FC won't run under Virtual PC, at least as recently as FC RC3.
For those of us who run several OSs simultaneously on once machine (e.g. client-server development on a laptop), this is another showstopper in addition to all the items mentioned in the parent.
Take it even further and beat them at their own game using their tactics.
Make your 10,000 static-filled songs and make them available. [Sure, it's just noise, but who are they to judge your "art?"] Include in the MP3 markup tags a *VERY* restrictive EULA which prohibits distribution in all cases without your advance written agreement, public AND private performance (in effect, no one may listen to your music without your permission), etc. If you want a stronger argument, include the spoken EULA at the beginning of the song. "By listening to this song, you signal your agreement to this end-user license agreement. You agree that..."
In order for them to sue you, they must produce the songs in some format to the court as evidence. At that point, countersue them for "theft" (since they so like to use that word) of your IP and violation of your extremely restrictive EULA. Then offer them the chance to settle out of court for $20,000 -- the "value" of your songs at $2 each. Plus legal fees, pain and suffering, mental anguish, etc. of course.;)
Fortunately, so will people like me with cans of spraypaint, or, other more plausible methods of rendering them inoperable: "Gosh, officer, I didn't realize that snow chains weren't necessary during the summer in Florida, and I *do* so apologise for running over those little markers. Sorry 'bout that. Won't let it happen again."
Thanks for the information, puppetman, and sorry to any Canadians I offended with my poorly-thought out comments. I'll try to be better informed next time rather than just go shooting off my big ignorant mouth.
That's why I have my machine auto-login my 32-character random generated password, thereby defeating keyloggers, over-the-shoulder eavesdropping, and even this new audio hack!
FYI, moderators, it's not a troll if it's demonstrably true. Disagree? Then point out the differences (which should be easy, right?) but don't simply mark as "troll" anything which you wish were not true. That's cowardly and intellectually dishonest. As if that matters to most liberals.
See. Now THAT'S a troll... Hook 'em and reel 'em in!
>>Uh, I make a six figure income, and my tax rate is around 35%. Yes, every dollar I make over $110,000 is taxed at 50%, but the first $7000 I pay no tax, and the tax rate increases from there.
Have you checked the currency conversion rates recently? That first $7000 won't even pay your heating bill this winter! A six-figure Canadian income is like claiming an eleven-figure income in Japanese Yen -- not that impressive - because those Canadian dollars are worth roughly 50% of American dollars.
So, in American terms, You'll get the first $3500 in income tax-free:yawn:, from $3501 to approx. $50,000 taxed at 35%, and the Feds will take half of everything you make over $50k. And don't forget to add sales taxes, property taxes, misc. fees, etc. on top of that. Your purchasing power is only about 40% of your gross salary, when all's said & done.
Of course, you aren't charged directly for health care in Canada. But then again, not being seen by a doctor or dying while waiting for care is free everywhere. (BTW, while I'm on the subject, the only reason Canada's so-called health-care system can even pretend to work is because the majority of Canadians can travel to the US for emergency care when they need it. It's like living in a tent in your parents backyard, crowing about "living off the land" while raiding their refrigerator three times a day. Don't believe me? Try to schedule an MRI for a brain tumor scan. Good luck. I can get an MRI for $600 in almost any American hospital TODAY -- You'll be lucky if you can get one by year's end, if ever.)
>>the vehicles do get better gas mileage than standard automobiles >31.5 isn't better than what one of the guys at work gets in his escort.
Dittos on that. After 10,500 miles of driving, my 2004 Toyota Corolla LE is getting a consistent average 34mpg per tank in combined city+highway driving (30-mile commute to/from work, approximately 50% ~35mph +stop&go and 50% 70mph speeds, air conditioning on). I get 40+mpg on interstate-only driving.
Oh, and it cost at least $6000 less than the Prius.
>These cars are not hot rods, but they have plenty of power to climb hills at 65mph
Absolutely! The Corolla has 130hp. I wouldn't tow a ski boat with it, but that's plenty for a commuter car.
>>"Voice-activated recording device... to record... "
...the sound of everyone laughing at you -- including the bears -- because you look like an evil Power Ranger in that black and silver getup. And what's up with the paint scheme? I mean, damn, are all those red & black chevrons on the "Mark VI" (love that hand-painted sign!) really necessary? It's like camoflage for hiding in a Godzilla movie set. Good grief!
