Mortars pose a significant threat to infantry as even if they aren’t always lethal, they drop out of the sky and can effectively pin a squad down. Well, some crazy military engineers decided to take the Phalanx M61 (pictured above) that protects naval vessels from anti-ship missiles and toss it on the back of a truck to counter mortars before they can land.

That big white lump on the top of the M61 is a radar. Once an incoming mortar is detected, the M61 spews out several hundred shells from its six 20 mm barrels until said mortar explodes. The Phalanx M61 “Counter-Rocket” is a closed-in weapon system (or CIWS) — meaning it takes care of itself for the most part — and it can fire 4500-7000 rounds per minute.

Click on through to see the M61 play target practice with a few mortars. — Kevin Hall

Official Article

We were surprised at Hitachi’s 32-inch HDTV whose thickness was just 0.74 inches. Now it looks like Samsung has topped that, creating a flat-panel HDTV that’s half that thick. Imagine a TV that’s just 10mm thin — just over a third of an inch. That’s the depth of this 40-inch 1080p LCD TV (pictured at right) from Samsung that will be unveiled at the FPD International 2007 convention in Yokohama, Japan later this month. When a panel is that thin, the design looks more like a pane of glass than an LCD.

To accomplish this feat, Samsung uses miniaturization techniques it learned from manufacturing desktop monitors, and upscales them into TV size. That 46-inch screen pictured at left is just as thin, but the screen’s bezel has been shrunk as well, to just 10mm wide (as opposed to 30mm). Samsung’s not talking about when such paper-thin TVs will ship, but you can be sure the company aims to beat that Hitachi set’s announced release date of 2009. — Charlie White

Let’s hope the Biplane didn’t get its name from something that happened during test runs — motorcycles tend to be at their best with at least one wheel on the ground.

The Biplane is a concept motorcycle design that Suzuki is showing off at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Details are scarce, but it looks damn fast and the sleek, yellow shell looks like something straight out of an anime. Click through the gallery for a few other angles of the Biplane. — Kevin Hall

Jalponik, via BoingBoing Gadgets

ey, kids! Have you ever wanted to listen in on the conversations of other people without them knowing it? Create codes that allow spies in the field to get information about enhanced interrogation techniques without those killjoys at Amnesty International finding out? Dress up as a totally extreme rapping turtle and get a blow job from a sexy lady squirrel? Well now you can, thanks to the Cryptokids— the NSA’s new program for young people and furfans. The Web site, with detailed biographies of its cadre of rad furry spies, has had so much more effort put into it than we’re comfortable thinking about. But it’s important to recruit children into the spy apparatus, as it’s the best way to get info on the parents. We call them “nature’s hidden listening devices”! As for the furries, well: do you want that fat sweaty guy in the raccoon suit working for us … or for the terrorists?

Official Website

You can program the LEDs for different colours with Duo-Gard’s IllumaWall.

Indeed the biggest nerdfest ever! DragonCon 2006: The 200 StormTrooper March. Find more on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kK4vUMQH0k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E94R8K-MsaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veIifNiD1DY&mode=related&search=

And of course “StormTroopers gone Wild!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjQCO-RZ-0s&mode=related&search=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81aPYBmTYWA&mode=related&search=

Bored using your advanced green laser for traditional spreadsheet pointing techniques? Why not kick up your skills a notch and start using green lasers to track aircraft? With beams visible in daylight that extend for miles, green lasers are ideally suited to track objects in the sky. Stop worrying about things like mandatory jail time and social isolation and play the intriguing game of SkyTag™ today.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/tracker.shtml

OMG, how fucking dumb/ignorant can some people be:

North Carolina’s 8th District congressman has a winning plan for Iraq: “The only way to make Iraq stable enough for the U.S. to withdraw is by “spreading the message of Jesus Christ, the message of peace on earth, good will towards men. Everything depends on everyone learning about the birth of the Savior.”

http://www.wonkette.com/politics/crazies/congressman-demands-iraqis-be-converted-to-christianity-223931.php

Bears have stopped hibernating in the mountains of northern Spain, scientists revealed yesterday, in what may be one of the strongest signals yet of how much climate change is affecting the natural world.

In a December in which bumblebees, butterflies and even swallows have been on the wing in Britain, European brown bears have been lumbering through the forests of Spain’s Cantabrian mountains, when normally they would already be in their long, annual sleep.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2091875.ece

According to journalist Jason Leopold, sources at former Cheney company Halliburton allege that, as recently as January of 2005, Halliburton sold key components for a nuclear reactor to an Iranian oil development company. Leopold says his Halliburton sources have intimate knowledge of the business dealings of both Halliburton and Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies.

http://www.projectcensored.org/censored_2007/index.htm#2

Tired of laying in bed and watchin’ movies in a crap way? Buy your ultimate bed!

http://www.dexterton.com/dic_furniture/ruf/cinema.html

Besides the stuff in the milk by the small Italian mountain village, a Japanese company has created chewing gum which enlarges the breast size by 80% in around 70% of people within 2 months, and

(which I thought was an odd one…). Other effects are firmer breasts, less menstrual cramps, thicker and faster hair growth and more hydrated skin. Yay for modern science!

EMC announces on agreement on acquisition of RSA Security.

It is wonderful to see that maybe finally the interface/UI of RSA might be updated from its windows 3.11 look, maybe have integration with EMC Control Center (ECC), one can wish for good things to happen.

This is a major step for EMC, they now have the full range product suite which is related to data mangement: migration/analysis tools, storage tiering, backups, archiving and data security.

http://www.emc.com/news/emc_releases/showRelease.jsp?id=4487&l=en&c=US

Crazy Japanese TV shows – part two is especially funny. I want a Japanese TV station!

Jesus will survive

Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize, has announced he’s starting a racing league for rocket planes, using all kinds of high tech to make it attractive to the public and TV stations. Things like HUD projected racecourses, with the racecourse and rockets visible on screens to the spectators. Cameras will be hung all over and inside the planes, and the rockets will create as large fiery plumes as possible.
The idea is to launch big, with large prize moneys and a standard rocket plane to make it accessible to as many people as possible. Back to the golden days of innovation by the people is the motto. Sounds very cool, but ambitious. I’ll be watching!

This site contains a lot of information on the format of the races, the rules, the specifications, etc. A lot of information!

Yup, anime has gotten to people’s heads – they’re building real mechwarriors (the movies are pretty cool)

Using a Laser (yes! it has a laser in it!) and a turntable you CAN in fact scan stuff and make a 3D model of it.
Well, if it’s small. And you don’t mind the lack of smoothing. Or waiting. But hey, it’s v2 of 3 and if he gets it right, it’s what I want!

A shining light
of grace and joy
bubbles
and laughter
Innocence
and pain
mystery
and mischief

a radiating beacon
dancing
glamour
in a reflective
shell
simplicity
and depth
purity
for fun

My BMW 320i
sports air filter
sports suspension
sports cooler
Cool as shit dual Sebring exhaust (square)

Killed whilst parked
by Honda Civic
Thrown across the road into another car.

Twat other driver arrested.
Shit for brains agressive friends.

At least it took the Honda with it to its grave.

I’ll miss this car. It was fast. It was loud.