Is this the one, Zenster?
I thought he was lost in space. Now we all know what happened to him.
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| Home Front: Tech |
| Robot Plane Drops Bomb in Successful Test |
| 2004-04-19 |
| EFL A robotic plane deliberately dropped a bomb near a truck at Edwards Air Force Base on Sunday, marking another step forward for technology the U.S. military hopes will one day replace human pilots on dangerous combat missions. Under human supervision but without human piloting, a prototype of the Boeing Co.’s X-45 took off from the desert base, opened its bomb bay doors, dropped a 250-pound Small Smart Bomb and then landed. The inert bomb struck within inches of the truck it was supposed to hit, Boeing said, adding that had the bomb contained explosives, the target would have been destroyed. |
| Posted by:Yosemite Sam |
| #13 Hey! Don't make fun of my namesake! |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-19 7:57:32 PM |
| #12 A4334: Some web searchin' will bring up the new bozos name Mahmoud Zahar and Ismail Haniyeh are listed in AP's article as having gone into hiding after the vaporizing by the IDF of Yasin. They, like Rantizi, were Yasin's deputies. Masaad is biding their time and sooner or later hiding places will become like some of those craters that the Mars rovers are examining. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4052 2004-04-19 7:51:49 PM |
| #11 Mike, the plane acted autonomously. Autonomous behaviour (in a robot) is a much harder problem than most people realize. |
| Posted by: Phil B 2004-04-19 7:48:42 PM |
| #10 So, that makes: Chairman Arafat - Dr.Zacary Smith? Separated at Birth? |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2004-04-19 7:35:20 PM |
| #9 Thanks I needed a good laugh! chuckle, chuckle. Some web searchin' will bring up the new bozos name I bet. |
| Posted by: Anonymous4334 2004-04-19 7:31:19 PM |
| #8 Is this the one, Zenster? |
| Posted by: Anonymous4052 2004-04-19 7:27:53 PM |
| #7 IN BREAKING NEWS: SLAIN HAMAS LEADER REPLACED BY ANIMATRONIC FIGURE Dateline: April 19, 2004 Zen Press exclusive GAZA -- Furious over the second liquidation of their top leader in as many months, Hamas has promoted an animated robot to provide oversight and leadership. "We've had enough of these incredibly expensive back-to-back elections and huge state funerals" fumed Mahmoud al-Zahar. "Costs for ammunition fired into the air alone runs into the thousands of dollars" he exclaimed. Asked about numerous hospital admissions for random bullet wounds subsequent to each funeral, he would only provide a terse, "No comment." Widely hailed as the man who would step into Rantisi's still-warm shoes, al-Zahar surprised everyone with this latest announcement. Recently, many Arab organizations have been seen to shy away from such advanced technology as satellite telephones and all terrain vehicles. Instead, they have shown renewed interest in hand written messages or cash financial transfers, many of them carried on foot. Renunciation of modern conveniences is widely regarded as part of a larger pattern consistent with the more common Middle East practice of living in mud houses where running water, electricity and sewage connections are usually reviled as "Satanic western luxuries." In light of this, Hamas' rush to embrace sophisticated technology was all the more puzzling to many observers. Earlier Palestinian engineering programs had not been seen to progress much farther than peculiar if mildly innovative combinations of undergarments with loose hardware, nails and plastic explosives. Seasoned Mid East analysts have likewise expressed their own astonishment at this quantum leap forward in sophistication. "We've long been expecting a trend towards more heavily armored vehicles and a renewed emphasis on reinforced bunker designs. However, this interest in robotics was a completely unanticipated shift in strategy" said one resident expert. While it is certainly an unexpected development, some senior intelligence officials are less than amazed. "Certain common mode text repetitions and duplicate policy announcements have led us to believe that this was a long time coming" said an NSA analyst who declined to be identified. Renowned for an obdurate determination that Israel be obliterated along with the use of less than savory approaches to diplomatic persuasion, Hamas is rapidly approaching a crossroads in their political future. Strict adherence to entrenched theistic dogma has long provided a stern counterweight against