Not back II

In the context of the new plane program, flightblogger notes a couple of recent developments that were mentioned in public announcements this week. For each of the below, the comments are well worth a browse.

• Rework (April 27, 2011) -- evidently, all of the planes that have been manufactured, to date, need some changes dealing with handling lightening. One estimate said weeks of work per each. Too, there will be schedule issues, but does the current plan allow for things taking longer, in some cases, than expected? One comment mentions that relaxing along all decisional axes is almost guaranteed to raise problems. Similar statements (Rush job) here, earlier.
• Break even (April 28, 2011) -- as the plane moves toward release, discussions will turn from technical issues to the economic ones. How one handles rework (prior Bullet) very much has to do with cost as well as with knowledge; confounding issues can arise along the whole development timeline, as we have seen. From a continual improvement viewpoint, one hopes that lessons learned carry forward.

It would be interesting to see Boeing lead in efforts to understand, for the betterment of all, when human and computational knowledge are not equivalent. And, that would deal with several subjects (things in themselves, model limits, Turing space, and more).

---

Again, there a parallels between plane engineering and the thing called financial engineering sufficient to allow some interesting discussion. This can continue (even while being 'not back').

Remarks:

07/15/2013 -- A fire late last week bring an opportunity to see what goes into determining whether to do composite repair or to undergo a section replacement.

04/07/2012 -- Flightblogger ends, as least, Jon's watch. Some issues raised five years ago are still apropos. The context may have changed a little, yet, perhaps now is time to re-address the themes which are beyond aviation, only one of a whole bunch of domains. 

06/06/2011 -- Still gone.

Modified: 07/15/2013

4th January

Just as we looked at the December entries, across four years, and picked a few to spotlight, we can do that off and on this year. However, since we're still in January, we'll not have one for 2011.

We'll start with 2008 and come forward.

• 2008 (9 posts) -- Risk versus effort -- as mentioned in the comments about 'wealth' handling under the capitalistic regime, some like to gamble away their dinner. Now, mind you, such is not allowing some bully to take your lunch money (which, in reality, is how we can characterize a whole lot of what goes down now). So, the notion is that oops follow, but not by necessity, from 'oops and loops. That is, learning to survive is one thing that relates to maturity. Gaming and gambling are not what one would expect of wise, adult minds. Yet, that is what we hear all the time: oh, the spoils go to those who take the risk. Pure crap!! Well, three years later, this theme continues to beg attention
• 2009 (7 posts) -- Why finance? -- the question remains on the table. The whole realm is about utility. We know about public goods and management thereof. Except, there is malfeasance in that realm, to boot. Yet, except for oil (yes, to whom belongs that which long, natural processes deposited?), who in utilities have huge pockets. And, it's not trivial. Just look at the ieee.org site's support of discussions about grids, generators, and other seemingly mundane subjects. The best and brightest could find many problems with which to wrestle so as to remove their minds from manipulating things so that the rest of us, and our progeny, are enslaved (oh yes, 2008 bullet applies here, to boot).
• 2010 (2 posts) -- Traps and oops -- albeit that we take exception to the focus of the ridicule, there is a nice little message in the book. And, the post did allow me to put forth the 'prince' trap (could have said "diaper'd" which is the syndrome of acting such that others have to clean up your crap (prior bullet, 2008 -- yes, CEOs, who preen, posture, etc.)). All of the operational issues discussed in this blog are still apropos, however a little more order will come about this year. As a reminder, see Fedaerated for issues related to the dismal'd.

Remarks:

02/26/2011 -- Added link to each month's archive.

02/08/2011 -- A topic of a year ago: there was a report today concerning a study on the SUA problem that has been going on quietly. More news will be coming later when the report is technically analyzed.

01/27/2011 -- The chimera shines.

Modified: 02/26/2011

4th December

We've been at it enough to have four last posts for a year. It might be interesting to look at these with some commentary, starting with 2007.

• 2007 (4 posts) -- Tranche or not -- Back then, there were rumblings of consequences about to rain down on a bunch of idiots. But, we, the innocent, were at risk, too. Gosh, of late, there have been articles dealing with the time of Alan when he allowed, even encouraged, off-book handling of what was trash (oops, tranche). Where is it a given that crap from the best and brightest does not stink?
• 2008 (8 posts) -- Last post for 2008 -- Yes, using 'engineering' in the context of 'finance' stinks to high heaven. That is, the only way that this would make sense is if we had a the proper mentality to insist on sand-box testing (as in, isolated proof by demonstration). We'll continue to harp on that.
• 2009 (2 posts) -- Life as simulation -- We have all seen the emergence of 'bots' and the requisite increase in control thinking. Yet, and to wit, underlying issues lurk, especially with artifact-driven ontologies.
• 2010 (5 posts) -- We're gone -- Engineers really do try hard; actually, most of their disciplines have considered ethics. After all, the professional engineering stamp means something. Guess what? Economists, and the financial minds, have not!!! That, folks, needs attention. So, we'll just marvel at 'real' engineering feats and begin to harp more at the best and brightest who are more hubris-tic than real-istic. Yeah!!!

---

Oops happen! Therefore, we are.

Remarks:

02/26/2011 -- Added links to each month's archive.

02/08/2011 -- A topic of a year ago: there was a report today concerning a study on the SUA problem that has been going on quietly. More news will be coming later when the report is technically analyzed.

01/27/2011 -- The chimera shines.

01/23/2011 -- Added the number of posts for the month for the year.

01/19/2011 -- We have 4th January, to boot.

Modified: 02/26/2011

Last post for 2008

Another year has passed with changes happening (probably more idiotic than not) far beyond what we thought last December.

In terms of finance, many knew that things were going downward. Yet, as failures occurred (Bear Stearns, et al), some kept thinking that we will go up from here. All the way to September, when we finally knew that the Wall Street (including the golden boys) of the casino capitalism, and of the huge payouts to their supposedly best and brightest, was no more. The bill that the taxpayer will end up with is still unknown (will it ever be figured?); the truth is that no claw-back has attempted to get back the 100s of millions paid out over the years to these smarties.

In terms of engineering, at the same time a year ago, we were waiting for 1st quarter reports and schedule changes to determine EIS for the 787. That timeframe changed a few times to the currently held view of 2010 as an appropriate (looking-forward) guess.

So, we had a couple of questions in works about finance before the side-bar of who might be to blame for the mess. And, we were going to ask some about engineering. As, there are parallels that are really strong (highly correlative relationship).

The thing about engineering is how to keep 'Murphy' away and, especially, to avoid the 'perfect storm' situation. Well, one thing might be to avoid hubris which ought to be easier for engineering than for finance. The former needs to test in the real world using certifiable measures; the latter mainly games and then privatizes profit and socializes loss as the means to get back into balance.

So, the questions on the engineering side would include things like determining earned value, how to know a contractor's status, what indicators would 'measure' leverage in outsourcing, when is computer modeling pushed too far (cannot proxy nature, except within limits), and much more. The seeds will be updated with some of these and, perhaps, will be rewritten in another format.

Remarks:

08/01/2013 -- Ben cannot unwind or taper down; he has too many Doves. We'll have to get back to the king thing (yes, the divine rights of the CEO, new royalty, in other words) and dampening of these types by a new outlook (Magna-Carta'ísh).

12/29/2012 -- Summary - 2012.

01/01/2011 -- We have four last posts of December under our belt.

05/18/2009 -- Testing in flight is within sight.

01/22/2009 -- Now a new day and way to consider these matters.

Modified: 08/01/2013