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The Air Force appears to use FreeBSD.
Take a look here. Top row, middle picture. Get the full sized picture and read the label.

see AFI 10-248 for the details.

As you can see from this, USAF takes its fitness quite seriously.

The word "Terrorism" has been hijacked like the person who eats chicken calls themselves "vegetarian".
The families of Lockerbie, Sept. 11, IRA bombings, etc do not deserve to be disrespected in this way by a government deciding on an emotive term like "terrorism" in the same way a marketing dept would come up with a product name that "captures the public imagination".
Don't car pool to work? Then you aren't irresponsble with regard to the environment. You slaughter jews for a living.

The problem is, NASA is very conservative. They like experiments but Astronauts really hate change. Nothing has changed since 1970s and they like it that way.

GEODSS first came up in 1982. It consisted of four sites (three today, budget cuts) worldwide, each with three 1-meter telescopes. The whole system is computer-run and reports to NORAD automatically. This was the beginning of automated astronomy.

The telescopes scan the whole sky every night, subtract out everything in the star catalog, and report unknown objects. New satellites and space junk are found this way. Even dark objects that occult stars are noted. There's also a more elaborate USAF site on Maui with even bigger computer-controlled telescopes.

Some of the sites have lasers (Maui definitely does) and can illuminate their targets using one telescope while looking at it with another. This allows time-of-flight ranging, photography of dark objects, and determining whether a satellite has cameras. But illumination is only useful for near earth satellites; it doesn't help with asteroid search.

Asteroid search is a spare-time activity of one of the GEODSS sites. They continue their real job for the USAF, looking for anything near the Earth that shouldn't be there.

The GEODSS hardware was updated in 1999, with better sensors, new computers (the 20 racks of PDP-11 hardware had to go), better positioning accuracy, and some infrared capability for working around cloud cover. The original main optics remain in use.

Your tax dollars at work.

Man, that sucker's BIG!

The GAU-8 was usually loaded with a mixture of DPU and lead, the DPU was to crack armor and the lead is cheaper. They have also outfitted it with HEAP (high explosive armor piercing) ammunition, which would get very expensive very rapidly, but is a pretty wild way to spend money anyway. 30mm HEAP weaponry is actually overkill given that the A-10 can already saw a tank in half with its primary armament.

The GAU-8 was usually loaded with a mixture of DPU and lead, the DPU was to crack armor and the lead is cheaper. They have also outfitted it with HEAP (high explosive armor piercing) ammunition, which would get very expensive very rapidly, but is a pretty wild way to spend money anyway. 30mm HEAP weaponry is actually overkill given that the A-10 can already saw a tank in half with its primary armament.

Bad weather has prevented U.S. military officials from reaching a site near Zawar Kili, Afghanistan, where a Feb. 4 strike by a CIA Predator unmanned aerial vehicle reportedly killed several Al Qaeda leaders, Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clarke told reporters here today.

These guys say that there are 213 in active use (A-10 and OA-10), 52 in the Reserves, and 102 in the ANG.

I love the A-10, too, but it is planned to be replaced by the F-35 eventually. Not sure that will happen, though; I recall reading back around 1990 that the A-10 was to be replaced by the F-16. However, it proved its worth in the Gulf War, and remained in front-line duty.

funny that you mention that. they actually have air force public affairs folks giving advice and correcting errors. air force chief of staff general jumper was even in an episode. so was an honor guard. YEAH THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME

it's surprisingly accurate about the air force.

funny that you mention that. they actually have air force public affairs folks giving advice and correcting errors. air force chief of staff general jumper was even in an episode. so was an honor guard. YEAH THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME

it's surprisingly accurate about the air force.

funny that you mention that. they actually have air force public affairs folks giving advice and correcting errors. air force chief of staff general jumper was even in an episode. so was an honor guard. YEAH THAT'S FUCKING AWESOME

it's surprisingly accurate about the air force.

NASA is yet another arm of the United States' military. Look it up in their charter.

