I hope everyone is having a great Christmas holiday!
Korean KP decorates Christmas tree set up in front of serving counter of HQs & HQs Co, 19th Inf Regt, 24th US Inf Div, as Christmas Day dinner is readied for men of the Co. Korea. 25 December 1951. [Army.mil]
“Since Tapia’s academy days, the FDNY has downgraded its entrance exam to lower the physical demands on recruits.”
…in the name of diversity.
Which means the fire department has a diverse mix of people who meet the physical requirements traditionally recognized as necessary to successfully fight fires and people who cannot.
When the cost of lawsuits against organizations for failure to perform their duties as well as possible are greater than for fake discrimination cases, this nonsense can be put to rest.
None the less, perhaps it is time to join the Fo’ Free Army and sue the NBA for racial, physical, and age discrimination. Merit and ability should not even be a factor.
North Korea’s Red Star Operating System tags every file with an encrypted fingerprint, to try and track networks of bootlegged videos, documents and files smuggled in from the outside.
I wonder if sending Rasberry Pi systems over the border with the usual thumb drives and DVDs might be a good idea? Red Star is an in-country build of Linux Fedora, with quite a bit of built in security to keep their intranet under tight control, and keep the U.S. and South Korea out. The Pi uses a different version of Linux, but nothing so difficult that a North Korean user couldn’t figure out, with a few pdf manuals preloaded.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
I just got a Raspberry Pi with a breadboard, lights, and protoboard kit. Do you guys have any projects you could recommend for me and my son to learn together?
CH, I bet you may have come up with some interesting uses for a Pi.
ChickenHead
8 years ago
It depends on what you want to do.
For the most part, the PI is a solution without a problem for me. It is not as powerful, convenient, or compact as a free early generation Galaxy smartphone… and it doesn’t have the low-level hardware interfaces of simple microcontrollers. A PC is more practical for me to do heavier processing on… even when the PI might work.
Raspberry Pi is good for software-intensive projects where a small single-board PC is too expensive… but has limited general purpose input/output… meaning you only have a few pins for reading sensors or flashing LEDs.
Of course with USB (and correct drivers) you can interface with lots of premade hardware.
If you want clever hardware projects, the Arduino boards are the way to go. They have lots of hardware interfaces… analog/digital converters, PWM outputs, digital IO… but limited processing power… so data is sent to a PC.
So what is a clever PI project?
Combine a PI and Arduino. Use the PI for brains and the Arduino for motor/sensor interfaces and you will have the coolest and smartest robot on the block.
…but to start, connect a resistor and LED to a GPIO pin and get it to blink. That first control of hardware with software is a rush.
You can get it to dim with a simple software PWM program… ask me a clever algorithm when you get to that stage. (PWM is a way of tricking analog devices (including your brain with a digital signal).
Next, read button presses… then move up to digital sensors.
Feel free to ask me when you get to these steps. There is unlimited info on the internet… but sometimes there is key theoretical or fundemental info missing.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
I bought a Canakit off Amazon. It came with some resistors, buttons, and LEDs to hookup. It has the breakout and cable to go to the breadboard. I’ve never messed with physical electronics much so I am approaching with caution. Apparently there are some ways to easily damage the Pi when working with the breadboard and interfacing directly with the pins. Will take some studying.
Thanks for the potential help.
setnaffa
8 years ago
johnnyboy
Using a Pi + Arduino to build a home monitoring system might be fun. Turn on/off lights/appliances/alarms based on movement or sound. Display the status on LEDs and/or GUI.
Having so many older PCs around the house has kept me from trying the fun stuff…
Several things can easily kill electronics when interfacing.
1. Drawing too much current… meaning allowing an output pin to touch ground or go through something without much resistance… though some devices have an internal resistor to protect against shorts.
