Posted by
CowboyNeal
on from the jumping-the-gun dept.
giampy writes "New Scientist reports the creation of a 'smart bullet' that can be fired at a target and then transmit back informations via wireless connection. The range is 70m. The project is funded by Lockeed Martin and its official goal is the detection of hidden TNT."
Yes, this is a good idea
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 3, Funny
Because we can't tell if our bullets have hit TNT without some sort of tracking system.
The big explosion only tells us that there may have been TNT in the path of the bullet.
I gotta get that Lesko book and figure out how to get my fair share of government pork.
Smart Bullets, Tom Toles, and Spider-Man
by
The+I+Shing
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· Score: 5, Interesting
The headline about "Smart Bullets" reminds me of a Tom Toles book entitled At least our bombs are getting smarter, a cartoon preview of the 1990s. The cover art is humorous... a daft (and probably tragically typical) American student can't figure out how to spell "budget," while the man-sized smart bomb sitting at the desk behind him is working out some kind of complex mathematical equation. In the corner of the cartoon, as in all Toles cartoons, there's a tiny punch-line. In this case, someone, probably the teacher, assures the smart bomb that "There'll always be a job for a chap like you." Dear God, it's more true today than it was fourteen years ago.
As far as smart bullets go, it sounds like the little spider transmitters Spider-Man uses to track the henchmen of his enemies, whom he inevitably follows right back to the bad guy's lair just in time to get clobbered by $villain. I wonder if there's an average number of years between the time a technology is introduced in comic books and the time it becomes a reality. Looks to me like it hovers around thirty.
-- You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
Re:Smart Bullets, Tom Toles, and Spider-Man
by
Saeger
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· Score: 3, Interesting
the teacher, assures the smart bomb that "There'll always be a job for a chap like you." Dear God, it's more true today than it was fourteen years ago.
Dear Logic, why should that be so surprising? It should be expected that our technology will continue to get smarter, and faster, than your average "daft" person because of the differences in the rate of evolution.
Soon enough we won't even have to send any "daft" grunts with smart bullets onto the battlefield; we'll send bots who won't question orders instead.
--
-- Power to the Peaceful
Re:Smart Bullets, Tom Toles, and Spider-Man
by
kfg
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· Score: 1
. ..it sounds like the little spider transmitters Spider-Man uses to track the henchmen of his enemies. ..
Except for the sticky projectile bit tiny little tracking bugs are pretty old hat though.
You'll find the plans for one at Radio Shack in a Forrest Mims III book published in the 80s. I used them in the 90s to track R/C cars. The basic design can be traced back to the 1920s (medical researchers put them in capsules, had subjects swallow them, and then traced the path they followed through the body).
The Spidey tracker was real, doable technology in the 60s. It just took someone to do it.
I'm still waiting for my Doc Oc arms and Goblin Flyers though.
TNT is extremely stable, when compared to Dynamite. (Contrary to popular cartoon based opinions, they are NOT the same thing) You can set off a stick of dynamite by just dropping it a ahort distance, or on a bumpy automobile ride. If it sits around it becomes even less stable. If you happen to come across an old stick or two, LEAVE IT THE HELL ALONE!
And you DON'T want to try burning it. Seriously
Small amounts of C4 can be used to start a fire, especially when dealing with moist kindling. Same situation though, it's not a game you want to play unless you have no other choice.
LK
-- "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I'm sorry, but shooting at TNT has as much risk as shooting at a tin can. TNT does not detonate from shock or flame. It must be detonated by an electrical impulse. This is why blasting areas prohibit talking on a cell phone etc. Most dynamite these days is TNT and will explode from electrical implulse, not shock etc.
As an ex-EOD tech, I can assure you that your impressions are quite incorrect.
All explosives are detonated by shock and/or heat. The amount of either depends on the formula used for the explosives. RDX, which is the active component of C-4, is quite sensitive on it's own. C-4 adds plasticizers to both reduce the sensitivity of RDX and to make it more plyable (hence, "plastic" explosives). Setting off explosives uses blasting caps (detonators) to provide the approriate shock to cause the explosive to detonate. This is accomplished by setting off a sensitive amount of explosive, which detonates a slightly more powerful explosive, on up until the last bit is powerful enough to set off the C-4.
The reason that you are required to turn off cell phones and other radio transmitters is because the blasting caps are usually electrically primed, and stray RF can set the caps off. Those long lead wires make very good antennae.
--
What good is a double standard if you can't enforce it?
C4, is the stable explosive you are thinking of, they used to use it for emergency campfires in Vietnam. You could actually shoot C4 with a gun, and the chances of it exploding are null. TNT is little more than stabilized NitroGlycerin, which is inherently unstable, and prone to random explosions.
Given my choice, I'd probably do the same. Using small, and I do mean SMALL, quantities of C4 to boil water would be preferable to drinking jungle water.
LK
-- "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
well I'm going to send you up to look after the TNT next time, Darwin will take care of it.... What you use to set of TMT etc is not and electrical current.... it's an electrically fired detonator - that creates the shock wave in the explosive that causes the detonation... uh kind of like firing a bullet into it.... that's the difference between "detonation" or "explosive" and just burning fast - the chemical decomposition is driven by a shockwave at the speed of sound.
Sure detonators can be set off by stray electrical impluses and when they've been stuffed into something that will detonate and hooked up to long wires that act a lot like antennae firing up a transmitter near by is probably not a good idea.... but that's a property of the entire system, not the explosive itself.
that's the difference between "detonation" or "explosive" and just burning fast - the chemical decomposition is driven by a shockwave at the speed of sound.
Very close. With a high explosive, the detonation wave travels faster than the speed of sound in that material. Power aside, the advantage is that such explosives don't have to be confined or tamped, they're self-tamping. (The mechanical impulse that would push material aside travels at the speed of sound.) Low explosives (gunpowder and the like) will tend to just burn (spectacularly perhaps, but not explosively) unless tamped or confined to build up the pressure.
(A great lab demo of this is to take a small amount of acetone peroxide, loose, and ignite it with a bunsen burner flame. Nice ball of fire. Now take the same amount wrapped in a couple of folds of paper and set on a wire mesh on a stand over a bunsen burner flame (behind a blast shield!). The added confinement of even the folded paper is enough to cause the acetone peroxide to detonate with sufficient force to blast a hole in the wire mesh. Don't try this at home!)
You're right, but you omitted the explanation. (This is a geek site, after all;-)
TNT -- trinitrotoluene -- is a compound all its own. Dynamite is (classically) nitroglycerine plus various binders (Fullers earth, sawdust, etc) to make it a little easier to handle than raw nitroglycerine. As it ages, the nitroglycerine (which is a liquid) tends to weep out of the dynamite. That's when it gets dangerous.
