![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Almost halfway through...
Jun. 20th, 2002 07:28 pmIt's amazing how nothing outside of work or what I do in the hour or two after I get home seems to filter through my current state of consciousness the way it used to. Of course, hitting a couple of news sites while waiting for something to happen in the current sim (or for someone to want to talk to someone else through an interpreter) helps make up for it.
There's the Missionary Ridge fire, of course, which has grown to 50,000 acres (the much-publicized Hayman blaze has consumed 136,000 acres to date). The latest maps I've seen place the eastern edge of the fire well to the west of Pagosa.
There was also news of a space rock the size of a football field that whizzed by the earth and missed hitting us by 75,000 miles, which is a mere hair's breadth in cosmic terms. It's said that an impact with such an object would cause an explosion similar to the one that occurred over Tunguska, Siberia almost 100 years ago. I find it interesting to note that a government that insists, for example, that the nuclear industry cannot spend enough money to address scenarios that are at least as remote seems completely oblivious to the idea that a Tunguska-like strike would do Very Bad Things to the economy, no matter where it struck (except, perhaps, over some really desolate area of the Pacific).
Finally, Russian news sites trumpeted rather loudly the failure of F-16s to scramble and address the incursion of a Cessna into the restricted area around the White House.
In work-related news, today was a big day for Computer-Based Training. I took the annually mandated CBTs for IT Security (passed it) and Hazardous Communication & Emergency Response (passed it). Right now, I'm almost halfway through what's known as a "replanning sim," which is where the simulated crew is asleep and everyone is busy changing the schedule for the simulated tomorrow, during which an EVA is supposed to take place. I seem to recall that the sim supervisor indicated there was a good likelihood of going home early if all the replanning was completed before deadline. Talk about incentive!
Tomorrow, I replace Leonid S. at A/G, and I'll be working with Olga F. starting at 8:00 am. That won't leave much time to do anything after work tonight, except go to sleep.
Cheers...
There's the Missionary Ridge fire, of course, which has grown to 50,000 acres (the much-publicized Hayman blaze has consumed 136,000 acres to date). The latest maps I've seen place the eastern edge of the fire well to the west of Pagosa.
There was also news of a space rock the size of a football field that whizzed by the earth and missed hitting us by 75,000 miles, which is a mere hair's breadth in cosmic terms. It's said that an impact with such an object would cause an explosion similar to the one that occurred over Tunguska, Siberia almost 100 years ago. I find it interesting to note that a government that insists, for example, that the nuclear industry cannot spend enough money to address scenarios that are at least as remote seems completely oblivious to the idea that a Tunguska-like strike would do Very Bad Things to the economy, no matter where it struck (except, perhaps, over some really desolate area of the Pacific).
Finally, Russian news sites trumpeted rather loudly the failure of F-16s to scramble and address the incursion of a Cessna into the restricted area around the White House.
In work-related news, today was a big day for Computer-Based Training. I took the annually mandated CBTs for IT Security (passed it) and Hazardous Communication & Emergency Response (passed it). Right now, I'm almost halfway through what's known as a "replanning sim," which is where the simulated crew is asleep and everyone is busy changing the schedule for the simulated tomorrow, during which an EVA is supposed to take place. I seem to recall that the sim supervisor indicated there was a good likelihood of going home early if all the replanning was completed before deadline. Talk about incentive!
Tomorrow, I replace Leonid S. at A/G, and I'll be working with Olga F. starting at 8:00 am. That won't leave much time to do anything after work tonight, except go to sleep.
Cheers...
