versa. By Sunday evening I was severely dehydrated with a thundering headache. Combined with sleep deprivation it got bad enough that I’m pretty sure I began to hallucinate. [Read more…]

Science Friday: Teachers stand & be counted … 3 … 2 … 1!

I remember the exact day when my teachers underwent a magical transformation. Christmas 1968, most of my family was dozing in the wee hours as we sped along a lonely Texas highway to a distant holiday rendezvous. My tiny body was easily stretched out on the rear console of a Ford sedan, gazing through an old-fashioned slanted rear windshield at a crystal clear night scape poured thick with winter stars. In a moment of pure synchronicity my father tuned into a recently arrived static filled season’s greetings sent a quarter million miles on the gossamer wings of invisible light. At the tender age of six years-old it would forever alter the trajectory of my entire life:

NASA Archive — “We are now approaching lunar sunrise … For all the people on Earth the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you”. … In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth …”

[Read more…]

Mars flyby conference streaming live at 12 Noon central time — Now

From the press kit, an artists'c conception of the fly-by vehicle.

From the press kit, an artists’c conception of the fly-by vehicle.

Link is here, not sure if you can see it without  registering press creds, I hope to have video and transcripts shortly. … There are candid details about the inherent risks, challanges, and mission architectures. But my favorite speaker so far has been Dennis Tito, the driving force behind this team. An example, paraphrasing to the best of my recollection:  ‘This is a “non profit mission,” meaning if it goes off as planned, “I will be much poorer,” but my grandchildren and yours will be much richer …’

Jane Poynter adds the sobering assesment “This will be like being crammed into a modest RV for a year and a half. With three thousand pounds of dehydrated food hydrated with recycled water … the crew will have to be doing hours of exercise every day while working on their life support system “. Full press kit and release below the fold. [Read more…]

The Sequester, she approaches

sequestrerblame_02262013

Once again we see the bizarre creature that was once a consistent political partyP cleave into the beast with two heads. One head talks to the base and their propaganda organs in a language it hopes only they understand, cheering on the sequester and the downfall of Big Evil Government (When dems hold the WHtm). The other head talks to the middle of the nation and the mainstream press, where it confesses the sequester will be terrible and it’s all Obama’s doing. And of course, like in so many other situations as of late, the public can plainly see both heads and hear them both talking and isn’t buying it. That 30% and change you see blaming Obama? That’s the almost exactly how many voters are part of the Teaparty base. A plurality blames the GOP, a smaller segment blame both sides, both of which are completely defensible positions in my view.