US torture of Iraqi prisoners

Whilst I am all for equality an all that stuff, the reason that women get better insurance is because they have less accidents than men do.

Thanks for vegemite. We'd be screwed without that.

But, thanks to equality, they now have the right to have just as many accidents as men.

Nope, definitely "Brane Theory." You should know, having contributed to it by being British an all!


I was gonna get around to it! I'm still bitter at you for having unleashed the Crocodile Hunter upon the world.

Yes, we unleashed him but it's not us who made him famous...He was famous in the US a long time before Australia. In fact, when I was in the US a couple of years ago , I got asked about him, and didn't have a clue who he was!!!

The blame lies squarely on your shoulders

wether or not the new "british" pictures are fake or not remains to be seen.

i personaly can not comment on the weapon,webbing,truck etc. but having been a professional designer for the last oh fcuk eons, i can say this.

what equipment was this squaddie using!! these photos are sharp and pretty well lit. and unless the mirror has changed its printing process why the hell are the in black and white? how many people do you know who shoot in black and white and have enough space in a bergen to carry a 35mm SLR with decent flash?? (Imagine your choice of camera in a war zone if your a soilder.)
Most normal people(and i include soldiers in this as i knew a few) shot colour, with an automatic flash mounted in the camera front. if this was shot inside a truck wheres the grain? a slow speed b/w film for inside looks different, ether more motion blur, (check that pee no blur what so ever, and the foot to the neck posed) or lovely arty grain especialy on that blow up size.
anyone else have an opinion. i know pros who couldn't shot like this. squauddies yes interesting i want that camera.

that said treating people like shit ain't on, but media hype is worse.

SparkaHck


I think the word you are searching for is "MISSPELLED"!!!

Doh.

Canadian, John Hopps invented the first cardiac pacemaker. Hopps was trained as an electrical engineer at the University of Manitoba and joined the National Research Council in 1941, where he conducted research on hypothermia. While experimenting with radio frequency heating to restore body temperature, Hopps made an unexpected discovery: if a heart stopped beating due to cooling, it could be started again by artificial stimulation using mechanical or electric means. This lead to Hopps' invention of the world's first cardiac pacemaker in 1950. His device was far too large to be implanted inside of the human body. It was an external pacemaker.

Tommy Flowers built the first computer, as a codebreaking device during the Second World War. Flowers was a Londoner with a passion for electronics. Having gained his degree in electronic engineering he went to work for the Post Office. His dream was to try to convert Britain's mechanical telephone system into an electronic one, but opinion was against him.

So I guess the Americans just tweak other peoples ideas then huh?

Bet this one hurts from recently: Sunday Times April 4th 2004

So Nasa has smashed the speed record for plane flight. In a test last weekend, an unmanned “scramjet� was dropped from the belly of a B-52 bomber and reached a speed of Mach 7, or almost 5,000mph.

Pundits are talking about planes that could get from London to Sydney in two hours and from Paris to New York in 30 minutes. So well done America for making it work and God bless Mr Bush.

Except for one small thing. Two years ago a British scramjet quietly, and with no fuss, reached similar speeds over the Australian outback. Yup, like everything else, scramjets are one of ours.

For 40 years scramjets have been the holy grail for the world of aviation. Unlike a normal jet, air comes into the front of the engine, is mixed with hydrogen, ignited and then hurled out of the back. There are no moving parts, no harmful exhaust gases and best of all, the faster you go, the faster it goes. Theoretically, they have a limitless top speed.

The British version was developed by an operation called QinetiQ which, over the years, has come up with stuff like microwave radar, carbon fibre and liquid crystal displays.

http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.cfm?id...hreadID=1400985

Did you know that QinetiQ is the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, with investment from the Carlyle Group

The U.S. space program spent millions of tax-dollars to develop a ballpoint pen for use in zero gravity.

How did the Russians solve this problem?

They used pencils.

(old story but makes me grin still)

Way offtopic (want to juggle these threads around a bit Bob?), and unfortunately untrue (shame, it used to be one of my favourite stories too).

All the development costs were paid for by the company that makes them (Fisher Space Pens), not by NASA.
US astronauts used to carry pencils too. The policy was changed after the Apollo 1 launch-pad fire when it was decided to remove all potentially flammable items from spacecraft cockpits. (At that time the air inside a spacecraft was very oxygen-rich, hence the high risk of fire, not sure if that's still true)

@ Johnny English

When you're talking space stuff around me you better know your shit. You don't. All your wrongness can be seen here.


A pacemaker is a far cry from an artificial heart. Note in my original thread I did say artificial heart.


Actually Babbage usually is credited with the 1st computer. Note that I said CPU, not computer. Your computer uses a CPU designed in the USA. Guaranteed.

On scramjets. 1st of all, that article is absolute shit. It connects the NASA scramjet success with Bush (the program is much more than 3 years old), and even makes implications that the JSF has hordes of Brits working on it (not true - it is designed in Texas and California).

It states:

Theoretically, they have a limitless top speed.

That is so factually incorrect I don't even know where to begin other than suggesting the author consult somebody with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering.

From an article that is actually from a SCIENTIFIC publication (Nature):

Scientists from the University of Queensland made a successful scramjet test flight in 2002 with a project called Hyshot. Their rocket did not have any wings, making it easier to control at speeds of Mach 7, but ultimately impractical for use in a vehicle.

The QinetiQ scramjet was tiny, requiring a sounding rocket to get it well above operating speed. Upon deceleration it scramjet produced thrust, though not enough to accelerate or even maintain speed. A feat to be sure, and credit should be given where due, but it is in no way a practical application of the technology. The NASA scramjet is the 1st example of one that has the capability to accelerate under its own power, thus proving the viability of the idea. That is why a big deal was made about it, and rightfully so.

