[extropy-chat] Cool stuff for Newtonmas

[spike]

The way this was written in the popular press is a little
confusing.  See below:

-----Original Message-----
From:  Mike Lorrey
 Subject: [extropy-chat] Cool stuff for Newtonmas

http://www.military.com/soldiertech/0,14632,Soldiertech_Cool121604,,00.html?
ESRC=dod.nl

COOL TECH THIS WEEK: 
Ray Gun Plans, Robotic Fish, Powered Exoskeleton Suits 
--------------------------------------------------------------
  
  A step closer to working ray guns, RoboPike and RoboTuna, and
Starship Troopers for real -- keep up with the cutting-edge military
tech news from the past week. 
 
By Noah Shachtman and Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, DefenseTech.org

Industry Bigs Team Up on Ray Guns

... The modified 747
Airborne Laser, after a seemingly-endless slumber, is beginning to make
progress...


Im not sure what that comment means. 



...More importantly, electric-powered lasers are finally starting to build
up the power they need to work as weapons. In a few months, researchers
at the Lawrence Livermore national lab and elsewhere plan to test a 25
kilowatt solid-state laser...


Starting to build up the power to work as weapons?  Were they joking?
The power of the laser is not the recent breakthru, but rather its the
mirror control needed to concentrate that power at some intermediate
distance.  Check out the airborne laser mirror control.


...If those trials work out as expected, the
Defense Department will then start handing out grants for a laser with
a hundred kilowatts of power -- that's widely-considered the threshold
for ray gun action to begin...


Hmmm, again this comment.  Its all about concentrating the power, 
not about seeing how much power you can make.  All you need to disable
a rocket is to burn a hole in it.  No need to actually blast it to
shards, which would endanger the local enemy troops unnecessarily.
Without the rockets and advanced weaponry, they are harmless as
kittens anyway, so there is no need to slay or injure them.



... One step forward, one step back. The Airborne Laser's
first flight test in two years was cut short this week, after some
"anomalous instrumentation readings." Space News says a cabin pressure
problem was to blame...



This comment was made many places, but most of the time they
were not careful to explain that it was not a problem with
the laser itself.  The flight crew cabin pressure is maintained 
higher than the area where the laser is carried in case of a leak
of the highly toxic materials carried in the laser.  With
higher pressure in the cabin, the fumes would not get to
the flight crew.  Last I heard, it was a faulty pressure
gage, not an actual failure of the pressure differential 
equipment.
 



Robo-Crappie, Anyone?

...A Japanese toy company has a whole line
of fish, jellyfish, turtles and an ammonite. An ammonite?...


If you purchase one of these toy ammonites, you may 
not take it to church, for the Book of Deuteronomy 
chapter 23 verse 3 saith:

"An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the 
congregation of the lord, even to their tenth 
generation shall they not enter into the congregation 
of the lord forever...

Well which is it, tenth generation, or forever?  I
think the latter, for Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 1 saith:

"...the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into
the congregation of god forever..."




Real-Life Exoskeletons Emerge

... article in tomorrow's New York Times Magazine,
on real-life exoskeletons...


Cool, I want one.  I can fool with that in the parking
lot outside the church they wont let me enter because of
my ammonite.

spike