vordhosbn

Hope all goes well!

Yes the ethical part is a bit concerning. After all this is a device, designed to kill other living beings. However my point of view, is that, although I am pretty tolerant to all kind of lifeforms, without preference of how close or far to our species on the evolutionary tree, in the moment that some of these animals try to literally eat me... I feel morally justified to defend myself using any means necessary.

lol However with such laser, I can modify the mosquito zapper to a brand new err... weapon - the Robot Insta Kill Zapper.

It seems to be rather low in power ( only 5 to 7 mW, while I aim for more like 500 mW).

Software can be programmed to be adaptable, does that mean that computer programs "think"?

I am thinking of reproducing this design... My list so far: - 2 stepper motors needed for simple vertical axis rotated laser, mounted on a rotating platform (that gives polar coordinates, which are easy to work with) - 3 high sensitivity microphones to detect the precise direction of the mosquito - 1 high powered laser diode (I am not sure if I need something else than the diode to fire it?) - 1 cheap laser pointer (needed for the chassis and the collimation system) - 1 Atmel ATmega128A microcontroller - various electronic components - dev circuit, etc. - a power source - I consider using a rechargeable battery of some kind - perhaps combined with solar cell to recharge itself during daytime What do you think? Any obvious problems related to the components or the general idea?

But what should government do for people wanting to live outside society - i.e. not paying taxes and not using any of the benefits of civilization.

I think the reader will be ultimately enjoying more the uncertainty of his suspicions, if the title was not giving away the end. Maybe something like "The Test". But "Who am I?" has the additional benefit of being a crucial phrase spoken by the main character towards the end. It's up to you. If you have any other stories, it would be interesting to read them, so please share.

<off> I can't give a short answer, my "Relationship status" with God is... "It's complicated". </off> I wish you were checking your facts as thoroughly as you do mine. Otherwise I highly doubt all people who identify themselves as "religious" believe literally in creationism. That's just because conservatives are stupid! Just kidding, your point is valid.

Couldn't an EMP cause a spark somewhere inside the car... particulary in the fuel tank?

It's all arbitrary, since we are imagining this alien. If he/she/it has evolved near a star similar to our own, but on a planet without ozone layer, he may be used to fairly higher amount of light than what is present on Earth. However, lets assume he will bring some sort of illumination devices, which he will use in both day and nighttime. Because bees see some part of the UV spectrum, flowers have evolved to "shine" more with UV light, and have distinctive patterns unobservable for humans. This is how humans will look like: We will scare the shit out of them! Human zombie attack FTW!!!

It depends on your total caloric intake, whether some of the protein will be converted to fat. I suspect that you are interested in straight training and muscle gain. I have read on the topic, being interested myself, and to summarize - eat a lot of food at smaller portions, but often, do enough exercise (this can be tricky - generally if you don't feel pumped up and almost totally exhausted at the same time, you are doing it wrong) and finally about the protein - studies have shown increased protein intake to aid muscle growth and recovery up to 2 gr. of protein per kg. body weight. More than that is shown to be ineffective and potentially dangerous to people with preexisting kidney conditions. Don't be afraid to put on some fat while gaining muscle. It's not so hard to get rid from, later.

Uhhh, what? FYI, "most of the world" is China and they are governed by an atheist communist party. Really? Are you sure... because i am European, and somehow i highly doubt that...

Whoa! This is very good! Though, I anticipated the ending from the title, it's a very original story. A bit of criticism - the beginning, where Zach is talked into going in the tank does not sound very convincing and realistic. Maybe you could expand a bit on that and on the whole "before the tank", human part. Still, a very interesting read. It got me... thinking...

Well, most of the polyalphabetic ciphers are very easy to break with modern computing power, especially if the type of the encrypted data is known (for example in most languages vowels are repeated very often and form distinctive patterns). To work with modern cryptographic algorithms, you need some understanding of mathematics, but since this is interesting for you, you can learn "on the go". A quick google search yields very interesting tutorials and guides to cryptography. I recommend using C/C++. For development environment - Micro$oft VS Express (which is free for non-commercial use). Or even better - pirate the full version and use Visual Assist. Good luck!

Hint: Stars are made out of plasma.

There are massless particles - for example the rest mass of the photon is zero. However, even if there weren't, I don't see how that nothing can be calculated follows... Care to explain?

Cryptographic algorithms can be implemented in any language. I have two questions for you: 1. Why do you want to write this "cipher" (assuming by this you mean a cryptographic algorithm)? 2. What type of data will you encrypt/decrypt? 3. Do you have any specific type of encryption in mind, or you just want to try out anything?

If you destroy only electrons (with positron beam) you will end up with stripped atom nuclei (plasma). If you destroy protons, you will cause nuclear fission and hence the radioactivity. Why wouldn't plasma have gravity?

Imo, switching to a vegetarian diet, instead of cannibal one will be more sane.

Either way, rolling the cylinder again is your best option - you make your chances equal. There is no difference between scenario with two adjacent bullets and two separated (that is if you roll the cylinder).

Besides, it's not hard to beat a species that wiped out themselves along with most others.

Often people get frustrated, when they don't see immediate gratification from their efforts. It may be, or may be not the case with you, but don't you think it would be better if your "training routine" was a bit less hellish?