Mutant Kangaroos

[ironik311]

> Mutant Marsupials Take Up Arms Against Australian Air Force
>
> The reuse of some object-oriented code (software) has caused tactical
> headaches for Australia's armed forces. As virtual reality simulators
> assume larger roles in helicopter combat training, programmers have gone
to
> great lengths to increase the realism of their scenarios, including
> detailed landscapes and - in the case of the Northern Territory's
Operation
> Phoenix - herds of kangaroos (since disturbed animals might well give away
> a helicopter's position).
>
> The head of the Defense Science & Technology Organization's Land
> Operations/Simulation division reportedly instructed developers to model
> the local marsupials' movements and reactions to helicopters. Being
> efficient programmers, they just re-appropriated some code originally used
> to model infantry detachment reactions under the same stimuli, changed the
> mapped icon from a soldier to a kangaroo, and increased the figures' speed
> of movement.
>
>
> Eager to demonstrate their flying skills for some visiting American
pilots,
> the hotshot Aussies "buzzed" the virtual kangaroos in low flight during a
> simulation. The kangaroos scattered, as predicted, and the visiting
> Americans nodded appreciatively... then did a double-take as the kangaroos
> reappeared, assembled, and from behind a hill, launched a concerted
barrage
> of Stinger missiles at the hapless helicopter. (The programmers had
> forgotten to remove that part of the infantry coding.)
>
> The lesson?
>
> Objects are defined with certain attributes, and any new object defined in
> terms of an old one inherits all the attributes. The embarrassed
> programmers had learned to be careful when reusing object-oriented code,
> and the Yanks left with a newfound respect for Australian wildlife.
> Simulator supervisors report that pilots from that point onward have
> strictly avoided kangaroos, just as they were meant to.
>
>
> *From June 15, 1999 Defense Science and Technology Organization Lecture
> Series, Melbourne, Australia, and staff reports

[shark_megabyte]

Next they'll be stuffing their pouches with tactical nukes.

... Can you smell what the 'roo is packin'?

[ChrisDevismes]

I have it good authority that some breeds of British sheep, found in the Lake District, are prone to leaping at low flying jets as they make their manoevers over the hills. Various fell walkers also report their fear, as evening comes, of mumbling and chattering and the feeling that something soft yet purposeful is pushing them towards that eirie precipice, on their way to rest and getting the boots off. It therefore doesn't surprise me that the Aussie species is causing trouble in other ways.
Yours ever vigilant against what is probably going to be a take over!