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User: ihtoit

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  1. Re:Do you have any hands-on experience ? on Russian Government Edits Wikipedia On Flight MH17 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    the BUK system is equipped with a civilian transponder safety lock which has to be manually disabled before a missile can be fired at an aircraft showing a civilian IFF.

    Too fucking right it was deliberate.

    The questions (two of) are:

    1. Who disabled the safety lock, and on what authority?
    2. Who fired the missile, and on what authority?

    Neither of which will ever be answered.

    Any punitive action taken over this will inevitably be aimed at the wrong party, will only serve to radicalise, and will only beget more death.

    Welcome to 21st Century warfare.

  2. Re:I don't see the problem. on Russian Government Edits Wikipedia On Flight MH17 · · Score: 1

    not that easy to hide either, given that the *missiles* are 18 to 23 feet long.

  3. Re:I don't see the problem. on Russian Government Edits Wikipedia On Flight MH17 · · Score: 4, Informative

    FYI: the target acquisition radar systems on the Gadfly BUK missile systems are all equipped with built-in IFF decoders.

    It takes a conscious effort and training in advanced operation of the Gadfly to disable the civilian IFF safety of a Gadfly system, which is there to prevent a missile being fired at a civilian aircraft.

    Source: training.

  4. Re:BAD,Bad, Bad! on White House Approves Sonic Cannons For Atlantic Energy Exploration · · Score: 1

    the obscene and growing number of spanking brand new cars taking up space, never to be sold, being added to every single day in a never-ending and accelerating cycle of build-and-stack kinda pisses all over that argument.

    The only thing that is likely to happen if more people rode bikes is that Shimano make more money.

  5. Re:so long as the duration is... on White House Approves Sonic Cannons For Atlantic Energy Exploration · · Score: 1

    this is the point that I think most commenters are missing - that we're talking less about a continuous sound, more a shock akin to an underwater bomb.

    If you want to blow a safe without burning the contents, you drill a hole in it, fill it with water and insert a charge. Plug the hole, detonate the charge, what happens?

    Water is practically incompressible. What happens is the overpressure from the detonation (and we're talking a BLASTING CAP here, nowhere near the power of a quarter stick!) is transmitted through the water until it meets the point of lowest resistance: the points where the door meets the superstructure - the lock and the hinges. Result? Door blown off hinges, safe contents slightly damp.

    What do you suppose would happen to any creature inside that safe when the cap is detonated?

  6. Re:Peak oil is not sudden on White House Approves Sonic Cannons For Atlantic Energy Exploration · · Score: 1

    there are no plans to phase out ICE cars as long as there's iron to be extracted. There are vast graveyards of spanking brand new cars which will never be sold (don't ask me why, some weird fucking economic pressure I guess) and those graveyards are growing on a daily basis with no signs of the influx slowing down. Private motorised transport in the long term is the death knell for human civilisation as long as there is addiction to two things: fiat currency and petrochemicals.

  7. 100x louder than a jet engine on White House Approves Sonic Cannons For Atlantic Energy Exploration · · Score: 1

    ??

    By any metric, that is a serious amount of acoustic pressure. It doesn't matter if you rely on sound to find your way around or locate prey, if you encounter that underwater you're getting turned into jelly.

    (walk into a pet store and tap on the fish tanks. Go on, I'm giving you permission).

  8. Re:To me it's pretty clear. on Russia Prepares For Internet War Over Malaysian Jet · · Score: 1

    think about this for a minute, you've just thrown a very important number out here: 30,000 feet. Six vertical MILES. A missile would not only have to cover that, it would also have to lock on and follow the target throughout the flight from the moment of launch. At Mach 3 (about average speed for a SAM), the missile has 26 miles (operational range) to track, lock, launch and terminate. From the moment of firing this can be anything up to 87 seconds. An airliner can move 15 miles in 87 seconds. Bring in the trig. Your long side (missile flat lead trajectory) is the root of 36+225=16.15 miles. You have shy of ten miles leeway, or one half minute (because that leeway is either side of closest approach assuming that the aircraft passes directly overhead), to decide if what you are tracking is an airliner with an international civilian IFF squawk or a transporter with a military code - something which a Gadfly TAR can accomplish instantly - then make the transaction between a fire order and firing the missile.

