Slashdot Mirror
First Artificial Aurora May Lead to Night Sky Ads
An anonymous reader writes "LiveScience is reporting that the military's HAARP project has had its first success generating artificial light displays in the ionosphere. They created little green speckles of manmade aurora within an existing auroral display. The work is designed primarily to 'enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.' Next up: sky-high neon advertisements."
Instruction: Point At Eyes
Is it too early to consider Open Sky as an alternative?
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
and what's their contact info?
welcome more light pollution.
Sky Spam
Table-ized A.I.
OK son, that's the big dipper, the little dipper, and over there to the right of the Cialis ad is Orion. No, that's not his schvantz, that's his bow son.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Just what we need: more ads in our lives
Anyone have one of those green lasers?
The process is not well understood, but scientists speculate it could one day be employed to light a city or generate celestial advertisements.
do we reall need. "En|@rge Ur PeNI5" 30 miles high in the sky?
what about a feed of the latest slashdot stories? would increase efficiency of nerds worldwide?
any other suggestions?
Marge, get me your address book, 4 beers, and my conversation hat.
Next Up: Sky Spam
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
A guy shines a laser pointer in the Sky, and the FBI is after his ass. You think there going to allow this? I think not. They will consider it a airline safety issue (hence homeland security) until they can pass a separate law.
Then the sky will chance based on that terror warning system.
So get ready for yellow and orange nights!
Did anyone else automatically think, "Just like Cowboy Bebop!"?
Yes, marketing within the most vulnerable demographic: space bounty hunters.
- A
I guarantee you, this is a very bad turn of events. Perhaps inevitable, but still bad. I think within five years now, we're going to need some serious government regulation about this. Wherever it's possible to display ads at a reasonable cost, ads in those locations appear. I've seen taxicabs in the last couple of years that are basically totally covered in advertisements. It's sad, really. I for one enjoy looking at the stars and planets in the night sky, and do NOT welcome our capitalist overlords. Good fucking grief.
Take off every sig. For great justice.
...welcome the chance to beat the living daylights out of the first idiot to broadcast an advertisement.
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
I can't be the only one who'd immediately boycot any company "advertising" like this.
Guaranteed: The FCC will regulate what's on the ionosphere this evening...
"Nature bats last..."
I believe they did this already in the '50s by detonating nuclear warheads in space. Doing it by radio waves is really cool though!
So how does this work, will there be a arrow labelled "THIS IS NOT A NUKE!"?
Will a preview of the next Harry Potter be blasted to the sky?
People with epilepsy that is triggered by light? It won't do to have epileptic people look at the sky and seize up.
The article talks about possibly lighting urban areas with this, but to me, it sounds like a HUGE waste of energy. I'd rather see dirigibles with fluourescents than irradiating the sky (and any planes/satellites/birds overhead) with what doesn't instead just keep going out into space.
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
The ionosphere is an amazing thing. Circling and enveloping the Earth from pole to pole, it captures and blocks much of the deadly radiation from the Sun. Without it, we'd be as dead as Deimos.
So what's the big deal with shooting a few billion particles at it from ground level? Well, those particles, if you've studied any physics at all, are highly charged and very high in energy. That means that as they travel through the ionosphere, they are blasting a hole (albeit on a tiny scale) through the atomsphere. These holes, unlike the Aurora activity caused by the Sun, are directed straight through. The Sun's rays travel perpendicular to the ionosphere, so although there is a lot of particle activity from the Sun, it is mostly absorbed and bent in to the shape of the Van Halen radiation belt. It's a good system, and produces some really beautiful natural artwork.
But poking holes in the ionosphere that lead directly out can lead to any number of consequences. The least among these is that the ionosphere somehow regains and replenishes itself with charged particles. The worst is that a "leak" in the ionosphere leads to a complete destruction of the radiation-blocking area that keeps us alive.
Put advertisments on the Moon, or fly giant reflective satellites around the Earth. Just don't be trying to put a hole in our ozone on purpose.
Oh god. If this happens, I swear. I'm grabbing the first weapon I can find and heading to the first marketing firm I can find and going on one of those rampages that were so popular with post office employees.
Someone stop it. PLEASE.
Considering that Freon is a wonderfully inert substance at ground level that gets changed into an ozone eating monster at altitude under high UV, one wonders whether hosing the atmosphere with highly charged particles is a good idea.
I have not RTFA, but I hopefully this is done over the US and not in in a far away place like was done by the nuclear testing bastards.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Yet again I have to say... Nikola Tesla owns you.
Support Liberty, Support Ron Paul
I think it would be fun to make people think God is speaking to them.
Sure we do. I see an end to spam.
1) They light up the sky.
2) Track the source of the advertisement to a geographical region
3) Shoot the fuckers (for fun! no profit!)
