Technology that works or doesn't

[mlooney 3,548]

Quote

 

#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
;;;;;;printf("does this work\n");
return 0;
}

cc semi-test.c -o semi-test
./semi_test
mlooney@Godzilla:~/Dropbox/Medical$ ./semi-test 
does this work

 

And it works.  Damn it.

[mlooney 3,548]

[mlooney 3,548]

Why was I not aware of this vital networking system? I mean it came out about the time I started to be active on the internet

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1217

[mlooney 3,548]

[mlooney 3,548]

[The Old Hack 2,482]

8 hours ago, mlooney said:

Well if you don't break it, you can't fix it.

[mlooney 3,548]

03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038.  Don't be any where near a computer then.

[ijuin 587]

Yup, anything that still uses a 32-bit field for UNIX time is gonna rollover and have Y2k style overflow errors.

[mlooney 3,548]

In theory time_t should be 64 bits by then, but you know that there is going to be some important system that hasn't updated their header files or has some other reason to keep time_t (like fixed sized database structs) 32 bit and Bad Things are gonna happen.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,614]

 

Is 2038 the next big end-of-the-world event?

Are there other events to ignore in the meantime?

Y2K & 2012 were such letdowns.

 

[mlooney 3,548]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

 

 

Is 2038 the next big end-

 

Yes, and it's slightly more important that Y2K.  That mainly effected financial things.  The a lot of the low level things that control computer controlled equipment were written in C, which is where the time_t thing came from.  C++ and C# had the same problem in their early versions.  All the standards for the langues require 64 bits for time_t, but there is still stuff being written using very freaking old compilers.

[Darth Fluffy 332]

51 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Yes, and it's slightly more important that Y2K.  That mainly effected financial things.  The a lot of the low level things that control computer controlled equipment were written in C, which is where the time_t thing came from.  C++ and C# had the same problem in their early versions.  All the standards for the langues require 64 bits for time_t, but there is still stuff being written using very freaking old compilers.

Two magnetic fields are showing signs of flipping soonish, the Earth's and the Sun's. Both are really bad, and may invalidate the concerns about C. The solar flip should be accompanied by greatly increased flares, which will increase the likelihood of electronics killing ionization world-wide. The Earth's magnetic flip, which may be a while off, though it is progressing, will likely shut down the Van Allen Belts for a while, allowing higher levels of cosmic radiation to reach the Earth's surface. We don't know how much of a threat this is, but it can't be good.

Interesting side note, chickens can handle more radiation than roaches can. If you assume this is evolutionary adaptation, the chicken lineage has survives an intense radiation event. A magnetic field flip? A time transiting one of the spiral arms? <shrug> Who knows what fowl deed caused this?

(In spite of the pun, it's true.)

[The Old Hack 2,482]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Interesting side note, chickens can handle more radiation than roaches can.

They are patiently waiting for a cosmic event to mutate them anew. Then the Chicken T. Rex shall rule the Earth again, its fearsome BAWK echoing across the lands!

[ijuin 587]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Two magnetic fields are showing signs of flipping soonish, the Earth's and the Sun's. Both are really bad, and may invalidate the concerns about C. The solar flip should be accompanied by greatly increased flares, which will increase the likelihood of electronics killing ionization world-wide.

By the way, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses every 11-12 years—it’s merely that the currently-impending one appears to be the strongest in several decades. We had worse 165 years ago during the 1859 Carrington Event where power lines and telegraph circuits blew out.

[Darth Fluffy 332]

4 hours ago, ijuin said:

By the way, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses every 11-12 years—it’s merely that the currently-impending one appears to be the strongest in several decades. We had worse 165 years ago during the 1859 Carrington Event where power lines and telegraph circuits blew out.

The bulk of that is accurate. I don't think power lines were a thing in 1859, it was all telegraph. Telegraph systems are robust; back then, zero electronics, all electromagnetic. We are in much worse shape to face the next one. Lovely, eh?

Some systems, mil systems in particular, are hardened against voltage spikes. That may help a lot. The stuff in you house is not so hardened.

[mlooney 3,548]

36 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Some systems, mil systems in particular, are hardened against voltage spikes.

Vacuum tube electronics handle voltage spikes and EMP a lot better than solid state devices do.  That's one reason the Nike Herc system stayed tubes.  The missile tracking radar would be pointing directly at a nuclear explosion and they really didn't want to need to do a lot of work on the MTR to get ready for a 2nd shot.  Based on a test done in in 1962 (the last open air test shot of the US) the MTR works just fine after the blast.

