Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/mac/TEXT_ZIP/spacedig/V11_0/V11_007.ZIP/V11_007

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Date: Sat,  3 Feb 90 14:56:21 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V11 #7

SPACE Digest                                       Volume 11 : Issue 7

Today's Topics:
              RE: SPACE Digest V10 #464
                T E X T - 1.3
             Re: SR-71 BLACKBIRD
              Re: Shuttle carrier names
               RE: SPACE Digest V11 #6
       Re: NASA Headline News for 01/23/90 (Forwarded)
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Feb 90 13:19 EST
From: Platypi go 'Quack!' <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V10 #464

Would someone send a list of Abbrivations used
in the payload update status reports.  I enjoy readind about the status
of our space efforts but I don't understand what all the Abbrivations mean
I would appreciate it immencely.
Thank You
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 3 Feb 90 07:38:49 GMT
From: killer.rice.EDU![e-mail]  (Jordan Marc Kossack)
Subject: T E X T - 1.3


    Hey Robert, I think this lady who kept calling John Higdon belongs in
   Paul Christie's [ Carson became <yuck> management ] `Knuckle-Heads In
The News'
   feature. Oh, and on the Z107 theme, now that Carson is no longer part of the
   morning show, Christie has been having listeners call in with
suggested names
   for the morning show. My favorite so far is `PC and the Floppy Disk
Jockeys'.
   Hey, a pun isn't a pun until somebody winces. Anyway ...

> Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
> Subject: Those Wrong Numbers
> Organization: Green Hills and Cows
>
> Pac*Bell has just graciously changed my 800 number at no charge. Now I
> can reveal just what idiocy was out there by talking actual numbers.
>
> My old number was 800 445-8886. The two top wrong number attempts by
> the dweebs out there were 800 445-8667 (Hilton) and 800 445-8880 (Red
> and White Fleet). For the life of me, I can't understand how I got
> those Hilton calls. But I finally found out the mechanism for all the
> Red and White calls.
>
> Last Monday, a woman insisted that I give her information about the
> Richmond ferries. It seemed impossible to dissuade her. I answered the
> phone, "Wrong Number", and then when she persisted I told her to try
> again. She called right back. I told her to dial 800 445-8880. She
> hung up and called right back again. I said, "Madam, what will it take
> to get you to dial the correct number?"
>
> She tried again. This time I was losing my patience. Suddenly the
> woman asked, "Do you think that maybe I should use the oh on the
> "Operator" button rather than the oh on the "6"?" That did it. It
> became crystal clear that I would never be rid of the Red and White
> fleet wrong numbers as long as I kept my current 800 assignment. I had
> overestimated the intelligence of the dialing public out there and
> that proved to be a major mistake.
>
> When I related this story to my Pac*Bell rep, she agreed to a free
> number change, which took effect this morning. I can't wait to see who
> calls now!
>
>         John Higdon         |   P. O. Box 7648   |   [phone]
>     [e-mail]      | San Jose, CA 95150 |       M o o !

    ***            ***            ***

From: [e-mail] (Dana Paxson)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom


Why is the PIN emblazoned on the AT&T calling card, right there for
everyone to see?  I've worked on computer password management, and one
thing my cohorts and I kept telling people was: Don't put your
password in a visible place in written form.  I've used bank cards at
ATMs, and the banks I have cards for have been uniform in their
refusal to put the PIN on the card.  But I use the phone card, and Lo!
there is my complete access authentication, for anyone to read over my
shoulder, or use if the card is found lying somewhere.

Bad enough it is, that the PIN is so short and so structured (see the
recent articles on this subject); but why make matters worse by
displaying it?

BTW, I once got two bank ATM cards from two different banks, having
two different account numbers -- but the identical four-digit PIN!  I
speculated that maybe the banks bought the passwords (or the
algorithm) from the same guy ...

My input: Get the PINs off the cards.  If people can't deal with that,
they can't deal with bank ATMs either.  Furthermore, don't put the
PINs IN the cards (magnetically) either.  For secure communications,
the data channel and the authentication channel should be separate.