It is a problem that will solve itself.
When I was a teenager (some time ago) this was one of my stupid ideas that friends and I would bounce around. Eventually we decided it was stupid because people could (and probably would) abuse it for advertising and spam. We decided it was a bad idea - evidently the government didn't have that kind of insight.
C'mon! People don't want their sky filled with adverts. How long until we see skys filled with ads for porn and viagra? I like naked women as much as anyone but I don't want to see the entire sky filled with naked breasts.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
I like the idea.
Just wonderful. The sky was about the only place without ads. Fortunately, there already is an ad blocker for this thing. But how long before there is no way to raise children without corporate brainwashing? How is it any different than the omnipresent propaganda in Soviet Russia? Is it a new world ala 1984, only with greedy corporations instead of violent regimes? If so, than how will the world look like after few decades? This is not a good news and I, for one, will always boycott such an intrusive form of advertisement which is even far worse than spam.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
I am not proclaiming to be an expert on this subject... in fact I am far from it.
But if I remember correctly I believe that I read some articles about the true purpose of HAARP was conceived as a weather control device to be used in a military fashion. Can anyone correct me on this info?
Here is an interesting link - (which may or may not support my post...
http://www.earthpulse.com/haarp/
Instead of raising your voice, try strengthening your argument.
The process is not well understood, but scientists speculate it could one day be employed to light a city or generate celestial advertisements.
Those seem like two completely different options there...help humanity by providing light to a city, or numb the mind of humanity a little more by advertising in the auroras in the night sky.
Really, we should just float huge space banners geosynchronously over all of the big cities. 24 hour exposure, plus in the daytime it could block harmful UV rays from reaching Earth. Argh...can't we have ANY physical space not filled with advertising?
Batman will be pleased. Now the bat signal will be more visible than ever.
Warning: Could be fatal if taken seriously
Advertisements in the sky?
Light pollution is bad enough ALREADY can you imagine if there was man-made super-energized particle signs in the sky, what would be left of the natural beauty of the stars?
Shouldn't something like this be illegal unless it was for good use? Ruining the night sky for me just about does it.
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
Leave us the sky you bastards!
WAAAAH!
those darn conspiracy theorists were right after all!!
*goes into hiding*
What happens when they shoot up a sky pr0n spam from a liberal state and it is seen by a neighboring conservative state?
A sky ad promoting San Francisco's Gay Pride being seen by those in neighboring conservative New Mexico?
Or when I project my famous image of myself wearing my clear plastic wedding dress from an offshore projector and it's seen by the fine folks in South Carolina?
If these things catch on, they will go down in price.
In 10 years or so (just like the digital camera), you may start seeing these at Sharper Image; then Best Buy, and finally on Ebay. You wait.
Luv you all!
Cleara
Russia to launch spy satellites for Iran
By Vladimir Radyuhin
MOSCOW, FEB. 2. Russia will launch two spy and one telecommunications satellites for Iran in what may be a sign of strengthening strategic tie-up between the two countries.
The Russian military space forces this year will place two Iranian remote earth-probe (reconnaissance) satellites to geo-stationary orbits, a Russian business daily reported today. The satellites, Italian-built Mesbah and indigenous Sinah-1 will be lifted by the Russian Kosmos-3M booster from the Russian military space port, Plisetsk, in the second quarter of 2005, the Kommersant daily reported.
Russia will also build and launch a geo-stationary telecom satellite, Zohreh (Venus), for Iran under a $132-million deal signed earlier this week in Teheran. Moscow will also help the Islamic Republic in setting up two ground control stations and train local personnel.
1. Be drinking highly carbonated fresh diet soda
2. Read parent's comment
3. Buckler over in pain
4. Prophet??
Excuse me, I don't mean to impose, but I am the ocean
Love this from the referenced articale "We unfortunately were indoors watching the data on monitors during the experiment and were busy scrambling trying to make sure the effects were real and not some glitch with the equipment,"
Picture in mind of geeks staring at glowing screens while the 1 MW RF beam blasts the crap out of a 747 or worse.
Really, this is so wrong. I predict if things like this happen that a population pushed to the breaking point may get frothing angry and hunt these creeps down like dogs... If any activists wish to blow it to bits, I will quitely applaud such actions. Personally I think it's time we as the people of earth stand up to this and make sure it never happens.
the first person to hack the system and use it to post a glowing etherial picture of the goats.cx to the Ionosphere will officially be King of the Nerds.
Why?
I'm not saying it wasn't an interesting experiment but I see _no_ benefits for us, the people, the end-user. Somebody, guide me to the light but not the one saying "Enlarge this Enlarge that" >_>
"enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.' Next up: sky-high neon advertisements."
As in: a sky-high neon sign saying:
"We're watching you..."
