Posts by Simon

Universal thaws out The Thing

The Thing /could/ be OK, but...

Ms Putman, could I have your missile address please, your post has broken my brain.

(Or in other words - _don't_ give them ideas like that!... *whimper*)

US Air Force outlines combat raygun safety

@Brent

"atomic-scale and subatomic particle beam weapons"?

LASERs, for one (A LASER beam is a bunch of photons of the same wavelength(/energy level, depending on how you look at it) travelling in the same direction).

I'm more interested in the 'LASER induced plasma channel systems'...

Is this channelling plasma created with a LASER, or using a LASER to channel plasma?

Hmmm... *ponders*

(LASER is an initialism, not an acronym)

The goggles!.... They do NOTHING!!!

US runs warzone man-tracking 'Manhattan Project'

Tracking Übertechnology

@phix8 - true, but what about transponders powered by the body's own electrical field?

*goto wikipedia* Hmm... I don't think it works the way I imagined. Good. But also bad. (futuretech implants may need external/induced power after all...)

Black helicopters - obvious really.

Northrop offer supersonic robot stealth raygun cyber-bomber

@Simon Ball

That'll be a RAID then - Redundant Array of Independent Drones...

Secret of invisibility unravelled by US researchers

IIRC from earlier efforts

0) You can't see out of it.

1) It'll be more of an Invisibility Container

As understand it, a perfect example of such a container (for you couldn't really wear or drive it) would be undetectable in (a portion of) the EM spectrum at whatever velocity it was moving.

'Jisus' Eee-alike sub-notebook to use Chinese Atom-smasher

I'm interested

Larger screen and faster chip for about the same price as the 4G Eee...

By the way, the sales link doesn't work - try here:

http://vanderled.com/uk.php?p=news&id=8

Phorm admits 'over zealous' editing of Wikipedia article

@Jaster

Is 36p, some pocket lint and half a dozen sweet wrappers an acceptable bid?

Byron review calls for computer game ratings

Hang on a minute...

I could have sworn we had this already.

Or aren't the PEGI ratings legally enforceable?

Aha!

<wiki>

PEGI is a voluntary system, although once in place it is illegal for persons under the age to purchase the game. In United Kingdom, if publishers of a game choose not to use the PEGI system it will be given a rating by the BBFC or in certain cases given no rating at all. However, it is not illegal for persons under the age to play the game, as it is a system of helping parents of children make informed decisions on buying the game. It is entirely the parent's choice whether to purchase a game for a minor.

</wiki>

So, if it's already legally enforceable - where it's sought - what's the problem other than that it's not mandated?

Arthur C. Clarke dead at 90

A true visionary

who'll live on through his work (especially if more of it gets built).

A sad day indeed.

Russian serfs paid $3 a day to break CAPTCHAs

your 2 pence

You mean like they (sort of) did with the invites?

Bring 'em back, I say!

Alright, world+dog had an account anyway, but having an address through an invite only service added a little... something, I think.

Trend Micro gets slashed in attack of the killer iframes

@quirkafleeg

What he means is that it's a... tautology(?*)...

PIN Number = Personal Identification Number Number

LCD Display = Liquid Crystal Display Display (though you could have a display of such, but that would be a Liquid Crystal Display, display).

Etc, &c.

*I know the word I mean and used it recently, it just escapes me at the moment - unless I'm correct but confused.

Northrop: battlefield rayguns to demo this year

Firing on the move

I am not, I admit, a(n) [Insert fancy term for LASER specialist here], but wouldn't it be better if the platform fired on the move, to cut down on blooming in the beam path?

The power shortage could be overcome with a larger or separate powerplant for the LASER .

@ Nomen Publicus, they could use a blue LASER, as - providing they picked the correct wavelength (using the absorption spectrum of water, or whatever*) - the beam shouldn't be as affected by the moisture in the atmosphere at that end of the spectrum. For absorption, anyway; I'm not too sure about diffraction.

*like I said, I'm not an expert; I don't even play one on TV.

PS: The pedant in me took over after I typed this out, hence the capitals...

El Reg decimates English language

Pedantry

It's interesting that this latest outraged pedant couldn't even check his own spelling - to wit:

"...with such ignorence at the helm."

ITYM 'ignorance'. Also, in other instances, 'ignorant'.

HTH, HAND.

Terrorist robots dissected - anatomy of a scare

@A. Midgely - face recognition

It only picks out *features that could be faces*, you can't show your UAV a photo of your target and point it in their general direction...

English language succumbs to Symbiotic Ephemeralization

Does anyone

know their missile address?

This is a clear case for building* an orbital battlestation of some sort:- FOBS or THOR, I'm not bothered, so long at the crater's big enough to encompass all the BS.

*Anyone want to throw some VC funds my way; I mean, how's a budding megalomaniac meant to get started these days?

Scottish government drafts Cat Welfare Code

**Warning - Not RSPCA safe**

"...nine lives won't save your pet from if it falls from your sixth-floor balcony."

I read somewhere that the amount of damage an average domestic cat takes from a fall rises in severity (but is not in and of itself lethal) until you (or the cat) get to the fifth storey, where it plateaus at multiple broken bones and other attendant injuries, IIRC this is due to the low terminal velocity, self-righting abilities and inherent athleticism and (presumably) shock absorbing properties of the general make-up of said felines.

*rereads*

Sorry - it is a little verbose isn't it?

</erudition>

US Navy to test fire electric hypercannon

Something similar underwater

Supercavitating torpedoes and blue laser LIDAR/LADAR?

At Mach 7 or 8 and 200 miles, this could be a workable ABM system.

/black helicopter because I want one of those too.

Spy satellite to slam Earthside

Andromeda Strain

Someone better initiate WILDFIRE then...

Japanese to launch paper plane from ISS

What's next?

An origami space station?

Actually, that's not a bad idea...

Lightsaber voted top movie weapon

As others have said...

Where T.F. are the M41a, ZF1 (look out for the little red button, Akhnot...), The recoilless relativistic railgun from Eraser, Dredd's lawgiver...

But what about the Point of View gun from Hitchhiker's?