I wonder if you have EVER actually flown in it ? If you have, you must the coldest, most boring individual I have ever met ?
Its only noisy on take-off, once in cruise its quiet (certainly no noiser than a normal airliner), and the rock-solid feeling of smooth stability is unlike anything I have ever experienced.
Yes, its not the biggest airplane inside, but then, you're not on it for 12 hours are you ? Its comfortable enough, and they ply you with booze and food all the trip.
When I flew, we left an hour after the normal scheduled flight to London, overtook it at 60,000 feet somewhere over Egypt, and landed in London an hour BEFORE the scheduled flights - one hour supersonic took over 2 and a half hours off the normal flight time.
As for safety, Concorde airframes were very low time, and the planes (certainly by British Airways) were very well looked after. It had problems with rudder sections and compressor surges, but if development was continued after the first block of aircraft was built, these problems would eventually be solved. The crash in France was caused by a part falling off another aircraft and insufficient runway checks at the Airport - many air accidents are caused by a chain of unconnected events - it has bad luck the tyres blew, bad luck the wing tank ruptured, bad luck it ignited. I would still feel safer in a Concorde than a 747.
Being British and an Engineer by profession, I can say its the one thing that you see and feel a national pride - we don't have much to feel proud of these days and it was a quantum leap forward in technology, and I feel we are all poorer that it was never taken forward - there is no reason why supersonic airline travel couldn't have become a normal occurrence if development was continued - I read today that plans and drawings were started for a successor.
I'll look up to see the last departure for NY this week as it flies over London at 5:30 and think sad thoughts.
If you HAD bothered to read the Nasa Web site, you would have found that they DID credit him:
Jon Burnett, a teenager from South Wales, UK, was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular sky images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing trial. What is it? Experts disagree. The first guess was a sofa-sized rock that exploded as a daytime fireball, but perhaps a better hypothesis is an unusual airplane contrail reflecting the setting Sun. Bright fireballs occur over someplace on Earth nearly every day. A separate bolide, likely even more dramatic, struck India only a few days ago.
The lad's own picture and his fireball picture have been published in a number of newspapers with quotes from Nasa.
Also, he sent the picture to NASA - they didn't steal it.
This is a PDF file of a study done by the CAA in the UK (equivalent to the FAA) on cellphone interference against instruments. It was done in a laboratory to model in-flight circumstances.
To quote from the report (6.1) : The tests revealed various adverse effects on the equipment performance from
simulated cellphone interference. Although the equipment demonstrated a
satisfactory margin above the original certification criteria for interference
susceptibility, that margin was not sufficient to protect against potential cellphone
interference under worst case conditions.
So until there is concrete evidence one way or the other, erring on the side of caution may be advisable - its also one of the last places where you don't have to listen to some dickhead chatting on the phone in a loud voice.
"He was later to say that, unlike Oppenheimer, he was opposed to the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, and would have preferred a demonstration of the new weapon's power to Japanese scientists. Nevertheless, in his memoirs, published in 2001, Teller admitted, while continuing to believe that Oppenheimer's opposition to the H-bomb was wrong, that the hearings had been a mistake, and that he himself had been unwise to testify."
Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
Its is indirectly :
We read: " . . . They would not follow thy direction of prayer (qibla), nor art thou to follow their direction of prayer; nor indeed will they follow each other's dixrection of prayer... "(Koran, Sura 2:145, "The Cow")
All Koranic commentators explain that "thy qibla" is obviously the Kaaba of Mecca, while "their qibla" refers to the Temple Area in Jerusalem.
Also :
Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
See the paragraph above : Muslims face towards Makkah to pray - in some parts of the world south of Makkah they may indeed be pointing towards Jerusalem.
I've been getting bad headaches for weeks now - they're getting worser and I'm seeing flashing lights. Can the slashdot community give me any advice on do-it-yourself brain surgery with a dessert spoon and a screwdriver ?
This question has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard on Slashdot. The man must be a complete cretin to even consider asking for advice.
Your body will still be a resistor - current flows through you - you heat up (not nice)
The band will never be a snug fit on your wrist, so you'll get arcing across the air gaps between band and skin - again not very nice
As someone else mentioned, the copper will heat up (it has some resistance) - see Number 1
If you MUST work near high power stuff thats energised, you stay well insulated (rubber boots etc) and ensure that you can never be a path to ground - the voltage in overhead high tension cables can jump through a considerable air gap if a nice and easy low voltage path to neutral is knocking around
I'm amazed the original poster could even ask such a stupid question about whether he should attempt to fix the problem - I'm expecting the next question to be on do-it-yourself brain surgery with a spoon and a hammer.