2. Putting voltage on something that doesn’t want voltage… connecting an output to an output, power to an output pin… though this doesn’t always kill
3. Exceeding the max voltage on an input… 12v on a 5v input, 5v on a 3.3v input, static (not as common as internet-mongered fear would have you believe)
4. Too much updahg
Don’t worry… pretty hard to kill with an output pin going to a resistor –> LED –> ground.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
This probably sounds stupid, but it wasn’t readily evident when I was looking at projects with a breadboard. Why does it have 5 different connections in the row for each pin? Also, the T style expansion board I have seems to put 3.3 V on one side of the board and 5V on the other side, but separately from the area for connecting to the pins. Can anyone explain it where I could readily understand it?
You guys seem to have a knack for putting things into plain English.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
Disregard. I think I found a good video, finally.
ChickenHead
8 years ago
“Why does it have 5 different connections in the row for each pin?”
Down the center of the breadboard, there is a groove. Chips (ICs) fit over this groove with the pins on each side, taking up one hole in each row of 5 connections. This leaves 4 holes for connections to each pin of the IC. Of course, if you need them, you can run a jumper off to another row of pins and you have 4 more connections.
If you Google Image, you will see this in action.
Be sure you never put 5v on 3.3v stuff… and the PI is 3.3v That will make the magic smoke come out. You can use 5v stuff on the 3.3v PI with level converters (or a few other clever tricks) but generally, choose one or the other… stick with 3.3v stuff until you advance.
Also, generally you will want to put 3.3v along the top bus on the breadboard and ground on the bottom bus.
Just be sure never to get too much updahg.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
Right now I am sticking with your advice and hooking up a single LED with a single resisitor on the 3.3 side.
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s updahg?
ChickenHead
8 years ago
“What’s updahg?”
Nuthun’s up, dawg. Just chillin’ in my plush crib with my fly homies, smokin’ choice blunts, and lookin’ for some tight biitches who be diggin’ my mad bling and fat rolls of dead motherfukkin’ presidents.
And we be blinkin’ the LEDs and shyt with some of dat 3.3 volts.
P.S. Google LED resistor calculator and you will be able to determine what resistor to use for the LED… though you can use a big range… and could likely run it with no resistor… but a resistor is proper to limit the current… as LEDs are current-driven rather than voltage-driven devices… i would guess something around 50 ohms for a red LED off 3.3v.
setnaffa
8 years ago
LOL. You used magic smoke and updahg… You sort of rule at this interweb stuff…
I remember back in the day when “car accidents” in relatively car free North Korea meant that someone had been fired from their position in a permanent method. Now the DPRK actually has traffic, and this could be what it says on the tin. Still, Fatty Kim seems to be thinning out the crowd pretty harshly.
As for the Raspberry Pi, let me know when you get a dicfur up and running.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
Not sure how many ohms the resistors in my kit are but they all appear to be the same.
I had heard the updagh/updawg joke before but I wanted to see where you went with it. I wasn’t disappointed.
The way I heard it was “Smells like updawg in here.”
“What’s updawg?”
Okay MTB Rider, what’s a dicf-…………nevermind……
ChickenHead
8 years ago
You can calculate the resistor values with the color bands… you will only need to hear this once to remember the color order…
Black boys rape only young girls but violet gives willingly.
Chances are the included resistor values will work well. LEDs have an max, ideal, min current… and this can span a wide range of values.
If you want high brightness, use a small resistor… but for an indicator that won’t be used in sunlight on a battery-powered device, a larger resistor and a dim LED would be fine design thinking.
Keep in mind, the output pins have a max current. If you short them to ground, infinite current will flow. Unless there is internal limiting resistance, it will burn. With infinite resistance, such as air, no current will flow… all is well.
With an LED and resistor, some current will flow… well below the pin’s output max. With two LEDs and resistors side-by-side, double the current will fkow. You can add LEDs until you exceed the max. You can easily calculate this.
If you want to switch more current, you use the low-current pin to switch a high-current device. A relay is simple to understand and works well… but, as this is not 1920, use a transistory kind of thing.
MOSFETs are brilliant, easy to use, idiotproof, and very simple to interface. You can easily switch 400vdc with hundreds of amps.