FOR SHAME, slashdot, FOR SHAME. Who cares what sort of military build up occurs as long as we have cool space toys, right?

How many of you have heard of the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)?

Is this program about extending humanity's reach into space, or advancing our collective human knowledge? Neither. It's about bigger, better killing machines for the United States military.

Shame on you, slashdot, for supporting the advancement of technology at any cost.

I am a geek, but you all make me fucking SICK.

General Electric GAU-8/A "Avenger" is the primary armament of the Fairchild Republic YA-10A "Thunderbolt II". It is a 30mm cannon which (according to some guy) fires 2100 rounds per minute, for 35 rounds per second. Compare this to the FAMAS bullpup assault rifle, which has a fairly high rate of fire, at 1100 rounds per minute (a little over 18 per second.) That same page asserts that it used to have a mode in which it fired 4200 rounds per minute (70/second) but that they discontinued that mode, probably since you'd run out of ammo in about 15 seconds of firing that way. The GAU-8 is one of the meanest guns around, it tears tanks in half... good stuff, if you're the one behind the trigger anyway. Otherwise you're not going to be having much fun :(

General Electric GAU-8/A "Avenger" is the primary armament of the Fairchild Republic YA-10A "Thunderbolt II". It is a 30mm cannon which (according to some guy) fires 2100 rounds per minute, for 35 rounds per second. Compare this to the FAMAS bullpup assault rifle, which has a fairly high rate of fire, at 1100 rounds per minute (a little over 18 per second.) That same page asserts that it used to have a mode in which it fired 4200 rounds per minute (70/second) but that they discontinued that mode, probably since you'd run out of ammo in about 15 seconds of firing that way. The GAU-8 is one of the meanest guns around, it tears tanks in half... good stuff, if you're the one behind the trigger anyway. Otherwise you're not going to be having much fun :(

Certainly the flight profile of the XB-70 (high altitude supersonic) was more like shuttle re-entry than that of either the F-111 or B-1. The system was designed to allow safe ejection at Mach 3 and 70,000 feet.

This system was actually used after a midair collision, and saved the pilot's life.

-ccm

Digex, along with other major hosting and co-lo facilities, has had these kinds of systems in place for their datacenters for many a year. And yeah, most of them look like very non-descript office buildings - a great many I've seen are in warehouse-style industrial complexes, far off the beaten path of regular office space and retail properties.

You have to wonder if they're a little overboard, though; the military doesn't typically have checks that secure to get into specific rooms - not even TS/SCI environments. Though, to be fair, the military certainly has an edge on physical security.

I guess if you're really concerned about your data being physically secure, you could always co-lo out at Sealand, too.

Ada

Bush Mission to Mars: it's all about militarizing space

Excerpts from Bush's "space exploration" speech delivered earlier today:

America is proud of our space program. The risk-takers and visionaries of this agency have expanded human knowledge, have revolutionized our understanding of the universe and produced technological advances that have benefited all of humane's (sic) doing an excellent job.

Certainly, some of it has benefited people who live in affluent nations -- most notably, the aerospace industry, otherwise known as the "defense" industry. The vast majority of mankind, however, lives under conditions of grinding poverty and the advances gained from the space program do not benefit them in the least. In fact, many of the "technological advances" of the aerospace industry have resulted in widespread death and destruction -- for instance, the development and use of stealth bombers and cruise missiles. For untold numbers of Iraqis and Afghans, the American space program translates into GPS guided bombs killing their children.

Our investment in space exploration helped to create our satellite telecommunications network and the Global Positioning System.

See the previous comment.

Our first goal is to complete the International Space Station by 2010. We will finish what we have started.

Bush's "first goal" is to realize plans spelled out by the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization, chaired by Donald Rumsfeld in 2001. A report issued by the Commission demands the US "have the option to deploy weapons in space to deter threats to and, if necessary, defend against attacks on U.S. interests." In other words, the US will build a new generation of space-based weapons to further realize Pax Americana. Of course, this will motivate other countries (most notably China) to waste money and precious resouces on developing space weapons of their own, initiating an arms race.