They might not enforce it against you, but it would be far more profitable to go after the company that sold it to you. Did you buy it in the UK or was it delivered from Overseas ? (I notice the company is in Canada and the UK). If its not licensed, the distributor runs the risk of being prosecuted. Maybe not very likely, but if the Radio Licensing Authority gets one good complaint about an illegal transmitter (doesnt matter if its short range) and they nail the owner, they might decide to make an example out of whoever sold it to them.
This seems more like an issue of someone in beurocracy[SIC] getting a bug up their ass and not using common sense more than anything else.
Its got nothing to do with officialdom - its the law, as laid down in 1949. Break it, and you run the risk of prosecution. I know the UK is regulated too much, and you can argue some of the radio laws are restrictive, but they seemed to have worked so far.
Section 1 of the WT Act 1949 forbids the installation or use of wireless
telegraphy equipment (radio) in the UK mainland including Northern Ireland
and territorial waters, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, unless:
an appropriate licence has been obtained from the Secretary of State,
there are in force Regulations exempting it from licensing.
Short range radio devices
More and more convenience devices now utilise radio in their operation. Car alarms, wireless door chimes and garage door openers are common examples. Unfortunately not all of these are manufactured in accordance with the relevant technical requirements. The use of non-compliant equipment, is an offence and can lead to interference to authorised users of radio.
It is an offence contrary to the RTTE Regulations to place on the market non-compliant apparatus.
The whole point is spectrum is regulated in the UK and unless the equipment is licensed, then its illegal to use it.
If this thing worked at an exempt frequency, it would be ok, but because it uses the FM Broadcast bands, its not approved for use.
I would also presume the importer wont sell them simply because they could be prosecuted and would have zero defence.
No its not crap - have you ever flown one ? At least have the bottle to say it winout being an anonymous coward.
The Piccolo is indoors only or else on a day with zero breeze.
The main posters comments are spot on - I used to fly.30 rc helis for a while and they are very hard to fly - even with gyroscope stabilisation and computerised transmitters.
The best advice is don't buy one unless you are serious about learning to fly one - its expensive and you will bend it on numerous occasions, although everything is repairable.
Also, safety first - even a little.30 copter has a lot of inertia in its rotor blades at full power and could cause some serious damage to someone.
Having said all this, when you eventually manage to get it into a stable hover for as long as you want, its a real feeling of accomplishment.
The pictures and commentary about the attempt to make ice-cream with liquid nitrogen looks like it has come straight out of a segment on 'Channel 9' from the Fast Show.
How about tons of concrete twenty feet thick reinforced with steel rod ?
There's a video of a reactor wall test at Sandia in 1993 where they strapped a F-4 Phantom to a track unit and shot it down the track with 35 rockets into this 'wall' at 475mph or so - the jet just turned to dust and all that was left was a black spot on the wall...(the weirdest thing on the video is plane was about two feet or wider than the wall, so the wingtips kept going after being sheared oh-so-neatly off. (can't find a picture, sorry)
I'll second this. These little copters are unusable in anything but zero wind or inside.
If you want something you can use outside, you are talking about a 5-6 foot rotor span and.35 cu in engine with a rotor speed approaching roughly around 1000 rpm at full whack. If that hits anything it's going to cause a lot of damage/injury/cost - and thats a baby trainer `copter.
They are VERY difficult to learn to hover, you need literally training wheels until you can take-off, hover, move around and land, even in wind, otherwise you'll be replacing tail booms, rotors, drive shafts etc. etc. all the time. Even with a gyro-stabilised tail rotor (i.e. adjusts to correct heli yaw movement) they are still fiendishly difficult. When I used to fly there was an endless procession of kiddies who would appear for a couple of weeks at the site with their brand new helis, only to seem them get smashed up all of the time.
Having said all that, if you serious, they are cracking fun !!! (but expensive !)
I flew in 1993 from Jeddah to London - I had a standard BA ticket, but due to special offer for 400 pounds more I could fly 1-way on Concorde - needless to say I took it ! (I met someone of the plane who I knew - the regular BA flight had been overbooked and the first four people in the queue without seats got transferred from economy on a 767 to Concorde for nothing !)
