Topic: One of those "Star Trek technology in real life??!!" posts
Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Aliens would only invade if we had something of value to them. Let's look at some of the basics shall we?
Land: There's a billion other planets out there. Why waste resources conquering some backwater planet full of monkeys?
Resources: What we got can be found on a billion other planets.
Technology: If aliens can travel between the stars, then all the tech we got is already inferior to them.
Slave Labour: Most humans can barely lift thier own body weight. Not very useful.
Food: We probly taste bad.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
What if we put all this money into laser troopers only to discover that the Morganites have purchased plasma elites on the open market!?
Registered: Mar 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Maybe we should start creating genetically modified super soldiers with kickass MJOLNIR battle armor and stick a computer AI into his head so that anyone around him thinks he's crazy cuz he talks to some invisible woman named Cortana..
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: ooh! I thought of another good (bad) example of how this weapon may be used to stop terrorists while casuing untold havoc and destruction.
A terrorist hijacks a plane and intends to fly it into the Empire state building. Sounds familiar huh? tho it's been done but not on purpose (1945 a b-25 crashed into the ESB in heavy fog) The "Good Guys" fire this "Phasr" at the terrorists in the cockpit, blinding them and causing them to veer off course...
FUnny thing is, some jackass just pled guilty to that exact thing this week- he fired a laser into a commercial airplane cockpit, momentarily blinding the pilots.
NO terrorist motive though- he's just a bigger version of the jackasses at the movie theatre with laser pointers.
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: Aliens would only invade if we had something of value to them. Let's look at some of the basics shall we?
Land: There's a billion other planets out there. Why waste resources conquering some backwater planet full of monkeys?
Resources: What we got can be found on a billion other planets.
Technology: If aliens can travel between the stars, then all the tech we got is already inferior to them.
Slave Labour: Most humans can barely lift thier own body weight. Not very useful.
Food: We probly taste bad.
They'll invade to stop MTV's reality shows from corrupting their youth in a trillion years....when the signal finally gets there, but they'll stay for the barbeque and the myriad vices of internet porn.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Intergalactic Pornography...The possibilities are endless! Rock-hard Romulans! Wookies and Cream! Klingons...well, that sounds nasty already.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
"FUnny thing is, some jackass just pled guilty to that exact thing this week- he fired a laser into a commercial airplane cockpit, momentarily blinding the pilots."
Why would someone plead guilty to something he couldn't possibly have done?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I wonder if it works on terrorists wearing sunglasses.
-------------------- "and none of your usual boobery." M. Burns
Registered: Oct 2001
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
I assume so. I wasn't sure at first so I put on a pair of shades and pointer a laser pointer at my eye. Ya, it was dumb, but I was curious. There was no difference whatsoever. Now if you'll excuse me I have to get rid of this big green blob in front of my eye...
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
"FUnny thing is, some jackass just pled guilty to that exact thing this week- he fired a laser into a commercial airplane cockpit, momentarily blinding the pilots."
Why would someone plead guilty to something he couldn't possibly have done?
Not aterrorist thing- just some guy being dumb. It was actually a passenger plane though- not a commmercial one. Here's something on it.
quote:Christie fended off suggestions that possibly allowing Banach to avoid jail time for a foolish act was inconsistent with the serious intent of the anti-terror law.
"If that plane had crashed, you would have been calling him a lot more than stupid," Christie said.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Sol System: What if we put all this money into laser troopers only to discover that the Morganites have purchased plasma elites on the open market!?
If nothing else it would spur development of 3res armor.
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
My point was that it just isn't possible to shine a hand-held laser into the eyes of the pilots of a moving plane from the ground. For one thing, over that distance, the slightest movement would cause the other end of the laser beam to move about wildly. Plus, even if you could manage to accurately aim at the windows of the cockpit, the chances that the beam would just happen to interset the eyes of the pilots are negligible. Plus, the airplane would be moving at hundreds of miles per hour. Even if he could have gotten the beam into their eyes, and held the laser steady enough, they would be past it in a fraction of a second. He'd have to actually track the plane with the laser to keep it on their eyes long enough to affect them.
The whole situation is ludicrous.
And, didn't we already have this discussion here a while back?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I think perhaps you are assuming perfect collimation. Which most lasers (and certainly laser pointers) lack. So there would be some spread giving a coherent hooligan, say, a 1 meter diameter beam at, say, 4 km. Since the windows of most jetliners are around a meter or so tall, with reasonable aim, one ought to be able to maintain at least jerky contact with the target region. This is all neglecting reflection, of course. But if one was lined up, say, along the landing way, esp. in an elevated position, I think it could be done. But I doubt it would cause serious eye damage. It would likely just be really irritating and distracting.
Registered: Sep 2000
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