My idea of a "bear-proof suit" is dress slacks and sportcoat + a Ruger.44 Magnum in a Bianchi holster.
Slashdot -- your home for Massive Multiuser Parallel Google searches
What's next? "Dear Slashdot. I'd like to find a place with news for nerds. A place where 'computer people' talk about stuff that matters. Can you help me?"
Whether it's turned on or not, it should be simple to detect -- just shake the can. If there's no "sloshing" sound, it's a good candidate.
Proceed to "round 2" testing, which is as simple as using a magnet. Presumably, the contents will not consist entirely of non-ferrous metals. Using a "bondo pen" (basically, a magnet mounted to a spring-loaded gage in the form of a pen -- it's used in the auto-repair trade to detect and measure the thickness of "bondo" repairs) and place it against the can. Any deflection will indicate a "winning" can.
>>They were in a position to set the rules. They own Columbia and its huge back catalogue. They have the technical expertise to build the most seductive portables. They have software developers. What they were/are missing is the foresight.
Correct, but what Sony also has is accountants, and they exert undue influence in Sony's strategic decisions. Allow me to digress for a moment, and I'll explain why this matters. Sony is a two-pronged company -- they sell 1)content (music, movies, etc) and 2) components (televisions, vcrs, robots, etc.) These two divisions are opposed to one another. The component side wants to make the open, flexible "killer" hardware we want, but the content side of the company wants those devices locked down (to the point that they're not useful) so as to prevent "theft" of intellectual property, copying movies/music, etc. So these two halves are continuously fighting against one another and the CEO must decide what the right balance is.
In step the Accountants. They're there to help the CEO make this decision, but Sony's beanmen only understand a static balance sheet -- as if Sony must choose between sales of Hardware or Content. They conclude that if a sony device can be used to copy music, they will lose sales from the content side of Sony, therefore the device must 1) be locked down, 2) be expensive enough to offset potential losses from the content side, 3)contain DRM to protect Sony's IP. Fortunately, Sony's not the only player in the market, so their sales remain poor and they end up squandering an opportunity to compete.
This scenario is good!; the way I see it every company that fails at marketing a DRM device is a win for the consumer. Perhaps after years of disappointing sales, the boardroom will tire of seeing their money wasted and demand a decision, one way or the other (content vs. component) be made. Thus, the stalemate is broken and the company can move forward.
In short, Sony's current "have it all" strategy is doomed in a free market*: Given the choice, people don't want DRM. Let's just hope Sony's (or any other company following this model) spectacular economic flame-out doesn't encourage them to pressure government officials to mandate DRM in order to prop up their failing business model.
Hell, politics isn't just *in* the Clancy titles, it's the *name* of one of his games ("Politika"). The main difference with a Clancy title, however, is that the politics are integral to the storyline -- it's not just a gratuitous reference. Think of the "Rainbow Six" series; without the political angles, it's, well, just another shooter. And SSN (the nuclear sub sim we did for Virtus prior to forming Redstorm) involved conflict betw. the US and China due to China's assertion of ownership of the Spratley Islands. Again, without the political elements there's no point in playing the game, unless you just happen to like driving subs.;)
>>Try building your own car, not one from other auto makers parts. Make one from scratch using parts you engineered. Then try to get it licenced and street legal. It'll never happen.
Think again! They're called kitcars, and thousands of them are built, registered and licensed every year in America. Same goes for Great Britian. Sure, most of these cars are built using donor parts from a production automobile, but plenty of them are built completely from scratch. Google for Ultima GTR for an excellent example of a Ferrari killer you can build yourself for under $50k. Don't like the CanAm look? Then build yourself a Diablo for 1/10th the cost: lambobuilder.com. On a really tight budget? Build a replica of Carrol Shelby's famous Cobra using Mustang GT components for about the same price as a new Toyota Corolla: factoryfiveracing.com So long as it meets minimum safety and equipment standards, you *can* build your own automobile. Just don't you dare try to watch a DVD in these cars without the MPAAs permission. That would be foolhardy.
I'm not sure what to make of Valenti's response; what does he mean by that? UFB that someone would write a decryptor, UFB that the author wrote the code himself, or UFB that six little lines of the code bypasses CSS?
