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Date: Wed, 7 Oct 92 05:08:54
From: Space Digest maintainer <digests@isu.isunet.edu>
Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu
Subject: Space Digest V15 #294
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk
Space Digest Wed, 7 Oct 92 Volume 15 : Issue 294
Today's Topics:
Alleged Benefits of Military $
Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
Von Braun -- Hero, Villain, or Both?
Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to
"space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form
"Subscribe Space <your name>" to one of these addresses: listserv@uga
(BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle
(THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 7 Oct 92 04:52:36 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Alleged Benefits of Military $
Newsgroups: sci.space
In article <1469100020@igc.apc.org> mwgoodman@igc.apc.org (Mark Goodman) writes:
>
>I will try to find the article you mention. But let me explain why
>I think the numbers are implausible. Military spending goes primarily
>to high income people in capital intensive industries. It is known to
>produce far fewer jobs (about a factor of 3, if I recall) than the same
>amount of money spend on public works or education. I haven't looked
>at this in a while, so I don't have references, but the Council on
>Economic Priorities will.
Military contracting does produce fewer *direct* jobs than public
works or education spending. However, this is where the multiplier
is important, more money is pumped into the local consumer economy
by higher paid workers than by lower wage employees. That's because
a larger proportion of their income is discressionary.
>I believe it is also true that higher income people spend less of their
>money than low income people, so their money is likely to go into the
>economy fewer times. I have heard this as an explanation for the fact
>that the increase in income during the Reagan years did not produce
>sustained increases in consumer demand; the increases went to people
>who spend less of their money. Not being an economist, I cannot vouch
>for the validity of this argument, but it tends to contradict what Gary
>said.
If by higher income you mean millionaires, then you are correct. But
if by higher income you mean aerospace workers, you are wrong. Most
of the middle class have *no* savings and a substantial debt load.
That's because their consumer spending is a very high percentage of
their income. Low wage workers and welfare recipients spend the bulk
of their small incomes on subsistence expenses such as utilities and
food. The margin in utility and food services is small and the multiplier
consequently low. The margins in consumer goods are high and the
multiplier is also high.
>It is important to note that military spending is essentially wasteful
>in the narrow sense that it produces no product or public resource with
>economic value. Building a highway contributes to the economy by
>facilitating transportation. Building a fighter aircraft does not.
>Technological spinoffs have become increasingly rare as military
>technology has become increasingly specialized and isolated from civilian
>technologies.
Highway spending has a different kind of multiplier as you note. However,
the Federal Highway Trust Fund is currently in surplus and new highway
construction is vigorously opposed by legal action. In other words, the
public thinks they have enough roads. Technologies never occur in a
vacuum. The enabling infrastructures developed to support a given
technology usually have wide applicability. The classic example is
the semiconductor industry. The aerospace industry no longer drives
this basic industry, but it was space and military funding that
pushed the technology to the point where it became widely available
to the civilian economy. Now, the military's problem is that the
consumer sector has outstripped the military applications and getting
spare parts for older designs still in service is difficult. Military
funding no longer drives this industry. It should be pointed out that
few of the civilian applications of semiconductors were forseen at the
time the military was driving this technology. That's true in most
cases where complex new technology infrastructure is required to reach
a critical mass before consumer applications can take off. Some of
the technologies currently being pushed by military requirements,
composite materials come immediately to mind, will likely form the
basis for new civilian applications as the basic technologies mature.
>In the broader sense, of course, military spending can be extremely
>valuable if it contributes to national security. I think the debate
>over military spending should rest on our security needs, not on
>disputed economic claims.
I think that's correct. Note that the bulk of military spending is
for personnel, as it always has been. That's vital for national
security, but doesn't drive technology.
>Let me explain my position. I am a Congressional Science Fellow, paid
>by but not representing the American Institute of Physics to work for
>Congress for one year. I have just started, and am now interviewing to
>see who might want me. (As an aside, AIP opposes the Space Station
>because it's not good -- or cost-effective -- science. I think that's
>correct, but misses the point. The space station isn't about science;
>it's about human spaceflight. I just don't think human spaceflight is
>that important.)
