Oh baby. The US Navy is saying a prototype of the solid state Laser Weapons System (LaWS) is ready for deployment. This summer in the Persian Sea, the USS Ponce will be outfitted with lasers that can shoot down aerial drones, speedboats and swarm boats that are miles away. It’s going to be Star Wars in the open sea.
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The Kentucky Senate just passed a law that will let students take computer programming classes to satisfy their foreign language requirements. Do you think that’s a good move?
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Michael Bloomberg leaves office tomorrow after 12 years as New York City’s mayor. No mayor in recent memory has added so much to a city. Or taken so much away. To remember him properly, here’s a list of everything Bloomberg banned during his time in office.
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Stories about weird local laws always begin like urban legends. You might have heard that in Wisconsin, the Dairy State, all restaurants are required by law to serve cheese with every dish, including placing a slice of certified Wisconsin cheese on top of each and every order of apple pie.
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Every now and then there’s a writeup of some weird U.S. laws, and it’s always interesting to see what random stuff merited legislation at one time or another. But this infographic, put out by the online attorney directory Upcounsel, takes the curation to the next level and also talks about enforcement and shows which weird laws have been or are being repealed. In Ohio it’s illegal to get a fish drunk, in Arizona it’s illegal to cut down a cactus, and in Washington it’s illegal to harass Bigfoot. How would you even go about doing that? All will be revealed. [Upcounsel via Visual.ly]
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The 4th of July is just two days away, and we all know what that means: The casual and festive use of explosives. Well, that is if you live in (or near?) one of the 42 states that smiles upon that kind of thing. And if you’re unsure whether you are living in party town or under a wet blanket, this map can help you out.
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Despite the fact that it’s currently banned in Los Angeles, UberX is defiantly still up and running. I used it for the first time this weekend. This so-called ride-sharing service from San Francisco-based Uber Technologies is supposedly the future of cabs. Much like similar services Lyft and Sidecar, UberX seeks to "disrupt" the taxi industry by using average people with a car (and without a taxi license) to shuttle others around. But it’s pretty clear that they shouldn’t be allowed to.
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Lasers have been flaunted by the US Navy before, but now it’s announced that 2014 will see the very first solid-state laser deployed aboard a ship, two years ahead of schedule. The USS Ponce, a vessel used as an amphibious transport dock stationed in the Persian Gulf, will get the honor of hosting the prototype Laser Weapon System (LaWS). Not only can the hardware set boats and airborne drones ablaze, but it can also emit a burst to “dazzle” an opponent’s sensors without inflicting physical harm. Sure, it cost roughly $32 million to construct, but the price is expected to fall when it hits wider production, and Chief of Naval Research Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder estimates that it each shot rings up at under $1. It may not be the missile-obliterating free-electron laser that the Navy’s been lusting for, but we’re sure it doesn’t matter much to drones at the end of the beam. Hit the jump to for a video of the contraption in action.
Via: The Register
Source: US Navy (1), (2)
California just passed a law that says drivers are free to text and email while they drive, as long as they’re doing it by voice. Sounds safer, right? Not exactly, according to quite a bit of research. More »
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