Takeoff was incredible - I was seated at the back and the noise was phenomenal, as was the feeling of being pushed back into your seat. Concorde takes off at a much faster speed than a normal plane and it shows.
When we went supersonic, the pilot informed us that he would lite the outboard afterburners first, followed by the inboard, just to get us through the sound barrier and supersonic. You then felt a small push in the back, followed by a much stronger one, and the mach indicator clicked over Mach 1.0. (Apparently the afterburners are only for takeoff and supersonic accelerating - the Olympus engine cruises at Mach 2.2 without afterburner, it user special ramps on the air intakes to slow the air down to subsonic speeds for the engines).
In cruise, looking out the windows was almost black above, with a definite curvature of the earth. It was also like walking on the ground - no sensation of movement. I went up to the cockpit and was amazed to see valves glowing behind panels - all mechanical instruments with a flight engineer. There was also a gap behind the cockpit between two panels that was about a foot wide - apparently on the ground you'd be hard pushed to put your fingers between in, such is the expansion of the fueslage.
Its a fantastic feeling, flying at such speed and you have to marvel at the expertise of the people who designed and built it. At Yeovilton in Somerset you can wander around a test Concorde, walk underneath the wings - the complexity is astounding.
Lets hope a way is found to keep one flying (I think Virgin Atlantic were after one), I don't really blame BA and Air France for retiring them, if they are not making any money now and the cachet of them has gone somewhat.
What memories - to anyone who can get a flight in before its grounded, spend the money and do it - it may be many years before you can do something so special.
You can take one in and use it NOW - no need for intrastructure (although it might be wise to wait for the conflict to stop first...)
Surely it will take years for mobile phones to be installed into Iraq:
You need to survey it, build towers etc. - its a BIG country !
The insfrastructure is buggered even before the war - power, landline system etc.
Who the hells going to be able to buy them ? A lot of the people are dirt poor. Sort out the sanitation, fresh water, power etc. first, which is in disarray (see 2)
This whole argument about mobile phone infrastructure is just the various comms companies salivating at the nice fat US, UK, UN or whatever funded contracts. (Which, make no mistake, will ultimately still be funded via oil sales)
As for the CDMA/GSM arguments, people (when they can afford them) will make the simple determintation - what is cheap. Also, if everyone else for a 1000 miles in every direction of iraq uses GSM, CDMA is a non-starter. Unless I'm wrong, EVERY country in the area that has installed a mobile network has gone for GSM.
Note : I'm not a bleeding-heart liberal going on about 'feed the people first instead of giving them internet access' but it must be bloody obvious in this case.
I looked at buying a Sony/Ericsson P800 this morning. Its cheaper on Orange than on Vodafone (my current provider). Even when changing providers, I'd get a temporary new number for 7-10 days, and then my old vodafone number would work on my new provider.
Or, thats the THEORY anyway, according to the salesman. I've not done it before, so I have to take him at his word.
The day when the US of A might decide that PERHAPS the situation in Israel and the Palestinians could be improved by applying a little bit more pressure to the Israelis rather than the usual cop-out of giving them billions of dollars a year in aid, then the US of A might find out that perhaps some of the worlds inhabitants dont see the US of A as target #1.
And for all of these anonymous cowards who don't have the bottle to login, like the ranting moron above, I'm an admirer of the US, love the people, and I'm dismayed by the rampant illogical US-bashing in Europe, but the blindness of the current US administration towards the Middle East's root problems is terrifying.
I would image all of the paramilitary forces (ie Republican and Loyalist) in Northern Ireland have been (and still are) VERY careful about what they discuss where and when.
Phone tapping is not a new tactic, and if there is one thing all of the events over the last 40 years in Northern Ireland clearly point out is that they are not stupid and have some very savvy people in their organisations.
Eavesdropping on transmissions from Ireland to the UK probably allowed a great many plots to be foiled.
I would think more plots have been foiled by some poor sod risking his life to overhear a conversation or a chance piece of information picked up by routine. I don't think the IRA was in the habit of discussing bombing plans chapter and verse over the phone.
Re:Check out the animation I did of the sensor dat
on
More on Columbia
·
· Score: 1
Excellent animation - it might be from an amateur but its very logical and instructive.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder if you have EVER actually flown in it ? If you have, you must the coldest, most boring individual I have ever met ?
Its only noisy on take-off, once in cruise its quiet (certainly no noiser than a normal airliner), and the rock-solid feeling of smooth stability is unlike anything I have ever experienced.
