Cop Car's Beat

Few understand the complexity of systems - software or any other kind!

Lest someone believe that the software system for USA's affordable healthcare law exchange implementation is the only game in town, Hunky Husband guided me to this article (excerpt, below). He and I have recently been discussing how few people understand the difficulties of getting complicated systems to work and the length of time that is required for appropriate testing.

Snags set back air traffic control system update

By JOAN LOWY

From Associated Press

October 31, 2013 4:14 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — After a decade of work and billions of dollars spent, the
modernization of the U.S. air traffic control system is in trouble. The
ambitious and complex technology program dubbed NextGen has encountered
unforeseen difficulties at almost every turn.

The program was promoted as a way to accommodate an anticipated surge in air
travel, reduce fuel consumption and improve safety and efficiency. By shifting
from radar-based navigation and radio communications — technologies rooted in
the first half of the 20th century — to satellite-based navigation and digital
communications, it would handle three times as many planes by 2025, the Federal
Aviation Administration promised.

Planes would fly directly to their destinations using GPS technology instead of following indirect routes to stay within the range of ground stations. They would continually broadcast their exact positions, not only to air traffic controllers, but to other similarly equipped aircraft. For the first time, pilots would be able to see on cockpit displays where they were in relation to other planes. That would enable planes to safely fly closer together, and even shift some of the responsibility for maintaining a safe separation of planes from controllers to pilots. [That statement may be misleading to non-pilots! CC]

But almost nothing has happened as FAA officials anticipated.

Increasing capacity is no longer as urgent as it once seemed. The 1 billion passengers a year the FAA predicted by 2014 has now been shoved back to 2027. Air traffic operations - takeoffs, landings and other procedures - are down 26 percent from their peak in 2000, although chronic congestion at some large airports can slow flights across the country.

Difficulties have cropped up nearly everywhere, from new landing procedures that were impossible for some planes to fly to aircraft-tracking software that misidentified planes. Key initiatives are experiencing delays and are at risk of cost overruns. And the agency still lacks "an executable plan" for bringing NextGen fully online, according to a government watchdog.

"In the early stages, the message seemed to be that NextGen implementation was going to be pretty easy: You're going to flip a switch, you're going to get NextGen, we're going to get capacity gains," said Christopher Oswald, vice president for safety and regulatory affairs at Airports Council International-North America. "It wasn't realistically presented."

Some airline officials, frustrated that they haven't seen promised money-saving benefits, say they want better results before they spend more to equip planes to use NextGen, a step vital to its success.

Lawmakers, too, are frustrated. NextGen has enjoyed broad bipartisan support in Congress, but with the government facing another round of automatic spending cuts, supporters fear the program will be increasingly starved for money.

....

 

"Neurons that fire together, wire together."

From The Atlantic article How to Build a Happier Brain by Julie Beck Oct 23 2013, 9:15 AM ET, the following excerpt is taken.  Ms Beck is interviewing "...Dr. Rick Hanson, a neuropsychologist, a member of U.C. Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center's advisory board, and author of the book Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence...."

Do you want to explain how that ["...taking ... 10, 20, 30 seconds to enable everyday experiences to convert to neural structure so that increasingly, you have these strengths with you wherever you go...."] actually works in terms of brain structure? What is the connection between having this good experience and making tangible changes in the brain?

There’s a classic saying: "Neurons that fire together, wire together." What that means is that repeated patterns of mental activity build neural structure. This process occurs through a lot of different mechanisms, including sensitizing existing synapses and building new synapses, as well as bringing more blood to busy regions. The problem is that the brain is very good at building brain structure from negative experiences. We learn immediately from pain—you know, “once burned, twice shy.” Unfortunately, the brain is relatively poor at turning positive experiences into emotional learning neural structure.

On page one of the intro you said: “Positive thinking … is usually wasted on the brain.” Can you explain how positive thinking is different from taking in the good?

That’s a central, central question. First, positive thinking by definition is conceptual and generally verbal. And most conceptual or verbal material doesn’t have a lot of impact on how we actually feel or function over the course of the day. I know a lot of people who have this kind of positive, look on the bright side yappity yap, but deep down they’re very frightened, angry, sad, disappointed, hurt, or lonely. It hasn’t sunk in. Think of all the people who tell you why the world is a good place, but they’re still jerks.

I think positive thinking’s helpful, but in my view, it’s not so much [] positive thinking as clear thinking. I think it’s important to be able to see the whole picture, the whole mosaic of reality. Both the tiles that are negative, as well as the tiles that are neutral and positive. Unfortunately, we have brains that are incentivized toward seeing the negative tiles, so if anything, deliberately looking for the positive tiles just kind of levels the playing field. But deep down, I’m a little leery of the term positive thinking because I think it could imply that we’re overlooking the negative, and I think it’s important to face the negative.

