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Tech Topics

Entry 356, on 2006-06-27 at 14:24:12 (Rating 3, Science)

A number of headlines caught my attention in the science and technology news today. First, was the news that one of the cameras in the Hubble telescope had a fault and has shut down. Other instruments, including other cameras, still work, so its not as if the HST is now useless, but this might be a sign that the instrument, which has been in 570 a kilometer high orbit since its launch in 1990, is starting to become less reliable.

The HST is an amazing machine. I might have quoted the following fact before, but it is impressive so I will state it again. To ensure accurate observations of celestial objects, the pointing accuracy of the telescope is very precise. It can track an object without deviating by more than 0.007 of an arc second. For those not astronomically inclined, this is the width of a human hair seen at a distance of almost 2 kilometers, or equivalent to continuously pointing a light beam at a small coin from over 300 kilometers away.

The next headline that interested me was Nokia's decision to discontinue CDMA based cell phones (outside the US). Surely this is a sign that the CDMA system is dead. Already, about 80% of cell phone calls are made over GSM, so the fact that the world's most significant manufacturer is abandoning CDMA doesn't show it has much of a future. I always advise people to buy GSM (Vodafone in New Zealand) instead of CDMA (Telecom in New Zealand) so I guess I was right again! Hey, I usually am.

Another headline proclaimed "Science slams Creationism". There has been a debate in this area for a while now about whether debating creationism (or its descendants neo-creationism or intelligent design) is a good idea or not. Debating with creationist makes it look like the "theory" might have some merit, and it has none. But ignoring it allows creationist propaganda top be spread, unchecked.

I personally think science should go on the attack against creationism, and all other forms of superstition, including such things as clairvoyance, UFOs, ghosts, gods, demons, etc. OK, debating with these people might make their case look more valid, but I think on balance it will introduce enough doubt to counter the negative aspects of the debate. And any opportunity to make people who believe such nonsense look stupid is always welcome to me!

A rather alarming headline stated "Microsoft sees robots as key to computing future." I'd just like to point out that the following is satirical in nature, OK. Microsoft Robot Inc - what a scary notion. Can you imagine a Microsoft robot? First it gets infected with a virus which causes it to run amok and kill all Linux users it finds. Then it seeks and destroys all PC users who haven't paid for a Windows license. Or maybe it spies on them, and relays information back to Microsoft HQ! Oh wait, here's what it does: it sneaks around in the night changing the startup configuration on Intel Macs from Mac OS X to Windows, and changes the default browsers on PCs from Firefox to Internet Exploder!

On second thoughts, its not a problem. Half an hour after plugging it in it will be sitting with the robot blues (blue screen of death) and require a reboot anyway!

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