the fact that a "one-in-a-million miracle" will statistically occur 280 times a day in the U.S.
It is quite plausible to argue that the chance of at least one conspiracy theories being true is also quite high. I mean... It just boils down to which ones, right?
Some of this crap *has* came true, btw. the US government has denied any base in "area 51" for about as long as it existed. until more photos showed up. and russia shot down an U-2, and F117 was unveild to be designed there, etc. the only difference is that by this day and age, "area 51" is no longer considered a conspiracy.
so... the truth is still out there. just have to believe in the right one (or two) and filter out the other million or so...
Come on -- I can be twice the rocket-scientist he is, given enough dough. It's not the smarts that needs to be spread around (I would wager that many/.ers are capable of exactly what Carmack is doing, if not more), it's rather the tens of millions of disposable income that he has but we do not that's keeping us from similar (possibly - make that undoubtedly - better rocket projects)
for most of us -- by the time we have a tenth of that amount of money, we will have kids, family, and retirement to think about. Time, energy, and ambition all have gone down -- when you are worried about your teenage children and the abundance of E in raves, spare-time rocket-building take a backseat. Young + have money for an expensive hobby does not make you a good rocket-scientist by any means (even though i admire his spirit and all)
One thing I want to say is that there are theory abound that important discoveries are always discoverable within a relatively short timeframe of eachother. IIRC the phenomenon is called the critical mass of knowledge or somesuch.
It basically says that when the society (body of knowledge) reaches a certain point -- *IF* one body does not discover this thing, another surely will within a short time. This example is beautifully illustrated with Bell and his telephone -- the fact that two inventors, almost simultaneously thought up the idea.
Some sociologists argue that this is true for even important discoveries -- i.e. if Eienstein really did become a clockmaker, somebody else would probabbly still thought up the theory of relativity anyway. now - admittantly, there is no way to prove this for obvious reasons. However there are compelling reasons to believe this is a phenomenon that does occur in our world (Bell's phone is not the only one. I can't come up with any other solid examples right now -- cuz its Sat morning -- but if you look through the history of science, this actually happens quite a bit).
It is possible that it is due to the speed at which science is advancing today. science advance fast = new discovery are made in short time between eachother. and since often these things need to be found consecutively (tech-tree style), it almost guarantees the *necessity* of a certain technology's discovery at a certain time.
A ancedotal evidence that would prove interesting, just for fun -- is that China had paper money (paper in general!) / printing / fireworks long before europe; somewhat refuting this theory but also may indicate that it does not work so well for societies that are completely different and far apart with no communication. but it is very possible that paper making, say, arrived in two ancient china-man/woman's head within a couple years of eachother.
how does this apply to the ask-slashdot in question? well if it is not obvious by now -- it means that you might as well just release it now before Dr. Evil's scientists find out about it. (or, use it to take over the world yourself. whatever)
AFAIK NiCad still is able to push more current and live to tell about it. besides, well manufactured NiCad (that's well maintained, not overcharged, mind you) would actually suffer very little (if any) from memory effect -- which is why most people "switched" anyway. That's why most RC cars still use those "old" 7.2V NiCad batteries -- cuz the motor and its 5A (something around there, IIRC from the modelling days) would kill a LiIon).
really huh? is it *that* much a problem to use cash?
with a toll transponder you have to slow down to like 5mph *anyway*, not like certain (fairly old) VW commercial showing somebody in a passat zooming by at 40.
cash is not going away anytime soon -- there are always people from out-of state who have no transponders, and then there are trucks with multi-axles etc.
i would see that as a much more permanent solution than "put it in the glove box" whatever. in the end -- which one gives you less trouble? taking the transponder out from the passenger side every time you pass a toll, and worry about privacy issues, or simply take out your wallet when you pass a toll?