>>the CORRECT viewing order for future generations of Star Wars fans MUST be...
Wrong again! The CORRECT order is #1, followed by #2, then STOP! Why? Because the films which followed sucked -- The later films are more a ninety-minute infomercial for Skywalker Ranch special effects than a platform for advancing the storyline.
Surely I'm not the only person here who wishes Lucas would have held to his original plan of following R2 and C3PO through the advance of the Empire, rather than leaning on the editorial crutch of dewey-eyed kids, cutsey aliens, political correctness revisionism, and "gee whiz" factor of special-effects for their own sake? (and yes, this includes all those annoying computer-generated "actors" we've grown to hate.)
In the spirit of abstract higher math, consider a special case of wheel, one with a rotational speed of zero. In this case, the road and "wheel" may be planes, (e.g. "skis" or military tank treads).
Everyone knows that it's best to start a company in a state with legendary high taxes! *roll eyes* What a joke.
Gosh, Timothy, why would you have chosen to compare Taxachussets and Texas? There wouldn't be a political reason, would there? I mean, we all know you're not a Bush supporter, but can you try to be less transparent next time than to choose a liberal-biased pro-government cheerleader such as the Milken Institute.
Anyone doubt me? Just look at the Milken Institute front page which is currently promoting it's Global Conference, a forum on "affordable housing" (which is just a tax on those who buy their homes to help pay for those who don't) and fawning interview with Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament.
>>stores only use the addresses on file to send snail-mail spam. The solution? Use a fake name and address.
A good idea, but you can do better than that, give them the name of the President/CEO/CFO/CIO of the supermarket chain!! Let the company bigshots that make these stupid policies get hardcopy spammed and see how they like it.
So how do you find VIP names? Go to the corporate section of the company web page, look for investor information (if a publicly traded company) or "history" or such if a private company. Get a list of names of the officers and put that together with information about where the company is based. Jump over to the internet phone book with that information and you're all set. If you can't get a home address, just enter the corporate office address.
How 'bout a couple links to get you started? Kroger: http://www.kroger.com/financialinfo_reportsandstat ements.htm Food Lion: http://www.delhaizegroup.com/en/in_ar2002.asp
You're right. Let's disarm completely and all sing "We are the World" while holding hands in a field of flowers. Meanwhile, people with evil intentions will continue to plan for the first major bioweapon attack in a dense population center. When hundreds of millions are dying, at least you can claim with a clear conscious "at least we weren't building these bugs in our own labs." Some consolation.
>>Then we should only need exactly enough amount to deter those people.
You're changing the subject from one discussing the necessity of having a bioweapons research lab to one about disarmament in general. It's a troll, I realize, but I'll bite: Unfortunately, I don't think that anything will deter the sort of people who strap bombs onto their bodies and blow themselves up on city busses full of women and children or fly airplanes into buildings full of innocents for the thrill of murder and the promised trip to heaven with seventy virgins, etc. That's evidence of madness of a grotesque magnitude; madness that cannot be conquored through negoiations. Would you disagree? If so, please provide historical evidence of such a success right here _____________________________________ Complete annihilation or crushing, overwhelming use of force is the only solution for purely evil cultures, but others in our time (including, most recently, the voters in Spain) have ignored history and believe such people can be negotiated with and appeased. That same mistake was made across Europe approximately seventy years ago with the result of tens of millions of deaths. How soon we all forget.]
Now, let's get back to the issue at hand. The necessity (or not) of having a bioweapon research lab. The past century is full of examples of people willing to kill themselves and/or their countryment so long as they also murder some number of their enemies. The purpose of these labs is to discover means of countering and controlling the effects of these weapons so as to minimize the threat these weapons pose and thus reduce the threat (and power) of terrorists and their supporting governments with these weapons.
We'd better be able to deal with the weapons, because we cannot reason with suicidal religious fanatics or cultures that believe that by killing children on a bus, one punches a ticket for an express trip to heaven. Biochems are merely one more tool for those who wish to exert power over others, and the labs are means for discovering ways to counter those weapons.
Slashdot Mirror
>>No one in their right mind would sign up for this without huge, unsustainable bribes and/or being taken in by confusing double-talk and deception.
Reads like a job description for Congressional committee work.
FC won't run under Virtual PC, at least as recently as FC RC3.
