Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
On Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 9:56 PM, Eric S. Sande esa...@verizon.net wrote: Actually the Russian space agency provides this service at lower cost and greater accuracy (because it has not been deliberately dumbed down by the generals). Don't get too confused on this. GPS is a strategic necessity. Or something like it is. The US doesn't depend on the Russians for strategic necessities. The Clinton ordered US Military stopped fuzzing the numbers on the civilian system in 2000 when GPS became an economic engine. There is nothing to stop them from doing so again except a ton vital civilian uses like airplane navigation. The Russians could also mess with the satellite signals if they had a reason. What goes on at NASA is for public consumption. What goes on in the military arena is a totally different kettle of fish, IMHO. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** * -- John Duncan Yoyo ---o) * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
At 11:05 AM -0500 2/4/10, Constance Warner wrote: [snippage] P.S.: And if you want to continue to use GPS, you might drop a note to your Congressperson about funding for NASA. GPS depends on a set of aging satellites and, AFAIK, there are no replacements in the pipeline. The GPS system is owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force. NASA has nothing to do with GPS, other than being a possible customer/user. -- Roger Lovettsville, VA * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
Then write your congressperson about the GPS system in general. And NASA is the main agency in the satellite business (cf. the weather satellites we all depend on) and could well launch the replacements for GPS, if any. On Feb 5, 2010, at 6:38 AM, Roger D. Parish wrote: At 11:05 AM -0500 2/4/10, Constance Warner wrote: [snippage] P.S.: And if you want to continue to use GPS, you might drop a note to your Congressperson about funding for NASA. GPS depends on a set of aging satellites and, AFAIK, there are no replacements in the pipeline. The GPS system is owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force. NASA has nothing to do with GPS, other than being a possible customer/user. -- Roger Lovettsville, VA ** *** ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http:// www.cguys.org/ ** ** *** * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
On Feb 5, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Constance Warner wrote: Then write your congressperson about the GPS system in general. And NASA is the main agency in the satellite business (cf. the weather satellites we all depend on) and could well launch the replacements for GPS, if any. Actually the Russian space agency provides this service at lower cost and greater accuracy (because it has not been deliberately dumbed down by the generals). * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
Actually, launching stuff on cut-rate vehicles has its perils. My brother worked for ten years on a project that got launched on a cut-rate, non-NASA launch vehicle--there was political pressure to show cost savings at the time. You guessed it: straight into the Pacific; straight to the bottom with some very expensive gear and ten years' time of numerous scientists and engineers. And I don't expect the Air Force to ask the Russians to launch sensitive gear with military applications and, no doubt, lots of military secrets. Let's not forget that GPS was originally for military use only. But with the satellites up there, civilian companies started building GPS gear, and the rest is history. On Feb 5, 2010, at 2:23 PM, tjpa wrote: On Feb 5, 2010, at 10:20 AM, Constance Warner wrote: Then write your congressperson about the GPS system in general. And NASA is the main agency in the satellite business (cf. the weather satellites we all depend on) and could well launch the replacements for GPS, if any. Actually the Russian space agency provides this service at lower cost and greater accuracy (because it has not been deliberately dumbed down by the generals). ** *** ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http:// www.cguys.org/ ** ** *** * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
Actually the Russian space agency provides this service at lower cost and greater accuracy (because it has not been deliberately dumbed down by the generals). Don't get too confused on this. GPS is a strategic necessity. Or something like it is. The US doesn't depend on the Russians for strategic necessities. What goes on at NASA is for public consumption. What goes on in the military arena is a totally different kettle of fish, IMHO. * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
A new type of human, thanks to the digital age? Well, not exactly. I agree that cellphones have made a HUGE difference in the third world. A Bangladeshi peasant can now check market prices for the agricultural products he/she is raising, so he/she can no longer be cheated by the middleman who buys the goods wholesale and resells them in the city. In the Congo, peacekeepers are now paid via cellphone; the credit is transmitted to their phones, and they go to a cellphone provider's booth to collect the actual currency. In Iran, social networking sites are used to organize protests against a tyrannical regime. Things like this are stupendously marvelous, IMHO. But a whole new type of human, which was what the program claimed? I don't think so. Human evolution doesn't go that fast, and human brains aren't that plastic. And there has been rapid connectivity since at least the Victorian period, for middle-class persons in developed countries. Remember those Sherlock Holmes movies and stories where Holmes finishes the Marsh test and scribbles a note for the errand boy, who runs to the telegraph office, where the message flashes to another telegraph office and is instantly carried to its destination? Email and phone texting are faster, but the difference is one of degree, not of kind. And can you REALLY reach anybody, any time--or even anybody in your immediate social circle, at any time? You can leave a message for them almost any time, but you could have done that before, by talking to the answering machine--or even the receptionist. You could even have sent a letter or a postcard, which has definite legal advantages--if you try certain kinds of hanky panky through the U.S. mail, it's a Federal rap. As for the other things on the program: you see mostly middle-class people doing middle-class things. Children are doing their homework on their laptops, while Daddy works on his laptop and the toddlers amuse themselves with Mom's iPhone. In a rich suburban school, a teacher manipulates pictures on a screen that covers half the wall. In another school, every child has a laptop. In Korea, a child is sent to camp for two weeks to try to cure him of his video-game addiction, and children learn songs about proper behavior on the Internet. All very nice, but all very local, developed, and middle- class. The majority of people on this planet don't have these advantages. And in the current economic situation, a lot fewer people in this country will have such advantages. The program depicted a middle- class movement for high-income people in developed areas. So claims for a new type of human are, at best, overstated. P.S.: And if you want to continue to use GPS, you might drop a note to your Congressperson about funding for NASA. GPS depends on a set of aging satellites and, AFAIK, there are no replacements in the pipeline. And speaking of silly--the Frontline program on the Digital Revolution (or whatever) on WETA last night. I agree that looking things up on Google is a lot faster than looking them up in the encyclopedia, and texting to your friends is a little faster than talking on the phone, but will we have a whole new type of human being, just because a lot of middle-class people have bought wireless plans and carry smartphones? Because students cheat by downloading a plot synopsis of Romeo and Juliet instead of getting it from Cliff's Notes? I have not watched it yet, but I wonder if you are missing the major qualitative changes that even a small change in technology can achieve. Cell phones give ubiquitous connectivity. The ability to reach out to people at any time from any place changes how we organize our daily lives. Add to this mix Apple's apps innovation and you not have the same ubiquitous ability to reach data. Add to this GPS and you can become aware of your environment in a way that is wholly different. This is a big deal. ** *** ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http:// www.cguys.org/ ** ** *** * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
Re: [CGUYS] Digital humanity (was: apple-stanza-usb)
On Feb 4, 2010, at 11:05 AM, Constance Warner wrote: But a whole new type of human, which was what the program claimed? I don't think so. How about this guy... Sun CEO Announces Resignation On Twitter http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/open_source/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222601162 * ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *
