From:      skunk-works-digest-owner@mail.orst.edu
To:        skunk-works-digest@mail.orst.edu
Subject:   Skunk Works Digest V5 #555
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Skunk Works Digest        Tuesday, 5 December 1995      Volume 05 : Number 555

In this issue:

	Re: Titanium
	Re: A dangerous, tasteless, practical joke.

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From: Zenox Orenthal Z <zoz@teaching.cs.adelaide.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 18:21:05 +1030 (CST)
Subject: Re: Titanium

|> The main point was a subsequent study done by RAND, also in
|> the late 40's, on the use of beryllium. It seems the only admitted
|> current use is for small part structural items in the space
|> program.

That is incorrect - Beryllium is used extensively (and there is no appropriate
substitute) as a neutron reflector in fusion weapons (H-bombs).  I can
dig up further details if you like, but it's off charter.

Zoz
- --
     ______        _____________    ______________________          ______
    /\####/\      /            /   /                     /         /\####/\
   /  \##/  \    /_______     /   /    _     ______     /         /  \##/  \
  /____\/____\          /    /   /    / \    \    /    /         /____\/____\
  \####/\####/         /    /____\    \_/    /   /    /_______   \####/\####/
   \##/  \##/         /                     /   /            /    \##/  \##/
    \/____\/         /_____________________/   /____________/      \/____\/

                            zoz@cs.adelaide.edu.au

                   If you see a blind man, run up and kick him.
                   Why should you be kinder than God?

                           -- Old Iranian Proverb

------------------------------

From: Zenox Orenthal Z <zoz@teaching.cs.adelaide.edu.au>
Date: Tue, 5 Dec 1995 18:27:56 +1030 (CST)
Subject: Re: A dangerous, tasteless, practical joke.

|> A really dirty trick for Christmas shoppers:
|>
...
|>
|> I would never actually try this, especially on aviation enthusiasts.
|> It's fun to talk about electromagnetic deception, though.

I have tried this, on my brother, during a recent trip Australia-Britain
via Amsterdam and back.  On no occasion did the detector operator notice
it.  Becoming quite irritated, I snuck a look at their screen while my
brother's bag was going through, and it didn't even show up.  I came to the
conclusion that the machine is powerful enough to go right through thin
pieces of metal, and to make the device thick enough to be picked up it
would have to get pretty close to the thickness of a real gun and therefore
be unsuitable for concealment between the pages of a book.  Don't forget
that the high power of these devices also prevents people from concealing
weapons with thin sheets of metal cut to look like other things.  These
people don't fall for *every* trick in the book.

Zoz
- --
     ______        _____________    ______________________          ______
    /\####/\      /            /   /                     /         /\####/\
   /  \##/  \    /_______     /   /    _     ______     /         /  \##/  \
  /____\/____\          /    /   /    / \    \    /    /         /____\/____\
  \####/\####/         /    /____\    \_/    /   /    /_______   \####/\####/
   \##/  \##/         /                     /   /            /    \##/  \##/
    \/____\/         /_____________________/   /____________/      \/____\/

                            zoz@cs.adelaide.edu.au

                   If you see a blind man, run up and kick him.
                   Why should you be kinder than God?

                           -- Old Iranian Proverb

------------------------------

End of Skunk Works Digest V5 #555
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