(And I don't mean the North Koreans or the Chinese, either...)
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Ever looked at www.haarp.net? This project has kept conspiracy theorists busy for over a decade.
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
Read Asimov's short story "Buy Jupiter" - advertising on a truly large scale.
HAARP isn't really about pretty light shows.
It's about military-industrial applications:
* Detection and Imagine of Underground Structures Using ELF/VLF Radio Waves
* Angels Don't Play This Haarp
-kgj
-kgj
Depending on how bright this, couldn't it be bad for animals, insects, life in general? Many animals use the night and day cycles so extensively that if they were "fooled" into thinking it was day when it was night, it could easily destroy eco-systems. You'll often read about how animals get confused during eclipses, think it has become night time. Anytime we significantly alter the Earth's "default settings", we're asking for trouble. Not that I can't see this as being useful if it could be isolated for lighting urban areas, which in turn could save power potentially. It's application in war, to light up the night sky is also incredible.
We are one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively. Back to you with the weather, Bob!
What are the current laws regarding the ownership of the sky above the country? Doesnt that only extend to certain heght above the sea level? What would happen if the ionosphere was above that line? Wouldnt that allow a certain country to display ads or popaganda over other ountries ?
Given the light pollution in most of the world, people don't spend much time looking skyward anymore. Even if you could produce a pretty design, most people wouldn't see it.
BTW, did you notice the transmitter power. One megawatt. The frequency; HF. We're talking about some seriously expensive engineering in order to get a pattern of RF which will produce any kind of controlled image.
On a historical note: The Canadians had the HARP project which involved Gerald Bull shooting shells into the ionosphere. Because this was the world's leading ballistic technology at the time, the Canadian government cancelled it. Canadians hate being the best.
Now we're gonna get spam in the sky. *shoots self*
So how long until we have the plans for an open source anti-satellite missile? Seems like an open source solution to a societal problem.
blog |
let's start screwing with nature in a new and different way. I'm sure it's hardmless, and we won't be aline when it causes any issues.
Pretty Pictures!
If we get sky spam I'm starting a monkey-wrenching party. If I have to see ads for the next "world's deadliest car crashes"/"most arrested Mexicans and black people"/"most brainwashed Americans" special on FOX instead of the stars shit's gonna break. I'm fucking serious.
Only in a Slashdot fantasy can a Slackware install turn into several hours of sex . . . . .
someone having a brick put through their window.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
And so ads continue to push and push into places where they don't belong.
Ads originally had a good purpose. They were a great way to support a service that was free or very cheap. You got your free radio or network TV (cable TV at first was meant to be ad-free), or your newspaper for a couple of cents. For getting all that content very cheap or free, it was understood that there would be ads, and these ads kept the service going.
Now modern society is coated with advertisements everywhere in sight. Any space on any object that more than a few people can see is now treated as a potential ad site. It's sickening. Look at stadiums with decades of history and tradition that give up their old name in favor of some corporation's name, and you will realize that nothing is sacred anymore if a big corp wants a piece of it.
The very idea of pushing an ad into the night sky is just perverse. But the really perverse thing is that the average person just accepts all of it. I sit here and struggle to block any and every ad I can from my sight, and make a sincere effort not to buy from corporations that take their ads too far... but the average person just accepts it, and that's what allows it to continue. That's what will allow it to get worse and worse. Consider the film Minority Report, which depicts a future where the ads basically follow you everywhere and address you by your name. It's where we are headed.
Iremember something like this in Alaska, in the 80's
lots of conspiricy theories, etc...
"The natural aurora is created when very high energy particles emitted by the sun, reach the Earth's vicinity, are swept toward the Earth's magnetic poles, and collide with gas molecules existing in the upper atmosphere. The energy involved in this process is enormous but is entirely natural and it has been a normal event throughout Earth's history."
"HAARP is so much weaker than these naturally occurring processes that it is completely incapable of producing any optical effects that can be seen without using very sensitive telescopes."
According to the website it is no where near the amount of energy needed to create SKY SPAM so don't start worrying anytime soon. But then again this is Slashdot where everything is blown way out of proportion.Creative Demolition
As a nod to one of the worst Fred Ward movies of all time:
This was the name of that lame ass *satellite thingy* in Remo Williams - The Adventure Begins. I, for one, was glad the adventure didn't continue.
Bad special effects, bad martial arts (Joel Grey, of Calypso Heat Wave fame, as a KungFu, oh my bad Shinanzu, master), and Wilford Brimley.
Not to worry, this thing is doomed by association.
-- uh...
