Surely the best camoflage is whatever the people normally wear in that area, grey pinstripe in London and 1970's suits with headgear in Iraq. This is also obviously why the army shoots at everyone over there at the moment.
If you have only young and pretty females then you could sell the footage from the onboard cameras to everyone here at/. This could probably finance the voyage by itself. Recruitment would be far easier if you left the science stuff to robots and just hired "astronoughts" from the porn industry.
Thinking more about it (I can't stop myself) - you could probably save a bunch by not even launching it into space - just film the whole thing in the studio they used for the moon landing.
You don't have to commit a crime to get your DNA taken - if you are arrested and then released then they will take a sample of your DNA. You cannot get them to remove this data.
I should also mention that if any of your relatives are arrested then their DNA will be taken. If at a later date their sample is similar to a crime sample then all the males in your family are likely to get a knock on their door.
I suppose it's good that police have scientific methods of catching criminals but what happens when your own DNA has an 96% match against the one they're after. Who will listen to your cries of innocence?
Here in the UK I can still remember the time when the purpose of the police was to protect society from criminals. Sadly the new policy seems to be ever more automated ways of turning us all into criminals.
If Brian Emmett doesn't want to go and is looking for someone to give the tickets to then can I put my hand up. I'm also happy to pay the US the 25K. Can I go? Can I? please...
Iraq-Fallujah
"There were reports that cluster bombs and white phosphorus, a controversial incendiary weapon, were used on the city. Initially the Pentagon denied the use of the latter weapon but later, after testimony by U.S soldiers, admitted using it"
"The American warplanes came continuously through the night and bombed everywhere in Fallujah! It did not stop even for a moment!... I cannot give a picture of how panicked everyone was."
To kill one man -the terrorist Zarqawi
"At 14:15 GMT two United States Air Force F-16C jets[112] identified the house and the lead jet dropped two 500-pound (230kg) guided bombs, a laser-guided GBU-12 and GPS-guided GBU-38 on the building located at 334802.83N, 443048.58E. Six others - three male and three female individuals - were also reported killed (see below).[113] Amongst those killed were his teenage wife and child."
Afghanistan
"What causes the documented high level of civilian casualties -- 3,000 - 3,400 [October 7, 2001 thru March 2002] civilian deaths -- in the U.S. air war upon Afghanistan? The explanation is the apparent willingness of U.S. military strategists to fire missiles into and drop bombs upon, heavily populated areas of Afghanistan."."
When U.S. warplanes strafed [with AC-130 gunships] the farming village of Chowkar-Karez, 25 miles north of Kandahar on October 22-23rd,killing at least 93 civilians, a Pentagon official said, "the people there are dead because we wanted them dead." The reason? They sympathized with the Taliban1. When asked about the Chowkar incident, Rumsfeld replied, "I cannot deal with that particular village."."
Vietnam and napalm
"Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut describes the day in June 1972 when he photographed a nine-year-old girl, Kim Phuc, fleeing her village after a napalm attack - a picture that won him a Pulitzer prize."
Korea
On 21 March 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a memorandum detailing records of "criminal acts against humanity" committed by United States troops during the three-year Korean War (1950-1953). The DPRK report stated that the United States killed peaceful citizens by indiscriminate bombing and naval bombardment against urban and rural areas in the North. According to the DPRK, from 11 July to 20 August 1951, more than 10,000 United States planes had conducted over 250 air raids on Pyongyang, dropping as many as 4,000 bombs, killing 4,000 civilians and wounding 2,500 more. From 11 to 12 July 1952, 400 United States planes dropped more than 6,000 napalm bombs and time-bombs, killing 8,000 civilians, including women and children.
WWII
On the night of March 9-10, 1945, LeMay's B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo, a city of 6 million people. Nearly 600 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of fire bombs on the Japanese capital, destroying 16 square miles of the city. The resulting firestorm killed 100,000 people, more than died at Hiroshima or Nagasaki from atomic bombs a few months later. Most of the victims were women, children, and old men.
All the above quotes were from the internet (wikipedia etc). The book "a history of Bombing" by Sven Lindqvist is also very informative. Obviously us British are no angels (Dresden etc).
The current method used in Iraq seems to work quite well - find a house/village that you feel is suspicious and then just call in air support. Label everything that died a terrorist and then move on to the next village.
The current method requires no difficult intellident software, in fact no intelligence at all, and seems to be winning hearts and minds all over.
If you have wifi and a computer that contains your music and is allways on then try one of these. They look great, sound great and hell, you can even program the things.
I don't need advanced communications to see all this as it all happens within a few miles of me.
Tornadoes in north london last month (?), drought accross whole of SE England, flooding just about every where (when it does finally rain). Currently typing in my loft and feeling rather vunerable as 60-70 mph gusts of wind is making the whole roof creak. I didn't go skiing at christmas as their wasn't any snow in the Alps.
