HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: "Joseph D. Mazza" <mazz+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: AFROTC question
Organization: NCR Corporation - Law Department
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 16:36:20 GMT


From "Joseph D. Mazza" <mazz+@andrew.cmu.edu>

Your chances of getting flight training after AFROTC are slim,
especially if your degree is non-technical.  The Air Force sees the Air
Force Academy as its prime source of pilots.  But, even as we speak, the
military drawdown has limited flight training opportunities there as
well.  Everything is getting more competitive.

Talk to your Professor of Aerospace Science.  He or she will have the
latest information for you.  If the PAS says your chances are low, then
you might consider switching to Naval ROTC if you're not yet formally
committed to the Air Force.  While selection for flight school is
competitive even in NROTC, you will have, ironically, a much higher
probability of getting your wings with the Navy than the Air Force.  (Of
course, all this is assuming you meet the physical requirements: 20/20
vision, etc.)

As to your being a woman, I was the Commanding Officer of VXE-6, the
Navy's squadron that flys ski-equipped LC-130's and UH-1N's in
Antarctica.  Many of my best pilots down there were women, and
opportunities for woman pilots are expanding in the Navy every day.

There is an NROTC unit at MIT.  You might want to stop by there to see
what your options are.  But I'd start with your PAS.

Good luck!  

                                       Captain Joseph D. Mazza, USN
                                       Commanding Officer, NROTC Unit
                                       and Professor of Naval Science
                                       Carnegie Mellon University

Newsgroups: sci.military
From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: F-16 VTOL
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Date: Mon, 28 Sep 1992 16:43:05 GMT


From henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer)

>From GLEN SEGELL <UDRJ004@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK>
>Rumour has it that a VTOL variant of the F-16 is being considered/developed,
>is this accurate and at what stage is it ?

I believe the F-16 is the usual starting point for modern let's-design-a-
VTOL-supersonic-fighter projects, at least the ones with USAF funding. :-)
As far as I know, none of this has gone beyond small-scale studies.  There
certainly isn't any development effort underway.  The official USAF view
is that it's hard to destroy runways completely, so STOL is good enough
and there is no official requirement for VTOL.

>Are the US Marines planning to further develop their Harrier VTOL, or
>replace them and if so what with ?

They're interested in fitting them with radar, but apart from that and
some general minor upgrades, I don't think anything is being seriously
pursued right now.
-- 
There is nothing wrong with making      | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
mistakes, but... make *new* ones. -D.Sim|  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry
From: dpe@inel.gov (Don Palmrose)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Anti-Satellite Weapons
Date: 1 Oct 92 12:19:35 GMT
Organization: INEL EG&G Idaho


From dpe@inel.gov (Don Palmrose)

In article <BvE5Lx.2pv@lawday.DaytonOH.NCR.COM>, bphdarcy@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Sean J. Roc D'Arcy) writes:

> 
> Actually, the concept of anti-satellite weapons has been around a while.
> Does anyone know if any where ever developed and furthermore ever deployed?
> I don't know if the cost would be worth it, but the destruction of some
> of the satellites used by Communication and Positioning systems, not to 
> mention weather and intelligence gathering, might be quite desirable in a 
> large conflict.
> 
> SJRD
> 
> 
> 

Both the US and the former Soviet Union had performed actual test of anti-
satellite system. 

The Soviet system was a payload placed in low earth orbit and maneuvered to a 
certain distance from the target satellite.  A charge would then be set off 
sending a pattern of shot at the target destroying it.  If you haven't seen 
the parallel, it basically was a "space shotgun".  If I remember correctly 
the system was tested in the early to mid 1980's.

The US system was different.  It involved a rocket strapped to the bottom of
a F-15.  The pilot would deliver the weapon to a pre-determined spot and time
where the enemy satellite was going over.  The missile would be launched and
directed to the oncoming satellite for a (I believe) direct skin-to-skin 
contact or near enough to set off a proximity fuse sending metal fragments
into the satellite to destroy it.  Basically, a large AAW missile for low
earth orbit.  Clancy's second book, _Red Storm Rising_, describes how it would
be used in greater detail than what I just wrote.

