Your post smells of weapons illiteracy. The Libyan mods are SIMPLE, very basic, and it's an insult to their engineers and machinists to assume they needed advisors. Throwing light cannon and machine guns on trucks is OLD news and as shown not difficult if you have a (very basic) shop. Cup-style grenade launchers date to WWI at least. Use a blank and they'll toss a grenade a satisfying distance. The shoulder-fired FFAR (Folding Fin Aircraft Rocket) is cool. I hope they wear goggles/gloves/face protection for the rocket plume. FFARs can be fired with battery voltages. Still VERY basic, but flat-shooting at close ranges and quite destructive.
The US sells many of them locally. ISO containers make great small shop buildings.
I have two 40' High Cubes, the extra ceiling height is nice) and a conventional 20'. Easy to move, easy to set, easy to work with. Gasketed weatherproof storage is great, they are easy to fit with power and light, and white roof coating drops inside temps nicely.
"Why don't they use chains or something to hold those bad boys down in choppy waters? Or, I don't know, built steel railings along the perimeters? Or inter-locking Lego-like attachments between containers?"
Christ's Bleeding Balls!!! Um, I mean "Here you go:"
I'm not impressed by the story itself, but do note that ILS testers are operated from INSIDE the aircraft. I've done plenty of ILS ops checks as a Comm/Nav weenie in the USAF.
The airframe doesn't block the signal enough to matter.
Since my being entertained in-flight is of no importance, I leave my electronic gear off when flying and sleep/nap through the trip.
Of course you were being facetious, but aircraft paint is heavy and must be taken into account in weight-and-balance calculations to ensure the aircraft is stable and not overweight after painting. If too much paint accumulates, it must be removed and the paint cycle begun again.
Open and honest behavior is only valued in specific cultures and is considered highly arrogant and insulting in others.
The world is a bad place full of vicious people, so as there are no good guys one must deal with governments and people as they are, not as we would have them.
There is no "we". Different groups of people will have different outcomes.
Human populations can easily recover from losing vast numbers of people. Nature is harsh, some succeed, some don't. The wise save their own tribe first.
"h wait... So basically they just replaced one exploitative company with two more!"
Do note that Chinese have NEVER been better off, and that this is a _perfectly_normal_transitional_stage for developing nations. You take casualties in economic competition just like any other war.
I'd rather pull long hours at a Foxconn plant than go to an early grave working in a US textile plant or coal mine decades ago. China has come a LONG way since 1948. That's a very short time in economic development terms.
"in the blasted wasteland that follows the fall of industrial civilization, pasty computer experts are relegated to the status of "slave" or "food source" by psychotic warlords wearing football/BDSM themed armor?"
Vehicle fires are common, and even without a petrol tank they burn very nicely. Exotic materials can produce dangerous products when burned, and their inhalation isn't just an EMS issue
When carbon fiber aircraft structures are burned or damaged, Crash Recovery teams are required to spray them with a fixative (commercial floor wax is one) then wrap them in plastic for transport and disposal.
A CONTAINERIZED capacitor can retain material which will be destroyed in a fire if it's the skin of the vehicle.
You aren't a mechanic I take it? There is a difference between "risky" and "silly".
I defy you to propose a practical way to implement, maintain, and repair "body panel capacitor" technology. Make it crashworthy, easy to fix, and economical to repair. Make it and its interconnects and power management work well in areas subject to road salt in winter.
Any experienced mechanic would laugh at the proposed locations. (I'll be polite and avoid the phrase "fucking stupid".)
The door skins and hood are frequently damaged in minor crashes, and required FLEXIBLE connection to the electrical system because they move. Serviceability would suck, and once damaged the parts would be unusable. Good luck ever fixing your car with aftermarket door skins or hood.
Take the SAME area, make a nice compact quick-swap STANDARD form-factor "capacitor module", and use those.
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Commerce is maintained by FREIGHT service, for which current rail is more than adequate.
"Disgusting. I'd rather eat soylent green."
With this technology you can eat soylent green. Again, and again, and again.
"How much does the US military spend on a single M4 or M16?"
Around a grand. More for the sighting systems and accessories and support and replacement parts and armorers etc etc.
The US buys SYSTEMS. Hadji buys weapons, and a good machinist with good tools and good materials can make good basic weapons.
Your post smells of weapons illiteracy. The Libyan mods are SIMPLE, very basic, and it's an insult to their engineers and machinists to assume they needed advisors.
Throwing light cannon and machine guns on trucks is OLD news and as shown not difficult if you have a (very basic) shop.
Cup-style grenade launchers date to WWI at least. Use a blank and they'll toss a grenade a satisfying distance.
The shoulder-fired FFAR (Folding Fin Aircraft Rocket) is cool. I hope they wear goggles/gloves/face protection for the rocket plume. FFARs can be fired with battery voltages. Still VERY basic, but flat-shooting at close ranges and quite destructive.
