One of the original killer pop ups developed in WWII and used extensively in Vietnam, the "Bouncing Betty" would wait until your foot left the mine and then Pop Up(tm) to about 3 feet and blast outward in a circular pattern. Carnage ensued.
"It's as if he saw MTV for the first time and claimed "people will never listen to music the same. Children born now will never be able to listen to popular music without a moving picture accompanying it. They will have to relearn how to listen to music"."
Ok, how about "It's as if he saw talking films for the first time and claimed "people will never watch movies the same. Children born now will never be able to watch silent films without sound accompanying it. They will have to relearn how to watch silent films".
But you see, I agree with the sentiment. Kids these days are clueless about watching silent films. First of all, they actually have to know how to read. Second, they have the attention span of a gnat and couldn't be bothered to read that much just to see a film. Even foreign films with subtitles don't make it with most folks, and they at least still have all the neat sound effects left in. Saying "the forms of media they borrowed from haven't been dramatically changed." is saying we still put out lots of silent films - not last time I checked. I think Gibson has the essence of the situation pretty well scoped out.
But the problem with aircraft. . .
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Satellite Imagery
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· Score: 1
Don't forget the Thuds!
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Nuke-Lobbing
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Prop planes were hardly the only aircraft that tossed bombs to deploy them. The F-105 Thunderchief, nicknamed the "Thud", was designed to be a fighter/BOMBER delivering nuclear payloads. I was an air force grunt that worked on them in the Viet Nam era and watched a training video showing the aircraft in the strategic (nuclear) mission. It had a fire control computer that was known as the "toss bomb computer" and calculated climb angle, release point, etc. The idea was the same, run in low to the ground at mach 1.2 (the aircraft had a very low radar cross section from the front) and do a half loop and release the bomb in the arc and keep going to roll out back the way you came. Cross your fingers and hold on to your ass. Here is a picture of the delivery.
One trick I have used a few times over the years is the wrist twist. When I have a drive that is getting wonky and won't spin up I remove it and hold it in the palm of my hand with the axis of the spindle right about at the base of my palm. Grab the edges of the drive between fingers and thumb and, with a quick twist of the wrist, snap the drive around its spindle axis. It you do it quickly you can sometimes feel or hear the disk assembly move a bit inside.
This tends to get the drive past whatever dead spot is preventing the spin up - they have rarely failed to come up when I use this trick. Of course when it spins up you then quickly remove all data that has any meaning for you since if it did this once. ..
No worries about fingers stuck to the frozen drive or about condensation.
Disclaimer: Use this trick in moderation, not responsible for lost data, broken wrists/fingers, or errant "smart" bombs.
I hate to rain on your parade, but Iraq war news is not "news for geeks". It is news for armchair generals. If you want war news then tune in to CNN, or anything else for that matter. Check out the Drudge Report if you want constant updates. I come to/. to get away from the constant drone of war news, not to get more of the same
As we have just had our Larry Niven interview, might I suggest you read Lucifer's Hammer for a speculative look at post "Big Rock Hits Earth" survival scenario.
The story of the development of the atomic bomb is in many ways as much about the people as the technology. It is the story of harnessing some of the most brilliant minds of our time (ok, my time anyway) and directing them to one task. Considering the independence of most of these folks it was a task akin to herding cats.
To get a feel for two of the pivotal figures involved try reading Lawrence and Oppenheimer by Nuel Pharr Davis. Oppenheimer led the Los Alamos project to success with unswerving dedication, only to be branded "Red" years later during the McCarthy period. While he was exhonorated years later, a good portion of his later life was ruined. This was published in 1968, so I am sure some of the technical details were still classified, but if you are interested in the era it is a must read.
Slashdot Mirror
One of the original killer pop ups developed in WWII and used extensively in Vietnam, the "Bouncing Betty" would wait until your foot left the mine and then Pop Up(tm) to about 3 feet and blast outward in a circular pattern. Carnage ensued.