As far as their current operational status, I don't think either are useable
due to the recent arm-control treaties.  Its not a good thing to monitor the
treaties from space if the other side keeps destroying your survelliance
satellites ;-)   Thus, I think each side agreed to ban their use.  If I am
mistaken, please let me know the real details.

Don Palmrose
"I'd rather not serve on a ship designed to sink...."




========== long legal disclaimer follows, press n to skip ===========

Neither the United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering
Laboratory or any of their employees, makes any warranty, whatsoever,
implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility regarding any
information, disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe
privately owned rights.  No specific reference constitutes or implies
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United States Government or the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory,
and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.
Newsgroups: sci.military
From: yarvin@CS.YALE.EDU (Norman Yarvin)
Subject: Re: How good is the Mig29 vs F16/F18 ?
Organization: Yale Computer Science Department
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 12:24:41 GMT


From yarvin@CS.YALE.EDU (Norman Yarvin)

fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary) writes:
>The question is, does the American technological edge amount to more
>than ten years of research and development? Apparently it doesn't.

It is not only research and development; the Soviets had time to find out
almost every detail of the aircraft they were trying to match in performance.
The GRU is generally not satisfied with stealing Western technology once,
but prefers to steal it several times and cross-check the results.

--
Norman Yarvin						yarvin@cs.yale.edu

Newsgroups: sci.military
From: trooker%xobu@relay.nswc.navy.mil (T. Rooker)
Subject: Re: Anti-Patriot media is at it again
Organization: NCR Corporation - Law Department
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 12:58:51 GMT


From trooker%xobu@relay.nswc.navy.mil (T. Rooker)

In this case you come across as much more disreputable than the journalists 
you flame.  You base your attack on a short commercial, which by definition
is going to be somewhat misleading to pique interest in the show.  If you
had seen it, and you probably have a chance since they tend to rerun the
Investigative Reports episodes to death, you would not be making the comments
you did.

For the record I too am very sceptical about the media and their accuracy.  
In this case they did a good job.  Unlike many current news stories about
the Patriot, IR actually gave Patriot credit for more than one confirmed 
kill.  The balance of the story explained some of the technology behind
Patriot (very limited), and the problems in kill assessment (very detailed).
Not only did Patriot come acros better than most other stories I have seen,
but you could actually understand why it was basically impossible to ever 
know.  There was a particularly good segment about using slow speed TV video
to make determinations about high speed events.  On whole the presentation
was balanced with both sides presented.  It was not unadulterated praise
for Patriot so it might be considered Patriot-bashing.  But then the missile
does have some problems and it is important to get to the facts rather than
hiding behind some DoD imposed shield of secrecy.
 

Newsgroups: sci.military
From: rmz@ifi.uio.no (Bj|rn Remseth)
Subject: French nuclear testing in the Sahara
Organization: Institute of Informatics, University of Oslo
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 16:46:47 GMT


From rmz@ifi.uio.no (Bj|rn Remseth)



Someone I know showed me a stone today.  It was  sandstone on one side
and  glass  on the other.   It was picked up at  a french nuclear test
site in Sahara, and he used it as a paperweight in his office.


I have two questions:

1) Does anyone have a history of French nuclear testing in the Sahara?

2) Was it a wise thing to use this stone as a paperweight?
--
                                                    (Rmz)

Bj\o rn Remseth   !Institutt for Informatikk    !Net:      rmz@ifi.uio.no
Phone: +472 453466!Universitetet i Oslo, Norway !NeXTmail: rmz@neste.ifi.uio.no
From: rda732m@nella13.cc.monash.edu.au (J.P. Baker)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: APPS: Virtual Reality games in Australia?
Date: 2 Oct 92 02:41:37 GMT
Organization: Monash University
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



In article <1992Sep29.063950.8428@u.washington.edu>
alan@sorokin.anu.edu.au (Alan To) writes:

>Does anyone know of any places in Australia (Sydney, Canberra or
>Melbourne really) where you can play games of virtual reality with
>eyephones etc.
>
>I have seen one mentioned on the news and on the program 'Beyond 2000'
>some time ago that was in Sydney, but they never mentioned exactly
>where it was.