Well, I think it's acurate to say that SSF is not primarily about science.
Though it will serve as a science platform. Primarily it's an engineering
testbed for exploiting an alien environment. The entire space program is
only peripherally about science. It's primarily about technology development
and political show the flag at this point. Judged only on the basis of
science value, the entire space program should be cancelled and the money
be put into basic field grants right here on Earth. Much more science could
be accomplished on millions of tabletops than in one space probe, and employ
more science workers in the process. Most Big Science is really engineering
development rather than basic research. I happen to think that engineering
development is valuable, but that's my bias.
>I hope to help Congress develop better public policies by providing sound
>technical guidance where I can. I may offer nontechnical judgments as well,
>but I will do my best to distinguish clearly between technical analysis and
>personal opinion.
That's impossible to do. Your technical analysis is colored by your
personal intellectual framework no matter how hard you try to be
objective. If you believe something is undesirable, you're going to
select data that supports your position, even if unconsciously, and
give less weight to data that contradicts your views. Few things in
research are so cut and dried that you can reach an objective decision
a priori, and those things that are don't need research anymore.
Uncertainty of outcome is the primary reason for doing pure research.
Development is a different matter. There desired outcomes are clearly
defined by policy, and policy is always subjective.
Gary
------------------------------
Date: 7 Oct 92 05:01:02 GMT
From: Mark Bradford <mark@deluge.mmm.ucar.edu>
Subject: Astro/Space Frequently Seen Acronyms
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,news.answers
Archive-name: space/acronyms
Edition: 7
Acronym List for sci.astro, sci.space, and sci.space.shuttle:
Edition 7, 1992 Aug 27
Last posted: 1992 Aug 6
This list is offered as a reference for translating commonly appearing
acronyms in the space-related newsgroups. If I forgot or botched your
favorite acronym, please let me know! Also, if there's an acronym *not*
on this list that confuses you, drop me a line, and if I can figure
it out, I'll add it to the list.
Note that this is intended to be a reference for *frequently seen*
acronyms, and is most emphatically *not* encyclopedic. If I incorporated
every acronym I ever saw, I'd soon run out of disk space! :-)
The list will be posted at regular intervals, every 30 days. All
comments regarding it are welcome; I'm reachable as bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu.
Note that this just tells what the acronyms stand for -- you're on your
own for figuring out what they *mean*! Note also that the total number of
acronyms in use far exceeds what I can list; special-purpose acronyms that
are essentially always explained as they're introduced are omitted.
Further, some acronyms stand for more than one thing; as of Edition 3 of
the list, these acronyms appear on multiple lines, unless they're simply
different ways of referring to the same thing.
Thanks to everybody who's sent suggestions since the first version of
the list, and especially to Garrett A. Wollman (wollman@griffin.uvm.edu),
who is maintaining an independent list, somewhat more verbose in
character than mine, and to Daniel Fischer (dfi@specklec.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de),
who is maintaining a truly HUGE list (535 at last count) of acronyms and
terms, mostly in German (which I read, fortunately).
Special Bonus! At the end of this posting, you will find a perl program
written by none other than Larry Wall, whose purpose is to scramble the
acronym list in an entertaining fashion. Thanks, Larry!
