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New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

arstechnica.com

81–90 of 129 posts

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#81

It's like the jokes about hitting a women. Once you actually had done it they are no longer even remotely funny.

... or you've done it enough without being shamed from the public you represent, that it's something you feel comfortable joking about. Analogies are awesome.

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#82
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't have to use the original title here. I too thought it meant a real octopus.

No, the mods strictly and remorselessly enforce the "use the original title at any cost" rule, even when it is misleading and/or linkbait. Any attempt to provide essential context in the title is met with condemnation. Welcome to Hacker News, where the rules are made up and the points don't matter!

...the points don't matter!

Holy crap! I wish someone had told me...

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#83
post #39

Yes, it's a ballsy logo, but on the other hand... Wikipedia tells us that NROL-39's payload is actually a Topaz synthetic aperture radar (SAR) node, flying in constellation with two others already in operation, and two more to come. This is essentially not-at-all-threatening to civil liberties, being a ground-elevation mapping platform (and to a second order, some degree of surface roughness), of not particularly goo…

It should be noted Topaz was the only outcome of a failed $25 billion dollar project called Future Imagery Architecture:

> the project was killed in what the Times report calls "perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reconnaissance_Office...

They spent more money than the entire GDP of about 90+ countries for a single spy satellite:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

A big portion of that money went to Boeing:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/washington/11satellite.htm...

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#86
post #21
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the title link-baity?

It doesn't say "logo". Literally interpreted, it means that there is a giant octopus on the satellite. That provokes one to click the link to find out more.

They could have used Marvel' logo for HYDRA. There's already a DARPA project for SHIELD.

https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=eac39969d68f...

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#87
post #83
post #39

Yes, it's a ballsy logo, but on the other hand... Wikipedia tells us that NROL-39's payload is actually a Topaz synthetic aperture radar (SAR) node, flying in constellation with two others already in operation, and two more to come. This is essentially not-at-all-threatening to civil liberties, being a ground-elevation mapping platform (and to a second order, some degree of surface roughness), of not particularly goo…

It should be noted Topaz was the only outcome of a failed $25 billion dollar project called Future Imagery Architecture: > the project was killed in what the Times report calls "perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reconnaissance_Office... They spent more money than the entire GDP of about 90+ countries fo…

Haha, no wonder that in the actual logo, the globe is turned so that the octopus is feeding on North America. The motto instead should have been "nom, nom, nom".

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#89
post #21
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is the title link-baity?

It doesn't say "logo". Literally interpreted, it means that there is a giant octopus on the satellite. That provokes one to click the link to find out more.

Literally interpreted, it means that there is a giant octopus on the satellite.

And how do you know that there isn't?

Besides, the use of the word "features" to mean "has a picture of on it" is pretty well established. The US coat of arms features an eagle, but that doesn't mean there is an actual eagle sitting on it.

Re: New US spy satellite logo features world-devouring octopus

#90
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It should be noted Topaz was the only outcome of a failed $25 billion dollar project called Future Imagery Architecture: > the project was killed in what the Times report calls "perhaps the most spectacular and expensive failure in the 50-year history of American spy satellite projects." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Reconnaissance_Office... They spent more money than the entire GDP of about 90+ countries fo…

Haha, no wonder that in the actual logo, the globe is turned so that the octopus is feeding on North America. The motto instead should have been "nom, nom, nom".

:) Actually, the fact that China is turned to the viewer, with a tentacle overlaying it, is possibly indicative of its tasking. The octopus has five tentacles; three are visible, and this is the third of five TOPAZ satellites to be launched.
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