Attention recruits. Those of you landing in Afghanistan in coming months may not have to engage in the sandbag stacking and trench digging usually associated with lowly grunt-dom. An $800,000 investment in an armored wall system known as McCurdy’s Armor could have Marines rapidly erecting 6.5-foot-tall mortar-, RPG- and bullet proof fortresses in less than an hour, saving the days it can take to fortify an area by conventional means and making forward-operating units more nimble.
Named for Ryan S. McCurdy—a Marine killed in Iraq in 2006 while hauling a wounded comrade to safety—the system is designed to offer troops increased protection and mobility when setting up outposts in hostile areas. The walls can be ferried into place in panels that are easily stackable in a truck or trailer. Once in position, four Marines can assemble a single panel in less than ten minutes without any special tools or additional equipment. The panels then snap together like bomb-proofed Legos secured with steel pins to form a blast- and bullet-proof shelter.
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Technology, Clay Dillow, armor, defense, marines, military, modern materials
The armor can be set up in a variety of arrangements (U-shaped, J-shaped, etc.), and in instances where troops are worried about armor piercing rounds a second layer of armor can supplement the structures. But the walls aren’t just a protective cocoon for far-flung outposts; ballistic windows offer protection while giving Marines a line of sight and the ability to fire downrange, meaning McCurdy’s Armor can be deployed as both a defensive stronghold as well as a tactical firing position.
When it’s time to pull up camp, Marines can quickly break down their ersatz stockade, stack it back in their vehicles and move on to fortify the next position without leaving a single thing behind. Just try pulling that off with sandbags.
After installing the georss.mm Metadata Module and enabling it in the Advanced page of Awasu’s Program Options dialog, there will be two new Metadata values that you can add to the Item Pane: Elevation (georss/elev) and Point (georss/point) as depicted below (along with the geo/latitude and geo/longitude Metadata values).
Robot Snowplow from Japan Eats Up Snow, Poops Out Bricks.
Japan
It has a camera and GPS. Here is a further report from Japan (remarkable detail at that link):
One protective measure against snow and ice for railroads and roadways is the “slush removal system” that hydraulically transfers collected snow that has been removed from the railroad tracks or roadways and deposits it in a river. Also, there is the “sprinkler snow melting system” that melts snow by sprinkling water on the road surface.
Here is a longer study of geothermal snow melting systems. Here is a discussion of numerous other Japanese snow treatment and disposal technologies. Here is a report from Tsuruta:
In town several additional unique ways of dealing with this snow exist. A concrete-contained stream runs under downtown sidewalks, covered by hinged, lightweight metal grates. People who have access to this “river” can shovel their snow into the running water, sending it floating to the nearby Sea of Japan. Around the nicer homes in town (luckily, including mine) pipes spray a constant stream of hot water onto snow, quickly melting it.
Still, the snow can gather, breaking the delicate branches of Japan’s carefully tended trees and plants. The solution: wooden cages and bamboo teepees, odd-looking sights.
The abundance of snow in Japan spawned a bewildering variety of shovels with distinct shapes and purposes. Most are plastic. There are wide shovels for moving large quantities of snow; there are smaller shovels for weaker shovelers; there are shovels with handles and shovels without; there are shovel-sleds designed to allow the user to push a large load of snow a long distance; there are also metal shovels for breaking up hard-packed snow.
The shovels come in a selection of neon colors: green, yellow, purple, orange, and blue — some marketer’s feeble attempt to make snow-shoveling fun. Shovels cost from five to thirty dollars. Most people own at least two different types, selected by need.
Solar power’s incremental steps forward keep coming faster and faster, and not on a single vector: large arrays to power the grid, specific installations where wiring is inefficient or impractical, and for small devices. Cassie Rodenberg, writing at PopularMechanics.com, writes about another step forward with solar power for relatively small devices. From Solar-Powered Circuits Breakthrough – Solar-Powered Circuits Charge by Sunlight in Real-Time:
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania unveiled the world’s first solar-powered circuit in a January edition of ACS Nano. The technology shows particular promise for touchscreen devices, which could use the circuits as a direct source for sun-power. Not to be confused with solar cells, which convert sunlight energy to electricity and store it for later, this breakthrough involves circuits—electrical devices that provide paths for electricity to flow. This means that sunlight absorbed by the device can immediately use the energy to power the device.
Here’s how the circuit works: Electrons, here known as surface plasmons, oscillate on tiny molecules called nanoparticles. These plasmons act as a ‘super lenses,’ which gather all solar light hitting the circuit. Once the light’s collected, the particles pose as electrodes to ferry away the electricity for a device to use.
Currently, though, researchers can only produce and harness small amounts of energy from the photovoltaic circuits, nowhere near enough to power consumer electronics. But scientists are sure power production will only increase in the future with creative methods like stacking circuits to absorb and focus more light energy.
