Robots Take Center Stage in U.S. War in Afghanistan The U.S. military is calling out the "BigDogs" in addition to its big guns as it deploys more troops to fight terrorists in Afghanistan. The BigDogs -- four-legged robots that can navigate the country's treacherous terrain -- and pilotless helicopters that can transport tons of supplies to very remote bases are just two of the new weapons being tested in Afghanistan. The war zone is increasingly becoming a development laboratory for machines that don't eat, sleep, polish their boots or suffer casualties.
This is funny, and true. The joke is, how do you tell if there is a fighter pilot in the room..... you don't have to, he will let you know. Our drones are flat out bad arse. Our Sergeant Major used to use ours to spy on us and see what sort of shenanigans we were up to when there was not a lot going on in sector. I put my entire platoon on a roof top and had them moon him from 14k away. He in turn had us fill sandbags for about a day and a half. No sense of humor having SOB.
Red, the techno-wizard. Has computing technology become thoroughly metric yet? Microprocessors are down to 45nm but gosh darn if the SSD drive I just looked up on Newegg still isn't listed as a 2.5" form factor. :hihi: Oh, and the dimensions of the x58 motherboard I looked up (which I'd have to waste >$3K on to get from Apple) were 12.0" x 9.6". :grin: Shame on them for not yet including Nehalem processors in affordable machines. You can get an i7 machine from Dell for $999 including monitor. Apple's cheapest IDontCareMac leaves you stuck in dual core land for $1200.
You'll find that they are just nominal dimensions intended for the metrically challenged. It's like making the manual in Spanish and English. Actual parts are all in metric dimensions. You get what you pay for. Putting a V-8 engine on a mule doesn't make for better transportation.
