Different View of Space Shuttle Costs
In a BBC article about the Space Shuttle Atlantis landing the author mentioned a few statistics.
A Few Statistics
*First flight: 3 October 1985
*Total number of flights: 32
*Distance traveled: 195 million km
*Total number of days in orbit: 294
*Total number of orbits: 4,648
Cost Estimates
So if we assume that each shuttle launch and mission costs NASA about $450M on average, that leads to a few other operational cost numbers.
- $14,400M for 32 flights
- $48.98M for each day in orbit
- $3.1M for each orbit
These are just the costs for Atlantis while on mission. These numbers make my next vacation plans seem tiny. ;)
Disclosure: I was employed by the space shuttle program for 5 yrs and by both the shuttle and space station programs for 3 years. I worked at NASA-JSC in Houston, Tx for both of those jobs.
Burt Rutan (Engineer) on Climate Data
The story is a little old, but it was new to me and I figured many people here would also be interested.
The presentation is by Mr. Rutan, famous aviator and aerospace engineer. Here’s an overview. The full PPT presentation isn’t without flaws, but using longer term temperature and CO2 data, it shows how the presentation that Vice President Gore and other we’re all gonna die people has been selected for effect.
Important Worldwide Treaty That Needs Your Feedback
If you work in media or IT, you’ve probably already heard about ACTA, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
If not, here’s a summary to get you up to speed on it. Hopefully, you’ll contact your Senator, Congress-person and President and let them know you don’t like attempts to bypass your existing methods to pass laws.
A Little Off Topic Today
I read lots of news every day. This morning, this story was found and after reading the headline, my first thought was …
Manage Your Google Data
You can manage your google data here https://www.google.com/dashboard/. This is good. I don’t really use all the google apps, but seeing all the searches I’ve made over the last few years and the trend data, was eye opening. I elected to wipe my data, then pause all future capture of that data.
What other data did the dashboard show? I have removed anything personally identifying below.
Account Name: xxxxxxx Nickname: xxxx Email addresses: xxxxxxx@gmail.com, yyyyyy@yyyyyyyy.yyy Requesting data for Account... Manage account Edit personal information Privacy and security help Calendar Country United States Time zone (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time Requesting data for Calendar... Manage calendars Manage mobile devices Calendar privacy policy Contacts Contacts 58 entries Requesting data for Contacts... Manage contacts Docs Owned by me 1 document Most recent: Weight 2008 on Jun 6, 2006 Opened by me 1 document Most recent: Weight 2008 on Jun 6, 2006 Starred 1 document Most recent: Weight 2008 on Jun 6, 2006 Requesting data for Docs... Manage documents Sharing documents Finance 11 securities in 1 portfolio: My Portfolio 11 securities Portfolio value: $0.00 at Nov 6, 2009 Requesting data for Finance... Manage portfolios Gmail Inbox 11 conversations Most recent: TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT at 7:42 AM All mail 40 conversations Most recent: TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT at 7:42 AM Sent mail 7 conversations Most recent: gmail test on Oct 11, 2009 Spam 2 conversations Most recent: Ref: ssssssssssssssss on Oct 30, 2009 Trash 25 conversations Most recent: New private message has arrived on Oct 18, 2009 Requesting data for Gmail... Manage chat history Manage HTTPS settings Manage all Gmail settings Gmail privacy policy Privacy and security help IGoogle Gadgets installed 10 gadgets Most recent: on Jan 24, 2008 Tabs 1 tab Most recently added: Requesting data for IGoogle... Manage iGoogle settings iGoogle privacy policy Profile About me 2 entries Name: xxxxx xxxxxx Profile URL: http://www.google.com/profiles/pppppppppppppppppppppp Requesting data for Profile... Edit profile Manage sharing of contact info About access and privacy of profiles Talk Contacts 1 contact Sample Contact: zzzzzz@gmail.com Requesting data for Talk... About talk Talk privacy policy Voice History 140 calls Placed calls 4 calls Trash 36 items Forwarding phones 2 phones Requesting data for Voice... Manage Greetings Manage Google Voice settings About privacy and security in Google Voice How voicemails are transcribed Web History Web History: Disabled Requesting data for Web History... Remove items or clear Web History Web History help Web History privacy policy Web History privacy FAQ Other products Google Maps
There was a list of 3rd party sites with access to this data too. I didn’t recall authorizing any of them. Data removed and future 3rd party access prevented.
Major kudos to google for allowing us to manage our data and privacy settings.
I did leave some of the private data out there for use. It isn’t important to me. Your internet use may tell others things that are better not shared. Suppose you search on a medical term because a friend tells you a story about his mother. That search term is saved and tied to your account. What happens if 5 yrs later you end up being medically diagnosed with that illness? Your insurance company may start legal discovery efforts, or just pay google for the data. Now they refuse to cover your treatment since it was a pre-existing condition. Even if you don’t care about this, you know someone who does. What if you search for foods that are bad for you or visit weight loss web sites for 5 years? Expect your insurance company and the govt to have access to this data. If it is stored, it will get out.
It should be noted that if you aren’t logged into your google account, the data captured doesn’t appear to be correlated with your account. That doesn’t mean it isn’t captured by your IP address or a google cookie, stored, and correlated. Further, you can’t manage the data with the dashboard. Google writes about this other data
Today, google is a little less evil. Until they let me remove my data from other peoples’ accounts (contacts, phone calls, email addresses), I’ll still avoid using google with an expectation of privacy.