Power4 has *huge* cooling requirements, despite being copper-interconnect and all that. (it also has something like 5800 pins, btw, drawing somewhere in the range of 100A worth of current, IIRC) -- I wonder how much cooling needs to be for the 64-bit power PC if they are based on the Power4 design?
the site is slashdotted -- but i have to wonder, how many femto-second is the burst exactly?
reason being: light travels ~30cm / ns (nano-sec) (about 12 inches) so each pico second it travels something like 0.3mm and each femto second, well,.3um (micro-meter)
it is not hard to point out that all the energy in cutting away your tooth is concentrated in a span of space a few microns long. talk about power-density!!
i know it's pointing out the obvious. but it's pretty cool so i had to muse.
Well -- AFAIK, there has not been much research dedicated to "bring back life to cyrogenically frozen heads".
All the while, the heads are getting more and more expensive to keep around, and if they were ever brought back to life, I would imagine there would be some serious bill left to pay. (like Valentine from Cowboy Bebop)
However, It is probabbly more interesting to note that this honestly is not much different than people of the ancient times burying their bodies in particular ways, adorned with jewery, in the hope of another life to come. Our case it has simply shifted the hope from a mysterious entity or belief in a higher order of the universe to ourselves and our competence in shaping the future.
All the while, maybe after several million years, future archeologists will come, find a head in a vat, and muse over the silly-ness of the past.
p.s. they should shoot the vats into space. natually cold, and probabbly survive much longer if the world was to end in our own hands. I am certain when WW3 rolls around, the last thing on people's minds is to keep some silly dude's head preserved in liquid N2
Now-a-days CMV (chemical vapor deposition) of carbon is so advanced that you can get milimeters worth of diamond within hours.
diamond have probabbly the best thermal conductivity known to man, so if you CMV a diamond layer on the chip and use that for interfacing to a copper heatsink, i would think that it would be a better idea than putting small sprayers.
liquid will vaporize and get recollected -- but it also have the problem of 1) depositing crap when it's vaporizing 2) possible diminishment of the resevior throughout the system's lifetime. i would hate to have to replace anything like this -- since they recommend direct access to the die's surface!
any impurities in the liquid can spell certain death.
Lastly, i do not foresee this being much cheaper that artificial diamond heat-interface. especially if this is done on a large scale -- it would have the side-benefit of really cheap diamonds for everything from lenses (scratch free! never breaks! ultra-light!) to screwdriver tips, etc etc.
Warning: This *IS* far-fetched, but ALS is not a common illness, and uncommon illness would require extra-ordinary solutions as well.
premise: the motor skill will dwindle from even today, to un-measureabe values in the future. i suspect this will eventually affect her ability to press buttons, let alone speak / make noise, maybe even move her eyes.
the only solution left, then is:
1) the easy way out: hire a nurse. i mean... really now. taking care of an ALS patient is not something just one husband is capable of.
2) the geeky way. wire up a brain signal detector that she would wear at night, or, if you can tune a *really* sensitive antenna, it can be mounted at the top of the bed. while her motor skill is not completely gone, let her train to think of a pattern and allow the computer to capture this data, match it, and sound an alarm / buzz / cattle prod connected to the husband's you-know-what (if he is a heavy sleeper).
this will probabbly work better than "low pressure buttons" and what not. reliability may become an issue, but if programmed correctly it should be sufficiently reliable that it's not a big problem.
p.s. an easier version of this is a blood pressure detector -- when people want something (her to wake up her husband) and cannot get it, the blood pressure inevitably rises, and that pattern too can be used to trip a switch.
there will be false alarms, though... REM sleep is quite full of challenges. but hey, if you can't / don't want to hire a nurse, and she can't do nothing...
last point. camera (infrared, prefabbly) can be connected to look at her eyes. alarm only trips if they are open. (or trip an alarm if she blinks a certain pattern, whatever. but our premesis is that she can't do much of that either... so...
the possibilities are out there. just gotta find 'em
the next time i go with gf in to the wild to have a romantic weekend when noone is looking... it may not be so simple anymore. damn your FAA! i want my freedom of...... back!
