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The latest talk on the bin Laden raid has been a supposedly new stealth helicopter that was use by the Navy Seals during the raid. While it is not all that surprising in many respects that we may have a new stealth helicopter. The surprising thing is that it has been kept a secret until now. Although, it has not really been kept a total secret, but a through misinformation campaigns that would have deflect the fact that development had continued on the stealth helicopter programs after the cancellation of the Comanche program.

I remember the Comanche helicopter was actually used in computer game probably about a decade ago, so the existence of these types of helicopters has not been unknown or secret, per se. We have know about the potential for stealth helicopters for quite a while. Since the first Comanche helicopter was developed in 1995 and I am not sure when exactly the Comanche program became public knowledge, but as far as I know it wasn’t a big secret , but just a somewhat lesser known and talked about program and ultimately lesser valued program, since it was canceled in 2004. Here is a report from the time:

February 23, 2004
Army to End Comanche Helicopter Program
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 12:34 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army has decided to cancel its Comanche helicopter program, a multi-billion project to build a new-generation chopper for armed reconnaissance missions, officials said Monday.

The contractors for Comanche are Boeing Co. and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.

With about $8 billion already invested in the program, and the production line not yet started, the cancellation is one of the largest in the history of the Army. It follows the Pentagon’s decision in 2002 to cancel the Crusader artillery program — against the wishes of Army leaders.

Pentagon officials said a public announcement was planned for Monday afternoon.

Loren Thompson, who follows aviation and other defense issues for the Lexington Institute think tank, said he believes the Army under new chief of staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker favors ending the Comanche program, even though the service had been counting on it to provide a new reconnaissance capability.

“The Bush administration has now killed the two biggest Army weapons programs it inherited from the Clinton administration,” Thompson said, referring to the Crusader and Comanche.

Earlier this year the White House budget office asked the Pentagon to provide independent reviews of the Comanche and another expensive aviation program, the Air Force’s F/A-22 Raptor fighter.

Although killing the Comanche project would save tens of billion in future costs, the cancellation decision is expected to require the Army to pay at least $2 billion in contract termination fees.

The Comanche program was started in 1983 and had survived many reviews. Initial production was scheduled to begin in 2006.

Below are known facts about the Comanche:

Stealth characteristics. The Comanche incorporates more low-observable stealth features than any aircraft in Army history. The Comanche radar cross-section (RCS) is less than that of a Hellfire missile. To reduce radar cross-section, weapons can be carried internally, the gun can be rotated aft and stowed within a fairing behind the turret when not in use, and the landing gear are fully-retractable. The all-composite fuselage sides are flat and canted and rounded surfaces are avoided by use of faceted turret and engine covers. The Comanche’s head-on RCS is 360 times smaller than the AH-64 Apache, 250 times less than the smaller OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, and 32 times smaller than the OH-58D’s mast-mounted sight. This means the Comanche will be able to approach five times closer to an enemy radar than an Apache, or four times closer than an OH-58D, without being detected.

Noise suppression. The Comanche only radiates one-half the rotor noise of current helicopters. Noise is reduced by use of a five-bladed rotor, pioneered by the successful Boeing (McDonnell Douglas) MD-500 Defender series of light utility helicopters. The fantail eliminates interaction between main rotor and tail rotor wakes. The advanced rotor design permits operation at low speed, allowing the Comanche to sneak 40% closer to a target than an Apache, without being detected by an acoustical system.

Infrared (IR) suppression. The Comanche only radiates 25% of the engine heat of current helicopters, a critical survivability design concern in a low-flying tactical scout helicopter. The Comanche is the first helicopter in which the infrared (IR) suppression system is integrated into the airframe. This innovative Sikorsky design feature provides IR suppressors that are built into the tail-boom, providing ample length for complete and efficient mixing of engine exhaust and cooling air flowing through inlets above the tail. The mixed exhaust is discharged through slots built into an inverted shelf on the sides of the tail-boom. The gases are cooled so thoroughly that a heat-seeking missile cannot find and lock-on to the Comanche.

These characteristics combined with ground hugging (aka map of earth flying) are all in keeping with the reasons why the helicopter could had gotten in range without being seen on radar or heard by neighbors until it was overhead. So this really boiled down to three possibilities. One maybe they just took in a Comanche or a few Comanches, and found some other way to get the troops in either by conventional helicopter or some other means, two the most plausible possibility is they specific developed a sort of modified Black Hawk Comanche hybrid for this mission, which they had a year to plan, or third there could still be a black program going on which develops Comanche like helicopters on a limited scale for special forces missions.

Of course there are other possibles of similar helicopters currently in development that the Navy Seals could have used modifications of. One such helicopter is the Eurcopter X3 which can fly a plane like speeds and may also explain why they didn’t hear noise until the helicopter was right over top. Sikorsky also has a similar version the called the X2. While the neither of these specifically match the tail blade certain similar technologies could had been employed.