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Sounds like the plot to a bad movie.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
There was a great write up in a popular sci/tech trade mag a few years back about the purpose of HAARP. Basically, the project uses high-energy RF to manipulate the ionosphere in such a way that radar can be use on targets OVER the observer's local horizon (kind of like the effect that occurs sometimes at night when you can pick up a far away radio station). In addition, the low radio frequencies that HAARP operates at allows it to penetrate the earth, which affords it the ability to detect underground bunkers at remote locations (of course, using some serious computing power to make sense of the radar returns). I would guess that the "Tiny Green Pockets" of auroral activity that they've caused are the visual byproduct of the ionospheric radar reflectivity pockets that they were trying to generate. The article mentions that they were operating at 1MW output energy, but the DoD's HAARP site mentions that a total output of 3.6MW is possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they were actually operating at the higher end of the scale...
I just heard some sad news on talk radio - religious leader John Paul II just lost his struggle with illness. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't believe in Catholicism, there's no denying his contributions to the fall of Communism. Truly a Polack icon.
There are multiple sites around the world like this. HAARP is based in Alaska. The other sites are in Norway, Russia, and, once it is reconstructed, there will be one at Arecibo. (The other one was on the other side of Puetro Rico but was destroyed by a hurricane in the mid '90s). UCLA also has a site near Fairbanks. I personally have been to both HIPAS and HAARP.
...uhm.... yeeeaaaassss.... I made the northern lights do that.... Exactly what I was planning.....
...Had this been an actual emergency, we would have fled in terror, and you would not have been informed.
As an amateur astronomer, I get bugged when I have a night of observing planned and aurora pops up.
Now, a *nice* aurora show is one of the most wonderful things around, and I will NEVER complain about that. Most of the time, however, it's not a nice show, just a general glow that just wrecks night sky viewing without being worth watching of its own merit.
Every few years someone drags up some form of sky advertising; lunar, satellite, now aurora. It never comes to pass, and I hope it never does.
Most people now live in places where they never get to see the night sky; some areas are so bad you can't see anything beyond the moon and maybe Venus and Jupiter/Saturn. They've been robbed of one of the sources of wonder that initially sparked humanity's imagination. This would be another step down the path of turning our minds to mush and our civilization to crap.
Skinner: Aurora Borealis?
Chalmers: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? A this time of day? In this part of the country? Localized entirely within your kitchen?
Skinner: Yes.
Chalmers: May I see it?
Skinner: Oh, erm... No.
I'm sure it will be used for the next Batman movie to come out after this technology is available for ads.
Oh great, sky spam!
"Over there the Milky Way...and over there, next to the penis enlargement ad, is Orion."
Who knows maybe we might be able to make atmospheric sound and visuals in the future. Might scare the hell out of Canadians, Moose, and wolves. Might even be a way to broadcast hockey games if the NHL ever gets back on the ice.
I take it no-one here has read Red Dwarf? Some time in the future, a smart advertising company comes up with the idea of creating a bunch of supernovae to spell out a message on the sky.
Awesome book by the way. Blows the lame TV show away.
I think the HAARP project in its self is stupid. Are there some benefeits? Of course. But this is just another attempt for man to mess with nature. We are already experiencing problems because of global warming, like the bizarre weather, why add to it by emitting highly concentrated photons into the atmosphere?
What is stopping someone from setting up a laser and printing a visual image right on the moon...
Something planet sized like a big heart with an "I love you Jenn" right in the middle?
Granted I don't know about the science behind it or if a general population comercial laser would have the power to do it...
But if I can write on my wall with my cat laser play toy, why can't I write on the moon?
flinging poop since 1969
All I care is can they get it ready to play Doom IV.
lol: You see no door there!
YOU ARE OWNED
just before a war.
There are numerous refrences in Margaret Cheney's book about how Tesla managed to "change the colors of the sky" or something to that effect with his "generators". How true that is, i dont know, but comming from a man who predicted the "bouncing" of earth, brought us AC, as well as patented, if not even invented the radio, remote control and wireless transmission of electricity should come as no surprise. And yet in his time nobody saw the potential in most of his inventions. Granted he was full of hot air on some of his predictions, however, even in those claims his fondations were generally sound.
A true genious ahead of his time.
Live for the present, learn from the past, and dream of the future!
Maybe not so much for the scientists, as astronomical observation in this field is done almost entirely with autonomous instrumentation.
More specifically, the Hobbyist astronomer will be a big loser in this deal...Light pollution is already a big problem in cities. Once corporate interests get their hands on this technology, we can all pretty much forget about going out on a clear night and gazing to the stars.
So far, the planets and stars represent the only remaining frontiers void of political or corporate boundaries.
*sigh* as a cynic, I've been expecting to hear news like this for quite some time...
From the harp site
"Can HAARP create an artificial aurora?