In fact, China has already started its own space weapons program, according to a report released by the Department of Defense. "The report focuses on the current and probable future course of that country's growing military-technological prowess, including the use of space to assure military advantage," Leonard David writes for Space.com. "This year's report cites a comment from Captain Shen Zhongchang from the Chinese Navy Research Institute. He envisions, according to the DoD, a weaker military defeating a superior one by attacking its space-based communications and surveillance systems." For more on the strategic thinking of the Chinese, see Chinese Views of Future Warfare.

[Secretary of the Air Force Pete Aldrich] has tremendous experience in the Department of Defense and the aerospace industry. And he is going to begin this important work right away.

Aldrich does have "tremendous experience" -- he is the overseer of the Defense Departmenta(TM)s Missile Defense Support Group (MDSG) and reports to the DoD's Senior Executive Council (SEC) and the Missile Defense Agency. "The SEC, which is chaired by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and includes the service secretaries and Aldridge, recently was assigned the task of considering whether elements of the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) should move to production and deployment," writes Alaska Missile Defense Early Bird Weekly.

In other words, Reagan's Star Wars reinvented.

"[The] real scandal [of BMDS is] that the defense being developed won't work -- and few in Washington seem to know or ca

I really can't offer up much defense of my statement since it is admittedly hearsay from a lecture some years ago.

This is the suit he brought to the lecture and put on one of the short female physics profs during the talk. He also answered the great question of "How do you do a 12 hour mission without a lavatory?!"

I'm not an SR-71 expert so I can't say why the cockpit was pressurized and the pilots still sat in a full pressure suit. An interesting question to consider for someone with plenty of time on their hands I guess.

I used to work for Wyle in San Antonio where they had a forerunner to the DFS called the ASDD (Advanced Spatial Disorientation Demonstrator). It was basically a cockpit the could rotate like a gryoscope and was mounted on a large, rotating motion base arm.

You can see the cockpit here:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar15.htm

Look behind the visible screens (which make up the simulated flight control tower). The fun part is inside the round cockpit behind the glass. That part spins around to produce up to about 3 G's. You can't see in this picture but the cockpit rotates around like a 30 foot circle once it gets going, plus it spins around it's own center.

See also:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar1005.htm

Older technology, but still cool. In that lab we used to study how different kinds of motion would fool the inner ear. Such as, a pilot who is taking off and who looks over his shoulder at the ground will experience a balance illusion that will throw off his perception of "down". If he is not trained to compensate, and is distracted by other circumstances, this illusion can easy cause him to bank the plane into a crash.

I used to work for Wyle in San Antonio where they had a forerunner to the DFS called the ASDD (Advanced Spatial Disorientation Demonstrator). It was basically a cockpit the could rotate like a gryoscope and was mounted on a large, rotating motion base arm.

You can see the cockpit here:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar15.htm

Look behind the visible screens (which make up the simulated flight control tower). The fun part is inside the round cockpit behind the glass. That part spins around to produce up to about 3 G's. You can't see in this picture but the cockpit rotates around like a 30 foot circle once it gets going, plus it spins around it's own center.

See also:

http://safety.kirtland.af.mil/magazine/htdocs/ma rm ag97/mar1005.htm

Older technology, but still cool. In that lab we used to study how different kinds of motion would fool the inner ear. Such as, a pilot who is taking off and who looks over his shoulder at the ground will experience a balance illusion that will throw off his perception of "down". If he is not trained to compensate, and is distracted by other circumstances, this illusion can easy cause him to bank the plane into a crash.

Sort of like the SR-71 Blackbird. Which is now 40 years old. Which is cool in a way because I've always wanted to see somebody do a Blackbird-like project with modern materials, computers, etc.

You should really try Google!

