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Fuel Cells For (Military) Portable Computing
SEWilco writes: "A 2-3 pound fuel cell is being developed to power wearable military systems for a week." 2 to 3 pounds may sound like a lot, but it gets more reasonable when you consider that it means not carrying a conventional battery or an AC adapter around. Of course, you may not be able to take your battery onto an airplane, though ...
Hello American, Slashdot and the Internet in general is accessible by (yikes) non-Americans. When you write "our nation" it's just showing how naval-gazing you are.
it seems to me that if someone can get a clear enough shot to shoot you with one of these, it would be just as easy to shoot you in the chest or ...well.. anywhere they wanted
Last I checked, fuel cells produced quite a bit of heat. (near boiling point of water as I recall ... ?) I wonder how they are going to manage that in this type of an application.
"There's no secret. You just press the accelerator to the floor and keep turning left." -- Bill Vukovich
I read an article about a similar product that toshiba had developed some 2 years ago.
It was a standard battery wich contained an engine like the one in this article and methanol fuel.
You where supposed to get 10 times the normal battery time out of it and back then that would peobably have meant 10-20 hours.
The battery was a little larger than todays are but it's basicly the same thing.
Might not be a new thing but it's a new adaptation at least.
// yendor
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It could be coffe.... or it could just be some warm brown liquid containing lots of caffeen.
So any soldiers carrying a gas canister the size of the Hindenburg might be in a little trouble...
...from Chinese fighter planes.
Yep, you'd go blind, and insane, fairly quickly. Ethanol's not exactly good for you, but meths is pretty toxic.
but it's insignificant compared to the amount of weight that a soldier normally carries
Yeah, a small hydrogen pack will be much more dangerous than hand grenades and plastic explosives the soldiers are carrying around.
Scuttlemonkey is a troll
Why is everybody so concerned about the volatility of hydrogen on slashdot? It's not like gasoline isn't much more horrible, and most slashdot readers probably drive around in machines containing over a hundred pounds of highly volatile liquid fuel that will burn or explode violently at the slightest spark. A lot of slashdotters probably use stoves which run on a gas which has blown up entire houses just because there was a leak and then a spark. Hydrogen is very weak by comparison.
Remember, two thirds of the people on the Hindenburgh survived!
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
If so, even more evidence that hydrogen is not dangerous.
Mod down posts with a "Free Mac Mini/iPod" sig, they're spam!
--Xantho
That reminds me of when I was in Bosnia. Some of the Army pukes were carrying M16A2/M203 combo rifles, they were assigned about 20-30 grenades for the M203. I guess there isn't much you can do with 20 grenades but these guys either had them all strapped to a vest or on bandoliers. There's nothing funnier than a couple of guys who look like either Mexican banditos or walking bombs. I vowed that if the shooting started (thank God it didn't, whew!) I would stay as far away from these jokers as I could, I didn't want to be near them when they turned into fireworks show.
Well I don't actually know if grenades will go off if they are shot but I didn't want to find out the hard way.
-- Remember: Wherever you go, there you are!
Excuse me? Um, liquid hydrogen has to be either under extreme pressure or extremely cold. Neither of which can be done with just a little modification to today's gas distribution infrastructure. Now, if you use something like this fuel processor to convert a more easily distributed fuel like methanol or diesel fuel into hydrogen in the car itself, then the methanol or diesel can easily be distributed with little modification to today's gas distribution infrastructure.
--LeBleu
If you're reading this you're part of the mass hallucination that is Kevin the Blue.
Of course, this is just quibbling. The point is that carrying liquid fuel is hazardous in a combat area
Just being in a combat area is hazardous. The most hazard from any type of carried equipment is the shrapnal it makes when it gets between you and a bullet. I saw some weird shit as a medic in Desert Storm, dealing with all the P.O.W's. A bullet wound's easy to figure out. It's the multiple entry and exit wounds from shattered coins, buckles, etc the go through a person after being shot that piss ya' off.
37th AEG (air evac group).
I drank what? -- Socrates
Desert Storm was a stacked deck in our favour. We had several airbases already set up in Saudi as well as a greatradar net over the area. We were also up against a small "professional" army as well as hundreds of thousands of conscript troops with poor equipment, weapons, training and leadership.
As a medic over there, I mostly treated P.O.W.'s (thousands streaming through our area alone). These people were, for the most part, peasant farmers and such, and a lot of them had WWII era weapons (bolt action rifles, only a few rounds per soldier, etc.). The area we moved through (northward into Kuwait) had these poor shmoes in trenches with barb wire in front of them and behind them. The Republican guard had marched them to the front and then made it impossible for them to retreat. No wonder they were surrendering to news crews and everyone else.
As far as the bombing goes, there's no way to secure an area with an airplane. At best, you can knock out equipment make people on the ground really want to be somewhere else.
