[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2x8Oot-x88[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ui288P4pGU[/youtube]
I really like the look of those old videos. I want that M-16 cutaway that they are using for the demonstration of the internals!
Is it just me, or does the person narrating the video sound like Robert Stack, the guy from:
Hat Tip: GunPundit
Senior defense and intelligence officials said Iranian-backed insurgents intercepted the video feeds by taking advantage of an unprotected communications link in some of the remotely flown planes’ systems. Shiite fighters in Iraq used software programs such as SkyGrabber — available for as little as $25.95 on the Internet — to regularly capture drone video feeds, according to a person familiar with reports on the matter.
SkyGrabber looks like a very interesting piece of software.
From the SkyGrabber website:
SkyGrabber is offline satellite internet downloader. It intercepts satellite data( movie, music, pictures ) that downloadind by other users and saves information in your hard disk. So, you’ll get new movie, best music and funny pictures for free.
That is a direct quote… I didn’t make up that terrible grammar and spelling.
Link to SkyGrabber software website – HERE
Full Story at the Wall Street Journal – HERE
“Your qualifications all look good, but there is an attitude suitability test that you must take before you can be accepted.”
Then, sliding a pistol across the desk, he says:
“Take this pistol and go out and shoot six illegal immigrants, six drug dealers, six Muslim extremists, and a rabbit.”
“Why the rabbit?”
“Great attitude,” says the agent. “When can you start?”
Photo source: Corbis-Bettmann
68 years ago, on Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese war planes attacked Pearl Harbor, the forward base for the United States in the Pacific, effectively drawing the United States into war with Japan. This picture of the sinking battleship USS West Virginia, illustrates the extent of the physical destruction. The crew of the boat in the foreground is attempting to save sailors in the water. The sinking of the USS West Virginia resulted in the death of 106 crewmen.
Read the official battle report, submitted on December 11, 1941
On December 4th I blogged that DARPA was holding a competition (On Dec. 5th) where you could win $40000 in prize money.
My Predictions:
My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.
The Winner:
The Red Balloon Team of M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
I find it unsurprising that M.I.T. won, considering the people that go there are obviously very intelligent.
What I do find surprising though is the lack of information released by M.I.T. or DARPA about the details on the network that was established that led to the win.
There is a useless PDF that the DARPA site links to – HERE and all it says it it took “less than 9 hours”.
The FAQ of the M.I.T. Red Balloon Team offers some insight into the process, but still doesn’t give any details about how many people ended up signing up and how they eventually won.
Kind of anti-climatic considering I thought there would be a lot of fake balloons launched, and other random hi-jinx. Well maybe there was, but who knows, because like I mentioned earlier there seems to be absoultely no information about the progression of the contest.
Here is the map from DARPA on where they placed the 10 Balloons. I wonder what their problem was with the central U.S.?
The competition kicks off Dec. 5 at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, when DARPA ( Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ) will display 10 8-foot, red weather balloons at undisclosed, publicly accessible sites around the continental United States. The balloons will remain at their locations throughout the day, until sunset.
The first person to identify the precise latitudes and longitudes of all 10 balloons will win the prize money.
Norman Whitaker, deputy director of DARPA’s transformational convergence technology office, conceded that it would be nearly impossible for any one person to pinpoint every balloon within the designated timeframe. But if the competitors worked together as teams – using social networking forums made possible through the Internet – it is possible, he said.
My guess is the correct answer is submitted in less than 30 minutes, on behalf of some sort of tightly knit organization. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
I wonder if anyone is planning on playing dirty and attaching a bunch of fake decoy balloons at various locations throughout the U.S. … If that is the case then maybe my prediction of 30 minutes isn’t realistic.
Good luck to everyone that is participating.
More information on the contest – HERE
