Ever wear a kevlar helmet that's skin-tight in 140 deg heat? OF FUCKING COURSE there's a gap. It's so you can fit it on your head, so they don't have to custom-order a helmet for everyone's head, so you can breath, so the suspension harness can absorb small shocks, etc. There's padding inside that rests between the head and the kevlar, but there has to be gaps to let your head breath. "Jarhead" knows how to wear is helmet, and every other part of his gear. That's his job. If it isn't snug and riding the way it's designed, it'll droop in your line of sight and flop around when you run. Do you know you to wear your pocket protector properly?
If something goes wrong in Iraq, a multi-million dollar platform is lost, US pilots are killed (if it collides with a manned aircraft), and the US has to deal with bad publicity, pressure from Iraqi politicians, recovery of classified equipment in potentially hostile territory, etc. It's not like there are no repercussions if they crash a UAV into something. I understand it's different from flying in the US, but let's not act like theses are problems that no one has ever worked on. I skimmed the article and didn't find any mention of learning from the many years the military has of flying UAVs, let alone in civilian airspace.
Baghdad is hands-down the most complicated airspace in the world, with multiple simultaneous UAVs at any given time, plus rotary-wing and fixed-wing assets flying constantly, some which are engaging in real-world operations, like dropping bombs. The deconfliction that needs to be done with assets that are collecting, assets that are targeting, assets picking up or dropping off troops, Iraqi commercial aircraft, VIP aircraft, ad nausem is just mind-boggling. The ATC there does this every day. Why is flying one UAV in the US that big a deal?
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Yes it is. It arises from the properties of its components. The brain is more than the sum of its parts. An ant colony is more than the sum of its parts. If you have a description of intelligence that is non-emergent, please share it.
I managed a 221 in boot camp (220 is minimum score for expert). Without glasses. Somehow I missed the eye exam and should have gotten glasses. At the 500 yard line, the target was a little gray blur inside a little white blur, so I just aimed at the center of the blur and got 7 out of 10.
That was years ago, so I guess. But today there are many airmen serving on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the AF has increased combat training in boot camp because of that.
Shooting at a close wall representing a target far away, and shooting at a target far away are not the same thing, ballistically speaking. Depending on the angle, a shot taken might have traveled past the intended target and missed if it were for real. Also, a closer shot means you don't have to adjust for windage or elevation, or at least as much. In Marine Corps boot camp, we fired at man-sized targets at 500 yards outdoors, which is not easy. I knew someone in the air force who said they did the same thing - little targets much closer indoors. Not surprisingly, he thought it was easy.
All that being said, this sounds pretty cool. It might liven up range time if nothing else.
Good one. Argument by incredulity. As in, "Do you expect me to believe that on and off switches can think?"
But brains can think, right? But brains are just collections of dumb cells, each one following a small set of rules. With the right set of rules, simple parts can create amazing and emergent properties. Your powerpoint presentation with embedded video, sound, and animation is just a bunch of on and off switches. An ant colony is made of just a bunch of dumb ants, and yet the colony is smart and learn and adapt over time.
We've already made neural net programs that have learned, and in fact learned new ways of learning and adapted new ways of adapting. And that was in the 1970s. Are you really sure there's no way a machine can learn to make a better machine?
Plenty of sites do this already. Mid-way down a page is an ad (or what's left of a blocked one, if that makes any sense). Annoys the hell out of me, since I tended to think the article was finished when I first came across them, before I notice the "article continued after ad" notice in small print. Now I pretty much just scroll past them. I guess they think people are going to stop reading something interesting to click an ad just because it's placed there.
Dictionary.com defines hacker as 1). a computer enthusiast and 2). a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.
The dictionary fails in both instances of how we self-describe ourselves. Marines vehemently object to being called soldiers. Those who work on computers and call themselves hackers object to crackers and script-kiddies also being called hackers, even though the dictionary plainly defines them as such. I'm less convinced the hacker thing is a real problem, but I was trying to relate it to the non-military type geeks.
I thought that was kinda the point. Like, all we, and everything, is is star stuff, and not the special created-by-god things some people say. Just self-organized star matter, like rocks and such.