sorry to be replying to myself -- but anyway -- thanks for everyone who points out that yes, indeed, there is a link in the article.
but on the other hand, i know i will never have enough dough for this gun -- so gosh darnit i want to see a review of it! is that too much to ask for? an analogy would be car magazines talking about Porsches and Lambos... damn sexy and un-affordable, but still a good read and a good drool.
just two gripes 1) as far as i know, Lib still contairs *much* more information than
a) the web
b) whatever online lib you can come up with
c) e-book collections
2) now your library is limited to the number of workstations -- "sorry bud, i know you have an exam tomorrow, but we are simply out of workstations right now"
* note to (2) i know a bunch of you will immediately attempt to point out that you can access this stuff at home -- but most propriatory acedemic stuff is quite copyrighted, and you need to be at the lib to access them, even today. (journal databases, a lot of e-books, for example)
3) have anyone ever tried to read a map on a computer screen? it's rediculous how much time you waste on zoom unzoom pan-left pan-right. instead, in the dead-tree version, all the info is right there. you get your high-res view in one fell swoop. same goes with a lot of other big-sheet stuff. why do you think we have plotters for the archetechture kiddiez? sure -- autoCAD makes it easy to *draw* the building, but it's on huge blueprint paper when it really makes sense.
4) iPaq aside -- i would not want to stare at screens all day. it is
a) bad for your eyes
b) i can't study in bed, or on the toilet (cenveniently) -- and we all know men't greatest enlightments are achieved on the throne. (like the FluxCapacitor)
c) iPaq has shitty resolution for any research i want to do; hell, QXGA screen? wtf? i am using dual UXGA and *still* need more desktop space.
I too thought about the paraphelia and the 3 monitor thing... thought it was pretty cool and definitely could use it -- but that's until i realized that it only goes up to 1280.1024 on each of the monitors.
i am assuming you use 20/21 inch monitors, and 1280 just seem wasteful on a 21 inch. 2x1600.1200 gives the same pixel count, without giving you as much clutter on the desktop (3 monitors).
so if i eventually gets enough $$ for the 3 monitors, i will probabbly get a good card for primary (so still *can* game) and then two pci cards (they are still around, somewhat) for the other two, so i can drive the resolution to full on each monitor.
just some thoughts i collected during my search for the perfect desktop.
Since then i've had to renew my drivers license three times.
for about three minutes i sat wondering: who the fuck do you buy your hardware from that actually *license* their drivers, and requires you to *renew* them? I didn't know Microsoft started manufacturing important PC components...
then it hit me.
sigh... goes to show that friday evenings are best spent away from the computer for best results.
1) modern armor is *quite* capable of stopping inert projectiles. see here about M1A1/2 op notes:
excerpt: Protection -- According to the Army report, 8 Abrams crews reported being hit by fire from the Iraqi T-72 , but there was no damage. Later reports claimed that 100-mm rounds fired by T-55 tanks simply glanced off. 125-mm rounds from the T-72 dented the M1A1's armor, but did not penetrate. Of the over 1,950 M1s and M1A1 tanks in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO), only four suffered catastrophic damage and four were damaged but repairable, the Army report stated. Later analysis revealed that of the four that caught fire, three were hit erroneously by US AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. No crewmen were injured because the bustle doors and blow- off panels worked as designed to vent the explosions upward.
please note that US army post a more serious threat to itself than any enemy shells, due to the advances in armor technology
2) a tracked tank makes an easy (easier) target because you have *zero* lateral movement. a tank's position can be predicted with reasonable accuracy and simplicity. add side-back movement, however, aiming becomes much more of a pain in the ass. that's why you run zig-zag to lessen your chance of being hit by bullets (if you are a lowly infantry unit).
