Slashdot Mirror
Desert Robot Race Update, With Video
An anonymous reader writes "Several teams have moved forward with their bid to run the Barstow-Vegas Desert Robot Race (For those not familiar check out http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge ). As of today 55 teams are registered, some of the most interesting are Cal Tech, AI Magic, and the Red Team out of Carnegie Mellon. Also fishing around the Red Team site, there is a pretty nifty video."
By Tim Copperfield
New York, NY - GNAA (Gay Nigger Association of America) today announced acquisition of The SCO Group for $26.9 million in stock and $40 million in gay niggers.
GNAA today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the intellectual property and technology assets of The SCO Group, a leading provider of Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, based in Lindon, Utah. GNAA's acquisition of SCO technology will help GNAA sign up more members worldwide. In addition to developing new solutions, GNAA will use SCO engineering expertise and technology to enhance the GNAA member services.
"I'd love to see these GNAA types slowly consumed by millions of swarming microbes and converted into harmless and useful biochemicals." said an anonymous slashdot poster, blinded by the GNAA success in achieving first post on a popular geek news website, slashdot.org.
"This GNAA shit is getting out of hand. Slashdot needs troll filters. Or better yet a crap flood mod that I can exclude from my browsing. Seriously, a good troll is art, what you dumb fucks are doing is just plain stupid." said spacecowboy420.
macewan, on linuxquestions said "Thanks for that link to the SCO quotes page. My guess is that they want to be bought out. Hrm, think they want GNAA to buy them??"
After careful consideration and debate, GNAA board of directors agreed to purchase 6,426,600 preferred shares and 113,102 common shares (the equivalent of 150,803 ADSs) of SCO, for an aggregate consideration of approximately US$26.9 million and approximately $40 million for gay niggers that were working in Lindon, Utah offices of The SCO Group.
If all goes well, the final decision is to be expected shortly, followed by transfer of most SCO niggers from their Lindon, UT offices to the GNAA Headquarters in New York.
About GNAA
GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the first organization which
gathers GAY NIGGERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIGGERS.
Are you GAY ?
Are you a NIGGER ?
Are you a GAY NIGGER ?
If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, then GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
Join GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time GNAA member.
GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIGGER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America. You, too, can be a part of GNAA if you join today!
Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!
First, you have to obtain a copy of GAY NIGGERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it.
Second, you need to succeed in posting a GNAA "first post" on slashdot.org, a popular "news for trolls" website
Third, you need to join the official GNAA irc channel #GNAA on EFNet, and apply for membership.
Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today!
If you are having trouble locating #GNAA, the official GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA irc channel, you might be on a wrong irc network. The correct network is EFNet, and you can connect to irc.secsup.org or irc.isprime.com as one of the EFNet servers.
If you do not have an IRC client handy, you are free to use the GNAA Java IRC client by clicking here.
About S
linux sux
gathers GAY NIGGERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIGGERS.
Are you GAY ?
Are you a NIGGER ?
Are you a GAY NIGGER ?
If you answered "Yes" to any of the above questions, then GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
Join GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time GNAA member.
GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIGGER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America. You, too, can be a part of GNAA if you join today!
Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!
First, you have to obtain a copy of GAY NIGGERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it.
Second, you need to succeed in posting a GNAA "first post" on slashdot.org, a popular "news for trolls" website
Third, you need to join the official GNAA irc channel #GNAA on EFNet, and apply for membership.
Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today!
If you are having trouble locating #GNAA, the official GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA irc channel, you might be on a wrong irc network. The correct network is EFNet, and you can connect to irc.secsup.org or irc.easynews.com as one of the EFNet servers.
If you do not have an IRC client handy, you are free to use the GNAA Java IRC client by clicking here.
If you have mod points and would like to support GNAA, please moderate this post up.