Using PWM, you can make a light dimmer or motor speed controller with a few lines of code.
There are also tiny 8 channel current driver chips which brilliantly switch several amps for running things like stepper and servo motors, large number of LEDs, etc.
I used to buy these and make my own PCBs… but now they are available from China for a few bucks on a PCB with status LEDs… i can’t make them cheaper or better.
Go to Aliexpress and type in Arduino. All of the little sensors and modules will work with PI in/outputs… though you will need to be sure they are 3.3v.
You can run 5v stuff… but will need to convert the levels… and use extreme care not to crosd your wires. If you stick to 3.3v for now, it will be hard to kill anything.
Projects:
– blink LED
– brighten/dim LED with PWM
– run a small motor with a MOSFET and power supply for it
– speed control this motor with PWM
– read pushbuttons
– convert levels and read digital feeds off your consumer electronics… GPS, digital caliper, etc… know your voltages or risk smoke
– play with digital sensors… temp sensor, digital compass
– buy an analog/digital converter chip and read analog signals such as volume control, light sensor, thermistor, etc
ChickenHead
8 years ago
If you need chip numbers or code snipits, ask me. I have gone through most of this for other devices… so the code won’t work on a PI but the procedures will he clear.
A lot of digital sensors are tiny little computers and you need to “program” them with initiation and setup commands. This is not clear to a noob with a thick data sheet… but i can simply explain what to send and what it does.
johnnyboy
8 years ago
I appreciate you taking time to give me advice. I feel like I have stepped into your world but I have little understanding of how things work there. I will gain more understanding over time and hopefully I can get my kid interested as well if I can get him thinking about shiit besides Xbox for a minute.
Have you worked with Python much? I bought a book with some Python projects specifically fort he Pi. The really cool stuff needs Arduinos to work right but the book is still a pretty good resource. Pi seems to prefer Python or Java.
On a side note, is it just me or is the conversation a little more civil around here for some odd reason?
ChickenHead
8 years ago
I have used Python only once as someone had written some brillian RF FFT routines and it was easier to write my software around that then recreate their code in C.
While all languages have their little cleverness, they are all converging. It is not the Cobol/Fortran divide of 40 years ago. Once you learn one, you can learn another in a weekend… at least for the applications you will likely be doing.
If you can’t get your kid away from the XBox and hardware-centric PI projects aren’t holding interest, consider introducing him to Windows programming… specifically a version of C and some of the game engines… meaning it is easy to develop video games… as the engine does all the heavy lifting for 3D graphics and sound.
I have used a simple game engine as a lazy way to do 3D data plots… writing data collection and analysis software and then pumping the numbers into the engine to build physical objects that can be explored in the virtual world.
Until I get a holodeck installed in the lab, that will have to do.
If you have any questions as you progress, ask me. I can give days-long lectures on many facets of digital elextronics, interfacing, motion control, data collection, data representation, etc.
I despise people who try to make this all seem difficult… when it gets easier every year.
Kids are doing amazing things.
This is why Clockboy is a fraud and Obama is a clown.
Denny
8 years ago
Google’s robot soldier dogs are booted out by the US Marines: ‘Cujo’ and ‘Spot’ deemed too loud to help troops in battle
Being a bit of a science fiction geek, I remember two “dogs” in particular:
The Rat-Things in Snow Crash. Cybernetically enhanced pit bulls, used to protect Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong properties, and a “Slamhound” robot filled with explosives in Wm. Gibson’s “Count Zero.”
I also think that the mobile suits like those used in the Starcraft games will become quite popular once the mobile power problem is solved. Robots and even remote suits won’t be as effective as a trooper in powered armor.
South Korea might have one heck of a leg up in the future.
setnaffa
8 years ago
That self-landing rocket booster made me think we’re almost to the point of achieving 1947 Science Fiction…
setnaffa
8 years ago
‘WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Man charged with setting Houston mosque fire was a devout attendee. “According to a charging instrument released by the Harris County District Clerk, Moore told investigators at the scene that he has attended the mosque for five years, coming five times per day to pray seven days per week.” http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Federal-officials-arrest-man-in-connection-with-6727623.php
With a jihadi beard. You know, the good news is that without fake hate crimes, we’d hardly have any hate crimes at all.’
