This is great. I love war stories.
Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
31–40 of 47 posts
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what its worth I just read all three and really dug them! It might help to use a more regular blog format so people can post comments?
When I get back from my meeting I'll put links on them back to here - thanks for the idea. I should've thought of that.
Links from articles back to comments on HN now added.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#33You need to round up a voting posse to help push your stories up onto the front page. Doesn't take much, just 1-2 HN users who like your stuff and will toss you a few votes when something goes up. Edit: Of course they need to be people who really like your stuff. Not suggesting he game HN, just that he let fans know when there's a post they can check out.
It would be a very sad thing if that's what it took to get stories to the front page. Unfortunately it seems that quite a few people have adopted your 'tactic', I always find it a little suspicious when links have been posted literally minutes ago and already have 3-5 upvotes without any comments, especially if they then scroll off the new page without receiving further upvotes. My guess is that those are simply sock…
I'll often browse the new page and upvote stories without leaving comment. My hope is that someone with more knowledge than me can take a look and voice some opinions.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#34This is really just the black swan problem. You can't predict unpredictable problems. The only real solution is to stay agile.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#35This is really just the black swan problem. You can't predict unpredictable problems. The only real solution is to stay agile.
Agile really, really doesn't work with systems like torpedos. Or with hardware in general. Or with many types of security systems.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#36Interesting (and depressing) story. On one of your posts you say: "Sometimes because of the nature of my work I get to hear stories from a greybeard with a past that is, well, "interesting." And again, because of the nature of my work, or more accurately, because of the nature of their work, the stories can't be verified." What's the nature of your work?
I'm in the commercial world producing kit (hardware and software) to assist with the analysis of real-time data used in quasi-governmental organisations. That means I work regularly with military and ex-military personnel, and they talk to me off the record.
You can probably track me down if you like, but I generally try not to make the connection between my on-line persona and real-life work obvious. Feel free to email me if you'd like to know more.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#37This will be the last of these stories for a while. The previous two stories pretty much sank without trace, so I thought I'd finish and submit this one, then stop writing them up and re-think the effort. In case you're interested: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=996250 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=994358
On behalf of the internet I hereby command you to continue to publish these.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#38Interesting (and depressing) story. On one of your posts you say: "Sometimes because of the nature of my work I get to hear stories from a greybeard with a past that is, well, "interesting." And again, because of the nature of my work, or more accurately, because of the nature of their work, the stories can't be verified." What's the nature of your work?
I'm in the commercial world producing kit (hardware and software) to assist with the analysis of real-time data used in quasi-governmental organisations. That means I work regularly with military and ex-military personnel, and they talk to me off the record. You can probably track me down if you like, but I generally try not to make the connection between my on-line persona and real-life work obvious. Feel free to em…
I think that separation is a healthy policy; it was more just a mild curiosity.
I really enjoyed your three grey beard stories and I'd love to read more if you have them.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#39This is really just the black swan problem. You can't predict unpredictable problems. The only real solution is to stay agile.
Agile really, really doesn't work with systems like torpedos. Or with hardware in general. Or with many types of security systems.
Precisely. I was trained as a mechanical engineer, and IMHO software guys really need to appreciate just how much freedom they have in terms of engineering. I'm not going to go on a rant about lazy engineering and patches and whatnot: such is the nature of our craft.
Just keep in mind that engineers in other industries do not have many of the same freedoms we do. They don't get patches, do-overs, and "oops our bad" opportunities.
Re: Greybeard Stories: The Jamming Gyro
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know it's a joke, but the truth is that this is exactly the kind of bug that unit tests won't find. The unit tests would have simulated a bunch of gyro settings, with and without a single gyro failure (but not two gyro failures, as that was an accepted design limitation). Running the gyros with the torpedo still on the boat, however, would not have been tested because the designers didn't think of it. If they had t…
Same problem here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=994358 It's the unknown and unanticipated failure modes that cause the worst problems. Predicted failure modes at least have code to deal with them, even if it's buggy. Unit tests reduce the bugs, but non-existant code for unanticipated failures, while it doesn't have bugs, doesn't solve the problem.
This is why it's a really good idea to have the unit tests written by someone who didn't write the code being tested.