This post brought to you by Penisbird , a proud member of the GNAA
G_____________________________________naann_______ ________G
N_____________________________nnnaa__nanaaa_______ ________A
A____________________aanana__nannaa_nna_an________ ________Y
A_____________annna_nnnnnan_aan_aa__na__aa________ ________*
G____________nnaana_nnn__nn_aa__nn__na_anaann_MERI CA______N
N___________ana__nn_an___an_aa_anaaannnanaa_______ ________I
A___________aa__ana_nn___nn_nnnnaa___ana__________ ________G
A__________nna__an__na___nn__nnn___SSOCIATION_of__ ________G
G__________ana_naa__an___nnn______________________ ________E
N__________ananan___nn___aan_IGGER________________ ________R
A__________nnna____naa____________________________ ________S
A________nnaa_____anan____________________________ ________*
G________anaannana________________________________ ________A
N________ananaannn_AY_____________________________ ________S
A________ana____nn_________IRC-EFNET-#GNAA________ ________S
A_______nn_____na_________________________________ ________O
*_______aaaan_____________________________________ ________C
um, dolor. Nunc nec nisl. Phasellus blandit tempor augue. Donec arcu orci, adipiscing ac, interdum a, tempus nec, enim. Phasellus placerat iaculis orci. Crasa sit amet quam. Sed enim quam, porta quis, aliquet quis, hendrerit ut, sem. Etiam felis tellus, suscipit et, consequat quis, pharetra sit amet, nisl. Aenean arcu massa, lacinia in, dictum eu, pulv
at alexa.com, also some bittorrent links for the above article.
It's the best way to feel better about your job.
Never buy pens or pencils or paper.
Take 'em from work.
Rubber bands, paper clips, memo pads, folders--
Take 'em from work.
It's the best way to feel better about your low pay
and appalling working conditions.
Take an ashtray--they got plenty.
Take coat hangers.
Take a, take a trash can.
Why buy a file cabinet?
Why buy a phone?
Why buy a personal computer or word processor?
Take 'em from work.
I took a whole desk from the last place I worked.
They never noticed and it looks great in my apartment.
Take an electric pencil sharperner.
Take a case of white-out; you might need it one day.
It's your duty as an oppressed worker to steal from your exploiters.
It's gonna be an outstanding day.
Take stuff from work.
And goof off on company time.
I wrote this at work.
They're paying me to write about stuff I steal from them.
Life is good.
Let me be the first to express pity for the poor server hosting a movie linked front page by slashdot. We feel your pain.
u lamer NERDS... dont u know there is a little something called FOOTBALL that has started now! We dont give a shit about your geeky nerd news mmkkaY??
Sucks.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
It has come to my attention that you completely inhale the shit out of goatse's ass. Read on for more about this fascinating topic.
The world went into shock a few weeks ago when goatse.info reported the results of a study which concluded that inhaling shit is a very dangerous pastime, one that no one is advised to take up. Eventually, everyone adapted to the new state of affairs and began inhaling other things. Almost everyone, that is. But not you! According to my records, you still inhale shit!
Why?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!
You moron, you idiot, you imbecile, you gay nigger ! Arg! You make me so fucking sick! FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.
I am currently downloading the file (it's slowing down every second..) but would anyone be willing to provide a tracker ? I'll make a .torrent and email it/seed it !
I think that this project is cool as hell. Hopefully groups like this will help NASA pulls its head out of it's ass so that we can send more probes to other planets and be able to manouver around with out fear of losing the little buggies. With something like this, it's also a big step forward in robotics in general. Having many groups work on something like this will certainly help with the creation of other robots.
"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire
from the darpa site's Q&A : "...And they must do these things quickly- overall speed will be the deciding factor and the time limit is designed to push vehicle speeds far beyond current technologies."
this makes it seem like the focus is more on speed that on being able to navigate by oneself. if you're making a race, call it a race, dont call it a challenge, a challenge should have prizes for anyone who can do it. i find this very misleading, anyone have any thoughts on this? how about starting a petition to change the name!
consolevision roxors
One of the huge applications of autonomous vehicles is the removal of landmines. Systems that can scout out, identify, mark, and even remove mines could save the death and maiming of thousands every year.
Our poor earth is littered with millions of land mines left over from past conflicts, and from current ones too.
Don't knock technology like this. It can be used for good too. Even to clean up after the bad.
I just want you to know I've got your back 100%.
Could just be a troll though, I wonder if someone could verify it?
I just downloaded this does anybody know anything about it? Is it worth running?
How KEWL! I am 733t!! P454r m3 d00d! hahahaha ...
is it that bad seein a hot chick again? if i see a hot chick walkin down the hall i dont say "repost"
Look! there I am!
-John Fenley
Robots dig the funky Weather Channel music on the Red Team video
I for one welcome our new athletic robot overloads.
You work your whole life to make other people rich! Fuck the bosses! Do everything you can to drive their profits to zero, with them none the wiser!
This article must be a conspiracy of one of the other 55 teams to bring down the networks of the biggest competitors.
Monster Garage!
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
Anybody got a mirror or a BitTorrent link for the Red Team video (http://www.redteamracing.org/include/media/movies /red_team.mpeg)?