Detonation risk aside, nitroglycerine also has physiological effects -- it's a vasodilator, which is why it's used to treat some heart conditions. But it can also cause severe headache and dangerous drops in blood pressure (and you don't want to faint while holding a quantity of the stuff). And yes, the nitroglycerin pills used for heart conditions really are nitroglycerin (plus filler), just not very much. (There's also a version that comes in a tiny spray can so a paramedic can give a suspected heart attack victim a quick shot under the tongue. Somehow I find the thought of nitroglycerine in a spray can...disturbing. Maybe it's really something else.)
Modern sticks of explosive used for blasting may or may not be dynamite, odds are they're probably something else. For large scale rock blasting, the drill holes are often mostly filled with something like ANFO (ammonium nitrate and fuel oil), with a few sticks of dynamite (or whatever) to set it off.
Its my understanding that in order to start off a high explosive reaction you must impact it with a velocity equal to or greater than the explosives burn rate... IE some high explosives explode at a rate of say 3400 feet per second and need a impact velocity of 3400 feet per second or greater. A blasting cap is made of high explosive that has a burn rate greater than the explosive being detonated...:-)
-- I've read Slashdot for the last 5 years, and now I start posting... Go figure:-P
It was fresh water from their canteens and they were doing it to boil parts of their rations on, as I said, a regular basis. Like, daily. And it wasn't even for lack of a better source of heat, it was just a lot faster. Do you have some first hand experience with C4 that leads you to make these comments, or are you just imagining that it must be dangerous when it is burned? Possibly my dad was exagerating.
Do you have some first hand experience with C4 that leads you to make these comments, or are you just imagining that it must be dangerous when it is burned?
I have never handled C4, I have however had a fair bit of experience with C4 precursors. I'm talking about chemicals like hexamine that are very flammable as they come but then are chemically processed to make RDX, composition C1 and eventually C4.
It is the knowledge of these chemicals that causes me to believe that caution is well advised when it comes to dealing with substances like C4. C4 being safer than mercury fulminate or picric acid is still nothing to trifle with.
LK
-- "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I'm sure that we've all heard about how alcoholism kills brain cells.
It is because alcohol is metabolized into trinitrotoluene (TNT) and then used as fuel by cells in the brain that causes their death. Think of it like putting racing fuel in your lawnmower.
LK
-- "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I thought it was from the movies, I mean, didn't they have this in the 5th Element? Then they pressed the red button...
What will we call this?
by
BabyDave
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· Score: 5, Funny
We've got warchalking, wardriving, so this would be... er, warwar?
Re:What will we call this?
by
ncurses
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· Score: 1
No, warwarring is unauthorized use of an unprotected wifi used by smart bullets. These have authorized use of the wifi.
I wonder why the range is only 70 meters. They should hire those guys from New Zealand to make a system w/ a longer range.
-- Help! I'm being repressed!
And then what?
by
divine_13
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· Score: 3, Interesting
So, after the bullet hit a target, it transmits information back to tell for example where it hit, damage made etc. The fun part starts if the host could transmit data back to the bullet, telling it how to operate next. Who knows what it can do? Explode, burrow etc... O.O This will be the end of cool action shooting scenes in movies though.
There was an article in Popular Science a number of years back about a new gun being developed for the military, with "programable" bullets, you could have them explode on impact, or after having burrowed for a number of seconds. It also split into two guns, a pistol and a lower powered rifle.
"King also warns that firing a projectile at a potential explosive goes against bomb disposal guidelines."
Ya think? I know one way bomb squads dispose of potential bombs is to simply blow them up, but to fire a bullet (even if just at paintball speeds) at a potential explosive, just to try to find out if it's an explosive? Seems pretty silly.
Dude, when in Belgium the bomb squads goes out, it's al over the news. Hey, it's a small country.
And every time, I saw them drive a little car to the pakket and shoot it to pieces.
And yes, I have the exact same question:
WTF?
As said by N.N. here - better than poking them. If the bomb don't go off when you shoot it i guess there is little chance that it is just a booby-trap.
And besides - what are the bomb-crew supposed to do? bring a ton of explosives and blow the POTENTIAL bomb just to be sure?
if it doesn't go off it's relatively safe to approach the device. if it blows, well then you know the answer - and at least you didn't ADD explosives to the blast.
i think i read that ordinary bomb-crew robots carry either a gun or a water-gun to induce explosion in potential bombs.
i think i read that ordinary bomb-crew robots carry either a gun or a water-gun to induce explosion in potential bombs.
Actually, I'm pretty sure the goal of the gun/water-gun is to demolish the workings of the bomb (e.g. the timer/transmitter/etc) so that the bomb doesn't explode.
If you're looking for a few sticks of Dynamite in a huge pile of junk, you would have to be pretty lucky to hit one of them.
The idea here is to get the sensor closer to the explosives. But I think building a sensor that will survive the penetration will be very difficult.
OT: Why can't we moderate stories down?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Some of the stories posted to this site are pretty lame. Others are obviously flamebait or troll. Why can't we moderate the top level as well as the comments?
Re:OT: Why can't we moderate stories down?
by
garyok
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· Score: 1
Some of the stories posted to this site are pretty lame. Others are obviously flamebait or troll. Why can't we moderate the top level as well as the comments?
Because CowboyNeal doesn't want to be replaced by a very small shell script?
Seriously though it'd be cool: 7 of 15 stories, 8 stories beneath your contempt (or whatever).
-- One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
If someone runs, shoot at the car, stop the persuit and hunt for the signal later.
This might just save some lives.
Re:How about car chases?
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Insightful
Not always possible. Some persuits need to be stopped quickly. Usually because the driver presents a grave danger to the public (i.e. drunk, escaped felon). By the time they catch up to the signal, they car may have been ditched with the criminal long gone.
Because that's not how slashdot works.
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 2, Interesting
There ARE sites that allow you to moderate the top level stories. Kuro5hin comes to mind. I believe there's a public-voting version of Metafilter as well.
However those sites just somehow haven't wound up being as popular as Slashdot. Go figure. So did Slashdot just get lucky, or is Slashdot actually doing something right?
Re:Shoot^H^H^H^H^H think first... take cover later
by
CdBee
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· Score: 1
(prolly gonna get troll-modded for this but it's what I think
Technology won't save troops from deteriorating political situations, it just adds another tool to carry and another IT support problem - and with any projectile-launcher, another way by which to cause civilian injuries and the concomitent reprisals.
Safety can only be gained by acting (in terms of foreign, domestic and social policy) in a manner which does not inspire bloodthirsty desire for vengeance in people of other cultures. Use an ethical solution to roadside bombs, not a technical one.
