Ray Gun Lawsuit

I would improve the weapon by converting it into a solar powered field kitchen.

Cover the antenna with a reflective panel and tick a cooking pot at the focus.

Make the idot who had the intial idea for the project into the cook.

Del

Bravo!!

Hey Del. I like your idea. Here here! All in favor of the solar powered kitchen conversion...raise your paws!

Jules

That $17,748.00 paid to the serviceman was not a great amount, compared with the design and manufacture price for the ADS system, which probably cost a couple of hundred million $$$

I would "improve this weapon" by encasing it and its designers, plus the Military folk who authorised the expenditure, along with the politicians and senators involved, into a large block of concrete, and leave it outside the White House, as a permanent memorial, to remind all what happens if you are idiots, and act like idiots....

Come on guys, give poor old Raytheon a break.

"Contrary to Raytheon's claims that the pain ceases instantly upon removal of the ray, Hanlon said that the finger he subjected "was tingling hours later"."

Wonder what he then did with that finger?

Unfortunately we cannot "UNINVENT" things. Rather than "improve" I would say we need to manage the damn thing. It is the same with all the weaponries we have.

I quite like Del's solution but I think the powers that be are not as clever, practical, intelligent, thoughtful, insightful, considerate, human as he is.

Darn, he is a cat!

Great- we are in a new arms race- for less than lethal, and I suppose we are the only country in this race.

If the threat of death does not disperse a crowd of humans, I would venture that the threat of 'less than death' would be more ineffective.

I realize death is not always warranted, which is why we use water cannons.

Wow....I can't believe all of the silly replies to the original subject matter. No one commented on the engineering involved in the project..... The question was - how would you improve the weapon ? C'mon, are you people engineers or just peaceniks masquerading as scientists ? There are other blogs for this kind of stuff. Don't worry, the U.S. will undoubtedly use the weapon to bail out some other country sooner or later like we always do....

As you are a new guy...you won't be aware that this contraption has already been posted and discussed at great length already some months back...

Do a site search if you want to.

Del

PS. Don't worry, the U.S. will undoubtedly use the weapon to bail out some other country sooner or later like we always do....

I think you mis-spelled 'illegally invade' as 'bail out'.

I find these snide anti-USA comments interesting as you never hear very many similar comments made about the United Nations. They are the most imperialistic organization on the planet, trying to enforce their view of the world (socialist economic model, womens rights, world taxes paid to them, etc.) on all nations whether they want it or not. They invariably pressure to give themselves more power, influence, and money - and they do it with "peacekeeping" forces involving tanks, armored vehicles, machineguns, and soldiers. And their leaders are not even elected or accountable to common people.

I suspect that if the UN were given the same weapons that the USA has developed that there would be deafening silence rather than outrage and desultory comments. I guess it is all about branding as they say in the advertising industry.

Maybe you should listen to the ground swell of public opinion in the USA too?

I only replied to the gung ho sentiments of the earlier post...I didn't start it!

Medding in the Middle East by all parties has been pretty disasterous....

As for 'snide' I'm quite happy to justify my comments....(and identify myself)

Del

The UN is largely a guard dog without teeth and even then on a very short chain. Nothing they ever did resulted in deaths. Whatever they did not do may have resulted in continuation of slaughter.

Comparing our responses to UN actions and USA actions is a bit far fetched and does not make your point very well.

Anyway I think the link between our response to this "weapon", or weapons in general, and the responses to the USA are made by Krom, Guest and Jim C. Nobody I recognise who participates with regularity has made any such comments.

You read what you want to read guys, we just talk about the nature of the weapon mentioned here.

Have a nice day

Yes you will get a lot of replies from left-wing, Bush/Blair bashing, USA hating (jihad denying/fascist sympathizers) until one of there own kin gets blown up from a suicide bomber types, Plus your from the US. unless of course your asking ancient Chinese dart thrower ,then a positive reply

but that's just my observation.

Jim C

Jim, its heartening to see that the reptillian brain is alive and well. Let me see now, according to you, for/pro Bush is:

* Pro Lies

* For War

* Against the constitution

* Against the rule of law

* For torture

Well Jim, may you particpate in these to the full extent possible, y'all have a nice day.

