The British have been using remote control bomb disposal "robots" since 1972 (more like a giant tracked RC car with an assortment of tools). Of course this was due to the situation in Northern Ireland and the high number of bombs there.
The US suffered less from terrorist threats during this period so there was not such a need - as far as bean counters are concerned that is - go tell that to the poor guy who has to decide which wire to cut.
Some details about the British "Wheel Barrow" machine in the link below (sorry no pictures). Check out the rest of the article too.
"Also, you have to consider that gaming and movies are different mediums, with their own strengths and weaknesses. The fact that Spielberg is good at one form of creative endeavor does not mean that he is automatically good at another."
For evidence of this you only need to look at Chris Roberts and his Wing Commander movie:
The games became more and more film like (although the game play didn't really improve that much). The film was really a major disappointment while the original game was pretty ground breaking.
It really comes down to the differences in the media - movies are about telling a story, games are about living that story. We also get bored if a movie is more than 90 minutes and annoyed if we can complete a game in less than a weekend. If Speilberg can make a great game then cool, I'll be happy but I certainly wouldn't take it for granted that he can.
Rather than having to declare all encryption keys at the point of creation. This proposed legislation is likely to require someone to provide the information on request (as part of an investigation or random check maybe?). Refusal to do so would then be considered a criminal act.
What governments say they want and what they can actually achieve with existing technology/manpower are usually quite different.
The UK Government like many others asks for more than it thinks it will get when proposing legislation then "compromises" and the people don't feel so bad about losing their rights. In democracies your rights are lost in installments rather than all at once like in dictatorships.
Yep, Lucas will sell this edition on DVD to wring some more money from us before HD-DVD/Blu Ray take hold. Then "only ever" release the updated versions on HD/BR - until that income stream starts to dry up of course, then the unedited HD version... You all know the rest.
Go in to any home depot, drug store or school chemistry lab and you can get chemicals that do nasty things when they react together. When in their seperate forms it is not a question of possession that is illegal but one of intent (much harder to prove of course).
Virtually any technology can be used for an undesirable purpose. The government would more likely prevent the public use of this technology to stop people getting cheap diesel and evading fuel taxes.
Terrorists are resourceful and will find a method of causing destruction (hijacking planes did not require explosives). We always need to think seriously before restricting liberties to avoid "terror" because those liberties will be much harder to restore once the danger has passed.
"What results is not only a tiny stream of 100 percent biodiesel fuel, but also glycerin, the latter having uses in making soaps and even fossil fuel-free plastics."
Now just add the glycerin to a couple of acids in the correct quantities and BOOM! (Actual details not supplied for pretty obvious reasons!)
In other news... dinosaurs successfully cloned from 65 million year old DNA strands and rapidly mutating alien virus found on returning satellite are both good works of fiction.
"No, it is not a religious war. Wars are never about religion, religion is just a tool used to motivate people to fight."
We are looking at this from a western perspective where church and state are seperate and where our whole society is not based on religion (laws, dress codes, etc). Western leaders may have used religion as a motivating factor in past wars to cover true motives but to many Islamic people religion is the ONLY factor in whatever they do.
An RPG is unlikely to take a modern tank down (unless it gets an exceptionally lucky hit), although it could imobilize it if it makes the tank shed a track. But against lightly armoured or soft targets such as trucks, humvees, etc they can be very nasty. This is why the RPG is ideally suited for insurgency hit and run style use rather than a modern battlefield stand up fight where tanks are more numerous.
If this tech can be "scaled down" to work with less protected vehicles then it will really save lives.
A reflective surface may be beneficial defence against a laser like you say but this would still be heated and the weapon is designed to create heat rather than punch a hole. A better solution would be some form of thermal insulation on the missiles like the tiles on the shuttle, but this could make the missiles heavier and need a greater fuel load.
Obviously the plane is flown at an altitude much greater than sea level as of course is the missile (as we are talking ICBM rather than cruise) so line of sight becomes possible over much greater distances - half a world away? Probably not but possibly several thousand miles away. This is necessary if the weapon as stated is used to heat the target's fuel to cause it to explode - beyond a certain part of the flight the missile will no longer contain fuel, more than that if it has multiple warheads these will disperse to their respective targets. So ideally interception must occur whilst the missile is gaining altitude (hence still a long distance from the intended target).