3) one other reason for legs is the ability (i am not sure on this as per the current state of technology, but hopefully this is something they would strive for) -- sudden and fast acceleration. the time for you (as a person) to run, stop, hop sideways, etc is minimal compared to if you wan to do similar things with the best of tanks. hence making the dodges (if you are concerned about those still) possible.
i firmly believe that legged battle vehicles will be the future; i could be wrong, of course. but in my view there are simply too many benefits to pass up by sticking with current sort of technology.
1) if you rip the belt / track with a mine, etc; a conventional tank is out of service. i assume a military version of a walker can walk with 4 or 5 out of the six legs, albeit slower, etc
2) there are "armored" creatures in nature too where the legs are not exposed. think armadillo for example
3) same goes for humans as to the "attack on the weak joint". that's why there are such things as ARMOR. hell, take a look at a medieval knight and how every joint they have are armored.
lastly, with *enough* manuverability you no longer even have to worry about being hit (as much), because you can a) dodge the damn shells (lateral movement) b) get to them before they get to you (terrain adaptability advantage) c) get to a place where they can't get to you or where you would have a significant tactical advantage (climb a steep hill / up side of a building, etc)
further indication that DMCA does not hold water
on
HP Backs Off DMCA Threat
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
let's see here:
Vivendi sues bnet.d, originally was under DMCA, but filed under traditional copyright;
HP threatens under DMCA, but backs down.
i think companies *know* that if the DMCA gets taken to court, it will die and we will all live free, so they don't want to risk it. which, incidentally, means that we should try to as much as possible (within reason)
would probabbly look a lot like the "tank" in [Ghost in the Shell]. which would make sense, IMO, because the manuverability would be *so* superior to track-driven tanks.
well, with a couple decades of engineering work to make it move faster and more adaptable, anyway.
at the mean time, i want to see a consumer version for *real* off-roading. and the crane thing can be used to grab hot women out of their convertables while dozing around downtown LA.
Slashdot Mirror
It is quite plausible to argue that the chance of at least one conspiracy theories being true is also quite high. I mean... It just boils down to which ones, right?
Some of this crap *has* came true, btw. the US government has denied any base in "area 51" for about as long as it existed. until more photos showed up. and russia shot down an U-2, and F117 was unveild to be designed there, etc. the only difference is that by this day and age, "area 51" is no longer considered a conspiracy.
so... the truth is still out there. just have to believe in the right one (or two) and filter out the other million or so...
Come on -- I can be twice the rocket-scientist he is, given enough dough. It's not the smarts that needs to be spread around (I would wager that many /.ers are capable of exactly what Carmack is doing, if not more), it's rather the tens of millions of disposable income that he has but we do not that's keeping us from similar (possibly - make that undoubtedly - better rocket projects)
for most of us -- by the time we have a tenth of that amount of money, we will have kids, family, and retirement to think about. Time, energy, and ambition all have gone down -- when you are worried about your teenage children and the abundance of E in raves, spare-time rocket-building take a backseat. Young + have money for an expensive hobby does not make you a good rocket-scientist by any means (even though i admire his spirit and all)
It really makes me feel fuzzy as hell when I think about where my hard-earned tax dollars are going to.
really fuzzy.
first of all -- nice question.
One thing I want to say is that there are theory abound that important discoveries are always discoverable within a relatively short timeframe of eachother. IIRC the phenomenon is called the critical mass of knowledge or somesuch.
It basically says that when the society (body of knowledge) reaches a certain point -- *IF* one body does not discover this thing, another surely will within a short time. This example is beautifully illustrated with Bell and his telephone -- the fact that two inventors, almost simultaneously thought up the idea.
Some sociologists argue that this is true for even important discoveries -- i.e. if Eienstein really did become a clockmaker, somebody else would probabbly still thought up the theory of relativity anyway. now - admittantly, there is no way to prove this for obvious reasons. However there are compelling reasons to believe this is a phenomenon that does occur in our world (Bell's phone is not the only one. I can't come up with any other solid examples right now -- cuz its Sat morning -- but if you look through the history of science, this actually happens quite a bit).