But if you say it's normal and you're a scientist then I guess I have to believe you:)
We trust scientists to tell us the truth (admittedly as they see it) while we expect politicians to speak whatever they'd like us to believe. Recently in the US your politicians have been deciding what your scientists can say and then, because scientists are saying it, people believe it.
This is very wrong. We already throw scientists out for inventing evidence to support their theories. We should throw them out for intentionally misleading the public. It's a shame we can't do this with politicians also but it seems to be the only profession where you're expected to lie for a living.
Is the weather changing? Here in the UK (London) and in the middle of January I still have fruit on my trees and flowers. Last week I saw bees and butterflies in my garden though at the moment the winds are blowing around 60 mph so I don't expect to see many butterflies today.
We now seem to be getting floods, droughts, tornadoes etc every year. At least it gives us British quite a lot to talk about even when we limit ourselves to just the weather.
Is Vista the last OS?
For end users I suspect the last OS that any body will pay for was XP.
It's too costly to create a new OS and no-one is interested anyway.
Can you name any advantages of this new OS?
If every computer becomes the same
All you really need is a browser on every public machine.
An efficient modular array of drivers downloaded from the net for your hardware will hopefully enable games etc to run at near native speeds.
The hardware and capablities of each computer will vary but the software they run will be the same and will come from the net.
Who then cares if you're running GTA on a PC, a tablet, a game boy or a mainframe.
Advantages for developers
You reach 100% market all the time, all machines / all OS, everyone.
People can try your software out with just a click and no one can copy it.
Users would pick a payment method:
demo mode with reduced capability
micro payments based on usage
a one off charge to become a permanent user (from any machine)
or use it for free and put up with the advertising
Advantages for end users
Do you really care if you're editing via word or some new web based editor with the same interface and speed
The only changes you notice is that
everything is now backed up with a history of changes
your stuff is available from any machine
upgrades will be automatic
and, if you want to spell check in Greek (OK I'm pushing it), then it's just a click away
You be able to try any software before buying it
You won't need to log in every time if you're using your own machine - it will recognise your ip address and cached id.
You just switch a machine on (any machine) and see:
your latest docs in front of you - just click one and start editing
the games you like playing - click and play
the information it thinks you'll be interested in - feeds or web pages
media you might want to watch or listen to
Virus's will be a thing of the past for end users
Asking your neighbours 10 year old to come round and sort out your computer will be a thing of the past - it will just work.
The future
Obviously there will be problems but that's the fun of new directions.
3 years ago I was using a modem at home and now I have an 8Mb line and listen to internet radio on my stereo.
If I was Microsoft I'd be very worried.
Slashdot Mirror
Surely the best camoflage is whatever the people normally wear in that area, grey pinstripe in London and 1970's suits with headgear in Iraq. This is also obviously why the army shoots at everyone over there at the moment.
If you have only young and pretty females then you could sell the footage from the onboard cameras to everyone here at /. This could probably finance the voyage by itself. Recruitment would be far easier if you left the science stuff to robots and just hired "astronoughts" from the porn industry.
Thinking more about it (I can't stop myself) - you could probably save a bunch by not even launching it into space - just film the whole thing in the studio they used for the moon landing.
You don't have to commit a crime to get your DNA taken - if you are arrested and then released then they will take a sample of your DNA. You cannot get them to remove this data.
I should also mention that if any of your relatives are arrested then their DNA will be taken. If at a later date their sample is similar to a crime sample then all the males in your family are likely to get a knock on their door.
I suppose it's good that police have scientific methods of catching criminals but what happens when your own DNA has an 96% match against the one they're after. Who will listen to your cries of innocence?
Here in the UK I can still remember the time when the purpose of the police was to protect society from criminals. Sadly the new policy seems to be ever more automated ways of turning us all into criminals.
If Brian Emmett doesn't want to go and is looking for someone to give the tickets to then can I put my hand up. I'm also happy to pay the US the 25K. Can I go? Can I? please...
Dear Anonymous
... I cannot give a picture of how panicked everyone was."
Iraq-Fallujah
"There were reports that cluster bombs and white phosphorus, a controversial incendiary weapon, were used on the city. Initially the Pentagon denied the use of the latter weapon but later, after testimony by U.S soldiers, admitted using it" "The American warplanes came continuously through the night and bombed everywhere in Fallujah! It did not stop even for a moment!
To kill one man -the terrorist Zarqawi
"At 14:15 GMT two United States Air Force F-16C jets[112] identified the house and the lead jet dropped two 500-pound (230kg) guided bombs, a laser-guided GBU-12 and GPS-guided GBU-38 on the building located at 334802.83N, 443048.58E. Six others - three male and three female individuals - were also reported killed (see below).[113] Amongst those killed were his teenage wife and child."
Afghanistan
"What causes the documented high level of civilian casualties -- 3,000 - 3,400 [October 7, 2001 thru March 2002] civilian deaths -- in the U.S. air war upon Afghanistan? The explanation is the apparent willingness of U.S. military strategists to fire missiles into and drop bombs upon, heavily populated areas of Afghanistan."."