Finally, you missed the entire point of my earlier post. I'm taking the piss.

Only in isolated areas when requiring that spacewalking astronauts do an O2 pre-breathe. US suits are only pressurized to about 3.2psi (vice the standard atmospheric 14.7) so that theydon't hinder an astronaut's motion. As the partial pressure of oxygen in air is inadequate at 3.2psi, pure O2 is used.

That wouldnt be so unfair, but it would be pointless, seeing as every single one of us is of African descent.

Some more updates on the British torture claims, for those interestsed:

Army photos: Claims and rebuttals

Um...well as it happens I knew that story was b*ll*cks but couldn't resist posting it for the obvious reason!!!

I wrote that Tommy Flowers BUILT the first computer - Babbage started his project but never completed it (we could argue this kinda rubbish for days). Although the Science Museum in London did build a working version a couple of years ago as it happens.


Yeah and note that I said:


I read what you wrote - so selected a couple of earlier versions of each invention.

Scramjets - agree with you completely - I wouldn't know one end of a jamjet from another. In fact I wouldn't know one end of a spaceship from another either.

Oh hell, the whole world runs on tweaked ideas, if not we'd probably be rolling around on stone wheels.

Example for you creationists out there...God created man, knocked him out cold, probably via -


...sorry had to steal from the brothels / apprentices thread...took out a rib, reshaped some parts and presto...chicks.

Since you brought up the topic of the pens...The history of the modern BALL POINT PEN (IMHO) is one of the best examples of a tweaked idea.. note, I said modern ball point pen...no offense to the Egyptians with the finger/blood/plant juice pen method...or the Asians with the bird/cat ass hair method (whatever) but I'm keeping it real here...

The modern ball point pen is credited to a Jewish man by the name of László Jozsef Bíró from Hungary. Bíró managed to keep himself and his pen a step ahead of the anti-Semites by hopping Hungary to France and finally to Argentina. He got to Argentina with the political help of Agustin P. Justo, who (supposedly unbeknownst to Bíró until he reached customs) was the President of Argentina. The British government later bought the patent for use by the Royal Air Force. The pen made its way around the globe...pen wars ebbed and flowed with France's (aristocracy owned) BIC company taking the lead based on stlye, i.e. with flashy Watermans.

Back in the States, Fisher, the inventor of the space pen, wasn't a business genius the first time around...he opted out of a deal which netted the original partners 5mil post taxes in 1946. Fisher started his own company in 1948 focusing on "tweaking" the insides of the pen, i.e. the cartridges...the rest as they say...is history. Even more random tangent, the tweaked pen had it's second brush with presidency when Fisher, a wannabe President, ran in the NH 1960 Primaries against Keneddy and Nixon.

So...to sum it up the humble ball point pen was an idea "tweaked" from a Jewish guy on the lam from the Nazis. Thankfully the pen had a short holiday in France then found permanent refuge and initial commercialization in warmer Latin climates. Was then bought out by the Brits for military purposes, primped out by the French for style purposes and, juiced up by the Amis for mass commercial then technological purposes. The NG3 version of the pen, the Sensa, uses the Fisher refill, the result of more "tweaking" by an old guy wanting some ergonomic relief. Samples of the pens sit in NY's Museum of Modern Art. Not a bad journey for a tweaky weaky idea.

Im sure there are many other versions out there, but thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

PS @ DW
Which I think means..."it's not the size mate its how you use it"? Never met you, don't know diddly about space, but I love it when you geeks (no offense intended, I married one) talk dirty.

I like pop tarts

Stop hijackin my thread u bastards!

Pop tarts: pah, another example of American cultural imperialism

You will be assimilated.

[img]http://www.hotavatars.com/data/525/10737tasu.gif[/img]

@DW
Hopefully sooner rather than later... Then we might finally be spared the "America isn't as great as you think it is" posts. Especially since none of us Yanks here on TT are on a soapbox anyway.

What? These hive-minded Commies might beg to differ.

Requisite so you know I'm taking a piss. The piss. Whatever.

Where's eric when you need him?

Come back eric, all is forgiven...

Provide us with more entertainment

so the first guy gets a year and chance to shed a few tears... i'm looking forward to seeing that suitable punishment we were promised...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3727289.stm

Dude was only the photographer from what little was reported - without him we might never have known - and he blew the whistle on some others.

No, he was one of the abusers:

The "whistleblower" was someone else:


Source: Iraq prison abuse: Key figures

Fair enuff , was a diff BBC report I read (not as comprehensive)

but they made him cry at the trial 2 !

Apparently he plea bargained.

He testified against other soldiers and took photos rather than actually being one of the people who carried out the abuses. He got 1 year. and it should be one of the lighter sentences.

The US can't afford to not make an example out of those that are found guilty...

I also can't believe the lawyers are going for the 'I was only following orders' defence.

I thought that the Nuremburg trials showed us that you cannot use that as an argument

But if they dish out a punishment to fit the crime, those found guilty are going to be sentenced to either standing on a box wearing a dress or getting naked and forming a rugby scrum with other men.

A year in prison and a dishonorable discharge is pretty serious for a guy who plead guilty. This discharge is the worst part. He can pretty much forget ever having a decent job for the rest of his life.

He didn't have one before, did he?

Runs away quickly!!

BIG QUESTION
if this guy was the whistleblower, how well treated will he be by the other soldiers/convicts in a military prison?

Documents released yesterday by the (US) Freedom of Information Act

Translation:
Task Force 6-26, operating out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina (the base that houses the Army Special Operations Command), were a part of a Black Ops "Special Access Program" Unit participating in many a "clandestine program that we think may have links with high-ranking officials, because obviously someone high up had the authority to put this program in place".