Like it or not There are hundreds if not thousands of products (not weapons) that that make our lives better & safer that have been developed in Wartime or during Cold war aka "space race" , But I did hear in the UK they finally put something is space. I think they used a French rocket!

Welcome to the 60's

OK. As long as we're playing "what if..." and using the government's money:

1. Design a mass meter that would instantly determine the mass and density of a target object: Dog vs. human vs. horse vs. group of soldiers vs. an airplane or a tank. 2. Have this mass meter regulate the power of the emitted radiation to the appropriate application. 3. Have the radiation pulsed such that the beam is not on full time for smaller masses ID'd as potential human targets. 4. Have a warning siren or similar "on" whenever the weapon is fired. That way it will help to avoid accidental irradiation of "friendlies".

Should I chime in........hmmmmm........well Ok. No, no, no. Well. No,no,no.

I'm scared I'll be labeled by someone who knows more than me and then exposed for my anti majority opinion as a libertine. It's too much.

Hey I saw today that 2 kids received checks for 100K USD each because they raised money for soldiers in the mid east to speak with family back home (phone cards).

Oh yeah, a few thousand people will die today in the States as a result of no health care.

It seems there are a incomprehensible number of people in the world without clean drinking water.

I offer the following as to my current position:

I was living in Boston , Massachusetts when the events of 9/11 took place. I had never been to NYC before and drove that week, 3 days later, to the Big Apple. Nothing could have prepared me for what that trip would be like. I had hoped to volunteer my services when we arrived, but by that time the military and government had the area closed. I was now at Ground Zero.

I went with a friend and co-worker who had friends there, so we were able to set up base for the day. From that base I snuck in and out of restricted and controlled areas. It was very surreal. A few hundred feet of empty road were all that separated people trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy from the focus of an entire faiths hatred. A hatred which lingered in the air, unconcerned with men in camouflage and little metal barricades, was tangible.

The air was filled with smoke visible from hundreds of miles away. The air held ethereal truths and once unknown fears. The endless TV reports could attest to that. And understandably so, they did. The images were chilling. As powerful as the news images were, the power to baffle each of the human senses could not be captured on film.

The air was very full; full of sounds and smells. A slow moving creaking sound, which was obviously metal, persisted. Like what the WWII film documentaries have when the tank brigades are cautioning into dangerous territory. The sound of rescuers, workers, volunteers, military personnel (occasionally directed at me) and restaurants and taxis and pets and life made the air, and my ears full. But for all the things the air was full of, there was one thing that was completely foreign: the smell. It was not a stench. Not like a death or an animal. I know those smells. Not like a chemical or an industrial odor. I've worked around those for years. It was not like trash or a landfill. It was not like a bar or a pizzeria or a delicatessen. It was ALL of those things. It went inside me and confused me. At that time it didn't strike horror (that would come later, in the memories). The sounds were much more akin to fingernails on the chalkboard. Beethoven's symphony in A#, while a tone deaf violin student practiced the piano trying to drown out off-key karaoke singers during a halftime show. The smell offered up a taste that was sugar and salt and Brussels sprouts on oyster crackers. It was a most unwelcoming smell that violated my taste buds.

I heard no children.

Around one corner, a few blocks away from 'Ground Zero' there was a row of cars sparkling clean since the accident (accident, even after this much time I find my mind wrestling with what happened). Yes all were sparkling clean; save one. This one car sat slightly askew and covered in "The Filth". Between one and two inches of debris completely covered this one car among a hundred that had been cleaned like new. Completely covered except for a couple of streaks where a passer-by or two had gathered some of the stuff, for keeping? for memory? for proof? for healing? I don't know. But there it sat, un-needed and unwashed.

One of the oldest bars in Manhattan was nearby. When I got there I was surprised to see it was the only place on the block open - comparatively open. I had a drink. I had two. I didn't talk much with the Others, just a little, about nothing. I had a third shot of bourbon and tried to reflect. I tried to sort out all that stuff in the air. In my head, my ears, and in my nose, confusing my thoughts.

That slow creaking I had first heard when I pulled into the 'Zone' still echoed. I had stared at the overloaded flat bed tractor for a good 2 minutes, listening to the metal payload creaking on the squeaking metal platform as it lumbered and labored down a dirt packed debris strewn avenue in modern day Manhattan.

