It's almost like the orbital shells will clear up in a day or two, and internet service won't be interrupted at all. In fact, we ought to purposely make satellites run into each other, for entertainment. 8^)

Yes, Geosynchronous Kessler would be a real tragedy. Yes, lower orbital shells will tend to have the resulting debris de-orbit more quickly.

But lost in all of this is the fact that if people are getting their pR0n from Starlink or the upcoming competitors, even a wildly optimistic 1 year downtime will be a real problem. Seems the disagreement effect running rampant on Slashdot is out in full force.

Good to know it's not really a problem. I wonder why those stupid researchers think it might be a pretty big problem?

The results of the inevitable Kessler event on debris orbiting shells won't be completely predictable. Angle of strike, relative velocity of striking objects.

Some debris might take more time to de-orbit. let's not forget that Elmo isn't the only one contributing to the coming fireworks. Even without a Kessler event, it's going to get interesting navigating through LEO.

And orbiting data centers? From a strategic POV, I would encourage adversarial countries to put their entire countries data in LEO. All of it. hellava thing to try to defend.

The irony is that defending the Data center will likely create a Kessler event.

I've used Apple products professionally since the 1990's. Using it professionally today.

So your claim fails utterly. What's your next excuse? I'm sure you have one

So hey, we must remember this is the 2020's, where you can have your own personal truth!

Good to know.

Good to know

Are you sure they avoid dropping to normal human speech because you are there? Seriously dude, you're a pill.

Exactly who do you think is on those boards? It's not the guys in the stockroom. A meeting might have some Adimirals/Generals, Industry CEOs Educational directors, oftentimes a smattering of Division heads. Presentations, might be from Division heads, Engineers, accountants.

But that's not the point of "Boards and groups". The point is that all groups have grouptalk. Engineers and programmers have all manner of it, usually a lot of Acronyms and Initialisms. Accountants, Military, politicians. The same with the C-Suite. But you have to be able to drop to "normal" speech.

Perhaps my BODs and CEO positions are unique, along with every person on them. And it sounds like those you have sat on are dishonest, and probably doomed to failure. I've called out things before, from polite disagreement, maybe asking for clarification in English, to telling the person they are full of shit. Haven't been fired or removed just yet. Some spouting bullshit have.

We can and do drop to CEOspeak if you want to call it that, but that is only public facing.

Now if someone comes into a meeting and claims their product "is the action engine that goes beyond answers to execute tasks, automate workflows, and extend your human reach." They'll be asked to define what an action engine is, if their company is part of actionengine.com (might want to make certain you aren't infringing here Manus) What manner of questions does their product answer, what are the "tasks" it executes, what workflows it automates, and what does human reach mean. Is it physical, or metaphorical.

Point is someone who comes in like that will find out quickly they might as well explain themselves in plain English, or else be grilled to discomfort and understanding they were wasting valuable time.

Seems like your experience was rather limited compared to mine. For my part, as CEO of two successful corporations, Vice CEO of another, and sitting on five advisory boards and Boards of Directors, I've been around a bit. For my CEO work, People weren't allowed to spew bullshit like "Manus is the action engine that goes beyond answers to execute tasks, automate workflows, and extend your human reach." They would be stopped - usually kindly reminded that there were all manner of disciplines here, so simple English would be appreciated. They don't get upbraided unless they persist.

Engineers using acronyms and initialisms are asked to define them the first time, then they can drop to the terms for expediency (that should be done regardless, reference Engineering presentation 101) Anyhow, you do you, I'll do me. And as my boss once told someone who was trying to bullshit me "Probably not a good thing to do that - never bullshit a bullshitter"

If the reality does not fit with your narrative, just write what you wrote.

Beancounter think. Yes, you can increase profits for the quarter if you gut the place. We were taken over by the bean counters where I retired from.