At the new south gate complex near the arts centre in Melbourne there
is a shop set up with two W-industries VR units. $5 for 3 minutes.


+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  John Baker (Computing Digital Technology)                      |
|  Australia.Melbourne.Monash.Caulfield                           |
|  EMAIL : rda732m@monu6.cc.monash.edu.au                         |
|          rda732m@nella1.cc.monash.edu.au                        |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
|  Q: Why did the Cybernaut cross the road?                       |
|  A: Cause he was jacked into the chicken!                       |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
From: kj@Solbourne.COM (Ken Sullivan)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH REQUEST: I need ftp site for REND386 v4.0
Date: 2 Oct 92 19:08:33 GMT
Organization: Solbourne Computer, Inc.
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



I've fallen and can't get up :-(

Could some kind soul email me the ftp-site address where I can get
REND386 v4.0

Pleeeze

KJ Sullivan                    +               .   .   .   .   .   .   .
Solbourne Computer Support     +            :    :    :    :    :    :    :
kj@solbourne.com  800-447-2861 +         3     3     3     3     3     3     3
Cross-eyed Stereo Signature    +      D      D      D      D      D      D      
D
From: mmailand@gumbo.age.lsu.edu (Mike Mailander)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH: Goggle Resolution
Date: 29 Sep 92 23:45:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Oct1.081050.7504
Organization: Biological & Agricultural Engineering - LSU
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



In article <1992Sep29.060140.7892@u.washington.edu>,
d3g450@tnp_op.pnl.gov writes:

|>    The model I wore was a system by Virtual Research and had a
|> resolution of 360 x 240 (using a NTSC signal). I'm not sure this is
|> the best that's available, or even if there are systems with better
|> resolution...any clues are welcome...

Clue 1.  Yes, there are systems with better resolution available.  How
willing are you to wear (high voltage) CRTs beside your head?

Clue 2.  Semi-head mounted systems are also around with high
resolution CRT's (color or b&w).

Clue 3.  There are many folks diligently working on alternatives (ie
fiber bundle) that I know nothing definite about.

Basically this is still a major problem for the future development of
VR.  Let's hope your message stimulates another look at this problem
by this group.

MPM
From: dstampe@psych.toronto.edu (Dave Stampe)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH: VR tracking systems
Date: 26 Sep 92 13:39:43 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep28.075708.13509
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



magick@iastate.edu (Magick Man) writes:

>I've been toying with ideas of speeding up response times in VR. I've heard
>some mention of laser usage, but I was wondering how plausible this was. I'm
>a programmer, myself, without much knowledge of hardware, but my thought was
>that if you set up a laser grid around a user, using a low-power laser and
>fiber optic strands to use as a tracking device, wouldn't this speed up the
>user input process by tenfold? I was thinking the way you could track is have
>the lasers pointed at pickups, and use a boolean to track whether or not laser
>is being recieved there to track movement. How does this sound?

You'd need too many lasers to get the 1mm or better resolution you'd
need, and multiple receivers in order to get angle.  Now if you
scanned the lasers, that'd take too long to achieve the desired
resolution.  Solution: scan the room with PLANES of light from several
sources at crossed directions.  You'd use two pickups in each
receiver, with the "hit" time when the outputs were identical (so a
fuzzy plane beam would be OK.  Lasers probably wouldn't do, as their
output is too low when spread into a plane.  Probably the IR
equivalent of a slit lamp with a mirror or something.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| My life is Hardware,                    |         Dave Stampe          | 
| my destiny is Software,                 | dstampe@psych.toronto.edu    |
| my CPU is Wetware...                    | dstampe@sunee.uwaterloo.ca   | 
| Am I a techno-psychologist, or just an engineer dabbling in psychology?|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu (Human Int. Technology Lab)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re:  TECH: Single Screen HMD.
Date: 26 Sep 92 14:42:35 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep28.080759.14073
Organization: University of Washington