My son who wasn't even born at that time and is only four now, can spot a fire truck a mile away. I had sat there staring for minutes before I could identify that twisted wreckage on the flatbed as a NYFD ladder truck. And yet I still find my self staring. Not believing. Believing. Trying not to forget. Trying not to remember.

C Rummel

Rummel,

I too live(d) in a world of plenty, before during and after 911. We were city hoping on our corporate jet seeing our customers and living the life of selfish greed. When the planes were turned into guided missles all planes were grounded and I was stranded in Chicago.

Angry and upset about having to find somewhere to buy clothes for what at the time I did not realize would be a week plus on the ground, I had to lower myself to buy cloths at Walmart. I had started my day in LA area expecting to fly to NY and back seeing 5 major accounts and be back at home in the late evening or early am.

Shortly there after the company folded, the jet sold and my life turned upside down. My expensive sunday only sports car taken back (happens when you don't make payments) my savings drained and now my home is in foreclosure.

In retrospect, the little people we use to fly over and look down upon (literally and figuratively) are now my peers. The money we donated to various charities had never been meant as anything more than a tax break now seemed insulting and ineffective.

Standing in line one day between two mothers and hearing their fears of have all their utilities turned off I suddenly realized how feeble and insane our great nation had become. We could spend billions of dollars to kill and maim a foreign country but we could not help the down and out.

Our famous actors who are paid by our collective need to be entertained could travel the world helping poor people in other countries but won't lift a finger to raise funds to help the single mom of 3 to keep their lights on. The uberwealthy could not or would not lend a cent to help a poor family up to just reach the poverty level.

I decided to help where I could and how I could. Since December of 06 we have sheltered 3 homeless people and attempted to offer all assistance we could muster. 2 of the three stole silently away in the night finding the lines and beaucrates to much to bear while being looked down upon. The 3rd is a 36 yr old woman with crippling arthritis which has twisted her hands and feet almost 90 degrees from normal. Yet she walks everyday for miles and fillis out a minimum of 3 job applications a day.

For my/our part I have indured the shame of failing in business lossing possesions and will by December lose my home. I have sold every item worth selling to simply put food on the table and keep the lights and water on. Of what we have we share with the less lucky. Looking into my childrens eyes as they ask if they will have a home or will Santa Claus find us this year is heart breaking, hearing their prayers for God to help the people without anything is heart wrenching.

Yet the Ray Guns are made and fielded, the cannons still crack and boom over foreign soil, machine guns still cut down women children unchecked and we still dump billions to help these poor die.

Why are we unable to help our poor to live? Why won't we?

I think that those nerf dart guns from walmart would be a much safer weapon. Lets have our service personnel use them instead so nobody gets hurt.

I also like: laser tag, paint balls, hide and seek, or the infallible 'Rock-Paper-Scissors'

I recently purchased the official world competition rulebook

Nerf darts ! Sounds dangerous. You might poke somebody's eyes out !

But really, I have wondered when something like this would appear. One of these would be very handy on the road to burn out the electrical systems of some of those maniac drivers around us... Maybe even a few of those obnoxious loud booming stereos at stop lights too !

RF heating huh? So, "they", (the infamous), say that there is more proof of cell phones causing brain tumors or at least health problems... I don't know if I believe it or not. Afterall, the sun drops around 1000 Watts per square meter of RF which is why we feel warm when it impinges on us. AND of course it contains some ionizing UV radiation as well which is known to cause skin cancer in some too.

But then again, the sun is good and gives us vitamin D. So, I guess I don't really know what's harmful and what's not any more.

I'm certainly not worried about low level/low frequency radiation.

I never hear the terms near field and far field used when referring to any of this "deadly" radiation either. I find it hard to believe that magnetic fields cause problems, but I certainly don't know about electric fields. I guess Joe Public is too dumb to be bothered by such terms.

boB

K7IQ

I'm sure the military is spot on...after all why on earth would a weapon designed to hurt you cause damage?

Why only the the other day I microwaved a chicken, no sooner had I cooked him and opened the door the bugger got up and ran away.

Del

We had one too, but he pecked once too often ...

Yea thats the ticket.