However, considering how bin Laden was such a high priority target it is very quie concivable that they did develop or at least modifiy something for this mission. Since there is not really any other convicable reason why we would have needed a year of planing for this mission, since we didn’t need to engage diplomatic channels with Pakiastan, but simply find ways around them.

However, considering how bin Laden was such a high priority target it is very quite conceivable that they did develop or at least modify something for this mission. Since there is not really any other conceivable reasons why we would have needed a year of planing for this mission, since we didn’t need to engage diplomatic channels with Pakistan, but simply find ways around them. Once we located bin Laden around that area it doesn’t seem feasible that we lost him (in fact the CIA even had a safe house in Abbottabad watching him), rather it seems the most likely scenario is that Pakistan has been shielding him. Thus the planing was needed to evade detection by Pakistan more than anything, and part of that planing was likely use of, not new or secret stealth technologies, but modified stealth technologies that are not widely used due to cost prohibitablity. Furthermore, it is clear the if the helicopter crashed the technologies did not work all that well, and were probably not widely developed under a large scale black program.

Now of course Obama may be trying to detract from this by meeting with “special operators” tomorrow. While it makes movies and such to have bin Laden killed in such a way, the ideal way really would be to of had him killed in the most indiscreet and insignificant way possible, which would had ddiminished his stature, now the fear becomes that it will be remembered that we used are best technology and everything we had to take him out. Nonetheless, the fact still remains we go him, so it will continue to be a rallying event. Now the best thing we can do is to forget him, because the terrorists would want for him to be remember as a martyr or something. Thus the best thing is to say we got him, and that is that.

Disturbing what Pfizer did with Bextra, now on American Greed. Sales representatives got financial incentives to push the drug for off label uses: tropical getaways, seats at sporting events, expensive wine, etc all based on marketing. All for a drug that didn’t solve pain any better, but just had extra risk like heart attack, stroke, renal failure, and also might actually lead your skin to fall off. The $2.3 billion fine accounts for only 3 weeks worth of sales and was paid in one wire transfer. No one went to jail, but a compliance program was put in place.

This is a picture of, what was assumed to be, a SAM launcher. A SAM (acronym meaning surface to air missile) is as its name implies a SAM is designed to shot down airplanes. Of course the police and CNN seemed to have wrongly identified it as a SAM launcher initially, and as far as I know right now CNN has not yet corrected their error. It turns out it is just a casing for an anti tank weapon, which the guy said he found in a shed he tore down. He first tired to disposed of it at three different dumps; none of which would accept it.

I took it to three dumps to try to get rid of it, and they told me to get lost.

So he decide to bring it to the Orlando police’s, no questions asked, guns for shoes trade in, where he exchanged it for size 3 Reeboks for his daughter.

I think he would have done better on ebay with it, assuming that it is harmless, being that it is just a casing. I am sure there are many people out there who collect that type of stuff, and would probably be will to pay more than $50 (the police offered shoes or a $50 gift certificate for the guns). Of course with something like that it may not have been worth his time to try and sell it, although some of the other people got an even worst deal: According to the Orlando Sentinel “An unblemished 1903 .32-caliber Colt pistol caught the eye of a knowledgeable deputy who checked the Internet and found it was worth about $1,400.” Since the trade in was no questions asked the guy will probably not be able to get his gun back and the police get a 2800% profit on just that gun alone. Maybe if they want to be really good-natured they will try to get in touch with the poor guy that traded his $1,400 antique gun in for $50. To be fair, they were able to get several hot (stolen) and illegal guns off the streets too.

We all know of the world’s greatest source of information, Wikipedia. Students begin (and sometimes end) all research on Wikipedia. Any one with a medical disorder goes to the site to get their prognoses. If you want to know what a Billiken is you go to Wikipedia. (Go search what a Billiken is anyway, it will blow your mind. I am planning on starting a Billiken fan club. Tell me if you want to join. Maybe I should change my name to Billiken S-R) If you want to learn the science from apples to zip ties, you can find a comprehensive 97% accurate article on the subject. In fact, a good amount (more like 99%) of my Haynes.TV research is done on Wikipedia. However with such an extensive library of random information and a cult following of confused individuals, can anyone possibly challenge the dominance of Wikipedia?

