Ask Lemmy

Not all of them, most of ATC in EASA airspace is Linux based and use electronic strips instead of the plastic paper strips.

But the foundation of the ground/ground communication is still AFTN based on x400 network (Europe used to have an X.25 network for its CIDIN communications).

The latest and newest tech for international data exchange is AMHS based on X400, often it is x400 over IP ok, but still a 50 years or so tech.

The main idea behind ATC and aviation tech is reliability and compatibility with countries with less money to upgrade tech.

It's considered a secure method of document transfer over email, despite email being able to be secured and fax can be hacked with like a length of wire and a knife. Fucking irks me.

So does pretty much the whole banking and credit industry. When you get money out of an ATM there's usually some COBOL code involved.

That's not even a government thing. It's a finance/banking thing, as most major banks are still using mainframes and legacy COBOL code for most of their business logic.

Kinda surprised this doesn't have more upvotes considering it seems that it continues to be a massive security vulnerability.

Like those damn nuclear reactors!

A decade ago, I thought phone numbers would soon die out. Instead, the most popular messaging apps use them as identifiers and adoption of those in North America is poor.

Hospitals use pagers because the frequency band they run on is better at penetrating walls. Shorter waves carry more data, but are easily blocked by walls. Pagers don’t need a lot of data, so they use really long waves.

And hospitals are built like bunkers, to avoid the potential need to evacuate patients during an emergency. Things like fire breaks between individual rooms, earthquake protections, being strong enough to stand up during a hurricane, etc… The goal is to be able to shelter in place instead of evacuating, because a mass evacuation of bedridden patients who all need monitoring equipment would be a logistical nightmare.

But this also means hospitals are really good at blocking wireless signals, because the walls are all super thick and sturdy. So they use pagers, which use long waves and can reliably penetrate the bunker-like walls. You don’t want a doctor to miss an emergency call because they were sitting in the basement; Hospitals need a wireless connection that reliably works every time. And pagers just happen to fit that specific niche.

Bidet gang ~~rise up~~ sit down!

I spend a fair bit of time on construction sites, and cameras have one huge issue compared to mirrors: They're one-way.

With a mirror, I can see the driver in the mirror. I can make eyecontact and confirm that they've seen me. With a camera, I have no idea if they've seen me. Maybe they can see more, but if they happen not to be looking, I have no way to tell.

And our stupid road regulations don't allow for both.

You better take a long look in the mirror before you make a controversial statement like that.

How did it go again?

If it is Boeing, I ain't going!

For one, polyester fabric and clothes are just terrible

Two, technically you can 3d print a chainmail shirt, but it'd suck to wear normally