"Libyan Rebels cost for a robotic gun. About $500 after a few weeks of tinkering."
You forgot the OTHER R&D that went into their COTS parts. MilSpec is different.
"Simply not cooperating can stop things..."
Less obvious is the massive cooperation required to make non-cooperation effective.
The US sells many of them locally. ISO containers make great small shop buildings.
I have two 40' High Cubes, the extra ceiling height is nice) and a conventional 20'. Easy to move, easy to set, easy to work with.
Gasketed weatherproof storage is great, they are easy to fit with power and light, and white roof coating drops inside temps nicely.
"Why don't they use chains or something to hold those bad boys down in choppy waters? Or, I don't know, built steel railings along the perimeters? Or inter-locking Lego-like attachments between containers?"
Christ's Bleeding Balls!!!
Um, I mean "Here you go:"
http://tinyurl.com/3oylnou
"What would happen if there were, just for arguments sake, dissident Americans........"
They can ride their flying unicorns to safety.
We already have a Walled Garden for the frightened to use to babysit their brats. It's called "TV", and it's enough.
I run Ubuntu 32-bit PAE, and the 4GB/process memory limit leaves me another 4GB after Firefox uses it up. :)
I meant "accumulates in total". Not "while painting".
USAF standard is to weigh and balance after a full paint. Even with the power to weight ratio of a fighter, the weight matters.
"Seriously - Obama sure as hell meets the definition of FASCIST, doesn't he?"
He's a fine Republican President and I resent that insult!
I'm not impressed by the story itself, but do note that ILS testers are operated from INSIDE the aircraft. I've done plenty of ILS ops checks as a Comm/Nav weenie in the USAF.
The airframe doesn't block the signal enough to matter.
Since my being entertained in-flight is of no importance, I leave my electronic gear off when flying and sleep/nap through the trip.
Of course you were being facetious, but aircraft paint is heavy and must be taken into account in weight-and-balance calculations to ensure the aircraft is stable and not overweight after painting.
If too much paint accumulates, it must be removed and the paint cycle begun again.
Open and honest behavior is only valued in specific cultures and is considered highly arrogant and insulting in others.
The world is a bad place full of vicious people, so as there are no good guys one must deal with governments and people as they are, not as we would have them.
There is no "we". Different groups of people will have different outcomes.
Human populations can easily recover from losing vast numbers of people. Nature is harsh, some succeed, some don't. The wise save their own tribe first.
"h wait... So basically they just replaced one exploitative company with two more!"
Do note that Chinese have NEVER been better off, and that this is a _perfectly_normal_transitional_stage for developing nations. You take casualties in economic competition just like any other war.
I'd rather pull long hours at a Foxconn plant than go to an early grave working in a US textile plant or coal mine decades ago. China has come a LONG way since 1948. That's a very short time in economic development terms.
"in the blasted wasteland that follows the fall of industrial civilization, pasty computer experts are relegated to the status of "slave" or "food source" by psychotic warlords wearing football/BDSM themed armor?"
I, for one, find the idea vaguely arousing.
[quote]
I wonder, does the same thing happen when rich idiots wreck their supercars?
[/quote]
The same products are produced by burning composite.
Responders aren't (yet) trained heavily in dealing with burning composite vehicles.
Vehicle fires are common, and even without a petrol tank they burn very nicely. Exotic materials can produce dangerous products when burned, and their inhalation isn't just an EMS issue
When carbon fiber aircraft structures are burned or damaged, Crash Recovery teams are required to spray them with a fixative (commercial floor wax is one) then wrap them in plastic for transport and disposal.
A CONTAINERIZED capacitor can retain material which will be destroyed in a fire if it's the skin of the vehicle.
"Advancement REQUIRES risk taking."
You aren't a mechanic I take it? There is a difference between "risky" and "silly".
I defy you to propose a practical way to implement, maintain, and repair "body panel capacitor" technology. Make it crashworthy, easy to fix, and economical to repair. Make it and its interconnects and power management work well in areas subject to road salt in winter.
BTW, cars were well-established a century ago.
"I'm sure there are more reasons too."
Maintenance and repair alone are deal-breakers.
Doors, hoods, and roofs are frequently subject to damage in crashes. Th
Fuel tanks are in protected locations. Bodywork is not a protected location.
Put the capacitors in a nice standard, removable package and it becomes practical because it can be protected AND easily serviced.
Why, on a supposedly tech-literate forum, does this need to be explained?
Any experienced mechanic would laugh at the proposed locations.
(I'll be polite and avoid the phrase "fucking stupid".)
The door skins and hood are frequently damaged in minor crashes, and required FLEXIBLE connection to the electrical system because they move. Serviceability would suck, and once damaged the parts would be unusable. Good luck ever fixing your car with aftermarket door skins or hood.
Take the SAME area, make a nice compact quick-swap STANDARD form-factor "capacitor module", and use those.