A&A: Astronomy and Astrophysics
AAO: Anglo-Australian Observatory
AAS: American Astronomical Society
AAVSO: American Association of Variable Star Observers
ACE: Advanced Composition Explorer
ACRV: Assured Crew Return Vehicle (or) Astronaut Crew Rescue Vehicle
ADFRF: Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility (was DFRF) (NASA)
AGN: Active Galactic Nucleus
AGU: American Geophysical Union
AIAA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
AIPS: Astronomical Image Processing System
AJ: Astronomical Journal
ALEXIS: Array of Low Energy X-ray Imaging Sensors
ALPO: Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers
ALS: Advanced Launch System
ANSI: American National Standards Institute
AOA: Abort Once Around (Shuttle abort plan)
AOCS: Attitude and Orbit Control System
Ap.J: Astrophysical Journal
APM: Attached Pressurized Module (a.k.a. Columbus)
APU: Auxiliary Power Unit
ARC: Ames Research Center (NASA)
ARTEMIS: Advanced Relay TEchnology MISsion
ASA: Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ASI: Agenzia Spaziale Italiano
ASRM: Advanced Solid Rocket Motor
ATDRS: Advanced Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
ATLAS: Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science
ATM: Amateur Telescope Maker
ATO: Abort To Orbit (Shuttle abort plan)
AU: Astronomical Unit
AURA: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
AW&ST: Aviation Week and Space Technology (a.k.a. AvLeak)
AXAF: Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility
BATSE: Burst And Transient Source Experiment (on CGRO)
BBXRT: Broad-Band X-Ray Telescope (ASTRO package)
BEM: Bug-Eyed Monster
BH: Black Hole
BIMA: Berkeley Illinois Maryland Array
BNSC: British National Space Centre
BTW: By The Way
C&T: Communications & Tracking
CCAFS: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
CCD: Charge-Coupled Device
CCDS: Centers for the Commercial Development of Space
CD-ROM: Compact Disk Read-Only Memory
CFA: Center For Astrophysics
CFC: ChloroFluoroCarbon
CFF: Columbus Free Flyer
CFHT: Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope
CGRO: (Arthur Holley) Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (was GRO)
CHARA: Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy
CIRRIS: Cryogenic InfraRed Radiance Instrument for Shuttle
CIT: Circumstellar Imaging Telescope
CM: Command Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CMCC: Central Mission Control Centre (ESA)
CNES: Centre National d'Etude Spatiales
CNO: Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen
CNSR: Comet Nucleus Sample Return
COBE: COsmic Background Explorer
COMPTEL: COMPton TELescope (on CGRO)
COSTAR: Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement
CRAF: Comet Rendezvous / Asteroid Flyby
CRRES: Combined Release / Radiation Effects Satellite
CSM: Command and Service Module (Apollo spacecraft)
CSTC: Consolidated Satellite Test Center (USAF)
CTIO: Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory
DCX: Delta Clipper eXperimental
DDCU: DC-to-DC Converter Unit
DFRF: Dryden Flight Research Facility (now ADFRF)
DMSP: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program
DOD: Department Of Defense (sometimes DoD)
DOE: Department Of Energy
DOT: Department Of Transportation
DSCS: Defense Satellite Communications System
DSN: Deep Space Network
DSP: Defense Support Program (USAF/NRO)
EAFB: Edwards Air Force Base
ECS: Environmental Control System
EDO: Extended Duration Orbiter
EGRET: Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (on CGRO)
EJASA: Electronic Journal of the Astronomical Society of the Atlantic
ELV: Expendable Launch Vehicle
EMU: Extravehicular Mobility Unit
EOS: Earth Observing System