-- I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
This could make investigation easier...
by
BSDCoder
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· Score: 1
When someone is hot with one of these "smart" bullets, perhaps they could "trace" the device the bullet was communicating with, leading to an arrest.
Looks that RFID sniper rifle...
by
duckling42
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· Score: 1
Ooo, maybe now they can make that tracking sniper rifle that some one came up with as a scam.
Though I'd guess you'd notice it if you got hit with a paint ball, like this thing is.
And what does a smart bullet say...
by
Vellmont
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· Score: 3, Funny
After it hits someone? "He's dead, Jim" of course. Sorry, it had to be said.
-- AccountKiller
Receiving transmission...
by
Gilmoure
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· Score: 4, Funny
Wind! Lots of wind!... Something's coming towards me. I wonder if it'll be my friend?... Ack! I've crashed into something! Oooooh! It's really icky in here. There's all sorts of red stuff going past me. I think I'm tumbling, too. Urp! I think I'm going to be sick.... Some kind of hard, white tree or something just shattered on my face.... Well, it looks like the ride has stopped.... Hello? Hello? Anyone out there?... Isn't anyone going to come and get me? It's really noisy here. Sounds like someone's screaming or something. And it really stinks here too. Looks like someone's mixed a septic tank and cow in a wood chipper. What a mess. Who the hell would do this? This sucks! Game over, man, game over!
-- I drank what? -- Socrates
Re:Receiving transmission...
by
dangil
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· Score: 1
references please !!!!...
Re:Receiving transmission...
by
dangil
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· Score: 1
ohh, I got it.. Aliens... ok..
Story Already Posted On /.
by
CHaN_316
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· Score: 1
Ummm........this story has already been posted here on slashdot already here
-- "There is no spoon." - The Matrix
Re:I have just one question.
by
Aphrika
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· Score: 1
"Is anyone else here thinking of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?"
No, I was thinking more of Runaway (1984), an old Michael Crichton film starring Tom Selleck. The bad guy had a gun that recorded the IR signature of the target when it fired. The bullets would then track you round corners etc. - even through crowds.
I remember it as a pretty fun film to watch - esp. the small spider robots with the poison syringes...
Correct me if I'm wrong...
by
Tokerat
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· Score: 1
...but, if you shoot TNT, won't it blow up?
-- CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Re:Thinking about defusing bombs...
by
mikael
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· Score: 3, Informative
Sandbags seem to be the preferred option. They're cheap, and the contents can be easily found anywhere in the world. Other methods of containment include using a U shaped metal barrel pointing upwards towards the sky. Apparently when this was used once, it actually shot a hole through the clouds above. The closest anyone has come up with using a flexible but strong substance has probably been with airlines experimenting with kevlar straps tied around baggage containers. The straps were flexible enough to stretch with the blast, but strong enough to keep the container in shape.
Lets not make too many jokes about shooting bullets at explosives. This is only the official goal. I'm sure Ashcroft and his gang have prefectly good reasons for wanting to go around shooting bullets randomly, and hoping to hit TNT. Americans must learn to give up our rights and safety and sanity in the fight against terrorism.
-- I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
Re:Shoot^H^H^H^H^H think first... take cover later
by
Anonymous Coward
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· Score: 1, Interesting
I'm not a big fan of Bush (in fact I dispise him), but the war in Iraq was a long time coming. I believe that future historians will group both GWI , the blockade, and GWII into one conflict, in the same way was we now look at the "hundred years war"
The morning of Sept 11, we had no troops in hostile teritories, no prisoners being held illegally, and no delared wars with any country. Ethics didn't help us avoid that disaster. In fact our commitment to help repel Saddam Hussain in GWI was the spark which started that chain of events (Bin 'the evil bastard' Laden didn't like that; he wanted to bring his own troops in from Afganistan; the Saudi Royals knew what a mess that would be). I know that the war in Iraq is more of a distraction in the "war on terror", but *hopefully* we can pull a stable democracy out of this mess. It's going to be hard, I believe that the arabs can't see the forest for the trees.
Except for a handful of MI Specialists (who were under far to broad of orders from [I believe] the Whitehouse) and the National Guard troops they corrupted, the U.S. military has acted ethicly, in fact I argue more ethically than needed. Troops should shoot insurgants 'on the spot' as spies (as the Geneva conventional allows), rather than send them to jail.
Bridges, roads, pipelines, schools are being build by American money and troops. It's not an easy situation, perhaps you believe that Saddam Hussain was a just and kind leader who was no threat at all, I think that it is pretty obvious that he wasn't. If France and Russian weren't bought and paid for by him, I doubt if their opposition whould have been as great.
Like any other technology, this could be abused
by
EchelonZero
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· Score: 3, Interesting
This story reminded me of a recent art exhibit in NYC. Jakob Boeskov, an Danish artist, infiltrated an international weapons fair in China with a fake weapon, the "ID Sniper Rifle". While his story is interesting, his concept weapon was frightening; although even more frightening was the response it received from interested parties at the fair.
What is the ID Sniper Rifle?
To put it short, the idea is to implant a GPS microchip in the body of a human being, using a high-powered sniper rifle as the long distance injector. The microchip will enter the body and stay there, causing no internal damage, and only a very small amount of physical pain to the target. It will feel like a mosquito bite, lasting a fraction of a second.
At the same time, a digital camcorder with a zoom lens fitted within the scope will take a high-resolution picture of the target. This picture will be stored on a memory card for later image-analysis. GPS microchip technology is already being used for tracking millions of pets in various countries, and the logical solution is to use it on humans as well, when the situation demands it.
-------------
Projectiles witht the ability to "phone home" are in our near future. How long can we expect to wait until something like the ID Sniper Rifle really exists?
Re:Like any other technology, this could be abused
by
denny_d
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· Score: 1
I thought the same thing when I read this... perhaps even more sinister... using RFIDs. Shoot anyone in possession of XYZ RFID and on impact and verification release a nerve agent or other nasty. The next nasty level of sophistication will be a DNA verification? If DNA =X then KILL.
How long until we get those nifty hunter/ killer bullets we saw in Runaway?
s/paranoia/righteous fear of rising police states/
Re:Like any other technology, this could be abused
by
MoneyT
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· Score: 1
Well that was certainly a huge load of propaganda.
-- T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
Re:Like any other technology, this could be abused
by
topynate
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· Score: 1
Well that was certainly a small load of propaganda.
Re:Like any other technology, this could be abused
by
geminidomino
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· Score: 1
I don't know about all this TNT finding stuff, but I can see the major benefits for hunters using these. Deer hunters sometimes can't bring a deer down right away (think drunks, or someone shooting through brush, both of wich are bad shooting habits) and so they have to track it through the woods.
