Official "Hot-houri" thread

[Xyzzy]

http://i.imgur.com/voGJyFt.gif



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[Chuck]

The little yellow can which contains the Masaman curry paste I always buy looks very similar to the Thai noodle sauce. The noodle sauce can must have been in the wrong place on the shelf at the Asian grocery since I just picked up six yellow cans.

I'm not sure what the noodle sauce will be like. I see that the first listed ingredient is cobia fish. I guess I could try it with some rice.

[kladner]

WarGames for real: How one 1983 exercise nearly triggered WWIII
Newly released documents reveal the KGB software model that forecasted mushroom clouds.

But with Saint Ronny posturing, and all, maybe it wasn't that hard to imagine.

"Let's play Global Thermonuclear War."
Thirty-two years ago, just months after the release of the movie WarGames, the world came the closest it ever has to nuclear Armageddon. In the movie version of a global near-death experience, a teenage hacker messing around with an artificial intelligence program that just happened to control the American nuclear missile force unleashes chaos. In reality, a very different computer program run by the Soviets fed growing paranoia about the intentions of the United States, very nearly triggering a nuclear war. The software in question was a KGB computer model constructed as part of Operation RYAN (РЯН), details of which were obtained from Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB's London section chief who was at the same time spying for Britain's MI6. Named for an acronym for "Nuclear Missile Attack" (Ракетное Ядерное Нападение), RYAN was an intelligence operation started in 1981 to help the intelligence agency forecast if the US and its allies were planning a nuclear strike. The KGB believed that by analyzing quantitative data from intelligence on US and NATO activities relative to the Soviet Union, they could predict when a sneak attack was most likely.


As it turned out, Exercise Able Archer '83 triggered that forecast. The war game, which was staged over two weeks in November of 1983, simulated the procedures that NATO would go through prior to a nuclear launch. Many of these procedures and tactics were things the Soviets had never seen, and the whole exercise came after a series of feints by US and NATO forces to size up Soviet defenses and the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983. So as Soviet leaders monitored the exercise and considered the current climate, they put one and one together. Able Archer, according to Soviet leadership at least, must have been a cover for a genuine surprise attack planned by the US, then led by a president possibly insane enough to do it.


While some studies, including an analysis some 12 years ago by historian Fritz Earth, have downplayed the actual Soviet response to Able Archer, a newly published declassified 1990 report from the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (PFIAB) to President George H. W. Bush obtained by the National Security Archive suggests that the danger was all too real. The document was classified as Top Secret with the code word UMBRA, denoting the most sensitive compartment of classified material, and it cites data from sources that to this day remain highly classified. When combined with previously released CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), and Defense Department documents, this PFIAB report shows that only the illness of Soviet leader Yuri Andropov—and the instincts of one mid-level Soviet officer—may have prevented a nuclear launch.

[LaurV]

Swapping the internet for screws. We have to seal a screw in one of our products so the end customer won't be able to open it (like the warranty labels, but we don't like labels, as they are not "accidental removing" proofed. One can accidentally rub the label off. We studied a way to put some wax or plastic on top of the screw and then hot-stamp it. This is nice, but then we will have trouble with wax contamination, melting more than wanted from the plastic case, whatever. Somebody suggested to use "one way screws".

Now, you will laugh the lungs out of yourselves, if I tell you I had no freaking idea what that is. I am not a mechanical guy by education, in spite of the fact that I can handle Autocad better than most professionals (this includes AutoLisp programming), and I am very good in designing mechanical and optical complex parts (like LCD modules, backlights, moving parts, like gears, mechanical assemblies, etc). For the hack of me, I could not imagine what a "one way screw" is, when I heard the term. I imagined some complex part with crickets and complexity close to a spaceship: how do you screw it inside, but not being able to unscrew it? That was impossible! If you can put the screwdriver on it and turn it right, then what would forbid you to turn it left?

Anyhow, after 10 seconds of google search I laugh at myself, and moved on. The best things are the simple things. These one-way screws are a type of "security screws" and are actually very common. The head of the screw is helicoidal, and you can not get enough grip with the screwdriver when you turn it in reverse, especially if the screw is buried in a hole, and the case is plastic, you will first damage everything, before being able to take the screw out. There exist very specialized tools to take them out, but that is a different screw story all together.