One other thing. Despite all the jokes about military intelligence being an oxymoron and such, our military does a hell of a good job and they are not eager to lose troops. If they still see a need for thousands of ground forces in the service, then I have a feeling that they know what they are talking about. Otherwise, we'd have scrapped the ground forces for all air power, right?
Vietnam is not a good example either. If anything, it shows that air power was not as effective as hoped and that the ground troops had to go in to get things done. The failure of Vietnam is due to the politicians running the war. When given a free reign, the U.S. military can get the job done.
37 AEG-Air Force
I drank what? -- Socrates
This is just the fuel cell, intended to power wearable electronics. As the article mentions, carrying 2 pounds is better than the equivalent 20 pounds of batteries for a week's power. [Now we watch twelve people mention the solar-generating clothing article from several hours ago]
I know that I, for one, would be very interested in being able to power my laptop for a couple of days on a small generator, and being able to carry a week's worth of fuel in a small canteen. For people worried about being allowed to carry such a generator on commercial flights: rules currently allow for the carrying of small ammounts of fuel for personal use (e.g. lighters) This should cover a day's power for a laptop. the extra fuel capacity, however, would proabably not be allowed -- you'e probably be forced to empty your spare bladder and get refills at your destination.
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Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
Most laptops weigh about twice this much! The exception are the ultralight notebooks, that are generally little more than puffed up PDAs. (which is really about all most of us really need, but that's another issue..)
DARPA has been funding a lot of research over the last few years with the hope of finding a viable power source for their urban soldier armored suits (among other projects)... I'd be surprised if this didn't spin out of some of that.
Recently, the US Military has been outfitting Special Forces of all branches with GPS systems, laptops, and small, wearable (and usually Linux-running), computers for enhanced communication with their superiors.
A 2-3lb processor/fuel cell for all this equipment is insignificant in the big picture. Until combat electronics can be shrunk down to palm-pilot size, the GI's will always have to carry massive loads of equipment, plus all the new-and-improved computer systems. But then again, that's what they're trained to do.
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The vastness of space and time, and I end up here?
Let's not forget the Tier II Predator , one of the most sophisticated pieces of technology in the USAF. Sitting in the air-conditioned offices of the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, flying a recon mission via satellite linkup half-way around the word. I guess it's a living.
Nothing against the jarheads-- I mean the USMC. You guys are great, and I'll stand behind you 100% in a fight.
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The vastness of space and time, and I end up here?
Fuzed so that they don't go off on bandoliers when shot or when they are bumped hard. The fuze has to be set by them leaving the casing.
In the unlikely event that a bullet hits the primer of the round, the grenade has to travel a certain distance, I'm not sure how far, but at least 10m, before it goes off.
It actually still wouldn't go off. The "fuze" is and inertial screw. If it doesn?t go down a rifled barrel it won't arm.
In fact if you shoot someone point blank it won't go off, because the fuze will not have unscrewed yet.
-Peter
Yes, you do.
But it has to be line of sight.
Optimal FoF methodology is "shoot/don't shoot" a little green or red light in your sight picture.
We lost more people in Desert Storm to friendly fire (remeber, Murphy says "freindly fire . . . ain't.") than hostile fire.
So, in that confilict we would have gained more by FoF than by any other possible technologies.
-Peter
As a USAF pilot I see a lot of safety reports about JP4 and JP8, and it's amazing how unpredictable it can be. One aircraft lands safely with fuel pouring out of a broken fuel line, another lands flaming like a blowtorch. One guy gets away tossing a lit match into a bucket of JP8, another blows up himself and a hangar full of planes with a small static discharge spark during refuelling operations because he didn't ground himself properly and wasn't wearing approved clothing.
You're right of course, just being in combat is hazardous but we can at least try to minimize the risk level by minimizing as many self-induced threats as we can.
I'm certain that a bullet smacking the fuel cell will cause somewhat more concern than a bullet "merely" whizzing past or even striking a soldier's body armor. Body armor isn't proof against a liter or so of burning fuel. I'd expect the fuel cell to have some sort of containment system and it's own armor, but that's still a bunch of flammable goodness in your gear.
I'm sure the risk can be minimized to an acceptable level, but it will still remain a hazard. Considering that some soldiers were killed during Desert Storm by inadvertently injecting their own chem warfare antidote doses into their skulls when using their packs as pillows, these fuel cells had better be made extremely foolproof.
The amount of energy transferred from a modern rifle round is likely to be enough to ignite even methanol. Steel core bullets are commonly used and they can strike sparks (in addition to the impact energy they transfer) when they hit various materials.
