What Good Is The Military ? (1)
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amzolt (10)
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Our Evolution (10)
2 days, 4 hours
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The military has become part and parcel of life in our crisis-ridden world. Can we live without massive military investment? From The Guardian: Time for a real review of defence spending From the Zimbabwe Star: China rattled by Indian weapons buildup From the Atlantic.Com: Military Resistance at the RNC “Footage of Iraq Veterans Against the War doing street theater in Denver during the Democratic National Convention” “But wait, Alex. There’s so many bad people in ...
Robert Fox: Time for a real review of defence spending (1)
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Northrop Grumman Death Star Lasers Are Weapons-Grade, Could Be Out in 2008 [Pew Pew] (4)
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Adrian Covert (57)
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Gizmodo (3761)
3 days, 21 hours
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Wired's Danger Room blog is spot on in comparing Northrop Grumman's upcoming solid state laser system to the Death Star. Promised to arrive before the end of 2008, and far earlier than Boeing's 25kW laser, it's supposed to have 100 kilowatts of power (SERIOUS pew pew action) and make use of multiple, less powerful lasers to form one giant one (see also: Voltron). Northrop Grumman calls the individual components "laser chains," and say they've managed ...
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Aaron said:
Officially added to Christmas list.
Gay War Hero Awarded Posthumous Dishonorable Discharge At White House Ceremony (6)
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The Onion (277)
4 days, 12 hours
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WASHINGTON—In a solemn ceremony held in the White House Rose Garden Monday, recently outed Iraq War casualty Sgt. Maj. Michael...
sir, do you know why (5)
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They see (4)
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iPods in uniform (8)
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Steven Sande (110)
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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (1257)
1 week
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Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Odds and endsWhen U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need to communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish (spoken in north Iraq), or Dari and Pushto (Afghani languages), they can reach for an iPod. Vcom3D, working with troops from the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, designed a software product called VCommunicator Mobile that uses the iPod to display a phonetic translation, "speak" a phrase through an attached speaker, display the phrase ...
iPods in uniform (2)
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Steven Sande (110)
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The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) (1257)
1 week
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Filed under: iPod Family, Software, Odds and endsWhen U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need to communicate in Iraqi Arabic, Kurdish (spoken in north Iraq), or Dari and Pushto (Afghani languages), they can reach for an iPod. Vcom3D, working with troops from the U.S. Army 10th Mountain Division, designed a software product called VCommunicator Mobile that uses the iPod to display a phonetic translation, "speak" a phrase through an attached speaker, display the phrase ...
Billboard promoting historic dockyard accidentally portrays historic sodomy (1)
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noreply@blogger.com (John) (21)
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Super Punch (16)
1 week, 1 day
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Here's a billboard promoting the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard in Great Britain. I don't think the advertisers intended to emphasize the role of sodomy in British naval dominance, but as Winston Churchill said, "Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy, and the lash." Via.Go here for The Register's idea for the next ad in the campaign.*Previously: Group promoting women's issues has acronym TNA.*Find great deals on Patrick O'Brien's tales of the ...
Absolute moral authority, indeed (1)
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kevin (92)
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Exurban League (2)
1 week, 1 day
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McCain's son is in Iraq. Palin's son will soon be headed to the sandbox. Now who do you trust to make sure that the service and sacrifice of U.S. soldiers is appreciated and used correctly? And while we're comparing family backgrounds, Biden's son is embroiled in a hedge fund scandal, while McCain and Palin's sons are serving overseas. Make of that what you will. I know what it tells me. Update: John reminds me that ...
Retired Generals Scold Bush Administration on Torture (9)
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Ali (159)
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Think Progress (534)
1 week, 2 days
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Yesterday evening, ThinkProgress spoke with Lieut. Gen, Harry Soyster and Ret. Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, at a Human Rights First reception honoring retired generals who have spoken out against President Bush’s torture policies. Soyster criticized Bush’s veto of a bill banning the CIA from waterboarding — a veto Sen. John McCain supported. Soyster said one clear standard on torture was needed: SOYSTER: Our position is, all of us, that we need one standard for the ...
A navy without an ocean (4)
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Joshua Keating (11)
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FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas (45)
1 week, 2 days
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Maybe I just have a soft spot for lost causes but I think there's something weirdly poignant about the efforts of Bolivia--a landlocked country--to build up its navy:Beyond the ice-capped peaks to the west lay their object of longing, the Pacific ocean, but Bolivia's navy was marooned and landlocked at Lake Titicaca, 3,800 metres (12,470ft) above sea level in the Andes."I've never seen the sea," sighed Wilmer Camargo, 18, a conscript sailor in navy blue ...
