Weekly Warporn

The Buffalo Hummer.

You've got the lightning gun. Or, at least, this guy does, in prototype:

But the star attraction was a simple black briefcase that Bitar promised would shoot lightning bolts. He and Fry placed the briefcase (innocuous-looking, if you ignored the pointed needle a few inches long sticking out the side) on top of a carpeted podium, plugged it into a wall socket and flipped a switch. Then they stood back.

Iridescent streaks of purple lightning snaked out of the briefcase, accompanied by the deafening rattle of what sounded like an M-16, and even in the noisy hangar, conversations momentarily ceased.

"It looks like something out of a 1950s movie," one onlooker commented.

Bitar's technology is based on a technique pioneered more than 100 years ago by the eccentric Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla. The StunStrike uses an electrical charge to break down the air in front of the weapon to create a path for sparks generated by a "resonant transformer," better known as a Tesla coil. Unlike a typical Tesla coil, however, Bitar's invention uses electronics to tune and direct the spark stream. It goes about four feet.

"We can tune it all the way down so it feels like broom bristles, and all the way up to knock you down," Bitar informed a group of gawkers.

Uhh, kinda cool, I guess, but the thing has a range of four feet. You know what else can stun a man and knock him down from a range of four feet?

A baseball bat. I think I'll apply for a Pentagon grant.

The guy's lower-lethality weapons run towards the Biblical-- stuff that strikes you blind, stuns you, and projects the "Voice of God" into your head.

Thanks to Slublog for the Buffalo Hummer and Dave from Garfield Ridge for the lightning gun.

posted by Ace at 02:47 PM

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