Learn more at How Stuff Works
"It's as if he saw MTV for the first time and claimed "people will never listen to music the same. Children born now will never be able to listen to popular music without a moving picture accompanying it. They will have to relearn how to listen to music"."
Ok, how about "It's as if he saw talking films for the first time and claimed "people will never watch movies the same. Children born now will never be able to watch silent films without sound accompanying it. They will have to relearn how to watch silent films".
But you see, I agree with the sentiment. Kids these days are clueless about watching silent films. First of all, they actually have to know how to read. Second, they have the attention span of a gnat and couldn't be bothered to read that much just to see a film. Even foreign films with subtitles don't make it with most folks, and they at least still have all the neat sound effects left in. Saying "the forms of media they borrowed from haven't been dramatically changed." is saying we still put out lots of silent films - not last time I checked. I think Gibson has the essence of the situation pretty well scoped out.
with cameras, well, ask Francis Gary Powers.
SCO may claim not to be selling Linux, but their web page says otherwise. Take a look at Buy Me!.
Yet another case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.
Would someone put up a bittorrent link please?
Thank you!
Prop planes were hardly the only aircraft that tossed bombs to deploy them. The F-105 Thunderchief, nicknamed the "Thud", was designed to be a fighter/BOMBER delivering nuclear payloads. I was an air force grunt that worked on them in the Viet Nam era and watched a training video showing the aircraft in the strategic (nuclear) mission. It had a fire control computer that was known as the "toss bomb computer" and calculated climb angle, release point, etc. The idea was the same, run in low to the ground at mach 1.2 (the aircraft had a very low radar cross section from the front) and do a half loop and release the bomb in the arc and keep going to roll out back the way you came. Cross your fingers and hold on to your ass. Here is a picture of the delivery.
over-the-shoulder
floppies with incorrect sector sizes
tracks with so much data they overwrite the first sector
a sector with a hole blasted in it with a laser
Locks are to keep honest people honest. They are obviously useless for anything else.
Spoken like someone looking for a grant!
One trick I have used a few times over the years is the wrist twist. When I have a drive that is getting wonky and won't spin up I remove it and hold it in the palm of my hand with the axis of the spindle right about at the base of my palm. Grab the edges of the drive between fingers and thumb and, with a quick twist of the wrist, snap the drive around its spindle axis. It you do it quickly you can sometimes feel or hear the disk assembly move a bit inside.
.
This tends to get the drive past whatever dead spot is preventing the spin up - they have rarely failed to come up when I use this trick. Of course when it spins up you then quickly remove all data that has any meaning for you since if it did this once. .
No worries about fingers stuck to the frozen drive or about condensation.
Disclaimer:
Use this trick in moderation, not responsible for lost data, broken wrists/fingers, or errant "smart" bombs.
I hate to rain on your parade, but Iraq war news is not "news for geeks". It is news for armchair generals. If you want war news then tune in to CNN, or anything else for that matter. Check out the Drudge Report if you want constant updates. I come to /. to get away from the constant drone of war news, not to get more of the same
As we have just had our Larry Niven interview, might I suggest you read Lucifer's Hammer for a speculative look at post "Big Rock Hits Earth" survival scenario.
Sort of like these guys did/ 8135.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive
They "took in" a lot of investors, now their web site is gone and so is the money.
The story of the development of the atomic bomb is in many ways as much about the people as the technology. It is the story of harnessing some of the most brilliant minds of our time (ok, my time anyway) and directing them to one task. Considering the independence of most of these folks it was a task akin to herding cats.
To get a feel for two of the pivotal figures involved try reading Lawrence and Oppenheimer by Nuel Pharr Davis . Oppenheimer led the Los Alamos project to success with unswerving dedication, only to be branded "Red" years later during the McCarthy period. While he was exhonorated years later, a good portion of his later life was ruined. This was published in 1968, so I am sure some of the technical details were still classified, but if you are interested in the era it is a must read.