The second reason why I think most positive thinking is wasted on the brain goes to this fundamental distinction between activation and installation. When people are having positive thinking or even most positive experiences, the person is not taking the extra 10, 20 seconds to heighten the installation into neural structure. So it’s not just positive thinking that’s wasted on the brain; it’s most positive experiences that are wasted on the brain.

The article referenced above was linked by Slashdot.org:

The Neuroscience of Happiness91

Posted by samzenpuson Thursday October 24, 2013 @10:00PM
from the if-you're-happy-and-you-know-it dept.

Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Julie Beck has an interesting read in the Atlantic about how our brains are naturally wired to focus on the negative because evolution has optimized our brains for survival, but not necessarily happiness, which means that we feel stressed and unhappy even though there are a lot of positive things in our lives. 'The problem is that the brain is very good at building brain structure from negative experiences,' says neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson. 'We learn immediately from pain—you know, "once burned, twice shy." As our ancestors evolved, they needed to pass on their genes. And day-to-day threats like predators or natural hazards had more urgency and impact for survival. On the other hand, positive experiences like food, shelter, or mating opportunities, those are good, but if you fail to have one of those good experiences today, as an animal, you would have a chance at one tomorrow. But the brain is relatively poor at turning positive experiences into emotional learning neural structure. 'Positive thinking by definition is conceptual and generally verbal and most conceptual or verbal material doesn't have a lot of impact on how we actually feel or function over the course of the day. A lot of people have this kind of positive, look on the bright side yappity yap, but deep down they're very frightened, angry, sad, disappointed, hurt, or lonely.' Dr. Hanson proposes several ideas for helping 're-wire' our brains for happiness. One of them is that we need to learn how to move positive experiences from short-term buffers to long-term storage. 'But to move from a short-term buffer to long-term storage, an experience needs to be held in that short-term buffer long enough for it to transfer to long-term storage,' says Hanson. 'When people are having positive thinking or even most positive experiences, the person is not taking the extra 10, 20 seconds to heighten the installation into neural structure. So it's not just positive thinking that's wasted on the brain; it's most positive experiences that are wasted on the brain.'"

This makes me so-o-o-o-o happy! *

From Slashdot.org:

First Experimental Evidence That Time Is an Emergent Quantum Phenomenon427

Posted by Unknown Lameron Wednesday October 23, 2013 @08:53AM
from the quantum-machine-elves dept.

KentuckyFC writes "One of the great challenges in physics is to unite the theories of quantum mechanics and general relativity. But all attempts to do this all run into the famous 'problem of time' — the resulting equations describe a static universe in which nothing ever happens. In 1983, theoreticians showed how this could be solved if time is an emergent phenomenon based on entanglement, the phenomenon in which two quantum particles share the same existence. An external, god-like observer always sees no difference between these particles compared to an external objective clock. But an observer who measures one of the pair — and so becomes entangled with it--can immediately see how it evolves differently from its partner. So from the outside the universe appears static and unchanging, while objects that are entangled within it experience the maelstrom of change. Now quantum physicists have performed the first experimental test of this idea by measuring the evolution of a pair of entangled photons in two different ways. An external god-like observer sees no difference while an observer who measures one particle and becomes entangled with it does see the change. In other words, the experiment shows how time is an emergent phenomenon based on entanglement, in which case the contradiction between quantum mechanics and general relativity seems to melt away."

 

* For those who are, as Sheldon is, sarcasm impaired, I'm holding up the "This is sarcasm" sign.

Stereotyping IT types

From The Wall Street Journal: Journal Reports: Leadership

Forget the Stereotype: Profile of an IT Worker

Most of them don't have college degrees in computer science, technology, engineering or math

....

Who are these employees who install new computers, keep the corporate network running and help other workers reset their passwords? Cultural stereotypes about nerds with pocket protectors aside, what do we know about the people who keep the bits flowing and the digital lights on?

For instance, the IT guy—and they're about three times more likely to be men than women—doesn't necessarily have a computer-science degree. About a third come to IT with degrees in business, social sciences or other nontechnical fields. More than 40% of computer support specialists and a third of computer systems administrators don't have a college degree at all.

For this profile, we mainly focused on two job categories as defined by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics: network and computer systems administrator, and computer support specialist. One way to think about these two groups is that systems administrators are charged with the upkeep of a company's back-office computer systems—servers, routers and the software to keep them working—and the support specialists are the face (or, increasingly, just the voice) of IT, who make sure other employees have the technology they need.