Dana Paxson
Systems Architecture
  ___            ___

    Gasp! What does she mean that they shouldn't put the PINs on fone co.
   credit cards? But that would make sense!                - JK

    ***            ###            ***

In the February 1986 issue of "New Woman" magazine, an article entitled
"The Right Stuff:  How an ordinary teacher, wife and mother became the
first private citizen in space", documents Christa McAuliffe's selection and
training as an astronaut.  In that article, Terrance McGuire, M.D. and
psychiatric consultant to NASA responsible for screening astronaut candidates
is quoted on the subject of tolerance to high level stress.  The kind of
situation for which a candidate must be prepared:

"...a real emergency, everything is going fine and then suppose well,
A SEAL BREAKS (emphasis JB), and suddenly you're in big trouble.  In a
situation like that you need clarity of mind and the ability to move now."

    We have just entered ... the Twilight Zone !!!

    ***            *#*            ***

To the Editor:

In declaring a budget increase for NASA of 24%, without imposing
appropriate reforms on that agency, President Bush betrays the
principles and letter of his own space policy:

"           --   Utilize commercially available goods and services
to the fullest extent feasible, and avoid actions that may
preclude or deter commercial space sector activities except as
required by national security or public safety.  A space good or
service is "commercially available" if it is currently offered
commercially, or if it could be supplied commercially in response
to a government service procurement request.  "Feasible" means
that such goods or services meet mission requirements in a cost-
effective manner."

The expenditure of every major portion of NASA's budget could be
reformed to rely on commercial services, rather than civil servants
and closely associated contractors.

Most of the mission requirements of Space Station could be fulfilled
by a Commercially Developed Space Facility at a small fraction of the
cost of Space Station and at a much earlier date.  Mission to Planet
Earth could be accomplished by an array of privately developed,
launched and operated earth observation satellites much less
sophisticated than the current generation of commercial communcations
satellites.  Likewise, unmanned moon and Mars exploration could be
accomplished by private companies, given appropriate incentives.
Most of the projected payloads for the Shuttle could be launched
by commercial space carriers such as General Dynamics.

Until President Bush ceases his hypocritical support of Texas
pork-barrel and adheres to the principles of his own space
policy, Congress should feel no obligation to increase NASA's
budget and, indeed, should consider termination of funding for those
portions of the space agency which run counter to President's
stated policies.

    ***            ***            ***

From Spacelines (midwestern NSS chapter newsletter) Feb. 90:

   When mention of COMSTAC (a private industry group to establish
   prudent launch vehicle design standards) came up in testimony,
   one of the NASA reps present leaned over to another within the
   group and said,  "They're the enemy!"

    @@@            @@@            @@@

SOYUZKARTA
45 Vologradsij Pr., Moscow 109125, USSR

SPACE COMMERCE CORPORATION (U.S. agent for Soviet launch services)
504 Pluto Drive, Colorado Springs, CO  80906   (O) 719/578-5490
69th flr, Texas Commerce Tower, Houston, TX 77002  (O) 713/227-9000
      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    Should I send these folks a resume? Yeah, well, it would totally ruin
   any chance I might have had of getting U.S. Gov't security clearance.  :-)

    ###            ###            ###

From: [e-mail] ("Eric Pepke")
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: furlongs per fortnight in space

Speaking of schoolchildren, the way schools teach them about the metric
system is dumb, too, and perhaps the dumbness of the teaching methods
contributes to the perception that the metric system is hard.  Schools
teach, for example, that one inch is 2.54 centimeters.  Ability to do the
conversion is often used as a test of "understanding."  Even assuming that
more than a tiny minority of children retain the ability to do decimal
multiplication when they grow up (think of how many people have immense
difficulty calculating 15% tips), who cares?  How many people have an
intuitive understanding of what an inch is to three significant figures?
Even when I used to do a lot of machining to the thousandth of an inch I
couldn't do that.  A centimeter is a mark on a stick or a number on a
dial.  I've got a stick called a yard stick, and when I hold it up to
something, that's one yard.  I've got another stick called a meter stick,
and when I hold it up to something, that's one meter.  If I had a stick
called a Smoot stick, I could measure things in smoots.  Only a very small
number of people need to know the exact ratio, and these people generally
have two characteristics.  One is that they don't need to worry about what
everybody else does as a prerequisite for what they do.  The other is that
they can operate books and so do not need to remember the numbers.

