32 replies to this topic

[TruePoindexter]

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 12:27 PM, said:

Energy consumption is the issue, yes. That was why they shelved the whole 'laser in a plane' concept.
What originally caught my eye regarding the whole 'futuristic weaponry: available now!' thing was this article from /. http://tech.slashdot...n-2014?sbsrc=md
In which they are going to deploy one of those in a ship. Probably power it with the nuclear reactor in there. Huh another parallel.

Reactor online indeed.

Very few naval vessels are actually nuclear powered. The test ship they're mentioning uses traditional boilers. I'm guessing that the test laser they're using is either going to have a large charge period against massive capacitors or be lower power.

[Dren Nas]

xDeityx, on 10 April 2013 - 12:21 PM, said:

Because watching Fox News makes you less informed than not watching it.

I looked at that point, and you can argue it either way depending on your political leanings. For example, a good deal of fox viewers believe that "climate change" is not man made. so wutevz.

[TruePoindexter]

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 12:36 PM, said:

The answer is obviously:

Pirates!

Er - being political here but having the largest Navy in the world basically gives the US a huge bargaining chip when push comes to shove. To quote CGPGrey "Nobody beats America in the war business." See 2m45s in:

Edited by TruePoindexter, 10 April 2013 - 12:42 PM.

[Kurkotain]

TruePoindexter, on 10 April 2013 - 12:38 PM, said:

Very few naval vessels are actually nuclear powered. The test ship they're mentioning uses traditional boilers. I'm guessing that the test laser they're using is either going to have a large charge period against massive capacitors or be lower power.

It does? my bad. I assumed that since they were mounting it on a ship, might as well put it on a reactor powered ones and make use of the powerplant there.

[Sug]

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 12:36 PM, said:

The answer is obviously:

Pirates!

**** I forgot about pirates.

[Kurkotain]

Sprouticus, on 10 April 2013 - 12:20 PM, said:

Seriously guys, let's not get going on political stuff.

In the article they also mentio a PPC

"Called the FEL -- for free-electron laser, which doesn't use a gain medium and is therefore more versatile -- it was tested in February consuming a blistering 500 kilovolts of energy, producing a supercharged electron beam that can burn through 20 feet of steel per second."

Now that you mention it, it kinda is like a PPC, accelerating electrons and stuff. And the heat too!

[xDeityx]

Team Leader, on 10 April 2013 - 12:31 PM, said:

I'm sure that applies to all television over print.

Er, yes reading your news is probably better than getting it from television...I guess it totally depends on what you are reading and watching though. But that's pretty tangential to the question to which I was responding. /shrug.

Edit: Also, per the article, watching FOX News makes you less informed than having no source of news at all.

Dren Nas, on 10 April 2013 - 12:41 PM, said:

I looked at that point, and you can argue it either way depending on your political leanings. For example, a good deal of fox viewers believe that "climate change" is not man made. so wutevz.

The results of this study and the numerous ones before it are pretty cut and dry, so I don't see how you could argue this point at all (that watching FOX news makes you misinformed). It's the unambiguous conclusion that arises from analyzing the data collected by the researchers. The study being reported on in my link is also not the first to come to this conclusion, only the latest (at the time of the writing).

Edited by xDeityx, 10 April 2013 - 12:56 PM.

[Kurkotain]

TruePoindexter, on 10 April 2013 - 12:42 PM, said:

Er - being political here but having the largest Navy in the world basically gives the US a huge bargaining chip when push comes to shove. To quote CGPGrey "Nobody beats America in the war business." See 2m45s in:

That was cool, really informative. So...texan pirates? (i kid)

[TruePoindexter]

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 12:46 PM, said:

It does? my bad. I assumed that since they were mounting it on a ship, might as well put it on a reactor powered ones and make use of the powerplant there.

They're mounting it on the USS Ponce which is an Austin-class of amphibious transport dock. Interestingly it is the only vessel of its class still in service and is quite dated it seems.

[Kurkotain]

Well, they are mounting it only for testing, so i guess if something goes wrong they aren't endangering a newer, more valuable ship.

[TruePoindexter]

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 12:56 PM, said:

That was cool, really informative. So...texan pirates? (i kid)

If you have time to kill (or not) I highly recommend CGPGrey's channel. Very informative and entertaining. I hope (or maybe dream) to one day put together some MWO tutorials about the more complex concepts in a similar format. My own videos right now though already take a significant time investment (processing clips, writing scripts, recording the voice over, cleaning the audio, selecting music, editing the video together etc etc) so I don't know if/when it will happen.

Kurkotain, on 10 April 2013 - 01:05 PM, said:

Well, they are mounting it only for testing, so i guess if something goes wrong they aren't endangering a newer, more valuable ship.

When I was thinking about it more it makes sense - it's a dated vessel that if they break no one will care. Also being an amphibious dock vessel has the benefit of a large cavernous interior ideal for modification. It's actually the perfect test bed.

Edited by TruePoindexter, 10 April 2013 - 01:10 PM.

[Jeff K Notagoon]

SirLANsalot, on 10 April 2013 - 12:12 PM, said:

for cohearent light beams like lasers, its not acutally light that will be used.

Instead the only way to get something like the laser to actually exisit. We will have to use Plasma, which is another state of energy. Lasers are nothing more then solid plasma, or bolts of plasma being fired.



Because anything you say against the "left" is automatically wrong and you a bigot and a raciest if you think any other way then there way.

Wow you have no idea what you're talking about. For one, lasers already exist and have been around for a long time. I use a $3 one to play with my cat. Also laser is an acronym. Hint: the L stands for Light, not Plasma.

Edited by Jeff K Notagoon, 10 April 2013 - 01:58 PM.

[Dren Nas]

xDeityx, on 10 April 2013 - 12:53 PM, said:

The results of this study and the numerous ones before it are pretty cut and dry, so I don't see how you could argue this point at all (that watching FOX news makes you misinformed). It's the unambiguous conclusion that arises from analyzing the data collected by the researchers. The study being reported on in my link is also not the first to come to this conclusion, only the latest (at the time of the writing).

Oh please, go take a course in statistics. You'll find out that statistics are the easiest form of math to manipulate and twist in whichever way you want.

Besides, I'm sure that a similar study would obviously report that mainstream media viewers are not misinformed at all about anything.

Edited by Dren Nas, 10 April 2013 - 02:56 PM.