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"Camera Fabric" Cloth That Takes Color Pictures
Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real

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Cherubael
07/16/09

In reply to "Camera Fabric" Cloth That Takes Color Pictures
So I can watch my fart while I fart? Truly, technology is wonderful.
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♠ Final ♠
07/16/09

@Artist Formally Known as 'Shai': Now they just need a Camera Milk Carton so I can figure out what's going on with the Fridge.
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♠ Final ♠
07/16/09

In reply to "Camera Fabric" Cloth That Takes Color Pictures
"Final, your camera pants are on inside out!"
"I know... I'm watching the live feed"
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Log1c
07/16/09

@♠ Final ♠: "There is a podcast in my pants and you're invited"...
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alphanumeric1971
07/16/09

@♠ Final ♠: Oh, that's just wrong...
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Certifiable
07/17/09

@Log1c: So it's a short podcast then?
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Xmar
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
Right now nobody can really compete with us in technology because of the money we spent in the past. If you want to stay on top of the technology pyramid, you cannot stop research/upgrades.

This budget is a major shift in thinking at the pentagon. Our military has been focused on preparing itself to fight a conventional war since WW2. This budget refocuses the military to prepare more for an asymmetric war.

It sucks to see projects like the F-22 are getting virtually eliminated. On the other hand, urban warfare focuses on the soldier more & we might start seeing more soldier centric advances in the coming years/decades.
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Andrew Liptak
04/07/09

@Xmar: Yes, but what use is a fighter such as the F-22 if the current generation of fighters is not only sufficient, but virtually unused? To me, the money on the F-22 is something that's incredibly wasteful, and not geared towards what conflicts are turning out to be.
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Xmar
04/07/09

@Andrew Liptak: The fact that we simply possess such technology is most of the time enough deterrent to others for us to not end up actually using it.

Look at the "diplomatic effect" that can be made by simply parking an aircraft carrier group in the area.

You are correct in that the current stage of the current conflicts don't need the F-22, but what about the next conflict?
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Andrew Liptak
04/07/09

@Xmar: Very true, but at some point, you'll need the technology to work and be able to be implemented in the first place - a system that's far too expensive and faulty isn't going to be a very good deterrent.
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hopskipper
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
People should watch the documentary "Why We Fight" to better understand the business behind war. When WWII happened we used our industrial capacity to meet the threat. Now we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on useless programs. Not every penny of military spending is "defending our shores". People that think cutting back unnecessary military spending will make us vulnerable need to do some more homework on what is actually happening out there and stop using emotional sound bites as an argument.

I'm all for laser beams and soon-to-be robot overlords but there is a lot of waste out there.
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Pessimippopotamus
04/06/09

@hopskipper: Do you think Russia and China think the same as you do? Sadly no. They're pushing forward with their own next-gen weaponry. Unlike in the US, they can just take whatever resources from their citizens and subsidize everything and no one would ever complain.

Military superiority. Even if we don't actively use our most advanced weapons, they aren't just symbolic. It keeps countries from attacking each other.
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Andrew Liptak
04/07/09

@hopskipper: Why We Fight is an absolutely fantastic documentary - I highly recommend it.
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KosstAmojan
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
What's happening is that the President is hurting our future security for his own peacenik ideology and current political gain. Yes, small scale combat is important and equipping our soldiers for maximum survivability is most important but remember that we wouldn't be able to fight the terrorists in the Middle East unless our amour and our aircraft clear out their conventional armies first.

The average airframe in the Air Force is older than most of the pilots flying them. Same goes for our Navy ships. So what happens when we get into a war with China, North Korea, or maybe even Russia? Against any of those countries, US troops will be outnumbered and held to completely unreasonable rules of engagement so all we're going to have to rely on is superior training and a superior technological advantage.

As far as I'm concerned, cutting back the F-22 and the missile shield is treasonable.
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Batmanuel
04/06/09

@KosstAmojan:

You know that the Secretary of Defense that made these recommendations is a Bush appointee, right?
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Evil Tortie's Mom: R.O.A.C.H.
04/06/09

@Batmanuel: @John Thompson: Shhh! Don't confuse him with facts.
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TheDarkWayne
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
You say it isn't pressing, but you just wait until the Red Chinese invade Alaska, you'll be begging for a Liberty Prime. On a serious note, since most of those books basically say that our air, vehicle, and communications superiority was useless, wouldn't it make even more sense to upgrade footsoldiers since they're the only useful part?
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crashedpc - Haifisch
04/06/09

@TheDarkWayne: "Upgrade" indeed... our underground conversion modules are ready to go in a few months. Just gotta hang onto it for a bit longer...
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Klebert L. Hall
04/06/09

@TheDarkWayne:

If the books say that our technological superiority was useless, then the books were written by imbeciles.

