Oligo
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Ah, may I also point out that the weapon actually DOES heat up your skin, not just make it feel hot. So it may be non-lethal, but it sure as hell causes burns. Especially in moist and sensitive areas (eyes), since water molecules are good receivers of millimeter-wave excitation energy.
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A nice, portable shield against the heat ray would be one of those "space blankets" that they sell in every camping store. Just stash it into your riot webbing and if the authorities bring out the heat ray, unfold the blanket and hold in front of you. Easy. By the way, since the penetrance of the millimeter waves is so poor (1/64th of an inch), even thick leather clothes (wet them to increase effect) might protect you. As for covering your eyes, regular mirrored shades are probably effective and if not, band-pass filter goggles can be easily bought from specialist shops (20 euros a piece). In an emergency, cover your eyes and avoid looking at the beam.
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Let's not go ballistic. The weapon in question projects an intense beam of millimeter-wavelength microwave radiation. Since the wavelength is of the millimeter scale, the radiation in question is in the high-power end of the microwave part of the radiation spectrum. Such radiation has a quite limited penetrance, human body reflecting about 50% of the stuff, rest being absorbed in skin causing increased thermal motion of molecules (=heats up your skin). Here is a picture taken with a millimeter-wave imager: As you can see, humans can be easily seen since they reflect mm-wave radiation, but the gun (made of metal) can be seen even better. All our handy terrorist/rioter/insurgent/demonstrator/troublemaker has to do is to increase the reflectance of his/her body. Covering yourself with metal mesh (mesh size smaller than 1 mm) will make you immune, tin foil ( ) will do also. Lightweight riot shields are best. Wearing mirrored shades will protect your eyes, so if you have enough self-control, you can still charge the weapon, ignoring the pain and receiving only minor injuries. Whenever there is a will, there is a way.
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I see stupid people. They're all around us and they don't even know they are stupid.
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Hey, I'm all for establishing democracy in Iraq. They'll get a governing body chosen by the masses, just like we have here in the "west". Democracy is a fine idea which would work (just like communism) if people in general just weren't so stupid. Anyway it'll be interesting to see what kind of government they'll vote for. What if they vote in a majority of ultra-religious lunatics? Will U.S. let them turn Iraq into a new Iran? Seriously though, what they need is stability and security. I sure hope they'll get it one way or another, without paying too high a price for it.
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Funny, when I served in FDF, I was never told about all of this stuff. All they said is: If it is an enemy which is clearly not displaying signals of surrender, shoot to kill, or more preferably, to severely wound (bleeding + screaming soldiers drain enemy morale). And everybody always had an assault rifle, medics included. Maybe I just missed the approppriate lectures.
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All of the three big monotheistic religions have ideas of an afterlife in paradise reserved for righteous people. Other big religions also promise some kind of improvement after death, if you behave. That's one of the reasons these religons have succeeded so well with those who suffer hunger, poverty and insecurity: You can always believe that after your inevitable death, your suffering and piety will be rewarded. It gives people hope. Thus I don't think the picture is making fun of any religion, just stating a known reason for people having the strength to go on despite horrible conditions. As for the "Guarded" level, if situation is worse than scattered small-arms fire and roadside bombs (Unsettling), there IS a significant risk of seeing your children blown up in front of you. And this is undeniably what many Iraqi parents have indeed witnessed. Do you think that stating what actually has happened and can still happen is tasteless? Do you think that keeping quiet will make things somehow go away? See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil?
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Tasteless as in how? Because it has half of truth in it?
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The new Iraqi terror alert system:
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All I said was that hormones are officially banned in EU. After that it is a matter of law enforcement to prevent f.ex. hormone rackets. I didn't claim that EU agriculture is perfect in any way. Compared to US however, where eveything goes, it is quite enlightened. I also have to point out that personally it is very nice to read about hormone rackets and such, because I work for a company that sells diagnostic kits for the detection of banned substances in food. More rackets, more business for us.
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Denoir, the medication of animals in EU is pretty controlled. No hormones are ever (at least officially) used and antibiotics are only administered to sick animals for a set period of time. As a contrast, in US animals are fed hormones and antibiotics during their whole lifespans, just to make sure they don't get sick and that they grow faster. Halal meat is in no way better than meat obtained from animals that have been killed in a painless way, since the first step after killing is always bloodletting, of course, as any hunter or butcher knows. On the contrary, slow slaughter by slitting the throat and allowing the animal to bleed to death might actually release stress hormones into the meat. Meat that has undergone stress responses prior to death is generally considered to taste worse than stressless meat, that's why great care is usually taken to avoid causing any distress in the doomed animals. The only benefit you get from Halal is fulfillment of your religious righteousness. But hey, whatever rings your bell and keeps you going through the night...
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My, my, what hard text we have here. And I thought that the almost instant global communications we have today would prevent global disagreements, which sometimes lead to global wars. I might have to revise that opinion in the future. Anyway, shout into each other's mouths as much as you want to, but as long as a man isn't free to make his own decisions without some idiot commie, redneck or moderate politician interfering, the world will stay screwed. You are all missing the obvious conclusion that all ideologies are bad. Abolish all ideology, do not believe in anything and you shall be free.
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The article linked to in the first message has many valid points. It is maybe a little too pessimistic, but it's a gloomy subject. This all reminds me of a little thought game. Consider how human population on the planet has developed through the ages. First there was a long long stretch of history, during which there was only a few of us. During a very short time we then multiplied to current levels. As a result, there are more people currently alive than ever before in history. Now consider this: What is the most probable time in history for YOU to be born on this Earth? The answer, obviously, is that the most probable time for an individual to be born is the time where there are most people alive. Thus you can make this little deduction: Since I am here now, it is more probable than not that this is the time of peak population in the existence of humankind and that extinction is coming soon. Remember that I am talking about probabilities, not certainties.
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I think it is amusing that people here feel so puzzled about why that person blew himself up in the mall. I'm amazed we are not seeing that happen every day. Edit: I'm talking about the Vantaa case, not the Mid East thing. It's off topic anyway, so let's just leave it at that.
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FYI, tyranny of the majority happens when a majority of the people is allowed to suppress the views of the dissenting minority. In a democracy, political decisions are made on the basis of majority, but freedom of speech should never be trampled on, since that makes change in society impossible. New ideas need the space and time to grow and spread so that they might in time become the view of the majority. Thus, freedom of speech is of utmost importance and to hell with the "hurt feelings". And "If you don't talk about it, it never happened" is definitely your attitude. You seem to advocate a society where it is not allowed to talk about bad things, because you claim it is vulgar, provocative and insensitive. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. In my opinion this discussion has everything to do with the current Mid East situation, since certain representatives of the peoples in this region use the same arguments you use to suppress freedom of speech.