False accusations of rape should have the same punishment as rape…
…and hoaxed hate crimes should carry the same enhancements as actual hate crimes… as hoaxed hate crimes are actual hate crimes against the race/religion/gender/orientation they are trying to frame.
Most of the racism and other discrimination in America is contrived by self-made victims looking for attention…
…but the reality that almost every hate crime is a hoax breeds real resemtment within the groups that are blamed in the headlines and later cleared on page 6.
This doubles when there is talk of “all those hate crimes” which never existed to begin with.
Side note: One wonders what this guy’s background is… imported trouble or prison jihadist. Whatever the case, if he is praying 5 times a day at a mosque, there is a good chance our tax dollars are supporting him.
Perhaps they should let him off with a warming… on the condition he keeps burning down mosques.
setnaffa
8 years ago
LOL… If I’d read that two minutes earlier, I might have needed a new keyboard and a refill on my coffee… ;-D
setnaffa
8 years ago
We all lived through 2015. That’s worth 5 points.
Not everyone here had an appointment in 2015 with actual combat. That could be worth 0-5 additional, depending on if you’re a snake-eater or a pajama boy…
2015 didn’t suck — at least when compared with 1941 or 2001. And there are a lot of feel-good stories.
So suck in your gut, pick yourselves up by your bootstraps, and get back in line.
Qui audet adipiscitur.
Liz
8 years ago
“LOL… If I’d read that two minutes earlier, I might have needed a new keyboard and a refill on my coffee…”
I make sure to never read a post by CH when I’m drinking coffee or anything.
Always be prepared…
‘Unfireable’ female firefighter will get an unprecedented seventh chance to pass FDNY physical test
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3375624/Unfireable-female-firefighter-unprecedented-seventh-chance-pass-FDNY-physical-test.html
“Since Tapia’s academy days, the FDNY has downgraded its entrance exam to lower the physical demands on recruits.”
…in the name of diversity.
Which means the fire department has a diverse mix of people who meet the physical requirements traditionally recognized as necessary to successfully fight fires and people who cannot.
When the cost of lawsuits against organizations for failure to perform their duties as well as possible are greater than for fake discrimination cases, this nonsense can be put to rest.
None the less, perhaps it is time to join the Fo’ Free Army and sue the NBA for racial, physical, and age discrimination. Merit and ability should not even be a factor.
Korea and Japan are about to let bygones be on the Comfort Women issue for $8.3 million.
North Korea’s Red Star Operating System tags every file with an encrypted fingerprint, to try and track networks of bootlegged videos, documents and files smuggled in from the outside.
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/north-korea-own-operating-system-160216987.html
I wonder if sending Rasberry Pi systems over the border with the usual thumb drives and DVDs might be a good idea? Red Star is an in-country build of Linux Fedora, with quite a bit of built in security to keep their intranet under tight control, and keep the U.S. and South Korea out. The Pi uses a different version of Linux, but nothing so difficult that a North Korean user couldn’t figure out, with a few pdf manuals preloaded.
I just got a Raspberry Pi with a breadboard, lights, and protoboard kit. Do you guys have any projects you could recommend for me and my son to learn together?
CH, I bet you may have come up with some interesting uses for a Pi.
It depends on what you want to do.
For the most part, the PI is a solution without a problem for me. It is not as powerful, convenient, or compact as a free early generation Galaxy smartphone… and it doesn’t have the low-level hardware interfaces of simple microcontrollers. A PC is more practical for me to do heavier processing on… even when the PI might work.
Raspberry Pi is good for software-intensive projects where a small single-board PC is too expensive… but has limited general purpose input/output… meaning you only have a few pins for reading sensors or flashing LEDs.