....

As an aside: I know several people who work in IT. Not one of them has a degree of any sort. I have, in the past, known people with MS degrees in physics who worked for companies that had them in computer sales or in programming. Not something that I wished to find myself doing. I took the coward's way out by switching to engineering when I was half-way to the MS.

Green Thumbs, I need your help.

Some years ago, I was surprised when my basil plant over-wintered, here in Kansas. In a few years, it had become a veritable bush! My amazement turned to chagrin when Bogie was here visiting us old folks and told me that my "basil" was actually sage. Dope slap to me! But...that did explain why the pesto that I had attempted tasted so funny/awful.

Now, I'm beginning to believe that I have another dope slap coming. Two or three years ago, I bought a small Rosemary plant. I planted it in a large, shallow, drained plastic planter (see photo, below - right side of image) so that I could always know that I was not confusing it with some other plant. I can't recall whether it was before the plant's first or second winter that I planted it in the ground - in a spot that is well protected. My understanding is that Rosemary should not over-winter when temperatures are below 30 degrees for days/weeks on end. So...what do I have? It smells like Rosemary; but, then, it never occurred to me, before, that the wonderful fragrance from the "basil" plant was the fragrance of sage!

Green Thumbs, while you are at it, please tell me if I should prune this monstrous plant back - and by how much. All the directions that I've found are for growing in sandy soil (which this one is not!) - in the South! Thank you.

P.S. Sorry that I failed to re-set the camera's calendar. The photos were taken just minutes ago.

 

Beautiful, frosty morning

How things sparkled at our house this morning! Yes, that is a sugar maple in our front yard - backed up by a ginko. They were planted in the fall of 2000. The maple lost its leader to an ice storm in about 2004 (see Fall Colors at Cop Car's for a look at the maple during "recovery"); but, look how beautifully the tree has regained its shape - without our help!

Below is shown a small section of the creeping (Blue Chip) junipers, next to the curbing.

There are a few clumps of (Cooper's and Jewel of the Desert Rosequartz) iceplant that I interspersed among the Blue Chip junipers - planted in 2011 and 2012.

I've split the posting only to decrease initial downloading times.

Pada snijeg

A few minutes ago I called Hunky Husband to tell him, "Pada snijeg." Replied he, "I know. I'm at the junior high school." It turns out that he had encountered the snow on his way to Wichita about 3.5 hours ago. Being on the computer, I had been unconscious to the real world from the time that he had left and had no clue that so much time had elapsed. Here are the photos to prove that we are getting snow (the white streaks) this early in the season. We, in flatland, are unused to having snow before Halloween!

Change of subject:

My thoughts on politics and blogging are pretty well stated by Tom Sightings in Uh, Oh. I appreciate that he could state things more clearly, if not more succinctly, than I could. *chuckling*

It's only fitting

As the anniversary date of the Loma Prieta earthquake in California, it is only fitting that today be the date on which the Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills be held. From the ShakeOut website, "Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills are an annual opportunity for  people in homes, schools, and organizations to practice what to do during earthquakes, and to improve preparedness."

Not only was I one of the millions who survived the Loma Prieta earthquake*; but, I've since participated in at least one of the Great ShakeOut exercises - at the FEMA Region VII Regional Coordination Center. No, I did not make a special trip to Kansas City MO for the exercise. I was there working the response to a tornado in St Louis MO in 2011.

_____________

* In 1989, although domiciled in Albuquerque NM, I had an apartment in Sunnyvale CA, in which I was working on the Rail Garrison program, one of the few classified programs on which I can tell you I worked. The apartment was only a few-minutes' drive from my work site. It was on October 17, 1989, at the end of my work day, when I was stopped at a stoplight (on N Mary at the intersection with the Central Expressway entrance, just short of the apartment complex. My car started rocking. Mistaking the motion for a bad case of engine miss-firing in my 1982 Mazda 626, I immediately cut off the ignition. I then observed that other people, across the intersection from me, were stopping and getting out to look at their tires. Oh, yes. We were having an earthquake - a major one! Upon that realization, I took stock of my situation: there were no major structures to fall on me; but, I thought that I might be above the BART tunnel, which didn't make me comfortable.