    ###            ###            ###

    Don't go away ... we'll be right back.


 " What's wrong with being right?  Join the John Birch Society. "    -
JK, et. al.

------------------------------

Date: 1 Feb 90 21:40:36 GMT
From: hplabsb![e-mail]  (David Smith)
Subject: Re: SR-71 BLACKBIRD

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (George William Herbert) writes:
>Rumor went around a while ago that after we dissasembled one Viktor Belenko's
>Foxbat, and took things like exact parts specifications down [the origional had
>to be returned] the USAF had a couple built.  and was not impressed...

Hmmm, maybe we should hire the USAF to build copies of the F-1.
--

            David R. Smith, HP Labs
            [e-mail]
            [phone]

------------------------------

Date: 3 Feb 90 17:41:08 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu![e-mail]
Subject: Re: Shuttle carrier names


Call the Shuttle Carrier the "Possum", 'cause it carries the little
one on its back...  :-)

Al Irwin

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Feb 90 13:33 EST
From: Platypi go 'Quack!' <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: SPACE Digest V11 #6


>Date:     Fri, 2 Feb 90 14:20 EST
>From: <[e-mail]>
>Subject:  vol10 #16 is missing.

>Help!
>In reviewing the archives of all previous postings, I noticed that
>Volume 10:#16 is not there.  This is the issue containing the raw
>data for the so-called Mars face.

>I'm trying to get this particular issue again, as I accidentally
>erased the previous posting from my account.

>What happened to it?


>Thanks in advance,
>[e-mail]
 I would also like a copy of V10#16 if possable
Thank you
[e-mail]
------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: 2 Feb 90 17:44:40 GMT
From: mailrus!sharkey!cfctech!teemc!mibte!gamma!towernet!pyuxp!pyuxe!nvuxr![e-mail]  (David Lewis)
Subject: Re: NASA Headline News for 01/23/90 (Forwarded)

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Paul Dietz) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bob Gray) writes:
>
> >Twenty years from now there should be a lot of second hand
> >Japanese and Russian (and hopefully European) lunar ferries
> >coming onto the market.
> >Only 1/2 :->
>
> Even with half a smiley, the wishful thinking in that paragraph
> is overwhelming.
>
> The Japanese space program is pitiful compared to the other space
> powers.  I don't see them having the ability to send anyone to the
> moon by 2010.  They may be able to send people to LEO by then.

In 1970, you could have made the following statement to 99% of the
people in the automotive industry, and been considered perfectly accurate:

"The Japanese automobile manufacturing industry is pitiful compared to
the other industrial powers.  I don't see them having the ability to
take significant market share in the US by 1990.  They may be able to
sell some cars in niche markets..."

We all know where we stand now.  Do not underestimate the Japanese.
Granted, aerospace isn't automotive manufacturing.  And 2010 *may* be a
trifle overoptimistic.  But combine the well-known Japanese strength at
transitioning basic technology into efficient, cost-effective products
with internal pressures for resources -- including one most critical
resource, *room* -- with the fact that Japan isn't tossing a significant
fraction of its budget into defense and can put that money, if it so
chooses, into space programs...  Yeah, maybe 2010 is a little
optimistic.  But I wouldn't be surprised...
--
David G Lewis                    ...!bellcore!nvuxr!deej
    (@ Bellcore Navesink Research & Engineering Center)
            "If this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower."

------------------------------

End of SPACE Digest V11 #7
*******************