Priority Ultra

UN Consulting Strategy Director Official Computer Scientist, MI6, Consulting Business Specialist, Consulting Analytical Psychology Expert, Consulting Artificial Technology Specialist. this is a fictional blog. - ENTJ known as "The Blondie"

[blondiesource]

A.I. Research Analysis

Very disturbing. I went to the Silicon Valley to gather some data for IBM measuring each code of Reinforced Learning and Machine Learning A.I codes. Here I show you some examples of human interaction with A.I.. There seems to be some very disturbing results.

[thegoodvybe]

[abstract-academia]

I feel that today fit the dark academic aesthetic quite well. I discovered my favorite Claude Monet painting at a nearby museum and received a letter from a friend I’ve yet to open.

[ohdear-ifear]

14.8.19

a cloudy day in Cambridge ✨

[breathtakingdestinations]

Venice - Italy (by perlaroques) 

[nasa]

5 Ways the Moon Landing Changed Life on Earth

When Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the Moon 50 years ago, he famously said “that’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” He was referring to the historic milestone of exploring beyond our own planet — but there’s also another way to think about that giant leap: the massive effort to develop technologies to safely reach, walk on the Moon and return home led to countless innovations that have improved life on Earth.

Armstrong took one small step on the lunar surface, but the Moon landing led to a giant leap forward in innovations for humanity.

Here are five examples of technology developed for the Apollo program that we’re still using today:

1. Food Safety Standards

As soon as we started planning to send astronauts into space, we faced the problem of what to feed them — and how to ensure the food was safe to eat. Can you imagine getting food poisoning on a spacecraft, hundreds of thousands of miles from home?

We teamed up with a familiar name in food production: the Pillsbury Company. The company soon realized that existing quality control methods were lacking. There was no way to be certain, without extensive testing that destroyed the sample, that the food was free of bacteria and toxins.

Pillsbury revamped its entire food-safety process, creating what became the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system. Its aim was to prevent food safety problems from occurring, rather than catch them after the fact. They managed this by analyzing and controlling every link in the chain, from the raw materials to the processing equipment to the people handling the food.

Today, this is one of the space program’s most far-reaching spinoffs. Beyond keeping the astronaut food supply safe, the Hazard Analysis and Critical Point system has also been adopted around the world — and likely reduced the risk of bacteria and toxins in your local grocery store. 

2. Digital Controls for Air and Spacecraft

The Apollo spacecraft was revolutionary for many reasons. Did you know it was the first vehicle to be controlled by a digital computer? Instead of pushrods and cables that pilots manually adjusted to manipulate the spacecraft, Apollo’s computer sent signals to actuators at the flick of a switch.

Besides being physically lighter and less cumbersome, the switch to a digital control system enabled storing large quantities of data and programming maneuvers with complex software.

Before Apollo, there were no digital computers to control airplanes either. Working together with the Navy and Draper Laboratory, we adapted the Apollo digital flight computer to work on airplanes. Today, whatever airline you might be flying, the pilot is controlling it digitally, based on the technology first developed for the flight to the Moon.

3. Earthquake-ready Shock Absorbers

A shock absorber descended from Apollo-era dampers and computers saves lives by stabilizing buildings during earthquakes.

Apollo’s Saturn V rockets had to stay connected to the fueling tubes on the launchpad up to the very last second. That presented a challenge: how to safely move those tubes out of the way once liftoff began. Given how fast they were moving, how could we ensure they wouldn’t bounce back and smash into the vehicle?

We contracted with Taylor Devices, Inc. to develop dampers to cushion the shock, forcing the company to push conventional shock isolation technology to the limit.

Shortly after, we went back to the company for a hydraulics-based high-speed computer. For that challenge, the company came up with fluidic dampers—filled with compressible fluid—that worked even better. We later applied the same technology on the Space Shuttle’s launchpad.

The company has since adapted these fluidic dampers for buildings and bridges to help them survive earthquakes. Today, they are successfully protecting structures in some of the most quake-prone areas of the world, including Tokyo, San Francisco and Taiwan.

4. Insulation for Space

We’ve all seen runners draped in silvery “space blankets” at the end of marathons, but did you know the material, called radiant barrier insulation, was actually created for space?

Temperatures outside of Earth’s atmosphere can fluctuate widely, from hundreds of degrees below to hundreds above zero. To better protect our astronauts, during the Apollo program we invented a new kind of effective, lightweight insulation.

We developed a method of coating mylar with a thin layer of vaporized metal particles. The resulting material had the look and weight of thin cellophane packaging, but was extremely reflective—and pound-for-pound, better than anything else available.

Today the material is still used to protect astronauts, as well as sensitive electronics, in nearly all of our missions. But it has also found countless uses on the ground, from space blankets for athletes to energy-saving insulation for buildings. It also protects essential components of MRI machines used in medicine and much, much more.

Image courtesy of the U.S. Marines

5. Healthcare Monitors

Patients in hospitals are hooked up to sensors that send important health data to the nurse’s station and beyond — which means when an alarm goes off, the right people come running to help.