For those of us who run several OSs simultaneously on once machine (e.g. client-server development on a laptop), this is another showstopper in addition to all the items mentioned in the parent.
Take it even further and beat them at their own game using their tactics.
;)
Make your 10,000 static-filled songs and make them available. [Sure, it's just noise, but who are they to judge your "art?"] Include in the MP3 markup tags a *VERY* restrictive EULA which prohibits distribution in all cases without your advance written agreement, public AND private performance (in effect, no one may listen to your music without your permission), etc. If you want a stronger argument, include the spoken EULA at the beginning of the song. "By listening to this song, you signal your agreement to this end-user license agreement. You agree that..."
In order for them to sue you, they must produce the songs in some format to the court as evidence. At that point, countersue them for "theft" (since they so like to use that word) of your IP and violation of your extremely restrictive EULA. Then offer them the chance to settle out of court for $20,000 -- the "value" of your songs at $2 each. Plus legal fees, pain and suffering, mental anguish, etc. of course.
>"SCO prides itself on the work we do to create world renowned Unix-based solutions..."
What work? Seriously, what have they added -- in, say, the past year -- to the open-source world? I've searched, but can't find any contributions.
Does SCO even even employ developers these days, or have they all been fired to make room for SCO's new army of attorneys?
>>they'd be everywhere
Fortunately, so will people like me with cans of spraypaint, or, other more plausible methods of rendering them inoperable: "Gosh, officer, I didn't realize that snow chains weren't necessary during the summer in Florida, and I *do* so apologise for running over those little markers. Sorry 'bout that. Won't let it happen again."
>>As it happens I am a super-Copenhagen believer
I'm more of a Skoal man myself, but let's get back to our discussion of Physics...
Thanks for the information, puppetman, and sorry to any Canadians I offended with my poorly-thought out comments. I'll try to be better informed next time rather than just go shooting off my big ignorant mouth.
That's why I have my machine auto-login my 32-character random generated password, thereby defeating keyloggers, over-the-shoulder eavesdropping, and even this new audio hack!
Security is so easy.
"-1 Troll?"
FYI, moderators, it's not a troll if it's demonstrably true. Disagree? Then point out the differences (which should be easy, right?) but don't simply mark as "troll" anything which you wish were not true. That's cowardly and intellectually dishonest. As if that matters to most liberals.
See. Now THAT'S a troll... Hook 'em and reel 'em in!
>>Uh, I make a six figure income, and my tax rate is around 35%. Yes, every dollar I make over $110,000 is taxed at 50%, but the first $7000 I pay no tax, and the tax rate increases from there.
:yawn:, from $3501 to approx. $50,000 taxed at 35%, and the Feds will take half of everything you make over $50k. And don't forget to add sales taxes, property taxes, misc. fees, etc. on top of that. Your purchasing power is only about 40% of your gross salary, when all's said & done.
Have you checked the currency conversion rates recently? That first $7000 won't even pay your heating bill this winter! A six-figure Canadian income is like claiming an eleven-figure income in Japanese Yen -- not that impressive - because those Canadian dollars are worth roughly 50% of American dollars.
So, in American terms, You'll get the first $3500 in income tax-free
Of course, you aren't charged directly for health care in Canada. But then again, not being seen by a doctor or dying while waiting for care is free everywhere. (BTW, while I'm on the subject, the only reason Canada's so-called health-care system can even pretend to work is because the majority of Canadians can travel to the US for emergency care when they need it. It's like living in a tent in your parents backyard, crowing about "living off the land" while raiding their refrigerator three times a day. Don't believe me? Try to schedule an MRI for a brain tumor scan. Good luck. I can get an MRI for $600 in almost any American hospital TODAY -- You'll be lucky if you can get one by year's end, if ever.)
>>the vehicles do get better gas mileage than standard automobiles
>31.5 isn't better than what one of the guys at work gets in his escort.
Dittos on that.
After 10,500 miles of driving, my 2004 Toyota Corolla LE is getting a consistent average 34mpg per tank in combined city+highway driving (30-mile commute to/from work, approximately 50% ~35mph +stop&go and 50% 70mph speeds, air conditioning on). I get 40+mpg on interstate-only driving.
Oh, and it cost at least $6000 less than the Prius.
>These cars are not hot rods, but they have plenty of power to climb hills at 65mph
Absolutely! The Corolla has 130hp. I wouldn't tow a ski boat with it, but that's plenty for a commuter car.
