Category: Technology

One – You lock the target

As cool as interceptor missile defense technology sounds I wonder if the road the program has gone down is the right one. It’s been proven that the system can work, but the reliability is of some question. Also, the threat of an incoming missile attack has been reduced greatly in the last few years thus bringing into question if the system is needed at all. I am not in favor of scrapping the program out right, but I’d like to see more positive results before a large number of these are built. I think that the airborne laser systems have a better chance of knocking a bird down but the deployment of these are more of a local determent and not a global one.
But what would happen if the system were to work without fail? If the US would pledge that it would disable any missile fired from a nation how would that change the world political climate? Would there now be a rush to secure new kinds of weapons platforms? A move to a robotic or nanotech army? Would the suicide bomber become the standard weapon of small nations?

US missile defence test flounders again

RAID!

With the low cost of hardware (still not free but getting close) and the huge amount of data a digital camera can make, the thought of a total hard drive failure (especially the one your using to back up your data to, but that is another story!) should send shivers through even the most brazen computer user.
How can you provide protection against data loss? Tape drive? Have you ever actually tried to get data off a consumer grade tape drive? You might as well inscribe your data on grains of rice an keep it in an old sock… The commercial drives cost way too much and the software is sketchy at best.
Backup to DVDs? Sure, as long as you don’t mind plodding through the 30+ disks you made when you backed up your 160GB drive. That is if none of them have developed a read error (that is yet another story for me to write.).
So what are you to do? Well, why not build a RAID…
What is a RAID you say? Well, it stands for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives. Once a thing only for servers that cost as much as last years Ford Focus can now be build at home for next to nothing. You just need some drives and a controller and your all set!
What’s RAID? – Tweak Hardware
Beginners Guides: Installing RAID on Desktop PCs

Vision In Focus

I’m going ot have to do some research on these, I wonder if my insurance will cover them…
(From the web page)
“Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are micro lenses that are placed inside your eye to correct cataracts, nearsightedness, farsightedness or presbyopia. There are two types of IOLs: anterior chamber lenses, which are placed in the anterior chamber of the eye between the iris and the cornea, and posterior chamber lenses, which are placed in the posterior chamber behind the iris and rest against the capsular bag.

IOLs may be used for the correction of nearsightedness, farsightedness, presbyopia, cataracts and astigmatism. The newest option available to people who are very nearsighted is the Verisyse(tm) Phakic Intraocular Lens (IOL).”

Vision In Focus

Apollo 11 – 17 Mission First man on the Moon – Fullscreen QTVR Photos

Here are a slew of fantastic panoramic images taken on the surface of the moon during the Apollo missions. The negatives have been rescanned and stiched together to form these breathtaking 360 degree images.

Apollo 11 – 17 Mission First man on the Moon – Fullscreen QTVR photo from panoramas.dk
Original Site (currently suffering from the Slashdot effect)