Posts by F111F

Re: Not quite the first thing to take out...

THIS laser IS light-years away from SDI...but this is just a testbed. The object is to field a 50Kw and then a megawatt class laser, which will do all the things SDI required. Frankly, an inter-linked system of 1Mw lasers around a city or military base would be hard to overcome via anything being thrown/lobbed/fired/dropped at it. Taking out a speed of light weapon system will require other methods, such as attacking the power grid that supports them, or the cooling network, or spoofing the targeting system, etc.

Re: Scientists! Repeat after me: We don't know

Please send a copy of your post to the IPCC, it seems their first year science teacher was deficient...

Re: Cost

...to be accurate, they haven't "done it' yet. They've accomplished a few percentage points of the whole mission so far. The hard bits are the long voyage and then transfer into a Martian orbit.

Still, a beer for what's been accomplished so far...

Re: Range

Aerospace engineers will still have to take g-loading into account. Generally, the higher the stress, the stronger and heavier the components must be. Since most modern components, avionics included, are designed around a human limiting factor of around 9-10G's, they will have to be redesigned to operate in a heavier G environment. There will probably be a "sweet spot", depending on materials being used, where the designers get the optimum performance for the weight/power characteristics.

As for putting munitions on the top of an aircraft, it's been tried--doesn't work very well. Your maneuver would a) expose the non-stealth side to radar (assuming you were "stacking" them on top), b) would require a whole new testing regime on release characteristics and probably force unwanted changes to wing design/airflow. I've seen the footage where a munition dropped from below the wing went forward, up, and then over the wing, and c) make it hard as hell for weapons loaders to actually put the bombs on board. We currently use small bomb lift 'trucks" (called "jammers" they come in two sizes for small or big bombs). Loading on top would require hoists or bridge cranes loading x amount of lbs over the top of an aircraft. One slip and now you've got a very big hole in the aircraft, instead of a dent in the concrete. (I have personal experience dealing with a Mk-82 that hit nose-first, so dropping one on the concrete of a flightline won't cause a bomb to high-order--the fuses have lots of safeties designed to prevent just that)

EEFIs

It's about EEFIs, Essential Elements of Friendly Information, where someone can post seemingly innocuous info and others can combine it with other information to build a picture of not just locations, but activity. Western intel agencies know where Chinese military bases are, but a route of soft-drink deliveries tells them which buildings are occupied and with an approximate number of personnel, based on size/frequency of deliveries.

Re: Two birds?

Depends on whether they're African or European...

Re: 2017?

Lots of time for the liberal/progressives to get in again and divert all the money to entitlement programs.

FTFY

Re: Scary thing is ...

Scary thing is...MY country spends twice the entire amount spent on the Moon program every year creating multi-generational dependence on federal programs designed to trap scores of millions in a welfare/medicare quicksand. We're well into our fourth generation of people completely dependent on the state and no end in sight. Of course that serves a particular political party very well...

Re: So first Marines in Darwin...

Wow, awesome knee-jerk reaction!

Re: In games like in real life

A few years ago, when my teenage son and his friends started playing games like COD, I tried to explain the "team" concept and it was like talking to stunned mullet...then they learned that kicking serious butt as a team was way more fun than just running around shooting anything that moves (or doesn't). They learned to provide cover fire, securing the high ground, setting ambushes, etc. Sure, every now and then they reverted to type (especially late at night), but that's only to be expected. At least now they are fully trained for the zombie apocalypse.

Zombies ARE Real....

And they're everywhere...

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/zombie

See definition 2.a

Re: @F111F Really?

Actually, fundamentalism has been on the decline in monotheistic religions, have you bothered to look at the factioning of various sects over the past 20 years or so? About the only place on Earth with a solid core of fundamentalism is among African Christians, who are now sending missionaries to Europe and America, to try and bring them back to the fold.

And again, "nutters" are only portrayed as mainstream by atheists and the press. The former to bolster their arguments and the latter to gain sales/hits.

You really think we "religious" types ignore science? What a laugh, we review everything published, every discovery, every journal. We talk about implications of scientific research, the latest findings and theories/revisions to theories. And, the vast majority of time, scientific advances have little or nothing to do with our personal walk with God. Sometimes they do (and we can have that argument elsewhere), but alien life, or the discovery of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe will not. There will be no rioting in the streets, no tearing of robes, no self-immolation, probably just a LOT of discussion about how this news may or may not impact our personal relationship with God. And frankly, unless the little green buggers are invading Earth and laying waste to the surface of the planet, it probably won't have any impact at all. The only rioting/problems will probably come from those who run around scared all the time anyways, such as the survivalists, who represent a tiny minority of opinion, but somehow rank high in visibility.

So, Don't Take My Word, Take His...

http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx

Admittedly, the study is six years old, but I haven't seen much change in any of the networks to make this study out of date. Still confident of your position? Or, are you ready to admit the mainstream media are biased left of center, especially CBS? In fact, I bought the entire report and it pretty much shows Fox to be just to the right of center, with the noted exceptions, not nearly as far off center as are CBS and the other networks. Ergo, if you want more centrist news reporting, tune into Fox, again with certain exceptions.

OK, it's Saturday evening and I have other, better plans than hanging about here...

New Standard?

Sooo, touch screens are to be measured in Octopuses as well as pixels and area?

It's a Communications Relay Satellite

So various US government entities (primarily the DoD) will have higher bandwidth than the current MILSTAR satellites can provide.

Fire and "Forget Him"

The wireless portion of the sequence is the arming command while it's still in the barrel. The computer tells the ammo to explode after "x" rotations (distance), not "EXPLODE NOW!". That would be silly and require maintaining contact (and exposure for the operator) with the ammo during flight (and during a firefight this would be a BAD THING).

Idiot Journalists...

apparently didn't understand that the disassembly plans were created for the FIRST one, not the last one... This one only took an hour or so to render safe and dismantle.

Take a Deep Breath...

...and RTFA. They were NASA and USGS sats, not DoD/NRO birds. The DoD and NRO have dedicated communications to their satellites. Now that doesn't mean they can't be hacked, but it is a LOT harder.

...beer icon, so we can quaff one and relax.