There are of course focusing issues resulting from particles in the atmosphere, clouds, etc.
This is where Global Dimming theory comes in. It states basically that airbourne particles have decreased the amount of light getting through the atmosphere (hence dimming) but that this has been offset by and has masked the problem of global warming.
So if this theory holds true, global warming is much worse than we think and we're in real trouble already. Sobering thought - for once I really hope that the science is plain wrong.
In the UK the later GTA games carry an "18 Certificate", this is not just a recommended guideline but carries legal weight so if a store sells them to a minor they can be prosecuted.
But this seldom happens, the link below shows that last year there were only 11 prosecutions and I do not believe that this is because selling 18 rated games to kids does not happen.
"If it's distributed for free on FreeNet, that means fewer and fewer people paying for it"
And that's a good thing? The best way to get a prosecution is if someone IS paying to view/download. If they have to key in their credit card details and make a payment they can no longer use the excuse that they were directed to the site in error.
Let's face it, no one ever reads EULAs just like no guy will ever read the assembly instructions of furniture or how to program the VCR/DVR/TIVO, it is just a fact! Bearing this in mind has anyone ever used this as a defence against a EULA in court? - Namely that it is unreasonable to expect any non-legally trained individual to read and accept an EULA. In fact anything where I have to scroll beyond the bottom of the first page usually loses me!
I guess that this would be called the Homer Simpson defence?
Wouldn't wash with judges I know but it would just show that they don't live on the same plane of existence as the rest of us.
Slashdot Mirror
The British have been using remote control bomb disposal "robots" since 1972 (more like a giant tracked RC car with an assortment of tools). Of course this was due to the situation in Northern Ireland and the high number of bombs there.
y .html
The US suffered less from terrorist threats during this period so there was not such a need - as far as bean counters are concerned that is - go tell that to the poor guy who has to decide which wire to cut.
Some details about the British "Wheel Barrow" machine in the link below (sorry no pictures). Check out the rest of the article too.
http://www.nlectc.org/jpsg/robotassessment/histor
"Also, you have to consider that gaming and movies are different mediums, with their own strengths and weaknesses. The fact that Spielberg is good at one form of creative endeavor does not mean that he is automatically good at another."
For evidence of this you only need to look at Chris Roberts and his Wing Commander movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131646/
The games became more and more film like (although the game play didn't really improve that much). The film was really a major disappointment while the original game was pretty ground breaking.
It really comes down to the differences in the media - movies are about telling a story, games are about living that story. We also get bored if a movie is more than 90 minutes and annoyed if we can complete a game in less than a weekend. If Speilberg can make a great game then cool, I'll be happy but I certainly wouldn't take it for granted that he can.
Bugs in hardware? At least hardware is now catching up with most software. Oh wait... THAT type of bug.
Rather than having to declare all encryption keys at the point of creation. This proposed legislation is likely to require someone to provide the information on request (as part of an investigation or random check maybe?). Refusal to do so would then be considered a criminal act.
What governments say they want and what they can actually achieve with existing technology/manpower are usually quite different.
The UK Government like many others asks for more than it thinks it will get when proposing legislation then "compromises" and the people don't feel so bad about losing their rights. In democracies your rights are lost in installments rather than all at once like in dictatorships.
Hmmm, so Sony make a "backup" copy of media that they own and broadcast it in public. Legal precedent here? Is there a lawyer in the house? :-)
Yep, Lucas will sell this edition on DVD to wring some more money from us before HD-DVD/Blu Ray take hold. Then "only ever" release the updated versions on HD/BR - until that income stream starts to dry up of course, then the unedited HD version... You all know the rest.
"For example, how are people going to react when Star Trek 11 is announced?"
Wasn't that the Wrath of Khan? Oh I see 11 NOT II.
KHaaaaaannnn!!! - sorry just had to.
"What kind of seats are you gonna get for that cash?!"
The toilet seat from the space shuttle? - They both take the piss.
Isn't this story 19 days late?
Go in to any home depot, drug store or school chemistry lab and you can get chemicals that do nasty things when they react together. When in their seperate forms it is not a question of possession that is illegal but one of intent (much harder to prove of course).
Virtually any technology can be used for an undesirable purpose. The government would more likely prevent the public use of this technology to stop people getting cheap diesel and evading fuel taxes.