Now, assuming the bullet didnt go all the way through, instead of following drops of blood for miles we can follow the bullet. It says the range is only 70m, but maybe that'll get better by the time they (maybe) release it for the public.
B/c for reasons other than hunting, it sounds completely pointless.
--
I was thinking of converting to paganism, but where the hell can you find sacrificial virgins these days?
Great.. now people can sit in their camouflaged camouflaged tent, shoot a deer from a few hundred feet, and casually walk after it tracking their bullet. Why not just hire someone to go kill the deer while the 'hunter' sits and suns himself..
-- I ran for the border.. and I'm not looking back!!!
yes yes, i know exactly what you mean. i was just pointing out the market. i by no means advocate that kind of hunting.
ive hunted for 2 years. each year i researched the deers patterns, paths, and activities. then i walk in and hunt from the ground. no tent, no stand. nothing. just me and the woods. ive let deer go b/c of unclear shots and bad positions. and im ok w/ that. it beats taking the shot then tracking the deer. i like to think of myself as a smart hunter. in the two years ive been hunting ive been on 8 hunts. i've seen deer on 4 of those. in the time i've seen deer, i've shot and killed 3 of them. all through the heart and they all fell dead w/in 10 yards of where i shot them. i know exactly what you mean. and btw, my eggs are big too =P
--
I was thinking of converting to paganism, but where the hell can you find sacrificial virgins these days?
New Scientist reports the creation of a 'smart bullet' that can be fired at a target and then transmit back informations via wireless connection. The range is 70m.
"Hey Bob, where's the smart bullet?"
"Let me check the computer...hmm, over...there, next to the coffee machine."
Seriously, what the hell use is a tracking device that's only good for 70 meters? Or did the poster use the wrong units, and it should have been 70 mi?
Apologies to slashdot moderators, I'm going offtopic here - these are interesting comments, and worth the time to reply.
Disclosure, I'm not a US Citizen, although I suspect you've already realised this. When people speak about the effect the United States has upon the world we're not just discussing military operations.. in fact about the only thing we're not talking about is Joe Public.
I specifically referred to "foreign, industrial and social policy" as I don't see a real distinction. The United States as an economic superpower has significant sway, both in pure market terms and of diplomatic leverage, both of which have as much need to be used carefully as her near-unbeatable military might
There is significant anger at the US' diplomatic policies which support and defend Israel, a state which is in defiance of more UN Resolutions than Iraq ever was, and one which unlike Iraq was founded illegally and in defiance of commonly-accepted rights.
Your reference to events in Arabia at the end of the Gulf War is factually correct but can be seen from other angles as well, one of which I shall take.
The Iraqi army was nowhere near so well matched against the combined forces which liberated Kuwait as they had been against Iran several years earlier, it would not have been an impossible task for Operation Desert Storm to maintain its inertia and sweep through Iraq to the gates of Baghdad.
Few are those who would have complained at seeing Hussein toppled in 1991, just a few short years after his massacres of the Kurds and Turkomens in the North, of Iranian child soldiers and prisoners of war along his borders and in his camps, and his draining of the marshes of the Shi'i areas in an attempt to starve out the Marsh Arabs
However, the point of view of many is that the West did not want Saddam removed. Similarly recent were the humiliating sieges of US embassies in Teheran, Iran, and that country was, to a far greater extent than today, under the grips of a religious council of hardline Shi'i clerics. America saw Ba'athist government in Iraq as a shield to subdue fundamentalist shi'i islam which otherwise might have spread.
Osama bin Laden, then fresh from the Afghan campaigns against the USSR, was naturally opposed to Hussein - Ba'ath represented secular government untiting the people long racial rather than religious lines, to a hardline Moslem whose followers were drawn from throughout the Islamic world this was unwelcome... so bin Laden offered to provide military forces to keep Iraq at bay.
This would, of course, have been a disaster, but it was compounded by the house of Saud's decision to invite American forces into what Moslems see as holy territory.. and which fundamnetalist moslems saw as an outrage. To them, the US was allowing the continued oppression of many Shi'i Arab, Kurd, Turkomen and Iranian peoples by Saddam Hussein, while at the same time provifing military and diplomatic aid to another pariah state (Israel) which was engaged in a bloody 45-year campaign to hold land taken on pre-biblical grounds from Palestinians who viewed it as their home.
This is, of course, all interpretation, and many other interpretations are possible, but I believe that these were the roots of the rise of al-Qaeda as an international terrorist organisation and of course of the events of Sep 11th 2001. It doesn't just come down to military forces and short-term operations.
I'm quite aware my views won't be to most readers tastes - please reply and challenge me on facts rather than just moderating down. I meta-moderate daily and always mark seemingly political moderations as "unfair"
-- I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
Clarification.
by
The+Tyro
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· Score: 3, Interesting
not to question an ex-EOD tech (you guys are all a little nuts), but I was under the impression that only some explosives (rather than all) are sensitive to heat, and some to percussion... while some require both to initiate a high-order detonation. C-4, for instance, can be safely set on fire, and will not detonate. It can also be safely exposed to significant mechanical shock, and will not detonate (exposing it to both simultaneously isn't advisable). I've never seen pure cyclonite (RDX) used much... probably due to its sensitivity, as you mentioned.
Most military high-explosives I've been around don't require much chaining (setting off sequential explosives to detonate a less-sensitive material)... I can't remember the last time I saw anyone use more than a standard cap. (I'm not an bomb/EOD-guy... I've simply been around the stuff a bit).
The original poster's comment about shooting at TNT is funny... because that's exactly how a fair amount of ordinance gets detonated these days. The last time I was in theatre, the EOD guys were using Barrett light-50's (with a type of european incendiary ammo) to detonate mines and other ordinance... a whole lot easier and safer than walking up to it and setting up the shot by hand. My tactical gear was heavy and unwieldy enough... I don't know how you guys are able to do anything in those bomb suits...
-- Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Re:Clarification.
by
BravoFourEcho
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· Score: 3, Insightful
...I was under the impression that only some explosives (rather than all) are sensitive to heat, and some to percussion... while some require both to initiate a high-order detonation.
Well, the amount of heat or force required depends on the particular explosive. But if you have enough of either, you can generally set off whatever you want. Gunpowder takes very little heat, but C-4 requires quite a bit if no shock is involved. You can burn a lot of explosisves without them detonating. Shock is similar. The military grade stuff is desensitized enough that it can take a bullet strike, but civilian dynamite won't necessarily be desensitized.
In most cases, all the chaining required to set off explosives is done in the cap, so you wouldn't need to specifically set something up.
The Barret's are a nice setup, but I can't say much more about that than that we do use them. The bomb suits are pretty unwieldy. Most of the time you'll see the EOD guys with just flak vests.
