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Don't riot with popcorn in your pockets!!
Topic Started: Jul 23 2005, 09:15 AM (252 Views)
tcmod
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Senior Carp
Pretty cool weapon here....(pun intended)

Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed

VOLUNTEERS taking part in tests of the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave weapon were banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses due to safety fears. The precautions raise concerns about how safe the Active Denial System (ADS) weapon would be if used in real crowd-control situations.

The ADS fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam, which is supposed to heat skin and to cause pain but no physical damage (New Scientist, 27 October 2001, p 26). Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.

The tests were carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two experiments tested pain tolerance levels, while in a third, a "limited military utility assessment", volunteers played the part of rioters or intruders and the ADS was used to drive them away.

The experimenters banned glasses and contact lenses to prevent possible eye damage to the subjects, and in the second and third tests removed any metallic objects such as coins and keys to stop hot spots being created on the skin. They also checked the volunteers' clothes for certain seams, buttons and zips which might also cause hot spots.

The ADS weapon's beam causes pain within 2 to 3 seconds and it becomes intolerable after less than 5 seconds. People's reflex responses to the pain is expected to force them to move out of the beam before their skin can be burnt.

But Neil Davison, co-ordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at the University of Bradford in the UK, says controlling the amount of radiation received may not be that simple. "How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the threshold for permanent damage?" he asks. "What happens if someone in a crowd is unable, for whatever reason, to move away from the beam? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?"

During the experiments, people playing rioters put up their hands when hit and were given a 15-second cooling-down period before being targeted again. One person suffered a burn in a previous test when the beam was accidentally used on the wrong power setting.

“What happens if someone is unable to move away from the beam?”A vehicle-mounted version of ADS called Sheriff could be in service in Iraq in 2006 according to the Department of Defense, and it is also being evaluated by the US Department of Energy for use in defending nuclear facilities. The US marines and police are both working on portable versions, and the US air force is building a system for controlling riots from the air.

Dead girls don't say no, but you still have to buy them flowers
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Buxtehude
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Oh, my! I've been reading about the development of this little toy for a couple of years. I so totally want one. No. I REALLY want one.

It needs to be smaller though. I don't really want to pay for a second parking spot for the delivery vehicle.
Sister, they don't know what to do with one of me.

-- Riddick
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
I'll put it on your Christmas list right after the Death Star, Bux.
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

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Buxtehude
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Just to be 100% clear, the Death Star definitely should receive priority. The power to cause intolerable pain pales in comparison to the ability to destroy planets.

And for the record, I don't care how powerful the Force is (didn't seem to save that many Jedi), the ability to destroy planets is pretty damn cool.
Sister, they don't know what to do with one of me.

-- Riddick
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pianojerome
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HOLY CARP!!!
Here, Your Eminence, you can save money:


Get the microwave machine. Use it to microwave the people and the planets.
Sam
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Wait. Does that mean I'll have to buy him a Star Destroyer to tote the microwave machine around?
"Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." ~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

My Flickr Photostream


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Buxtehude
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I'm thinking that a microwave cannon with the Death Star's power supply (pre-Skywalker) could at least depopulate a planet. That'd be acceptable.
Sister, they don't know what to do with one of me.

-- Riddick
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Buxtehude
Jul 23 2005, 10:37 PM
Just to be 100% clear, the Death Star definitely should receive priority. The power to cause intolerable pain pales in comparison to the ability to destroy planets.

And for the record, I don't care how powerful the Force is (didn't seem to save that many Jedi), the ability to destroy planets is pretty damn cool.

:thumb:
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Buxtehude
Jul 24 2005, 08:50 AM
I'm thinking that a microwave cannon with the Death Star's power supply (pre-Skywalker) could at least depopulate a planet. That'd be acceptable.

Don't worry, I'll send him to summer camp. Making macaroni pictures should keep him distracted.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
Luke's Dad
Jul 24 2005, 08:25 AM
Buxtehude
Jul 24 2005, 08:50 AM
I'm thinking that a microwave cannon with the Death Star's power supply (pre-Skywalker) could at least depopulate a planet.  That'd be acceptable.

Don't worry, I'll send him to summer camp. Making macaroni pictures should keep him distracted.

:D :D
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Buxtehude
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Quote:
 
Don't worry, I'll send him to summer camp. Making macaroni pictures should keep him distracted.


Oh, no worries. Unless he has a buddy named Han there's little that he could do by himself to thwart me.
Sister, they don't know what to do with one of me.

-- Riddick
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
Hmmmm, he does have a little friend named Shan. I better send him off to that summer camp, just in case.
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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