Archive for the ‘Wunderwaffen’ Category

Now we’re really in trouble!

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Upcoming Military Robot Could Feed on Dead Bodies

It could be a combination of 19th-century mechanics, 21st-century technology — and a 20th-century horror movie.

A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find — grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.

Robotic Technology Inc.’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot — that’s right, “EATR” — “can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable,” reads the company’s Web site.

That “biomass” and “other organically-based energy sources” wouldn’t necessarily be limited to plant material — animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they’d be plentiful in a war zone.

Posted in End of the World Update, Technological Travesties, War, Wunderwaffen | No Comments »

Submarine as Art

Saturday, August 4th, 2007

An Artist and His Sub Surrender in Brooklyn

At slack tide off Red Hook, Brooklyn, there are usually lots of things floating in the water, most of which you would not want to touch without the help of a good hazmat suit. But just after sunrise yesterday, something truly strange was bobbing there in the shallows near Pier 41: a submarine fashioned almost completely from wood, and inside it a man with an obsession.

The man, Duke Riley, a heavily tattooed Brooklyn artist whose waterborne performance projects around New York have frequently landed him in trouble with the authorities, spent the last five months building the vessel as a rough replica of what is believed to have been America’s first submarine, an oak sphere called the Turtle, said to have seen action in New York Harbor during the Revolutionary War.

Hat tip to Steve!

Posted in Ars Gratia Artis, Wunderwaffen | No Comments »

High-tech “mosquito” drives off loitering teens

Saturday, April 21st, 2007

Why gangs of youths buzz off when they hear the hum of a Mosquito

For years the hooded youths of Britain have been free to roam the country’s shopping streets. In the evenings and at the weekends they have loitered outside the shops of their choice.

But that is all beginning to change, and no thanks to ASBOs. Across the nation a mysterious high-pitched whine has been driving the youngsters from their natural habitats outside supermarkets, stations and leisure centres.

The source of the sound is a high-frequency ultrasonic device called the Mosquito that is inaudible to anyone aged over 25 but intolerable to anyone under that age.

More than 3,000 Mosquitos have been sold since they went on the market last year and they are being used by a growing number of police forces, shops, train companies, banks and local authorities to move on troublesome groups of youths. The devices cost £495, have a range of 15 to 20 metres and are harmless, according to the manufacturer, Compound Security Systems.

Posted in Wunderwaffen | No Comments »