Yes, its not the biggest airplane inside, but then, you're not on it for 12 hours are you ? Its comfortable enough, and they ply you with booze and food all the trip.
When I flew, we left an hour after the normal scheduled flight to London, overtook it at 60,000 feet somewhere over Egypt, and landed in London an hour BEFORE the scheduled flights - one hour supersonic took over 2 and a half hours off the normal flight time.
As for safety, Concorde airframes were very low time, and the planes (certainly by British Airways) were very well looked after. It had problems with rudder sections and compressor surges, but if development was continued after the first block of aircraft was built, these problems would eventually be solved. The crash in France was caused by a part falling off another aircraft and insufficient runway checks at the Airport - many air accidents are caused by a chain of unconnected events - it has bad luck the tyres blew, bad luck the wing tank ruptured, bad luck it ignited. I would still feel safer in a Concorde than a 747.
Being British and an Engineer by profession, I can say its the one thing that you see and feel a national pride - we don't have much to feel proud of these days and it was a quantum leap forward in technology, and I feel we are all poorer that it was never taken forward - there is no reason why supersonic airline travel couldn't have become a normal occurrence if development was continued - I read today that plans and drawings were started for a successor.
I'll look up to see the last departure for NY this week as it flies over London at 5:30 and think sad thoughts.
Rhodesia ??
Rhodesia doesnt even exist any more ! It became Zimbabwe in 1980.
Its currently an economic basket-case !
If you HAD bothered to read the Nasa Web site, you would have found that they DID credit him:
Jon Burnett, a teenager from South Wales, UK, was photographing some friends skateboarding last week when the sky did something very strange. By diverting his camera, he was able to document this rare sky event and capture one of the more spectacular sky images yet recorded. Roughly one minute later, he took another picture of the dispersing trial. What is it? Experts disagree. The first guess was a sofa-sized rock that exploded as a daytime fireball, but perhaps a better hypothesis is an unusual airplane contrail reflecting the setting Sun. Bright fireballs occur over someplace on Earth nearly every day. A separate bolide, likely even more dramatic, struck India only a few days ago.
The lad's own picture and his fireball picture have been published in a number of newspapers with quotes from Nasa.
Also, he sent the picture to NASA - they didn't steal it.
Please engage brain before opening mouth.
Not in such common usage anyway. For a fuller guide to such phrasing and as a way of greatly increasing your word power, may I suggest this ?
Basically its a Profanisaurus - like a thesaurus, only for swearing.
This is a PDF file of a study done by the CAA in the UK (equivalent to the FAA) on cellphone interference against instruments. It was done in a laboratory to model in-flight circumstances.
To quote from the report (6.1) :
The tests revealed various adverse effects on the equipment performance from simulated cellphone interference. Although the equipment demonstrated a satisfactory margin above the original certification criteria for interference susceptibility, that margin was not sufficient to protect against potential cellphone interference under worst case conditions.
So until there is concrete evidence one way or the other, erring on the side of caution may be advisable - its also one of the last places where you don't have to listen to some dickhead chatting on the phone in a loud voice.
Try reading the rest of the Slashdot posting. The 2nd link goes straight to a Mandrake Web Page discussing it and the rates they will charge.
Extract from Times Obituary :
"He was later to say that, unlike Oppenheimer, he was opposed to the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, and would have preferred a demonstration of the new weapon's power to Japanese scientists. Nevertheless, in his memoirs, published in 2001, Teller admitted, while continuing to believe that Oppenheimer's opposition to the H-bomb was wrong, that the hearings had been a mistake, and that he himself had been unwise to testify."Its is indirectly :
We read: " . . . They would not follow thy direction of prayer (qibla), nor art thou to follow their direction of prayer; nor indeed will they follow each other's dixrection of prayer... "(Koran, Sura 2:145, "The Cow")
All Koranic commentators explain that "thy qibla" is obviously the Kaaba of Mecca, while "their qibla" refers to the Temple Area in Jerusalem.
Also :
Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.See the paragraph above : Muslims face towards Makkah to pray - in some parts of the world south of Makkah they may indeed be pointing towards Jerusalem.
Coming next on Ask Slashdot:
I've been getting bad headaches for weeks now - they're getting worser and I'm seeing flashing lights. Can the slashdot community give me any advice on do-it-yourself brain surgery with a dessert spoon and a screwdriver ?