Games Thursday : Modern Tactics 3 (1)
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Roys (0)
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The Download Munkey (0)
1 week, 2 days
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A tactical turn-based Flash game featuring soldiers armed with modern day infantry weapons such as assault rifles, light machineguns, sniper rifles, combat shotguns and a selection of frag, stun and flash grenades in an small, isometric arena. Think of it as a more lethal form of virtual paintball. Or a turnbased and less reflex-oriented Counterstrike. Picked up this addictive game at Kongregate fan blog COCAK. You take turns against the computer to outwit, outflank and ...
"Shimmer Vision" Scopes See Better Using Heat (3)
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kdawson (894)
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Slashdot (2849)
1 week, 3 days
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holy_calamity writes "New Scientist reports on a neat DARPA idea that uses the shimmer of heat haze to allow binoculars to see further. It works by exploiting the fact that some distortions from heat haze actually magnify objects behind them. The binoculars collect a series of frames when that is occurring to boost magnification by 3 times. The design goal is to be able to present one image a second, and to enable facial recognition ...
Tuesday Map: From the halls of Montezuma to...everywhere (5)
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Joshua Keating (11)
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FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas (45)
1 week, 3 days
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Mother JonesVia Andrew Sullivan, here's a clever interactive map from Mother Jones that color-codes countries by the number of U.S. troops stationed there. The scroll bar allows you to see how levels have changed over time since 1950 in five-year increments. You can watch the troop presence in Vietnam gradually increase over the course of 20 years before disappearing completely, or see the military's several arrivals and departures from Iraq over the last half century. ...
Airborne IEDs Are the Next Generation of Homebrew Weapons [Mega Weapons] (4)
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Annalee Newitz (214)
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io9 (854)
1 week, 3 days
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In the arms race between local terrorist groups in Iraq and the US occupying forces, things just got more complicated with the development of the "improvised rocket-assisted mortar." Essentially it's IED 2.0, the next step in homebrew explosives that militant groups use against US forces. Though the IRAMs aren't being used widely yet, what's scary about them is that they're mobile, have really bad aim, and pack a punch that's considerably bigger than a conventional ...
Cosmonaut Photographed South Ossetia From ISS Shortly After Russian Invasion (1)
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Ian O'Neill (56)
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Universe Today (107)
1 week, 3 days
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The Georgia conflict causes more controversy for the ISS (Telegraph/NASA) During a Russian weather observation campaign, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko took photographs above the South Ossetia region of Georgia soon after the Russian military action in the area on August 9th. According to NASA's ISS Daily Report, Kononenko was monitoring the "after-effects of border conflict operations in the Caucasus" and his orders from Moscow instructed him to carry out this task for humanitarian reasons. Some sources ...
DARPA Developing Scopes That Use Heat Haze to Achieve Super Resolution [Darpa] (2)
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Sean Fallon (378)
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Gizmodo (3761)
1 week, 4 days
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Yes, DARPA does have a reputation for coming up with some seriously far-fetched gadgets, but their Super-Resolution Vision System (SRVS) is not one of them. This project challenges designers to come up with an optics system that utilizes heat haze to see further and clearer than ever before. Basically, it takes advantage of an atmospheric phenomenon that occurs whereby images can be magnified for fleeting moments behind the haze. DARPA hopes that the SRVS technology ...
Paper AK-47 is the closest thing art students will ever get to an automatic weapon (1)
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Peter Pachal (6)
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DVICE (163)
1 week, 4 days
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This paper AK-47 has good intentions. According to the item description at the A+R Store, its raison d'être is to remove the gun's function by making it completely nonlethal. Since it's made of just $42 of construction paper, the paper AK-47 makes you think about the power of form, iconography, and how the mere shape of an object can influence how people see it and the person who wields it. All worthy of some freshman ...
guardian.co.uk Comment is free (4) permalink
Robert Fox: We're the second highest spenders in the world – but the ins and outs of our military budget make no senseShared by nossenigma (9)Contribute commentPundit Kitchen: Funny Political Pictures and Commentary (51) permalink
sir, do you know why i pulled you over? (Shawn Nelson’s Tank’scapades ‘95) picture: dunno source, via our lol builder. lol caption: jmeursault » Recaption ThisContribute commentThe Brothers Brick (39) permalink
David Pagano, Nate Burr and myself were all recently asked by the LEGO Company to make a brickfilm to celebrate the LEGO minifigure’s 30th birthday. This is my contribution, 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure. How many historical figures/events can you name? Don’t forget to check out GOMINIMANGO.com for more videos and a contest (details coming soon to a blog near you!)Contribute comment