Terrorists are resourceful and will find a method of causing destruction (hijacking planes did not require explosives). We always need to think seriously before restricting liberties to avoid "terror" because those liberties will be much harder to restore once the danger has passed.
"What results is not only a tiny stream of 100 percent biodiesel fuel, but also glycerin, the latter having uses in making soaps and even fossil fuel-free plastics."
Now just add the glycerin to a couple of acids in the correct quantities and BOOM! (Actual details not supplied for pretty obvious reasons!)
In other news... dinosaurs successfully cloned from 65 million year old DNA strands and rapidly mutating alien virus found on returning satellite are both good works of fiction.
"No, it is not a religious war. Wars are never about religion, religion is just a tool used to motivate people to fight."
We are looking at this from a western perspective where church and state are seperate and where our whole society is not based on religion (laws, dress codes, etc). Western leaders may have used religion as a motivating factor in past wars to cover true motives but to many Islamic people religion is the ONLY factor in whatever they do.
An RPG is unlikely to take a modern tank down (unless it gets an exceptionally lucky hit), although it could imobilize it if it makes the tank shed a track. But against lightly armoured or soft targets such as trucks, humvees, etc they can be very nasty. This is why the RPG is ideally suited for insurgency hit and run style use rather than a modern battlefield stand up fight where tanks are more numerous.
If this tech can be "scaled down" to work with less protected vehicles then it will really save lives.
He'll probably live a boring and uneventful life and then end up craving the attention that he once had.
(Although I hope that is not the case)
A reflective surface may be beneficial defence against a laser like you say but this would still be heated and the weapon is designed to create heat rather than punch a hole. A better solution would be some form of thermal insulation on the missiles like the tiles on the shuttle, but this could make the missiles heavier and need a greater fuel load.
Obviously the plane is flown at an altitude much greater than sea level as of course is the missile (as we are talking ICBM rather than cruise) so line of sight becomes possible over much greater distances - half a world away? Probably not but possibly several thousand miles away. This is necessary if the weapon as stated is used to heat the target's fuel to cause it to explode - beyond a certain part of the flight the missile will no longer contain fuel, more than that if it has multiple warheads these will disperse to their respective targets. So ideally interception must occur whilst the missile is gaining altitude (hence still a long distance from the intended target).
There are of course focusing issues resulting from particles in the atmosphere, clouds, etc.
The console can't be pulled from the shelves if there are none on the shelves to begin with.
BTW do Lucent have any ties with Sony?
This is where Global Dimming theory comes in. It states basically that airbourne particles have decreased the amount of light getting through the atmosphere (hence dimming) but that this has been offset by and has masked the problem of global warming.
So if this theory holds true, global warming is much worse than we think and we're in real trouble already. Sobering thought - for once I really hope that the science is plain wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_dimming
In the UK the later GTA games carry an "18 Certificate", this is not just a recommended guideline but carries legal weight so if a store sells them to a minor they can be prosecuted.
/ pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm060323/text/60323w38.htm
But this seldom happens, the link below shows that last year there were only 11 prosecutions and I do not believe that this is because selling 18 rated games to kids does not happen.
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk
If the Government are involved with a technology based project expect it to cost 10 times that.
"If it's distributed for free on FreeNet, that means fewer and fewer people paying for it"
And that's a good thing? The best way to get a prosecution is if someone IS paying to view/download. If they have to key in their credit card details and make a payment they can no longer use the excuse that they were directed to the site in error.
"They vomit on the floor, have unprotected sex and post on Slashdot ?"
No but they might get "intimate" with the vacuum clearer, or the washer on spin-cycle - so not much different from college students!
Let's face it, no one ever reads EULAs just like no guy will ever read the assembly instructions of furniture or how to program the VCR/DVR/TIVO, it is just a fact! Bearing this in mind has anyone ever used this as a defence against a EULA in court? - Namely that it is unreasonable to expect any non-legally trained individual to read and accept an EULA. In fact anything where I have to scroll beyond the bottom of the first page usually loses me!
I guess that this would be called the Homer Simpson defence?
Wouldn't wash with judges I know but it would just show that they don't live on the same plane of existence as the rest of us.
Violence? What else do you call it when the whole objective of the game is to hit someone's balls with a bat as hard as you can!