[olePigeon]

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Fatal Flaw Discovered In Invisibility Carpet Cloaks

An article discussing the setbacks of carpet cloaking systems... cloaking systems.

Screw flying cars, I finally feel like the future is tangible.

The problem, by the way, is that instead of working like Harry Potter, when you view a cloaked object from certain angles, it works like Predator; the cloaked object is displaced by a fraction of a degree.

[olePigeon]

Exoskeleton Lets Paraplegics Walk (video) | Singularity Hub

Exoskeleton allowing paraplegics to walk again. I remember seeing videos of this thing, intended to be used for carrying heavy loads a la ALIENS. Makes a 15 lbs ammo box feel like just a couple pounds. Now they're adapting it to allow paraplegics to walk.

Freaking awesome.

Oh, and this thread wouldn't be complete without giant lasers:

Boeing: Missile Defense Systems - Airborne Laser Test Bed (ALTB) Home

[The Final Dakar]

The biggest flaw with cloaking systems, I find, is you have to decloak to fire disruptors.

[SpaceMonkey]

Given the time, I'm sure Wesley Crusher would have found a way around that.

[andi*pandi]

awesome.

[-Q-]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey 

Given the time, I'm sure Wesley Crusher would have found a way around that.

Doesn't that usually just involve reversing the polarity on the isolinear chips?

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

The biggest flaw with cloaking systems, I find, is you have to decloak to fire disruptors.

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey 

Given the time, I'm sure Wesley Crusher would have found a way around that.

Neither of you saw Star Trek VI? Pfft.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by -Q- 

Doesn't that usually just involve reversing the polarity on the isolinear chips?

Reversing polarity of the shields or the deflector array, or, using an inverse tachyon beam.

Time to turn in your Nerd Card.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Neither of you saw Star Trek VI? Pfft.

Meh. Like a lot of Star Trek technologies, it seems no one kept any design notes, because as soon as the prototype was destroyed, all knowledge of how to make another one was lost, somehow.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Neither of you saw Star Trek VI? Pfft.

I saw the part where the ship was destroyed and the technology was lost. Maybe you didn't make it to the end of the movie.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

I saw the part where the ship was destroyed and the technology was lost. Maybe you didn't make it to the end of the movie.

The prototype was lost, but the technology wasn't. The Klingons abandoned the technology because the alternate cloaking system could not mask neutron radiation or propulsion signatures; they might as well not have the cloak at all.

[The Final Dakar]

So my original statement stands then? You can't be cloaked and fire.

So glad I had to be a part of this nerd penis measuring contest.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

So my original statement stands then? You can't be cloaked and fire.

It fires while cloaked and is, for the most part, invisible except for neutron radiation and propulsion signatures. The cloaking system you have to worry about is phased cloaking.

[SpaceMonkey]

But now that everyone knows to look for neutron radiation and propulsion signatures, it can't really be considered "cloaked," can it? Hence, another Wesley Crusher science project is in order.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

It fires while cloaked and is, for the most part, invisible except for neutron radiation and propulsion signatures.

That's kinda like saying Toyotas are good for driving, except for that occasional time when the accelerator gets stuck.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

That's kinda like saying Toyotas are good for driving, except for that occasional time when the accelerator gets stuck.

Well, yeah.