The Vimeo-hosted video gave me problem. Youtube version is more reliable:
Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
81–90 of 181 posts
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#82Sadly, demining is not this simple or easy. Mine rollers and mine flails like this have been tried and tested since WWI but none have proven completely effective in finding and clearing mines. This is partially because they only work well on totally flat terrain and rapidly lose effectiveness in rougher terrain where a large number of mines are typically buried. In practice, solutions like this achieve only 50-60% ef…
A huge problem is that land mines get unreliable over time and thus a mine flail might hit it but it does not detonate. However it could still go off when handled later. And there are even mines specifically designed to be resistant to mine flails https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAT/6_mine
That's an anti-tank mine. All anti-tank mines are designed to not blow up when people walk on them, only when heavy vehicles drive over them. We're talking about anti-personel mines here.
Still, I agree with your first point.
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#83When you put effort into promotional video, how hard is it to Google the actual Russian text for "danger minefield" rather than put up a shield with random Cyrillic alphabet soup?
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only very slightly. Also, it suffers from the same problem as the Mine Kafon, in that it's a more-or-less random walk and you won't know whether the whole area is cleared.
> Only very slightly. Just to be clear, are you saying that it is only very slightly better for a sheep, rather than a human child, to be maimed by a land mine? That seems to be what you wrote, but I'm having a very difficult time reconciling your world view with my own, so I'm hoping that I am somehow misunderstanding.
Wilfully inflicting a land mine injury on another creature? Sheep might not be as smart as people, but I bet they feel pain every bit as much as you do or a child does.
And given that, what does it say about you as a person that you'd think that it was a good idea?
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#85"Hauntingly Beautiful" ... It's interesting to me how the feet on each leg is designed to catch the wind. You might not get the torque needed to generate electricity, but the gentle continuous "nudge" needed to roll across the desert can come from any direction.
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#86When you put effort into promotional video, how hard is it to Google the actual Russian text for "danger minefield" rather than put up a shield with random Cyrillic alphabet soup?
When doing a google image search on a screen shot of the sign, I found a couple of matches:
http://www.travbuddy.com/Kulyab-travel-guide-1325354/photos#... http://serious.tumblr.com/post/39645197/beware-of-landmines-...
Could it be that the sign is in Tajik and not Russian? (I speak neither of those languages, so I wouldn't know…)
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#87Sadly, demining is not this simple or easy. Mine rollers and mine flails like this have been tried and tested since WWI but none have proven completely effective in finding and clearing mines. This is partially because they only work well on totally flat terrain and rapidly lose effectiveness in rougher terrain where a large number of mines are typically buried. In practice, solutions like this achieve only 50-60% ef…
Here's a link about the mine sniffing rats out of Tanzania developed by APOPO. Supposedly cheaper and more effective than dogs.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.dete...
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not suitable - for military purposes. DEODU is a military organization, and any conclusions it makes must be viewed in that light. Mine-clearing is a war tool as much as it is a peace tool.
You're getting downvoted because civilian requirements are higher than military. If you manage to clear a field such that there is a single mine in it, it will likely become safer to march through than avoid - there are plenty of other things that can kill you, and they must be triaged in war time. However, if you take that same field after the war is over and put a farmer on it, it's basically a matter of time until…
I upvoted you and your parent. His assertion triggered your informative response, which I'd have had to do without otherwise. He wasn't annoying, just wrong, which is entirely acceptable as long as we are civil about it.
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Only very slightly. Just to be clear, are you saying that it is only very slightly better for a sheep, rather than a human child, to be maimed by a land mine? That seems to be what you wrote, but I'm having a very difficult time reconciling your world view with my own, so I'm hoping that I am somehow misunderstanding.
Wilfully inflicting a land mine injury on another creature? Sheep might not be as smart as people, but I bet they feel pain every bit as much as you do or a child does. And given that, what does it say about you as a person that you'd think that it was a good idea?
that he likes shish kebab.
Re: Low-cost Solution to Clearing Afghan Landmines
#90Mine Kampf