  9. Re:meanwhile overnight... on Russia Prepares For Internet War Over Malaysian Jet · · Score: 1

    according to RT, the Ukrainian military themselves have at least 27 Gadfly launch systems, which equates to just over a hundred missiles. It's likely that whatever fired the missile (if it is confirmed) was at some point in the hands of the legitimate Ukrainian Government, and COULD ONLY HAVE COME ORIGINALLY FROM ITS MANUFACTURING BASE IN RUSSIA.

  10. Ob. ArmageddonParaphrase on People Who Claim To Worry About Climate Change Don't Cut Energy Use · · Score: 1

    Yo Greenpeace, how many Arabs died for the oil you used to computer-generate the LEGOs in that movie you're trying to get unbanned claiming that it's because you offended Shell in some way when in all likelihood it's more to do with the recent movie release featuring those plastic blocks which are made from... you guessed it, oil byproducts!

    Fucking hypocrites!

  11. Re:DLC? on The Rise and Fall of the Cheat Code · · Score: 1

    most of the DLC for KSP is community-driven. From parts to physics mods, I know of several people who play the game but not a single one who plays it with no mods. It's not unplayable with no mods, in fact everything you can do with mod parts you can do with stock parts (it's just more difficult), which is how it should be even for a game like KSP. For me mods add dimension to the game which in its essence is an electronic Lego.

    Anywho, back to my classic Doctor Who with a still-in-shortpants Martin Clunes (omfg, I even remember the story!)

  12. Re:DLC? on The Rise and Fall of the Cheat Code · · Score: 1

    pisses me off when they do that. It's why I don't buy games-on-disc anymore, you don't get what you already paid for. If it's not a standalone like KSP or a free persistent MMO like Battlestar Galactica, fucking keep it.

  13. No Punishment Without Crime on Federal Judge Rules US No-fly List Violates Constitution · · Score: 2

    ...seems pretty open-and-shut to me.

  14. Re:Guy is a moron on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    what a load of bollocks.

    I carry air rifles through major cities. They're in cases, but it's fairly obvious what's in the cases. I also carry a sidehandle baton - openly. TOTALLY illegal in England (though I've never been charged with carrying offensive weapons and here's why: my accepted justification is that considering what else I'm carrying (to legitimate destinations using lawful means) I would rather kneecap the cunt who's trying to steal my firearms (and who obviously has plans for future use of said firearms including potentially causing harm to one or more people) and face the music than let them away and possibly even coldcock me with my own weapons). It's not a case of meeting force with force, it's a case of seeing and reacting to a threat by preparing *before* it becomes necessary to react. Being in such a visible state of preparedness pretty much negates any thoughts anyone might have to trying to relieve me of my luggage anyway.

  15. Re:In other news on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    no, vigilantism is not only legal, it's encouraged through pretty much any civilised culture (some call it bounty hunting, some call it neighbourhood watch). It's when you break the law doing it, when it becomes illegal.

  16. Re:RF Melting His BRAIN! on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    deadkeying a 934MHz transceiver on channel 5 at 8 Watts will kill the low GSM band for upwards of a mile.

  17. Re:Use a dash cam, not a jammer. on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    Funny you should say that, a few years ago I was pulled up at a red light at Dark O'Clock and this idiot was revving behind me. I knew the phasing of the lights and knew that nothing was moving for at least another minute, so I signalled him not to try passing. I reckon he either forgot or ignored the part of the highway code relating to cycle hand signals, because he pulled around me, rolled down his window and screamed "FUCKING IDIOT!" at me, and drove off - straight into the path of a crossing 16-ton truck.

    I must say, I had to agree with him. He was a fucking idiot.