Everyone knows turbo diesels kick ass in terms of mileage, so let me ask the obvious question:
WHERE ARE THE TDI HYBRIDS?
My idea of a "bear-proof suit" is dress slacks and sportcoat + a Ruger .44 Magnum in a Bianchi holster.
Slashdot -- your home for Massive Multiuser Parallel Google searches
What's next? "Dear Slashdot. I'd like to find a place with news for nerds. A place where 'computer people' talk about stuff that matters. Can you help me?"
No, but there's a magnetic field associated with the battery cell and electronics within that can be detected by a gaussometer.
Whether it's turned on or not, it should be simple to detect -- just shake the can. If there's no "sloshing" sound, it's a good candidate.
Proceed to "round 2" testing, which is as simple as using a magnet. Presumably, the contents will not consist entirely of non-ferrous metals. Using a "bondo pen" (basically, a magnet mounted to a spring-loaded gage in the form of a pen -- it's used in the auto-repair trade to detect and measure the thickness of "bondo" repairs) and place it against the can. Any deflection will indicate a "winning" can.
>>They were in a position to set the rules. They own Columbia and its huge back catalogue. They have the technical expertise to build the most seductive portables. They have software developers. What they were/are missing is the foresight.
Correct, but what Sony also has is accountants, and they exert undue influence in Sony's strategic decisions. Allow me to digress for a moment, and I'll explain why this matters.
Sony is a two-pronged company -- they sell 1)content (music, movies, etc) and 2) components (televisions, vcrs, robots, etc.)
These two divisions are opposed to one another. The component side wants to make the open, flexible "killer" hardware we want, but the content side of the company wants those devices locked down (to the point that they're not useful) so as to prevent "theft" of intellectual property, copying movies/music, etc. So these two halves are continuously fighting against one another and the CEO must decide what the right balance is.
In step the Accountants. They're there to help the CEO make this decision, but Sony's beanmen only understand a static balance sheet -- as if Sony must choose between sales of Hardware or Content. They conclude that if a sony device can be used to copy music, they will lose sales from the content side of Sony, therefore the device must 1) be locked down, 2) be expensive enough to offset potential losses from the content side, 3)contain DRM to protect Sony's IP.
Fortunately, Sony's not the only player in the market, so their sales remain poor and they end up squandering an opportunity to compete.
This scenario is good!; the way I see it every company that fails at marketing a DRM device is a win for the consumer. Perhaps after years of disappointing sales, the boardroom will tire of seeing their money wasted and demand a decision, one way or the other (content vs. component) be made. Thus, the stalemate is broken and the company can move forward.
In short, Sony's current "have it all" strategy is doomed in a free market*: Given the choice, people don't want DRM. Let's just hope Sony's (or any other company following this model) spectacular economic flame-out doesn't encourage them to pressure government officials to mandate DRM in order to prop up their failing business model.
Hell, politics isn't just *in* the Clancy titles, it's the *name* of one of his games ("Politika"). ;)
The main difference with a Clancy title, however, is that the politics are integral to the storyline -- it's not just a gratuitous reference. Think of the "Rainbow Six" series; without the political angles, it's, well, just another shooter. And SSN (the nuclear sub sim we did for Virtus prior to forming Redstorm) involved conflict betw. the US and China due to China's assertion of ownership of the Spratley Islands. Again, without the political elements there's no point in playing the game, unless you just happen to like driving subs.
>>Try building your own car, not one from other auto makers parts. Make one from scratch using parts you engineered. Then try to get it licenced and street legal. It'll never happen.
Think again! They're called kitcars, and thousands of them are built, registered and licensed every year in America. Same goes for Great Britian. Sure, most of these cars are built using donor parts from a production automobile, but plenty of them are built completely from scratch.
Google for Ultima GTR for an excellent example of a Ferrari killer you can build yourself for under $50k. Don't like the CanAm look? Then build yourself a Diablo for 1/10th the cost: lambobuilder.com. On a really tight budget? Build a replica of Carrol Shelby's famous Cobra using Mustang GT components for about the same price as a new Toyota Corolla: factoryfiveracing.com
So long as it meets minimum safety and equipment standards, you *can* build your own automobile. Just don't you dare try to watch a DVD in these cars without the MPAAs permission. That would be foolhardy.