any headlong rush towards futuristic solutions. This is mirrored in Hamas' well established practice of utilizing human assets to accomplish spectacular if dubiously wasteful mission objectives. The only significant alteration of this policy has been brought about by opposition-based attrition of mature resources within their own organization. This has been reflected by their more frequent utilization of less skilled and relative unseasoned recruits in recent operations. While such underdeveloped trainees have long represented an ideal source of easily persuaded participants, a dramatic drop in relative duration of service within ranks has led to some rather well publicized setbacks. These have manifested in repeated unsuccessful mission outcomes due to preventive measures, interception and occasional last minute recision by involved candidates. A combination of these issues has placed increasing pressure on Hamas to seek more reliable membership. Many experts see this as an attempt to maintain reciprocity with current Israeli advances in autonomous aerial drones and other computerized military applications. Along with such modernization, Hamas finally seems to have applied a more up to date topdown approach in this matter. Consistent with other recent statements, Hamas refused to identify their newly activated leader by name. "We continue to stress an important air of mystique as indicated by the continuing popularity of face masks within our rank and file" reflected Mahmoud. In a moment of rare candor, al-Zahar confessed that Hamas leaders rarely use more than a few lines of vocabulary anyway. He likewise noted that their executive actions are usually limited to embezzlement of international aid or merely consigning more gullible young recruits to their combustive fates. "Such tasks as rote memorization of the Qur'an and parroting quotations of past leaders are ideally suited to codification and algorithmic processing" he said. Al-Zahar went on to say that, "Because these objectives are so compatible with modern automation our choice was literally made for us. There is no requirement for novel thought or critical analysis, so artificial intelligence was not even a limiting factor. Cloning of the speech synthesis and gesticulation control circuitry will allow for rapid and seamless replacement of leadership as it is concurrently removed. This represents huge strides towards maintaining a smooth and uninterrupted appearance of competent control in Gaza and the West Bank." Barely able to suppress a grin, al-Zahar added that, "As with much of Arab culture it is appearances which are of the greatest significance. And I'd much rather have that animatronic robot making those appearances than me." |
| Posted by: Zenster 2004-04-19 7:20:29 PM |
| #6 I'm a wanting robot plane to drop little tiny yids. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-19 7:11:06 PM |
| #5 . . . or why don't they admit the reasons why they weren't able to develop and build their own tanks and f-16s. |
| Posted by: spiffo 2004-04-19 5:57:35 PM |
| #4 "if we had our own engineers, they would quickly leave for the hated America, where they would immediately enjoy a better standard of life under the control of the infidels than they do under us. Its all a part of their fiendish plan to undermine Islam" That made me laugh. I often marvel at paleo comments to the effect of "if we had tanks and f-16s we'd use them instead of suicide bombers." But they don't. And so, they should conclude that their best recourse is to negotiate. But they don't. Why don't they ever say stuff like "if we had real leaders instead of the greedy, selfish, corrupt ones we have now, we'd have a state by now!" (well, that's what they should be saying, anyway!) |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2004-04-19 4:33:00 PM |
| #3 In other news, HAMAS has begun recruiting at d-lands animatronic studios to find machines willing to become jihadist animatronic target figures. an anonymous HAMAS spokesman said "if we had our own engineers, they would quickly leave for the hated America, where they would immediately enjoy a better standard of life under the control of the infidels than they do under us. Its all a part of their fiendish plan to undermine Islam" |
| Posted by: Frank Martin 2004-04-19 2:38:08 PM |
| #2 I did this in Vice City yesterday. /playstation nerd |
| Posted by: Unmutual 2004-04-19 1:58:58 PM |
| #1 I'm not surprised--this is no great stretch for existing technology. |
| Posted by: Mike 2004-04-19 1:29:35 PM |