Eventually, the rocking and rolling stopped, and I drove the short distance to the apartment complex. As I drove through the main gate, the young women who worked in the office met me, afoot, to ask, "Was that a big one?" Yes, I assured them, it was big. They then told me how the water had slopped out of the swimming pool and toppled the palm trees around it. Going to my apartment, I feared the worst - that my recently acquired computer may have topped off the folding table (an oaken TV tray - I had no TV so wasn't apt to take meals from the tray - lol.) Inside the apartment, I was relieved to find that the only thing misplaced was the roll of paper towels that had toppled from the top of the refrigerator. The computer was just as I had left it - placed catawampus on the folding table to provide greater stability.

Having heard on the radio that there were fatalities on a collapsed bridge across Oakland Bay, I called Hunky Husband to assure him that I was OK (he had flown back home to Kansas, just that morning, from spending the weekend with me; so he escaped having the first-hand experience.) He had gone to bed, early, feeling ill; so, he was in no mood to speak with me. I called our daughters who informed me that there was huge TV coverage on the event.

The next morning, I drove to work, only to find that a street on which I normally approached the facility was blocked off. The bolts (3" diameter, as I recall) that had secured the supports to the facility's water tower had sheared, and the tower was being removed to assure that it did not fall, with attendant possible injuries and at the least blocking the street. Only managers were being allowed into the campus of buildings where I worked. As an employee of a contractor, my management status was not recognized by the security guards. Strangely, the men who reported to me were allowed in. (Can you spell "sexist"?) I returned in a few hours to resume work.

Other than the hundreds of aftershocks (thousands, if counting those sensed only by instrumentation), the affect to my life was over; but, the San Francisco Bay area spent years replacing the collapsed bridge and, of course, life was never the same for the families and friends of those who died. As it turned out, I had been about 1/2-way between the epicenter of the quake and the bridge. There were some 50-65 fatalities and the quake was determined to have been 6.9 on the open-ended Richter Scale (surface-wave magnitude 7.1).

Endeavour's final journey

From Time's website comes the following video of the final journey of Endeavour - from Kennedy Space Station to the California Science Center (CSC) in Los Angeles:

Photo Essay: Monday, October  14, 2013 | By Jeffrey  Kluger @jeffreykluger

Space Shuttle Endeavour Exclusive: A Timelapse of the  Final Ride

Diane Nyad

There are few things that I'd rather not do more than my not wanting to swim from Cuba to Florida (or the reverse). This has never been my dream. However, I am truly impressed by the guts of anyone willing to try it. In the case of Diane Nyad, she had the guts to, over a 35-year-period, attempt the 100+ mile swim from Cuba to Florida not once or twice, but five times. According to an article at CNN by Matt Sloane, Jason Hanna and Dana Ford, updated 8:23 AM EDT, Tue September 3, 2013:

The swim was a long-awaited triumph for Nyad, who was making her fifth attempt since 1978 and her fourth since turning 60.

The first four tries were marked by gut-wrenching setbacks; if the rough, strength-sapping seas didn't force her to quit, an hours-long asthma attack or paralyzing and excruciating jellyfish stings did.

But for this swim, besides donning a suit meant to protect her against her jellyfish nemesis, she wore a special mask to prevent jellyfish stings to her tongue, a key factor in her failed attempt last year.

Nyad, who was 29 when she first tried the swim, said last week that she wanted to show that "you can dream at any age."

"This time, I am 64. So, the years of my life are shorter to the end," she said at a news conference in Havana on Friday. "So this time I am, all the way across ... going to think about all those life lessons that came up during the swim."

But...that wasn't the end of Ms Nyad's story. She recently completed a 48-hour, 96-mile pool swim in New York to benefit the victims of last year's Hurricane Sandy hit to the upper east coast of the contiguous 48 states of the USA. According to Reuter's, in an article by Luke Swiderski, NEW YORK | Thu Oct 10, 2013 3:26pm EDT:

Her [Nyad's] 48-hour continuous charity swim in New York City raised more than $100,000 for Hurricane Sandy recovery, and came little more a month after the 64-year-old made her historic swim across the Straits of Florida. At 96 miles, her pool swim was shorter than her 110-mile (177-km) swim in the sea.

The fundraising total, still growing from online donations, was destined for AmeriCares, a humanitarian relief organization, which said it will use the funds to address the health needs of Hurricane Sandy survivors.

With more than 25,000 people still displaced from the storm, many survivors need help for basic healthcare access. Others face anxiety, depression and symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), said Lindsay O'Brien, who manages the organization's Hurricane Sandy Relief program.

Color me impressed. My hat is off to the intrepid Ms Nyad! I doubt that we have seen/read/heard the last from Ms Nyad.

I would be remiss were I to fail to credit Frazz by Jef Mallett for the idea behind this posting.