Why I posted here? Well, during those 10 seconds of search I found this link, and said "look! this is perfect for our ho-pourri thread"... And I wanted to let you know about it... (well I confess that I was actually thinking to put it in the thread about politics, or gays, or whatever, but don't tell that to anybody!)

What do you think?

edit: and no, I am not left handed!

[only_human]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Why I posted here? Well, during those 10 seconds of search I found this link, and said "look! this is perfect for our ho-pourri thread"... And I wanted to let you know about it... (well I confess that I was actually thinking to put it in the thread about politics, or gays, or whatever, but don't tell that to anybody!)

What do you think?

edit: and no, I am not left handed!

They make a good point while being entertaining instead of simply lecturing people for being oblivious to receiving pervasive privileges.

[davar55]

Originally Posted by LaurV

Swapping the internet for screws. We have to seal a screw in one of our products so the end customer won't be able to open it (like the warranty labels, but we don't like labels, as they are not "accidental removing" proofed. One can accidentally rub the label off. We studied a way to put some wax or plastic on top of the screw and then hot-stamp it. This is nice, but then we will have trouble with wax contamination, melting more than wanted from the plastic case, whatever. Somebody suggested to use "one way screws".
Now, you will laugh the lungs out of yourselves, if I tell you I had no freaking idea what that is. I am not a mechanical guy by education, in spite of the fact that I can handle Autocad better than most professionals (this includes AutoLisp programming), and I am very good in designing mechanical and optical complex parts (like LCD modules, backlights, moving parts, like gears, mechanical assemblies, etc). For the hack of me, I could not imagine what a "one way screw" is, when I heard the term. I imagined some complex part with crickets and complexity close to a spaceship: how do you screw it inside, but not being able to unscrew it? That was impossible! If you can put the screwdriver on it and turn it right, then what would forbid you to turn it left?
Anyhow, after 10 seconds of google search I laugh at myself, and moved on. The best things are the simple things. These one-way screws are a type of "security screws" and are actually very common. The head of the screw is helicoidal, and you can not get enough grip with the screwdriver when you turn it in reverse, especially if the screw is buried in a hole, and the case is plastic, you will first damage everything, before being able to take the screw out. There exist very specialized tools to take them out, but that is a different screw story all together.
Why I posted here? Well, during those 10 seconds of search I found this link, and said "look! this is perfect for our ho-pourri thread"... And I wanted to let you know about it... (well I confess that I was actually thinking to put it in the thread about politics, or gays, or whatever, but don't tell that to anybody!)
What do you think?
edit: and no, I am not left handed!

Now I'll have to add anti-handed-ness to my list of biases prevalent; but it goes both ways - I expect some lefties are
biased aginst we north-paws for our right-handed societal decisions, but some of us righties are a bit jealous of their
adaptive artistic skills. In the end, our society must and should and does adjust to the valuable situation of having both
handednesses around. It is evolutionarily beneficial to humanity to have had a skewed-to-the-right preponderance,
just so long as we and they themselves provide for the inclusivity of lefties and righties.

No one is biased against the ambidextrous. Perhaps they should include the rest of us in their capabilities.

[only_human]

I've been wanting this feature forever:
Kindle Fire OS 5 "Bellini"

Read faster with Word Runner
New—Word Runner is a fun new way to read faster. It keeps your eyes focused on the center of the page and brings each word right to where your eyes already are. With dynamic pacing, Word Runner automatically slows down for difficult words, punctuation, and paragraph breaks. And when you first start reading, it gradually builds up to the speed you choose. If you miss something, just tap and hold the screen to activate the "brake." It instantly pauses Word Runner and lets you easily scroll back and pick up wherever you’d like.

[davar55]

Originally Posted by davar55

I needed a rhyme for antidisestablishmentarianism.
But the closest I could find was floccinaucinihilipilification.
So I invented the word antidisuncategorizabilizationalismophobiatizinglynessmentarianism.
And then took a vacation.

I think I may need another vacation !

[kladner]

Originally Posted by davar55

I think I may need another vacation !

Doesn't everyone, always?

[Chuck]

Originally Posted by kladner

Doesn't everyone, always?

I am retired and on permanent vacation.

[Xyzzy]

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