Posts by bombastic bob 10835 publicly visible posts • joined 1 May 2015
"Do NOT blame NASA for the failings of Congress."
I DO blame NASA, in some respects, for spending too much time going after politically-correct "science" projects... which isn't happening right now, thankfully. Politics drives them, it seems. I blame them for going along with it TOO WILLINGLY.
However, what Con-GRAB wants to do may be a whole lot WORSE. They'll spend money on agendas and political favors in the form of gummint contracts and NASA projects, like they have done somewhat recently.
Think of it this way: Con-GRAB will spend the people's money to BUY VOTES. It's "the establishment" that is behind it, regardless of which political party. It's ugly, dirty, corrupt, and evil. Knowing that, I vote for the lesser of evils whenever I have a choice.
I have something I put into a demotivational once. With a picture of the nearly complete space station from the movie "2001 a Space Odyssey", the caption reads"The Great Society" "If it hadn't been for LBJ and those whiny socialist liberals, we'd be colonizing Mars by now".
it's what happens when you divert money from BUYING ROCKETS (which boost the economy, cause technology to improve faster, and have far reaching economic benefits, as a Keynesian economist would LOVE this part), as compared to BUYING PEOPLE WHO DO NOT WORK by giving them "subsistence" for sitting on their ASSES [and taking drugs, and breeding, and protesting against America, and so on]. Yeah it's the truth, deal with it. So you get what you're PAYING FOR, ok? Gummint paying for ROCKETS gets rockets, heroes, great accomplishments worthy of news headlines and the people's adoration, and a better world and better economy and jobs and so on. Paying for WELFARE gets you WELFARE RECIPIENTS, lifelong dependents on handouts who DEMAND MORE, and vote for those who GIVE it to them.
"if there is a viable business case to be had for being on the Moon"
1. space tourism
2. jumping-off spot for other places [we'll need moon bases for that] "Flight 404 leaving for Saturn at gate 12"
3. astronomy [telescopes, etc.] especially on the non-earth side
4. low gravity therapy (for people who can afford it)
5. "it's a frontier" (mining being one good possibility)
And so on. If I could, I'd go there. I'd probably want to set up a mining operation. The first people there will be able to get to the surface stuff, major lodes, and whatnot.
Also, it would be easier to allow people to mull around at 1/6 gravity, rather than zero gravity, between flights. Less vomiting, for one thing. And you could have large tanks of fuel and whatnot standing by for fueling up space ships, and they wouldn't need atmospheric accomodations, nor enough fuel to break away from the earth [just enough fuel to leave the moon's gravity, a LOT less].
I would also expect that shuttles to the moon would be more practical if you could fill them up with people for multiple destinations, like taking a short hop to a major hub (say LAX) for international flights.
"21st century NASA, Boeing and the ULA seem to be top-heavy with people who are more interested in pay and politics than in getting the job done on time and without killing people"
Quite possible. Yet, look at Boeing's reputation taking a BIG hit over what they did with the newer 737's, and the resulting crashes, and what they're gonna have to do to fix it before the planes go in the air [are they STILL grounded? I haven't heard much].
If the FAA does its job correctly they should also manage space-related flight. And if it's UNSAFE, it gets GROUNDED, and the company responsible must fix it at no charge. That is actually good motivation to get safety and human life to the top of the priority list...
(and the same goes for space-liners around the world - no more 737 MAX fiascos)
Worthy of reminder when there's a crash anywhere in the world the FAA is going to want to analyze it to prevent it from happening again, and since many of those planes are built in the USA, they'll stick their noses in whenever they wanna, for good reason. It's one of the things gummint does _RIGHT_.
Anyway those bean counters that actually think bottom line comes before safety oughta fear losing their jobs the next time something like the 737MAX fiasco happens.
"a private company that puts its reputation on the line is a much better guarantee of safety."
I think so as well, at least in the CURRENT environment. [at least one lost space shuttle may have been due to environmental 'concerns', changing the glue that held the insulation on the fuel tank to a more 'environmentally friendly' one, which allowed it to break loose and damage the shuttle's wing, etc., because as we all know, "the environment" is more important than safety and human life... to THEM, anyway - it's their "god". But I digress...)
