Nato’s [sic] missile defence [sic] shield ‘up and running’
The actual missile defense comes in the form of the Aegis missile cruiser USS Cole cruising the eastern Mediterranean.
May 192012
May 112012
A bit of artwork from Lockheed Horizons magazine depicting the “Homing Overlay Experiment”. This was the first hit-to-kill ballistic missile interceptor… rather than relying on putting a warhead near the incoming missile and blasting it to flinders with shrapnel or radiation, the HOE was designed to actually smack directly into the target. To aid in the obviously difficult chore of hitting a bullet with a bullet, the HOE unfurled a series of “blades” to increase the frontal area and the chances of impact. This feature has not been carried forward to present systems.
The HOE demonstrated a successful hit-to-kill in 1984.
Apr 202012
Used rocket launcher left for trash pickup causes Kingwood-area scare
The story is completely lacking in details other than it was stuffed full of dust bunnies and cobwebs. My guess: an old bazooka or LAW tube (at a described length of 3 feet, my bet is a LAW) was left in somebodies basement or attic, and someone who didn’t really know – or care – what it was simply threw it out.
Apr 192012
India has just successfully test launched a modern ICBM, the solid fueled Agni-V. Who would India be building this missile to defend themselves from? Well…….
India test-fires ‘China killer’ missile capable of reaching Beijing, Europe
I suspect India is not really in the market for nuking Europe. But then…
the missile had been dubbed the “China killer” by the Indian press.
[youtube oymhMFbZ1bY]
Apr 162012
A few things:
1) From 2010: put on the glasses, and you can see Matchbox/Hot Wheels-sized computer generated cars roll around on your desktop. The company behind this uses a Microsoft Kinect mounted above the desk looking down; the system analyses the view, figures out the geometry, and animates accordingly, adjusting the view for the position of the glasses so that what you see looks like the cars are actually interacting with the physical world.
[youtube S7qbjGNyi88]
2) Do you have arachnophobia? Do you want to get rid of it? Then apparently one of the best therapies is to get a bucketload of spiders to crawl all over you. If you don’t have access to a Kentucky Fried Horrormonster Family-sized Spiderbucket, you can always try augmented reality spiders. The same company presents this impressive bit of high-tech nightmaresauce:
[youtube 7FLyDEdQ_vk]
Article:
Virtual spiders creep and crawl their way toward phobia treatment
3) And once you’re done having computer generated arachnids harrow your very soul, finish it off by hooking up a toy to your radio, TV, or iProduct and have it talk at you. A commercial I saw on the tube a few days ago showed that you could also plug it into your in-automobile GPS system so that you could have a dancing, talking plush lion on your dashboard giving you directions. Because sure, why not.
[youtube pnpMmx8LCio]
Someone has got to get one of these and post a YouTube vid showing an Obama speech as filtered through this modernized Teddy Ruxpin.
4) And then fire up the idiot box and watch the forthcoming “Tron: Uprising” animated series, set between the two movies. looks like it might be good.
[youtube 1JqpoLZJkx0]
Apr 162012
Cracked.com has a pretty good article about how Hollywood has turned most people into *mo-rons* when it comes to basic knowledge of firearms.
Dropped guns go off
Ceramic guns are a thing
Bullets make everything spark
Shotguns are room-clearing murder factories
Deadly on the gun range = deadly in real life
Bullets turn people into pulp
Apr 112012
Huh.
[youtube 7vob-w_kjYc]
And because why not:
[youtube 5erjj6aS5Ws]
Apr 072012
You know you’re doing SCIENCE when you’re using a specially made medieval projectile weapon. I can’t wait for an electromagnetic trebuchet!
NASA Developing Comet Harpoon for Sample Return
Mar 232012
Obama has officially made one relatively mundane homicide into a matter of utmost federal interest with his reply to the *one* question he took today when introducing Jim Yong Kim as his choice to head the world bank. In the midst of his reply, he made this extremely telling statement:
“My main message is to the parents: If I had a son he’d look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves.”
Huh.
If I had a son he’d look like Trayvon.
So… is it racist if someone makes it plain that the reason for his interest in an alleged crime is because the victim “looked like me?” If you think no, consider this: assume Newt Gingrich had spoken out on the attempted murder of Allen Coon , and he made it plain that his interest was what Allen “looked like.”
[youtube -rPO0QV97OI]
Given that Obama spent twenty years willingly, intentionally and openly attending an avowedly racist church, it hardly seems unreasonable to assume some racism on his part. However, I expect the bigger goal here among Obama and his ilk isn’t so much racism, but they’ve detected an opportunity to roll back the right to self defense in general and the Second Amendment in particular. There are a *lot* of homicides in the US, many substantially and objectively more spectacular than this one. But this one can be – and has been – spun as an example of why Americans should be forced to retreat or cower in the face of a threat to their lives. And thus… 24/7 news coverage, with the usual pack of rabid mouthpieces yammering on about how horrible it is that the law in Florida allows mere citizens to defend themselves.
Still and all… never forget that you are more important to the President if you look like you might be related to him.
Mar 152012