As for EOD techs being crazy, well, not everyone is dumb enough to play with something that didn't blow up when it was supposed to.:)
--
What good is a double standard if you can't enforce it?
You'll have no problem detecting TNT by shooting at it. Why the bullet needs to be "smart" eludes me considering it will likely be incinerated in the blast.
Re:Shoot^H^H^H^H^H think first... (Offtopic)
by
shlaf
·
· Score: 1
|> There is significant anger at the US'
|> diplomatic policies which support and defend
|> Israel, a state which is in defiance of more
|> UN Resolutions than Iraq ever was, and one
|> which unlike Iraq was founded illegally and
|> in defiance of commonly-accepted rights.
I beg your pardon?!
Israel was founded prefectly legally and in accordance with a UN Resolution of 1947.
Which resolution was rejected by all Arab countries and they keep defying THAT resolution by denying the right of the State of Israel to exist. And I believe they should first accept that resolution and only then to require that Israel would obey theirs resolutions (most of which are by General Assembly and as such aren't mandatory anyway).
And, by the way, what is now Iraq was part of Ottoman Empire until WWI then under British rule till 1932, just like Israel (founded in 1948). Why on Earth that makes Iraq more legal than Israel - is beyon comprehension.
"It's not an easy situation, perhaps you believe that Saddam Hussain was a just and kind leader who was no threat at all, I think that it is pretty obvious that he wasn't."
I don't think ANYONE believes that Saddam was a "just and kind leader".
I also believe that ANYONE who believes Saddam was a threat to the US is living in a fantasy.
"The morning of Sept 11, we had no troops in hostile teritories, no prisoners being held illegally, and no delared wars with any country."
Well, we had people in Saudi Arabia and that is what pissed off Osama. We also had a history of supporting some "bad" people in places like Iraq and Honduras.
"I know that the war in Iraq is more of a distraction in the "war on terror", but *hopefully* we can pull a stable democracy out of this mess. It's going to be hard, I believe that the arabs can't see the forest for the trees."
Ummm, we invaded Afghanistan FIRST. If we haven't been able to establish a democracy THERE, why would we be able to do so in Iraq?
"Troops should shoot insurgants 'on the spot' as spies (as the Geneva conventional allows), rather than send them to jail."
Now THAT practice will gain you the support of the populace. This isn't about exterminating the Iraqi people, or, maybe it is. At least by your "logic", it would be.
"I'm not a big fan of Bush (in fact I dispise him), but the war in Iraq was a long time coming."
Just like that final war with Cuba... or Soviet Russia... or East Germany... and so forth. It is possible to NOT invade a country that disagrees with you.
I'm sure it's been said.
by
mcrbids
·
· Score: 2, Funny
"Dammit, I'm too old for this shit", said the stern, muscular, middle-aged Marine commander, surveying with binoculars.
Dozens of miltary agents and officers stand in front of cars parked in the street. Lights are flashing, numerous troops stand around, guns drawn, facing a building.
Across the street, a badly shaven, greasy-looking middle-eastern (sterotype = terrorist, a la "True Lies") holding an automatic rifle in one hand, defenseless female in another screams threats from the large white house.
"Call in the sniper-detector" said the large, square-jawed Marine commander.
Up comes a small, wiry man in camoflauge, donning thick eye-distorting glasses. There's a weird electro-mechanical contraption vaguely resembling a satellite dish fixed to his military helmet.
"Sniper-detector Melvin reporting for duty, sir!" says the wiry gent.
"I need you to tell me if there are any explosives in that there building!" screams the military commander.
"Aye sir!" screams back the nerdly sniper-detector in a fearful tone.
Melvin promptly enters and briefly emerges from an unmarked, large, black moving truck parked nearby, holding a long, powerful-looking sniper rifle, on which is an enormous-looking scope.
"Here, I need you to shoot this into the building when I tell you to!", says Melvin to a nearby, muscular ground trooper. "Make sure not to hit anybody!" he adds with intent and feeling.
Melvin then disappears into the back of the large, black truck.
"OK!" comes the muffled scream from Melvin in the back of the truck.
With a barely perceptible nod, the trooper takes the gun, and with careful, confident smoothness, the trooper points the rifle at the building, and carefully takes aim at the building and carefully fires a single shot.
KABOOM!
Boards and shrapnel fly in all directions, the blast blowing back everybody standing against the ground. Windshields and car windows are shattered, a hubcap noisily rolls by, eventually coming to rest against a heavily damaged 2x4.
Officers and agents get up, dusting themselves off, one officer screaming in pain off in the distance. As officers and infantryman check each other to assess the damage, the back door of the truck flies open.
"Good news, sir!" says Melvin, suddenly pausing as he surveys the damage all around.
"What's that, dammit!" screams the commander.
"Well, sir, I was going to say that there was no sign of nuclear weapons, just some plastic explosives..."
-- I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
they watched too much Full Metal Panic, the anime. the main character, Sagara, is a para-militar undercover in high-school. whenever he thinks his locker has been violated he just blows it up. why ? because "it could contain explosives"
just great stuff. specially the second season, Full Metal Panic Fumoffu.
Re:Thinking about defusing bombs...
by
ChrisMaple
·
· Score: 1
No sand in Manhatten. Whole island concrete. (Apologies to Stan Freeberg.)
-- Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
The movie is calledRunaway. And is one of my favorites. A Michael Crichton movie ! Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Kirstie Alley. the future, as seen in 1984. great stuff
K5 or any other scoop based site for that matter. Community edited is the keyword you're looking for.
/. prides itself of its exceptionnally good editors, if you are unsatisfied there are plenty of community edited sites...
"when it was supposed to"
by
The+Tyro
·
· Score: 1
that's a good way to put it. I wasn't casting any aspersions on the intelligence of EOD and bomb guys (God knows, they come in mighty handy... I've always been thankful to have their expertise in the appropriate situations).
I don't know what it is about some bomb guys, but some of them like what they do... I don't mean that they're simply cheerful... I mean they really, really like their work. Some of those guys literally have a gleam in their eye when they're working. They remind me of the kid in school who was kind of a pyromaniac (you know who I'm talking about... every school has one) who's found his niche in life; getting paid to do what he'd probably be doing anyway.
It's nice to see enthusiasm in your job... but I was always worried about that level of enjoyment involving high explosives.
-- Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Re:I want my friggen Iron Man armor, darnit.
by
kfg
·
· Score: 1
Not until your cardiologist approves.
KFG
Old News...Tom Selleck already knew about it
by
dangil
·
· Score: 1
Tom Selleck Already Knew how to handle those in the 80's.. who remembers the movie Runaway ? the bad guy literally had bullets with your name written on. and those spiders... OMG... I had nightmares with those... I was 6 when I first watched this movie...
and it is a movie by Michael Crichton ! he is a genius...
