Brandt's Tumbling Log
This is a tumbling log of things and thoughts that pass my way.
If you got here by accident, you may want to visit my website instead.
GrApple Tangy, a cure for Firefox’s ugly-by-default appearance.
If the rocket scientists can't switch to the metric system, what hope is there for the rest of us?
From NASA criticised for sticking to imperial units:
Sad. What I don’t understand is:“Given these budget constraints and the need for consistent units throughout the Constellation Program lifecycle to minimise risks, and to contribute to mission success, we’re revising the previous management directive to a primarily English-units-based program,” he says.
That previous directive stems from 2004 when, under continuing pressure from its independent inspector general, NASA agreed to conform with US legislation enacted in 1988 that ordered all government departments to move towards the exclusive use of SI units.
Why is it riskier to use inches and meters together than to use inches and yards together? In either case, you have to know what your units are in order for a number to mean anything. Mistaking inches for meters is no greater a problem than mistaking inches for yards.In June 2006, when NASA’s progress on that looked sluggish, NASA spokesman David Steitz offered New Scientist this update: “NASA is in the process of converting to SI units. However, immediate conversion of systems that are already designed in English units can prove risky and inefficient. The US space program … will need time to evolve into SI units.”
[…] “Operating in space while using two different systems of measurement certainly opens the door for problematic mistakes and miscommunications,” he adds.
Oh, I get it. Someone is covering their ass by protecting against a previous mistake that had very little to do with SI vs imperial units but was played up that way by the media. Great…Before DART’s launch, NASA found that GPS data on its position was mistakenly being read by its computer in feet. Ironically, correcting this to metres in a simulator resulted in an incorrect change to another parameter that was programmed into the spacecraft – a problem that led to the collision.
Adactio: Journal—Revealing Design Treasures from The Amazon
A lot of good stuff in here, but the moral of the story boils down to:
Be careful when emulating features.
Schneier on Security: Fraud on eBay
Provoking and committing
errors of judgement (PDF) (via Schneier on Security: The Psychology of Being Scammed)