The article also suggests that other fuels can be used including jet fuel, and this seems more likely as the soldiers could refill their fuel cells from the same source that refills tanks and other vehicles. It wouldn't be very efficient to require a brand new supply chain just for these fuel cells. Jet fuel also doesn't explode very easily (a common demonstration involves tossing a lit match into a bucket of jet fuel - it doesn't ignite), but tag a bottle full of the stuff with a high speed bullet and it will vaporize and ignite with a huge fireball. Methanol will do the same, and the trace amount of hydrogen present in the device may simply act as a trigger to ignite the rest of the stored fuel.
Of course, this is just quibbling. The point is that carrying liquid fuel is hazardous in a combat area.
That is exactly why you'd want a 3 pound generator instead of the 20 pound battery pack I had to lug around when I was in the infantry. And that damn battery pack didn't last us more than a couple of days!
Freevo - Linux Multimedia Jukebox
If I was in an infantry platoon during war, exploding power cells would be the least of my worries. Ever heard of machine gun fire, mines, and cluster bombs?
Freevo - Linux Multimedia Jukebox
They'll most likely come from www.grid.com - who already supply the military laptops. I had one of these to play with a few years ago, a 386, but for the time it was decent performancewise, and you could drive a truck over it, pick it up, open it, and go right back to work.
"That old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Friends don't let friends enable ecmascript.
I hate to say this, but even the best body armor isn't likely to offer much protection from a true sniper rifle.
neither would you explode and kill everyone if your 2 pound fuel cell got hit, "fuckface". Most of that two pounds is the casing...plus, hydrogen burns fast and not very hot. Its not napalm. It might give you the equivalent of a sunburn. 9th graders play with burning hydrogen in chemistry class.
think before you speak.
I didn't think so.
And how may I ask do they propose to connect my rifle, my laser targeting devices, my night vision goggles, and all the other equipment to that big battery? Wires? AA batteries don't weigh that much; definitely not enough to justify adding a 2-3 lb power generator to the 80 lb of equipment that I already have to carry around. Seriously, those designers need to be taken out to the field on a short infantry mission to ensure sanity.
Methonal = CH3OH
"huhuhuhh, go away. we're like closed or something"
A site called TimepassTown reportedly runs off a stack of fuel cells powered by methanol by products. Though the site doesn't have much info about fuel cells, the speed of the site is awesome.
Nuclear reactions, emission-less fuel systems - they're both the same... Genius A figures the science/technology behind one potentially helpful technology, and Genius B finds out how to use that technology to further the cause of war. If G.B. can.
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I like to watch.
Even if they shrink or lighten currently existing equipment, they'll just have the soldiers carry more shit with them. Hell, 100 years from now soldiers'll still carry 120 poinds of stuff, but 20 pounds of that will be a small fusion-powered factory that uses nano-bots to create ammunition from the surrounding soil.
well, maybe not, but they'll always be able to find more shit for the soldier to carry.
I read somewhere that mosquitos are attracted to carbon dioxide. The enemy would just have to listen for the sound of excessive bug-swatting, and open fire. (Either that, or use the mosquitos themselves to deliver a deadly payload.)
Corollary to Moore's Law: The IQ of new computer owners is declining.
obligatory body text
Corollary to Moore's Law: The IQ of new computer owners is declining.
As a follow-up to my own post (ok, roast me if you will :) I just found this in my bookmarks: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/land-warri or.htm seems a much more informative page about Land Warrior.
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
There's a few ways around this, using more modern technology, such as frequency hopping transmitters (if the frequencies are apart enough, the enemy RX won't be able to grab them all). Also, data burstable transmitters are generally the norm these days, as they are less of a security threat. Also, other mediums could be used, such as light/infra-red/ultra-violet line of site transmitters. This stuff's in the development stage, but I work with it directly, and I must say, it's pretty cool...
Karma: Good. I'm hoping in the same way as pizza is 'good'...
Yes. I work for the government, for a long time now. It's not impossible. It is difficult, depending on the system used. But the LOS systems are much more secure, and a ton more fun to play with...
Karma: Good. I'm hoping in the same way as pizza is 'good'...
However, gasoline vapor in air will. In Real Life, even. That's how internal combustion engines work.
2-3 doesn't sound so bad right?
But imagine if everyone making military equipment thought that?
2 dozen items 3 pounds each is 72 pounds of extra weight for our soldiers to carry, and that is a lot.
Of course, having a battery that weights 2-3 pounds is a lot better than 30...
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
Yes, this paint was (and may still be), quite popular in a lot of applications. Hence, if you read any old accounts of World War I or II Naval warfare, you will here reference to the paint burning on bulkheads.
Second this is methanol, which is basically an alcohol, it burns yes, but it isn't going to explode in the massive fireball your are talking about.
Third the generator is placed inside the pack, chances of hitting, are pretty slim.
You can't see it to target it
If spray enough lead around to hit it, then you are going to have taken the soldier down anyways, and the little poof, or fire at worst that results would be a minor thing compared to the fact that he is already KIA.
