Sunday, December 18, 2011

Added complexity- Do we really need it?

Interesting article on complex electronics added to new cars. I have always felt this way about launch vehicles- most cell phones have more computing power than used for the moon landings.  Why have UNNECESSARY complexity that reduces reliability and degrades performance (gross system weight)?  Some of the launch vehicles I've worked on had avionics systems that were heavier than the propulsion!


Road-trip-or-moon-shot?



Saturday, December 3, 2011

How to tie your shoes

1) I have been tying my shoes wrong
2) A thousand mile journey starts with a single step.  The point that the speaker makes is true, to make large changes you need to start with small changes. It will be impossible to move forward and solve our many problems until we start with small changes.

Anyway, this is one of the earlier TED talks and it is great!

Friday, December 2, 2011

Friday Mindbender: Russel's Paradox

I found this at http://io9.com/

If you choose an answer to this question at random, what is the chance you will be correct?


A) 25%

B) 50%

C) 60%

D) 25%.

I'll do my best to try to explain it in comments next week.  Let me know what you think!