It seems that The Machines are much in the news lately. I’ve seen several articles on increasing uses for drones and other UAVs in domestic “security” applications, not to mention the prospects of arming them for bona fide warfare. On a much less violent front, we have this item from the Wall Street Journal, which describes how a seemingly innocuous …
Perceived Powerlessness?
The news in several places that the recently released movie, The Avengers broke the $1 billion mark for ticket sales (see here, for example) left me wondering, Why? What is it about this movie that has knocked earlier blockbusters (such as the Harry Potter canon) off their pedestals? I mean, I love a good movie, and may even set things …
Taking Big Bites
A couple of weeks ago there was much sound (and some fury) at the prospect of a group of billionaires coming together to form an entity that would seek out and mine asteroids. I loved it! That asteroids may be sources of multiple gigatons of useful materials (metals, mostly) has long been known. That mining them could bring untold riches …
An Intolerable Situation
Yesterday the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (248-168) to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (H.R. 3523), known as CISPA. I don’t usually express opinions per se here, but this time I will: I find this intolerable I acknowledge that things are getting very dicey in the cyber world, and that there is increasing need for …
Human Spaceflight: In Harm’s Way
Because of my long association in various contractual capacities with NASA, friends and neighbors often turn to me to opine about happenings with the agency. The most recent spate of questions began with the stand-down of the Space Transportation System, aka the Shuttle. Most have the perception that NASA is folding. Completely. I hasten to reassure them that NASA is …
Hydrodynamics and Crowds
I took some time today to try to catch up on readings that have eluded me owing to other, perhaps more pressing matters. An article in the December 2011 issue of Communications of the ACM 54(12) caught my eye, with the engaging title of “Visual Crowd Surveillance through a Hydrodynamics Lens”, by Moore, Ali, Mehran, and Shah (included just for …
A Thought for Today
The world looks with some awe upon a man who appears unconcernedly indifferent to home, money, comfort, rank, or even power and fame. The world feels not without a certain apprehension, that here is someone outside its jurisdiction; someone before whom its allurements may be spread in vain; someone strangely enfranchised, untamed, untrammelled by convention, moving independent of the ordinary …
The Need for Professionalism in Engineering
I came across this today. It resonated with me, so I thought it appropriate to share with you, perhaps to communicate to students, coworkers, and/or anyone who might appreciate the sentiment: “A doctor can kill only one person at a time. An engineer can kill thousands.” Questions: None. Just think about it.
Pedantry vs. Mastery
Unless I maintain vigilance, I tend to be rather rule bound. It’s a part of my personality that I’m not fond of, so I do my best to be aware of my response in situations. That’s why this quote, from A Word a Day struck me as being noteworthy: Pedantry and mastery are opposite attitudes toward rules. To apply a …
Spending Time Well
I’ve been using computers since 1968. I taught myself BASIC via a time-share arrangement, using a 110 Baud teletype connected to a computer several hundred miles away. Storage was on paper tape, and execution times were glacial, but I was using a computer! Time wore on. The personal computer age arrived, and I got very familiar with command-line control, first …