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tahanson43206,
I''m back into the NewMars NightOwl Zoom meeting.
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We have started a second session .... I've turned the audio alert on ... anyone is welcome to join the meeting ...
It features RobertDyck talking about the recent Mars Convention. He reported having a conversation with Dr. Zubrin.
Reminder .... find the link at the top of the Zoom Topic.
(th)
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There may be some conflicting requirements on these rocket hopper and truck train presentations.
The long form of each presentation has more charts showing a bit more detail about how things were done. Number of "meat" charts times 3 minutes each is usually enough to present and answer perhaps 1 question per chart. Even so, all the details cannot be included in a half-hour presentation, because the process was very iterative with the rocket hopper. Not so much the truck train.
The orbit analysis interacts with the entry analysis which interacts with the braked landing analysis which interacts with the vehicle weights and dimensions analysis which interacts with the orbit analysis .... See the problem?
The short form, for a 5 minute video, would be just presenting the very few (2 or 3) key charts and not answering any questions. 5 minutes is not the venue to answer questions, although it certainly is a source of questions. That's where the rocket hopper rehearsal went far astray.
As for the "too much math" objection, that's not much of a problem with the truck train, but it is inherent with the rocket hopper, because not just any scenario works. The solution space turned out to be quite restricted, and not in the corner I expected. Such cannot be found without doing a lot of design analysis, which is inherently iterative, and requires semi-automated spreadsheet tools to conduct. It's just not a sequence of unrelated multiplications or sums.
What I seem to have assumed is that people would who view these rocket hopper things would already be nodding-familiar with the first 3 lessons in the orbits course, enough to recognize the use of its orbits spreadsheet. That seems to be a bad assumption.
I am unsure how to make any changes to address these problems.
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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For GW Johnson re #578
Your reviewer is an expert in numbers. He is a professional in accounting and finances. His expertise does not include calculus or related parts of the mathematical universe.
I'd suggest not changing anything until we get more feedback from NSS North Houston.
I think that animation will help a great deal. Human beings do advanced calculus operations every moment of every day, but it all happens inside the brain, far below consciousness. A high school student can deliver a basket ball to a net while moving rapidly in three dimensions, and giving the baskball torque to cause a slight adjustment of the path when it hits the backboard. It is highly likely that most basketball players would be unable to describe this complex real world computation using symbols. You are one of a relatively small number of human beings alive on Earth who ** could ** perform those calculations.
Our goal in these proceedings is to reach young people (and occasionally an older one) who are equipped with whatever brain subsystems are needed to perform symbolic mathematics. Our path to this goal is cleared for us by folks who are NOT so equipped, but who are supportive and willing to make investments of time and energy to help.
(th)
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meeting does not seem to be open by the host yet
GW
GW Johnson
McGregor, Texas
"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew, especially one dead from a bad management decision"
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Hi GW .... the meeting is up ... Brian is in and Keith is trying to connect.
Please click on the link again
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The meeting is under way.
(th)
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The Zoom topic was opened accidentally ... the meeting was on Google Meeting ...
However, this incident is helpful to me, so next time we set up a meeting, I put up a note in the system we are NOT using.
Not everyone gets the word, but the forum software seems to be able to help everyone connect.
Our contact from National Space Society used the telephone, and that works as well, for those with access.
(th)
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NewMars is now using Google Meeting. Meanwhile, the local Linux Group is continuing to use Zoom.
Last night I got a chance to witness an example of collaboration in solving a complex problem. There were four to six participants throughout the two hours of the scheduled session.
The problem to be solved was the absence of a web site from active status. It turned out there were multiple issues to be solved.
The initial change that took the web site offline was the change of the physical connection from traditional cable to fiber. This change caused a change of the IP address assigned to the site by AT&T. Because the web site is running with an unpaid IP address, it can change, and it did change in this case.
For the record, the IP assignment types are static (paid) and dynamic (assigned by Internet Provider on next-available-address basis).
To save the cost of a permanent IP address, the owner of the web site for this discussion is using the dynamic IP address, with the understanding that if it changes, the owner is responsible for adjusting the corresponding value in the web site domain registration record.
However, the next complication was caused by Google having sold it's domain registration service to Square Space, which appears to be a division of GoDaddy. In any case, the owner of the web site could no longer access the Google site to manage the account.
Finally, procedures for setting up and maintaining the Encryption service have changed.
The group interacted with the web site owner using Zoom, with shared screens changing as the focus changed throughout the meeting.
There was a moment when a member who lives in Ontario suggested that we consult ChatGPT3 when a particularly difficult problem arose.
We had succeeded in helping the web site owner to gain access to the account by working with Square Space, and the web site owner updated the IP address to the one assigned by AT&T on the fiber connection. The Square Space system then obliged by showing the web site the owner had set up, so we knew the basic connection was working.
We then tackled configuration of the encryption service .... the web site owner has been using a free certificate service, and when he invoked the service to create a new certificate for secure service (ie, https://), the setup program complained but it helped by creating a log showing the fault. We worked our way through a number of faults but hit one that no one could solve.
The Canadian member then suggested ChatGPT. We used the free version, and since I have a bit of experience working with ChatGPT, I suggested a set of requests that led to discovery that a new (to the web site owner) file is now needed in the folder for the certificate. He used the Linux 'touch' command to create a file in the correct location as suggested by ChatGPT3, and the certification procedure responding that the value in the file name was incorrect. Happily, it provided the needed value in the log file.
At that point the web site owner ran out of trials in a given hour.
We closed the meeting with the expectation the web site owner would have the site back up when he tries again after a wait of an hour or so.
I've seen successful Zoom collaboration before, but this session was near the top for quality of the participation, the difficulty of the problem to be solved, and the success achieved over two hours.
Side note: The participants updated the group on the temperature in their locations... The gent in Toronto gave the lowest readings, well into the minus figures on the Fahrenheit scale. I was content with the 10 degrees above zero that registered locally. RobertDyck is probably seeing readings well into the minus range.
(th)
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Google Meeting room is open. I'm not expecting anyone, so have plenty to do. (th)
I opened the Zoom topic by accident.
We can still use Zoom, if there is someone who prefers it.
For tonight, use Google Meeting.
(th)
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