Of course with USB (and correct drivers) you can interface with lots of premade hardware.
If you want clever hardware projects, the Arduino boards are the way to go. They have lots of hardware interfaces… analog/digital converters, PWM outputs, digital IO… but limited processing power… so data is sent to a PC.
So what is a clever PI project?
Combine a PI and Arduino. Use the PI for brains and the Arduino for motor/sensor interfaces and you will have the coolest and smartest robot on the block.
…but to start, connect a resistor and LED to a GPIO pin and get it to blink. That first control of hardware with software is a rush.
You can get it to dim with a simple software PWM program… ask me a clever algorithm when you get to that stage. (PWM is a way of tricking analog devices (including your brain with a digital signal).
Next, read button presses… then move up to digital sensors.
Feel free to ask me when you get to these steps. There is unlimited info on the internet… but sometimes there is key theoretical or fundemental info missing.
I bought a Canakit off Amazon. It came with some resistors, buttons, and LEDs to hookup. It has the breakout and cable to go to the breadboard. I’ve never messed with physical electronics much so I am approaching with caution. Apparently there are some ways to easily damage the Pi when working with the breadboard and interfacing directly with the pins. Will take some studying.
Thanks for the potential help.
johnnyboy
Using a Pi + Arduino to build a home monitoring system might be fun. Turn on/off lights/appliances/alarms based on movement or sound. Display the status on LEDs and/or GUI.
Having so many older PCs around the house has kept me from trying the fun stuff…
Like CH said, there are a lot of starter pages: http://pimylifeup.com/category/projects/beginner/
Several things can easily kill electronics when interfacing.
1. Drawing too much current… meaning allowing an output pin to touch ground or go through something without much resistance… though some devices have an internal resistor to protect against shorts.
2. Putting voltage on something that doesn’t want voltage… connecting an output to an output, power to an output pin… though this doesn’t always kill
3. Exceeding the max voltage on an input… 12v on a 5v input, 5v on a 3.3v input, static (not as common as internet-mongered fear would have you believe)
4. Too much updahg
Don’t worry… pretty hard to kill with an output pin going to a resistor –> LED –> ground.
This probably sounds stupid, but it wasn’t readily evident when I was looking at projects with a breadboard. Why does it have 5 different connections in the row for each pin? Also, the T style expansion board I have seems to put 3.3 V on one side of the board and 5V on the other side, but separately from the area for connecting to the pins. Can anyone explain it where I could readily understand it?
You guys seem to have a knack for putting things into plain English.
Disregard. I think I found a good video, finally.
“Why does it have 5 different connections in the row for each pin?”
Down the center of the breadboard, there is a groove. Chips (ICs) fit over this groove with the pins on each side, taking up one hole in each row of 5 connections. This leaves 4 holes for connections to each pin of the IC. Of course, if you need them, you can run a jumper off to another row of pins and you have 4 more connections.
If you Google Image, you will see this in action.
Be sure you never put 5v on 3.3v stuff… and the PI is 3.3v That will make the magic smoke come out. You can use 5v stuff on the 3.3v PI with level converters (or a few other clever tricks) but generally, choose one or the other… stick with 3.3v stuff until you advance.
Also, generally you will want to put 3.3v along the top bus on the breadboard and ground on the bottom bus.
Just be sure never to get too much updahg.
Right now I am sticking with your advice and hooking up a single LED with a single resisitor on the 3.3 side.
Okay, I’ll bite. What’s updahg?
“What’s updahg?”
Nuthun’s up, dawg. Just chillin’ in my plush crib with my fly homies, smokin’ choice blunts, and lookin’ for some tight biitches who be diggin’ my mad bling and fat rolls of dead motherfukkin’ presidents.
And we be blinkin’ the LEDs and shyt with some of dat 3.3 volts.
P.S. Google LED resistor calculator and you will be able to determine what resistor to use for the LED… though you can use a big range… and could likely run it with no resistor… but a resistor is proper to limit the current… as LEDs are current-driven rather than voltage-driven devices… i would guess something around 50 ohms for a red LED off 3.3v.