Also take into consideration the fact that they are using microchannels up to 500 microns wide, so the amount of hydrogen gas present at any given time will most likely be miniscule.
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There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes. -- Dr. Who
I bet the first folks who use this are the Special Forces. I talked to one about a project we're working on for them, and they have to transport a surprising amount of electricity-consuming stuff along with the batteries to power it all. Anything that can be done to reduce the weight they have to schlepp around will be most appreciated.
Hell, my school bag weighs like 35 lb, and I carry it without complaint, I don't think GI Joe (or jane) is going to mind another 3 lb. Now, the "laptop" is probably going to be big, rugged as hell and probably have some serious horsepower.
And wow. a week. Thats damn cool.
I want one of these damn things. Another reason to join the military? (you know, like on the commercials, "I learned alot . . . And got a free laptop", hey I didn't find it funny either.)
I have a shotgun, a shovel and 30 acres behind the barn.
1q2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9o0pqawsedrftgthyjukilo;p'azsxdcf
I have a shotgun, a shovel and 30 acres behind the barn.
1q2w3e4r5t6y7u8i9o0pqawsedrftgthyjukilo;p'azsxdcf
Is there any way to hinder the "science of war?"
You could bomb Sandia, Livermore, and JPL. That might hinder them a bit.
To seriously answer your question, though: No.
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Freeper Logic
Remember that warfare is "merely" the last step taken when non-violent diplomacy fails to produce the desired effects.
As opposed to violent diplomacy?
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Freeper Logic
here
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Freeper Logic
CH2O being formaldehyde, not the best thing to be spewing out as waste...
There are 1.1... kinds of people.
Most Laptops weigh this much.
First - they are very small containers of hydrocarbons, and they are much less dangerous than the equivalent amount of hydrogen.
Second - if you could shoot the fuel cell, why not just shoot the soldier?
Third - I don't know if you've noticed but the military does pretty good with protecting our soldiers. If this turns our as big a liability as you say, they'll figure out something to mitigate it or drop the system.
(Actually, I think this would be great for our (us being the US) soldiers because of the offensive capabilies it'd add - thermal imaging will let our snipers own theirs!)
Kurdt
Kurdt
I'm not anti-social. Just pro-technology.
As new technology goes toward high performance, low emission, zero pollution technologies to produce power.
I like Peter F. Hamiltons (read his books) ideas - most of his tech is powered by fuel cells - all of them running a combination of He3 and deuterium (heavy hydrogen)...
Interesting! Are we slowly progressing towards cold fusion? I found spectrum tech. corp., they seem to have a patent on some fuel for fuel cells, called HOD (Hydrogen-Oxygen-Deuterium). They've been mentioned a few places...
Also I stumbled across something called PPC - Patterson Power Cell - It seems that Mr. Patterson believes that his tech will make fossil fuels obsolote - that would be really cool! Read more here
Try doing a google search for "deuterium fuel cell" - You'll get a lot of interesting hits!
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
Booyah good or booyah bad?
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--hongpong.com
My guess would be either
(2)H2 + CO, or
H20 + H2 + C
They aren't *that* big, and if they could hit you there, they might as well shoot you in the face.
Alright, who's up on their organic chem?
-tarkas
Anyway, the darn things are recycleable and have a pretty good specific energy. (energy per unit mass). Sounds promising, anyway.
-tarkas
Not if the hydrogen is generated slowly and as needed. Although methanol doesn't like being shot at either.
In the unlikely event that a bullet hits the primer of the round, the grenade has to travel a certain distance, I'm not sure how far, but at least 10m, before it goes off.
It's more likely IMHO that some joker next to you throws the pin... PEBCAK.
If, heaven forbid, the United States was attacked on our own land.
That is not a likley thing that will happen. Most countries that are considered threats are very far away. You cant count Mexico or Canada. If a country tried a land attack against the US, they would have to transport their troops either by Sea or Air. Sea is a better option than air because our Fighter Pilots will easily shoot down enemy air craft transporters as they are slow etc. Granted they will be accompanied by fighters and thats fine. Our Radar systems will intercept enemy plans a LONG time before they get even close.
By Sea would be a better choice as most of the US Navy is not near the US coastland. Although a country sending in troops by sea would run into a LOT of US Citizens who would not be too happy. Granted a lot of them would run far away, there would also be a lot who would fight back.
If the US got invaded by land you would see a milita form faster than you could blink. Using Cell phones and radio equipment could coordinate a nice counter-attck. Granted the losses would be HUGE compared to a trained army. And granted we as citizens dont have the weaponry to take out tanks and heavy artillery but we do have enough people to slow down a attack until the Military gets there. I do have weaponry at home that will go through any military body armor out there from a nice distance. Its called a 50 Caliber rifle. It will nicely stop a lightly armored vehicle and go through ANY personal body armor. It also has a very nice range.
