monkeytek posted:

My understanding was Lex Luthor created a condom like appliance that was actually a magnetic bottle similar to those used in Tokamak reactors to slow the semen down to non-lethal speeds, or was that my fan fiction story?

SpaceSDoorGunner posted:

At one point in the video, he quickly asks if twisting or turning would actually change the direction in which you were going before the other guy quickly corrects him.

monkeytek posted:

My understanding was Lex Luthor created a condom like appliance that was actually a magnetic bottle similar to those used in Tokamak reactors to slow the semen down to non-lethal speeds, or was that my fan fiction story?

Colostomy Bag posted:

Pffft. No son. Lex Luthor used gravity goo on Lesnick to 69 Superman to suffocate him. It really is that drat simple.

TheAgent posted:

how much UEC did you buy today

Deadguy2322 posted:

Haven’t any of you seen Mallrats? The issue is thoroughly explored in that movie.

SpaceSDoorGunner posted:

At one point in the video, he quickly asks if twisting or turning would actually change the direction in which you were going before the other guy quickly corrects him.

Beet Wagon posted:

And technically, those bulletproof vests did provide some protection against bullets:

That particular vest I posted was defeated by shrapnel, but literally my first post on the topic covered the dubious nature of their usefulness, as well as the heavy, cumbersome nature that led soldiers to abandon those vests. Like... what point are you even trying to argue right now?

EvilMerlin posted:

Does it matter?

EvilMerlin posted:

Huh?

tooterfish posted:

To be fair, no one who used them ever complained.

quote:

The ADE 651 consists of a swivelling antenna mounted via a hinge to a plastic handgrip. It requires no battery or other power source; its manufacturer claimed that it is powered solely by the user's static electricity. To use the device, the operator must walk for a few moments to "charge" it before holding it at right angles to the body. After a substance-specific "programmed substance detection card" is inserted, the device is supposed to swivel in the user's hand to point its antenna in the direction of the target substance. The cards are claimed to be designed to "tune into" the "frequency" of a particular explosive or other substance named on the card. According to Husam Muhammad, an Iraqi police officer and user of the ADE 651, using the device properly is more of an art than a science: "If we are tense, the device doesn't work correctly. I start slow, and relax my body, and I try to clear my mind." The cards were supposedly "programmed" or "activated" by being placed in a jar for a week along with a sample of the target substance to absorb the substance's "vapours". Initially, McCormick reportedly used his own blood to "program" the cards for detecting human tissue, but eventually gave up even the pretense of "programming" them when demand for the devices was at its peak.

quote:

On 27 February 2011 the British government told BBC Newsnight that it had helped Global Technical sell the GT200 around the world between 2001 and 2004. Royal Engineers sales teams demonstrated the devices at arms fairs and the UK Department of Trade and Industry helped two companies sell the GT200 and similar products in Mexico and the Philippines. On 12 July 2012, Andrew Penhale, Deputy Head of the Crown Prosecution Service's Central Fraud Division, authorised charges against six individuals, including Gary Bolton, for the manufacture, promotion and sale of a range of fraudulent substance detector devices. Bolton was formally charged at the City of London Magistrates' Court on 19 July with one count of fraud by false representation and one count of making or supplying an item for use in fraud between January and July 2012, and pleaded not guilty to both charges. Bolton was convicted on 26 July 2013 at The Old Bailey and released on bail pending sentence. Bolton was subsequently sentenced to 7 years Imprisonment on 20 August 2013. Bolton was also ordered to pay over £1.25 million to prevent seven additional years of imprisonment. Bolton reportedly made £45 million selling the fraudulent devices.

quote:

The government of Thailand was a major purchaser of the Alpha 6. The country's Interior Ministry bought 479 of the devices and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), part of the Justice Ministry, bought a further 15. The ONCB began using the devices in 2007 to combat drug smuggling in northern Thailand. It bought its units at a price of 400,000 baht (US$12,000) apiece. It claimed that its Alpha 6 units were highly effective, achieving a 70 percent success rate and helping to identify drug traffickers and smuggled drugs. The head of the OCNB, Police Lt General Krissana Phon-anan, said that the devices work so well that the agency no longer uses dogs to detect narcotics. The Interior Ministry plans to procure more Alpha 6 devices and train 1,000 volunteers to use them. Its own Alpha 6 devices were procured at a much higher price than those of the Narcotics Control Board, at 720,000 baht (US$21,600) each. The total cost of the devices has been around 351 million baht (US$10.6 million).

