The Glade 4.0

This frightens me. It just does.

I know how many MEDICAL x-ray machine get out of calibration and expose people to more radiation than planned. And just doing this randomly and exposing pregnant women and small children...... /facepalm

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!

I, for one, welcome our Big Brother Overlords...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Wow, they really need to redo their sizzle reel to sound less like an infomercial. I kept expecting to hear "But wait, there's more! Order ONE Z Backscatter Van within the next 20 minutes and we'll send you a second one FREE! Just pay shipping and handling."

"Billy Mays here, for radiation!"

Don't get me wrong, the idea is quite diabolical, but the actual implementation here is far less evil than I'd hoped to see. There are more effective ways of irradiating the populace. For further information, please see Dr. Doom.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

I was wondering if that was a third arm sprouting or just something I ate...

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Oh! Oh! I love radiation!

I initially read this title as let's eradicate everyone and had a burst of happy. Then I realized what it really said...

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Well, if you do it right...

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Am I the only one who read the title of this thread as "Lets Irritate Everyone!"... and thought 'how appropriate for Hellfire!' =D

Boy, and I thought the full-body scanners at airports were bad...

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“The duty of a patriot is to protect his country from its government.” - Thomas Paine

I put in a serious post here, and end up

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Memento Vivere

I have local knowledge.
That sandbar was not there yesterday!

I'm really curious as to what the hell the creators think it's going to be useful for...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

They were rather upfront about that. They think it's going to be useful for violating privacy rights without a search warrant.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Well I think it violates the concept of "in plain view" when it comes to searching. If it's used in an area like a gov't parking lot or to scan a line of cars going into a protected facility or any other of a hundred uses that people would not have an expectation of privacy then cool.

If they use it like the van in "V" then I expect theyd better armor that motherf*#$#er too, cause some folks might not be too happy about snoops.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill

How much would you expect a Z Backscatter Van like this cost? 2.8 million? 1.5 million? You can have your very own Z Backscatter Van for just 4 easy payments of $300,000 USD.

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Sail forth! steer for the deep waters only!
Reckless, O soul, exploring, I with thee, and thou with me;
For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go,
And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all.

Really all depends on its use. Of what little faith I have left in the current American government, it is sufficient that I don't foresee these things roaming the streets. I can imagine it being handy for very important (too expensive for general use) checkpoint type things in military operations, but I suppose I don't really know that or not.

Finding the inflection point in between where it changes from fine to Big Brother is where the "interesting" discussion is at. NYPD gets word of a plot-in-action to bomb Times Square -- send out the truck to quickly look through cars in the area? NYPD gets word of some terrorist chatter of a bombing sometime in Times Square -- send out the truck on thrice-a-day patrols through Times Square?

The country has not suffered that many terrorist attacks that the discussion is "interesting" or worth having, honestly. If it gets to the NYPD, and they don't already know who to go after, then too many other people have already dropped the **** ball. I'm not giving up civil rights to save their **** jobs.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Then you don't need it built into a van that's carefully designed to blend into the surroundings. You have it built into the entrance of the protected facility or parking lot for a fraction of the cost.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I don't feel that threatened by terrorists.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Asymetrical warfare.

.50BMG API = 4 dollars.
How much is that van again?
Molotov cocktail = 2 bucks maybe?

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"...but there exists also in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality with freedom." - De Tocqueville

And you laughed at me for pricing out the .50 Beowulf upper? SBR that sonofabitch or even better, AR pistol in .50 Beowulf. Perfect for alleviating parking disputes with armored cars.

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A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. ~ John Stuart Mill