ERS: Earth Resources Satellite (as in ERS-1)
ESA: European Space Agency
ESO: European Southern Observatory
ET: (Shuttle) External Tank
ETLA: Extended Three Letter Acronym
ETR: Eastern Test Range
EUV: Extreme UltraViolet
EUVE: Extreme UltraViolet Explorer
EVA: ExtraVehicular Activity
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
FAST: Fast Auroral SnapshoT explorer
FFT: Fast Fourier Transform
FGS: Fine Guidance Sensors (on HST)
FHST: Fixed Head Star Trackers (on HST)
FIR: Far InfraRed
FITS: Flexible Image Transport System
FOC: Faint Object Camera (on HST)
FOS: Faint Object Spectrograph (on HST)
FRR: Flight-Readiness Review
FTP: File Transfer Protocol
FTS: Flight Telerobotic Servicer
FUSE: Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer
FWHM: Full Width at Half Maximum
FYI: For Your Information
GAS: Get-Away Special
GBT: Green Bank Telescope
GCVS: General Catalog of Variable Stars
GEM: Giotto Extended Mission
GEO: Geosynchronous Earth Orbit
GDS: Great Dark Spot
GHRS: Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (on HST)
GIF: Graphics Interchange Format
GLOMR: Global Low-Orbiting Message Relay
GMC: Giant Molecular Cloud
GMRT: Giant Meter-wave Radio Telescope
GMT: Greenwich Mean Time (also called UT)
GOES: Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite
GOX: Gaseous OXygen
GPC: General Purpose Computer
GPS: Global Positioning System
GRO: Gamma Ray Observatory (now CGRO)
GRS: Gamma Ray Spectrometer (on Mars Observer)
GRS: Great Red Spot
GSC: Guide Star Catalog (for HST)
GSFC: Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA)
GTO: Geostationary Transfer Orbit
HAO: High Altitude Observatory
HD: Henry Draper catalog entry
HEAO: High Energy Astronomical Observatory
HeRA: Hermes Robotic Arm
HF: High Frequency
HGA: High Gain Antenna
HLC: Heavy Lift Capability
HLV: Heavy Lift Vehicle
HMC: Halley Multicolor Camera (on Giotto)
HR: Hertzsprung-Russell (diagram)
HRI: High Resolution Imager (on ROSAT)
HSP: High Speed Photometer (on HST)
HST: Hubble Space Telescope
HUT: Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope (ASTRO package)
HV: High Voltage
IAPPP: International Amateur/Professional Photoelectric Photometry
IAU: International Astronomical Union
IAUC: IAU Circular
ICE: International Cometary Explorer
IDA: International Dark-sky Association
IDL: Interactive Data Language
IGM: InterGalactic Medium
IGY: International Geophysical Year
IMHO: In My Humble Opinion
IOTA: Infrared-Optical Telescope Array
IOTA: International Occultation Timing Association
IPS: Inertial Pointing System
IR: InfraRed
IRAF: Image Reduction and Analysis Facility
IRAS: InfraRed Astronomical Satellite
ISAS: Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (Japan)
ISM: InterStellar Medium
ISO: Infrared Space Observatory
ISO: International Standards Organization
ISPM: International Solar Polar Mission (now Ulysses)
ISY: International Space Year
IUE: International Ultraviolet Explorer
IUS: Inertial Upper Stage
JEM: Japanese Experiment Module (for SSF)
JGR: Journal of Geophysical Research
JILA: Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics
JPL: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JSC: Johnson Space Center (NASA)
KAO: Kuiper Airborne Observatory
KPNO: Kitt Peak National Observatory
KSC: Kennedy Space Center (NASA)
KTB: Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary (from German)
LANL: Los Alamos National Laboratory
LaRC: Langley Research Center (NASA)
LDEF: Long Duration Exposure Facility
LEM: Lunar Excursion Module (a.k.a. LM) (Apollo spacecraft)
LEO: Low Earth Orbit
LeRC: Lewis Research Center (NASA)
LEST: Large Earth-based Solar Telescope
LFSA: List of Frequently Seen Acronyms (!)
