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Space

Former NASA Official William Gerstenmaier Joins SpaceX (arstechnica.com) 17

schwit1 shared this report from Ars Technica: This is a consequential hire for SpaceX — it is difficult to overstate the influence Gerstenmaier has over human spaceflight both in the United States and abroad. He led NASA's space shuttle, International Space Station, commercial crew, and exploration programs for more than a decade. He immediately brings credibility to the company's safety culture. Former Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale, who now chairs the human spaceflight committee of NASA's Advisory Council, told Ars last summer, "Bill was recognized by everybody as being technically well-grounded and very astute. He was known to listen carefully and to make his judgments based on good technical reasons...."

Although the role is officially a consultancy, it is expected to become a full-time position. SpaceX is poised to launch the first crewed mission of its Dragon spacecraft by June of this year. [Or possibly even in early May.] Gerstenmaier will play a key role in ensuring the safety of those missions and helping SpaceX secure certification for the Crew Dragon vehicle. The hiring could have longer-term implications as well. Few people in the global aerospace community have as much gravitas as Gerstenmaier or as much understanding of how to build coalitions to explore space...

In December 2008, Gerstenmaier saved a cash-strapped SpaceX with a Commercial Resupply Service contract for operational cargo missions to the International Space Station. Gerstenmaier's decision to maintain two competitors as part of the commercial crew program in 2014 (SpaceX and Boeing) was also essential, although it was not a company-saving move. Boeing was lobbying hard for all of the funds and very nearly got them. Gerstenmaier was the deciding official who kept two providers in the competition. It has proven to be a smart decision, as SpaceX is poised to beat Boeing into space by months, if not years, at 50 percent less cost.

Comment Tasks, Effort, Complexity, and Risk. (Score 1) 222

I have have pretty good success with this process:

Tasks: write down all them thar software bits that need to be coded.
Effort: How much time will each task take.
Complexity: Complex things take more time - make up a coefficient. GUIs are always complex.
Risk: How possible is it that something wont work? - another coefficient.

Now put them all in Excel, and then adjust the complexity and risk coefficients till it matches with how much you want to charge the client.

Comment Re:An efficient robot to harvest fish? (Score 1) 20

I like the idea. Swarms of underwater lionfish hunting drones. Or Zebra Mussels in the great lakes. Or Asian Car in the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.
Or how about swarms of small farming robots scurrying around a cornfield picking pests off plants and digging up Gypsumweed.
And Marching columns of robot ants marching over the mountains of West Virginia selectively pulling Wild Garlic Mustard.

Comment Re:And just how will it know the difference... (Score 1) 291

It may be possible to put some sort of device inside the "A" pillar on the drivers side and then have the phone automatically enter Driver mode when the car is in motion and within X distance, about 3 feet, of the device.

Of course then people would be trying to operate their phones holding them at arms length over the passenger seat, which would be even more distracting.

I have also seen research which involved cameras watching the drivers eyes and using that data to understand what the driver is paying attention too. Perhaps using that kind of approach would be possible to block specific phones but that would be very expensive I would think.

Comment If the really want to add value for advertisers... (Score 1) 60

You don't even need to target me. Just let me choose between multiple commercial streams.

For example, when I am watching a football game with my son, give me a way to not be subjected to Viagra, Video Games, and Violent, Scary, or sexually suggestive movie trailers.

I'm not gonna buy a video game or go to a movie anyhow. And I don't need Viagra (yet). Give me the choice of a G-Rated stream where I feel like I have to cover his eyes and mute the sound.

Communications

Criminal Inquiry Sought Over Hillary Clinton's Personal Email Server 434

cold fjord writes: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Inspectors General from the State Department and intelligence agencies have asked the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server while she was U.S. Secretary of State. At issue is the possible mishandling of sensitive government information. Dozens of the emails provided by Hillary Clinton have been retroactively classified as part of the review of her emails as they are screened for public release. So far 3,000 of 55,000 emails have been released. The inspectors general found hundreds of potentially classified emails. "The Justice Department has not decided if it will open an investigation, senior officials said. ... The inspectors general also criticized the State Department for its handling of sensitive information, particularly its reliance on retired senior Foreign Service officers to decide if information should be classified, and for not consulting with the intelligence agencies about its determinations."

Comment Project administrators held PRC passports! (Score 5, Informative) 142

Total and complete incompetence from the Obama administration where the only qualification that matters is political loyalty.

From the article:

"A consultant who did some work with a company contracted by OPM to manage personnel records for a number of agencies told Ars that he found the Unix systems administrator for the project "was in Argentina and his co-worker was physically located in the [People's Republic of China]. Both had direct access to every row of data in every database: they were root. Another team that worked with these databases had at its head two team members with PRC passports."

Comment Re:Teach the cyborg cockroaches a useful skill (Score 2) 43

I am not sure cockroaches are the right insect because they are particularly filthy, eating their own poop and all.

However a few years ago a friend of mine remarked how useful ants would be for such a role, for cleaning the floor of crumbs.

I think if you could find a way to borgify insects the profitable sector would be in agriculture.

Sell dragonflies and mantises programmed so seek out and destroy corn pests. Sell engineered grasshoppers who leave the corn alone but eat everything else.

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