LOL. You used magic smoke and updahg… You sort of rule at this interweb stuff…
Basic Electronics Tutorials (for beginners and beyond): http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/
So, killed in a car accident, or killed in a “car accident”?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/top-aide-north-korea-leader-kim-jong-un-231332142.html
I remember back in the day when “car accidents” in relatively car free North Korea meant that someone had been fired from their position in a permanent method. Now the DPRK actually has traffic, and this could be what it says on the tin. Still, Fatty Kim seems to be thinning out the crowd pretty harshly.
As for the Raspberry Pi, let me know when you get a dicfur up and running.
Not sure how many ohms the resistors in my kit are but they all appear to be the same.
I had heard the updagh/updawg joke before but I wanted to see where you went with it. I wasn’t disappointed.
The way I heard it was “Smells like updawg in here.”
“What’s updawg?”
Okay MTB Rider, what’s a dicf-…………nevermind……
You can calculate the resistor values with the color bands… you will only need to hear this once to remember the color order…
Black boys rape only young girls but violet gives willingly.
Chances are the included resistor values will work well. LEDs have an max, ideal, min current… and this can span a wide range of values.
If you want high brightness, use a small resistor… but for an indicator that won’t be used in sunlight on a battery-powered device, a larger resistor and a dim LED would be fine design thinking.
Keep in mind, the output pins have a max current. If you short them to ground, infinite current will flow. Unless there is internal limiting resistance, it will burn. With infinite resistance, such as air, no current will flow… all is well.
With an LED and resistor, some current will flow… well below the pin’s output max. With two LEDs and resistors side-by-side, double the current will fkow. You can add LEDs until you exceed the max. You can easily calculate this.
If you want to switch more current, you use the low-current pin to switch a high-current device. A relay is simple to understand and works well… but, as this is not 1920, use a transistory kind of thing.
MOSFETs are brilliant, easy to use, idiotproof, and very simple to interface. You can easily switch 400vdc with hundreds of amps.
Using PWM, you can make a light dimmer or motor speed controller with a few lines of code.
There are also tiny 8 channel current driver chips which brilliantly switch several amps for running things like stepper and servo motors, large number of LEDs, etc.
I used to buy these and make my own PCBs… but now they are available from China for a few bucks on a PCB with status LEDs… i can’t make them cheaper or better.
Go to Aliexpress and type in Arduino. All of the little sensors and modules will work with PI in/outputs… though you will need to be sure they are 3.3v.
You can run 5v stuff… but will need to convert the levels… and use extreme care not to crosd your wires. If you stick to 3.3v for now, it will be hard to kill anything.
Projects:
– blink LED
– brighten/dim LED with PWM
– run a small motor with a MOSFET and power supply for it
– speed control this motor with PWM
– read pushbuttons
– convert levels and read digital feeds off your consumer electronics… GPS, digital caliper, etc… know your voltages or risk smoke
– play with digital sensors… temp sensor, digital compass
– buy an analog/digital converter chip and read analog signals such as volume control, light sensor, thermistor, etc
If you need chip numbers or code snipits, ask me. I have gone through most of this for other devices… so the code won’t work on a PI but the procedures will he clear.
A lot of digital sensors are tiny little computers and you need to “program” them with initiation and setup commands. This is not clear to a noob with a thick data sheet… but i can simply explain what to send and what it does.
I appreciate you taking time to give me advice. I feel like I have stepped into your world but I have little understanding of how things work there. I will gain more understanding over time and hopefully I can get my kid interested as well if I can get him thinking about shiit besides Xbox for a minute.
Have you worked with Python much? I bought a book with some Python projects specifically fort he Pi. The really cool stuff needs Arduinos to work right but the book is still a pretty good resource. Pi seems to prefer Python or Java.
On a side note, is it just me or is the conversation a little more civil around here for some odd reason?
I have used Python only once as someone had written some brillian RF FFT routines and it was easier to write my software around that then recreate their code in C.