'Back in the day' the U.S. gummint was more interested in getting technological superiority over their 'behind the iron curtain' equivalents in the USSR, for several reasons, not the least of which WW2 was an ACTUAL MEMORY and nobody wanted to repeat it with the Soviet Union on the other side. And Kruschev was threatening everyone, banging his shoe, etc..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev
If the threat was not real, he made it SOUND real, for whatever reason.
So NASA was highly motivated to succeed. And JFK was as well. Presidents back then (both D and R) were ANTI-communists, and had memories of WW2, and so on. And so did the people, and the people love heros and want the world to be a safe place, and space became IMPORTANT, and so the motivation to succeed, and take the risks to get there [and pay for it].
I wish it were still that way, because I'd rather buy rockets and fire them into space than give money away for nothing. But I digress...
But now, private industries compete against one another the way the USA and USSR competed against one another. So the motivation is there to "beat Boeing" or "beat SpaceX" etc. and Amazon is in the mix now, and Virgin Air is in there someplace...
So yeah, company reputation and safety records and getting there first. THAT is the motivation!
Profit is good. (Ferengi rules of acquisition, heh). But without profit, there would be no investors, and therefore no 'bucks', and therefore, no "Buck Rogers". You can't be a wasteful black hole of expenses into which money is thrown, if you are a private industry. Take THAT anti-capitalists!
yeah, reminds me of the "70's disco hit" I wrote in 10 minutes. It repeated the same 2 measure riff with the constant 4 on the floor and "funky bass line" and "horn hits" over and over and over and over... (same chord, too).
And the words (not sung, but spoken, badly): "Yowza boogie down to my dance fever baby." I think I got all of the 70's disco words in there in one go.
I wrote it and completed the recording in around 10 minutes, maybe 15 at the most, no kidding. I was making a point. 70's disco was plastic formulaic CRAP, so I created some equivalent CRAP to lampoon it. But I did it in the 90's...
Apparently this AI thing went to a whole lot of trouble to do the same thing for the 'Eurovision' stuff, heh.
well it makes the case that this style of music (like 70's disco, which was a WHOLE LOT WORSE) is "formulaic". You plug in the parameters to an AI and it *excretes* a "hit".
Without paying attention to lyrics the song would be mildly entertaining, as it DOES use familiar chord progressions in a way that's patterned after other "hit" songs. When you DO pay attention to the lyrics, it's like it was poorly translated from another language where it might've made sense. Even the worst bad-English embedded into southeast asian pop music is more sensible and congruent than THAT. (and I do like southeast asian pop music, which I consider to be better than most of what RIAA crams into our ears in order to market it to us until we like it).
Today i was working on a song of my own. yesterday I threw in a possible synth lead to it, but today it sounded like CRAP to me, not evoking a "cool!" reaction, and actually kinda lame (or perhaps formulaic), so I erased it, create a new song file without it. Strangely, _THIS_ song reminds me of what I threw away...
do my fingers STILL have to leave 'home row' on the keyboard to mousie-clickie a bunch of CRAP way too often? or has THAT encumberance FINALLY been fixed properly to the way it was in DevStudio '98 where there were HOT KEYS for just about EVERYTHING because properties were REAL DIALOG BOXES with accelerators!!! Oh yeah, I did that, it worked, it was fast and efficient, and 2 years later MICRO-SHAFT WENT THE WAY OF THE VB INTERFACE, excreated C-pound and ".Not", and it's been INFERIOR ever since...
VS Code written in NODE JS is like the WORST thing they could have done...
Warm Embrace = squicky kisses and the coils of a constrictor snake. I think I'll vomit, now.
just saying Pvt Manning would have been treated COMPLETELY DIFFERENT (by the press, in particular) had the sex change NOT happened...
Pvt Manning, enjoy your stay at the IRON BAR HOTEL!
And next time, show up and plead the 5th or something. You can be compelled to APPEAR, and go to jail for FAILING to appear, yet you can STILL remain silent when you DO finally appear, and "plead the 5th".
So STOP TRYING TO MANIPULATE PEOPLE (in particular SJWs) INTO FEELING SORRY FOR YOU. It's a SICKENING display...
yes, suppliers for the U.S. (in China) might have to face competition from other countries where the wages aren't quite slave-wages, and the the local gummint does NOT own the businesses [and grant special favors/breaks/whatever for the oligarch that owns/runs it].