News.com covered the Grand Challenge a while back in one of their articles. Gives a more viewer-friendly overview of what it's all about than DARPA's site.
The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away
That was NOT something I needed to see.
Can someone please mod appropriatly?
plus-good, double-plus-good
People with brown skin (particularly small children) are cheaper and more efficient at the disposal of land mines (in volume, especially).
Afghans, Pakistanis, Vietnamese and perhaps now the Iraqis enjoy almost full employment as Disposable Landmine Removal Technicians.
Would you prefer they just drop a 5,000lb bomb instead? A side effect of more efficient mechanisms for killing is that there are less inadvertant civilian casualties. Just compare the fire bombings of Dresden to the wars in Kosovo and Iraq. Which method do you prefer?
i will simply program it to set off an emp.
that should spice things up
it's spelled "Caltech", not "Cal Tech".
g_______________________________________________g
o_/_____\_____________\____________/____\_______o
a|_______|_____________\__________|______|______a
t|_______`._____________|_________|_______:_____t
s`________|_____________|________\|_______|_____s
e_\_______|_/_______/__\\\___--___\\_______:____e
x__\______\/____--~~__________~--__|_\_____|____x
*___\______\_-~____________________~-_\____|____*
g____\______\_________.--------.______\|___|____g
o______\_____\______//_________(_(__>_\___|_____o
a_______\___.__C____)_________(_(____>_|__/_____a
t_______/\_|___C_____)/______\_(_____>_|_/______t
s______/_/\|___C_____)_______|__(___>_/__\______s
e_____|___(____C_____)\______/__//__/_/_____\___e
x_____|____\__|_____\\_________//_(__/_______|__x
*____|_\____\____)___`----___--'_____________|__*
g____|__\______________\_______/____________/_|_g
o___|______________/____|_____|__\____________|_o
a___|_____________|____/_______\__\___________|_a
t___|__________/_/____|_________|__\___________|t
s___|_________/_/______\__/\___/____|__________|s
e__|_________/_/________|____|_______|_________|e
x__|__________|_________|____|_______|_________|x
*_g_o_a_t_s_e_x_*_g_o_a_t_s_e_x_*_g_o_a_t_s_e_x_*
The perineum is the area of skin rich in nerve endings that is located below the anus (the opening for bowel movements). For men, the perineum extends to the vaginal opening; for women it extends to the base of the testicles.
Because the perineum is so rich in nerve endings it often feels pleasing to have it touched or stroked. If one is comfortable with being touched on the perineum, its stimulation can be incorporated into a couple's lovemaking to further enhance sexual arousal.
To make stimulation smoother and more comfortable, it is often helpful to lubricate your fingers before stroking the perineum during lovemaking.
As long as the stimulation remains outside the body on the perineum, any type of lubricant (petroleum-base or water-base) will do.
However, because this kind of stimulation is often associated with insertion of the finger into the vagina or anus, or both, a water-base lubricant is recommended and preferred.
The anus is rich in nerve endings & participates with your genitals in the contractions of sexual arousal & orgasm. Anal stimulation greatly enhances & intensifies masturbation, oral sex, or intercourse. A good rule of thumb, when experimenting with anal play, is relax, use plenty of lube (the anus & rectum do not produce any lubrication of their own), and enjoy.
Because the perineum is so rich in nerve endings it often feels pleasing to have it touched or stroked. If one is comfortable with being touched on the perineum, its stimulation can be incorporated into a couple's lovemaking to further enhance sexual arousal.
The vagina is rich in vulvatic sensor spots & cooperates with your clitoral system in the up and down movements of sexual arousal & orgasm. Vaginal stimulation greatly enhances & multiplies masturbation, perienium stimulation, and orgies. A good rule of thumb, when experimenting with vaginal stimulation, is to relax, and use one quart of 10W30 (the vagina produces no lubrication of its own during normal stimulation), and enjoy.
However, because this kind of stimulation is often associated with insertion of the finger into the vagina or anus, or both, a water-base lubricant is recommended and preferred.
[ Reply to This ]
1 reply beneath your current threshold.
I would prefer it be very difficult to kill people in general. That way, we'd only do it when we really needed to.
If you look at history, anytime one side was able to kill the other without having to really risk themselves, the shitty side of history results -- genocide, oppression, etc. Just because it's your side that happens to have the better guns, tech, germs or whatever doesn't mean it's a Good Thing.
Hell, look at us: We've been way out ahead for, what, 20 years now and already we're invading other nations so our political leaders can distract the masses from economic problems or the fact that they can't stop terrorism (70% of Americans believe Iraq sponsored 9-11, and why not? They're ay-rabs, ain't they?).