Arathres
I love my iBook. I use it to run Linux!
stainless steel
these cells are relatively tiny. Hydrogen, does not let off some kind of devastating explosion. Perhaps a little puff of a flame if compromised (one must assume these things are very well built..it would be far easier and more devastating to set off a grenade someone is carrying as opposed to this thing).
What does having to get hydrogen from gasoline have to do anything? Is the hydrogen from gasoline somehow different from plain ole' hydrogen? heh..
As someone pointed out, its alot easier (and more effective) to simply shoot someone in the head than try and hit the little power generator..
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This could be a painfully long list, rather than a short, tiresome rant; but to my point, the military has money to burn and likes to invest it in the next generation of consumer goods. The world and all it's fruits are born from the seeds sown in the quest for a better Reaper. It's hard to argue with a formula that provided both the Death Star and 99 Luft ballons.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
The byproduct would probably be plain old carbon dioxide, which the soldier is producing already.
A customer service representative will be with me shortly.
Not that we need war but...
I wouldn't mind seeing the day that that combat suit absorbs solar energy, gravity, air pressure etc & converts the used fuel back into methanol.
Just for the coolness factor.
Oh &
"It uses a ***proprietary*** catalyst to produce hydrogen from hydrocarbon fuels"
Desert Storm was not a good example of future war's. We were fighting an army with technology generations behind us. Obviously our biggest threat is China, which I am sure is better armed then Iraq was. Not to mention huge amount's of troops is thier big advantage.
If, heaven forbid, the United States was attacked on our own land. Ground troops would be the way to defend. Not launching missles and blowing away our homeland. No matter the new technology, the ground troop is here to stay. And it is to our advantage to outfit them with the best equipment possible.
I would love to see things from your point of view. But I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass
I thought the Hindenburg burned so rapidly due to the aluminum paint the Nazi's used, rather than the Hydrogen gas.
Not withstanding the effectiveness of airpower, if one wants to own a piece of real estate, one needs to have grunts on the ground covering it, period. We currently do not possess any better way of controlling a piece of land than actually having troops on it. What Desert Storm proofed is that we could force them to pull back, but we could not reclaim Kuwait until we actually put troops on the ground.
...and what happens when a bullet hits the existing 20lb battery pack? Mmm, battery acid frosting.
Carpe Cerevisi - Seize the Beer
It takes 3 times more Hydrogen vapor in the air than gasoline for combustion to occur
---- Smokin' another sig.
I was afraid when I saw the name of the company building it, until I realized that it wasn't Pacific Consultants :)
"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog!" - a dog
The medical reference stuff would only be useful for advanced stuff. I'm just trying to imagine my infantry patient when I pull the computer out. "Hmmm, looks like you got appendicitis. Lemme pull that file up... Got it. That doesn't look too bad... Okay... I'm going in." (Maybe there's an open source medical series from Oreilly?)
On a serious note. Medics have to carry about 50 lbs more equipment than the infantry guys. (In the units I was in I also had to help carry the m60 ammo. Those bastards...) The thought of having to carry around any extra computer equipment and power sounds like a back breaker.
The battle field is not 'the place where the shooting is happening' the battlefield is everything involved in war, this includes the support crew. Also, all members of the armed forces train with weapons, and most the support crews carry weapons. I didn't say that they where not going to used in battle ever, I said they where not going to be used in battle for the time being. This was mainly directed towards the 'But if they get shot they will blow up' comments that where springing up like crazy.
Just because the article talks about there uses in combat doesn't mean that they will be used in combat first. Usually in the military things are tested in non-critical areas first, like portable/wearable computers in this case. I was attempting to explain that we will see things like this pop up in less critical applications first and then slowly move it onto the battle field (after it has been proven).
Soldiers are professionals. They don't enjoy the luxury of cowardice that some civilians might. Ammo, grenades, rockets, and demolitions are all combustible . . . and regularly carried by our armed forced while on the battlefield.
Phosphorus tipped bullets present a considerable hazard in themselves. But that original fantasical senario is a true sign to Hollywood's penetration into mainstream thinking, or lack thereof. Only in a movie would a sniper take the time and risk to aim for a relatively small, shielded, and hidden fuel cell, when they could go for the obvious head-torso kill-zone.
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First - The author of the parent comment DIDN'T FUCKING SAY that these people are carrying pure hydrogen on them. Observe his SECOND LINE : "These fuel cells are going to get their hydrogen from liquid fuels like gasoline, or diesel."
Second - Why not just shoot the soldier? BECAUSE if said soldier is among 10 other soldiers and a bullet hits him in the head, he dies, no one else. If it hits him in a tank of methanol, the above stated 10 soldiers WILL FUCKING BURN YOU RETARD.