JOVIAL Lives! website at Hill AFB

Scroll down the page to the section marked: "Available Products".

Sadly, I know a ton of people who have never heard of Chuck Yeager. He was not part of my academic curriculum. The only reason I heard of him at a young age was the video game named after him.

The only textbooks I recall running across that mentioned him would've been for AFJROTC...and there's a fair chance most of the kids taking that would've learned of Chuck Yeager on their own anyway. About the only aerospace milestones you're likely to run across in the average haskrool history textbook are the Wright brothers' first flight and Apollo 11...and even those aren't guaranteed. (It's not even guaranteed that most kids will ever take a real history course before college...instead of history and civics, they're more likely to end up in some watered-down "social studies" classes instead.)

Maybe it is worth comparing the design of this robot to the Indian one. It was discussed in this slashdot thread entitled Inspection Microsat Tested In Orbit.

I'm calling dibs on a one-click flying machine that swings sideways! ;)

Not to take away from the grief of the Iraqi people caused by Hussein, but I for one am glad that there is one reason for US forces to keep their bags packed. I only deployed once to Prince Sultan Air Base, in spring of 1998 with Compass Call as a linguist. But it wasn't so simple-- we came back early from an exercise in the Pacific in fall of 1997, were on telephone standby over Thanksgiving, actually went to the processing line (last step before leaving home station for combat) just before Christmas. Finally we left in Febuary, arriving on St. Valentine's day. Suffice to say, the holidays weren't at all normal for any of us.

I thought that my ordeal was distressing, until I arrived in Saudi Arabia, where I had seen that some units had been deployed there continuously since Desert Shield! I could only try to imagine the frustration felt by airmen who spent more than two-thirds of every year living in tent city there.

Yet another $20 for the game you already own...

Air Force Monopoly

The only reason I care is because I am in the U.S. Chair Force. Although it would be cool to zip around the board in an F-22 or stealth bomber...

Low-flying missle detection can be done by the PAVE PAWS radar system. While the USAF says the mission of the systems is to detect SLBM and ICBMs, it's actually quite capable of detecting low-flying missles. US Space Command doesn't regularly do that anymore, as the RF energy can be a health hazard.

Some of the stories I've heard about the AN/FPS-115 is that while tuning the antenna elements, they had the beam steered out to sea and 200 feet down. A fishing boat went through afterwards and found cooked fish floating on the surface. At the one in California, the techs would roll soft drink cans down the face of the array -- they would be half-melted when they hit the ground.

Chip H.

I not sure how you got it into your head that you're an authority on this subject, but you're 100% wrong.

I didn't claim to be any kind of authority, I'm just writing what I know from my own experience and research. My original post was from memory, but this time I did some quick Google searches to backup my claims with some evidence. Anyone could learn this information on their own. However, I do know a few things about GPS:

• I've used several civilian GPS receivers, from handheld models for hiking or hunting, to a marine model mounted on a boat for fishing, to aircraft mounted models. In a geography class I took in college, we did some labs to observe variation in GPS readings, both over time at one location, and at the same time at different locations. It was very interesting.
• I'm a surveyor by trade, and have used different types of differential GPS surveying, like post-processing, telemetry-based, and now real-time kinetic.
• I'm an Air Force veteran, and have training and field experience with the Rockwell PLGR handheld (the term handheld being used very loosely) GPS receiver, which can decode the P signal when using the decryption key. (Read this [scroll down to multi-color highlighted paragraph] to see how carefully the key is protected.)
• While I was in the Air Force, I took the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) course called: Mapping, Charting and Geodesy for the Warrior (scroll to bottom of page).

I still don't claim to be any kind of expert on GPS, but I probably know more than your average person.

I'm not about to give out anymore information than is publicly availible on the 'net, but I suggest you start with those two sites. The Zyfer site has a number of highly informative PDF's.

My point is that they DO give out military GPS receivers (and codes, duh) for select non-military applications. The first site was one which sells these revievers.