Anyhow, I understand that we live in reality and that these things happen. I just don't think that most geeks would want to be a part of it if they really thought it over, which is why I said what I did.
It sucks.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
I checked out Red Teams site and all I can say is "wow".
:(
That and Mopar never gave me these options when I bought my Jeep!
E.
Never rub another man's rhubarb - The Joker
Here, Courtesy of Rutgers.
SlappyAssBitch writes that SCO has announced that it will eat you balls. In Other News, GNAA, your days are numbered.
does anyone else wonder if the poster has some ties to The red team, because that video had almost nothing to do with the race. It sounded more like a advertisement to get money for there project.
the challenge is high-speed automated navigation.
As a news.com story pointed out, "Calculations and decisions have to be made rapidly, however, and the room for error is huge. A vehicle moving at 45 miles per hour is covering about 60 feet per second ... If the vehicle's computer can't absorb changes in data quickly enough, it could mean a trip into a gully."
Solving a problem, and solving the same problem in an efficient and timely matter are two different things. As any student walking out of a final exam can tell you, time pressure makes everything much more interesting :)
The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away
Did they mean dessert robot race? My entry will be CowboyNealBot.
The global economy is a great thing until you feel it locally.
Have any of you ever excreted an odd, gelatonous oil in the area directly between your scrotum and legs? Does it also exude an odd and pungent odor that is "dick odor", but only 10-15 times as strong? My girlfriend recently complained about this to me. I had just gotten back from work, where I had to move 5 offices (computers AND desks). I took a quick rub, and yes, it was oily and slimy, and smelled strongly of my cock. What gives?
Wow, this is the second CMU site taken down in the last few days. Well, lets see if we can take down an other! Here's a mirror of the movie and some documents on my CMU account:
o rg/
http://andrew.cmu.edu/~pnelson/www.redteamracing.
"I would prefer it be very difficult to kill people in general"
Well then come up with a time machine and stop the industrial revolution from occurring. Otherwise stop fantasizing and deal with reality.
I met with some of the guys from Monster Garage about this project. They were willing to lend themselves as consultants (a few of the guys, sans Jesse James).. they were really cool & friendly guys. Even to me and my geeky friend :-)
Well said, I feel any idea that is observed or comes to mind of military brass has the automatic prefix; Hmmmm what kind of a wepon do we have here, weither it is a robot or a ham sandwich........cover you art or it will be seen.
I eat my grapes at room temperature, cuz the cold ones hurt my teeth
As a member of the Arctic Tortoise team, let me come forward and say: I don't really care what darpa plans on doing with information they get from this... its a fucking blast to work on!
"who cares"
If you look at history, anytime one side was able to kill the other without having to really risk themselves, the shitty side of history results -- genocide, oppression, etc. Just because it's your side that happens to have the better guns, tech, germs or whatever doesn't mean it's a Good Thing.
Don't you mean anytime one side's leaders?
Or, put another way, it's easier to be yelling "Bring it on" when you're half a world away from the battlefield. One of the big changes in modern warfare is that wars aren't between neighbors much anymore. When you were invading someone right next to you, there was always the possibility that if things went sour, they'd follow your retreating forces right back to your capital.
The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away
So I get a call from one of my client's ISPs. Some guy named Charles is really alarmed about the massive amount of traffic my sleepy little robot site is generating all of a sudden.
Woohoo, my first Slashdotting!
So naturally the ISP temporarily banished the file. Thanks to everyone who put up mirrors. The file ought to be back where it belongs on 9/10.
Unrelated to the file, these guys at CMU kick ass. Despite all the DARPA downplaying that they don't exepect anyone to even complete the race in the first year, I have tremendous confidence in the Red Team to overachieve. There's a 'success at any cost' vibe coming out of that place that has to be experienced to be believed.
shoutz to the gnaa. they stand-up real niggaz
Also interesting is the fact that the winner wins 1 million dollars. I wonder what sort of design budgets these teams have.
My only concern is, is this ESPN2 quality programming or merely cable access?
N
Reality is a slackware box running on a 386 tucked away in god's sock drawer.
Here is a link: http://sch5.digitalnines.com/red_team.mpeg
70% of Americans believe Iraq sponsored 9-11
Please tell me you pulled that number out of your arse. If you didn't, I think American commonsense has surrendered.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Mirror hosted by CMU's Field Robotics Center: here.