While all languages have their little cleverness, they are all converging. It is not the Cobol/Fortran divide of 40 years ago. Once you learn one, you can learn another in a weekend… at least for the applications you will likely be doing.
If you can’t get your kid away from the XBox and hardware-centric PI projects aren’t holding interest, consider introducing him to Windows programming… specifically a version of C and some of the game engines… meaning it is easy to develop video games… as the engine does all the heavy lifting for 3D graphics and sound.
I have used a simple game engine as a lazy way to do 3D data plots… writing data collection and analysis software and then pumping the numbers into the engine to build physical objects that can be explored in the virtual world.
Until I get a holodeck installed in the lab, that will have to do.
If you have any questions as you progress, ask me. I can give days-long lectures on many facets of digital elextronics, interfacing, motion control, data collection, data representation, etc.
I despise people who try to make this all seem difficult… when it gets easier every year.
Kids are doing amazing things.
This is why Clockboy is a fraud and Obama is a clown.
Google’s robot soldier dogs are booted out by the US Marines: ‘Cujo’ and ‘Spot’ deemed too loud to help troops in battle
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3377777/Google-s-robot-soldier-dogs-booted-Marines-Cujo-Spot-deemed-loud-help-soldiers-battle.html
“US Marines: ‘Cujo’ and ‘Spot’ deemed too loud to help troops in battle”
Once the moble power problem is solved, human advancement will explode.
Being a bit of a science fiction geek, I remember two “dogs” in particular:
The Rat-Things in Snow Crash. Cybernetically enhanced pit bulls, used to protect Mr. Lee’s Greater Hong Kong properties, and a “Slamhound” robot filled with explosives in Wm. Gibson’s “Count Zero.”
I also think that the mobile suits like those used in the Starcraft games will become quite popular once the mobile power problem is solved. Robots and even remote suits won’t be as effective as a trooper in powered armor.
South Korea might have one heck of a leg up in the future.
That self-landing rocket booster made me think we’re almost to the point of achieving 1947 Science Fiction…
‘WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Man charged with setting Houston mosque fire was a devout attendee. “According to a charging instrument released by the Harris County District Clerk, Moore told investigators at the scene that he has attended the mosque for five years, coming five times per day to pray seven days per week.” http://www.chron.com/houston/article/Federal-officials-arrest-man-in-connection-with-6727623.php
With a jihadi beard. You know, the good news is that without fake hate crimes, we’d hardly have any hate crimes at all.’
http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/222699/
False accusations of rape should have the same punishment as rape…
…and hoaxed hate crimes should carry the same enhancements as actual hate crimes… as hoaxed hate crimes are actual hate crimes against the race/religion/gender/orientation they are trying to frame.
Most of the racism and other discrimination in America is contrived by self-made victims looking for attention…
…but the reality that almost every hate crime is a hoax breeds real resemtment within the groups that are blamed in the headlines and later cleared on page 6.
This doubles when there is talk of “all those hate crimes” which never existed to begin with.
Side note: One wonders what this guy’s background is… imported trouble or prison jihadist. Whatever the case, if he is praying 5 times a day at a mosque, there is a good chance our tax dollars are supporting him.
Perhaps they should let him off with a warming… on the condition he keeps burning down mosques.
LOL… If I’d read that two minutes earlier, I might have needed a new keyboard and a refill on my coffee… ;-D
We all lived through 2015. That’s worth 5 points.
Not everyone here had an appointment in 2015 with actual combat. That could be worth 0-5 additional, depending on if you’re a snake-eater or a pajama boy…
2015 didn’t suck — at least when compared with 1941 or 2001. And there are a lot of feel-good stories.
So suck in your gut, pick yourselves up by your bootstraps, and get back in line.
Qui audet adipiscitur.
“LOL… If I’d read that two minutes earlier, I might have needed a new keyboard and a refill on my coffee…”
I make sure to never read a post by CH when I’m drinking coffee or anything.
Always be prepared…