Following a controversy about the effectiveness of the GT200 "remote substance detector", similar questions were raised about the Alpha 6. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva ordered scientific tests of the GT200 in February 2010 to verify its claimed effectiveness. The tests found that the GT200's detection rate was no more effective than random chance. In the wake of the GT200 scandal, the Science and Technology Ministry announced that it would broaden its tests at the request of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice to verify the claimed effectiveness of the Alpha 6.

The Alpha 6 devices were demonstrated and supplied to the Thai authorities by a local Thai company and purchased from a UK company, Comstrac. The GT200 was manufactured by the British company, Global Technical, and distributed by its Thai distributor, Avia Satcom Co.

The Alpha 6 drugs detector case was declared "closed" in May 2018 by Thailand's National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) after 10 years of investigation. Three minor officials are deemed responsible for the purchase of 493 of the "worthless [Alpha 6] boxes" at a cost of 350 million baht. The British scammer who sold the devices to Thailand was found guilty of fraud in the UK and imprisoned in 2013. The Bangkok Post fumed that, "The disappointing and unsatisfactory outcome of this astoundingly long investigation shows up the enormous failings of the anti-graft commission."

Pash posted:

I think obviously the US won the Revolutionary and Civil Wars thanks to glorious cavalry charges of men in full platemail who were just regular old dudes who saved up their beer money for a couple months, duh.

Mirificus posted:

monkeytek posted:

Ditto for the Alpha 6 and Sniffex. All dowsing rods being used by world governments; some even today, to look for explosives.

tooterfish posted:

I know all about them. I was just making a bad joke.

Scruffpuff posted:

I thought it was funny. Hav's earnest response added to the humor.

tooterfish posted:

I know all about them. I was just making a bad joke.

tooterfish posted:

I know the manufacturer got lots of stick, but there's no way those things got as far as they did without some serious kickbacks being handed out. Any oval office who signed off on them should be made to clear minefields the old fashioned way imo: with nothing but a bayonet and a cold sweat. Set of bastards.

Agony Aunt posted:

This one made me consider...


The bolded part made me think about this, and how I don't know anybody in real life who has backed SC. I know plenty of people who bought ED (because i've got lots of nerdy friends), and to be fair, a lot of them got bored with it fairly quickly. But i don't know a single person who has backed SC. In fact, when i've discussed games with my gaming friends and mentioned SC they have said "What's that?". I then had to start talking about Wing Comannder, Elite, etc, to which they would say they know those, and they have heard of ED, but not SC.

Scruffpuff posted:

I thought it was funny. Hav's earnest response added to the humor.

TheAgent posted:

this is the star citizen thread

who cares,

Mirificus posted:

Agony Aunt posted:

Huh? So is the argument that the wealth of NPCs scales in line with the wealth of players? That's a tad bizarre.

[...]

Bull loving poo poo.

Agony Aunt posted:

Actually, i think we all know, if it ever reaches 1.0, its going to be a gankathon.

space-X-chicken posted:

still reading this threat guys. i'm just posting in behalf of all the lurkers out there.

and now for something completely different:
I think B'Tak is some sort of Anti-Goon.
Like with antimatter an matter.
Whenever he will cross a goon i guarantee there will be a big explosion.

this is not scott manley, fly save!

(OMG there where more typos in my post than correct words...and i'm just on coffee)

Mirificus posted:

monkeytek posted:

HAHAHAHAHA! The first shot will always miss, so that aggressors won't have an unfair advantage.

I am so close to buying this game simply to kill this guy over and over.

Bofast posted:

There's one guy at my workplace who backed it and who used to try and talk to me about it almost everytime we ran into each other, but even he has not mentioned it in a long time. Maybe he has become disillusioned

Bofast posted:

friend