The natural aurora is created when very high energy particles emitted by the sun, reach the Earth's vicinity, are swept toward the Earth's magnetic poles, and collide with gas molecules existing in the upper atmosphere. The energy involved in this process is enormous but is entirely natural and it has been a normal event throughout Earth's history.
HAARP is so much weaker than these naturally occurring processes that it is completely incapable of producing any optical effects that can be seen without using very sensitive telescopes."
Well... uh... guys... that's all cool to say that in your FAQ... but... er... this story is about the visual displays that HAARP can make...
er....
hmmm...
is it a white lie...
or is life going to start immitating a bad irwin allen flick?
Ok, how many of you can actually see the sky?
Please correct me, but only the rural folks can get any useful view. The rest of us/you are buried beneath a deep pile of photons from mercury vapor, halides, and incandescent filament lamps.
Rural basically equates to poor. The poor don't have much disposable income. They might advertise cola, but they won't be running ads for luxury cars.
I live way out in the boonies-the real Booneville is about 20 miles as the crow flies, so this really is the boondocks and my night sky has been decimated in the last 10 years. Folks are too timid to go out in the dark, and there really isn't any dark any more- I cannot stargaze or happily meander about by moonlight. The few auroras that survive to these latitudes are washed out in a humid haze of lambence and are Darn Hard to See (c).
I imagine you might see some abuse and some Great Powers using the visual high ground, but I really doubt that any entrepeneur can take much advantage here...
AC
Aurora bounce is a quite well known propagation technique in VHF amateur radio. Presumably, this is an attempt to artificially create these conditions reliably.
It's been tried before, and somehow it manages to get shot down. Astronomers really don't like people fucking with their ability to work, and surprisingly the astronomy lobby has successfully managed to put the kibosh on these sort of things so far.
Last time I remember an attempt at something like this was 1989, when the French wanted to commemorate the centennial of the Eiffel Tower by launching into orbit a bunch of reflective balloons forming a glowing ring in the sky. More info here.
~Philly
We have a big enough ozone hole as it is.
Just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe, aye.
Questions of indecent content always occurs in advertising. Showing too much of a woman's leg on a billboard (..to me, there can never be enough ...) or the wording of a simple phrase can offend someone.
Will we see ads with adult content in the sky any time soon? If its cheap, why not advertise cigarettes, alchol, a casino or an escort service in the sky. Afterall, if no one "owns" the sky who is there to fine for its misuse? Yes, I know that marketing types are members of "ethical advertising" groups but, some this has never stopped.
My first Wikipedia.org entry... If only a slight addition.
Added: The Van Allen radiation belt has been incorrectly referred to as the "Van Halen" radiation belt. A simple web search may reveal multiple, published errors.
thanks slashdot for getting me more involved!
No sig for you! Come back one year!
What will aliens think when they see "Get your X-Lax, Corner of Wyse and Main" spread across the night sky on a visit to Chicago?
I for one would rather impress an external intelligence rather than frighten them away with promises of comfortable bowel movements.
"Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important." (Lisa Hoffman)
:) Who own's the add space?
Oh man. Now I feel REALLY old.
Maybe it's time to switch the 8-track in my car.
It could never happen.
Astronomers would complain... as would most people... and who would regulate it? What about over areas viewable in different countries? What if more than one advertiser tries to use the same patch of sky and they ads overlap and make a bright mess? No one wants to mess up the night sky. It's bad enough you can't see stars in the city.
a bunch of hackers at Burning Man take over the signal and broadcast the goings-on to the entire continent.
Granted, that would put an end to Reality TV shows forever.
You know what I think I like this...
The message on the other side of this sig is false.
...you mean to tell me that HAARP really does exist and wasnt just invented for the X-Men Legends video game? i need to get out more often...
"Good night, good work, sleep well, I'll most likely kill you in the morning." - Dread Pirate Roberts
Imagine this over Iraq
All your base are belong to us!
Authority questions you. Return the favor.
I saw only one link to the tin-foil-hat sites. I can't believe /. has neglected this opportunity!
:)
http://www.crystalinks.com/haarp.html
http://www.kalamark.com/Kal_Dir/haarp.html
http://www.padrak.com/ine/HAARP97.html
http://www.jerryesmith.com/includes/store.php?p=1
There, now this thread is complete. Of course, anything related to tin-foil-hats simply must be posted AC.
Yes you can, but the moon is about 2100 miles across
Even the best laser will disperse to a spot a few miles across on the moon. When it hits there, it needs to be bright enough to be visible here. and it needs to be much larger.
Imagine the moon as a circle 2100 pixels across. For the writing to be visible on earth, the illuminated line probably needs to be 25 to 50 miles across. And bright enough to shine back 235,000 miles. Mind you, the moon is about the size of your thumbnail when you hold your hand out in front of you. Think something with the resolution of a 48 pixel icon file, maybe less.
