Protecting the Skies

VROOOOOOOOOOOOM... Pow pow pow pow pow!

That's the sound we're hearing outside today. It's the sound of the Phalanx system being tested. Those are the big guns positioned around the base that shoot down incoming rockets and mortars. They fire about 150 rounds per second, coating the sky with rather large bullets, in an attempt to blow up whatever is coming in before it hits anything. To prevent massive civilian casualties on what would be the termination of the bullets' arc, they explode mid-air after a few seconds. If you see them fire at night it looks like lasers beams going across the sky. Pretty cool. They are very loud, though, if you happen to be standing nearby.

Anyway, that was the big excitement for the afternoon.

In other exciting news (and this may be exciting only to Scott), more and more magazines are working bar codes into their advertisements, and then people can use smart phones to scan them and get more information.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/11/business/media/11mag.html

And for Ian, here are some things the cafeteria served for lunch today:

Chicken
Mashed potatoes
Chicken wings
Curry
Salad
Rolls
Jello
Soda
Cookies

And finally for Andy, I'm reading a new book.

Happy Monday, everyone!