This technology saves lives every day. But before it reached the ICU, it was invented for something even more extraordinary: sending health data from space down to Earth.

When the Apollo astronauts flew to the Moon, they were hooked up to a system of sensors that sent real-time information on their blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate and more to a team on the ground.

The system was developed for us by Spacelabs Healthcare, which quickly adapted it for hospital monitoring. The company now has telemetric monitoring equipment in nearly every hospital around the world, and it is expanding further, so at-risk patients and their doctors can keep track of their health even outside the hospital.

Only a few people have ever walked on the Moon, but the benefits of the Apollo program for the rest of us continue to ripple widely.

In the years since, we have continued to create innovations that have saved lives, helped the environment, and advanced all kinds of technology.

Now we’re going forward to the Moon with the Artemis program and on to Mars — and building ever more cutting-edge technologies to get us there. As with the many spinoffs from the Apollo era, these innovations will transform our lives for generations to come.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com.

[mbtiandstuffz]

[blondiesource]

That is a very interesting way to put it

[weirdlandtv]

Coney Island, New York City. From 1912 to 1955 (hi Grace Kelly), 1961 and 1968, 1975 (tag yourself), late 1970s (hi Debbie Harry, hi Lester Bangs, oh hey Warriors), and 1985.

[blondiesource]

The Concorde case

In the 60′s, the British Intelligence found that the Soviets were indeed conducting widespread industrial espionage, from bribing the employees of Western companies for blueprints and technical manuals, to acquiring products that it was illegal for Western companies to sell to them and reverse engineering the designs, to photographing the contents of the briefcases of Westerner businessmen while they traveled internationally, to directing members of the British Communist Party to join the Western development teams and report back to Soviet intelligence.

In the 1960s, the British and French began cooperation on the Concorde, the iconic supersonic transport (SST) aircraft and the Soviets began a "mini Space Race" with them to see who could fly the first SST, which was believed to represent the future of commercial aviation with obvious synergies for military aviation. The Russian plane was the Tupolev Tu-144. The closed decision-making process of the Soviet government in the 1960s is difficult to penetrate even today, but it appears that they demanded that Alexei Tupolev win the race to build and fly the first SST but gave him fewer resources to do so than the Anglo-French effort had despite the fact that Russia had a narrower base of aviation expertise and was starting the game later. To the Soviets, the technical know-how residing in the Concorde program became a great prize, perhaps the greatest potential technological prize that could be won through industrial espionage.

British intelligence became aware of a large, long-term Soviet program of industrial espionage directed toward the Concorde program and decided to respond with a deception / misinformation operation (a la Britain's Operation Mincemeat against the Nazis in WWII) to serve up to the Soviets exactly what they most wanted: the plans for the Concorde. The British intelligence (perhaps jointly with French intelligence) set up a 2nd large design effort for the Concorde in which only the leaders knew that the final designs would contain critical flaws and be worthless.  They then steered the Soviet spies that they had identified toward this false program. As far as the British knew, their counterintelligence operation was a success, the false Concorde designs were stolen by Soviet intelligence, and immediately copied by Soviet designers, as so much British military and aerospace technology had apparently been before.  Tupolev's Tu-144 program advanced quickly in the design stage but in the ground test and wind tunnel stage it ran into many power, control, and integrity problems which delayed its first flight by two years.  And lo and behold, when early images of the Tu-144 prototype began to leak out, they looked just like the Concorde:

The Tu-144 may have run into problems and delays, but the Concorde program also ran into major problems, cost overruns, and delays, ultimately causing an international incident when the British demanded that the Concorde program be cancelled and the French refused (and the language of their agreements gave advantages to the party that wanted to continue the program in the event of such a dispute). 

So the Concorde program, and the "mini Space Race" between the Anglo-French program and Tupolev, continued.Eventually, Tupolev won this "mini Space Race" to fly the first SST and the prototype Tu-144  first flew in 1968 near Moscow, beating the Concorde by two months and scoring a major propaganda victory for the Soviets.Westerners were impressed by the technological feat but also began remarking that the Tu-144 looked exactly like the Concorde, which had been started earlier and whose public appearance was not a secret. 

The Tu-144 named the "Charger" by NATO but was dubbed the "Concordski" in the Western press. The Tu-144 went into production in 1969 while still wrestling with unsolved problems of power, control, and integrity that could be attributed to the great difficulty of the engineering problems that the designers faced or that could be attributed to the Soviets never having done the R&D necessary to build an SST from first principles and having only worked from stolen, flawed designs.

You can see how poorly aerodynamic its design is in comparison to the Concorde:

Tupolev:

Concorde:

The Soviets took a Tu-144 to the Paris Air Show in 1973. Suddenly the plane dove downward and then tried to climb back upward but it broke apart in flight and crashed, killing all 6 people on board and 8 more on the ground. The intent of British Intelligence was likely to confound, slow down, and maybe even cause the cancellation of the Tu-144 program, not to cause a spectacular fatal crash at an air show. In addition, years later when all bugs could have been worked out of the model, the Tu-144 model was still considered to be a very unreliable airplane with numerous serious flight incidents on its record.