Stupid question, but worth the karma burn:
by
geminidomino
·
· Score: 1
Slashdot Mirror
Because we can't tell if our bullets have hit TNT without some sort of tracking system.
The big explosion only tells us that there may have been TNT in the path of the bullet.
I gotta get that Lesko book and figure out how to get my fair share of government pork.
The headline about "Smart Bullets" reminds me of a Tom Toles book entitled At least our bombs are getting smarter, a cartoon preview of the 1990s. The cover art is humorous... a daft (and probably tragically typical) American student can't figure out how to spell "budget," while the man-sized smart bomb sitting at the desk behind him is working out some kind of complex mathematical equation. In the corner of the cartoon, as in all Toles cartoons, there's a tiny punch-line. In this case, someone, probably the teacher, assures the smart bomb that "There'll always be a job for a chap like you." Dear God, it's more true today than it was fourteen years ago.
As far as smart bullets go, it sounds like the little spider transmitters Spider-Man uses to track the henchmen of his enemies, whom he inevitably follows right back to the bad guy's lair just in time to get clobbered by $villain. I wonder if there's an average number of years between the time a technology is introduced in comic books and the time it becomes a reality. Looks to me like it hovers around thirty.
You are in error. No-one is screaming. Thank you for your cooperation.
I'm glad I don't have the job of testing that...
shooting at TNT seems a little risky.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
Oooh. I think therefore I am... *CRUNCH*!
Deleted
Shoot first, get answers later.
Won't somebody please think of the Karma!
"New Scientist reports the creation of a 'smart bullet' that can be fired at a target and then transmit back informations via wireless connection. "
;). I am surprised it took until now to get it developed in real life.
Didn't Spider man always use to shoot homing devices on cars etc and track them
3dinfo@maficstudios.com
We've got warchalking, wardriving, so this would be ... er, warwar?
So, after the bullet hit a target, it transmits information back to tell for example where it hit, damage made etc.
The fun part starts if the host could transmit data back to the bullet, telling it how to operate next. Who knows what it can do? Explode, burrow etc...
O.O
This will be the end of cool action shooting scenes in movies though.
"King also warns that firing a projectile at a potential explosive goes against bomb disposal guidelines."
Ya think? I know one way bomb squads dispose of potential bombs is to simply blow them up, but to fire a bullet (even if just at paintball speeds) at a potential explosive, just to try to find out if it's an explosive? Seems pretty silly.
But those bullets weren't exactly smart...
- These characters were randomly selected.
Bullet: "Splat!"
That's going to be a lot of bullets to track.
I wasn't shooting at the bank teller, the bullet was trying to find TNT
No, I'm thinking "offtopic" :-) Now Jessica Rabbit that's a different matter...
If result of Step 1 is: No detonation then most likely, there's no TNT.
Of little on topic relavence: Have you seen what a blended metal bullet does to a potroast?
"Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus."
... all our missiles are guaranteed to hit the ground if they fail to reach the target...
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
The idea here is to get the sensor closer to the explosives. But I think building a sensor that will survive the penetration will be very difficult.
Some of the stories posted to this site are pretty lame. Others are obviously flamebait or troll. Why can't we moderate the top level as well as the comments?
Don't know why nobody has noticed this yet, but we already covered this topic a couple days ago.
If these are used for, let's say, more violent purposed: ...... he's definitely dead. Nice shot."
"Yup
If someone runs, shoot at the car, stop the persuit and hunt for the signal later.
This might just save some lives.
There ARE sites that allow you to moderate the top level stories. Kuro5hin comes to mind. I believe there's a public-voting version of Metafilter as well.
However those sites just somehow haven't wound up being as popular as Slashdot. Go figure. So did Slashdot just get lucky, or is Slashdot actually doing something right?
...can I shoot one at my boss so I'll always know where he is, or will it kill him?
Actually, never mind, it seems a win-win situation either way.
Let there be light....
Cesare
(prolly gonna get troll-modded for this but it's what I think
Technology won't save troops from deteriorating political situations, it just adds another tool to carry and another IT support problem - and with any projectile-launcher, another way by which to cause civilian injuries and the concomitent reprisals.
Safety can only be gained by acting (in terms of foreign, domestic and social policy) in a manner which does not inspire bloodthirsty desire for vengeance in people of other cultures. Use an ethical solution to roadside bombs, not a technical one.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
When someone is hot with one of these "smart" bullets, perhaps they could "trace" the device the bullet was communicating with, leading to an arrest.
FATAL ERROR: damn its not TNT its a hydro...**KAAABOOOM**
Striving to be common...
Ooo, maybe now they can make that tracking sniper rifle that some one came up with as a scam.
Though I'd guess you'd notice it if you got hit with a paint ball, like this thing is.
After it hits someone? "He's dead, Jim" of course.
Sorry, it had to be said.
AccountKiller
Wind! Lots of wind! ... ... ... ... ... ...
Something's coming towards me. I wonder if it'll be my friend?
Ack! I've crashed into something! Oooooh! It's really icky in here. There's all sorts of red stuff going past me. I think I'm tumbling, too. Urp! I think I'm going to be sick.
Some kind of hard, white tree or something just shattered on my face.
Well, it looks like the ride has stopped.
Hello? Hello? Anyone out there?
Isn't anyone going to come and get me? It's really noisy here. Sounds like someone's screaming or something. And it really stinks here too. Looks like someone's mixed a septic tank and cow in a wood chipper. What a mess. Who the hell would do this? This sucks! Game over, man, game over!
I drank what? -- Socrates
Ummm........this story has already been posted here on slashdot already here
"There is no spoon." - The Matrix
"Is anyone else here thinking of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"?"
No, I was thinking more of Runaway (1984), an old Michael Crichton film starring Tom Selleck. The bad guy had a gun that recorded the IR signature of the target when it fired. The bullets would then track you round corners etc. - even through crowds.
I remember it as a pretty fun film to watch - esp. the small spider robots with the poison syringes...
...but, if you shoot TNT, won't it blow up?
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
Sandbags seem to be the preferred option. They're cheap, and the contents can be easily found anywhere in the world. Other methods of containment include using a U shaped metal barrel pointing upwards towards the sky. Apparently when this was used once, it actually shot a hole through the clouds above. The closest anyone has come up with using a flexible but strong substance has probably been with airlines experimenting with kevlar straps tied around baggage containers. The straps were flexible enough to stretch with the blast, but strong enough to keep the container in shape.
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Lets not make too many jokes about shooting bullets at explosives. This is only the official goal . I'm sure Ashcroft and his gang have prefectly good reasons for wanting to go around shooting bullets randomly, and hoping to hit TNT. Americans must learn to give up our rights and safety and sanity in the fight against terrorism.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.
