but police told him to put away the gun

sounds to me like the “cops” are part of the problem

Hobocop?

James on April 23, 2008 at 10:30 AM

No- that’s a recurring theme over at Ace’s. Not a exactly family-friendly one either, so I won’t recount here why.

whistle tip remix tons of them.. LOL

That part about controlling unsafe levels is worrisome, unless the objective is lethality and not deterrence.

techno_barbarian on April 23, 2008 at 12:00 PM

Lethality IS deterrence. ;)

I see we were thinking the same way — but you beat me to the “submit comment” button by a goodly bit.

Former Marine, not “ex”, unless he was dishonorably discharged.

PBoilermaker on April 23, 2008 at 10:06 AM

Former. Former Marine.

There is no such thing as an “ex-Marine.”

Professor Blather on April 23, 2008 at 10:07 AM

Aparently our numbers are great in the Hot Air community (something I never doubted). Although I have to disagree with Boilermaker on one point, I was taught that there was only one “ex” and that was Lee Harvey Oswald . . . for obvious reasons.

“You have 15 seconds to comply!”

Lehuster on April 23, 2008 at 11:30 AM

I stand corrected. Thanks. Mythbusters may need to revisit that one then.

I can also see, in addition to the saline, the use of surfactants to lessen the surface tension of the solution.

That part about controlling unsafe levels is worrisome, unless the objective is lethality and not deterrence.

“It’s a play for public attention for Rufus. He’s certainly got a lot of attention — but not the kind we need for housing, living wages,” says Anita Beaty, director of Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless. “This robot isn’t casting attention to the deep, deep poverty in Atlanta.”

Anita, that’s your job — it’s your reason for existance. Why would you want the BumBot to do it for you? And those guys being rousted by the BumBot are no innocents — given that O’Terrill’s was vandalized before the arrival of the BumBot, yet seems to be safe now — that says something.

My family was once in deep deep poverty — we couldn’t pay the rent, and the daily meal was a can of Campbells and a half loaf of white bread. We moved some place where we could get jobs, and we got jobs, even us kids. Of course, we stayed clean, wore clean clothes, and didn’t do drugs or any of that crap which might mean a permanent stay in La-la land. End of story.

Respectfully, that won’t work. A stream of water isn’t really solid, as demonstrated on Mythbusters (see pissing on electric fence episode).

Yes it will. Not with a super soaker, but a water cannon with a solid enough stream. Jaycor demonstrated this for the military:

Performance
The wireless stun gun delivers a high-pressure saline solution with additives to minimize the breakup of the beam into droplets, thereby maximizing range. Ranges of up to 20 feet have been demonstrated, while ranges of up to 100 feet or more are believed to be feasible with improved nozzles and fluids.

A high-voltage electrical signal with low current is generated in a compact electronic package with 9-volt batteries. The impedance of the water stream is sufficiently low that it cannot be relied on to limit current to sure-safe levels; consequently current-limiting resistors are used to limit currents to sure-safe levels. A single stream is used to deliver the current. The return path from the target is through the capacitive impedance between the gun and the target.

The stun gun can be developed in a handheld package for use on individuals, or mounted in a vehicle for riot control or military applications. Clearly, longer ranges and longer run times can be achieved in a vehicle-mounted configuration. In the vehicle-mounted configuration, substantially higher voltages and currents can be used to attack electronic targets such as vehicle ignitions, communications, and landmines.

Product Status
The product technology has been demonstrated in both the handheld and vehicle-mounted configurations. Large voltage and current pulses have been delivered to test objects at ranges up to 20 feet. No testing has been performed on live targets. Measurements of voltages and currents delivered to both grounded and isolated objects have been made.

Former. Former Marine.

There is no such thing as an “ex-Marine.”

Professor Blather on April 23, 2008 at 10:07 AM

A trait shared by Marines and Texans.

Former Marine, not “ex”, unless he was dishonorably discharged.

PBoilermaker on April 23, 2008 at 10:06 AM

That didn’t take long.

Professor Blather on April 23, 2008 at 10:07 AM

PBoilermaker beat me to it. “Ex” to me means the complete severing of ties. I refer to myself as a former sailor when talking about my days in the Navy.

I look forward to the day when the bum bot begins screeching on its own, “Exterminate! Exterminate!”

Rip Ford on April 23, 2008 at 10:35 AM

+1

All he needs to do is find a way to run an electric current through the stream of water from the super soaker, and the “bum bot” will have a little extra jolt available for the truly recalcitrant bums…

Lehuster on April 23, 2008 at 9:57 AM

Respectfully, that won’t work. A stream of water isn’t really solid, as demonstrated on Mythbusters (see pissing on electric fence episode).

It’s actually a collection of fluid globules and droplets. Not connected enough at one time to conduct current, unfortunately.

But it would be awesome if it worked like that. Heh.