What was once an accounting office with 3 people, ended up becoming the largest group in the place. They gutted overhead, sucking it all up to pay themselves. I was mandated to travel to conferences at least once every other year. I couldn't perform the mandate, because there was no more overhead money.

Crazy thing was, my mandate didn't go away. I asked how the bloody hell I was supposed to do that. Boss mumbled something about taking quizzes online.

I forced the issue be during the self analysis part of the yearly review, that I had not perform a mandated activity for three years, and should be terminated for refusing direct orders. Gosh did they have to do a tap-dance.

So the bean counters pretty much destroyed the place. new innovations were not implemented, and we were falling behind. Meanwhile, they embedded a bean counter within each group, and were still agitating for more. I made a joke that we were going to have a 6 figure accountant hired to keep track of 5000 dollars of pencils. And then....

At the same time I was personally performing our groups finances and credit cards.

Wanna know how badly Apple sucked? I had a Magic Mouse go dead. I got on the phone with Cupertino. After convincing them it was a legitimate defect,at 5 p.M, they had one at my doorstep at 9 the next morning - California to PA. Their only request was to send the old one back prepaid so they could do a postmortem.

I had a bluetooth problem with my headphones. I'm rather deaf. After posting on their support section, I got an unexpected phone call in 15 minutes. I dunno if text sent an alert, but one of their support people hopped on that, and we fixed it pronto.

They prepaid my trade in of an Intel iMac for a new M4 Mac, and I got several hundred dollars trade in.

I always like to contrast Apples worst in class support with me having a in warranty problem with my kid's laptop a few years ago. (forget the brand) The "service desk" handed me a Xerox copy for me to walk the whole way through it.

Sucks to own a Mac.

I hate to disagree, but there is a huge difference between conceptualization and marketing. But you realize you are saying that Apple would be where it is at today with a marketing person as CEO.

Marketing people might be able to sell refrigerators to inuits, but someone needs to come up with concept and direction. I've been involved with marketeers for a long time. They pitch products, not conceptualize, design or built them.

So much this.

While it doesn't fit the standard Slashdot meme of the CEO as worthless psychopath, there is a value, and an ability that goes with the work. Being a CEO in two organizations, and now interacting with them in my present position, I have to say I work my ass off to keep things running. I get called asshole at times, and sometimes people have to just trust me - it's my career on the line - but it isn't the fever dream people have about the position.

Also this. Wozniak was Wozniak. And Jobs was Jobs. They had an important synergy. But without Jobs, Woz would almost certainly be as you described.

I'm in a similar field. RF. We are in a time whereThe RF spectrum is about as clogged as it can get, teetering on the edge of becoming a train wreck. Yet people who know the nuances of keeping signals away from each other are becoming rare.

We had this weird dichotomy of people thinking "Radio is obsolete - if you are technical minded, go for digital technology and science!" while forgetting that a cellular phone is a little walkie-talkie, bluetooth is GHz band transmission, and so on. And we forget that our computers themselves are unintended RF generators. RF is an unruly beast. Its characteristics vary by frequency, time of day, even by weather.

People who understand how to keep this stuff working are not common any more. And we aren't being replaced nearly fast enough. Think of it like the COBOL problem. Old dudes and dudettes naming their price to come back to the banks and keep things running. Except physics based - seemingly arcane. I'm naming my price too, Some folks have told me I should grow my beard long, wear a pointy black hat and gown, and carry a wand. Plunk my magic twanger and the problem is fixed. Because to many, what I do seems like Magic. A good thing I like what I'm doing.

Can you tell me where Linux does that? I've been using Linux constantly since around 2007, and that has not happened once. And not certain where you get the idea that changing a "bistro" changes everything on the computer.

Did you get your Linux knowledge from the local Windows OS club?

My son who is a gamer, and I built a top end gaming system, and I concur. Reminded me of the "good old days", where just getting the damn computer to work was something to celebrate, and never turn the thing off once you do, at least until the next BSOD. It's a pretty thing, but a definite learning experience