The proportions are easy enough to figure out. Then we get to the power requirements of such a beam.
Typical entertainment grade lasers for light shows are 5 - 20 watts, and can be higher power. If you want a spot 6 kilometers wide on the moon, then normal 6 mm wide beams (about 1/4) would have to expand 1,000 times the diameter, 1,000,000 times the area, and would have to be about 40 megawatts. 6 KM = 3.728 miles.
If you want a 60km spot then you are taking about 10 the diameter, another 100x the area, and so 100x the power for the dot to scale properly.
This means a 4 gigawatt laser to draw your pretty design on the surface of the moon. You could probaly get away with a simple Gigawatt laser. The only ones currently made are scientific research grade, and generate pulses in the nanosecond range. a 10 gigawatt laser to push a solar sail as a means of interpalnetary propulsion. There is also this interesting paper.
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Reminds me of 'The Real World' by Steven Utley (give it a read at http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/originals/original s_archive/utley/utley1.html/ - see page 3).
We will have to start wearing goggles to filter out the airvertising..unless of course we end up enjoying it [g]. It's just a matter of time before the technology has us there....Minority report was just a taste of what will no doubt be coming to major cities.
Enjoy Bachelor Chow!
Drink Shiz!
Top Quality Exercycle For Sale
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Believe it or not, a lot of conspiracy theorists are convinced that HAARP is, aside from the obvious application of mass mind control, a weapon for creating earthquakes.
Try a google search with "haarp" and "earthquake", or even "tsunami" (or read through rense.com for long enough) and you'll find plenty of comments about all of the sneaky applications, but seldom even an attempt to explain how it works. I've tried but been unable to figure out how, of all things, they've concluded that HAARP is for generating earthquakes. I could understand why they would suspect mind control or a cancer weapon, given that it's basically a big radio antenna, but earthquakes?
On an even funnier note, I've come across blogs discussing building a house with aluminum foil inside the walls so you don't have to wear your tin foil hat indoors. They actually seemed serious.
while I cook the sky..
HARP was the name of the weapons satellite that he was trying to find out about.
Unfortunately, it was the one in the movie that was fake.
My mom says I'm cool.
"Now visible due to Springfield's latest cave-in to the astronomer lobby." Oh wait. Parent already mentioned them. Damn.
English is easier said than done.
Asimov's great short story where aliens negotiate with Earth to buy Jupiter, to use as an advertising billboard.
Could this be considered Libel? It's not exactly written down. Oh well, another way to "Enhance your pen1s size!"
Partial Credit: The Engineer's Best friend
"Well, the bridge didn't fall all the way down!"
Abstract:
"A method and apparatus for altering at least one selected region which normally exists above the earth's surface. The region is excited by electron cyclotron resonance heating to thereby increase its charged particle density. In one embodiment, circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation is transmitted upward in a direction substantially parallel to and along a field line which extends through the region of plasma to be altered. The radiation is transmitted at a frequency which excites electron cyclotron resonance to heat and accelerate the charged particles. This increase in energy can cause ionization of neutral particles which are then absorbed as part of the region thereby increasing the charged particle density of the region."
final exceedingly long paragraph (not my fault)
"This invention has a phenomenal variety of possible ramifications and potential future developments. As alluded to earlier, missile or aircraft destruction, deflection, or confusion could result, particularly when relativistic particles are employed. Also, large regions of the atmosphere could be lifted to an unexpectedly high altitude so that missiles encounter unexpected and unplanned drag forces with resultant destruction or deflection of same. Weather modification is possible by, for example, altering upper atmosphere wind patterns or altering solar absorption patterns by constructing one or more plumes of atmospheric particles which will act as a lens or focusing device. Also as alluded to earlier, molecular modifications of the atmosphere can take place so that positive environmental effects can be achieved. Besides actually changing the molecular composition of an atmospheric region, a particular molecule or molecules can be chosen for increased presence. For example, ozone, nitrogen, etc. concentrations in the atmosphere could be artificially increased. Similarly, environmental enhancement could be achieved by causing the breakup of various chemical entities such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, and the like. Transportation of entities can also be realized when advantage is taken of the drag effects caused by regions of the atmosphere moving up along diverging field lines. Small micron sized particles can be then transported, and, under certain circumstances and with the availability of sufficient energy, larger particles or objects could be similarly affected. Particles with desired characteristics such as tackiness, reflectivity, absorptivity, etc., can be transported for specific purposes or effects. For example, a plume of tacky particles could be established to increase the drag on a missile or satellite passing therethrough. Even plumes of plasma having substantially less charged particle density than described above will produce drag effects on missiles which will affect a lightweight (dummy) missile in a manner substantially different than a heavy (live) missile and this affect can be used to distinguish between the two types of missiles. A moving plume could also serve as a means for supplying a space station or for focusing vast amount of sunlight on selected portions of the earth. Surveys of global scope could also be realized because the earth's natural magnetic field could be significantly altered in a controlled manner by plasma beta effects resulting in, for example, improved magnetotelluric surveys. Electromagnetic pulse defenses are also possible. The earth's magnetic field could be decreased or disrupted at appropriate altitudes to modify or eliminate the magnetic field in high Compton electron generation (e.g., from high altitude nuclear bursts) regions. High intensity, well controlled electrical fields can be provided in selected locations for various purposes. For example, the plasma sheath surroun
This sounds a lot like the April Fools joke a couple of years ago that claimed the moon would be used as advertising space by projecting "recognizable brand symbols" onto its face at night during the full moon, and urged people to try to determine what symbol was currently being projected. After about 5 minutes of trying to figure out the symbol I realized what the date was.
