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iPods at War
phaedo00 writes "Ars Technica has put together an outstanding piece of journalism about the use of personal technology in America's military and how these devices along with blatant piracy is causing new problems in the face of war: "While soldiers once deployed with little more than a backpack and a rifle, today's crop of infantry troops pack along MP3 players, digital cameras, DVD players, video games, movie collections, and computers of their own. The personal electronics have made modern American warfare the most comfortable it has ever been, but they've also brought a new set of problems onto the battlefield.""
I'm in Iraq and having no problems surfing Slashdot while under fire.
In fact, bullets aren't even coming clo...^C^C^C^C^C No route to host.
...and see them sue some soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan. :)
Somehow I think Orrin Hatch would shit a brick of confusion over how to react
Sugapablo
"No more Perry Como forced down our soldier's throats"
Ah. Soylent Green day at the mess tent. I bet he went down smooooooth too.
Where were you when the voynix came?
"These soldiers aren't exactly enjoying an evening at Chuck E. Cheese, for pity's sake!"
Did you ever go to any of the last of the "old style" Chuck E Cheez's before they closed down? You know, the ones where you'd walk down a hall and look off to the side and there would be a huge auditorium, empty of humans, and on a stage was a band made of giant Elvis man-dog robots that shook and gyrated, with their crude mechanics making so much noise that the songs in the speakers couldn't even be heard? If this scene (and it was real) isn't as close as you can come to the future war with the robots, then nothing is.
Where were you when the voynix came?
You just brought back a very very bad childhood memory.
------
"And may your days be long upon the earth."
Hah, I used to work on a generic version of those beastly robots for a Chuck E. Cheese competitor. One time we had the furry coverings stripped off the whole set for maintainance. I still consider watching a band of animal-shaped Terminator endoskeletons sing happy kiddie songs on a loop for half an hour to be one of the best concerts I've ever been to.
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And the Wii will only make them even better shots. The smallest of the consoles, it will be the easiest to pack up and ship out. Using the Wiimote on a low sensitivity will help to better train hand-eye cordination, as well. (It will also server a double purpose with the DVD functionality.)
So you better watch your back, or the console wars may become real wars...
They're pirating music! Call in the RIAA!
Note: I'm not so much in favor of soldiers getting sued as I am in favor of soldiers with a grudge and souvenir rpg's visiting the riaa to rebut their arguments...
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
eldavojohn
Before I got mugged ;)
Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
-- Pablo Picasso
"Letting soldiers share mp3 files amongs themselves and purchasing bootleg DVD's"
You're forgetting one thing...
Copying music and movies FUNDS TERRORISM!!! Therefore anyone who does it is the enemy, and shouldn't be allowed into the military!
The revolution will not be televised... but it will have a page on Wikipedia
Especially when you are quoting source material that actually uses the word, like so:
"Fuck fuckity fuck fuck fuck. What's the big fuckin' deal?"
Other things you probably shouldn't say. Like Donkey raping shit-eater. You definitely shouldn't say donkey raping shit-eater on slashdot. People could get offended if you mentioned donkey raping shit-eaters.
Mellonfarmer? Come on. What's the point of shit like that? What are you, some kinda smegma licking pussy? Everyone knows what you mean, it's not like people don't make the fucking mental translation instantly, you haven't sheilded their tender, innocent brains from having to process and comprehend "that word."
Sorry, sorry, that was kind of a rangent (that's a rant off on a tangent...) But if you learned anything from all this, it's that you shouldn't mention donkey raping shit-eaters on slashdot.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Why do the soldiers have to listen to iPods? Why can't they just relax on the waterslides, or maybe stop by the petting zoo or the roller coasters? That's what I'd do.
You heard it, the RIAA hates our troops. That's just un-American...
I say we invade the RIAA next...
I would say the RIAA is a bunch of jerks if they do it. Definitely douche bag would come to mind as well, but hey these are already common place words when describing them. John Walker Lindh, now that's a traitor.
We just need to be careful who we call traitor because if it becomes a laxed word then soon everyone will be a traitor, but I definitely see what you are saying. It would be a big betrayal to the troops and a big waste of that companies time. But I say hey, let the RIAA go to Iraq and find the troops in the field and ask for the iPods. They most likely won't make it back alive. Either the Iraqis will kill them, or some "accidental" friendly fire.
Can I bum a sig?
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that people don't try to kill you as an ordinary, day-to-day part of your job.
One of the best parts of Battlefield Vietnam was being able to blow away enemy tanks and napalm helpless infantry with Van Halen blaring away on the speakers! Why would the real world be any different?
That reeeally makes you wanna shoot somebody...
I guess we should do it like the good old days, no electronics, no games or toys, just beer and pot.
Some trust fund prosecutor, got off-message at Yale, thinks he's gonna run this up the flagpole, make a name for himself, maybe get elected some two-bit, congressman from nowhere, with the result that Russia or China can suddenly start having, at our expense, all the advantages we enjoy here. No, I tell you. No, sir. Corruption charges! Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize. We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it. Corruption is our protection. Corruption keeps us safe and warm. Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the streets. Corruption is why we win.
Syriana is one of the few good movies made recently. And I think it made your point precisely.
On the other hand, I think all the copies in the White House are also broken...
I remember when I was in the service the only weapons they gave us were old battle-scarred walkmans that could only play 99 Red Balloons. That was before they realized that batteries did not carry enough charge and desert sand played the mickey with tape-fed cartridges. Often you'd be hunkered down in the trenches, waiting for the whistle and cry to go 'over the top,' only to find that your tape had jammed.
Then near the end of doing my bit, they rolled out slim players that needed only one battery and had special sand filters. They played, "Another One Bites the Dust," and were quite the thing. We put the Jerries to route with that number. A handful of the lads were equipped with odd prototypes that had no batteries or cartridges and got their songs from a computer, but we hard-bitten vets laughed and laughed and would never have gone to war with something like that.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.