Self-charging photovoltaic circuitry might be used in display screen pixels or painted on the outside of iPads and smartphones to scavenge sunlight and charge the devices, according to Dawn Bonnell, a researcher on the project. It also could potentially offer just the right power solution for small robotic devices or help computers operate on light alone.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — On Friday, this city of rocket scientists and brainy inventors was stunned when a neuroscientist with a Harvard Ph.D. was arrested in the shooting deaths of three of her colleagues after she was denied tenure.
But that was only the first surprise in the tale of the neuroscientist, Amy Bishop, who was regarded as fiercely intelligent and had seemed to have a promising career in biotechnology. Every day since has produced a new revelation from Dr. Bishop’s past, each more bizarre than the last.
On Saturday, the police in Braintree, Mass., said that she had fatally shot her brother in 1986 and questioned whether the decision to dismiss the case as an accident had been the right one.
The target of the mail bomb was Dr. Paul Rosenberg, according to The Boston Globe, which first reported that the couple had been questioned in the case. After returning home from a vacation, Dr. Rosenberg opened a package that contained two 6-inch pipe bombs connected to two nine-volt batteries, The Globe reported. The doctor and his wife fled and called the police.
Officials said that Dr. Bishop was concerned that Dr. Rosenberg would give her a negative evaluation on her doctorate work, the newspaper wrote, and that they were concerned about the incident involving her brother. The authorities in Boston searched Dr. Bishop’s computer at the time and found a novel she was working on about a scientist who killed her brother and atoned by excelling at her work, The Globe reported.
Though he firmly protested his wife’s innocence in the earlier cases, Mr. Anderson said he remained mystified over Friday’s shootings, which left three professors dead and three other people wounded after a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
Dr. Bishop was charged with capital murder; three charges of attempted murder were added on Sunday. Mr. Anderson said he did not know of any specific incident that could have led to the shooting, and did not know that his wife allegedly had a gun when she went to the meeting.
President Obama’s counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan, argued that 9/11 and other attacks are not, in fact, jihad.
“They are not jihadists, for jihad is a holy struggle an effort to purify for a legitimate purpose and there is nothing—absolutely nothing—holy or pure or legitimate or Islamic about murdering innocent men, women and children. We are not waging a war against terrorism because terrorism is but a tactic that will never be defeated any more than a tactics of war will. Rather such thinking is a recipe for endless conflict….We are at war with al Qaeda and its extremist allies and any comment to the contrary is just inaccurate. We will destroy that organization.”
President Barack Obama’s embattled counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, delivered an emphatic defense Saturday of the Obama administration’s rhetorical approach to terrorism–and also slipped in a few criticisms of Bush administration policies he suggested alienated Muslims at home and abroad.
In a speech at New York University’s law school, Brennan gave no nod to the calls for his resignation last week from the top Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees. (Sen. Lindsey Graham R-S.C. also joined that bandwagon Sunday.)
Brennan seemed at ease speaking to the largely Muslim audience, which included Islamic law students. In fact, he broke out his Arabic at some length, drawing a warm reaction from the crowd. (Scroll to 5:43 in the first video below for that chunk. I think I hear the words youth and student in there.)
Is Brennan the highest-ranking American official who speaks Arabic? If so, is he the highest-ranking American official ever ro speak Arabic? By refusing to cede to al-Qaeda and its ilk the question of their moral legitimacy in their so-called “jihad,” and by being frank about Amerucab misconduct, the Administration has taken a firm step towards increasing U.S. credibility – and started to cut off Al Gaeda’s air supply: implicit or material support for al-Qaeda, and the logical corollary, opposition to the United States.
Brennan also charged that some actions by the U.S. government, presumably the Bush Administration, underscored perceptions that the U.S. was in conflict with Islam. He cited as examples of overreach: “Violations of the Patriot Act. Surveillance that has been excessive. Policies perceived as profiling. Overinclusive no-fly lists subjecting law abiding individuals to unnecessary searches and inconvenience. Creating an unhelpful atmosphere around many Muslim charities that made many Muslims hesitant to fulfill their sacred obligation of Zakat.”
Brennan’s statement that some individuals, presumably Muslims, were subjected to “excessive” surveillance is one I have not heard before from government officials and one which will hearten civil liberties advocates who have claimed that mosques were subjected to unwarranted scrutiny. – Josh Gerstein
Brennan, who mentioned that he is Catholic, blamed religious leaders for spreading myths about Islam being a religion of violence. “Those who purport to be religious are frequently the most egregious purveyors of ignorance, prejudice and discrimination and it must stop,” he said. He did not single out any particular denominations or faith leaders.
Brennan disappointed some in the audience by saying that Obama has no plans to back away from support for the Israel. “It’s tough, but we’re not going to separate ourselves from Israel,” Brennan said, according to Fox News.
At times, Brennan suggested that the entirety of the American Muslim community has always stood 100% behind U.S. anti-terrorism efforts. “America has rarely noticed that American Muslims, such as yourself, have always denounced violent extremism,” Brennan said, citing the head of the NYU center.
That blanket statement may overstate the case somewhat, since some prominent Muslims have been unwilling to endorse U.S. designations of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorists.
