That's API, not ball, and the plate is plain metal, not armor steel.
The point is valid to some degree - API would probably not disintegrate as easily as ball.
But I could just as well say - ok, then we make the armor 100kg (metal-ceramic), and carry normal guns, except for one or two squad members who are lightly armored and carry rockets.
Body surface area is approx 2 sq.meters. Suppose it takes 1cm of steel to stop a.50 HMG bullet - then the armor weighs 150 kg. But it doesn't have to be steel, does it - gel would do just as well for a supersonic round, so it could well be some sort of a kevlar-gel composite.
Yeah, "The Orient" bit of the loop seems to be pretty hard to beat:\.
Anyway, how about getting an exoskeleton to work? Looks like the golden bullet to me. Suppose a 50kg exoskeleton can carry 150kg. This leaves 50 kg for a powersource, 50kg for armor (enough to stop.50cal rounds), 20kg of 20mm ammo for a BFG, and 30kg for a long range tank-busting rocket. Put a top speed of 50 km/h, and tanks become obsolete, plus you can fight in a urban environment without having to call strikes on every standing building.
There is nothing inspirational in going for another Moon shot or a Mars shot, for the simple reason that it is doable with existing technology. Rocketry and manned spacecraft were inspirational precisely because none of it had been done before. So, if NASA is to be true to the old spirit, it should drop all chemical rocket based projects and focus on "to-pluto-and-back-in-a-month". That's what's true conquest of the solar system.
Something like Fusion Orion would be best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus
If the dimwits want to take over and ruin the world that smart people created for them, so be it. We'll see how they fare when it comes to sticks vs. crossbows.
Expanding into space isn't going to happen soon. Seafaring comparisons are no use, as seafaring was a private initiative, and it was private initiative because a ship doesn't cost much, and setting a colony costs nothing (the resources "over there" are the same)
Spacefaring can only be done by states, as colonies cost a lot.
States will not do spacefaring, as the people who rule them (unless they are hereditary monarchies), are always people who got there (by elections or force) because they wanted to be in power and/or to rule.
People who want to be in power and/or rule others are people who want to stand in one place.
In fact, if a wandering spirit was an axis, on one end there would be people attracted to strange, wild and uninhabited places in the fringes, on the other - people attracted to known, populated and organized central places (such as government buildings)
Therefore, unless something drastic changes in the system that puts people on top, we ain't going nowhere. What it comes down to, is that running for governmental/ruling positions cannot be left to individual motivation, if we want to go anywhere.
People who have the motivation to go to a ruling position have no real motivation for exploration, and it will be reflected in their policies.
We would have had a colony on Mars AND Europa by know, with the money spent by the USA on war and weapons, in the last 10 years alone. Both are of equal benefit to the public, actually, and its not like the public is more interested in war than it is in Mars:).
Can be turned on its head: the problem being that no one would invest in "published" as opposed to "patented" research. And that doesn't necessarily has to be the case. Computers being one good example. Airplanes being another good example; the airplane was, of course, patented, but progress wasn't made because of the patents - it was made despite the patents.
Everyone gets married! Hell and desolation reign! 19 years after the events in the book they all wish they were dead. I can almost foresee book 8, in which Harry goes to Mordor to throw the ring in Mount Doom.:))
Unnecessary. Any idea embodied in an existing product is by law un-patentable. The market is already the public domain.
The problem is not the law. It's companies who knowingly break the law and patent unpatentable things, to force you into lengthy, costly and ruining suits.
There was a guy once, who had a great idea. Why not make an institution where people will submit their money making ideas, along with their cash. In return, he would guarantee that no two people would use the same idea.
He immediately patented the idea, and started making money of it. Others, however, were not that happy.
Some claimed that his patent was obvious, and that its null and void. Others claimed that it impinges on their own ideas about institutions where people submit their ideas and money. Radical voices insisted that making money out of ideas like this hurts the economy. Reasonable voices claimed that it has been done before.
Eventually, after 5 years, his patent rights expired, and everyone started making institutions who will guarantee that no two people can use the same idea if you pay them. Bitter patent battles raged between the institutions, with regards to who owes what ideas.
Eventually, someone came up with a great idea. Why not make an institution where people will submit their ideas about institutions where people will submit their money making ideas, along with their cash, in exchange for a guarantee that no two institutions will use the same idea.
A friend of mine once used his GPS handheld to fix the coordinates of the place he parked his car in an unknown city. At the end of the day he said "right, lets go back to the car" and pulled the GPS.. ahem.. actually he never put it down, and I doubt he actually saw much sights. Then his girlfriend said "I know where the car is! It's 5 blocks away from here". But he wouldn't trust her and we split - she said she would go straight to the car while we were waiting for a GPS fix. 20 mins latter we traced our way back to the car. His girfriend was already there - waiting for us:).
