4 ms·

I don't know much about nuclear reactors. To my untrained ear, what Cringely says sounds fairly reasonable. But then, having read a bunch of articles of his lin

by lambda 16y ago

I don't know much about nuclear reactors. To my untrained ear, what Cringely says sounds fairly reasonable. But then, having read a bunch of articles of his linked in the past on computer hardware and software, which I do know something about, I find that what he writes usually falls into one of two categories: (1) stuff that's obvious to anyone who knows what they're talking about and are paying any attention at all, and (2) crack-pot half-baked ideas that are laughable and completely wrong. He's also lied about having a PhD. I wouldn't consider him a very trustworthy source. If he's saying something reasonable, someone else more credible has probably already said it.

nakkiel 16y ago
Being anonymous just got sweeter.
gonzo 16y ago
he lied a number of years ago about what he'd supposedly done with wifi, a couple high-gain antennas and a corner reflector.
jordanb 16y ago
He has an article in which he gives an explanation of what happened at TMI in his own words. Being a nerd for this stuff and having read the report of the president's commission (which he claims to have been on) I was... shocked to say the least. Its hard to imagine he was actually on the same committee as the people who wrote the report. His explanation had elements that mirrored the report. For instance, there was a particular warning light discussed in both. But what function the light served in the plant, its behavior during the crisis, the operators' response to it, or its overall role in the incident, on these Crigley was dead wrong. I suspect he got assigned to the president's commission for political reasons, or because he was a 'public media personality,' but that he actually contributed nothing. He remembers an indicator light because he sat there dumbfounded in the meeting where the smart people on the committee discussed it. He then incorporated that into his incredibly child-like and incorrect mental model of what happened. Suffice to say, regardless of his experience on the TMI president's commission, his understanding of nuclear power is even more comically incorrect than his understanding of computers.
kragen 16y ago
Mark Stephens (the Bob Cringely we're talking about here) graduated from college in 1975 with a bachelor's in physics. The Three Mile Island report was sent to the president in 1979: http://www.pddoc.com/tmi2/kemeny/transmittal_letter.htm http://www.pddoc.com/tmi2/kemeny/transmittal_letter.htm It's not inconceivable that he was hired to dig up some facts.

by lambda 16y ago

nakkiel 16y ago

Being anonymous just got sweeter.

gonzo 16y ago

he lied a number of years ago about what he'd supposedly done with wifi, a couple high-gain antennas and a corner reflector.

jordanb 16y ago

He has an article in which he gives an explanation of what happened at TMI in his own words. Being a nerd for this stuff and having read the report of the president's commission (which he claims to have been on) I was... shocked to say the least. Its hard to imagine he was actually on the same committee as the people who wrote the report. His explanation had elements that mirrored the report. For instance, there was a particular warning light discussed in both. But what function the light served in the plant, its behavior during the crisis, the operators' response to it, or its overall role in the incident, on these Crigley was dead wrong. I suspect he got assigned to the president's commission for political reasons, or because he was a 'public media personality,' but that he actually contributed nothing. He remembers an indicator light because he sat there dumbfounded in the meeting where the smart people on the committee discussed it. He then incorporated that into his incredibly child-like and incorrect mental model of what happened. Suffice to say, regardless of his experience on the TMI president's commission, his understanding of nuclear power is even more comically incorrect than his understanding of computers.

kragen 16y ago

Mark Stephens (the Bob Cringely we're talking about here) graduated from college in 1975 with a bachelor's in physics. The Three Mile Island report was sent to the president in 1979: http://www.pddoc.com/tmi2/kemeny/transmittal_letter.htm http://www.pddoc.com/tmi2/kemeny/transmittal_letter.htm It's not inconceivable that he was hired to dig up some facts.