LGA: Low Gain Antenna
LGM: Little Green Men
LH: Liquid Hydrogen (also LH2 or LHX)
LLNL: Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory
LM: Lunar Module (a.k.a. LEM) (Apollo spacecraft)
LMC: Large Magellanic Cloud
LN2: Liquid N2 (Nitrogen)
LOX: Liquid OXygen
LRB: Liquid Rocket Booster
LSR: Local Standard of Rest
LTP: Lunar Transient Phenomenon
MB: Manned Base
MCC: Mission Control Center
MECO: Main Engine CutOff
MMH: MonoMethyl Hydrazine
MMT: Multiple Mirror Telescope
MMU: Manned Maneuvering Unit
MNRAS: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
MOC: Mars Observer Camera (on Mars Observer)
MOL: Manned Orbiting Laboratory
MOLA: Mars Observer Laser Altimeter (on Mars Observer)
MOMV: Manned Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle
MOTV: Manned Orbital Transfer Vehicle
MPC: Minor Planets Circular
MRSR: Mars Rover and Sample Return
MRSRM: Mars Rover and Sample Return Mission
MSFC: (George C.) Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA)
MTC: Man Tended Capability
NACA: National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (became NASA)
NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NASDA: NAtional Space Development Agency (Japan)
NASM: National Air and Space Museum
NASP: National AeroSpace Plane
NBS: National Bureau of Standards (now NIST)
NDV: NASP Derived Vehicle
NERVA: Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application
NGC: New General Catalog
NICMOS: Near Infrared Camera / Multi Object Spectrometer (HST upgrade)
NIMS: Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (on Galileo)
NIR: Near InfraRed
NIST: National Institute for Standards and Technology (was NBS)
NLDP: National Launch Development Program
NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
NOAO: National Optical Astronomy Observatories
NRAO: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
NRO: National Reconnaissance Office
NS: Neutron Star
NSA: National Security Agency
NSF: National Science Foundation
NSO: National Solar Observatory
NSSDC: National Space Science Data Center
NTR: Nuclear Thermal Rocket(ry)
NTT: New Technology Telescope
OAO: Orbiting Astronomical Observatory
OCST: Office of Commercial Space Transportation
OMB: Office of Management and Budget
OMS: Orbital Maneuvering System
OPF: Orbiter Processing Facility
ORFEUS: Orbiting and Retrievable Far and Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer
OSC: Orbital Sciences Corporation
OSCAR: Orbiting Satellite Carrying Amateur Radio
OSSA: Office of Space Science and Applications
OSSE: Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (on CGRO)
OTA: Optical Telescope Assembly (on HST)
OTHB: Over The Horizon Backscatter
OTV: Orbital Transfer Vehicle
OV: Orbital Vehicle
PAM: Payload Assist Module
PAM-D: Payload Assist Module, Delta-class
PI: Principal Investigator
PLSS: Portable Life Support System
PM: Pressurized Module
PMC: Permanently Manned Capability
PMIRR: Pressure Modulated InfraRed Radiometer (on Mars Observer)
PMT: PhotoMultiplier Tube
PSF: Point Spread Function
PSR: PulSaR
PV: Photovoltaic
PVO: Pioneer Venus Orbiter
QSO: Quasi-Stellar Object
RCI: Rodent Cage Interface (for SLS mission)
RCS: Reaction Control System
REM: Rat Enclosure Module (for SLS mission)
RF: Radio Frequency
RFI: Radio Frequency Interference
RIACS: Research Institute for Advanced Computer Science
RMS: Remote Manipulator System
RNGC: Revised New General Catalog
ROSAT: ROentgen SATellite
ROUS: Rodents Of Unusual Size (I don't believe they exist)
RSN: Real Soon Now
RTG: Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
RTLS: Return To Launch Site (Shuttle abort plan)
SAA: South Atlantic Anomaly
SAGA: Solar Array Gain Augmentation (for HST)
SAMPEX: Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle EXplorer
SAO: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
SAR: Search And Rescue
SAR: Synthetic Aperture Radar
SARA: Satellite pour Astronomie Radio Amateur
SAREX: Search and Rescue Exercise