Third - Please shut the fuck up. This is very cool tech and the parent poster was pointing out a perceived flaw. You tried to correct him and on every point and failed.
(Yes, even the third, nationalist, point about your total faith in the US Army!)
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WHO ATE MY BREAKFAST PANTS?
Well, they will detonate externally, most of the time, unless Sgt. John "butterfingers" Smith is on board.
"So tell me again what this red button does..."
what happens if a bullet hits it and, assuming this is a hydrogen fuel cell, which seems likely, you would have a nice little blast
Webmaster - CoasterCount.com
TODO: Something witty here...
But what is this exactly? Fuel cell technology is a revolutionary concept that can change the world for the better in so many ways. It's incredibly frustrating to see it most eagerly developed for use in powering means to more accurrately destroy stuff.
Can't anything be done by people who believe in promoting peace and improving the human condition against this kind of crap? Is there any way to hinder the "science of war?"
Why bother.
... to develop a technology for something that is now obsolete, that is the common ground soldier. Desert Storm proved that wars are best fought and won from the air, using precision weapons the minimize damage to surrounding areas. There is no place for the foot soldier anymore, Vietnam proved that.
"If the Lord had meant for us to fly, He'd have given us wings with which to soar...." William, 14:35
SALAD BARF! DELI-DUMP SUSPECT NABBED
A gross-out gourmet was caught dumping human waste on a Midtown salad bar - and is suspected in more than a dozen similar stomach-turning incidents, police said.
Workers at the deli grabbed the feces-flinging fiend after they noticed him emptying two bottles of disgusting-smelling liquid onto food trays in the back of the store at around 5:40 p.m., police said.
Cops responding to the bizarre call arrested Arellano and confiscated the bottles, which were sent to the Health Department for testing.
"Oh, it makes me sick just thinking about it," said Alpine customer Dawn Riggins, a 33-year-old beautician from The Bronx. "What kind of person would do that? It's disgusting."
Arellano was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, criminal tampering and public urination.
And in a twist sure to make Midtown workers lose their lunch - or never eat it again - police said they are investigating numerous other incidents at eateries in Penn Station, Grand Central Terminal, and around 42nd Street.
Officials said Arellano has already been identified by witnesses as the man who recently tried to foul the food at Mike's Take-Away Deli in Grand Central, and will soon be charged in that case.
Other suspected victims of the dung-disher in the past few days include a Krispy Kreme, Zaro's Bakery, and Caruso's Pizza in Penn Station, police sources said.
Police are also investigating him for other alleged incidents, officials said.
Police said several proprietors witnessed what they thought was bizarre behavior by a man matching Arellano's description - while others had customers complain of foul odors coming from certain foods.
Deli customer Keshia Williamson said the incident explains why deli salads often taste like, er, garbage.
"I'm sure this happens at other delis, too," said the 21-year-old college student. "The person who did this is an animal. He could've gotten people sick.
"I'm not going to eat anything more from a salad bar."
_________________________
On their site they have pictures of what a fuel cell vehicle gas station upgrade will look like -- very cool!
YMMV, but as long as you've got the documentation, you shouldn't have a problem.
- A.P.
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Forget Napster. Why not really break the law?
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I suggest that these fuel cells should be used to improve heads-up displays. If you see a fuel cell and pick it up, you can gain more information about enemies when you're looking at them, such as how much ammo they have in their current weapon, or how injured they are. It would be best if, when you picked up the cell, it made some sort of "power-up" sound to tell you that you have in fact picked it up and deployed it.
But if the military is really serious, it would be far more advantageous to begin work on cheap, easily-found rocket launchers. I realize that the hand-held, shoulder-launched nuclear weapon is against the Geneva Convention. But from experience I can tell you that a rocket launcher is far more important to have than any dumb fuel cell. With that kind of weapon you do have to watch out for walls, which is important to remember, because most war in the future is going to happen indoors.
The man-portable generator would power laser-range finders and heads-up displays used by soldiers in the future
...will allow the soldier to be aware of their location, as well as that of fellow soldiers
says the legend on a picture of a soldier with rifle.
The lead sentence says
When 21st century soldiers suit up for the battlefield
More quotes:
The increased power density would allow soldiers to either reduce their load or greatly extend their missions
By then, we expect infantry soldiers to use a variety of electronic gear
Did you read the article?
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Infuriate left and right
um..that's one tenth
look at it as a mathematician, not an english major
rark!
This might come as a shock.. but Hydrogen is not 'highly explosive'. It will burn, yes, but only with the appropriate supply of oxygen. It's not like tnt, or other explosives that are ready to explode; they just need a certain amount of energy to start the reaction.
