Space ambiance! this is one topic that really interests me - how spaces create psychological states that are unique and satisfying.
there is a similar set of spaces - liminal spaces (google image search this term to see examples) - these are similar spaces - like corridors which have a unique feel.
A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
81–90 of 122 posts
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Use boring software. Software that releases every few months instead of weeks or even days. Software that is well documented and has an active supportive community.
I've had an experience like this recently in Java. One of the most storied and heinous areas of Java development: so-called "web services." This is the whole SOAP+WSDL hell that did incalculable damage to the Java language and can be credited with the rise of REST as a sane alternative. I had a system I needed to integrate into a workflow engine. I looked at the available interfaces and, noticing that the SOAP API wa…
I joked recently that these days, if you see a XML file in a project it means there is a higher probability that the project is good.
It means someone of those who make it is capable of making pragmatic decisions.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#83Can you even imagine how relaxing it would be to have the same interface to your systems, every day, with all the parts in one physical location and never moving? Learn it once, then nothing changes for years and years, or if it does it's usually adding on, not replacing or re-arranging existing stuff? Man, that would be nice.
One if the aspects I loved about flying more basic planes. You can master the controls, and then you just know that interface forever.
Another reason is that it is discrete, and feedback is obvious. I flip a switch, it goes thonk, and it is in a new physical state. This is where I think modern UX fails the most often. Did I click it? Did it work? Was that a button at all? Is this toggle on or off?
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've had an experience like this recently in Java. One of the most storied and heinous areas of Java development: so-called "web services." This is the whole SOAP+WSDL hell that did incalculable damage to the Java language and can be credited with the rise of REST as a sane alternative. I had a system I needed to integrate into a workflow engine. I looked at the available interfaces and, noticing that the SOAP API wa…
I joked recently that these days, if you see a XML file in a project it means there is a higher probability that the project is good. It means someone of those who make it is capable of making pragmatic decisions.
Agree. With yaml infested cloud native asshatery everywhere, the xml or simple properties file based project look very decent to me.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#85The biggest problem with the Soviet Union was Brezhnev not being able to keep with his economic reforms after 1974. Seeing Russia nowadays it is sometimes hard to believe that once they were the second economy in the world, before being removed from this post by Japan. Had they enacted Chinese style reforms they could have avoided the whole disastrous 90s
They tried. Gorbachev wanted to turn Russia into another Sweden. Bush the Elder convinced the World Bank not to loan to them unless they agreed to impose neoliberal economic policies. Which led to oligarchy. And then Putin.
What is "And then Putin" supposed to mean? Perhaps you mean that Mr. Putin is implementing Gorbachev's goal of "turning Russia into another Sweden", which was blocked by Bush the Elder and the collective west's looting of Russia in the post-Soviet period?
My dad hates Mr. Putin because the television tells him Putin is a war criminal.
Other sources say Mr. Putin is the moderate who keeps the extremists in the Kremlin under control. That Russia fought in Ukraine with 9 fingers tied behind its back until it realized that there was no way to get the West to respect Russia's red line of Ukraine not being admitted into NATO. Someone on twitter said Russia's transition from 'preserve Ukraine's Soviet-era infrastructure' to 'destroy NATO's proxy army' was in September [0]. Russia didn't gave Ukraine's power grid the "shock and awe" treatment until November.
[0] https://imetatronink.substack.com/p/turning-point & various tweets - https://twitter.com/imetatronink
"[Putin] was a Lt. Col doing a mundane job in Dresden, Germany when the wall came down. He came back to St. Petersburg, Unemployed. He drove a taxi for a while. Got a job with Mayor Sochek's office, and anybody who dealt with him... said he was the most honest man he ever dealt with. ... He inherited a nation that had just undergone a decade of devastation, brought on by the west. But did he hate the west? No. He actually started his first years in office, trying to court the west, trying to come up with normalcy in economic relations. ... 2007 speech to the Munich security conference... The reality that the west is anti-Russia." Scott Riter, https://twitter.com/thatdayin1992/status/1583749384486891520 (emphasis added)
"Vladimir Putin is a Russian patriot, a moderate European-leaning leader who rescued Russia from the abyss. in Russia, he is not considered charismatic. He is supported because of Russia's economic and spiritual recovery. The Neocons hate Putin because they hate Russia." - https://twitter.com/DietHeartNews/status/1605275170138214425
Thought this video on Putin was interesting: https://rumble.com/vxm7sv-president-2015-documentary.html
Just curious what you meant.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
They tried. Gorbachev wanted to turn Russia into another Sweden. Bush the Elder convinced the World Bank not to loan to them unless they agreed to impose neoliberal economic policies. Which led to oligarchy. And then Putin.