SAREX: Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment
SAS: Space Activity Suit
SAS: Space Adaptation Syndrome
SAT: Synthetic Aperture Telescope
S/C: SpaceCraft
SCA: Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
SCT: Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative
SDIO: Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
SEI: Space Exploration Initiative
SEST: Swedish-European Submillimeter Telescope
SETI: Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence
SID: Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance
SIR: Shuttle Imaging Radar
SIRTF: Space (formerly Shuttle) InfraRed Telescope Facility
SL: SpaceLab
SLAR: Side-Looking Airborne Radar
SLC: Space Launch Complex
SLS: Space(lab) Life Sciences
SMC: Small Magellanic Cloud
SME: Solar Mesosphere Explorer
SMEX: SMall EXplorers
SMM: Solar Maximum Mission
SN: SuperNova (e.g., SN1987A)
SNR: Signal to Noise Ratio
SNR: SuperNova Remnant
SNU: Solar Neutrino Units
SOFIA: Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy
SOHO: SOlar Heliospheric Observatory
SPAN: Space Physics and Analysis Network
SPDM: Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator
SPOT: Systeme Probatoire pour l'Observation de la Terre
SPS: Solar Power Satellite
SRB: Solid Rocket Booster
SRM: Solid Rocket Motor
SSF: Space Station Fred (er, Freedom)
SSI: Solid-State Imager (on Galileo)
SSI: Space Studies Institut
SSME: Space Shuttle Main Engine
SSPF: Space Station Processing Facility
SSRMS: Space Station Remote Manipulator System
SST: Spectroscopic Survey Telescope
SST: SuperSonic Transport
SSTO: Single Stage To Orbit
STIS: Space Telescope Imaging Spectrometer (to replace FOC and GHRS)
STS: Shuttle Transport System (or) Space Transportation System
STScI: Space Telescope Science Institute
SWAS: Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite
SWF: ShortWave Fading
TAL: Transatlantic Abort Landing (Shuttle abort plan)
TAU: Thousand Astronomical Unit (mission)
TCS: Thermal Control System
TDRS: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
TDRSS: Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System
TES: Thermal Emission Spectrometer (on Mars Observer)
TIROS: Television InfraRed Observation Satellite
TLA: Three Letter Acronym
TOMS: Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer
TPS: Thermal Protection System
TSS: Tethered Satellite System
UARS: Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite
UBM: Unpressurized Berthing Mechanism
UDMH: Unsymmetrical DiMethyl Hydrazine
UFO: Unidentified Flying Object
UGC: Uppsala General Catalog
UHF: Ultra High Frequency
UIT: Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (Astro package)
UKST: United Kingdom Schmidt Telescope
USAF: United States Air Force
USMP: United States Microgravity Payload
UT: Universal Time (a.k.a. GMT, UTC, or Zulu Time)
UTC: Coordinated Universal Time (a.k.a. UT)
UV: UltraViolet
UVS: UltraViolet Spectrometer
VAB: Vehicle Assembly Building (formerly Vertical Assembly Building)
VAFB: Vandenberg Air Force Base
VEEGA: Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist (Galileo flight path)
VHF: Very High Frequency
VLA: Very Large Array
VLBA: Very Long Baseline Array
VLBI: Very Long Baseline Interferometry
VLF: Very Low Frequency
VLT: Very Large Telescope
VMS: Vertical Motion Simulator
VOIR: Venus Orbiting Imaging Radar (superseded by VRM)
VPF: Vertical Processing Facility
VRM: Venus Radar Mapper (now called Magellan)
WD: White Dwarf
WFPC: Wide Field / Planetary Camera (on HST)
WFPCII: Replacement for WFPC
WIYN: Wisconsin / Indiana / Yale / NOAO telescope
WSMR: White Sands Missile Range
WTR: Western Test Range
WUPPE: Wisconsin Ultraviolet PhotoPolarimter Experiment (Astro package)
XMM: X-ray Multi Mirror
XUV: eXtreme UltraViolet
YSO: Young Stellar Object
#!/usr/bin/perl
# 'alt', An Acronym Scrambling Program, by Larry Wall
$THRESHOLD = 2;
srand;
while (<>) {
next unless /^([A-Z]\S+): */;
$key = $1;
$acro{$key} = $';
@words = split(/\W+/,$');