This question has to be the dumbest thing I have ever heard on Slashdot. The man must be a complete cretin to even consider asking for advice.
If you MUST work near high power stuff thats energised, you stay well insulated (rubber boots etc) and ensure that you can never be a path to ground - the voltage in overhead high tension cables can jump through a considerable air gap if a nice and easy low voltage path to neutral is knocking around
I'm amazed the original poster could even ask such a stupid question about whether he should attempt to fix the problem - I'm expecting the next question to be on do-it-yourself brain surgery with a spoon and a hammer.
They might not enforce it against you, but it would be far more profitable to go after the company that sold it to you. Did you buy it in the UK or was it delivered from Overseas ? (I notice the company is in Canada and the UK). If its not licensed, the distributor runs the risk of being prosecuted. Maybe not very likely, but if the Radio Licensing Authority gets one good complaint about an illegal transmitter (doesnt matter if its short range) and they nail the owner, they might decide to make an example out of whoever sold it to them.
This seems more like an issue of someone in beurocracy[SIC] getting a bug up their ass and not using common sense more than anything else.
Its got nothing to do with officialdom - its the law, as laid down in 1949. Break it, and you run the risk of prosecution. I know the UK is regulated too much, and you can argue some of the radio laws are restrictive, but they seemed to have worked so far.
Section 1 of the WT Act 1949 forbids the installation or use of wireless telegraphy equipment (radio) in the UK mainland including Northern Ireland and territorial waters, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, unless:
- an appropriate licence has been obtained from the Secretary of State,
- there are in force Regulations exempting it from licensing.
Short range radio devicesMore and more convenience devices now utilise radio in their operation. Car alarms, wireless door chimes and garage door openers are common examples. Unfortunately not all of these are manufactured in accordance with the relevant technical requirements. The use of non-compliant equipment, is an offence and can lead to interference to authorised users of radio.
It is an offence contrary to the RTTE Regulations to place on the market non-compliant apparatus.
The whole point is spectrum is regulated in the UK and unless the equipment is licensed, then its illegal to use it.
If this thing worked at an exempt frequency, it would be ok, but because it uses the FM Broadcast bands, its not approved for use.
I would also presume the importer wont sell them simply because they could be prosecuted and would have zero defence.
No its not crap - have you ever flown one ? At least have the bottle to say it winout being an anonymous coward.
.30 rc helis for a while and they are very hard to fly - even with gyroscope stabilisation and computerised transmitters.
.30 copter has a lot of inertia in its rotor blades at full power and could cause some serious damage to someone.
The Piccolo is indoors only or else on a day with zero breeze.
The main posters comments are spot on - I used to fly
The best advice is don't buy one unless you are serious about learning to fly one - its expensive and you will bend it on numerous occasions, although everything is repairable.
Also, safety first - even a little
Having said all this, when you eventually manage to get it into a stable hover for as long as you want, its a real feeling of accomplishment.
The pictures and commentary about the attempt to make ice-cream with liquid nitrogen looks like it has come straight out of a segment on 'Channel 9' from the Fast Show.
Boutros-Boutros Ghali.
How about tons of concrete twenty feet thick reinforced with steel rod ?
There's a video of a reactor wall test at Sandia in 1993 where they strapped a F-4 Phantom to a track unit and shot it down the track with 35 rockets into this 'wall' at 475mph or so - the jet just turned to dust and all that was left was a black spot on the wall...(the weirdest thing on the video is plane was about two feet or wider than the wall, so the wingtips kept going after being sheared oh-so-neatly off. (can't find a picture, sorry)
I'll second this. These little copters are unusable in anything but zero wind or inside.
.35 cu in engine with a rotor speed approaching roughly around 1000 rpm at full whack. If that hits anything it's going to cause a lot of damage/injury/cost - and thats a baby trainer `copter.
If you want something you can use outside, you are talking about a 5-6 foot rotor span and
They are VERY difficult to learn to hover, you need literally training wheels until you can take-off, hover, move around and land, even in wind, otherwise you'll be replacing tail booms, rotors, drive shafts etc. etc. all the time. Even with a gyro-stabilised tail rotor (i.e. adjusts to correct heli yaw movement) they are still fiendishly difficult. When I used to fly there was an endless procession of kiddies who would appear for a couple of weeks at the site with their brand new helis, only to seem them get smashed up all of the time.
Having said all that, if you serious, they are cracking fun !!! (but expensive !)
