EETimes.com – Comment: heat ray is a focus for concern — This looks like another waste of money with an embarrassing result.
Raytheon claims the Silent Guardian fills the gap between “shout and shoot” but the riotous, protesting insurgent masses may find thick clothing, balaclava helmets and gloves quite effective at nullifying the heat ray. They may find objects they can use as shields. They may even use other human beings as shields.
This emphasizes that the Silent Guardian is likely to be most effective where the victim is unable to cover his or her skin or move out of the way of the beam. As a result all that money will have been spent on a weapon that may not be good at its primary function, but that would be unsurpassed as a means of torture.
Oh goody.
related links:
homebrew solar death ray devices
1935 German “Death Ray”
Yet another here.
I guess its just better to blow everyone away instead. You are an ass!
dammit, I wanted to torture entire crowds!
but the riotous, protesting insurgent masses may find thick clothing, balaclava helmets and gloves quite effective at nullifying the heat ray. They may find objects they can use as shields. They may even use other human beings as shields.
And monkeys may fly out my butt.
And not just reducing the effects, but “nullifying” them…
People wear masks to protect themselves from tear-gas, they use shields to protect themselves from water cannons…
Its another non-impact weapon to chose from.
If they find ways to reduce the effectiveness, you try a combination of non-impact devices, or escalate to bean-bags & rubber bullets.
And, as I joked earlier:
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=13809
#20 Ahhh… the fun they must have had, Beta-testing these at those secret prisons we supposedly don’t have anymore.
I’d probably admit to planning the 9/11 attacks, after a few days of that.
Heat ray weapons cause global warming.
The intended targets could also carry devices like simple shields to reflect the energy back at the ones generating it. Yow!
It doesn’t matter, Raytheon got the green. Isn’t that what the federal government does now, collect taxes for defense contractors.
Apropos of torture:
Frank Rich noted in his recent column that a group of ex-Army interrogators who dealt with Nazi prisoners had a reunion lately:
“We got more information out of a German general with a game of chess or Ping-Pong than they do today, with their torture,” said Henry Kolm, 90, an M.I.T. physicist whose interrogation of Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy, took place over a chessboard. George Frenkel, 87, recalled that he “never laid hands on anyone” in his many interrogations, adding, “I’m proud to say I never compromised my humanity.”
http://tinyurl.com/yr6vuz
how far we have come.
#8
Bill O’reilly would say that Henry Kolm is a wuss and that he should have been baked in a German oven during WWII too.
#1 – BryanP – Boiling water leaves an identifying scald that pretty much screams out “I was tortured”. The heat ray leaves no marks. Torture you for years and if they ever let you out, they can deny till the cows come home.
#9 – Angel
Ann Coulter would probably phrase it differently.
isn’t this old news? -i’ve seen the smaller version of these on all the NYPD ESU vehicles for a few years now here in NYC..
-iirc, they were especially present during the last republican convention at madison square garden to toast any unruly types that showed up.
-i don’t know if they use’em for torture. sounds like a toasty idea though.
-s
You could sure keep’em hopping at a nudist convention; that thing could be a load of laughs.
All weapons research is cool. You almost always get some cool technology out of it.
#8, doug,
Just to add.
I think the whole Republican – Neo-con – Conservative anti-crime element that was started during the Reagan years has pervaded our society too deeply. It is no longer rehabilitation, it is solely punishment. Three strikes, sex crime registries, longer sentences, police tactics, and denial of habeas corpus are all part of this. Torture is just a portion of the whole thing.
Well, if you need to wear heavy coats, gloves, and headgear, I guess we’ll be seeing protests in the wintertime most of all… and then the death ray can take the place of fires in barrels to keep protesters warm.
Isn’t that what the federal government does now, collect taxes for defense contractors.
It also creates thousands of jobs for Americans and helps us maintain our technical edge. No different then farm subsidies, air line bailouts, WELFARE or anything else the Government spends money on.
How about this much cheaper solution:
Stop invading and occupying countries so fewer insurgents want to kill our troops.
If you had rather be shot go for it.
Sure you can completely cover yourself to the point you can’t see but then you can’t see and you are kind of clumsy.
They also have a device with directional sound. Enough protection will stop that too but if you are blind and deaf and wrapped up in thick layers of protection it should be easy to shove you into the back of a truck and haul you a hundred or so miles away and dump you.
The logical thing to do if they show up with a lot of protection is a browning machine gun. Not very humane but it would work and no need for prisons or guards.
Maybe robot dogs or the machines from robot wars?
Of course they could just call out the scoups!
Good luck on catching a ride home.
All I have to say: Sheet metal tower shield. They are light weight, easy and cheap to make and will protect you from head to toe.