unshift(@words,$key);
$off = 0;
foreach $word (@words) {
next unless $word =~ /^[A-Z]/;
*w = $&;
vec($w{$word}, $off++ % 6, 1) = 1;
}
}
foreach $letter (A .. Z) {
*w = $letter;
@w = keys %w;
if (@w < $THRESHOLD) {
@d = `egrep '^$letter' /usr/dict/words`;
chop @d;
push(@w, @d);
}
}
foreach $key (sort keys %acro) {
$off = 0;
$acro = $acro{$key};
$acro =~ s/((([A-Z])[A-Z]*)[a-z]*)/ &pick($3, $2, $1, ++$off) || $& /eg;
print "$key: $acro";
}
sub pick {
local($letter, $prefix, $oldword, $off) = @_;
$i = 0;
if (length($prefix) > 1 && index($key,$prefix) < 0) {
if ($prefix eq $oldword) {
$prefix = '';
}
else {
$prefix = $letter;
}
}
if (length($prefix) > 1) {
local(*w) = substr($prefix,0,1);
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ /^$prefix/i || ++$i > 30;
$word =~ s/^$prefix/$prefix/i;
$word;
}
elsif (length($prefix) == 1) {
local(*w) = $prefix;
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && vec($w{$word}, $off, 1) || ++$i > 10;
$word = "\u\L$word" if $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/;
$word;
}
else {
local(*w) = substr($oldword,0,1);
do {
$word = $w[rand @w];
} until $word ne $oldword && $word =~ tr/a-z/A-Z/ == 0 || ++$i > 30;
$word;
}
}
-- Mark Bradford (bradfrd2@ncar.ucar.edu) <> To err is human, to moo bovine.
"It's an ill wind that gathers no moss."
------------------------------
Date: 7 Oct 92 05:39:42 GMT
From: Gary Coffman <ke4zv!gary>
Subject: Von Braun -- Hero, Villain, or Both?
Newsgroups: sci.space
In article <wb9omc.718307893@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu> wb9omc@dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu (Duane P Mantick) writes:
>MSKALA@ESRIN.BITNET (Mike M. Skala) writes:
>
>>citing from my memory ACCs memory of a WvB comment:
>>"No, I didn't know what went on in the concentration camps.
>> But I suspected and I could have used my position to find out.
>> I didn't do this, and I'm deeply ashamed."
>
> Of course, there are also those who would say that the firestorms
>created by the incendiary bombings of Cologne and Dresden were totally
>unnecessary and were in themselves, criminal acts...and that they weren't
>justified simply because we won the war, either.
I think that the fact that warfare is "played" by rules at all is itself
an immoral act. Warfare is sometimes necessary, but it is never a game.
The only valid rule is win. Bomber Harris was convinced his tactics would
win. If he were just acting out of a spiteful desire to kill women and
children, then his actions could be considered criminal. As it is, the
worst we can say with 20/20 hindsight is that his tactics were ineffective.
> Had Von Braun attempted to use any influence to noodle with the
>concentration camps in any way, he'd have quite possibly ended up there
>himself. Herr Schicklegruber was notorious for having only a limited
>amount of patience with folks who disagreed with what he was doing. :-)
It takes a rare individual to stand up alone and say no when he knows it
means his death. Such heroism is to be admired, but people who don't measure
up to that standard don't deserve to be condemned by anyone who has not
been in their shoes. They merely have to be considered ordinary humans
acting the way ordinary humans act. If it can be shown that Von Braun
deliberately, as a matter of policy, worked slave labor to death as a
method of killing them, then his actions should be considered criminal.
If instead he employed slave laborers because he was required to do so,
and didn't try to deliberately abuse them, he was indeed "only following
orders." That defense was denied at Nurenburg, but it wouldn't be the
first time a court rendered a decision contrary to human nature. Holding
everyone to a standard of conduct that few can achieve is foolish idealism,
bad precedent, and bad law.
Gary
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End of Space Digest Volume 15 : Issue 294
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