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Electromagnetic Ship Docking System Debuts
Makarand writes "A system that uses electromagnets for docking ships is getting ready to be tested at a port in the
Netherlands according to this
article in the New Scientist. Magnetic docking systems were never used in the past as magnetic fields
posed dangers to sensitive cargo like TVs and monitors. Researchers at the
Delft University of Technology have developed electromagnets whose magnetic fields do not
penetrate far into the ship for this special application.
The magnets can be periodically switched off and on rapidly to allow ships
to rise and fall with the tide."
Electromagnetic ship docking systems are very attractive.
after all, who else needs four inch diameter hemp ropes in this day and age...?
Errm... Don't know about that, but in Holland they have better uses for hemp...
2. Invent electromagnetic ship docking system 3. Call it a tractor beam! 4. Profit!!!!
Japanese Sumo porn stars?
> Not that I think people should be kicked out of jobs by robots.
Except possibly pusher or shover robots.
That and it'll mess round with everyone's voice in the area.
Imagine the scene with 40 big burly guys hulking ropes around, trying to moor the boat the old way after a critical leak. All the while screaming at each other in those voices, hell this scene alone almost justifies the project.
Robots are a serious threat to our way of life; robots eat old people's medicine for fuel and they have metal arms and hands that are much stronger than our own fleshy hands and arms!
The Navy tried this using the USS Philadelphia, but the field was too strong, and the ship disappeared. It came back later filled with drunken Eagles fans.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Let's replace time-proven, reliable, cheap, classical "rope and metal mushroom" technology with complex electronics and computers!
After all, we have to find "jobs" for all the engineering graduates that the cults pump out!
(Hemp is the male plant, FYI. Smokable herb comes from the female.)
And I know for a fact that you can easily recognize the male hemp because it grows nuts. They're huge and hairy, almost like coconuts.
No Problem, they got a great deal on some slightly used APC UPS units.
Maybe they could apply this to parking those huge SUVs that always seem to park near me... it seem that those soccer moms choose the optimum position for their bratty kids to bash their doors into my car.
>push orange button
The writing on the button changes as you press it
The Royal Barge drifts slowly around the bend, ending up near the western bank of the canal.
>read orange button
The huge orange button reads: MagnetoMoor off
>_
(From 'Leather Goddesses of Phobos' Infocom, 1986)
I hope the pilot remembers to attend the academy lecture on conservation of tractor beam power!