The USA (and probably most of the rest of the world) will see a minor hiccup in their economy, if anything at all. Some prices will go up a bit. Suppliers and manufacturing in "other than China" will pick up the slack and get contracts China companies WOULD have had. That's pretty much what will happen, yeah. Looking forward to it! I know all too well what they're doing over there [having seen an example of a violated copyright/patent product made from stuff being made their under contract for a U.S. company, and that "4th shift" component that looks as if it were made from a plan created using X rays on the finished product, complete with the company logo etched into it - an OBVIOUS plagiarized clone!]
C (not micro-shaft's version) does not *NEED* exceptions. People who *KNOW* *HOW* *TO* *CODE* do NOT rely on exceptions, and test parameters so that they would NEVER HAPPEN in the FIRST place. Only the SLOPPIEST coders ever need to catch them, except for maybe bugs in the OS [which I've had to deal with from time to time]. But only if it's Windows...
Yeah C++ is great, too, when you do NOT use exception handling. Who's FEELING "brilliant" idea was it in the FIRST place to put THAT CRAP into the lingo in the FIRST place? I sentence YOU to 100 strikes with a CLUE BAT!
That's right - REAL coders do NOT use exceptions! When you code for the kernel, an exception usually causes data loss, a system crash, etc.. A _REAL_ programmer understands this, and writes BULLET PROOF CODE.
indent at 2, spaces only [no tabs]. And Allman style. And the worst thing I ever see in anyone's code is the construct "} else {" which should be punished by 50 lashes with a cat 5 o' nine tails...
There. I said it. The argument is NOW completed, and shall not be debated again. Heh.
(troll icon because obvious)
Javascript as an application language, and I'm talking SPECIFICALLY about NodeJS, is an ELDRITCH ABOMINATION of the WORST variety, and needs to be *EXTERMINATED* just like a cockroach, for the exact same reasons.
If they'll survive a nukular fire, perhaps they'll DIE in a REGULAR one...
you sure about mercury leaving orbit? I would expect it to crash into the sun before that would happen... due to very slow orbital decay from solar wind, if for no other reason.
so that's something to ponder I guess, if mercury's orbit is affected more by constant mass loss from the sun [energy from fusion as well as solar wind], or by the solar wind itself creating friction and orbital decay.
As mass of the sun goes down, mercury's escape velocity would ALSO go down, but very very slowly. Similarly, the slow orbital decay. Maybe they balance each other out?
don't worry, some wackos will claim it's human activity causing the sun to die, and come up with charts and graphs and modeling and legislation to curb our personal freedoms and screw us up economically in order to "solve" it.... and accuse EVERYONE who doesn't buy into this nonsense of being "deniers"...
(troll icon, naturally)
and the thing about trains is usually NOT the train... it's the part about getting to the station, the scheduling, the parking [or lack of it], how to get to/from your (assume work) destination once you reach it, and all of that.
Public transportation in the USA is generally DISMAL, especially in Cali-Fornicate-You, where gummint types INSIST we use it, but then constantly screw it up and charge more for even lousier service year after year... [I think they just don't want people to have freedom of movement but that's another topic]
And how about environmental stupidity getting in the way of laying track? Look at the *HORRIBLE* *CLUSTER-FEEL* that the Cali-Fornicate-You "Crazy Train" has gone through? It's outright CRIMINAL what they've done with voter-approved funds for THAT one.
I like trains. They're big pieces of engine-driven steel on steel tracks that any overgrown boy would LOVE to have as his personal train set. I've done daily rides on them, too, which is why I know how FEEL'd UP the transportation to/from train stations is. When it got to the point where the trip to/from the station [on both ends] totalled MORE than the commute time, minus the hour train ride [with stops and slow windy sections], guess what _I_ did? That's right, I _DROVE_. And I hated it. And a year later I quit because the commute "drove me nuts". But taking 3 times as long every day JUST to take the train? That's just *RIDICULOUS* !
Hopefully Japan has solved these problems on both ends of their new bullet train...
right, the callir ID spoofing problem must be fixed FIRST. This should actually fix 99% of it. Once you know for sure who these ASSHATS are, and can complain about them ACCURATELY, it'll be possible to go after them. But as long as they're hiding by caller ID spoofing, and they do NOT identify themselves, you can't do a damn thing... except maybe VOODOO!
"SHAKEN/STIR sends the caller ID using TLS. This isn't rocket surgery."