When U.S. warplanes strafed [with AC-130 gunships] the farming village of Chowkar-Karez, 25 miles north of Kandahar on October 22-23rd,killing at least 93 civilians, a Pentagon official said, "the people there are dead because we wanted them dead." The reason? They sympathized with the Taliban1. When asked about the Chowkar incident, Rumsfeld replied, "I cannot deal with that particular village."."
Vietnam and napalm
"Vietnamese photographer Nick Ut describes the day in June 1972 when he photographed a nine-year-old girl, Kim Phuc, fleeing her village after a napalm attack - a picture that won him a Pulitzer prize."
Korea
On 21 March 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a memorandum detailing records of "criminal acts against humanity" committed by United States troops during the three-year Korean War (1950-1953). The DPRK report stated that the United States killed peaceful citizens by indiscriminate bombing and naval bombardment against urban and rural areas in the North. According to the DPRK, from 11 July to 20 August 1951, more than 10,000 United States planes had conducted over 250 air raids on Pyongyang, dropping as many as 4,000 bombs, killing 4,000 civilians and wounding 2,500 more. From 11 to 12 July 1952, 400 United States planes dropped more than 6,000 napalm bombs and time-bombs, killing 8,000 civilians, including women and children.
WWII
On the night of March 9-10, 1945, LeMay's B-29 bombers attacked Tokyo, a city of 6 million people. Nearly 600 bombers dropped 1,665 tons of fire bombs on the Japanese capital, destroying 16 square miles of the city. The resulting firestorm killed 100,000 people, more than died at Hiroshima or Nagasaki from atomic bombs a few months later. Most of the victims were women, children, and old men.
All the above quotes were from the internet (wikipedia etc). The book "a history of Bombing" by Sven Lindqvist is also very informative. Obviously us British are no angels (Dresden etc).
The idiot
The current method used in Iraq seems to work quite well - find a house/village that you feel is suspicious and then just call in air support. Label everything that died a terrorist and then move on to the next village.
The current method requires no difficult intellident software, in fact no intelligence at all, and seems to be winning hearts and minds all over.
If you have wifi and a computer that contains your music and is allways on then try one of these. They look great, sound great and hell, you can even program the things.
I've got two now and can't live without them.
Squeeze Box 3
I don't need advanced communications to see all this as it all happens within a few miles of me.
:)
Tornadoes in north london last month (?), drought accross whole of SE England, flooding just about every where (when it does finally rain). Currently typing in my loft and feeling rather vunerable as 60-70 mph gusts of wind is making the whole roof creak. I didn't go skiing at christmas as their wasn't any snow in the Alps.
But if you say it's normal and you're a scientist then I guess I have to believe you
We trust scientists to tell us the truth (admittedly as they see it) while we expect politicians to speak whatever they'd like us to believe. Recently in the US your politicians have been deciding what your scientists can say and then, because scientists are saying it, people believe it.
This is very wrong. We already throw scientists out for inventing evidence to support their theories. We should throw them out for intentionally misleading the public. It's a shame we can't do this with politicians also but it seems to be the only profession where you're expected to lie for a living.
Is the weather changing? Here in the UK (London) and in the middle of January I still have fruit on my trees and flowers. Last week I saw bees and butterflies in my garden though at the moment the winds are blowing around 60 mph so I don't expect to see many butterflies today.
We now seem to be getting floods, droughts, tornadoes etc every year. At least it gives us British quite a lot to talk about even when we limit ourselves to just the weather.
For end users I suspect the last OS that any body will pay for was XP. It's too costly to create a new OS and no-one is interested anyway. Can you name any advantages of this new OS?
If every computer becomes the same
All you really need is a browser on every public machine. An efficient modular array of drivers downloaded from the net for your hardware will hopefully enable games etc to run at near native speeds. The hardware and capablities of each computer will vary but the software they run will be the same and will come from the net. Who then cares if you're running GTA on a PC, a tablet, a game boy or a mainframe.
Advantages for developers
You reach 100% market all the time, all machines / all OS, everyone. People can try your software out with just a click and no one can copy it. Users would pick a payment method:
Advantages for end users
Do you really care if you're editing via word or some new web based editor with the same interface and speed The only changes you notice is that
- everything is now backed up with a history of changes
- your stuff is available from any machine
- upgrades will be automatic
- and, if you want to spell check in Greek (OK I'm pushing it), then it's just a click away
You be able to try any software before buying it You won't need to log in every time if you're using your own machine - it will recognise your ip address and cached id. You just switch a machine on (any machine) and see:- your latest docs in front of you - just click one and start editing
- the games you like playing - click and play
- the information it thinks you'll be interested in - feeds or web pages
- media you might want to watch or listen to
Virus's will be a thing of the past for end users Asking your neighbours 10 year old to come round and sort out your computer will be a thing of the past - it will just work.The future
Obviously there will be problems but that's the fun of new directions. 3 years ago I was using a modem at home and now I have an 8Mb line and listen to internet radio on my stereo. If I was Microsoft I'd be very worried.