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Department of Defense Gadget Show
blackp writes "DefenseLINK has an article about Force Protection Equipment Demonstration IV. This year they had over 2,600 gadget and equipment for defense and government agencies. The list includes kevlar suits, body heat camo, a RoBoCop Suit, even biometric identification. Some pictures are available, although somewhat limited. This show seems perfect for the geek with a big budget." Or the government with a big budget. Still, some neat things on display.
Does that mean the first one will be really good, but the second and third one would be shit?
Fist Sport!
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
This year's one day seminar on Integrating Speech Technology in Language Learning has been cancelled. The InSTIL seminar was all that had been left of what was once a funded U.S. research program to use speech recognition to help people learn to read. However, over the past few years the budget of the Interagency Educational Research Initiative has been slashed and the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership program has been ZEROED. The IERI and LAAP programs were created to deal with DARPA funding deficencies, but DARPA has not taken up the slack for speech recognition in language instruction. Fewer U.S. polyglots will have a far greater impact on intelligence-gathering efforts than bandaids like Project Babylon or any of the DARPA advanced speech recognition programs can possibly provide. Please join me in asking John Poindexter and his advisory board and NIST to help get this vital funding back in the budget.
Also, the Linguistic Data Consortium sent their catalog update out yesterday. As usual, there are no new corpi of people attempting to read a language as they are acquiring it, at any age.
Kevlar Depends for when something goes BANG in a big way?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Check out the power point presentation:
Pigeons
Pigeons will be available on a first come first served basis in the Hangers.
Plastic sheeting will be available to vendors in the hanger areas.
Shooting of pigeons, even with non-lethal weapons, is not allowed.
and of course...
Marines at the FPED are not an on-site Labor Force. Attempting to use them as such is at your own risk
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
CowboyNeal writes:
"Some pictures are available, although somewhat limited..."
You could say that. There is one picture of a treaded robot/tank, a picture of a girl with a standard ATM-ish card reader and finally, to really show off the state-of-the-art, a picture of a guy with a dog.
My
Limekiller
FFS guys, your .mil just took over an entire contry in a month... do you realy think it needs more power?
You have apparently missed Rule 1 of warfare:
There is no such thing as a fair fight.
Well, you missed Rule 2 also:
Don't bring a knife to a gunfight.
Well, maybe Rule 3 also:
If the enemy is in shooting range you are too.
(modified by asymetric Artillery advantages and close air support)
Well, Rule 4 too . . .
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
Couldn't they just mod an AIBO to do that job? Especially for the Bunker Buster job: Strap some C4 to it, "Woof! Woof! Time to die.. BOOM!" (Okay, I'm joking about the AIBO, but haven't we seen oodles of home robot Slashdot articles in the last couple of months that could probably do the job for less, and be controlled by a cell phone?)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
My company was there this year and a couple years ago (we do risk management software). The show is quite interesting because it's a good mix of technologies, from Jersey barriers to bullet-proof glass to software. It's also not just a cheesy trade show, but some serious display by both commercial companies and Gov't agencies. The site for the show is here.
The coolest technology was a compressed-air powered bullet for training. Police and military can use their service weapons to basically play paintball. It's nice because the feel of the weapon is exactly what it would be in real-life situations instead of them having to use a fake training weapon with different characteristics.
--- witty signature
... after you attend, they have to kill you.
-pyrrho
Considering the U.S.'s behaviour, don't you think the so called Department of "Defense" should consider a name change?
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
Here's the thing I was trying to get at before I was modded down to -1. Fighting wars is inevitable, but a rapid buildup of military might so far above and beyond even the next most powerful country is a sure-fire strategy for hastening the next war.
What the soldier, sailor, or airman cares about is irrelevent. They are training for war and of course they want the latest and greatest gadgets when they go into battle. But they are not the ones who decide military strategy nor State department strategy. We hope that those in the upper echelons of government have the insight and foresight to avert wars when at all possible. When these leaders are only focused in war waging instead of peace making we end up with a situation not unlike what we are faced with now, i.e. a world suspicious of the United States and its motives.
There was a great SNL skit back when Reagan was President where Reagan and his policy advisor were preparing for a meeting with the Russian premiew. The policy advisor role played as Gorby and asked the President, "With a fully functional missile defense shield, won't the USA be able to attack the USSR with impunity?" (paraphrased) The President just sat there with a puzzled look. It was pretty poignant. This is the biggest problem with a huge unbalance of power. The smaller states must ally amongst themselves *against* the larger power and be wary of even the slightest aggressive move on the large power's part. This is because they must either look out for their own safety or trust the larger power not to abuse its dominant position. Only one of those choices is a real option, and it doesn't bode well for either the dominant power or peace in general.
I have been pwned because my
Funny how nobody ever brings up China or the Soviet Union in these discussions. Or Cuba, which doesn't even need a defense force. These nations routinely spent 40% or more of their entire economies on defense spending, and let their people starve as a result. Oh, but the U.S. spends 4%, and we need to cut it in order to nourish people who hate us. That's just peachy.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
Never get involved in a land war in Asia? Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line?
There are no trails. There are no trees out here.