The morning of Sept 11, we had no troops in hostile teritories, no prisoners being held illegally, and no delared wars with any country. Ethics didn't help us avoid that disaster. In fact our commitment to help repel Saddam Hussain in GWI was the spark which started that chain of events (Bin 'the evil bastard' Laden didn't like that; he wanted to bring his own troops in from Afganistan; the Saudi Royals knew what a mess that would be). I know that the war in Iraq is more of a distraction in the "war on terror", but *hopefully* we can pull a stable democracy out of this mess. It's going to be hard, I believe that the arabs can't see the forest for the trees.
Except for a handful of MI Specialists (who were under far to broad of orders from [I believe] the Whitehouse) and the National Guard troops they corrupted, the U.S. military has acted ethicly, in fact I argue more ethically than needed. Troops should shoot insurgants 'on the spot' as spies (as the Geneva conventional allows), rather than send them to jail.
Bridges, roads, pipelines, schools are being build by American money and troops. It's not an easy situation, perhaps you believe that Saddam Hussain was a just and kind leader who was no threat at all, I think that it is pretty obvious that he wasn't. If France and Russian weren't bought and paid for by him, I doubt if their opposition whould have been as great.
What is the ID Sniper Rifle?
To put it short, the idea is to implant a GPS microchip in the body of a human being, using a high-powered sniper rifle as the long distance injector. The microchip will enter the body and stay there, causing no internal damage, and only a very small amount of physical pain to the target. It will feel like a mosquito bite, lasting a fraction of a second.
At the same time, a digital camcorder with a zoom lens fitted within the scope will take a high-resolution picture of the target. This picture will be stored on a memory card for later image-analysis. GPS microchip technology is already being used for tracking millions of pets in various countries, and the logical solution is to use it on humans as well, when the situation demands it.
-------------
Projectiles witht the ability to "phone home" are in our near future. How long can we expect to wait until something like the ID Sniper Rifle really exists?
Check out Boeskov's account of the weapons fair- crazy! http://events.thing.net/Boeskov_text.html
I don't know about all this TNT finding stuff, but I can see the major benefits for hunters using these. Deer hunters sometimes can't bring a deer down right away (think drunks, or someone shooting through brush, both of wich are bad shooting habits) and so they have to track it through the woods.
Now, assuming the bullet didnt go all the way through, instead of following drops of blood for miles we can follow the bullet. It says the range is only 70m, but maybe that'll get better by the time they (maybe) release it for the public.
B/c for reasons other than hunting, it sounds completely pointless.
I was thinking of converting to paganism, but where the hell can you find sacrificial virgins these days?
"Hey Bob, where's the smart bullet?"
"Let me check the computer...hmm, over...there, next to the coffee machine."
Seriously, what the hell use is a tracking device that's only good for 70 meters? Or did the poster use the wrong units, and it should have been 70 mi?
Please help metamoderate.
Apologies to slashdot moderators, I'm going offtopic here - these are interesting comments, and worth the time to reply.
Disclosure, I'm not a US Citizen, although I suspect you've already realised this. When people speak about the effect the United States has upon the world we're not just discussing military operations.. in fact about the only thing we're not talking about is Joe Public.
I specifically referred to "foreign, industrial and social policy" as I don't see a real distinction. The United States as an economic superpower has significant sway, both in pure market terms and of diplomatic leverage, both of which have as much need to be used carefully as her near-unbeatable military might
There is significant anger at the US' diplomatic policies which support and defend Israel, a state which is in defiance of more UN Resolutions than Iraq ever was, and one which unlike Iraq was founded illegally and in defiance of commonly-accepted rights.
Your reference to events in Arabia at the end of the Gulf War is factually correct but can be seen from other angles as well, one of which I shall take.
The Iraqi army was nowhere near so well matched against the combined forces which liberated Kuwait as they had been against Iran several years earlier, it would not have been an impossible task for Operation Desert Storm to maintain its inertia and sweep through Iraq to the gates of Baghdad.
Few are those who would have complained at seeing Hussein toppled in 1991, just a few short years after his massacres of the Kurds and Turkomens in the North, of Iranian child soldiers and prisoners of war along his borders and in his camps, and his draining of the marshes of the Shi'i areas in an attempt to starve out the Marsh Arabs
However, the point of view of many is that the West did not want Saddam removed. Similarly recent were the humiliating sieges of US embassies in Teheran, Iran, and that country was, to a far greater extent than today, under the grips of a religious council of hardline Shi'i clerics. America saw Ba'athist government in Iraq as a shield to subdue fundamentalist shi'i islam which otherwise might have spread.
Osama bin Laden, then fresh from the Afghan campaigns against the USSR, was naturally opposed to Hussein - Ba'ath represented secular government untiting the people long racial rather than religious lines, to a hardline Moslem whose followers were drawn from throughout the Islamic world this was unwelcome... so bin Laden offered to provide military forces to keep Iraq at bay.
This would, of course, have been a disaster, but it was compounded by the house of Saud's decision to invite American forces into what Moslems see as holy territory.. and which fundamnetalist moslems saw as an outrage. To them, the US was allowing the continued oppression of many Shi'i Arab, Kurd, Turkomen and Iranian peoples by Saddam Hussein, while at the same time provifing military and diplomatic aid to another pariah state (Israel) which was engaged in a bloody 45-year campaign to hold land taken on pre-biblical grounds from Palestinians who viewed it as their home.
This is, of course, all interpretation, and many other interpretations are possible, but I believe that these were the roots of the rise of al-Qaeda as an international terrorist organisation and of course of the events of Sep 11th 2001. It doesn't just come down to military forces and short-term operations.
I'm quite aware my views won't be to most readers tastes - please reply and challenge me on facts rather than just moderating down. I meta-moderate daily and always mark seemingly political moderations as "unfair"
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
not to question an ex-EOD tech (you guys are all a little nuts), but I was under the impression that only some explosives (rather than all) are sensitive to heat, and some to percussion... while some require both to initiate a high-order detonation. C-4, for instance, can be safely set on fire, and will not detonate. It can also be safely exposed to significant mechanical shock, and will not detonate (exposing it to both simultaneously isn't advisable). I've never seen pure cyclonite (RDX) used much... probably due to its sensitivity, as you mentioned.
Most military high-explosives I've been around don't require much chaining (setting off sequential explosives to detonate a less-sensitive material)... I can't remember the last time I saw anyone use more than a standard cap. (I'm not an bomb/EOD-guy... I've simply been around the stuff a bit).