What is "And then Putin" supposed to mean? Perhaps you mean that Mr. Putin is implementing Gorbachev's goal of "turning Russia into another Sweden", which was blocked by Bush the Elder and the collective west's looting of Russia in the post-Soviet period? My dad hates Mr. Putin because the television tells him Putin is a war criminal. Other sources say Mr. Putin is the moderate who keeps the extremists in the Kremlin…
It's a shame he blew all that up, then. Whatever he might have been before, it doesn't really matter now.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
By law a lot of motorcycle controls are standardized both to ensure sane controls (think suicide clutch) as well as standardization (1 down 4 up). Riding a motorcycle involves all four of your limbs having a dedicated control (left arm clutch; right arm throttle and front break; left leg shifter; right leg rear break). It is so satisfying having your body operate all of these controls without a conscious thought.
That's ridiculous and antiquated. They need to redesign it so that you need to use a touchscreen menu system to operate the brakes and gear changes.
And don't forget unattended OTA firmware updates, security patches (are you really going to ride an insecure motorbike?!) and so on.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#88I've operated in boiler room offices at large plants for almost 40 years, the mimic panel is a very valuable tool. With miles of piping carrying water and steam for various reasons, the panels help keep it all straight in your mind. These panels are in hospitals, chemical plants, data centers, Navy ships and subs and many other places similar to where I work. I can't imagine what it feels like to work in a nuke facil…
I didn't know what a "mimic panel" was. Twenty minutes later, I just emerged from a "mimic panel" image search rabbit warren. Satisfying. Thank you!
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#89Here are some pictures of a General Railway Signal NX system board, for train dispatching.[1] This was the first intelligent user interface. From 1924.
Previous systems had "interlocking", to prevent collisions. Early systems had big levers and mechanical bars and blocks to prevent setting up conflicting routes. Signals had to be set to stop on all ways into a switch before you could throw the switch. Later systems added train detection, and you couldn't physically move the levers if a train was in the way.
But this just prevented errors. It didn't help with the job. NX (for eNtry eXit) was the next step. When a train was approaching an interlocking (a set of switches and tracks under one controller), lights on the board showed train presence. The dispatcher then pushed a button ahead of the train, indicating that they wanted to dispatch the train coming in on that track.
That's when the magic happened. Lights then lit up on all the tracks where it was possible to exit the interlocking. This took into account conflicting routes already set and trains already present. The system routed around conflicting traffic if possible. Only the reachable exits lit up.
Then the dispatcher would push one of the lit exit lights, and the system took over. All the un-selected exit lights went out. The selected route lit up and was locked in. Commands were sent out to the switches along the route to physically move the switches. Lights flashed on the board as the switches moved, and when contacts at the switch had verified that the switch was in the correct position and locked, the flashing stopped. Then, with all switches set and locked, the signals changed to allow the train to proceed.
As the train passed through, the track segments and switches behind it were released and could be used for other traffic. All automatically.
This system was so good there are still working installations, a century later.
Re: A collection of Soviet control rooms (2017)
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's ridiculous and antiquated. They need to redesign it so that you need to use a touchscreen menu system to operate the brakes and gear changes.
And don't forget unattended OTA firmware updates, security patches (are you really going to ride an insecure motorbike?!) and so on.
Exactly, these are all great things that we should be happy to have. Why would you prefer some clunky, old-fashioned mechanical controls on your motorbike instead of a slick, modern touchscreen that sometimes freezes up while it does a forced OTA update, even though you're driving in heavy traffic?