11/8: The Washington Post Security Fix guy has an article on this now too.
US Space Industry Export Delayed Indian Moon Mission
In this thought provoking article, Indian science writer Pallava Bagla provides a one-sided, trust-everyone description of red tape causing delays with US payloads on the recent Indian moon mission. In the purely scientific world, where there aren’t any political considerations and everyone in the world is good, his arguments make sense. I’d like to live in his world, but you and I don’t.
Pakistan
The US has agreements with countries other than India. Perhaps Pakistan needed assurances that India wouldn’t get any knowledge that could be turned to military use? Getting multiple countries to talk takes time, agreements take longer. Perhaps those assurances for Pakistan could be leveraged for other US desires? If India had heard the details of this, would that have condemned the India/US agreement completely?
US Export Laws
The US is a country with laws. Those laws apply (mostly) to everyone and there are very few times when the President can simply order something to occur. Agencies may be told what the outcome should be, then it is left to those agencies to find a way to get to that desired outcome, legally. I’ve seen that in my time at NASA. Sometimes bad ideas and bad science are forced onto the agency for political reasons. Sometimes the agency loses track of the political issues and jumps ahead for the science aspect, then gets pulled back. The best NASA administrators tend to be very smart scientists with good political skills. The contractors involved simply want to make money first and gain knowledge second.
Military Uses
Many space science inventions have multiple purposes: scientific, commercial and military. Many scientists only see the scientific uses. Commercial secrets also have national boundaries when those secrets have military applications. Almost everything used in space has multiple military applications. It isn’t the decision of a company to determine which secrets can be shared with foreign countries or companies. I’d like to think we (the US government and US companies) have learned from prior mistakes., but without any oversight from outside the directly engaged parties, I fear we will. BTW, I worked at a different Loral subsidiary than the one who lobbied to sell China satellite technology.
I don’t profess to understand US foreign relations with either India or Pakistan and definitely don’t understand the difficult dynamics when all three countries are involved. However, not including those concerns in the article is a disservice to readers. Calling it red tape isn’t accurate.
President Obama calls someone a Jackass
President Obama calls Kanye a Jackass. Up to this point, I haven’t been very impressed with his administration. Perhaps I’ve been too hard on the man?
Good call, Mr. President
now about that health care plan.
Brazilian President Worried About Invasion?
In this BBC News Article, it is reported that the Brazilian President wants assurances from President Obama that the USA military in Columbia will not perform any other tasks than drug fighting in Columbia. A long contract with Ecuador ended last year and the USA negotiated for military placement in Columbia. There are less than 1,000 troops and 600 contractors located here.
President Chavez is hinting that an invasion is being planned. Not likely.
Health Care Reform Thoughts
A few thoughts on health care reform.
Background
- I pay for private insurance as an individual
- I have a high deductible plan. Anything under $5K a year is my problem with ZERO insurance involvement.
- In the last 18 months, I’ve had ZERO health claims or non-routine doctor visits.
- My rate for coverage has gone up over 30% in the last 18 months.
- I’m healthier now than when I first signed up since I’ve lost some weight and lead a much more active lifestyle.
Hacker Afraid of Extradition to USA 1
I saw this story from the BBC today. The headline was Hacker renews extradition fight. After reading the story, I got that he’s afraid to come to the USA.
Gee, I wonder why?
Charges
He allegedly broke into 97 computer systems at NASA and US Navy in 2001-2002 causing $800,000 worth of damage. He claims to have been looking for information on UFOs. British police arrested him in 2002. If convicted, he could face 70 years of imprisonment.
I’m sorry for that
Ship the guy here, put him on trial and, if guilty, send him to prison. Simple. His, “I am sorry for that” doesn’t cover the damages. The fact that he can’t work in IT anymore isn’t anyone’s problem, but his. If he did the crimes, he needs to be punished by incarceration, IMHO. His apology makes me believe he actually did the crime, unless there were circumstances we don’t know about (which is likely).
He claims that being taken from his family is a psychological hardship. Yes, it is. He’s going to be in prison where you have to do what you are told and normal freedoms are removed. Isn’t that the point? He should be happier that the time would be spent in lush federal prisons, not cheap state prisons.
Actions have consequences.
At age 42, he should have learned that already. If I hacked into a British military system, I would expect to be caught, extradited, tried, and, if found guilty, serve a sentence in a prison. Duh. Hackers should know by now that you always jump through systems in countries that aren’t friendly to your target system/country. Don’t do any damage to the middle systems. If you don’t know how to accomplish that, you have no business attempting the break in.
Reporters in North Korea
This article is about the reporters who were convicted of entering North Korea illegally while filming at the Chinese border in March 2009. I have to assume they did this act. Entering any country illegally has consequences. They knew that. Both Ms Ling and Ms Lee had to know they were doing something illegal (though ignorance is no excuse). The article says they would be sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labour”. This seems an excessive time to me, but I don’t make the laws of North Korea. If that is the normal penalty, they should serve it. I’m disappointed that the USA government is asking for their release. Laws need to be followed regardless of who you are or who you know.