I'm not sure what to make of Valenti's response; what does he mean by that? UFB that someone would write a decryptor, UFB that the author wrote the code himself, or UFB that six little lines of the code bypasses CSS?
>>the CORRECT viewing order for future generations of Star Wars fans MUST be...
Wrong again! The CORRECT order is #1, followed by #2, then STOP! Why? Because the films which followed sucked -- The later films are more a ninety-minute infomercial for Skywalker Ranch special effects than a platform for advancing the storyline.
Surely I'm not the only person here who wishes Lucas would have held to his original plan of following R2 and C3PO through the advance of the Empire, rather than leaning on the editorial crutch of dewey-eyed kids, cutsey aliens, political correctness revisionism, and "gee whiz" factor of special-effects for their own sake? (and yes, this includes all those annoying computer-generated "actors" we've grown to hate.)
In the spirit of abstract higher math, consider a special case of wheel, one with a rotational speed of zero. In this case, the road and "wheel" may be planes, (e.g. "skis" or military tank treads).
Everyone knows that it's best to start a company in a state with legendary high taxes! *roll eyes* What a joke.
Gosh, Timothy, why would you have chosen to compare Taxachussets and Texas? There wouldn't be a political reason, would there? I mean, we all know you're not a Bush supporter, but can you try to be less transparent next time than to choose a liberal-biased pro-government cheerleader such as the Milken Institute.
Anyone doubt me? Just look at the Milken Institute front page which is currently promoting it's Global Conference, a forum on "affordable housing" (which is just a tax on those who buy their homes to help pay for those who don't) and fawning interview with Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament.
Yawn.
>>stores only use the addresses on file to send snail-mail spam. The solution? Use a fake name and address.
t ements.htm
A good idea, but you can do better than that, give them the name of the President/CEO/CFO/CIO of the supermarket chain!! Let the company bigshots that make these stupid policies get hardcopy spammed and see how they like it.
So how do you find VIP names? Go to the corporate section of the company web page, look for investor information (if a publicly traded company) or "history" or such if a private company. Get a list of names of the officers and put that together with information about where the company is based. Jump over to the internet phone book with that information and you're all set. If you can't get a home address, just enter the corporate office address.
How 'bout a couple links to get you started? Kroger: http://www.kroger.com/financialinfo_reportsandsta
Food Lion: http://www.delhaizegroup.com/en/in_ar2002.asp
You're right. Let's disarm completely and all sing "We are the World" while holding hands in a field of flowers. Meanwhile, people with evil intentions will continue to plan for the first major bioweapon attack in a dense population center. When hundreds of millions are dying, at least you can claim with a clear conscious "at least we weren't building these bugs in our own labs." Some consolation.
>>Then we should only need exactly enough amount to deter those people.
You're changing the subject from one discussing the necessity of having a bioweapons research lab to one about disarmament in general. It's a troll, I realize, but I'll bite:
Unfortunately, I don't think that anything will deter the sort of people who strap bombs onto their bodies and blow themselves up on city busses full of women and children or fly airplanes into buildings full of innocents for the thrill of murder and the promised trip to heaven with seventy virgins, etc. That's evidence of madness of a grotesque magnitude; madness that cannot be conquored through negoiations. Would you disagree? If so, please provide historical evidence of such a success right here _____________________________________
Complete annihilation or crushing, overwhelming use of force is the only solution for purely evil cultures, but others in our time (including, most recently, the voters in Spain) have ignored history and believe such people can be negotiated with and appeased. That same mistake was made across Europe approximately seventy years ago with the result of tens of millions of deaths. How soon we all forget.]
Now, let's get back to the issue at hand. The necessity (or not) of having a bioweapon research lab. The past century is full of examples of people willing to kill themselves and/or their countryment so long as they also murder some number of their enemies. The purpose of these labs is to discover means of countering and controlling the effects of these weapons so as to minimize the threat these weapons pose and thus reduce the threat (and power) of terrorists and their supporting governments with these weapons.
We'd better be able to deal with the weapons, because we cannot reason with suicidal religious fanatics or cultures that believe that by killing children on a bus, one punches a ticket for an express trip to heaven. Biochems are merely one more tool for those who wish to exert power over others, and the labs are means for discovering ways to counter those weapons.