Citizendium (Citizens’ Compendium) began testing in November 2006. It already has over 1000 articles in its possession. It was created by Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia. Sanger’s goal is to inject some intelligent expert advice into the wiki encyclopedia. He will do this through a hierarchy of expertise and responsibility. Authors must submit their full name. They will then be subject to constables that can ban irresponsible or “stupid” authors from contributing. Constables must be at least 25 and hold a bachelors degree. The authors will then be supervised by editors. Editors choose which material makes it to the site. Editors require an academic background in a specific area of expertise. The system of authors and constables should prevent the free roam of false information that plagues Wikipedia. Wikipedia has seen complaints for Internet “vandalism” from subjects that have had articles falsely written about them. Also, an interesting fact, Stephen Colbert has been banned from Wikipedia for his abuse of the site, having his viewers alter comments in an immature (0r hilarious) way.

However, I don’t see Citizendium making it too far. While the stages of revision will prevent inappropriate and inaccurate information from reaching the site, it will restrict the sites growth. The appeal of Wikipedia is that there are so many articles, one can find almost any tidbit of information on their site. They can change with popular culture, politics, and the economy. Citizendium will be restricted by a limited pool of authors. Wikipedia seems to grow exponentially, while I see Citizendium growing in a line at best, most likely plateauing in a few years. Maybe Citizendium’s 820 authors and 126 editors should spend their time making Wikipedia a better site. At least 5 of them should contribute Billiken articles any. Wikipedia is too large and powerful to mess with. They almost define popular knowledge. Any other wiki encyclopedia is just wasting its time.

Many concerns have been raised pertaining to the free flowing nature of information and content in the modern industrial age. Besides the burgeoning identity theft industry, major questions have been raised over the legality of copyrighted content on the Internet. Specifically, the media giant YouTube has been targeted for its blind spot towards copyrighted shows. All major “traditional” media corporations, such as CBS, NBC, BBC, and Viacom have cried bloody murder over the so-called piracy of their popular programs. YouTube has worked with these companies by deleting the content specified as content, although only after the corporations raise the issue, as well as work to make deals with these companies over the extent of profit sharing. Viacom has responded to Google’s (Google bought YouTube in 2006 for $1.6 billion) lack of interest by initiating a one billion dollar lawsuit accusing YouTube of major international copyright infringement.

YouTube is claiming that all its actions were perfectly legal as described by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This act, the constitution of Internet copyright laws states that if a website deletes copyright protected materiel upon being notified by the copyright holder, than they are not liable for copyright infringement. However, Viacom contends that Google is aware of content and waits as long as possible to delete material, as evidenced by their attempt to broker a deal with major media conglomerates. However, the biggest legal issue at hand in this case is the precedent it will set for the emerging Internet media empire’s ability to show media created by traditional networks.

I see this case as only delaying a major media shift to the Internet. The advancement computer video technology and monitors combined with the shift to make the computer the center system in the household makes it apparent that traditional television as we know it is an endangered animal. We can all ready see with the introduction of Tivo and the DVR that television viewers want to see their own shows at their own times. We no longer want to be restrained by commercials, show times, and reruns. Major media networks are starting to recognize this shift, including Viacom. With new polls showing that teenager aged 13 to 21 spend as much time on the Internet as watching TV, MTV, a viacom owned network, is launching a new website aiming at capturing young web surfers. They offer such applications as actual music (if you can believe that) and personal remixes of popular shows. Viacom recognizes that it needs to extend its empire to the Internet. However they want to do it in their own way and they are willing to wait in order the achieve the biggest success and profit. They do not want to see other websites such as YouTube creating a steady audience of their programs, unless they could broker a deal that gave them a substantial proportion of the profits. With YouTube’s inability to cooperate, Viacom has decided to take it under their belt to stop any copyright infringement and start work on the Viacom death-staresque Internet empire. I can guarantee that if Viacom loses this law suit they will immediately go into stiff competition with YouTube, intending to cripple the site in any way possible.

Is this a picture of a cellular tower or a water tower. You guessed it; it is both a cell tower and a water tower. As many of you may remember I put up a picture of a cell tower off the Mass Pike back in August, that was made to look like a tree. The dilemma of where to put new cellular towers

Well here is another way in which they attempt to blend the cell towers in; this one is actually integrated with what appears to be a fully functional water tower, and is thereby serving a dual purpose both as a water tower, and a cell tower. Many people just are unwilling to have these cell towers go up around them, because they think they are ugly so they have to work out many solutions like this in which they integrate these things seamlessly

This particular cell tower is located off of route 138 in Rhode Island, just prior to the URI campus.

You heard right You are indeed time Magazine’s Person of the Year. Now that you know you may be wondering how you are Time Magazine’s Person of The Year. This year time decided that no one person had the greatest influence upon society, although they acknowledged all these influential people such as President Bush, Vice President Cheney, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the president of Iran (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad), ruler of North Korea (Kim Jong-il), and even China with their growing world economy. They decided that we had a larger influence through our blogs, myspace, Facebook, Youtube, Wikipedia, etc. Either that or they decided that they would sell more magazines by going with the us instead of someone like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, because they know how we like to hear about ourselves. Also we were probably the only people they though they could put a positive spin on since Time seems to agree with many of the antiwar critics, stories of the President would have had a negative spin, and we all know that these other rules are negative influences and although China is bringing us cheap goods we also know that China’s growth could really threaten our access to resources. So time decided to go with the only postive story they could think of you!