The original poster's comment about shooting at TNT is funny... because that's exactly how a fair amount of ordinance gets detonated these days. The last time I was in theatre, the EOD guys were using Barrett light-50's (with a type of european incendiary ammo) to detonate mines and other ordinance... a whole lot easier and safer than walking up to it and setting up the shot by hand. My tactical gear was heavy and unwieldy enough... I don't know how you guys are able to do anything in those bomb suits...
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
You'll have no problem detecting TNT by shooting at it. Why the bullet needs to be "smart" eludes me considering it will likely be incinerated in the blast.
|> There is significant anger at the US' |> diplomatic policies which support and defend |> Israel, a state which is in defiance of more |> UN Resolutions than Iraq ever was, and one |> which unlike Iraq was founded illegally and |> in defiance of commonly-accepted rights. I beg your pardon?!
Israel was founded prefectly legally and in accordance with a UN Resolution of 1947.
Which resolution was rejected by all Arab countries and they keep defying THAT resolution by denying the right of the State of Israel to exist. And I believe they should first accept that resolution and only then to require that Israel would obey theirs resolutions (most of which are by General Assembly and as such aren't mandatory anyway).
And, by the way, what is now Iraq was part of Ottoman Empire until WWI then under British rule till 1932, just like Israel (founded in 1948). Why on Earth that makes Iraq more legal than Israel - is beyon comprehension.
These bullets were used in the anime Ghost in the Shell movie(1998?). The non-techie member of the team shoot off two of these at an escaping vehicle.
Life imitating art?
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
correct me if im wrong (which im not)
but its Lock h eed dammit
------
[insert funny
"It's not an easy situation, perhaps you believe that Saddam Hussain was a just and kind leader who was no threat at all, I think that it is pretty obvious that he wasn't."
I don't think ANYONE believes that Saddam was a "just and kind leader".
I also believe that ANYONE who believes Saddam was a threat to the US is living in a fantasy.
"The morning of Sept 11, we had no troops in hostile teritories, no prisoners being held illegally, and no delared wars with any country."
Well, we had people in Saudi Arabia and that is what pissed off Osama. We also had a history of supporting some "bad" people in places like Iraq and Honduras.
"I know that the war in Iraq is more of a distraction in the "war on terror", but *hopefully* we can pull a stable democracy out of this mess. It's going to be hard, I believe that the arabs can't see the forest for the trees."
Ummm, we invaded Afghanistan FIRST. If we haven't been able to establish a democracy THERE, why would we be able to do so in Iraq?
"Troops should shoot insurgants 'on the spot' as spies (as the Geneva conventional allows), rather than send them to jail."
Now THAT practice will gain you the support of the populace. This isn't about exterminating the Iraqi people, or, maybe it is. At least by your "logic", it would be.
"I'm not a big fan of Bush (in fact I dispise him), but the war in Iraq was a long time coming."
Just like that final war with Cuba...
or Soviet Russia...
or East Germany...
and so forth. It is possible to NOT invade a country that disagrees with you.
"Dammit, I'm too old for this shit", said the stern, muscular, middle-aged Marine commander, surveying with binoculars.
Dozens of miltary agents and officers stand in front of cars parked in the street. Lights are flashing, numerous troops stand around, guns drawn, facing a building.
Across the street, a badly shaven, greasy-looking middle-eastern (sterotype = terrorist, a la "True Lies") holding an automatic rifle in one hand, defenseless female in another screams threats from the large white house.
"Call in the sniper-detector" said the large, square-jawed Marine commander.
Up comes a small, wiry man in camoflauge, donning thick eye-distorting glasses. There's a weird electro-mechanical contraption vaguely resembling a satellite dish fixed to his military helmet.
"Sniper-detector Melvin reporting for duty, sir!" says the wiry gent.
"I need you to tell me if there are any explosives in that there building!" screams the military commander.
"Aye sir!" screams back the nerdly sniper-detector in a fearful tone.
Melvin promptly enters and briefly emerges from an unmarked, large, black moving truck parked nearby, holding a long, powerful-looking sniper rifle, on which is an enormous-looking scope.
"Here, I need you to shoot this into the building when I tell you to!", says Melvin to a nearby, muscular ground trooper. "Make sure not to hit anybody!" he adds with intent and feeling.
Melvin then disappears into the back of the large, black truck.
"OK!" comes the muffled scream from Melvin in the back of the truck.
With a barely perceptible nod, the trooper takes the gun, and with careful, confident smoothness, the trooper points the rifle at the building, and carefully takes aim at the building and carefully fires a single shot.
KABOOM!
Boards and shrapnel fly in all directions, the blast blowing back everybody standing against the ground. Windshields and car windows are shattered, a hubcap noisily rolls by, eventually coming to rest against a heavily damaged 2x4.
Officers and agents get up, dusting themselves off, one officer screaming in pain off in the distance. As officers and infantryman check each other to assess the damage, the back door of the truck flies open.
"Good news, sir!" says Melvin, suddenly pausing as he surveys the damage all around.
"What's that, dammit!" screams the commander.
"Well, sir, I was going to say that there was no sign of nuclear weapons, just some plastic explosives..."
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
That you're going to shoot at a suspected TNT container and see if it's actually TNT.
Why not just go sit on top of it and light up.
Can we get one that finds huge caches of WMDs in Iraq?
Because god knows, the first thing we want to do if we suspect we've found TNT is shoot at it.
No sand in Manhatten. Whole island concrete. (Apologies to Stan Freeberg.)
Contribute to civilization: ari.aynrand.org/donate
Wasn't it Gene Simmons, the guitarist from Kiss, and not a bad actor, who played the villian with the gene-coded smart bullets that tracked targets ?
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
K5 or any other scoop based site for that matter. Community edited is the keyword you're looking for.
that's a good way to put it. I wasn't casting any aspersions on the intelligence of EOD and bomb guys (God knows, they come in mighty handy... I've always been thankful to have their expertise in the appropriate situations).
I don't know what it is about some bomb guys, but some of them like what they do... I don't mean that they're simply cheerful... I mean they really, really like their work. Some of those guys literally have a gleam in their eye when they're working. They remind me of the kid in school who was kind of a pyromaniac (you know who I'm talking about... every school has one) who's found his niche in life; getting paid to do what he'd probably be doing anyway.
It's nice to see enthusiasm in your job... but I was always worried about that level of enjoyment involving high explosives.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Without RTFA, I'll bet these bullets cost exactly $5,000.... Just like Chris Rock said they would.
Blue Sky Tomorrows
Not until your cardiologist approves.
KFG
Tom Selleck Already Knew how to handle those in the 80's.. who remembers the movie Runaway ? the bad guy literally had bullets with your name written on. and those spiders ... OMG... I had nightmares with those... I was 6 when I first watched this movie...
and it is a movie by Michael Crichton ! he is a genius...
EOD = explosive ??? disposal? Ordinance?