[aclug-L] FW: InternetWeek Newsletter - Dec. 10

["Dale W Hodge" <dwh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You Gotta read the Kangaroo Alert piece!  Dang Funny!!

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Stop Bits: Planning For Things That Never Happen

When you work in IT, you spend a lot of your life planning for things 
that will never happen. Even as we speak, some unlucky slob is writing 
a plan for recovering IT systems in the event of flooding at his 
company's Mojave Desert site. Another is creating a load-balancing 
program in case the Liberace Fan Club's Web server is suddenly 
oversubscribed.

But even the IT people must be frustrated at NASA. NASA's 
Marsportal.com--which features state-of-the-art Silicon Graphics 
workstations, content replication services from Sandpiper Networks 
and load-balancing technology from Resonate--was designed to fend off 
the performance problems that NASA has encountered in the past when 
posting high-resolution extraterrestrial images on the Internet. It 
was supposed to set new standards for Web performance, particularly 
for graphics-heavy sites.

Unfortunately, now it will never be tested, because there aren't any 
images to post. Yet another example of IT standing ready for something 
that, it appears, will never happen.

Kangaroo Alert! The following item comes from Australia's Defense 
Science and Technology Organization and wire reports:

"The reuse of object-oriented code has caused tactical headaches for 
Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators assume larger 
roles in helicopter training, programmers have gone to great lengths 
to increase the realism of their scenarios, including detailed 
landscapes and--in one case--herds of kangaroos (since disturbed 
animals might give away a helicopter's position).

"The head of the Defense Science and Technology Organization's Land 
Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to 
model the local marsupials' movements and reactions to helicopters. 
Being efficient programmers, the programmers simply reappropriated 
some code originally used to model infantry detachment reactions under 
the same stimuli, changed the mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, 
and increased the figures' speed of movement.

"Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American 
pilots, hotshot Australian pilots buzzed the virtual kangaroos in low 
flight. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting 
Americans nodded appreciatively--then did a double-take as the 
kangaroos reappeared from behind a hill and launched a barrage of 
Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. Apparently, the programmers 
had forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.

"Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have 
strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to."

Linusmania. If you're wondering what Linux inventor Linus Torvalds is 
up to these days, mark Jan. 19 on your calendar. That's when Torvalds' 
company, Transmeta, will make its debut and introduce its Crusoe 
smart processors. Details about the systems are still sketchy, but 
interest runs high--Torvalds has drawn rock-star-like attention at 
industry events in recent months. 

Got a pet peeve, industry view or humorous observation about our 
industry? E-mail it to us at stopbits@xxxxxxx!

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