Being stressed out from working long shifts in a hostile environment watching their closest friends get killed doesn't mean they're "cracking" or "don't want to die". It's rough, but they're signing up for more in droves.
So much so, Marines are still subject to stop loss. Doesn't sound like a volunteer force to me.
Stoploss has been on and off for certain MOSs since the war started. We are long past the enlistment for most Marines since the war started though. So if you signed up for 4 years in 2003 and are still in, you re-enlisted. If you're on your first tour, you came in after the war started. Either way, everyone is there because they want to be. So yes, it's a volunteer force. Any other inaccurate anti-govt propaganda you'd like to regurgitate?
Being a former Marine myself with lots of friends still in and working in the defense industry, I don't have to do a lot of assuming. After 6 years, every Marine in the Corps has either come in since March 2003 or re-enlisted. And during the last 6 years, the economy has gone up and down, and re-enlistment rates have stayed high. Marines in Iraq have been asking for years to move to Afghanistan where there's still fighting. They don't whine about going home, like copponex suggested. Like the Spartans, they ask not how many the enemy is, but where the enemy is. Maybe it sounds corny, but it's true.
Actually, in the Marine Corps we pretty much always capitalize Marine. Just one of those things.
As we say, the CNO would never be called a sailor, but the Commandant is proud to call himself Marine. Also, it's the only service where you are not addressed as belonging to that service in boot camp. In Army basic training, you are a soldier. In Marine basic training, you are a recruit and must earn the title Marine on graduation day. If you make it that far.
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My imagination for uses is not limited to cows, but my imagination for testing is limited to cows. I'll wait a while before trying any of that myself.
...must...not...say...profit! Ahhhhh!!!!!1!1
Ever wear a kevlar helmet that's skin-tight in 140 deg heat? OF FUCKING COURSE there's a gap. It's so you can fit it on your head, so they don't have to custom-order a helmet for everyone's head, so you can breath, so the suspension harness can absorb small shocks, etc. There's padding inside that rests between the head and the kevlar, but there has to be gaps to let your head breath. "Jarhead" knows how to wear is helmet, and every other part of his gear. That's his job. If it isn't snug and riding the way it's designed, it'll droop in your line of sight and flop around when you run. Do you know you to wear your pocket protector properly?
You don't even need to correct the English for kids today to recognize it. You know what you doing!
If something goes wrong in Iraq, a multi-million dollar platform is lost, US pilots are killed (if it collides with a manned aircraft), and the US has to deal with bad publicity, pressure from Iraqi politicians, recovery of classified equipment in potentially hostile territory, etc. It's not like there are no repercussions if they crash a UAV into something. I understand it's different from flying in the US, but let's not act like theses are problems that no one has ever worked on. I skimmed the article and didn't find any mention of learning from the many years the military has of flying UAVs, let alone in civilian airspace.
Baghdad is hands-down the most complicated airspace in the world, with multiple simultaneous UAVs at any given time, plus rotary-wing and fixed-wing assets flying constantly, some which are engaging in real-world operations, like dropping bombs. The deconfliction that needs to be done with assets that are collecting, assets that are targeting, assets picking up or dropping off troops, Iraqi commercial aircraft, VIP aircraft, ad nausem is just mind-boggling. The ATC there does this every day. Why is flying one UAV in the US that big a deal?
Users must accept this multipage collection of fine-print waivers and disclaimers in full during the initial device setup process before being able to utilize the device.
It was in the basement!
Yes it is. It arises from the properties of its components. The brain is more than the sum of its parts. An ant colony is more than the sum of its parts. If you have a description of intelligence that is non-emergent, please share it.
Yea man. Center mass is what it's all about at 500 meters.
Which I'm sure sounds easy to the non-Marines here. Never mind the little gray blur is smaller than the front sight post.
I've heard the M16A4 is so much better that Marines are taking regular shots at 800 yards in Iraq at point targets.
Wait, all I need is Synergy and Put This One To Bed and I'll win!
