“Meowarrrghh!” Pirate Kitty Unhappy. Considers Suing Islamic Fascists for Smearing the Good Name of Pirates.
An invention developed for the US military after the attack on the USS Cole helped repel Barbarians at the Gate, or in this instance Islamic Radicals (aka “pirates”) at the Cruise Ship.
The military version is a 45-pound, dish-shaped device that can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD’s operators or others in the immediate area are affected.
American Technology, based in San Diego, compares its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels, while smoke alarms are about 80 to 90 decibels.
Ow. As someone who on one occasion was not able to get the kitchen smoke detector to shut up, I can tell you this may be an even better invention than making Gitmo prisoners wear underwire bras.
Why did my smoke detector only go off once and never again? Because it had an unfortunate encounter with the broom handle, then my stomping foot, then a fling into the trash can.
From everything I’m hearing, ranging from his attempts to actually run over the savages with the cruise ship, to using this high-tech weapon, then ultimately outrunning the beasts, the captain of the Seabourne Spirit deserves love, awards and hero status.
Related Links:
CNN: US Navy Boards Ship After Pirate Attack
CTV: Ontario Tourists Praise Captain of Attacked Ship
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s worth noting that the decibel is a logarithmic scale, meaning that rising by 10 points represents a tenfold increase in power. So going from 90 decibels (a loud smoke alarm) to 150 means an increase of 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10 * 10, or 1,000,000 as powerful. There’s this thing called the “pain threshold” at 130 or 140 dB, at which point you stop hearing noise and simply feel pain. So being exposed to 150 dB really will knock you flat. A dish can focus waves like a lens focuses light, although of course sound tends to radiate in all directions, so I don’t know how much focus can be maintained.
ACLU lawyers are no doubt already hard at work preparing to sue the manufacturer of the device for having the audacity to create it, and the cruise line for using it. Next, naturally, will be another suit, for pain and suffering, on behalf of the terrorists/pirates.
I want to laugh at BACHBONES’s humorous analogy. But, I can just see someone trying to get such a suit entertained on a docket. And, I could even see someone like the 9th Circuit, or similar court, trying to be the one to entertain such a suit.
Maybe these are just “disaffected” pirates?
That audio stuff is just the beginning. There is a huge non-lethal weapons development boom happening now. I believe that we’ll see a “Star Trek phaser” type weapon in our lifetime. I’m not kidding. The military and their independent contractors are working on it. One company is named Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS).
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