Say what? No, really, what??

[patgund]

Heard on the radio, also commented on by kyril+

Rumsfeld Ramble wins "Foot in Mouth" award:

Comments

[selenite.livejournal.com]

I file this under "technically clueless listeners". "Unknown-unknown" is a common bit of jargon in new system development. There are "knowns" which are the usual data on strength of metals, drag properties, etc. Then we have "known unknowns" which is stuff we don't know now but know how we'll find it out--total vehicle weight, net drag, etc. The "unknown unknowns" are the questions we didn't know to ask--what wind direction will cause the safety mechanism to trigger a hydrogen detonation, how large a piece of ice can fall off the external tank without smashing the tiles. Most flight tests look boring to laymen but end with a bunch of engineers going "Whew! We didn't get bit by any unknown unknowns."

In Rumsfeld's line of work the biggest unknown-unknown was "What's the worst thing terrorists can do with a hijacked airliner?" I'm glad to know he's trying to find others.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Actually, I posted it more re: Arnold's comment then Rumsfeld. Rumsfeld almost made sense to me. Almost. :-)