Another moment that was less than crystal clear was Brennan’s insistence that “we do not believe we need to make a choice between” national security and civil liberties, which came moments after he declared: “At times, we are unfortunately forced to make some painful decisions that we would not make under ordinary circumstances.”
Marines in Afghanistan might soon scrap the sandbags. Instead, they’re snapping together armored walls that connect like Legos.
The Marines Corps in December spent $797,400 on 14 kits of McCurdy’s Armor, a patent-pending portable wall system. The service has already tested 25 kits.
The 6.5-foot-tall units can be assembled into bulletproof walls and forts — a process that can take less than an hour. This could save days’ worth of work digging trenches, laying sandbags and constructing outposts, according to the manufacturer, New Jersey-based Dynamic Defense Materials. “We’ve seen them used on everything from a podium to a guard tower to a long wall,” says Joe Dimond, a product specialist for the company.
The product offers protection from mortars, grenades, rockets and improvised explosive devices. It has aluminum frames that connect using steel pins, and the units can be arranged in several formations: U-shape, V-shape, J-shape or a wall.
It also has ballistic windows that open and close so service members can fire downrange. Four men can assemble one unit in less than 10 minutes without any tools or equipment, according to the company’s website.
“If you’re worried about armor-piercing rounds, you can also put on a second layer of armor,” Dimond says. “And you can add more if you’re going to be there a while.”
The product was named for Ryan S. McCurdy, a Marine who was killed in 2006 by insurgents in Iraq while pulling a wounded friend to safety.
Gordon Rayner and Duncan Gardham report in the Telegraph.co.uk that UK intelligence agencies are complaining that their officers are being diverted from intelligence work to prepare for lawsuits alleging human rights violations. One’s view of this may depend on attitudes towards the alleged violations – and an assessment of the specific claims being litigated.
“Whenever we encounter blocks in our services we try to resolve them as quickly as possible because we strongly believe that people everywhere should have the ability to communicate freely online,” Google said in its statement about Iran. “Sadly, sometimes it is not within our control.”
According to Cecilia Kang of the Washington Post’s Tech Blog, Ryan Flinn of Bloomberg in Business Week, and in the LA Times, Google has reported that e-mail traffic is down in Iran, after an Iranian government announcement that it would suspend Google and force citizens to use a government e-mail service.
Google said it has seen a sharp drop in traffic among Iranian users of Gmail, and confirmed that users there say they are having trouble accessing their e-mail accounts.
The company’s statement comes after a report by Christopher Rhoads, Chip Cummins, and Jessica Vascellaro in The Wall Street Journal that the Iranian government said it put a “permanent suspension of Google’s email services.”
The nation’s telecommunications agency said that instead, it would soon roll out its own e-mail service for Iranian citizens, accoridng to the Journal. Iranian leaders have issued stern warnings to citizens against participating in protests Thursday, the day marking the establishment of the Islamic Republic there.
Google drew international attention earlier this year when it announced that it may withdraw from China because of that nation’s censorship practices. The State Department has supported the company’s move and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton included the firm’s experiences in China among the reasons to push for Internet freedom as part of the U.S. government’s diplomatic agenda.
Since acquiring the Danish wind turbine company Bonus Energy in 2004, the German industrial giant Siemens AG, has become one of the larger players in the wind power game with roughly 7 percent of the market.
Still, with rivals like GE Energy and Vestas controlling roughly 18 percent and 19 percent of the market, respectively, Siemens suggested at a financial presentation in Copenhagen on Monday that it’s looking to climb the rankings — and that it sees the fledgling American wind power market as a way to do that.
“We want to be one of the leading companies on the American market,” Andreas Nauen, the chief executive of Siemens Wind Power, told Green Inc. on Monday. “We are on our way, and would like to play an important role. The U.S. market is, and will be in the future, an important market to us.”
According to Siemens, over the next 20 years, the percentage of global power generation arising from renewable sources will grow from less than 5 percent now to about 17 percent by 2030. About half of that, the company said, will come from wind power.
Just 15 years from now, the company expects the global wind energy market to be worth nearly $300 billion, compared to a little over $40 billion today.
Much of that growth, the company is betting, will be in North America, the company estimated. “We have recieved big orders in both the United States and Canada,” Mr. Nauen said.
Of course, just how much the United States will benefit economically from any wind power expansion by foreign companies entering the market — particularly as it relates to the creation of manufacturing jobs — is a matter of some debate.
Larry D. Moore’s image of another interesting solar panel configuration in Austin, Texas. Image dated September, 20009. You can find a higher-resolution image – and other excellent images on a variety of subjects in his Wikimedia Commons Gallery.
Larry D. Moore: image of Mueller solar array in Austin, TX (US) via Wikimedia Commons
Assuming, for argument’s sake, that the configuration has no effect (in either direction) on efficiency. Since we’re going to be using more and more of these, we think experimentation with aesthetic form is an end unto itself, rather than having the national landscape covered with identical objects.