Did you actually read any of the PDFs on the site you reference? The very first PDF on the page has this to say:

• Under FEATURES -> GPS Reveiver:
  • Standard 8-channel C/A
  • Optional SAASM PPS (for approved users)
• Under the model description: the FEI-Zyfer GSync can provide you with either Standard Positioning Service (SPS) GPS or the very latest in GPS technology SAASM PPS GPS receivers (for DoD authorized users only).
• Under SPECIFICATIONS -> Reference Options: Standard GPS (SPS C/A) 8 channel, (L1)
  SAASM GPS (PPS, C/A P-Y) For approved users (L1/L2)

So the evidence you're citing actually undermines the point you were trying to make.

If you look at the lists on that second page, you can see a list of projects which have these recievers.

The projects listed on that page are DOD projects. Obviously, the corporations manufacturing the devices need access to the decryption key to test their products. But, like all defense contractors working on classified projects, every employee who needs access has to obtain the appropriate DOD security clearance.

That you'

The virtual /dev file system(EXPERIMENTAL) is *really* nice. There are some problems though, no /dev/mouse. I know the solution though, just create some kind of link to the real device and save it with dev*(whatever its name is). It will be restored at boot, easy as caek.

I always thought the /dev/mouse was left out on purpose so it could be linked to the right mouse. I mean which is the One True Mouse? /dev/ttyS1? /dev/psaux? /dev/input/mouse0?

I have found that when I hotswap my usb mouse Linux switches which device it is even if I plug it back into the same usb port. If /dev/mouse were not a link, I would be fucked then. Not proper fucked, but you get the idea. I am told that this is because I did not compile the usb drivers as a module, and if I loaded/unloaded the module when I hotswapped the mouse the problem would go away, but I have not tried that.

Why am I hotswapping my usb mouse? Because Logitech is evil and stopped making the only decent mouse EVER everything else just sucks. Well, except the Thinkpad erasermouse, but it sucks as well because of the automagical reconfiguration that really just means your mouse is possessed.

I cannot find anywhere to get trackman mice. No one will ever sell the ones they have because they are so awesome and they know they will never again be able to buy one because logitech went retarded. The new trackballs are ridiculously tiny and just no good. They should have stuck with the original design.

Anyway, I hotswap my mouse because I have to take my mouse to work to get work done and then back home. Regular mice are a serious dent in my productivity :(.

Rape as the moral basis for US international politics? Thanks for making the point so clearly.

Besides, rape is an even more pathetic violent crime if you have to use a strap-on.

If such a system eventually gets built and many years down the road the U.S. decides to invade a country which uses the Galileo system for its weaponry, what's to keep the U.S. from jamming and disabling their systems for a clean sweep?

What's to keep them from just trashing the whole system? The alternative to jamming is destruction.

offtopic wrt main topic but, what about SCADA attacks?

PBS did an excellent show on CyberWarfare highlighting that it's the points of weakness where attacks are most likely to occur. Milnet, siprnet, etc may be secured but could any *western* city be without power for a period of 6 months? Think asymmetric not conventional and you can appreciate how real such threats are taken.

1. Afghanistan, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003
2. Bosnia, 1994, 1995
3. Cambodia, 1969-70
4. China, 1945-46
5. Congo (now Zaire), 1964
6. Cuba, 1959-1961 ("Bay of Pigs" invasion)
7. El Salvador, 1980s
8. Grenada, 1983
9. Guatemala, 1954, 1960, 1967-69
10. Indonesia, 1958
11. Iran, 1987
12. Iraq, 1991-2000, 2003 (The U.S. government used radioactive bombs in the first war against Iraq. See United States War Crimes Against Iraq for what appears to be an accurate history.)
13. Korea and China, 1950-53 (Korean War)
14. Kuwait, 1991
15. Laos, 1964-73
16. Lebanon, 1983, 1984 (both Lebanese and Syrian targets)
17. Libya, 1986
18. Nicaragua, 1980s
19. Panama, 1989. The U.S. government called it "Operation Just Cause". The link is to a U.S. military web site.
20. Peru, 1965
21. Somalia, 1993
22. Sudan 1998. There are doubts

DoD: when ADA# for?

