Slashdot Mirror
Tiny RC Tanks That Fight
Daniel Rutter writes "I've just reviewed a couple of Konami's Combat DigiQs - tiny little remote controlled tanks that can shoot each other. You can stage a two-, three- or four-tank battle, every tank for himself or in teams of two, on a coffee table. They rock."
I've solved this problem by continuing to buy toys for myself - and now I've got money!
Fact is that as a kid I don't think I would have appreciated the coolness of this. A friend of mine had one of those helicopters that flew in circles, and model rocketry stuff, and I liked it but I thought it was all part of being a kid.
Now I own a Vectron Flying Saucer and a bunch of other cool stuff, and I still play with at much as if I were a kid. But now I realized how awesome it is scientifically, and the fact that things weren't always this cool.
Somehow wanting something for thiry years makes it that much sweeter. Makes me look forward to being eighty.
-------
Believe me, I'm as surprised by my comment as you are.
Dan did some nice review with the DigiQ tanks. The tanks use IR that the IR receiver on any notebook can pick up. Coupled with a small custom application that detects the incoming commands and deciphers them you can play appropriate audio files to enhance the ongoing battle. Run it through your stereo system and it can get pretty noisy. Now I'm wondering if the IR port on my Sony CLIE Palm Pilot can be trained to control these beasties. :-)
I couldn't agree more.
...and a right to a political, economic, and social situation in which these rights can be be realized.
Whether the actions of the Bush administration are morally praiseworthy or blameworthy in acting is irrelevant to the issue of whether or not an injustice or justice is done to the people of Iraq. Even if Bush called for the invasion of Iraq only to benefit oil companies and to ensure his re-election, this is irrelevant to the issue of whether injustice or justice is done to the people of Iraq. It has very little to do with "weapons of mass destruction". It has very little to do with "terrorism". It has very little to do with "threatening its neighbors". Whether or not there are other nations of people who also need to be freed is irrelevant to the matter of whether or not an injustice or justice is done to the Iraqi people.
Whether or not Bush or anyone else in Washington have even a single moral credit to their names, I don't care. A nation of 35 (?) million people matters more than whether or not Bush accrues moral virtue by taking the right actions for the right reasons.
We as members of the global community believe that people, simply in virtue of being people, have certain inalienable rights. They have a right to own property, to shelter, to nutrition, to have a job, to a livable wage, to equal pay for equal work, to pursue political office, to freely and openly express dissenting opinions about their government, to free and open elections, to commit to a relationship with a person of their choosing, to raise a family,
Certainly the U.S. does not exemplify all of these qualities and maybe not even most of them, but that does not change the simple fact that we have every reason to believe that the people of Iraq will be signifcantly more free and significantly more able to exercise these inalienable rights than they currently are or would have been in the forseeable future had this action not been taken.
It is a greater justice that is done to Iraq than in our time has been done to anyone else. Our administration may accrue moral blame by taking this action for the wrong reasons or where they had an obligation to help others in greater need, but again that is irrelevant to the matter of whether or not an injustice or justice is done to the people of Iraq.
No wonder the US is always going after a war. I really have a problem when anything related to war is turned into a game (see Sony trademarking "Shock and Awe"). What's next: toy civilians that bleed just like real ones?
Opus: the Swiss army knife of audio codec
Someone already mentioned hooking up an IR controller to their serial port, but what about for over the net multiplayer? Some strategicly placed cameras, 4 tanks, 4 players. I'd do this to have battles with my friends over fields of 486 hardware. I'm sure you could figure out some cool scenarios too with extra IR receivers/senders on the battle field. Stationary guns for defense, minefields, etc. Maybe a game where one team must defend an IR target while the other attacks. This is a must have toy.
Cthulhu Saves.
If they bring it to show their friends at class, they'll probably be suspended for bringing a weapon to school.
Sorry to rain on the funniest damn comment I've read in months... but that's the sad fact of "zero tolerance".
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Okay, I know, there are legions of spoiled kids whose parents can't stop buying expensive gifts for them.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
aww shut up you fuckin bastard.