MetaFilter posts tagged with weapon

Getting burned by packing heat

Blazecock Pileon — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:11:52 -0800

Does carrying a gun protect you from physical harm? Research by epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggests that carrying a gun makes one 4.5 times more likely to be shot in an assault, than someone not possessing a gun. Resisting increases one's odds of suffering harm even greater. "On average, guns did not protect those who possessed them from being shot in an assault. Although successful defensive gun uses are possible and do occur each year, the probability of success may be low for civilian gun users in urban areas."

Theatres of Machines

tellurian — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:39:48 -0800

Database Machine Drawings - Early modern machine drawings from the late Middle Ages up to 1650. Traced by engineers (or by their order), some are inscrutable, others Escherian.

Rocket pistol

Artw — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:14:22 -0800

The gyrojet pistol (video) - a handgun firing 13mm rocket ammunition, was an attempt to revolutionise gun design in the 1960s. Around a thousand were produced, and some may have seen use in Vietnam. Rifle and carbine versions were also produced. Design problems meant that it never seriously competed conventional firearms, but there is a modern attempt to revive the concept.

Fry me with a nuke

infini — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 05:21:47 -0800

Wanna get nuked? the Active Denial System [just say no?] was launched yesterday - its a microwave ray gun that makes people feel like they're going to catch fire. Wasn't there a ray gun at a certain point in a book we trashed a while earlier?

Handgun of the Future

reverendX — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 18:44:25 -0800

Metal Storm Limited specializes in weapon systems featuring rapid fire electronically fired bullets, up to 1 million a minute. The weapons platform can be used to make the worlds strongest handgun as well as be used to equip unmanned drones with firepower. The most frightening of which is perhaps the "dragonfly" micro copter. Their site has a number of videos showcasing some of the various weapons applications. Metal Storm has been around for a while, without getting a product to market, but with a recent influx of funding it doesn't look like they are going to go out of business any time soon.

FAA space regulations

gunthersghost — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 19:39:42 -0800

Terrorists not allowed in space (the FAA would like to regulate commercial space flights)

Sonic Youth

oh pollo! — Mon, 14 Nov 2005 07:42:47 -0800

Sonic Youth. Mentioned as far back as Bible when the walls of Jericho are brought down by trumpets, sonic weapons have often been the stuff of legend. Now a UK company is selling a sonic device targeted specifically against gangs of youths.

Roger Ramjet He's Our Man....

BrodieShadeTree — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 16:00:33 -0800

Roger Scramjet, he’s our man!! Mach 10, 7000mph New York to Tokyo in 2 hours! The future of global air travel? Or something else? What does Russia think of our new precision time-critical strike weapons with significant stand off capability as well as prompt global reach? Oh, nothing really...

WWII Japanese Handgun Website

hama7 — Sat, 28 Feb 2004 16:14:16 -0800

Nambu: WWII Japanese Handgun Website.

The deadly art of gift giving

Hildago — Wed, 28 May 2003 19:58:00 -0800

Father's day is coming! What do you get for the dad who has everything? Well, you can't get him a Dayak poisoned dart blowpipe from Kenya, or a Lohar throwing sickle, or even a gorgeous domed shield from Persia, because they've all been sold. Better hurry, or it's another tie this year. Maybe you could get him something to poke his elephants with. And yes, I am just a shill for this company: for every 10 scary-looking shark's tooth swords I sell, I get a free decorative skull.

Is SARS manmade?

timbley — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 11:56:29 -0800

SARS A Biological Weapon? Now that SARS has been decompiled (sequenced), scientists are starting to suggest that it appears to be manmade, possibly as a bioweapon that escaped from a lab. Via linkfilter.

Modem Ovary — Tue, 25 Jun 2002 17:52:36 -0800

Sound to make an army flee A NEW sonic weapon being developed for the Pentagon makes use of one of the most fearsome sounds known to humans: a baby crying. The article also talks about use for crowd control. If I were a club owner, I'd buy one so that everyone clears out expiditiously. Clear them out like cockroaches when the lights come on!

jiroczech — Mon, 11 Mar 2002 05:16:08 -0800

Dutch siege is a protest against wide-screen TV manufacturer. A gunman is holding hostages in a Amsterdam office. Apparently he's demonstrating against the manufacturers of wide-screen TV's for selling "creative nonsense". Who reckons he's just pissed cos he can't afford one?

semmi — Tue, 28 Aug 2001 21:12:49 -0800

This amazing weapon was fired by a helicopter into the third floor of a building and was so accurate it actually decapitated its target without harming the other tenants.

pnevares — Tue, 05 Dec 2000 08:45:24 -0800

Cell Phone Guns Discovered. “We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”