I'd agree with that. When you see it in the hanger, it seems very big. But when you stand next to one outside on an airport, its very small.
Yeovilton is an excellent museum - pity its a bit out of the way.
I flew in 1993 from Jeddah to London - I had a standard BA ticket, but due to special offer for 400 pounds more I could fly 1-way on Concorde - needless to say I took it ! (I met someone of the plane who I knew - the regular BA flight had been overbooked and the first four people in the queue without seats got transferred from economy on a 767 to Concorde for nothing !)
Takeoff was incredible - I was seated at the back and the noise was phenomenal, as was the feeling of being pushed back into your seat. Concorde takes off at a much faster speed than a normal plane and it shows.
When we went supersonic, the pilot informed us that he would lite the outboard afterburners first, followed by the inboard, just to get us through the sound barrier and supersonic. You then felt a small push in the back, followed by a much stronger one, and the mach indicator clicked over Mach 1.0. (Apparently the afterburners are only for takeoff and supersonic accelerating - the Olympus engine cruises at Mach 2.2 without afterburner, it user special ramps on the air intakes to slow the air down to subsonic speeds for the engines).
In cruise, looking out the windows was almost black above, with a definite curvature of the earth. It was also like walking on the ground - no sensation of movement. I went up to the cockpit and was amazed to see valves glowing behind panels - all mechanical instruments with a flight engineer. There was also a gap behind the cockpit between two panels that was about a foot wide - apparently on the ground you'd be hard pushed to put your fingers between in, such is the expansion of the fueslage.
Its a fantastic feeling, flying at such speed and you have to marvel at the expertise of the people who designed and built it. At Yeovilton in Somerset you can wander around a test Concorde, walk underneath the wings - the complexity is astounding.
Lets hope a way is found to keep one flying (I think Virgin Atlantic were after one), I don't really blame BA and Air France for retiring them, if they are not making any money now and the cachet of them has gone somewhat.
What memories - to anyone who can get a flight in before its grounded, spend the money and do it - it may be many years before you can do something so special.
You can take one in and use it NOW - no need for intrastructure (although it might be wise to wait for the conflict to stop first...)
Surely it will take years for mobile phones to be installed into Iraq
This whole argument about mobile phone infrastructure is just the various comms companies salivating at the nice fat US, UK, UN or whatever funded contracts. (Which, make no mistake, will ultimately still be funded via oil sales)
As for the CDMA/GSM arguments, people (when they can afford them) will make the simple determintation - what is cheap. Also, if everyone else for a 1000 miles in every direction of iraq uses GSM, CDMA is a non-starter. Unless I'm wrong, EVERY country in the area that has installed a mobile network has gone for GSM.
Note : I'm not a bleeding-heart liberal going on about 'feed the people first instead of giving them internet access' but it must be bloody obvious in this case.
I looked at buying a Sony/Ericsson P800 this morning. Its cheaper on Orange than on Vodafone (my current provider). Even when changing providers, I'd get a temporary new number for 7-10 days, and then my old vodafone number would work on my new provider.
Or, thats the THEORY anyway, according to the salesman. I've not done it before, so I have to take him at his word.
One word : Palestine.
The day when the US of A might decide that PERHAPS the situation in Israel and the Palestinians could be improved by applying a little bit more pressure to the Israelis rather than the usual cop-out of giving them billions of dollars a year in aid, then the US of A might find out that perhaps some of the worlds inhabitants dont see the US of A as target #1.
And for all of these anonymous cowards who don't have the bottle to login, like the ranting moron above, I'm an admirer of the US, love the people, and I'm dismayed by the rampant illogical US-bashing in Europe, but the blindness of the current US administration towards the Middle East's root problems is terrifying.
I would image all of the paramilitary forces (ie Republican and Loyalist) in Northern Ireland have been (and still are) VERY careful about what they discuss where and when.
Phone tapping is not a new tactic, and if there is one thing all of the events over the last 40 years in Northern Ireland clearly point out is that they are not stupid and have some very savvy people in their organisations.
Eavesdropping on transmissions from Ireland to the UK probably allowed a great many plots to be foiled.
I would think more plots have been foiled by some poor sod risking his life to overhear a conversation or a chance piece of information picked up by routine. I don't think the IRA was in the habit of discussing bombing plans chapter and verse over the phone.
Excellent animation - it might be from an amateur but its very logical and instructive.
Rice was an executive with Chevron for 10 years. Its a matter of public record.
They even named a Oil Tanker after her.