If we were fighting the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan on an equal technological footing, you can rest assured that our casualties would have been at least one order of magnitude greater, and the wars would last even longer. The outcome would actually be in doubt, as well.

-Kle.
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Andrew Liptak
04/07/09

@Klebert L. Hall: They're not saying that technology is useless, they're saying that it doesn't act as a force-multiplier and isn't a silver bullet for all of our problems.

For sure, the technology that's implemented is useful, from night vision goggles to the predator drones, but despite these, there are still problems. We haven't beaten back an insurgency in Iraq or Afghanistan.

No, the real places where this money needs to go is to better cultural understanding and working with people, isolating insurgents and extremists from the rest of the population. Then, we can get to a better stage of this conflict.
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EBone
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
Well, it does push back Skynet's Judgment Day.
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crashedpc - Haifisch
04/06/09

In reply to Budget Cuts Push Back Future Military Systems
Yeah, none of us are getting work done today because of this news. Some of us are scared.
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RAHfanboy
12/23/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
The robot looks like 790.
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zenpoet
12/23/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
This is great news! I was hoping that the Army would fund a way to make more advanced and efficient cancer!

Seriously, you know that the first guy they inject this with is going to get a cut, and end up with a grapefruit sized tumor on his shoulder because the new drug didn't know when to stop repairing him.
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MadJackDeacon
12/22/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
I'm wondering what the psychological impacts of this is going to be.

Admittedly, wounded soldiers have been sent back to the battlefield for well over 2 millenia, but if the turnaround time becomes shorter, what's the effect on the soldier's mental well-being?

Are we going to see the creation of "Morale Battalions" (Gods, I hope so!) to help?
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GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn
12/22/08

@MadJackDeacon: Just picture the guy who has a teddy bear phobia who wakes up to that thing carrying him!
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GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn
12/22/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
Wasn't that magic dust story found to be a complete hoax? I swear I heard that on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe as well as some other places.
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GitEmSteveDave_OverSleptThisMorn
12/22/08

@NHTOB_GitEmSteveDave loves->★: Here's an article I found on it. [www.sciencebasedmedicine.org]

There are also some inaccuracies in the post above. The guy was a Vietnam Vet working in a hobby store. The company that gave him the magic powder is owned by his brother, it wasn't a military funded experiment or anything. Just my two cents.
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Smeagol92055
12/22/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
But why is the picture of a robot? Why wouldn't it be of, oh, I dunno, Wolverine?
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Smeagol92055
12/22/08

@Smeagol92055: I mean, I understand, the robot was tacked on to the end of the article, but the headline was about wolverine, not something that looks like the love-baby of the Iron Giant and a Sleestack.
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tetracycloide
12/22/08

@Smeagol92055: this does raise a perplexing question that millions and millions of nerd hours spent on extensive reasearch has been unable to answer, 'which is cooler, wolverine or a robot?'
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Grey_Area
12/22/08

@Smeagol92055: Hey bub, that robot's the best there is at what he does.
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ggodo, the man from R.O.A.C.H.
12/22/08

@Grey_Area: But what he does is nice.
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Grey_Area
12/22/08

@ggodo: Indeed! Helping wounded people is a very nice thing to do. It just isn't pretty.
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Grey_Area
12/22/08

@tetracycloide: The more important question is whether or not the robot would consent to have sex with Wolverine.
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/22/08

@Smeagol92055: Good point. I fixed it. :)
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Rasselas
12/22/08

In reply to Army Developing Wolverine's Healing Factor, For Real
Efforts to Avoid War Underfunded, Languishing, Study Reveals.
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Dr Emilio Lizardo
12/22/08

@Rasselas:Agreed, but so many technological advances in all the sciences have come from military research.

Just look at all the cool stuff DARPA does.
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Rasselas
12/22/08

@DrEmilioLizardo: I'm just being cynical. Christmas, Handel, Prince of Peace and all that.
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"Camera Fabric" Cloth That Takes Color Pictures

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