  18. Re:Only idiots defend this guy on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    it's nowhere near 700/800MHz, it's the 934MHz GSM band (used in Europe for the TETRA radio system that piggybacks the cellular network). Very easily done with a piece of kit that's still available on the secondhand market with no modifications: a 934MHz mobile transceiver.

    (I have one, never powered it up).

  19. Re:I want one on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    I don't wear lycra pants and my trailer is too wide for cycle tracks.

    Ergo, I use the road.

    Got a problem with that? Talk to my ass, it's the only thing that gives a shit.

  20. Re:I want one on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    they're not generally hollow, most cycle helmets are hardshell coated polystyrene and designed to absorb impacts by collapsing (like the crumple zone in the average family saloon).

  21. why isn't he facing jail time? on Florida Man Faces $48k Fine For Jamming Drivers' Cellphones · · Score: 1

    AFAIR, interfering with telecommunications systems is a federal crime. Certainly in England it's in there with mail robbery and will likely get you a long holiday (they will throw away the key if they think for a second they'll get away with it).

  22. anyone ever considered on Evidence of a Correction To the Speed of Light · · Score: 1

    ...that the definition of the speed of light includes the term "in vacuo" for a reason?

    It means, literally, "in vacuum". As in, the complete absence of matter along the path. Which is impossible even in laboratory conditions, never mind out in space where deep interstellar density runs on the order of tens of atoms per cubic metre. That might not sound like much but with the quantum probability of a photon polarising and forming a pair with mass, that pair will be subject to gravitational effects (even from a dust particle). The vector is changed for the pair and therefore the photon. There is an increasing probability that on its way through a region with stellar-plus-sized masses, the photon/pair will be subjected to immense gravitational effects resulting in a lensing effect to the observer. This does NOT mean that the speed of the photon is changed - it is still travelling in a pretty constantly rare soup - only that its path is changed. Its lens-pair photons will arrive at the same time to the observer *providing they do not encounter another lens on the way* - which given an infinite universe is a definite possibility, however unlikely/unobserved within our observation sphere. Should this happen, I predict a delay between one photon path intersecting the observer and another from the same source at the same instant having passed through a lens. Could this be predicted using a single light source and two sensors: one through a glass fibre path straight to the source and another through a glass fibre path of the same material characteristics but that takes a longer and more circuitous route?

  23. Re:Which means on Evidence of a Correction To the Speed of Light · · Score: 1

    they generally operate at 2.4GHz, which is the resonant frequency of water. Yes, a leaky microwave oven will interfere with wifi and bluetooth.

  24. Re:Ellsberg got a fair trial on Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden Would Not Get a Fair Trial – and Kerry Is Wrong · · Score: 1

    how many times? There is no such thing as "British" justice. There is a Court for England and Wales, and a SEPARATE legal system and jurisdiction for Scotland, and a CONSTITUTIONAL legal system and court for Ireland.

  25. Re:Ellsberg got a fair trial on Daniel Ellsberg: Snowden Would Not Get a Fair Trial – and Kerry Is Wrong · · Score: 1

    ...until the implementation of the US Constitution, the American legal system was in fact a clone of the English legal system (there is no such thing as a "British" legal system, the Scottish legal system is slightly different and the Irish legal system is based on a single written Constitution), itself based on the Code of Alfred 870 and Magna Carta 1297. The Constitution of the United Stated is loosely based on the 1689 Bill of Rights and the 1688 Constitution. These days the American legal system is further from that of England than it has ever been (in that laws can be nullified by a simple jury decision in the US, whereas in England Parliament is Sovereign, therefore nullification is only possible by using case law to set and follow precedents - most often based on technicalities - until such time as Parliament itself changes the Law. Notable exception being the Poll Tax riots which resulted in the Poll Tax being repealed as an emergency measure, them almost immediately replaced with a more personally costly and insidious Council Tax which would have covered water rates as well had not the (PUBLICLY OWNED) Water Authority been chunked and privatised.