I managed a 221 in boot camp (220 is minimum score for expert). Without glasses. Somehow I missed the eye exam and should have gotten glasses. At the 500 yard line, the target was a little gray blur inside a little white blur, so I just aimed at the center of the blur and got 7 out of 10.
You got something against chainsaws?
That was years ago, so I guess. But today there are many airmen serving on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, the AF has increased combat training in boot camp because of that.
Shooting at a close wall representing a target far away, and shooting at a target far away are not the same thing, ballistically speaking. Depending on the angle, a shot taken might have traveled past the intended target and missed if it were for real. Also, a closer shot means you don't have to adjust for windage or elevation, or at least as much. In Marine Corps boot camp, we fired at man-sized targets at 500 yards outdoors, which is not easy. I knew someone in the air force who said they did the same thing - little targets much closer indoors. Not surprisingly, he thought it was easy.
All that being said, this sounds pretty cool. It might liven up range time if nothing else.
I think I saw one of those on ST:TNG. Usually someone is holding one and walking fast like it's a clipboard.
Good one. Argument by incredulity. As in, "Do you expect me to believe that on and off switches can think?"
But brains can think, right? But brains are just collections of dumb cells, each one following a small set of rules. With the right set of rules, simple parts can create amazing and emergent properties. Your powerpoint presentation with embedded video, sound, and animation is just a bunch of on and off switches. An ant colony is made of just a bunch of dumb ants, and yet the colony is smart and learn and adapt over time.
We've already made neural net programs that have learned, and in fact learned new ways of learning and adapted new ways of adapting. And that was in the 1970s. Are you really sure there's no way a machine can learn to make a better machine?
Plenty of sites do this already. Mid-way down a page is an ad (or what's left of a blocked one, if that makes any sense). Annoys the hell out of me, since I tended to think the article was finished when I first came across them, before I notice the "article continued after ad" notice in small print. Now I pretty much just scroll past them. I guess they think people are going to stop reading something interesting to click an ad just because it's placed there.
Which only supports my analogy.
Dictionary.com defines hacker as 1). a computer enthusiast and 2). a microcomputer user who attempts to gain unauthorized access to proprietary computer systems.
The dictionary fails in both instances of how we self-describe ourselves. Marines vehemently object to being called soldiers. Those who work on computers and call themselves hackers object to crackers and script-kiddies also being called hackers, even though the dictionary plainly defines them as such. I'm less convinced the hacker thing is a real problem, but I was trying to relate it to the non-military type geeks.
Read? You must be new here.
I thought that was kinda the point. Like, all we, and everything, is is star stuff, and not the special created-by-god things some people say. Just self-organized star matter, like rocks and such.
So much so, Marines are still subject to stop loss. Doesn't sound like a volunteer force to me.
Stoploss has been on and off for certain MOSs since the war started. We are long past the enlistment for most Marines since the war started though. So if you signed up for 4 years in 2003 and are still in, you re-enlisted. If you're on your first tour, you came in after the war started. Either way, everyone is there because they want to be. So yes, it's a volunteer force. Any other inaccurate anti-govt propaganda you'd like to regurgitate?
Being a former Marine myself with lots of friends still in and working in the defense industry, I don't have to do a lot of assuming. After 6 years, every Marine in the Corps has either come in since March 2003 or re-enlisted. And during the last 6 years, the economy has gone up and down, and re-enlistment rates have stayed high. Marines in Iraq have been asking for years to move to Afghanistan where there's still fighting. They don't whine about going home, like copponex suggested. Like the Spartans, they ask not how many the enemy is, but where the enemy is. Maybe it sounds corny, but it's true.
I was using humor to make a point. Soldiers are not Marines and vice versa.
Actually, in the Marine Corps we pretty much always capitalize Marine. Just one of those things.
As we say, the CNO would never be called a sailor, but the Commandant is proud to call himself Marine. Also, it's the only service where you are not addressed as belonging to that service in boot camp. In Army basic training, you are a soldier. In Marine basic training, you are a recruit and must earn the title Marine on graduation day. If you make it that far.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think NMCI runs the Marine Corp's networks now.