# What's New with SDI

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-with-sdi/109612>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 17, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-with-sdi/109612 "2002-05-17T20:27:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [May 17, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-with-sdi/109612/1 "2002-05-17T20:27:51Z")

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Anyone else read What’s New, by Robert Parks of the American Physical Society?

He’s always a hoot writing about the latest in science and pseudo-science.  
Here’s a portion of today’s offerings.

> [@](#):
>
> 1. SECRECY: SWIFT ACTION TAKEN TO DEAL WITH MISSILE FAILURES. On  
> Tuesday, Defense Daily revealed that a Lockheed-Martin Patriot  
> Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile did not destroy its target  
> as the Missile Defense Agency had stated. A second PAC-3 failed  
> to launch. The Pentagon lost no time in taking firm corrective  
> action: on Wednesday, Defense Daily reported that in the future  
> all specifics of the targets and countermeasures used in tests  
> will be classified. Officials denied that the secrecy order was  
> intended to prevent any independent review of the missile-test  
> program. And I’m an alien from the planet Mongo.

I love this guy!

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**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-with-sdi/109612/2 "2002-05-18T03:19:01Z")

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Yeah, but he’s an alien from the planet Mongo. Can you really trust one of those Mongans or Mongoese or whatever they’re called? And why’s this suspicious alien character taking such an interest in our advanced defense systems? I bet it’s because those crafty Mongoish know SDI is Planet Earth’s only hope against their evil plans!

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**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\
**Post date:** [May 18, 2002, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-new-with-sdi/109612/3 "2002-05-18T13:41:45Z")

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PAC-3? They’re _still_ fucking around with that? Shit, I did some work about 6 or 7 years ago on the telemetry monitoring systems for PAC-3.