High Energy Laser Takes Out Rocket

BY: Langston Brown

Recentely, Lockheed Martin has released a video of ADAM, a high energy laser system, destroying a rocket from 0.9 miles (1.5 km) away. The video evidently shows the laser beam striking and tracking a point towards the front of the rocket, before destroying it mid-flight.

ADAM, which stands for Area Defense Anti-Munitions is a laser weapon system that is designed to defeat close-in improvised rocket and unmanned aerial system (UAS) threats. Its purpose is to protect vulnerable assets such as military bases near the frontline, acquiring and tracking short-range targets from a distance of 5 km (3.1 miles), and destroying from a range of up to 2 km (1.2 miles).

Imagine being cooped up with your unit miles deep into enemy territory beyond any immediate help, behind some makeshift stone walls and plywood. Some are sleeping, while others stand watch using night vision to leach signs of danger from the dark. When the attack comes it starts with shoulder launched rockets — but rather than just seeing the flash and yelling for cover, troops are protected by Area Defense Anti-Munitions.

In the test, which took place April 22, an ADAM prototype takes out a "Qassam-like" rocket. Qassam rockets are artillery munitions used by the military wing of Hamas in attacks against Israel.

Lockheed Martin's video of the prototype test can be seen below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kgUnDeED9MM#!

Samsung’s Folding the Competition

By: Christopher Winston

Have you ever dreamed of a flexible phone that bends frontwards and backwards? Well your dreams may soon come true with Samsung’s new Youm Smartphone. Samsung previewed some of its flexible prototype at the International CES back in January 2013. The Youm prototype was an OLED screen the size of a smartphone that could bend like paper but can emit bright colors. The Samsung engineer who displayed the prototype had this to say, "We're so confident in the market potential for flexible OLEDs that we're creating an entire new line under the Youm brand name,"

Youm panels are predicted to hit the market at some time in 2013. The downside is these OLED panels are much more expensive compared to glass based panels. Customers can expect to pay an arm and a leg for this new innovative device. Once the Youm is released it is speculated they wont come out in mass volumes, rather it will be more of a “niche” product.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaXepnrgfJo

Money is Debt. Debt is Money.

BY: Ed Ehite

Federal Reserve Notes, known as dollar bills are printed by the Federal Reserve and then lent to the United Stated. Since the Federal Reserve is a private corporation, like all loans this one bares an interest. Almost all loans are made up of the principal amount and accrued interest. If the entire money supply is borrowed from the central bank and then put in circulation by commercial banks through loans, only what is referred to as the principal is in the money supply. The first question should be is when does the accrued interest to be paid back in addition to the principal amount come into existence

Most money, around 97%, exists only virtually in the cyber world rather than dollar bills or coins. This means that only 3% of the total money supply can be held in the physical world. How does this work? The economy runs on faith that the credits and physical currency issued by the government take on the formal role actual goods or gold. If the people did not accept this relationship then this method would not be successive.

The real deception is the devaluation of currency which is known formerly as inflation. How can we expect to solve the problem of debt by increasing the money supply without a proportional expansion of goods and services? The only way to create more money is from loans. Therefore, if everyone in the country were able to pay off all debts, including the government, there would not be one dollar in circulation.

Technology is only allowing this debt ceiling to rise at an even higher rate. Marrine Eagles stated, “If there were no debts in our money system, there wouldn’t be any money.” Marrine Eagles served as Governor of the Federal Reserve and stated this September 30, 1941 at House Committee Hearing.

The True Israelites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJxeHctz82I

Started From the Bottom, Now We Here

BY: Darrell Frye

The future of flying vehicles has been undoubtedly a controversial topic that many individuals continue to engage in. However, the question regarding flying cars is more "when? rather than How?". Through thorough research of the evolution of the normal household car, it is evident that many prototypes have been created. These prototypes are being enhanced with daily innovations in order to securely promote this new form of transportation. Propellers have been designed, exteriors have been crafted, and engines have been created uniquely in order to cater to these flying crafts.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/volkswagen-hover-flying-car-nevada_n_1499501.html

Flying Cars? How will these cars land and take off? Is this Safe? The questions continue to mind boggle many of the brightest engineers who have dedicated their time towards this creation. Fortunately some have come closer in both designing and manufacturing this magnificent machine.

"Developers of a flying car say they're about $80 million closer to giving your morning commute a real lift. For years, Moller International has been working on a way to make the old science fiction dream of turning tires into turboprops a reality. Their SkyCar, designed for speeds of over 300 MPH at altitudes as high as 36,000 feet would seat four people and isn't trying to replace commercial air travel."

-DailyMail.co

The Topic of the Day:

"What a way to beat the traffic! Flying car developer says he's $80 million closer to making sci-fi dream a reality"

The "Moller Sky Car" has been named the "magic carpet" by its creator, Dr. Paul Moller. It is a vertical take off and landing flying car. The pods rotate to direct thrust with fans powered by 2 engines. Dr. Moller has experienced machine failure more than two times, but ensures the consumer that the technological brain of the flying machine will solve any immediate failure. I also found it interesting that Dr. Moller is considered an astronautical genius who earned a doctorate in engineering without any undergraduate experience.  