Hydrogen will burn.. you might think of the Hinenberg disaster? I turns out, after all these years, that what caused the explosive burning of the Hindenberg was not the hydrogen, but actually the coating used on the canvas covering of the blimp. It contained the ingredients for solid rocket fuel (unknown at the time).
Also, fuel cells like these don't have large supplies of compressed Hydrogen; they extract it from a hydrocarbon, methanol in this case I think. It's more efficient to carry fuel, and you don't mess with compressed canisters.
You may not be able to take a fuel-cell-powered computer on a civilian commercial aircraft. A military aircraft is a different matter -- well, some of them are designed to carry bombs..although the bombs are supposed to detonate externally.
I've seen several posts about explosions.
.223 to mortar rounds to 40mm grenades), (and probably explosives if I am an engineer.) I don't think a 3 pound power unit is going to turn effective soldiers into walking ordnance.
First, in battle these guys are carrying grenades, ammo (from
Second, the tank isn't going to have oxygen in it, so why would it explode? It seems like there would be a fireball where the fuel escapes, but that not nearly as big of a problem (like gut wound vs. singed uniform/missing eyebrows.) Not that it is trivial, but there are bigger fish to fry on the battlefield.
Come to think of it; if this thing could power effective friend/foe ID it would be well worth the risk.
-Peter
Why can't they just chain together a bunch of potatos like that spudserver? They could get higher voltages and power density by slicing them thin and stacking them in a tube. Sure, it wouldn't last quite a week and they might need to pay the folks at Pringles for using their idea, but they could EAT the spuds if they got hungry so that would make up for it. I read somewhere on the internet that the military is working on a super high power laser defense system for it's portable kitchens that is powered entirely by army rations. Point defense AND it's tasty! I want to be an army cook just to get to shoot those lasers.
This does make a good target if your a sniper and believe that your target may be wearing body armor. It's already located at about the center of mass for the person so if you actually miss the fuel cell you'll still probably take out your target.
What happens if this thing gets punctured by something besides a sniper, say for instance a little shrapnel. If the soldier doesn't realize it the flash from his gun, or nearby flame, could ignite the vapor depending on what liquid fuel is used.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
These fuel cells are going to get their hydrogen from liquid fuels like gasoline, or diesel.
Seems like it would be a little dangerous to carry a fairly large container of gasoline on ones back while being shot at and dodging shrapnel. These would make easy targets for a sniper, just shoot it with a phosphorus tipped bullet and BAMMMM flaming soldier.
Environmentalists are their own worst enemy. ~tricklenews.com
It's possible that the processore would 'burn' the CO with free air to produce CO.
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Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
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I like to watch.
I don't have my other links to details now but could retrieve if anyone's interested (i used LW as an example of a wearable computer for User Interface Seminar - i bet the only person in the history of such classes to use LW for wearables example and Abrams' IVIS system for car computers example :)
"The right to figure things out for yourself is the only true freedom everyone shares. Go use it"-R.A.Heinlein
The formula for methanol is (IIRC) CH3OH - a methane molecule with one of the hydrogen ions replaced with a hydroxol group. Ethanol (the stuff in your beer) is C2H5OH, ethane with a hydroxol added. Combustion of either in an oxygen atmosphere releases C02, H2O (carbon dioxide and water). Compared to the equivelent hydrocarbon, combustion of an alcohol gives 1 more water molocule and a little less engergy. High school chemistry was a looong time ago, so I might have made a mistake.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Now don't get me wrong: I have a lot of respect for the guys who DO go out and put their asses in the line of fire (Hi, little brother), but it's a job best left to people who enjoy it and are good at it - because it's a HARD FUCKING JOB. I know where my talents lie, and they aren't in humping a pack & rifle around -- I did enough of it to know that I'd be more of a liability to an infantry squad than an asset, despite having qualified as expert with every weapon I trained on. I can (and did) help the guys in the trenches by hacking on systems that gather & distribute intelligence so they know where the bad guys are and what they are up to. Being a REMF may not have the glamor and machismo of being a "warfighter", but they are just as important in the big picture.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Deuterium IS toxic, but not by much. 1/6000 of seawater is D2O.
Drinking 100% D2O will be bad for you.
Once you hit 50% D2O in your cells they can't divide, and you get symptoms a lot like radiation poisoning or chemo.
This page talks about the toxicity of heavy water
A few drops of it probably won't do much, but I am not a toxicologist...
Just because it CAN be done, doesn't mean it should!
But there's something vital being missed here:
If bullets are hitting the soldier wearing this thing there is a vastly more immediate problem than "will my electronic device explode?" The questions consuming the soul of the servicemember will be "how can I stop getting shot?" and "who is shooting at me, that I may kill them?"
Somehow, I don't think the wheet! of a round whistling past my ear will induce deep concern for my computer equipment.
//KhM
//Now with bleach!
REM Old programmers don't die. They just GOSUB without RETURN.
