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Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

Stalking the stalked stalkers

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 117 Comments › )
Filed under Diary of Daedalus, Humor, Open thread, Technology at January 15th, 2011 - 11:00 pm

This short diversion from The Diary of Daedelus amused me. Who says the stalked stalkers don’t have a sense of humor?
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So now you know what to do if you ever find yourself in a Googleloop, and it’s  all free of charge, courtesy of DoD and The Overnight Open Thread.

Hermann Reiche’s Contribution to the World

by Bunk Five Hawks X ( 126 Comments › )
Filed under History, Humor, Open thread, Technology at September 20th, 2010 - 11:00 pm

Q: How does an elephant hide in a cherry tree?
A: It paints its toenails red. Duh.

Q: How does the elephant get up in the tree to begin with?
A: Go ask Hermann Reiche. Doi.

“In 1891, Hermann Reiche patented a platform “to enable an elephant to climb up a tree.”

I bet he made tens of dollars with this patent, tree branch butts mortised and lag-bolted into a tree stump. Wish I’d thought of it first. What a guy. Just the kind of guy who would fit right in on an Overnight Open Thread.

Israel’s New Spy Robot Snake & Other Defense Items

by WrathofG-d ( 71 Comments › )
Filed under IDF, Israel, Middle East, Military, Technology at June 11th, 2009 - 10:26 am

Being the enemy of Israel just got a bit less appealing….

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The Authority for Research and Development of Weapons in the Defense Ministry has developed a robot snake fitted with video and audio equipment that advances on the ground into enemy positions for intelligence collection. It can be used for special forces stealth operations, for crawling through Hamas tunnels or into Hizbullah bunkers. In addition, it could be used for locating survivors inside collapsed buildings after natural disasters or terror attacks.

The six-foot long snake can also be fitted with explosives and detonated inside enemy positions — a capability dubbed as ‘suicide.’ The snake is currently in the prototype stage of development and has no price tag yet, but the Defense Ministry plans to begin production on a large scale soon.

According to a report on Channel 2, the snake can crawl into enemy positions through sewage pipes, under buildings and through forests. It is operated by one person with a laptop computer.

(more photos here)

Other new weapons are already being supplied to the IDF, and are expected to be popular in upcoming weapons exhibits. Tanks in one of the IDF’s armored regiments will soon receive new shells, called Kalanit, for a week of experimental use.

Fitted for 120 mm. guns, the Kalanit APAM is primarily intended for use against anti-tank squads that hide behind obstacles and are thus hard to hit using regular munitions. Unlike regular shells, which have a flat trajectory, the Kalanit is not fired directly at the enemy target but rather at a point in the air directly above it. According to the IDF website, it then stops in mid-air and releases six disc-shaped charges, or submunitions, at different intervals. The shrapnel from these charges covers a very wide and long kill zone and is effective against scattered targets as well as concentrated ones.

(full sized photo here)

Unlike the Rakefet, however, the Kalanit receives its target data when it is already inside the gun’s chamber. The tank crew needs only to mark the target with a press of a button and fire the shell, which will do all the rest automatically.  These unique features of the Kalanit make it possible for the tank crew to carry it inside the gun chamber and fire it immediately upon spotting a target.

The shell has four settings, for different types of targets. Besides being effective against infantry and anti-tank units, it can also be used against buildings, bunkers, armored personnel carriers and even helicopters. For a concentrated high explosive blast, all six submunitions.

(The Article)

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In other Israel related news:

Benny Begin – Why A Palestinian State Is Unacceptable

Ten Top Myths About The Arab-Israel Conflict

Israel’s “Simon” Super-Dart Door-Busting Projectile

by WrathofG-d ( 5 Comments › )
Filed under Anti-Jihad, IDF, Israel, Middle East, Military, Technology, Terrorism at April 24th, 2009 - 4:29 pm

The Israelis have developed an explosive M-16-fired “dart” that can bust doors down from 300-ft away.  I wish humans didn’t have to invent these sort of things, but I’m glad Israel has it.