Did you hear the term 'Rocket Surgery' from a radio host named 'LaDonna' ? I'm pretty sure she originated it...
yeah the article already pointed out that phone companies make money by connecting calls, and lose money when they don't. The general idea here is to STOP THE SPOOFING, rather than blocking things. once THAT happens, the blockage and complaints can be managed by ordinary citizens, more or less, who will accurately identify these BOTTOM FEEDING HYPER-TURDS that robo-call people [scams or otherwise, both are equally irritating] regardless of whatever excuse they rectally extrapolate.
At some point a STICK will be required, rather than a series of "Carrots" in the form of summits where everyone sits around "harumphing" about it. I think that time, for a BIG STICK, is NOW.
"The monopoly revolves around there being no competition allowed."
Correct. In a bit more detail:
a) you can't run an application on your phone [without jailbreaking] that is NOT from "the store";
b) you cannot publish an application not THROUGH "the store"
c) Apple regularly REJECTS applications they don't like from "the store."
Therefore, it's a monopoly if you have an iDevice.
In Google's case (for Android), none of this is true. With an extra hoop to jump through on the client side, you CAN just load any old APK from anywhere. And jailbreaking is really only needed if you want super-user access to the Linux OS.
So, technically, Android "the Store" isn't quite in the same boat. Not quite...
the idea that all of these script libraries should be teetering on the brink of crushing the house of cards they're all built on, of which NodeJS and that 'NPM' thing were MAJOR players a short while back (including the TRIVIALITY of the "withdrawn" code whut dun it) tells me that it's time to move AWAY from such things before yet another "centralized" thing crushes half of what depends upon it ,for whater random reason.
eggs.. one basket... sounded ok until they ALL BROKE. It's kinda like NOT doing backups, or relying on a single supplier, or one of many OTHER _BAD_ ideas that people end up going with anyway, because they *FELT* and did not THINK it through.
And saying that programming is *SOCIAL* - *urp* I need more pink liquid
does anyone NOT remember DLL Hell? Does anyone NOT remember that MS's "solution" for it was ".NET" ??? And now, FORCED UPDATES so that EVERYTHING updates at the same time? Is *EVERYONE* ready for "that" kind of "solution" to one trivial package breaking EVERY DAMNED EGG in the FORNICATING BASKET again, no matter WHAT that "package system" is called?
It's all WAY too overrated, and _WILL_ bite people in the ass, MULTIPLE times, before it's properly REPLACED with something different, something _LESS_ centralized, like having your OWN copy of a lib you need and maintaining it LOCALLY! And having enough QUALITY CONTROL to get the job done RIGHT the FIRST time, and not '42 updates later'.
NO. not a good idea. SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN: criminalizing speech/freedom.
It's one of the things that's gone HORRIBLY WRONG with even a "benevolent" dictatorship (like Singapore).
In Singapore, these things are illegal:
a) chewing gum
b) carrying a pocket knife of any size
c) feeding pigeons
d) public singing of 'naughty songs'
e) not flushing the toilet
f) walking around naked in your own home
g) same-sex relationships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Singapore
And a bunch of other things, most likely. Its "nanny state" policies are well documented.
"unwanted pron" can be deemed as 'harassment' and that's always illegal [this would require that you prove you were being harassed, regardless of how]. One thing that is NOT needed is "yet another nanny law" that criminalizes any form of porn. I would guess that people sometimes exchange this sort of thing thinking the other person MIGHT want to see it, and if the other person says "do not send me this ever again" and you do NOT, there's no JAIL involved, just irritation and need to apologize.
That would be NORMAL human relationships [excluding harassment, already mentioned]
But THIS would CRIMINALIZE someone saying "I did not want that", and now you do jail?
There's something to be said about gummints NOT being in every aspect of people's lives, ya know?
there are manufacturers inside the USA, by the way. And watch Trump rip up the WTO if it gets in the way. Wouldn't be the first time (NAFTA being a good example). "We need a new trade deal". etc.
Seems to be working well, in my opinion. The USA should not subject itself to any legal entity other than our own Constitution. And that's just the way things ought to be. [same for every other country, really]
Treaties and trade deals are agreements, not laws.
OK - want to make someone's tax records public? YOU first! Then we'll treat YOU the same, with an army of accountants and activists using a microscope to find a missing dot on an 'i', or a missing cross on a 't', or just simply criticize your life choices by putting whatever horrible spin is possible to put on them and then flaming you all over every media outlet and blog site that exists.