For completeness, Haitex makes 3d shutter glasses (XSpecs) for the
Amiga, and supplies quite a nice collection of demo stuff with them,
including a game which is a real kick in 3d.  There is also a PD
programming library which makes doing things with the xspecs a snap.
I am a part of the Cyberterm programming team, and will be building to
the XSpecs.

bob
--
RW Salnick, Spokane,WA  |  Home: salnick@dejavu.spk.wa.us
  Amiga 1000, WB 1.3    |  Work: mfgsys!salnick@kaiser.spk.wa.us
      WA9BVE            |
From: alan@sorokin.anu.edu.au (Alan To)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: APPS: Virtual Reality games in Australia?
Date: 29 Sep 92 06:28:53 GMT
Organization: Computer Services Centre, Australian National University
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



Does anyone know of any places in Australia (Sydney, Canberra or
Melbourne really) where you can play games of virtual reality with
eyephones etc.

I have seen one mentioned on the news and on the program 'Beyond 2000'
some time ago that was in Sydney, but they never mentioned exactly
where it was.

alan@sorokin.anu.edu.au
From: c-crm@math.utah.edu (Richard M. Coffey)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH: VR tracking systems
Date: 26 Sep 92 08:06:22 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



        In response to Magick Man

I think the only problem with your tracking system is that it's not
portable.  A laser grid would be fine (but expensive) but you couldn't
take it with you.

(here's one for you Nintendo freaks out there!)  I wonder if you could
use that mat that nintendo makes to do very rough foot tracking!
Worth a try.  What about some kind of floor that works like a hundred
track balls and has little servos to give you a little force feedback
so you don't fall on your ass.  Kinda like walking on hundreds of
marbles that won't let you fall down!  Worth an attempt.

OK.  more of the same.

Maybe we should discover a new way of movement in virtual worlds, thus
eliminating the need for costly trackers!

it's 2:00 AM, time for bed
-the doorman-
From: edd974y@nella5.cc.monash.edu.au (N.P. Green)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: How to Doc for REND386?
Date: 30 Sep 92 00:17:23 GMT
Organization: Monash University, Melb., Australia.
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



Does there exist (or can someone write one) an introdution to REND386,
ie: general structure of code, how-to's, simple programs etc...

Thanks, Nathan Green.

edd974y@nellads.cc.monash.edu.au
From: chadwell@utkvx3.utk.edu (Chadwell, Leonard)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: Re: TECH: Single Screen HMD.
Date: 28 Sep 92 21:09:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep29.055142.7205
Organization: University of Tennessee Computing Center
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



In article <1992Sep23.231721.10729@u.washington.edu>,
edd974y@nella16.cc.monash.edu.au (N.P. Green) writes...

>I have been thinking about constructing a HMD based on a single LCD
>screen .  From the reading I have done, It seems that a stereo view
>from two screens is not really necessary to achieve the illusion of
>depth.  If you include all of the standard depth cues (such as closer
>objects appearing bigger, obects moving at speeds relative to distance
>etc...) you should be able to still get a good feeling of depth. 
>Anyone with any comments?
>Anyone with info on hooking up an LCD screen to a VGA card?
>        
        Well, the dual screen approach does provide a parallax of
vision, which allows for true depth.

        Citizen has a LCD color monitor for video previews (quite
small, and costs about $120) which takes NTSC input.  Two of them with
appropriate lenses for focusing would make an excellent HMD.  But
you'll need a good VGA to NTSC converter for each (a genlock for IBM)
or a VGA card with NTSC output.

CHADWELL@UTKVX
From: glens@natinst.com (Glen Sescila)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: REND386 and Sega Glasses?
Date: 26 Sep 92 15:18:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep28.080305.13765
Organization: National Instruments, Austin, TX
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



        I am having some trouble getting REND386 (demo4.exe) to
control the glasses.  Both lenses appear to be clear the whole time.
I know my set-up works with SEGAVGA.EXE (the stereo gif viewer) so
it's not my circuit.  Has anybody gotten REND386 to control your
glasses?