Mirror hosted by Rutgers: here
Mirror hosted by CMU Computing Services: here
Yes we know that the external Red Team website is hosted on IIS and powered by ASP. We're working on fixing these two bugs. =) Also to our defense, our internal technical web is powered by TWiki on Linux with Apache.
Regards,
Spock_NPA
That red Jeep has nothing to do with the Grand Challenge. That's Navlab 11, the Robotics Institute's latest test vehicle. the Robotics Institute, headed by Charles Thorpe, took a look at the Grand Challenge and decided to pass. He told me "If we entered, we'd have to win", and since he's mostly Government-funded, he'd need another source of funding, which he didn't have. Whittaker, who heads a related but separate operation, the Field Robotics Center, decided to do it on his own.
Whittaker issues a constant stream of trival press releases, like Team Equipped with Laptops and Office Equipment. We have considerable respect for the Robotics Institute at CMU, but this is becoming embarassing.
We take Team Caltech seriously, but not Whittaker's operation.
We will give a presentation on September 24, in EE380 at Stanford, on how we're doing it, and will show our vehicle, which isn't vaporware.
John Nagle
Team Overbot
The Red Team file should be availible using BitTorrent at http://voracity.net/download.php/344/red_team.mpeg .torrent
I just don't think that most geeks would want to be a part of it if they really thought it over, which is why I said what I did.
Well yeah, and North Korea is probably using Linux to track which 'anti-revolutionaries' and their families to kill or lock up in concentration camps.
So should we stop coding? That's the world we live in man.
Your hybrid is not saving the environment. Its purpose is to make you feel good about buying something.
I would prefer it be very difficult to kill people in general. That way, we'd only do it when we really needed to.
Everyone prefers not to kill (except the murderous bastards). This is a straw-man position, and politically naive.
If you look at history, anytime one side was able to kill the other without having to really risk themselves, the shitty side of history results -- genocide, oppression, etc. Just because it's your side that happens to have the better guns, tech, germs or whatever doesn't mean it's a Good Thing.
No, if you look at history, shitty things happen all the time. There is evidence to the contrary: when forces are balanced, then only the tension builds, not the solution (eventually the tension breaks with very bad results: UK-DE before WWI, US-JP before WWII, UK-FR 100 years war, GR-Persia...). The only time peace occurs is when overwhelming force exists on one side (the benevolent side).
Hell, look at us: We've been way out ahead for, what, 20 years now and already we're invading other nations so our political leaders can distract the masses from economic problems or the fact that they can't stop terrorism (70% of Americans believe Iraq sponsored 9-11, and why not? They're ay-rabs, ain't they?).
How does political trolling like this get modded up to +5?
Anyhow, I understand that we live in reality and that these things happen. I just don't think that most geeks would want to be a part of it if they really thought it over, which is why I said what I did.
"Most geeks" is a spurious term. If you think they are all left-leaning pinkos, you`re wrong. If you think they`re Edvard Teller madmen, you`re wrong. Geeks are all over the spectrum. I would imagine there are some geeks who lost their brothers/fathers/sisters/mothers in 9-11, and would have no qualms in putting the hurt on some goat-farking terrorist camp via remote control.
davejenkins.com |
Wondering why the horizon was so cheesily photoshopped. Do they not want to reveal the TRUE location. (eerie Twilight Zone music plays in the background.)
We were somewhere near Barstow on the edge of the desert, when the robots began to take over... I for one welcome our new robot overlords!
The other problem I have is justfying this technology. After all, what's really the difference between terrorists flying a plane into a building and battleships firing cruise missiles on non-combat ready batallions of troops whos govenments didn't get along as the first shots of a war? Legitamately, the odds we got in Iraq should have had human rights charges brought against us. Not that it's not nice to win, but it was just all wrong.
Fear leads to Hate. Hate leads to Anger. Anger leads to Suffering. When one side has all the power of Life and Death over all the others, the potential for Suffering is Greatest! Especially when that side never has to learn the hard lessons that come with the power they have, and can be afraid all the time.
I hear you, but you know what, the U.S.A. isn't some country that decided to invade its neighbours, like Germany, Iraq or whoever, it's a superpower that is getting its ass kicked by those who want to live in the "past", and are being dragged kicking and screaming into the information age, where you can't go around hurting people without everyone knowing about it within seconds. It's a big fat period of change right now, and I'm as freaked as anyone about all the shit going down around us all. So if a souped up model F1 car can somehow cap a terrorist before liquidizing another street full of people then so be it.
Did anybody else read "Desert Robot Race" to mean that there is a community of robots living in the desert?
