...litigate.

True, however once those bad boys leave the silos nuke war is in full swing. No need for inventory security or accountability; just sit back and watch where they fall. I'm more concerned with those nukes being on an aircraft where the mission to strike did not proceed. When that happens on an unmanned aircraft, you've got unused nukes floating in airspace, outside the physical security of a base or ship.

the process of getting nukes fired off is VERY extensive. Positive control, two person control, as well as how launch codes get verified and such would make this a a very tough thing to do with unmanned aircraft. How do you maintain posession of an unmanned aircraft with nukes when comm links go down? At least pilots can attempt a navigation back, or use judgment and stop a mission when something has failed.
Not saying impossible, just that there would have to be a rewrite in the nuke procedures. I'd imagine thats something our military wouldn't like to do either, since 100% positive control of such destructive weapons would be mutually beneficial.

In summary. This sounds like pure sabre rattling. No major organization would risk a failure on this level.

Great post.Those that struggle the resources need only look to the foods and dishes created by the poor cultures of the world. Every civilization and society had a poor class that used the nasty bits as the main course. Re-learn some of those traditional dishes, and expose your kids to it at an early age!...before they develop a taste for pure sweets and fats.

The poor cooked great food because THEY HAD TO. You don't need cooking skills or fine ingredients to make a filet mignon taste good. But if a meal of beef tendon and coagulated pork blood in soup can be made palatable, you KNOW that stuff is gonna be delicious.

While we wait for nanobatteries, we could ditch the battery supply altogether and use external magnetic forces to propel it through the vessels. Maybe an MRI unit with some tweaks? Then harness the energy of rushing/flowing blood to power the sensors taking readings.

I've heard other discussions about rare earth mining here on /. and one factor that seemed to pop up all the time was China.

Specifically, China being so willing to mine without much regard to pollution or contanimation. They are the biggest suppliers of it now so they can set the price. If someone were to stand up a mining operation in say...california, all China would have to do is drop their asking price or ramp up production and watch the California mine collapse in bankruptcy.

It is my understanding that propping up a rare earth mining/refining operation requires tons of capital and an incredible amount of preparation for enviornmental concerns (at least in western nations where people don't like radioactive pools leaking into their ground water). Investors would be understandibly weary of putting money on the line when China could potentially kick the legs from under the entire enterprise.

Hard to compete when your competitor is willing to turn their backyard into a wasteland.

With so much of movement through space being dependent on gravitational forces, I'd imagine the FIRST era of space battles being fairly bleek and fatalistic...much like WWI, where waves of men went charging to their death because technology outpaced current warfare tactics. I imagine two sides launching missles at eachother from hundres of thousands of km away, with both sides making no attempt to change their trajectory, praying to the space gods that the other side's weapons failed or were inaccurate.

Lets say you have a ship going from earth to...Jupiter. Your flight course would be a rigid window because other planetary bodies will be pushing and pulling you in different directions.. Altering your ship's course would alter your ability to reach your intended destination. Moving out of the way of a weapon or slowing down might slingshot you out of an orbit, or pull you into another. Such gravitational forces would need serious power to counteract. Would a ship carry enough resources to do this?

I'm thinking of it similar to naval battles where large ships take immense power to change their direction or speed. A large ship can only turn so fast, and even then it's a fairly slow correction. Torpedos fired undetected or from a close enough distance with consideration to target's speed and direction could make maneuvering futile. Space battle could have similar problems to deal with. Can you detect a missle before it hits you? Could you change direction to avoid it without putting your trajectory at risk? Do you have the power and resources to do it at all?

If someone decided to use LASERS PEW PEW!, any space travel would be signing your own death warrant.

Maybe they should get some nukes and join the peace community like us!
/flamesuit

While you make a good point, as an Asian I have to say there are consequences to the rice diet. Diabetes. Modern Asian life expectancy is pretty high now, but during the times when rice diets were out of necessity..dying young was common.

Rice is a heavy component, even for westernized Asians, because it is what we are used to culturally. Our families came from very poor or rural backgrounds where it was a cheap source of calories. My girlfriend, also asian, has a family member diagnosed with diabetes nearly every few months.Compound that with western lifestyle and its pretty bad. tl;dr -- The smart and healthy Westernized Asians with access and financial capability will choose a diet with less rice and carbs too. high fiber veggies fill you up like rice, but with less calorie impact.

What if the customer service positions were filled with sales oriented people? It would be an oppurtunity to have conversations about other products. Cross selling extended warranties, insurance packages, games or pc peripherals...

Think of it as an account representative. Similar service level of someone like your financial advisor, tax man, or sales rep for your business--but of course providing an IT support service. Like account reps, I'm sure they could have other reps fill in for vacations/emergencies

If they DO go this route, you could expect the positions to be filled with sales/customer service oriented mindsets as well as basic computer skills. You could have a personable rep who is genuinely interested in you, because its profitable for them. It could also be another avenue for cross selling--driving company profits up.

That is assuming they could do this correctly.

These anti-vax people won't be the ones dying unfortunately. They'll be the carriers and spreaders of disease. These people may get sick, but they'll recover.

It's their newborn children and elderly parents that will be doing the dying. Self-serving asses always seem to catch a break.

my vest had some pockets with some elastic bands that seemed to help keep pockets compressed. And it does that quite well considering the slimp profile of the vest itself, so don't let our comments deter you from giving it a try. Of course laws of physics sets performance boundaries here. A bulky rigid camera packed next to your George Costanza wallet will show through anything short of a winter parka.

I think the biggest gripe you should take from us is not how it performs, but what you end up doing with 23 pockets. You end up carrying unneccessary things just because you can. 20lb articles of clothing makes you an unwieldy mess, and no longer will you walk by your company board meeting without an awkward glare towards your rattling and clanking body.

Yes I'm exaggerating...but not by much.

And it's been sitting in my closet because I've realized how much of a raging nerd I looked like carrying 20lbs of gear on me.

They are fantastic for frequent travelleing. Keep all your personal items in the vest then drop the vest into the xray while you walk through the metal detector. No more digging for keys, phones/music players, loose change etc..
The worst part is you end up hoarding stupid stuff. Then your clothing becomes similar in weight to a soldier's full combat load. I had to quit that habit.

There is counterfeit medicine that is indeed FAKE (as in containing no real medicinal properties) medicine. U.S. Customs has intercepted FAKE, not generic, drugs like insulin, blood pressure meds, and even chemotherapy drugs. Guess where they come from? China; often in the same shipment as the knockoff FILA shoes and Gucci handbags.

Hijacking a brand name isn't the only problem with counterfeiting. Sometimes the knockoff products pose true safety hazards.