We just got done with ONE witch hunt. But I know that Trump-haters want it all to CONTINUE in order to put as many roadblocks in the President's way as possible.
Ask yourself this: WHAT would have happened if Republicans had treated Obama "that way" ???
Hypocrisy, much?
@whitepines - some of what you say is true, but your conclusions are wrong.
you assume that lead times "that long" are on common parts. Usually it's high-dollar stuff, and inventories CAN be moved... and it's likely that high-dollar inventories will be depleted while there's a tariff if it applies to that [while finding a competing source].
Again, keep in mind that China has deliberately set up a system [which is actually quite smart] where the component makers are in the same city as the component consumers, and by using "just in time" delivery the inventory levels are extremely LOW. For high dollar items (like CPUs) that are likely NOT made in China, you'll still have lead times, and maybe you can just tell the makers to "ship 'em here instead". the other stuff really isn't that significant, and is probably ALSO made in Taiwan, P.I., Singapore, S. Korea, ...
sure I'll expect one or two exceptions to be mentioned, maybe touch screens and other "generates a lot of pollution" items, where China doesn't care about polluting and so it's cheaper to make there.
" Significant amounts of what is imported from China can only come from there, especially in the electronics fields, at least in the short to medium term"
Smart U.S. companies have already set up "second source" for things, just worth pointing out. Shifting to another "2nd source" manufacturer and ramping up wouldn't take as long as people think...
There are a number of small subcontractors in the USA (and worldwide) that can build things at competitive prices, and with a short setup process and setup fee, you can be up and running at a cost roughly equal to what it could be made for in China (post-tariff specifically).
What China has that saves money and lead time is their component pipeline. Inventory levels on components can be kept small by doing 'just in time' deliveries from the factories that make those components, which by design are most likely IN THE SAME CITY as the manufacturer of the sub-assemblies and final assemblies.
[yes I pretty much know what I'm talking about here, being in/out of manufacturing industry over the last few DECADES, to one extent or another].
A U.S. based company that has a good pick&place setup might actually charge LESS than what a manufacturer in China would want to charge, particularly if they're placing parts on the boards by hand. But the lead times are likely to be longer, due to component availability and things of that nature. I am currently thinking of one particular manufacturer here in the USA when I say that. And in Mexico it has become LESS EXPENSIVE THAN China to make things, from what I've been reading/hearing. Some time ago a company I contracted for did some price comparisons, and chose a U.S.-based facility that's actually near the Mexico border...
All in all, the market is likely to shift to "other than China" as this keeps up. Taiwan still makes things, and so does S. Korea, and so does the Philippines (things are apparently picking up over there, good thing, their economy is really poor), and so China would no longer be able to under-cut these other countries with their gummint-run companies, meaning they'll have a shot at the business China was exclusively doing.
And I don't think it will take THAT long for a savvy team of manufacturing engineers and directors to get things up and running in "not China".
[personally I'd rather see China behave, but obviously THAT isn't happening any time soon]
I'm totally IN FAVOR of what Trump is doing!
1. China has been ripping off our tech for YEARS. At a 'used to company', one of China's "off the books" aka "4th shift" manufacturers _CLONED_ an antenna design, complete with the company's logo etched into the copper, which was then encased in plastic so it was hidden. It was a BLATANT RIPOFF.
2. China makes promises, then IGNORES THEM, like we don't matter. Except *NOW*, we DO.
3. The only thing that a communist dictatorship seems to understand is THE STICK, rather than THE CARROT.
4. It's ABOUT TIME a president had the CHUTZPAH to do what needs to be done to STOP them from blatantly ripping us off. It's NOT "free market" over there, it's GUMMINT CONTROLLED market, where their gummint sets the pricing and policies and keeps their people working for SLAVE WAGES.
5. A handful of hand-picked Chinese 'oligarchs' and political-types profit from their state-run manufacturing companies undercutting every other manufacturing business worldwide, while keeping their employees at the "slave wage" level, and controlling their lives via the 'great firewall' and 'social credit' scoring. And they BLATANTLY rip-off our tech! And they use *OUR* *MONEY* to do it! This is like paying the mob to protect us from the mob.