Neither the Concorde nor the Tu-144 programs turned out to be the future of aviation. This was due to the improvements of jumbo jets, which were much more cost effective and practical than the SSTs.

[apartment-mbti]

Who to Criticize and Who to Affirm

A guide to answering the question “What do you think?”

ENFJ: Always affirm. They want to hear that whatever they created is the best thing since sliced bread. Criticism is met with aggression. Suggestions are hit or miss.

ENFP: Affirm. They don’t need it as much as ENFJs, but they still want the confidence of knowing that their work is good. Offer minor suggestions if any.

ENTJ: Start with affirming. Then you can also move on to point out things they could do better, and they will value your feedback.

ENTP: Say exactly what you think, and be clear about it. They’re likely to take your words very seriously.

ESFJ: Affirmations are appreciated, but you should also be honest. As long as you go along with their excuses (ex: “I got no sleep last night”), you’re fine.

ESFP: The shorter you make your feedback, the better. “I think you could add more in the second paragraph, but otherwise it looks good.”

ESTJ: Honest feedback. As long as you explain your thought process, they will not be offended by it.

ESTP: Affirm more than you would think to; their egos are like pufferfish. Like ESFPs, keep criticism short.

INFJ: Play it safe and affirm. This is especially true if they’re worried about their words/writing offending someone and they need to make sure it isn’t.

INFP: Be honest, but not too harsh. If you have criticisms, it helps to explain your thought process so they fully understand what you mean.

INTJ: Give real, honest feedback. They don’t really care about affirmations and wouldn’t ask if they didn’t want to genuinely know how they’re doing.

INTP: Stick with affirm if they seem uncertain, because INTPs doubt everything, or if not try to start a discussion about what they are doing well or could do better.

ISFJ: Point out specific corrections and be direct but kind. Affirmations aren’t entirely necessary but always appreciated.

ISFP: Be honest and briefly explain things. If they’ve already decided on something, don’t expect to change their mind. It also helps to end on a positive note.

ISTJ: Keep criticisms minimal and gauge their reaction. They already know more or less which things you’re supposed to point out, and so if they don’t agree, stop.

ISTP: Be honest and to the point. They don’t need sugar coating, but know that they feed off of people telling them they’re talented.

[memelord9118-deactivated2021030]

True though

[ibelieveinmycroft]

Anonymous asked you: Good evening, what was Mycroft referring to, when he said at the Diogenes (S2E3) “We don’t want a repeat of 1972” ?

To be perfectly honest, I don’t really know. And nor does anyone else, it seems.

M: Tradition, John. Our traditions define us. J: So total silence is traditional, is it? You can’t even say “Pass the sugar.” M: Three-quarters of the diplomatic service and half the government front bench all sharing one tea trolley. It’s for the best, believe me.We don’t want a repeat of nineteen seventy-two.

From the context of what Mycroft is saying, it seems that idle gossiping in the Diogenes in 1972, between diplomats or politicians led to some huge scandal that must never be repeated. The problem is, there was no big scandal in British politics in 1972. Internationally, there was the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal and some quite terrible things in Northern Ireland, but none of these really fit with whatever it is Mycroft was alluding to.

Whatever this event was, it can not have been something Mycroft was directly involved in. In 1972, he would have been little more than a child. As precocious as Mycroft no doubt was, I really don’t think he was spending his time in London’s gentleman’s clubs whilst he was still in short trousers.

Based on what little information we have, then: something happened in the Diogenes Club in 1972, caused by senior political figures letting too many facts slip. Loose lips literally sinking ships. Whatever it was, the shadowy governmental manipulators of the day managed to keep it under wraps, but the event itself has passed into legend within the walls of the club.

From the way Mycroft talks about it, though, it seems something more notorious, and something more central to him personally. Depending on birth dates and his rather hazy past, it seems likely that Mycroft entered the civil service, in whatever shadowy capacity, some time in the early nineties, which is the earliest one can sensibly place him as a member of the Diogenes Club. Although, based on this, he couldn’t have been involved with the 1972 incident, he may have been involved with instituting the rule of absolute silence. Canonically, Mycroft is one of the founders of the Diogenes club and, although that is clearly an impossibility in this universe, I can still envision him having some influence over how the place is run.

He is the British Government, after all.

[architecture-anddesign]

Queensboro Bridge, New York City

[bujothief]

Hong Kong, China.

[blondiesource]

[did-you-know]

‘Devil’s advocate’ was a real job until 1983. 

Any time the Catholic church wanted to canonize a saint, an official acted as the devil’s advocate by questioning the candidate’s saintliness and arguing against their supposed miracles. If the potential saint could hold up to the intense criticism, the church knew they officially deserved the title. 

(Source, Source 2)

[martemisss-deactivated20240213]

HEY ENTPS I GOT NEWS FOR YA

@heterorpheus

[blondiesource]

Tower of London, England - 2019