Thanks for your help.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Now You're Playing With Power Without The Price!"  Glen Sescila   |||
                                                                  / | \
My opinions do not necessarily reflect those of my employer and probably are
exact opposites.        InterNet: glens@natinst.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: barchasd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu (David Barchas)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: Best computer and software for VR (low-end)?
Date: 26 Sep 92 22:32:23 GMT
Organization: Purdue University Computing Center
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



I have a question which may have been answered before.  If so I
apologize for the waste of bandwidth.

I am an Amiga owner and i have a pair of Haitex x-specs and a
powerglove I have been reading a lot about IBM adaptions for the
powerglove and sega glasses.

This put a question in my mind.  Am I on the wrong side of the
computer fence?  At all of the anon ftp sites I have looked through
none have too much source or faq's for the amiga end of VR
exploration.  This again made me think.

What is the "best" computer system to have for VR? (barring SGI's and
other outrageously priced systems)

It would seem to me that amiga's are more equiped for VR related work,
at least from the graphics standpoint(especially the 68040's).

I want to start doing some serious research, but I don't want to start
doing it in the wrong direction.

What is the best computer to have, and also what is the best hardware
and software (with in reasonable price ranges) to have for VR
"tinkering"?

Again, apologies if this was answered before.

barchasd@mentor.cc.purdue.edu
From: dstampe@psych.toronto.edu (Dave Stampe)
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
Subject: TECH: REND386 Release 4
Date: 26 Sep 92 01:52:55 GMT
Article-I.D.: u.1992Sep28.075421.13286
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu



Good news-- the Release 4 of REND386 is ALMOST ready.  We had a lot of
problems with the initial demo releases and added a lot of features
so it took longer than expected.  But by next week (I hope!) the source
(all of it) and the demo will be up for FTP.

REND386 seems to be evolving in two directions: a package for full VR,
and a toolbox of VR routines.  The new "package" supports loadable pointer, 
head tracker, and video drivers, so it's getting pretty complex.

I hope to put together a LONG blurb on the new improved REND386 in the 
next few days so everyone can get (re)acquainted with it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| My life is Hardware,                    |         Dave Stampe          | 
| my destiny is Software,                 | dstampe@psych.toronto.edu    |
| my CPU is Wetware...                    | dstampe@sunee.uwaterloo.ca   | 
| Am I a techno-psychologist, or just an engineer dabbling in psychology?|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: martink@NeoSoft.com (Martin Koistinen)
Subject: WHO: Looking for username 'Jet'
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900
Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1992 05:50:52 GMT



I am looking for a user that used to be found at the email address:

                jet@karazm.math.uh.edu
 
I think He used to be the executer of
Glove-List-Request@karazm.math.uh.edu
 
I also understand he could be at/near NASA Aimes area in CA.  Anyone
have any information (Jet?)
 
Martin Koistinen - martink@neosoft.com
-- 
 ** Martin Koistinen - Houston, TX **
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds
From: dstampe@psych.toronto.edu (Dave Stampe)
Subject: Re: TECH: Single Screen HMD.
Originator: hlab@milton.u.washington.edu
Organization: Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 15:11:23 GMT



chadwell@utkvx3.utk.edu (Chadwell, Leonard) writes:

>        Citizen has a LCD color monitor for video previews (quite
>small, and costs about $120) which takes NTSC input.  Two of them with
>appropriate lenses for focusing would make an excellent HMD.  But
>you'll need a good VGA to NTSC converter for each (a genlock for IBM)
>or a VGA card with NTSC output.

The Video Wizard is $169, it does VGA-to-NTSC conversion.  Available
from New Electron Sales, Inc, P.O. Box 666, Niagara Falls, NY 14302.

I've yet to find a source for those Citizen monitors.  If I had one, I
could probably figure out how to hook it to a VGA card.  But no
sources yet...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| My life is Hardware,                    |         Dave Stampe          | 
| my destiny is Software,                 | dstampe@psych.toronto.edu    |
| my CPU is Wetware...                    | dstampe@sunee.uwaterloo.ca   | 
| Am I a techno-psychologist, or just an engineer dabbling in psychology?|
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.virtual-worlds