So while everyone whines and complains about the higher price of an i-device, perhaps we ought to look more carefully at the TOTAL COST of having China make these things. And when it becomes more profitable to set up shop elsewhere, maybe the Philippines, maybe Vietnam, maybe even The Congo, or if Kim Jon Un stops behaving like a BIG FAT BABY, in N. Korea, and China has to actually COMPETE which means RESPECTING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, then they'll realize that they have to actually KEEP THEIR WORD if they want to make our stuff and sell it to us.
Otherwise, the money spigot is gonna be throttled, and eventually SHUT, and they know it, and they had better realize that Trump isn't some wimpy Obama or Bush when it comes to foreign policy.
This won't last long. But if it does, there's still Taiwan...
"Are they still a thing in modern aerial warfare?"
yes
The idea of superseding close-in aerial combat was thought up back in the 60's, probably by LBJ's whiz kids and others like them [who excelled at killing people unnecessarily by making stupid "smart" decisions like that]. It went so far as to take guns off of planes. This may have been talked about in the Top Gun movie from the 80's as I recall, or maybe I just saw a documentary about the REAL Top Gun [which used to be here in San Diego, I live only a few miles from Miramar, which is now a Marine Corps air base]. In any case, guns were removed from F4's but pilots insisted they be re-installed, as missiles were inadequate for close-in combat which was still happening.
And I don't expect this has changed at all.
Arthur C. Clarke's "Superiority" applies again.
well if you're gonna take a lesson from Anime, there are the gundams, and also Eureka 7, in which (for some models) pilots were pumped full of drugs to keep them at a peak during combat, after which they had to be pumped full of even MORE drugs to "bring them back down" so the other drugs wouldn't kill them.
science fiction in general has come up with some pretty good, and sometimes pretty frightening, ideas. In one episode of Stargate (the TV series), the gang went to a planet where remotely piloted drones were being used in combat (one chair controlled several of them at once), except that the enemy planes weren't drones, and the enemies were actually more like freedom fighters. That kinda put diplomacy on hold...
"An AI program for negotiating peace would be most welcome."
Not possible.
1. The world has WAY too many evil people. When they can, such evil people take over a government (like Venezuela, Iraq, Iran, N. Korea) and do what they do BECAUSE THEY ARE EVIL.
2. You can NOT negotiate nor compromise with evil. You can only DEFEAT it or at least OBSTRUCT it.
3. The only way to ensure safety in the face of evil is STRENGTH. Hence, you have weaponry and tactics that are SO overwhelming, nobody screws with you.
I doubt AI could negotiate peace. At best, it would negotiate a cease fire, or even surrender. But peace? Once you appear weak to an EVIL DICTATOR, he's got EVERY reason and motivation to DESTROY you. You can't negotiate peace with THAT.
I'll stick with AI being able to KILL the OTHER guy fighting for HIS country, in order to keep MINE safe. Then, with any luck, we'll NEVER have to use it in war. Just having the thing will be GOOD ENOUGH.
"factors you can't comprehend"
You give Pvt Manning _WAY_ too much respect/credit. Pvt Manning was a TRAITOR as far as I'm concerned, trusted to keep secrets, and broke that trust. Whistle-blowing about certain things like mass surveilance should've gone to CONGRESS, first, or at least "up the chain of command" in the Army. But Wikileaks became "15 minutes o' fame", and that's how I see Pvt Manning's motivation.
There are military secrets I know from being the military, from decades ago, that I have not disclosed. I consider it honorable to keep them secret. I'll say no more on the matter. Others should be the same way about such things.
I'll add a little bit of insight when it comes to CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, and the cost of its disclosure.
First of all, the reasoning for classification is generally made by those who are trying to protect someone or something, including the government itself, from the results of disclosing that information. In general, release of such information would either endanger a person, endanger or embarass a nation, or create significant material loss. Or some combination thereof.
'For Official Use Only' is the lowest classifiication I'm aware of. In genderal, it's info that might be embarassing or would give an enemy an advantage in war.
'Confidential' is generally information that compromises something (like a tactical advantage in war) if it gets out, such as the design of a warship, or ongoing diplomacy. If it's released, it puts significant advantage into the hands of enemies.
"Secret" is (as far as I can tell) information that could GET SOMEONE KILLED it if got into the wrong hands. Example, the location of a submarine, or the identity of a spy.
"Top Secret" would be, I assume, much like 'secret' except "more so", perhaps large numbers of people would be in danger of being killed. Military operations, details about embassies, defense plans, etc. might fall into this designation.