Modern video games have come under tremendous critisism over the past few years for promoting violence, immoral conduct, and degenerate children. Games like Grand Theft Auto and Halo on the PS2 and X-Box feature fictonal characters murdering and dismembering their enemies with an evil passion. However all of this violence and dangerous behavior stays on the screen, and any crossover to the real world has yet to be proven. However, when one talks about the new Nintendo Wii, real world effects can be seen and measured.

In the video games that set the precident for artificail violence preceding the Wii, homicidal acts were carried out by the simple task of pressing a button. The Wii on the other hand tried to appeal to today’s Red Bull drunk adolescents by allowing gamers to control their caracters by moving the controller through free space. Now instead of pushing the “B” button to cut off the head of an alien leader, players make a thrashing motion towards the enemy’s throat. I don’t know about June Cleaver, but I consider this a lot more threatening than using the old “R” button to pop a cap in a drug dealer’s proverbial buttocks. Now we are actually giving our children the muscle memory and physical, not just mental and emotional, mindset to create violence.

In fact, the results of this violent physical state have already come out only a couple of weeks after the Nindendo Wii’s release to the public. Gamers are now going into a hypnotised state in which they are only aware of the screen and the controller in their hands, disregarding their confined enviornment in a living room or basements. Gamers have gone into a state in which they give all physical effort to achieve their goal. And now it has come out that the strap that is intended to attach the controller to the gamer’s wrist is defective. This design flaw combined with the hyper energized teens combine to create chaos. Teens go to punch a nazi, the strap breaks, and bam, right through the screen. In addition to the screens, this semi-lethal device has caused lacerations and contusions on counless foreheads, cheeks, shoulders, knees, and arms, as well as thousands of dollars worth of damaged property in urban, suburban, and rural homes. Moms are running in terror. No one knows when little joey will strike again.

Scientist say that corn based fuel products may propell our cars in the future. Well, now Wal-Mart believes corn based eye wear will propell our vision into the future. In an tactic I call, hippie fishing, Wal-Mart has stocked 100% eco-friendly sunglasses. These glasses are hip, stylish, and full of crap, in the recycled variety of course.
But what is the advantage of this flower power? According to the display, all parts of the glasses produced by StyleScience are Earth First.

. . . frames are moade from NatureWorks PLA, a natural plastic made from 100% corn. . . metal frmes are constructed from recycled alloy which helps save precious resorces. . .lenses are made from recycled plastic.

The tagline for this product is “Look good. Naturally.” However, I wonder how helpful it is to nature to mold some cob into a stylish blob. How many resources do we save on lenses? The metal in the frames weighs a couple of ounces. Is it really worth it to use recycled metal? In the long run products such as this may be a solution, however for the immediate problem being adressed by the manufacture of these glasses another solution is needed. The manufacturer of this product is looking to make a little more money for a struggling company on a small time, cheap product. This does no do much for the enviornment. What America needs is large scale recycling. Awareness and active conservation across all private and public organizations is the key to the future. We need to start by recycling old building materials, our trash, and hopefully every single part of our life. This ploy to make a few bucks only hurts the cause towards enviornmantally friendly processes.

Can you spot the cellular tower in the picture below?

I’ll give you a clue; it doesn’t look like you average cell tower. It is camouflaged, as a tree. Apparently people don’t want to look at the ugly cell towers so someone decided to make it look even uglier by attempting to make it look like a tree. However if you ask me it has just become even more of an eye sore, is a poor excuse for a tree, and would be better off just left uncamouflaged. It does however make for a good laugh when you look at the sorry camouflage. Maybe it is just me, but I think if you are going to camouflage a cell tower you should go all the way or not at all. Instead of just halfway camouflaging it like this one near a rest stop off the Mass Pike. Or better yet why not start sending up more satellites to help cover gaps in cellular coverage. Through searching it see these cell towers are actually quite common in many areas, but I also found that many are much better camouflaged than this one was. If it is going to be camouflaged I think that no one should notice it, however this one just seems to draw attention because of the lousy camouflage job. Many towers are much better hidden in church steeples, flag poles, and trees that actually look like trees and not like a tower with branches coming out of them. I mean the first picture you can see at some angles it blends in OK, but observe the second picture and you see that it is really noticeable from most angles, it really should at least be in the shape of a tree or at least have the branches so they hide the antennas, not like just have branches sticking out of it.