Why? They'll just shoot each other's eyes out.

Okay, I know that there is a picture in TFA, but subby's headline has put a completely different image in my head, and I know it has for other farkers too. Please, somebody who has photoshop, make a picture of what you think a snowplow with a frickin' laser beam attached to its roof should look like.

FTFA:
"Star Wars" technology is being unleashed in Iowa this winter, although it will improve snow plowing on the state's highways rather than defend starships across the galaxy.

The Iowa Department of Transportation has installed specially-designed laser-guidance devices on a half-dozen snowplow trucks statewide.

I love this state.
/And Regan
//Defends from missile attacks AND keeps the roads neat

Is a snow plow really the sort of precision tool that needs pinpoint accuracy? If you hear a clang every time you pass a driveway you are too close. What could be simpler?

...and a frickin' rotating chair!

This could be fun. See how close you can get to objects without hitting them. Laser guided satisfaction..

/This from a guy who can hit traffic cones just right to shoot them across the road.....

Wade_Wilson: Is a snow plow really the sort of precision tool that needs pinpoint accuracy? If you hear a clang every time you pass a driveway you are too close. What could be simpler?

Right but that clang could possibly damage their plow costing them, like TFA says, 10-11 thousand dollars to replace it.

The laser system itself seems a bit too expensive. 2600 dollars for a laser? I know those high power lasers they sell online can get expensive but this laser if going to pointing into snow only a couple feet away from the truck. Don't know why it would cost so much.

Get Lost: This could be fun. See how close you can get to objects without hitting them. Laser guided satisfaction..

/This from a guy who can hit traffic cones just right to shoot them across the road.....

Wasn't that from The Man Who Knew Too Little?

I think Iowans have a bigger wish: "I wish I didn't live in the worst of fly-over country."

Iowin.

At least the research done by Chris Knight and Mitch Taylor at Pacific Tech was used for good instead of evil.

Wade_Wilson: Is a snow plow really the sort of precision tool that needs pinpoint accuracy? If you hear a clang every time you pass a driveway you are too close. What could be simpler?

Right. except the plows they fark up every time the clip the curb cost ~ $10,000.

Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational snow plow!

approves

Cosmic Crab: Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational snow plow!

thread?

hershmire: I think Iowans have a bigger wish: "I wish I didn't live in the worst of fly-over country."

That's right, that's EXACTLY what we think here in flyover country. So, just stay where you are...nothing to see here.

ActionJoe: The laser system itself seems a bit too expensive. 2600 dollars for a laser? I know those high power lasers they sell online can get expensive but this laser if going to pointing into snow only a couple feet away from the truck. Don't know why it would cost so much.

One of the comments indicated that it also moves the plow on the side in if it detects anything, so maybe the article just didn't explain the technology too well.

They don't need Lasers, they need Mr Plow!



I'm Mr. Plow, and I'm here to say,
I'm the plowin'est guy in the USA.
I got a big plow and I'll move a lot of things,
Like your cow if you have one.

Mr plow is a loser, and I think he is a boozer.

bsteiny: hershmire: I think Iowans have a bigger wish: "I wish I didn't live in the worst of fly-over country."

That's right, that's EXACTLY what we think here in flyover country. So, just stay where you are...nothing to see here.

Oh, I'm just teasing. You have very smooth highways.

JonnyBGoode: approves

I can leave satisfied now.

Click the little diagram to enlarge it and you get the same image in a pop-up window.

Crap like that should lead to people getting fired.

Just a note that the part of Highway 1 that Mr. Turkal is in chare of sucks in the winter.

/stay on your coasts your not wanted here.

hershmire:

Oh, I'm just teasing. You have very smooth highways.

Thanks, I did just shave.

It would be nice if IA would start plowing when the snow started falling instead of waiting for the snow to end. Last December 16, my boyfriend and I counted 50+ cars in ditches on I-80 between Iowa City and Illinois (~65 miles, I think). The moment we got on I-88 in Illinois there was nothing. Not a single car on the side of the road or in the median and the roads were spotless. We passed several plows while still on 80.

lasers melting the snow ftw?

Now this is a snowplow:

darrent83: It never actually defended us from anything or even worked for that matter, it was just a black hole to throw money in so we could bankrupt the Russians by convincing them that they needed to catch up.

It's a good strategy against a country with a repressive state, shaky economy and bogged down in a war in Afghanistan.

I think the $2600 price tag comes from not so much the laser itself but having a laser you can a) mount on a snowplow and have it still working after an hour's travel, b) one you can use in subzero temperatures and c) one powerful enough to give you a spot through 60 feet of falling snow.

/quit humping the snowplow.

OK help me out here... How does aiming frickin laser beam at unplowed snow help a snow plow driver avoid clipping the curb he can't see underneath that snow?

iamscotto: OK help me out here... How does aiming frickin laser beam at unplowed snow help a snow plow driver avoid clipping the curb he can't see underneath that snow?

It points to where the edge of the plow blade is going to be scraping in 60 feet. If the beam passes on the wrong side of that mailbox ahead, it's time to make a course adjustment.

I guess that's because of that Iowa kind of special
chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.

/but what the heck, you're welcome
//not from Ioway

Wade_Wilson: Is a snow plow really the sort of precision tool that needs pinpoint accuracy?

Yes. Yes it is.

/Lives in Ioway

Somacandra: Wade_Wilson: Is a snow plow really the sort of precision tool that needs pinpoint accuracy?

Yes. Yes it is.

/Lives in Ioway

I'll tell you what! First it starts with the innocence of attaching a laser guide to a simple instrument like a plow. Did your forefathers have lasers on their plows when they broke this ground? Heck no! Next thing you know there's robots doing the jobs that you citizens used to do! Robots, laser guided implements of income destruction! Watch for the signs from your legislators! Do they leave the state capitol with dollar signs in their eyes? Have they been hanging out with lobbyists?

We've got trouble! Right here in River City! That starts with T and rhymes with P and that stands for Plow!

/EIP for sadder but wiser girls

paquerette: I guess that's because of that Iowa kind of special
chip-on-the-shoulder attitude.

Which develops on realizing how many of the remaining 49 states are populated with complete shiatheads.

/no IOWA tag on Fark
//there's a reason

Bagelox-99:
/no IOWA tag on Fark
//there's a reason

Maybe you could team up for a OHIOWADAHO tag?

darrent83: I forgot to add this, Fukc Regan

Oh, are you misspelling Reagan because you're afraid it'll be filtered, like "fukc?" Relax, it won't.