Slashdot Mirror
I knew I should have taken the green pill..
That's API, not ball, and the plate is plain metal, not armor steel. The point is valid to some degree - API would probably not disintegrate as easily as ball. But I could just as well say - ok, then we make the armor 100kg (metal-ceramic), and carry normal guns, except for one or two squad members who are lightly armored and carry rockets.
Body surface area is approx 2 sq.meters. Suppose it takes 1cm of steel to stop a .50 HMG bullet - then the armor weighs 150 kg. But it doesn't have to be steel, does it - gel would do just as well for a supersonic round, so it could well be some sort of a kevlar-gel composite.
Yeah, "The Orient" bit of the loop seems to be pretty hard to beat :\.
.50cal rounds), 20kg of 20mm ammo for a BFG, and 30kg for a long range tank-busting rocket.
Anyway, how about getting an exoskeleton to work? Looks like the golden bullet to me.
Suppose a 50kg exoskeleton can carry 150kg. This leaves 50 kg for a powersource, 50kg for armor (enough to stop
Put a top speed of 50 km/h, and tanks become obsolete, plus you can fight in a urban environment without having to call strikes on every standing building.
There is nothing inspirational in going for another Moon shot or a Mars shot, for the simple reason that it is doable with existing technology. Rocketry and manned spacecraft were inspirational precisely because none of it had been done before. So, if NASA is to be true to the old spirit, it should drop all chemical rocket based projects and focus on "to-pluto-and-back-in-a-month". That's what's true conquest of the solar system. Something like Fusion Orion would be best. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Daedalus
If the dimwits want to take over and ruin the world that smart people created for them, so be it. We'll see how they fare when it comes to sticks vs. crossbows.
Rrright, I get a score of 1, noone has modded me up, and someone slaps "overrated -1". Hallo?! Read what "overrated" means?!
There goes the Kryptonite...
In fact, if a wandering spirit was an axis, on one end there would be people attracted to strange, wild and uninhabited places in the fringes, on the other - people attracted to known, populated and organized central places (such as government buildings)
Therefore, unless something drastic changes in the system that puts people on top, we ain't going nowhere. What it comes down to, is that running for governmental/ruling positions cannot be left to individual motivation, if we want to go anywhere. People who have the motivation to go to a ruling position have no real motivation for exploration, and it will be reflected in their policies. We would have had a colony on Mars AND Europa by know, with the money spent by the USA on war and weapons, in the last 10 years alone. Both are of equal benefit to the public, actually, and its not like the public is more interested in war than it is in Mars :).
Can be turned on its head: the problem being that no one would invest in "published" as opposed to "patented" research. And that doesn't necessarily has to be the case. Computers being one good example. Airplanes being another good example; the airplane was, of course, patented, but progress wasn't made because of the patents - it was made despite the patents.
The walrus was Paul
Everyone gets married! Hell and desolation reign! 19 years after the events in the book they all wish they were dead. I can almost foresee book 8, in which Harry goes to Mordor to throw the ring in Mount Doom. :))
Unnecessary. Any idea embodied in an existing product is by law un-patentable. The market is already the public domain. The problem is not the law. It's companies who knowingly break the law and patent unpatentable things, to force you into lengthy, costly and ruining suits.
There was a guy once, who had a great idea. Why not make an institution where people will submit their money making ideas, along with their cash. In return, he would guarantee that no two people would use the same idea.
He immediately patented the idea, and started making money of it. Others, however, were not that happy.
Some claimed that his patent was obvious, and that its null and void. Others claimed that it impinges on their own ideas about institutions where people submit their ideas and money. Radical voices insisted that making money out of ideas like this hurts the economy. Reasonable voices claimed that it has been done before.
Eventually, after 5 years, his patent rights expired, and everyone started making institutions who will guarantee that no two people can use the same idea if you pay them. Bitter patent battles raged between the institutions, with regards to who owes what ideas.
Eventually, someone came up with a great idea. Why not make an institution where people will submit their ideas about institutions where people will submit their money making ideas, along with their cash, in exchange for a guarantee that no two institutions will use the same idea.
UNTIL HEAD(explodes)
There are "mappers" and there are "packers". http://www.sabren.net/rants/1999/09/19990930a.php3
http://www.reciprocality.org/Reciprocality/r0/Day1 .html
A friend of mine once used his GPS handheld to fix the coordinates of the place he parked his car in an unknown city. At the end of the day he said "right, lets go back to the car" and pulled the GPS.. ahem.. actually he never put it down, and I doubt he actually saw much sights. Then his girlfriend said "I know where the car is! It's 5 blocks away from here". But he wouldn't trust her and we split - she said she would go straight to the car while we were waiting for a GPS fix. 20 mins latter we traced our way back to the car. His girfriend was already there - waiting for us :).