(embed video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk : Flying car that can hover short distances, drive on road)

The myth of flying cars is soon becoming a reality in this new generation. With the commitment of Dr. Moller, our society is one step closer of navigating through the air. I guess the next question is how will the GPS be innovated? 

Feel Free to share your thoughts. 

Where Will You Be After Graduation?

By: Vincent Carter

I have often wondered where college students around the nation go once they graduate. I know everyone is not going to work at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, so where are they going? A new study reports that nearly half of college graduates are working as sales clerks, waiters, janitors and other jobs that do not require a college degree. The problem is the recent downturn in economic growth in the last few years mixed with the high volume and high expectations of college graduates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBCmh6oK-U

Everyone is not going to receive a glamorous high paying job with a luxurious office right out of college. You have to work to earn these things and gain knowledge and experience to be able to be effective in your position. After graduation students face stiff competition not only from classmates but from current unemployed people, retirees, and other college grads from previous years who are still job hunting.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/economy/employment/2010-05-19-

jobs19_CV_N.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTfJZbYxlSw

Google's Online Privacy Piracy

BY: Jordan Price

Google, we all use it just about everyday and most of us would admit that it is very useful and convenient, but is it safe? Google has been caught on numerous occasions now attempting to & successfully working its way around preset privacy settings for both Apples safari browser and Microsoft’s Internet explorer. Microsoft claims that Google has been circumventing their “P3P privacy protection” feature, which is a web standard that forces a website to reveal what they plan to do with the information collected from a user. Microsoft claims that Google is able to use a nuance if the P3P specifications that allows them to bypass a users specific privacy settings. This which means that even if a user sets their internet browsers privacy settings to deny third party cookies, Google will still be able to track what sites they look at and what they do on those sites; and extreme invasion of privacy in the eyes of many. Google has also been more recently accused of using these same deceptive tactics to bypass the privacy settings on smartphones, allowing them to monitor users behavior on their phones similar to the way their Internet use is monitored.  

Google Claims that they bypass these privacy policies to in fact, enhance users web browsing experience and allow for better functionality of Google’s “+1” features. However Google has always used our information for not only our benefit but also for their own as they sell much of this information to company’s that want to target us with advertisements. Google is now even planning collect all of this information they have been “monitoring” and put it in one place, giving its users a “profile,” where information bout what we do and search online in private may become public. 

The collecting of our information into once place & the concept of new Google technology such as Google glass calls for a more advanced understanding of the what you do on the web and how it can affect you in the real world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7z8YtiKEog

Google Glass

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7BklPVduFo

Wednesday May, 2013 - Last Class

In class we will discuss:

1. Final Grades - You need to calculate your own Final Grade. You have the Learnboost grades and the syllabus. Use algebra to calculate your final grade. Then add the Extra Credit where you wanted it placed. - The Fusion Table grades will be updated over the weekend, so check learnboost for that new grade. I will send an email/text blast once Fusion Table grades are updated.- If you have any issues with the reported grades in Learnboost, email me proof of my mistake to os3@aol.com and I will correct it and email you back.
2. Homework #10 - Macros is discussed in more detail below.
3. Final Exam - This Exam will open Thursday May 2, 2013 at Noon and Close on Sunday May 12, 2013 at midnight. Any graduating Seniors need to complete the exam by Saturday morning May 4, 2013 at noon. This exam will be on classmarker.com and will have 20 random questions from previous Excel Exams #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6 (new), #7 and #8. HW#9 and #10 will not be included in the final.
4. Homework #9 - Due to the problems with add-ons for Apple, I am going to reactivate HW #9 and give students until Sunday May 5, 2013 at midnight to find a PC with the add-on to complete this exam. In order to do this, everyone will have a chance to retake this exam, if case you want to improve your grade. You can find some of the computers in the second Floor lab and Douglas that have Exam with the add-on. You will have to find by trial and error (check Excel menu or try to add it). You may want to ask an Economics Professor or Decision Science Professor which computers their students use, because they use Multiple Regression in their class. The best option maybe to ask a friend to use their PC. The Business Computer Lab on the second floor of the Leadership Center has the add-ins. They have Excel 2007. Watch this video or this video to add it in.
5. Google Place Assignment - I will not grade this assignment until Wednesday May 8, 2013. This is to give some students more time to get their code. Once I get this assignment graded, I will send a blast email/text to everyone.
6. Blog ebook - I will be converting this blog into an ebook and placing it in the cloud. You will get a blast email/text once that is done. I suggest you download and save the ebook on your own cloud drive for future reference. This blog will remain active for a few more months maybe years. The new address is http://misspring2013.blogspot.com/. the old address will go away soon www.hba322.info.

It will take me a day or two to get back to you, because of the last minute volume I may get from students.

If you would like to meet with me, I will be available by phone and join.me starting on Wednesday May 8, 2013. You need to text me first to make an appointment.

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Homework #10 - Macros

I want you to create two different macros using any data you want. You can create your own, use data from a previous homework or find some data on the web. Then email me a copy of your excel file to osistrunk@gmail.com. This assignment is due Sunday May 5, 2013 at midnight. I will grade your spreadsheet based on both macros working.

Review some of the videos below:

http://youtu.be/zyGVfUZl5fo

http://youtu.be/ABXa6X18nyo

http://youtu.be/nvWpFdo7EO0