[ExI] bradbury nodes

[spike]

>... On Behalf Of Kelly Anderson
Subject: Re: [ExI] bradbury nodes

2011/8/16 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
>
>>
http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/15/computer-chip-sized-spacecraft-will-exp
lore-space-in-swarms/

>...Very cool. I had the understanding that cosmic rays were bad on silicon
chips... Is that correct? If so, what do you think these babies are made of?
-Kelly

Silicon substrate is still our best technology for interplanetary space.
Our silicon chips can be made to work in space, but there is the
radiation-related phenomenon of SEUs, or Single Event Upsets.  These are
usually caused by cosmic rays of such high energy, they cannot be
effectively shielded.  They can cause eventual breakdowns of the substrate
as well, but what I have in mind is some type of on-chip redundancy which
would allow a SEU-impacted* chip to recover and restore corrupted data.  

spike


*I would have said SEU-_ffected chip, but after all the recent free
education on that topic, I am not sure if it is affected or effected.  I
simply cannot take the risk.  I propose that the words affect and effect
both be replaced by the word sffect, reasoning that since s is adjacent to
both e and a, one can always claim a typo, rather than reveal ignorance.
Furthermore, if we have demonstrated anything at all by the tiresome
Captchas thread, it is that it is a language flaw to have two different
words with both similar spellings and similar meanings.  Two words can be
similar, but they must choose either spelling or definition, not both,
otherwise we invite confusion and conflation, such as with the words sour
and dour and the words confusion and conflation.  Homo is fine, but it must
be nym or phone, not both.  Twin words are those words which both look alike
and act alike, simultaneously homonyms and synonyms.  I propose we eschew
all twin words.

Of course we need to identify twin words in order to eschew them.  This
reminds me of an exercise that was assigned to a class of freshman nursing
students in which they were asked to list every profane or vulgar word they
knew, especially those which could refer to body parts or functions, and
list their definitions if they knew them.  Hilarity ensued.

In the spirit of hearty companionship and infamous Extropian wordplay, we
need make a list of twin words:

Affect and effect  (dammit!  {8-[    )  
Sour and dour