Communism was just a red herring.
Explain me a link between 9/11 and Iraq. Bush keeps referring to it, yet there's no link whatsoever!
It's not a straw-man position. We kill people all the time because it's easy to do. Do you think that George Bush Jr. would have invaded Iraq if there was going to be a 1:1 casualty rate, or even a 1:5 or 1:10? Of course not -- the whole point of the Iraq war was to distract the nation from the fact that we've lost more jobs than under any President since Hoover and, at the same time, make it seem like we were out getting the people responsible for bringing down the WTC, part of the Pentagon and crashing four passenger planes.
The only time peace occurs is when overwhelming force exists on one side (the benevolent side).
You're on crack. Long-term peace never occurs when one group is overwhelmingly stronger than another; you either get horrible oppression, drawn-out guerilla wars or genocides (or, sometimes, all three). History provides literally hundreds of examples of this; I don't see how you can seriously question it.
How does political trolling like this get modded up to +5?
What was the trolling you were referring to? The part about 70% of Americans beliving that Iraq was directly involved with 9-11 or the part about the Iraq war being a wag-the-dog move? Do you really think you can win that arguement in a forum where people are willing to think past flag-waving and chanting "support our troops" (it always strikes me as odd that saying we shouldn't send the troops to get shot at without good reason, or at least thinking it out carefully first, doesn't count as "support")?
"Most geeks" is a spurious term. If you think they are all left-leaning pinkos, you`re wrong. If you think they`re Edvard Teller madmen, you`re wrong. Geeks are all over the spectrum.
There are undoubtibly right-wing war mongering geeks, thus my use of the word "most". It's not hard to see that most geeks, at least those represented here on /., are considerably left of "center".
Further, I'd be willing to bet that if you could go back and poll the inventors of each advance in human history, asking if they'd have liked the fruit of their efforts to be used to inflict suffering on other people or not, you'd come up with a pretty overwhelming "no".
I would imagine there are some geeks who lost their brothers/fathers/sisters/mothers in 9-11, and would have no qualms in putting the hurt on some goat-farking terrorist camp via remote control.
I would imagine that there are some geeks who lost loved ones in 9-11 who would, similar to my original point, prefer that it was harder to kill people so that you'd only do it when you really had to.
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Design a Robot that can drive alone from Barstow to Las Vegas without dying of boredom.
you are like the world's most famous faggot.
You've obviously never heard of cocaine.
also: die greasy nerd.
Ok, that's a lie. Everyone knows it's the Marine mine clearing technique.
-cp-
From the display board, "It shall be a goal of the Armed Forces...that by 2015, one-third of the operational ground combat vehicles of the Armed Forces are unmanned." -National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (S. 2549, Sec. 217)
That is very scary to me. Who decided we want this? I do not want our military, any military sending ROBOT TANKS into battle.
If anybody can provide any history or background on where this "mission statement" is about, I'd love to know. The development of autonomous, mobile killing machines is extremely distrubing. I also wonder if some of the participants in this challenge are so focused on the million dollars that they don't quite realize what they are building.
I'm reminded of the movie Real Genius, where the huge laser they spend all semester working on turns out to be some black ops superweapon.
Just imagine what an autonomous tank with human targeting capability could do against even a lightly armed population. For example: "You have fifteen seconds to comply."
There is, somehow, a line between war and senseless slaughter. I think unmanned ground combat vehicles cross that line. They need to change the name back to Department of War if they're going to be building stuff like this.
And as cool and engaging as this challenge is, I can't support it.
Referring to parent's sig;
:
Slashed or Dotted zero ?
There's two versions.
Also, did you know you largely have Microsoft to thank for its availability ?
More information + downloads at
http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/
Meaning, of course, that you don't think those involved in the project thought it over. Somehow I doubt you are correct about that.
Although I am not involved in the competition, and I have, in fact, never done much of anything that might contribute to our wars (beyond paying taxes). However, given the opportunity to participate in something like this, I would jump at the chance. It looks like fun, it would be very interesting, and possibly eventually even of benefit to the U.S. military. While I tend to lean more to the left than the right, I also feel that it is much better to be the side with the technological advantage than the side without it. And I am not naive enough to think that if we stop developing new technologies for killing people efficiently others will follow suit. If we stop and let that technological edge evaporate, it will be our side losing hundreds or thousands of troops to the other side rather than vice versa. It is far better, in my opinion, for my side to have the big guns because I trust my side to use them more responsibly than the other side - otherwise I wouldn't be on the side I am.
