[118517] in Cypherpunks
Science Bloopers
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Cordian)
Thu Sep 30 15:53:10 1999
From: Eric Cordian <emc@chao.insync.net>
Message-Id: <199909301922.OAA69656@chao.insync.net>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 1999 12:22:58 -0700 (PDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Reply-To: Eric Cordian <emc@chao.insync.net>
Two items of note from today's news.
First, Japan has had a nuclear accident. Workers at a uranium processing
plant put too much uranium into a tank, and started a fission reaction.
They saw a blue light, then felt sick, and two are in critical condition,
and 34 are less exposed. They are pumping out the tank to stop the chain
reaction.
Second, the cause of the destruction of the $125 million Mars Orbiter has
been determined. Two crews, one at JPL, and the other at Lockheed Martin,
during the period when commands were being sent to the craft to achieve
orbit around Mars, were unaware that one team was using English units, and
the other was using metric units, when communicating with each other.
Oops. :)
No crypto relevance, but an argument for better science education.
--
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"