It is possible that it is due to the speed at which science is advancing today. science advance fast = new discovery are made in short time between eachother. and since often these things need to be found consecutively (tech-tree style), it almost guarantees the *necessity* of a certain technology's discovery at a certain time.
A ancedotal evidence that would prove interesting, just for fun -- is that China had paper money (paper in general!) / printing / fireworks long before europe; somewhat refuting this theory but also may indicate that it does not work so well for societies that are completely different and far apart with no communication. but it is very possible that paper making, say, arrived in two ancient china-man/woman's head within a couple years of eachother.
how does this apply to the ask-slashdot in question? well if it is not obvious by now -- it means that you might as well just release it now before Dr. Evil's scientists find out about it. (or, use it to take over the world yourself. whatever)
AFAIK NiCad still is able to push more current and live to tell about it. besides, well manufactured NiCad (that's well maintained, not overcharged, mind you) would actually suffer very little (if any) from memory effect -- which is why most people "switched" anyway. That's why most RC cars still use those "old" 7.2V NiCad batteries -- cuz the motor and its 5A (something around there, IIRC from the modelling days) would kill a LiIon).
erm... well, again, AFAIK.
more importantly -- it needs re-chargin' every 5 minutes or so.
really huh? is it *that* much a problem to use cash?
with a toll transponder you have to slow down to like 5mph *anyway*, not like certain (fairly old) VW commercial showing somebody in a passat zooming by at 40.
cash is not going away anytime soon -- there are always people from out-of state who have no transponders, and then there are trucks with multi-axles etc.
i would see that as a much more permanent solution than "put it in the glove box" whatever. in the end -- which one gives you less trouble? taking the transponder out from the passenger side every time you pass a toll, and worry about privacy issues, or simply take out your wallet when you pass a toll?
Power4 has *huge* cooling requirements, despite being copper-interconnect and all that. (it also has something like 5800 pins, btw, drawing somewhere in the range of 100A worth of current, IIRC) -- I wonder how much cooling needs to be for the 64-bit power PC if they are based on the Power4 design?
the site is slashdotted -- but i have to wonder, how many femto-second is the burst exactly?
.3um (micro-meter)
reason being:
light travels ~30cm / ns (nano-sec) (about 12 inches)
so each pico second it travels something like 0.3mm
and each femto second, well,
it is not hard to point out that all the energy in cutting away your tooth is concentrated in a span of space a few microns long.
talk about power-density!!
i know it's pointing out the obvious. but it's pretty cool so i had to muse.
Well -- AFAIK, there has not been much research dedicated to "bring back life to cyrogenically frozen heads".
All the while, the heads are getting more and more expensive to keep around, and if they were ever brought back to life, I would imagine there would be some serious bill left to pay. (like Valentine from Cowboy Bebop)
However, It is probabbly more interesting to note that this honestly is not much different than people of the ancient times burying their bodies in particular ways, adorned with jewery, in the hope of another life to come. Our case it has simply shifted the hope from a mysterious entity or belief in a higher order of the universe to ourselves and our competence in shaping the future.
All the while, maybe after several million years, future archeologists will come, find a head in a vat, and muse over the silly-ness of the past.
p.s. they should shoot the vats into space. natually cold, and probabbly survive much longer if the world was to end in our own hands. I am certain when WW3 rolls around, the last thing on people's minds is to keep some silly dude's head preserved in liquid N2
Now-a-days CMV (chemical vapor deposition) of carbon is so advanced that you can get milimeters worth of diamond within hours.
diamond have probabbly the best thermal conductivity known to man, so if you CMV a diamond layer on the chip and use that for interfacing to a copper heatsink, i would think that it would be a better idea than putting small sprayers.
liquid will vaporize and get recollected -- but it also have the problem of
1) depositing crap when it's vaporizing
2) possible diminishment of the resevior throughout the system's lifetime. i would hate to have to replace anything like this -- since they recommend direct access to the die's surface!
any impurities in the liquid can spell certain death.