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/4-november-1962-0000-gmt/

 

[Don Edwards 558]

11 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Y2K & 2012 were such letdowns.

A lot of people put a lot of effort into making Y2K a non-event.

That planetary sort-of-alignment in 2012 was going to be insignificant no matter how badly it was overhyped.

[mlooney 3,548]

47 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

A lot of people put a lot of effort into making Y2K a non-event.

Yeap.  As one of those involved (granted just on the edges) it was a pain for a year or so in the mid 90s

[The Old Hack 2,482]

46 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Yeap.  As one of those involved (granted just on the edges) it was a pain for a year or so in the mid 90s

Around that time I had bigger troubles with the 1998 problem.

Yes. The 1998 problem.

At the time -- July 1997 to be exact -- I worked in a small branch office that served as a connecting point and legal advice for a lot of bigger office. We had a LOT of mail going in and out. I had just finished reading another depressing article about the Y2K problem and my eyes landed on our old and cantankerous postage machine which was very much mechanical all the way through and thought, "Thank God we at least won't be having any year 2000 problems with that." On an impulse I opened it up to see how it worked. And to my astonishment the wheel that stamped out the dates ended at 1997. If we wanted to be in business after new year, we would need that entire wheel replaced. Really terrible design.

So I went into the office of the engineer who was running the place and told him, "Boss, we have a 1998 problem." He replied, "We have a WHAT?" After I had explained he assigned me the job of finding out how to upgrade the darn thing. I soon learned that this would cost so much that we could very nearly buy a brand new machine for that much money and told him so. He got so mad that he assigned me a new job: finding the best possible new machine that would not have this problem. I spent about a week comparing offers and we finally decided on one.

Incidentally, during that I found out that normally people who used our old model didn't find out until just before or right after new year, and were always in a terrible bind as a result. My idle curiosity saved our office a lot of trouble and frantic effort.

[Darth Fluffy 332]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

Vacuum tube electronics handle voltage spikes and EMP a lot better than solid state devices do.  That's one reason the Nike Herc system stayed tubes.  The missile tracking radar would be pointing directly at a nuclear explosion and they really didn't want to need to do a lot of work on the MTR to get ready for a 2nd shot.  Based on a test done in in 1962 (the last open air test shot of the US) the MTR works just fine after the blast.

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/4-november-1962-0000-gmt

The Soviets made due with incredibly small vacuum tubes, likely for this reason.

I suspect a good size flare heading in our direction packs a bunch more energy than many nukes. I don't know how that translates into knocking out electronics. I am curious what the specific vulnerabilities were in 1859. I bet the batteries of the day were a weak point. (I believe the entire telegraph system ran off of batteries at the time.) I wonder if anyone took notes?

[mlooney 3,548]

Some people, and by people, I mean geeks looking for geek points, have too much time on their hands.

https://robertheaton.com/pyskywifi/

[mlooney 3,548]

Color me suspicious but it this works out, we have anti-grav or close to it.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a60608517/overcome-earth-gravity/

[Darth Fluffy 332]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

Color me suspicious but it this works out, we have anti-grav or close to it.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a60608517/overcome-earth-gravity/

The article is about the EM drive, hypothetically providing thrust without expending carried mass. This contradicts physics as we know it, and will lead to some revision if it proves possible. Seems to be in the same bailiwick as cold fusion, 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'; yet to be proven.

Is it 'anti-gravity'? Well, yes, in the same sense that flight is, or why fish don't all fall to the bottom of the pond. It is not nullification of gravity.

I've seen some claims of 'anti-gravity' on YouTube, but again, it seems that the effect has more to do with unconventional thrust, often against Earth's magnetic field, rather than nullification of gravity.

Is nullification of gravity possible? Perhaps, but likely not with just ordinary matter and energy as we experience it. Something is causing the universe to expand, and perhaps we can harness it for our purposes.

[The Old Hack 2,482]

3 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

 'extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence'; yet to be proven.

You would think yet there are still sufficient numbers of gullible thimblewits that believe in Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'Jewish Space Lasers.' Certainly enough to get her elected and re-elected.

[mlooney 3,548]

20 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

So I went into the office of the engineer who was running the place and told him, "Boss, we have a 1998 problem." He replied, "We have a WHAT?" After I had explained he assigned me the job of finding out how to upgrade the darn thing. I soon learned that this would cost so much that we could very nearly buy a brand new machine for that much money and told him so. He got so mad that he assigned me a new job: finding the best possible new machine that would not have this problem. I spent about a week comparing offers and we finally decided on one.

That seems like a wise choice.  Was the next machine digital or did it have "infinite" spinning stamp wheels?