Networked Landmines Work Together
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653208 - "I was one of the main software engineers on this project" - "in other words, since the anti-tank mines can protect themselves by moving, the anti-personnel mines are no longer necessary. And the world gets a little better."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653365 - I hope you're right. But I'm always wary of claims that new weapons will reduce human misery.
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653862 - "the minefield is not designed to kill people, its purpose is to be an obstacle." - "have you ever contributed to the kernel, and if so does that make you an accessory too? Why do you write open source software when some of it can, conceivably, be used for doing evil?"
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653923 - "So it's a good thing that warzones are always carefully put far away from any civilians are or will ever be, right? ....right?" - "They are. From an american perspective. Remember: Non-american "civilians" are illegal combatants."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653870 - "The U.S., although not a signatory to the formal ban, doesn't use AP mines in combat (with the exception of on the Korean peninsula)."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653278 - "I wrote about half the code for these mines (and we're slashdotted 5 years later...). I'm sure you'll be tickled to know they use Linux."
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15654306 - "Do the mines come with source code?"
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653386 - "People bring this up to explain the US refusing to sign the treaty but it's not really a valid point. The US could, if it wanted to, do numerous things"
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=190247&cid=15653281 - "Since when to landmines heal anything?"
script 1
eric: Have you heard about these self-healing land mines? richard: they heal the innocents after blowing them up? eric: Pah, no, FAR cooler. They talk to each other over a wireless network and move around. richard: Peer 2 Peer land mines? Maybe we should just let the RIAA deal with this. eric: The best bit is, these constitutionally protected life defenders run OSI/Linux. We've finally made it into the one industry that really matters. The arms industry! richard: Yes I know, I downloaded a copy of the source code from the US military's website. eric: sweet, does it support Koran detection? richard: No, Eric. I got it to compile and execute though. Wanna see? *amusing screen-shot of gnome mines computer game*
gnome mines ideas
(11:44:26) Ruleke: so explain the gnome thing to me (11:44:43) johnl_: I';m going to take a screen shot of the gnome mines game (11:45:02) johnl_: and put an army helmet on the Sun character (or a turban) (11:45:15) johnl_: and put little icons of maimed children in the boxes (11:45:28) Ruleke: heh (11:45:33) johnl_: shit like that (11:45:54) johnl_: UN peace-keeping logos on the flags (11:46:37) johnl_: in the unclicked playing field, put football fields and schools and stuff