Lastly, i do not foresee this being much cheaper that artificial diamond heat-interface. especially if this is done on a large scale -- it would have the side-benefit of really cheap diamonds for everything from lenses (scratch free! never breaks! ultra-light!) to screwdriver tips, etc etc.
Warning: This *IS* far-fetched, but ALS is not a common illness, and uncommon illness would require extra-ordinary solutions as well.
premise: the motor skill will dwindle from even today, to un-measureabe values in the future. i suspect this will eventually affect her ability to press buttons, let alone speak / make noise, maybe even move her eyes.
the only solution left, then is:
1) the easy way out: hire a nurse. i mean... really now. taking care of an ALS patient is not something just one husband is capable of.
2) the geeky way. wire up a brain signal detector that she would wear at night, or, if you can tune a *really* sensitive antenna, it can be mounted at the top of the bed. while her motor skill is not completely gone, let her train to think of a pattern and allow the computer to capture this data, match it, and sound an alarm / buzz / cattle prod connected to the husband's you-know-what (if he is a heavy sleeper).
this will probabbly work better than "low pressure buttons" and what not. reliability may become an issue, but if programmed correctly it should be sufficiently reliable that it's not a big problem.
p.s. an easier version of this is a blood pressure detector -- when people want something (her to wake up her husband) and cannot get it, the blood pressure inevitably rises, and that pattern too can be used to trip a switch.
there will be false alarms, though... REM sleep is quite full of challenges. but hey, if you can't / don't want to hire a nurse, and she can't do nothing...
last point. camera (infrared, prefabbly) can be connected to look at her eyes. alarm only trips if they are open. (or trip an alarm if she blinks a certain pattern, whatever. but our premesis is that she can't do much of that either... so...
the possibilities are out there. just gotta find 'em
the next time i go with gf in to the wild to have a romantic weekend when noone is looking... it may not be so simple anymore. damn your FAA! i want my freedom of ... ... back!
sorry to be replying to myself -- but anyway -- thanks for everyone who points out that yes, indeed, there is a link in the article.
but on the other hand, i know i will never have enough dough for this gun -- so gosh darnit i want to see a review of it! is that too much to ask for? an analogy would be car magazines talking about Porsches and Lambos... damn sexy and un-affordable, but still a good read and a good drool.
like this?
just two gripes
1) as far as i know, Lib still contairs *much* more information than
a) the web
b) whatever online lib you can come up with
c) e-book collections
2) now your library is limited to the number of workstations -- "sorry bud, i know you have an exam tomorrow, but we are simply out of workstations right now"
* note to (2) i know a bunch of you will immediately attempt to point out that you can access this stuff at home -- but most propriatory acedemic stuff is quite copyrighted, and you need to be at the lib to access them, even today. (journal databases, a lot of e-books, for example)
3) have anyone ever tried to read a map on a computer screen? it's rediculous how much time you waste on zoom unzoom pan-left pan-right. instead, in the dead-tree version, all the info is right there. you get your high-res view in one fell swoop. same goes with a lot of other big-sheet stuff. why do you think we have plotters for the archetechture kiddiez? sure -- autoCAD makes it easy to *draw* the building, but it's on huge blueprint paper when it really makes sense.
4) iPaq aside -- i would not want to stare at screens all day. it is
a) bad for your eyes
b) i can't study in bed, or on the toilet (cenveniently) -- and we all know men't greatest enlightments are achieved on the throne. (like the FluxCapacitor)
c) iPaq has shitty resolution for any research i want to do; hell, QXGA screen? wtf? i am using dual UXGA and *still* need more desktop space.