[now entering rant mode]
On a related note, I am no war junky either. I detest Bush for getting us into the war in Iraq, which is turning out exactly how many of us predicted it would - a quick and relatively painless victory in the "war", followed by what appears to be just the beginning of a long and bloody "peace". I, like many others, was asking "What the hell do we plan to do once we take Iraq, surely somebody has a plan?" Well, apparently not. Though I would hate to be a Bush supporter right now, I'm not sure I would be able to handle the embarrassment of running and begging for help from the U.N. after ignoring them going into the war. Its pathetic, and embarrassing to the American people. I think congress jumped the gun a little on presidential impeachment - they were a few years premature.
[rant mode terminated]
So make tools that work best for defense instead of offense. That's actually easier in many ways because you don't have to deal with storing enough power (gasoline, electricity, whatever) for the job and you can worry about specializing to known areas rather than having to deal with a wide varity of possible areas.
:)
Perhaps make an anti-terrorism robot that patrols cities intelligently on it's own with the ability to record and detain suspicious people while calling for human assistance. Given that it's a machine it could use a lot of senses humans don't have, go places humans couldn't, and if it was damaged it'd not be such a big deal.
There are lots of potential uses to the technology. Just because some might be bad is no reason not to improve the technology. Like any tool there will be both good and bad uses. I can walk around killing people by hitting them in the head with hammers - that doesn't mean it's a bad thing to have developed hammers.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
How, exactly, is this superpower getting its ass kicked? 3000 dead big deal. We've killed that many a dozen times over.
Really, what is everyone so up in arms about. Some civilians died. It's war. Just because they bombed us a couple times doesn't mean we're losing; it doesn't really mean a whole lot. What is has meant so far is that America is looking fooling trying to conquer Iraq and Afghanistan, deploying our for-real military against guys with AK47s and hand grenades and box cutters. We're completely overreacting to the threat -- a threat which on a few different occasions didn't quite ring the alarm bells loud enough.
The real battle will come when someone low on the food chain again notices some potential-terrorist behavior. Will we have learned anything from 9/11, or will we take the NASA route and fall asleep at the switch again? Sadly I fear it will be the latter.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Not another $87 billion for bombing the crap out of third world countries. Part of that vigilance is calling out leaders who lie to us (Iraqi WMD claims) and keep us in the dark (Cheney's Energy Task Force).
And I don't want to dwell on the past, but a robot tank would have done nothing to stop 9/11. A competent security screener (not the immigrants employed by the airlines making $8/hr thanks to deregulation) or a nice solid cockpit door (too heavy, too expensive to retrofit) might have made a world of difference.
haha, you're a troll
God knows what it will become 10 years later. Something tells me it will NOT be strongly secular and it will passionately hate the US who stole (let's give things their real names) shitloads of their oil.
I'm not saying Saddam didn't get what he deserved. I'm just saying that I'd prefer if this government would be direct with the people it serves. I'm pretty confident that if GWB said "we want to kick the shit out of Saddam" he'd get just as much support as he did by linking Iraq to Al Quaeda.
Too bad this is limited to United States entities only.
Guess this saves me the trouble of trying to get a robot through airport security.
Lemons!
F1rst ps0t!
Impeach Bush!
Nader 2004!
Yahoo! Maps lists the distance from Fontana, CA (the starting point) to Vegas as 224.1 miles. This "challenge" appears to be mostly off-road, so I will conservatively estimate a 10 percent premium for indirect paths, steering around obstacles, etc. This puts the course at 246.5 miles. Divided by 10 hours, and we get the average speed required to get the million dollars as 24.7 mph!
... I don't think so!
... This contest sounds like it is barely winnable by a skilled human driver!
I am not sure how many of us slashdot readers have been off-roading lately in the California desert, but that is pretty fast for sustained off-road driving. I'm going to go so far as to say it is IMPOSSIBLE given the parameters that the vehicle needs to navigate numerous obstacles, underpasses/bridges, etc.
Now, I looked at one of the teams that is fielding a Jeep of all things. Sounds great for off-road until one looks at the rules -- travel corridors will be as narrow as 10 feet (10 feet!) in some places! Go outside the bounds even an inch and the vehicle is disqualified. How wide is 10 feet, exactly? It's about the width of a standard one-car garage door. Ever tried to drive through a one-car garage door at 25 mph? Sounds easy
The real question is why did DARPA set up these rules? We're talking an average speed of 25 mph, which means for all the times the car has to go 15 mph it better make up for it at 35 mph. And, oh yeah, then there are the DARPA-imposed speed limits
Reading the DARPA site, the route will be up to 300 miles long, and has to be completed in under 10 hours - that's an average speed of 30mph, cross-country.
