Please ignore the 12 days thing on top of the meme.
Posted on 03/08/2019 7:02:08 PM PST by cba123
Don't look now, but there's another Y2K-like computer-calendar problem on the way, and this one arrives in just one month: April 6, 2019.
(Excerpt) Read more at tomsguide.com ...
My dad co-wrote the proposal for Project Vanguard in 1955. He designed Vanguard 1 and worked on Minitrack. Then he invented the Naval Space Surveillance System to track Soviet spy satellites. In 1964, he started he Timation (TIMe navigATION) a space based navigation system. I argue that it was largely the predecessor system to GPS. Several AF historians agree with me, though the subject of who invented GPS is hotly contested. Here’s my first article:
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/626/1
I’ve written many additional articles published in The Space Review. Here’s the most recent one - http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3596/1
There are more details at www.gpsdeclassified.com
Dada received many awards including the National Medal of Technology. His main rival, Brad Parkinson, has also been given many prizes. But the Timation Development Plan from 1971 is very close to GPS. It’s much closer than the AF/Aerospace’s Project 621B. There are many errors in Parkinson’s account of how GPS supposedly came to be.
Nice. Good job an being ahead of the curve! Hopefully this scare is a big nothing.
As a professional programmer I have to ask: what idiot decided that 10 bits should be the maximum value stored in the counter? Most digital computers store data in 8-bit increments ie: 8 bits, 16 bits, 32 bits, 64 bits.
I guess my question is this: was the complexity of managing a partial word (10 bits vs 16 bits) and inherently limiting the value worth it? I cannot believe that. If the extra 6 bits was actually needed for another purpose I am sure they could be found elsewhere in the data storage.
Y2K was the same thing really ... some programmers decided to save some space an so they dropped the century from date definitions. I could understand that back in the 70s but today? In a terabyte storage world, this is ridiculous.
BTW, Linux 32-bit systems are set to roll over Jan 19, 2038 at 03:14:08. It is safe to say that by then no computer will be a 32-bit based system. The 64-bit systems coming online today will roll over in about 292 billion years from now. As I am close to retiring I find it safe to say that it is unlikely to be a problem I will face.
surrender..... on your I phone get the WAZE ap. WAZE is a just fantastic navigation tool.
It is easy. it’s free.
I carry paper maps and use them along with GPS to map a journey.
I am always amazed at how incorrect the GPS can be.
Consistently. And I have owned 3 of them
If it’s “free”, YOU are the product.
Try it....you’ll like it
Oh, I’ve used the heck out of waze for years now. I also turn it off when not in use so it can’t track location when I’m not using it. But I know darn well I’m the product.
And it still has issues, I encountered some yesterday getting to some addresses out in the boonies in Sonoma county. It’s pretty darn good, but it isn’t perfect.
How are you the product? Does it really matter?
“Today the key scenes would be girl trying to contact guy on Facebook and Twitter but shut off and then comes back on and now uncovers that he has been two timing her, thinking he wouldn’t get caught.
Too scary, so “for mature audiences.”
Frank....Too Cute! Sure you’re not a screen writer?
FWIW, I am not going to fly on April 6, either. Of course, I am working then, so it would not be a good idea to cut work on that day, anyway.
driving off the coast of Nigeria (unless you’re a Democrat then that could be an issue).
///////////////////////////////////////
Holy Flatulent Cow.
So driving on the water off the coast of Nigeria gave the AOC sect the idea of trains across the oceans. Who woulda thunk it?
Plus, ties in with the theory that all the American funds for desperate Nigerians on their heartfelt emails to Americans actually went to AOC. All this time I thought those poor guys were real. /s
LOL - so you don’t fly Civ?
Not in many years. If I were to fly, it would have to be an emergency of some sort, or on a private jet.
The jamming is from other satellites thousands of miles away. indefensible. We have them too.
Makes sense to me, that’s a good explanation. I have a car GPS, a handheld hiking GPS, and my phone has GPS. I’ll be curious to see if/how they’re affected.
re: “The jamming is from other satellites thousands of miles away.”
Where did you come up with that? How do you know? Are these guesses on your part? Do you have any familiarity with this field beyond which you read in the ‘newspapers’?
Absolutely, aircraft do have multiple systems. If the GPS goes bad, it’s not like they’re just flying around lost. Even if a plane lost all nav systems, the ground controllers still have radar and could talk them in.
There is a tremendous amount of data that must be encoded in the gps signal. If everything were packed as 8, 16, or 32 bit words there would be a tremendous amount of wasted bandwidth. If you look up IS-GPS-200 you can learn all about the numerous messages and how they are packed. The 10 byte GPS week and it’s rollover is not a limitation for the GPS system itself. It just forces GPS receiver venders to come up with ways to recognize the rollover and not reset your time back 19 and a half years. Some of the newer signals coming on line do add a few extra bits to avoid this rollover, but at some point, everything rolls over.
Sometimes it’s better when rollovers are more frequent. That way there are folks around who understand the design and how to get through it. Imagine if you had a system that you relied upon as much as we rely on GPS but it only rolled over every century. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who still had the skill set to be aware of the issue, much less know how to operate through it. All the designers would be long gone.
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