5) i lied about the two gripes thing
I too thought about the paraphelia and the 3 monitor thing... thought it was pretty cool and definitely could use it -- but that's until i realized that it only goes up to 1280.1024 on each of the monitors.
i am assuming you use 20/21 inch monitors, and 1280 just seem wasteful on a 21 inch. 2x1600.1200 gives the same pixel count, without giving you as much clutter on the desktop (3 monitors).
so if i eventually gets enough $$ for the 3 monitors, i will probabbly get a good card for primary (so still *can* game) and then two pci cards (they are still around, somewhat) for the other two, so i can drive the resolution to full on each monitor.
just some thoughts i collected during my search for the perfect desktop.
sigh... what a man go through to get high quality Pr0n.
for about three minutes i sat wondering: who the fuck do you buy your hardware from that actually *license* their drivers, and requires you to *renew* them? I didn't know Microsoft started manufacturing important PC components...
then it hit me.
sigh... goes to show that friday evenings are best spent away from the computer for best results.
there has *got* to be some vibe going on here.
maybe i should apply for a cameo in star wars 3.
maybe even score something with Natalie Portman...
(yeah i know, very off topic but just *had* to... sorry ladies)
excerpt:
Protection -- According to the Army report, 8 Abrams crews reported being hit by fire from the Iraqi T-72 , but there was no damage. Later reports claimed that 100-mm rounds fired by T-55 tanks simply glanced off. 125-mm rounds from the T-72 dented the M1A1's armor, but did not penetrate. Of the over 1,950 M1s and M1A1 tanks in the Kuwaiti Theater of Operations (KTO), only four suffered catastrophic damage and four were damaged but repairable, the Army report stated. Later analysis revealed that of the four that caught fire, three were hit erroneously by US AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. No crewmen were injured because the bustle doors and blow- off panels worked as designed to vent the explosions upward.
please note that US army post a more serious threat to itself than any enemy shells, due to the advances in armor technology
2) a tracked tank makes an easy (easier) target because you have *zero* lateral movement. a tank's position can be predicted with reasonable accuracy and simplicity. add side-back movement, however, aiming becomes much more of a pain in the ass. that's why you run zig-zag to lessen your chance of being hit by bullets (if you are a lowly infantry unit).
3) one other reason for legs is the ability (i am not sure on this as per the current state of technology, but hopefully this is something they would strive for) -- sudden and fast acceleration. the time for you (as a person) to run, stop, hop sideways, etc is minimal compared to if you wan to do similar things with the best of tanks. hence making the dodges (if you are concerned about those still) possible.
i firmly believe that legged battle vehicles will be the future; i could be wrong, of course. but in my view there are simply too many benefits to pass up by sticking with current sort of technology.
hmm... you know...
1) if you rip the belt / track with a mine, etc; a conventional tank is out of service. i assume a military version of a walker can walk with 4 or 5 out of the six legs, albeit slower, etc
2) there are "armored" creatures in nature too where the legs are not exposed. think armadillo for example
3) same goes for humans as to the "attack on the weak joint". that's why there are such things as ARMOR. hell, take a look at a medieval knight and how every joint they have are armored.
lastly, with *enough* manuverability you no longer even have to worry about being hit (as much), because you can
a) dodge the damn shells (lateral movement)
b) get to them before they get to you (terrain adaptability advantage)
c) get to a place where they can't get to you or where you would have a significant tactical advantage (climb a steep hill / up side of a building, etc)
let's see here:
Vivendi sues bnet.d, originally was under DMCA, but filed under traditional copyright;
HP threatens under DMCA, but backs down.
i think companies *know* that if the DMCA gets taken to court, it will die and we will all live free, so they don't want to risk it. which, incidentally, means that we should try to as much as possible (within reason)
would probabbly look a lot like the "tank" in [Ghost in the Shell]. which would make sense, IMO, because the manuverability would be *so* superior to track-driven tanks.
well, with a couple decades of engineering work to make it move faster and more adaptable, anyway.
at the mean time, i want to see a consumer version for *real* off-roading. and the crane thing can be used to grab hot women out of their convertables while dozing around downtown LA.
I mean... Yeah sure there are interesting twists, but they are just *TWISTS* from the same genre, not really anything innovative.