sig != null
It's not big, and it's not clever. And it leaves you blind (and susceptible to plants that attack humans; but that part of the sci-fi novel hasn't been implemented yet).
How about launching a retro rocket into space toward the astroid belt. Then, have it attach itself to an astroid and redirect it for a collision course with say...Iran. What better way to whack out a city and claim the event as an act of God? Plus, no nuclear fallout.
I call it...Project Black Chariot of Doom
Muhahahahha!!! Call me Dr Evil!
Life is not for the lazy.
That's really not surprising given their field of work.
Also, you know that the military produce products that are (potentially) devastating in nature, regardless of scope. It's just what they do.
So, what troubles me a whole lot about this is the possibilities for advertising, regardless of how distant they might seem at present. Consider a coke logo that can be seen across states. No, make that the windows logo...
Research tends to need funding...
Back when I was a teen, me and my father seen something once in the night sky, in nothern Russia. It looked like a pale greenish spot that moved at a constant speed for a few seconds. Dad said it must be some big-ass (OTH?) radar that uses the excited ionosphere for a mirror.
Later I read the stories about the Russian Woodpecker and thought dad might be right.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
Don't forget that I drive a European car, which has such wonderful modern features like crumple zones, passenger safety cage, and seat belts.
Didn't project Argus do that in the fifties?
- a nuke in the Van Allen belt as far as I remember..
This reminds me of the Red Dwarf books, where it describes sometime in the future; CocaCola embarks on an advertising campaign where they send out spaceships to blast a number of stars into a supernova, spelling out the words "Coke gives life" into the night sky.
(This is how Lister finds Kryten, on board one of the ships originally sent out)
At the time I was like, yeah right.....
Have a nice day!
Money making and mass murder... the two main reasons to fund any scientific research.
Why can't we sink money into finding better uses for this kind of stuff?
I could imagine it'll make the sky interesting for ...some kinds of people. The ones who consider "That's just the way things are!" a bullet-proof argument. For a while it'll be a novelty - perhaps not as ubiquitous as TV/radio/billboards, but much more impressive. It'll make advertising majestic. You're much less likely to forget you've seen it than you are to forget some poster somewhere informing you that consuming lots of cheap liquor will make you popular with your intended copulation partners.
Some people will realise they hadn't really been looking at the sky for a long, long time; you never miss it till it's gone. Once it's as prevalent as other forms of advertising, we might as well just move underground.
It'll be like putting a ceiling on a maze - there're only so many spatial dimensions and the only one still "unoccupied" is the one we can't move in. But hey, there'll be exciting new forms of entertainment and most of the stars aren't visible anymore anyway.
It'll be the appropriate decoration too, once scientists unlock the gates of hell or something unoriginal like that.
Advertisment in our dreams(TM Futurama)?
Leela: "Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?"
Fry: "Not in our dreams! Only on TV and radio. And in magazines. And movies. And at ballgames. And on buses. And milk cartons. And t-shirts. And bananas. And written on the sky. But not in dreams! No sirree!
It may be useful in order to alert nightly-flying-mammals-lookalike superheroes.
Nuffsaid
________
Don't know about his cat, but Schroedinger is definitely dead.
I'm still waiting impatiently for my first chance to see and photograph the aurora borealis, and I definitely don't want to be taking pictures of corporate crap.
There is also a Dark Sky alternative. Most inhabitants of urban areas in the U.S. and other areas, though have never actually seen a night sky, especially the younger ones. Limiting the light shining up into the night would allow a view of the stars even in or near urban centers.
With all the talk of being efficient or getting a return on investment, you'd think that at least a few would complain about using good money to light the sky instead of the ground.
Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
The aurora generated by the HAARP project was not the first artificial aurora produced by beaming radio waves into the ionosphere from the ground. The first one I'm aware of was in 1970 in Colorado. It was generated by the same processes, although it was not bright enough to be visible by eye. (Journal of Geophysical Research, v77, p6202, 1972). The article also mentions the possibility of using this effect for street lighting. My notes indicate that V.A. Bailey applied for a patent on that process in 1936 (Australian patent application 4982/36 and British patent application 32950/37).
http://www.geocities.com/infotaxi/starfish.html
imagine if it had gone badly wrong in some way ? no wonder there was a ban treaty on atmospheric tests like that, people need to get a grip , we only have this world to live on
Next up: sky-high neon advertisements.
You make that sound like a bad thing. Hey, maybe some people want to know when McDonald's B-B-Q McRib is on sale. It could be an important service.
SEO Copywriter. Just Say ON
...and the FAA was worried about laser pointers? I see ads in the sky as a greater risk to pilots.
It's the battle of the minds, and everyone's unarmed.
Eh! Was this the same technology used to project the bat signal in Gotham city? I donno, sorry I'm form Atlantis!!!
If the past election is any guide, I'd say it would be more like 5 in 10 would say "Kick their asses!"
It seems astronomers will have some new enemies to fight in light pollution war.
If it is just about hanging ads in the sky, we're all doomed by the first meteorite that approaches unnoticed, pierces the ad just to crash and burn a city moments later.
Astronomers are amazed when the light from 42 stars going supernova reached earth at almost the same time.
Some people have decided to rewrite the astrology hack books with a new star sign - pepsi.
With apologies to Douglas Adams.
#hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
To my knowledge, there are also what are called 'Ionospheric Heater' facilities similar to HAARP in Norway (e.g. http://www.ion.le.ac.uk/spear/), Russia, Puerto Rico (perhaps that one blew away in a hurricane?), possibly other places. Also, the imager which acquired the photos shown in the LiveScience article had to integrate for many seconds to show the spots. Human eyes are not nearly that good, and normally don't see anything less than a kR (kilo-Rayleigh) or thereabout.
Also, it is possible to vary the phasing across the array to steer the outgoing beam, but this steering and the amount of energy required to produce any human-visible airglow in a pattern resembling advertizing is totally beyond the capability of HAARP at this point. Also they would probably have problems achieving this effect at large angles from the local mag. field which over HAARP is inlined like 12-13 degrees or so. Hmm... it might be 8 degrees. I don't remember.
Don't get too stoked (or scared) about this producing ads in the ionosphere.
BUT FUCK OFF USA. STOP FUCKING WITH THE IONOSPHERE. If you want to fuck around in your own country, and the resident Americans don't mind, that's fine, but DON'T fuck around with the entire planet. Don't pummel the ionosphere with obscene amounts of energy just to "see what might happen." Don't heat the ionosphere for missile defense, for better communication, for anything. We're (the majority of the world, i'm sure) tired of you cocky sons-of-bitches thinking you have the rights to do this sort of thing. If you trash the ionosphere, or somehow think you can improve upon it (just like we've improved so many other things on this planet), you CAN'T, so STOP IT.
You create your own reality - Leave mine to me.
And lo-and-behold there is one, just to their left!
Previosuly artifial aurora have been created by sounding rockets and satellites by releasing elements into the atmosphere which normally wouldn't be there. One example of this type of study was done by CRRES.
Preventive War is like committing suicide for fear of death. - Otto Von Bismarck
So we can colonize some other planet and the citizens thereof can pass a law against using artificial auroras for advertising. Then the people who think this is a kewl idea can live on Earth and enjoy it, and the people who would rather think about stars than Cola Wars LXVI can move to Mars, or Fintlewoodlewix, or wherever, and be free of it.
I am serious. It is that bad. Auroral advertising wouldn't be my only factor in deciding to emigrate to another planet, but it would definitely be on the list.
Ahh, another way to put it is "mind control rays". Now where did I put my tinfoil covered glasses?
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
There was an article a while back about a venture to use a giant mirror to project sunlight back at the moon through a filter, thus allowing a logo such as the Internet Explorer E to be projected onto the moon.
This never came to light, nor will this current idea. At least not within the next 10 years. Maybe when technology advances.
After all, why pay that much when I can spam you for free?
Buy my product: here
Isaac Asimov was ahead of its time.
Just print the fucking adverts on the inside of my eyelids so that I see them whenever I close my eyes, no matter where I am. It's inevitable. Governments will mandate it after lobbyists push for it hard enough.
therefore, the 6 KM dot would require something like one trillion watts for equivalent illumination, although you could do with a bit less depending on lighting conditions.
Scaling up the multiplication factors given are still correct, so it is 100x more for the 60KM dot. My final estimate is that something in the 10 to 100 gigawatt range will do the job.
Imagine the EPA statement of a gigawatt or a terrawatt laser cutting through the atmosphere - (think ghostbusters)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"