And I think there are higher ones, too. In short, these secrets exist for a REASON, and they should be KEPT secret. Or, pay a SEVERE penalty for their disclosure.
Pvt Manning was apparently privy to this kind of information, or had access to it, and then BROKE TRUST by DISCLOSING it. Without any knowledge of the ripple effects, it was given to Wikileaks to be publically disclosed. Although there was at least SOME information there (about spying on citizens, as I recall) that SHOULD have been "whistle blown", THIS was not the way to do it. And so Pvt Manning went to prison for it.
However, Wikileaks itself SHOULD NOT be held criminally liable for publishing the disclosed information, particularly because Julian Assange isn't a U.S. Citizen. I expect the investigation is to prove whether or not Wikileaks was involved in any illegal activity that led to its publishing, like cracking into a computer or similar. There are similar legal precedents in the USA regarding "the press" so long as they're not doing any illegal things to GET the information. if someone simply tells them, hands over a document, etc., that is NOT illegal. Cracking a computer to get it, on the other hand, IS. But the investigation into Wikileaks is probably just another "witch hunt" just like the Muller probe on Trump, which concluded with "no collusion", rightfully so. I expect a similar conclusion of "nothing illegal done" for WIkileaks.
FYI - a company exists in order to make money.
It's just that to make money and STAY in business, you need to make sure your customers are happy enough to be REPEAT customers, and not because they're bound to you by some kind of enslavement (or monopoly). So yeah, NOT poisoning or otherwise endangering customers is ALSO good for business.
Still I suspect that in THIS case, no actual harm was done. It's not like the kids are eating leaded paint chips. As I mentioned before, lead paint chips taste 'sweet' because lead compounds act like an artificial sweetener. And didn't we used to put LEAD IN GASOLINE such that it was IN THE AIR EVERYWHERE?
The current enviro-knee-jerk maximum levels are probably WAY TOO LOW, though I'm not complaining too hard because staying below that level shouldn't be THAT hard... unless your ENTIRE COUNTRY is horribly polluted. Like in China... ?
(again, I use leaded solder all of the time, for electronic work. I've done so for *YEARS*. It's not like I'm eating it or inhaling lead vapor. But I'm "exposed" to it. And people who own guns are exposed to the lead in the ammo. You kinda have to INJEST it to make it really bad for you... so wash your hands before eating?)
you're probably right, as they have less strict environmental (read: none at all) concerns over there.
I think we should export some of our wackier environmentalists to Beijing and let them protest the air quality, for starters.
In the mean time, a _LOT_ of the concern over these materials is more like PARANOIA instead of science. It is true that buildup of heavy metals is detrimental to your health. But there ARE safe levels of these elements, which occur in nature. I have been using leaded solder for electronics, and continue to do so. So I'm "exposed" directly to lead. And lead solder or just lead was often used in the making of jewelry, particularly the less expensive kind [normally I'd expect a silver solder to be used nowadays, which is also what I do, if I do anything with jewelry, which I have].
In any case, the source of the problem might be gross environmental contamination at those facilities (let's say in China) where EVERYONE is exposed to high levels of otherwise toxic materials, all of the time, and it ends up on what they make. That's my theory, and I bet it's true.
In the mean time, a bit of cleanup is in order. And I doubt any of those kids was in any REAL danger. It's not like they're eating lead paint chips because lead compounds taste "sweet" like a type of artificial sweetener. They're just "being exposed", which is far less likely to pose a problem.
And if "they" are THAT concerned about Hg, why is it still used on FILLINGS IN YOUR TEETH???
Hypocrisy, much??
see my post above, Microsoft could make it 2020 as a viable alternative to Win-10-nic
it's what Windows _USED_ to be, right? Boot MS-DOS and run the 'win.com' to start it?
I'd _love_ to have a windows subsystem running on my FreeBSD box with a Mate desktop and X11 [not Wayland]. That would ROCK!
I have a better idea....
How about if Microsoft makes a "subsystem for Linux" that runs WINDOWS APPLICATIONS better than Wine, RELIABLY, and I'd actually PAY for THAT!!!
So long as they don't screw with the themes and appearance of window decorations, it'd be their BEST MOVE YET! You'd get Windows on Linux, or maybe even Windows on FreeBSD, and WIndows on Mac, and NO NEED to "Embrace Extend Extinguish" any more.
Yeah but when you have that "take over the world" mentality, SANITY is thrown under the bus...
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