Here

Look up the YF-12. It's even more out there. There were actual missiles made for it, but AFAIK they were never tested. Interesting factoid, the only surviving YF-12 prototype was converted to SR-71C which is one-of-a-kind. This is the SR-71 that still holds the absolute speed and altitude records (For jet aircraft capable of takeoff and landing unassisted). It is also on display at the Air Force Museum at WPAFB in Dayton, OH. Along with it's trophy, which it has held for almost 40 years... YF-12 facts Thompson Trophy

Look up the YF-12. It's even more out there. There were actual missiles made for it, but AFAIK they were never tested. Interesting factoid, the only surviving YF-12 prototype was converted to SR-71C which is one-of-a-kind. This is the SR-71 that still holds the absolute speed and altitude records (For jet aircraft capable of takeoff and landing unassisted). It is also on display at the Air Force Museum at WPAFB in Dayton, OH. Along with it's trophy, which it has held for almost 40 years... YF-12 facts Thompson Trophy

Oh, what fun. I'm so excited. What a great new leap forward, blah blah blah.

How you can be blinded by one of these things. More. Still more with a pic of a laser cannon.

I'm sure you folks can find more.

As you may recall, this same line about precision and avoiding civilian casualties was in vogue when laser- or GSM-guided munitions were deployed by the US. While there has been a remarkable decrease in collateral damage thanks to these new guidance systems, the same may not be true with regards to laser weapons. If they blast a building with it, and Joe Bozo happens to be looking in that direction from a relatively close distance, he may be blinded or even receive severe burns. I recall a discussion on /. not long ago about a 100,000 watt airborne laser weapon with some discussion of this, but was not able to find the original article. Will this revert the historical trend towards lower collateral damage?

Does anyone in a position of responsibility even give a flying fuck?

also happens to forbid the government from promoting atheism.

Ain't that a relief

When the government promotes monotheism it is religious opression of Native American beliefs. The constituion forbids it.

Oppression? what is stopping the Native Americans from still practicing their religion? They are not being prevented from doing any such thing. THey are not being persecuted for their polytheistic beliefs so where exactly does the oppression come in again?

"not one of the first six Presidents of the United States was an orthodox Christian."-- Encyclopedia Brittanica

Nitpick: Not all of the Founding Fathers were made up of the first 6 Presidents of the US as there were more than 6 Founding Fathers for one thing. I'm sure there are some Presidents who aren't Christian although I'm sure there are very few.

How about George Washington? Oops, not Christian.

Yes he was. The phrase "under God," so much a part of our nation's tradition and so familiar as part of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, was used by George Washington when he learned that the United Colonies had declared themselves an independent nation.

John Adams maybe? Nope.

Not really but he did believe in having religion. He recognized the abuses, large and small, that religious belief lends itself to, but he also believed that religion could be a force for good in individual lives and in society at large. His extensive reading (especially in the classics), led him to believe that this view applied not only to Christianity, but to all religions.

Perhaps Benjamin Franklin? No.

You aren't quite right. I had been religiously educated as a Presbyterian; and tho' some of the dogmas of that persuasion, such as the eternal decrees of God, election, reprobation, etc., appeared to me unintelligible, others doubtful, and I early absented myself from the public assemblies of the sect, Sunday being my studying day, I never was without some religious principles. I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity; that he made the world, and govern'd it by his Providence; that the most acceptable service of God was the doing good to man; that our souls are immortal; and that all crime will be punished, and virtue rewarded, either here or hereafter.

Maybe you meant Thomas Jefferson? Sorry.

sorry, u are wrong "To the corruptions of Christianity, I am indeed opposed; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished any one to be; sincerely attached to his doctrines, in preference to all others; ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other."

Or James Madison? Nope.