No wonder they don't expect any contestants to finish on the first race - I think you're going to have to have a fair amount of luck just to not break the vehicle at any point.
Nevertheless, I can't wait to see it...
And you don't see anything wrong with that sentence? You stupid, stupid cock.
If you look at history, anytime one side was able to kill the other without having to really risk themselves, the shitty side of history results -- genocide, oppression, etc. Just because it's your side that happens to have the better guns, tech, germs or whatever doesn't mean it's a Good Thing.
Well, now that's strange. How many mass graves have we dug up in Iraq? It seems that genocide and oppression is the hallmark of a dictatorship.
The point is that Iraq launched a war and lost. They surrendered and never lived up to the terms of their surrender. The fact that they were known to have used WMD's in the past and were still playing cat and mouse with the inspectors 11 years after agreeing to disarm shows that we couldn't take them at their word.
Beyond that, what do you recommend we should have done with Iraq instead?
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
I would imagine that there are some geeks who lost loved ones in 9-11 who would, similar to my original point, prefer that it was harder to kill people so that you'd only do it when you really had to.
The one thing that 9/11 taught us that there are some people who are willing to go to ANY length to kill other people. They took technically trained people (flying a commercial airliner and hitting a building with it isn't at all easy) and had them sacrifice their lives in order to kill people.
Do you really understand what that means? They want to kill other people so badly that they're willing to die in order to accomplish it.
To make matters worse, these people love to hide among civilian populations and use them as shields.
So, you want it to be more difficult to kill people? What exactly will that accomplish? (Do you wish to ban airplanes to avoid future incidents like 9/11? Any thoughts on how to put the nuclear genie back in the bottle?)
--- I wish I could hear the soundtrack to my life. That way I'd know when to duck.
...or spy on them. Kinda hard to detect in my opinion. Small, lightweight, fast moving, autonomous, and able to survive heat (i.e.-sheds heat fairly effectively). I guess it would still be used for killing, only indirectly in this way. Send in the bot, it takes the tactical information and sends it to swat, norad, or the star wars space stations for "dispatch" purposes. I wouldn't be as worried of them strapping a nuke on one as I would of one crawling under my house at night, down the streets, in workplaces, etc. Vox
Yeah, and nothing good can ever come of that DARPA project that links the computers at all their research facilities with universities either. No self respecting geek would want to be part of that project either.
Oddly enough, as technology gets better at killing people, fewer people seem to die in wars. Yes, I pulled that statistic out of my ass, just like your 70%. I've never met even one of those 70%.
Please tell me you pulled that number out of your arse.
Nope, not out of their... out of thin air.
MSNBC
StarTribune
USAToday
Note that they all seem to reference the same poll by the Washington Post...
If you didn't, I think American commonsense has surrendered.
Look at the current administration, the current economic situation, the current legal atmosphere, and if you DIDN'T think American commonsense was seriously deficient, you would either be on drugs like SCO (ObReference) or you just woke from your twenty year nap...
Acts of massive stupidity are almost never covered by warranty. --me.
"whocares"
To be honest, I was hoping I was just being uninformed and paranoid. I guess not. Bugger.
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
Whenever this subject comes up I like to gently remind the readership that the desert is not a barren wasteland, but a sparse, fragile ecosystem, where a plant can take a hundred years to get established. I always get moderated as a Troll.
Well, here I go again:
that's an average speed of 30mph, cross-country
OK, so there's no chance of steering around the sensitive plant life.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Its a shame technology has to be perverted to save the lives of countless teenagers in all the armed services? Bummer that cool smart vehicles have an actual useful purpose in keeping your personal ass free and safe? You're kidding, right?
What, you'd rather they keep using 19 year olds to drive combat vehicles into firefights and minefields?
Good thinking. You must go to Columbia U, that's the kind of genius one expects from the Left.
That's why we need an amendment to the Constitution to require political leaders to lead their troops into wars they start. I think we would have a much more pacifistic government if that were the case.
I'm draft-age, and there was serious talk from some Congresspeople during these last couple wars of reinstating the draft. My stance is that I won't go to war until the President is over there with a gun in his hands fighting alongside his troops.
Then again, the thought of our current president with a gun in his hands is downright frightening, in any setting.
I found the meaning of life the other day, but I had write-only access.
North Korea???
I don't think Total Information Awareness (TIA) is a translation!!