I've been looking for a while for better sources of portable power, and hoping for a project like this. Fuel cells have been around for some time but not sold commercially because they are not commercially viable.
But I've been wondering if there's any way to get convenient power out off the grid that's portable, and can generate the 10-15 watts they are talking about for this project. A fuel cell that could run off typical camp stove fuels would of course do the trick.
But what about a tiny generator? How practical would a 12v generator that ran off camp stove fuel be? You couldn't wear it on your body, probably, but it could still have a lot of other application s for mobile equipment. Anybody heard of one of these?
Has it been over a year since you last donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation
An Army grunt stands in the rain with a 35 lb pack on his back, 15lb weapon in hand, after marching 12 miles, and says "God, this is SHIT."
An Army Airborne grunt stands in the rain with a 45lb pack on his back weapon in hand, after jumping from an airplane and marching 18 miles, and says with a smile "God, this is THE shit."
An Army Airborne Ranger lies in the mud, 55lb pack on his back, weapon in hand, after jumping from a plane into the swamp and marching 25 miles at night past the enemy, and says with a grin,"God, I LOVE this shit!"
An Army Green Beret, Airborne/Ranger/Pathfinder qualified, kneels up to his nose in the stinking, infested mud of a swamp with a 65lb pack on his back and a weapon in both hands after jumping from an airplane into the ocean, swimming 10 miles to the swamp and killing an alligator, then crawling 30 miles through the brush to assault the enemy camp. He says with a passionate snarl, "God, gimmee Some MORE of this shit!"
An Air Force cadet sits in an easy chair in his air-conditioned, carpeted room and says,"The cable's out? What kind of shit is that?!?"
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Dyolf Knip
2-3 pounds is absolutely nothing when you consider that a full canteen of water weighs about that much. Having spent some time in uniform having to carry all manner of things on my person across all sorts of terraine I can say that 2-3 is *nothing*. What counts most is how awkward these things are and if they can be assimilated into the rest of your equipment. As an aside, my understanding is that the batteries for stinger missiles are both heavy and awkward so maybe these things can be of use in more than 1 application. I don't know too much about stinger missiles though, I was a medic.>:)
I'm not sure what the imperical formula for Methanol is, but I'm sure it's not only Hydrogen. Shouldn't there be other chemicals/elements left over too?
Sounds fair to me.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Slightly more practical, it should be no big trick to take the small 2-stroke gasoline engine off a gas-powered string trimmer and use it to power a small DC generator. Getting a generator of the right scale would be a problem, but you could probably find a permanent magnet DC motor the right size to run in reverse.
Yet more practical, Mother Earth News once ran an article about converting a lawnmower into a portable DC arc welder using a car battery and alternator. This was a very cool project which I wish I had the time to try. You could, of course, use the same technique to power any 12V project. I could see this being used, for example, for a fairly high-power ham rig if you couldn't get a car to the site.
The problem is that the efficiency of IC/SGS-generator production goes down with the scale. The smaller you make it, the less well it works -- which is why, of the examples I give here, only the welder is practical for anything. They're also noisy, require a lot of maintenance, and tend not to run reliably for long periods of time. At the scale of hand-carried portable, they just aren't practical.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Just make sure the Chinese don't manage to get their hands on this technology... oh, nevermind, you can't take it on plaines.
The article is talking about a fuel processor, which produces the hydrogen which is then fed into a fuel cell. The fuel cell itself is existing tech, the innovation here is the processor.
Seems to me that this would have great applications elsewhere, say in remotely-located weather stations.
So I guess that's negative nine times the weight of current batteries.
Have you ever noticed that moderators usually knee-jerk moderate comments below #20 down? I suppose I should type more slowly. And they collectively have little sense of off the wall humor, I suppose that's why SpanishInquisition never posts anymore, I really liked him.
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--hongpong.com
I heard a piece on the radio a few weeks ago about an even smaller fuel cell--about the size of a thimble--that could be used to fuel cellular phones... I dont recall if the technology was actually available now or not... I think that hydrogen fuel cells are the only real viable alternative energy source, ballard fuel cells have been used in several large cities to power public transportation for some time now. Another advantage is that hydrogen in its liquified form can be distributed with little modification to todays gas distribution infastructure.
These will not be used in battle for the time being. These are mostly for behind the lines type of service. One example I know of is a active repair utility. You can pull up all the documentation you need to repair a vehicle on the field without having to call or talk to somebody. You can also look at the schematic of something without carrying around piles of papers. And when your underneath something trying to put it back together, its really nice to just pull up the information you need on a wearable computer instead of having to continuously remove yourself to look at a laptop or desktop computer.
The same ideas could be applied to medical personnel. Having a complete online medical resource kit could be really useful when in the middle of nowhere trying to repair bullet wounds.