Does not say either way but as you can see Madison says what you people can't seem to figure out in the phrase you often quote from the Constitution. He does not want you to lose your rights just because of your religion. It does not mean that the gov't can't have or make religious references. As chairman of the House conference committee on the Bill of Rights, Madison's original draft was among the most ambitious: "the civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship...nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed...." Though somewhat less expansive in its protections, the final version--"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" --clearly bears the Madison stamp.

1964

"At a 28 October press conference, Raytheon, under contract with RADC, demonstrated an experimental microwave-powered helicopter. The significance of this effort was not merely in the development of the equipment, but in the technological advances, particularly the use of a microwave beam to transfer power. The helicopter subsequently was included in a federal science and engineering exhibit."

(Photo included)
1964 History: Rome Air Development Center

Note that these devices need not use a maser or microwave laser; an ordinary microwave source is sufficient.

"The founding father of modern microwave power transmission gave a presentation and showed videos of the microwave-powered helicopter that he built for the Air Force in the 1970's which was also funded by Raytheon. A Japanese group showed videos of their microwave-powered room size blimp, and a group from University of Alaska showed videos of their progress on a small microwave-powered helicopter. All of these devices are based on some form of "rectenna" which is an antenna array which rectifies the electromagnetic beam impinging on it. Usually, special rectifying diodes are used. Efficiencies are remarkably high: >90% for the antenna and >~65% for the entire system at typical powers of tens of Kilowatts. The greatest loss comes from generating the microwaves in the first place from DC power. JPL, NASA, and other folks talked a lot about their design for the satellite which will collect solar energy and beam it down to earth."

The 1996 IEEE MTT Conference

The real cost in solar power are the batteries to store the power in, a good AGM (advanced glass mat) battery that is rated at 220 Ahr is around $650 (CDN)

I want my Mr. Fusion!

AIM (now at version 7) is not an instant messanger client. It's a benchmarking tool.

Hmm, you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of the AIM-7 benchmark.

It packs quite a punch

Site's slow, so here is a website about the origins of Murphy's Laws:
Origin of Murphy's Law

People still use JOVIAL, which as far as I can gather is a version of Algol that has been modified to include threads. In fact, there is an official Air Force website at Jovial Lives!. To quote from the website:

"Some of the more notable weapon systems using JOVIAL include (but are not limited too) the Advanced Cruise Missile, B-52, B-1, and B-2 Bombers, C-130, C-141, and C-17 Transport Aircraft, F-15, F-16, F-18, and F-117 Fighter Aircraft, LANTIRN, U-2 Aircraft, E-3 AWACS Aircraft, Special Operations Forces, Navy AEGIS Cruisers, Army Multiple Launch Rocket System, Army Blackhawk Helicopters, F100, F117, F119 Jet Engines, and RL-10 Rocket Engines."

That's a pretty impressive list of platforms for a language that was developed in the early 1960's!

So, maybe newer is NOT better after all.

A.R. Nemmer

Governments are not worthy of dogma. You really shouldn't trust anyone, and especially if they insist you must.

• Solar powered planes: First flown in 1983 for a classified program. (Program was cancelled, and NASA ended up with the aircraft.)
• Ultralights: First commercially available ultralight: 1974.
• High altitude planes: The SR-71 still holds the altitude record for level flight, 85,069 feet, set in 1976.
• Remote controlled drones: first used in WWII.
• Automatic landing: First achieved in 1937. First commercial aircraft landing with passengers in 1965.
• Incredibly cheap domestic flights: SJC to LAX, 1974: $14 (PSA).
• Space travel: von Braun started as a hobbyist. The winner of the X-prize need only do what Gagarin and Shepard did back in 1963 - a suborbital ballistic hop. Big deal.
• Nuclear power: Pebblized-bed reactors are mostly vaporware. One was built in Germany, but had an accident in the 1980s, leaked some radiation, and was shut down. No production pebbleized-bed reactor exists today.