Monday, November 19, 2007

Crazy Stuff

Check out these absolutely insane weapons of war I just read about:
  • Gay bombs - Proposed by US Air Force in 1994 at Wright Laboratory in Ohio, just down the street from my alma mater, the University of Dayton. Adam Buckman probably contributed to the proposal.
  • Bat bombs - Developed during World War II by the US to use against Japan.
  • Who me? (bad odor weapon) - The smell was described as resembling "the worst garbage dumpster left in the street for a long time in the middle of the hottest summer ever" (to place on German officers by French resistance during World War II.)
  • Anti-tank dogs - Hungry dogs with explosives strapped on, taught to find food under tanks. I bet you can guess what happens next :0 The Soviets used them in World War II to the success of over 300 tanks disabled. "Training of anti-tank dogs continued until at least June 1996."
  • Fire balloons - Japanese project to send over 9,000 bomb balloons across mainland US during WW II.
  • Exploding rats - Rat carcasses filled with plastic explosives developed by the British to use against the Germans in WW II.
  • Killer dolphins - "In 2000 the press reported that dolphins trained to kill by the Soviet Navy had been sold to Iran." So that's where Dr. Evil got his Dolphins with lasers idea in Austin Powers!
  • Project pigeon (pigeon guided missiles) - American behaviorist B. F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-guided missile.
  • Cat bombs - "Somebody hit upon the inspiration that since cats have such a strong disdain of getting wet and always land on their feet that if you attached a cat to a bomb and drop it in the vicinity of a ship, the cat's instinct to avoid the water would force it to guide the bomb to the enemy's deck." - From the US Office of Strategic Services, the precursor of the CIA
If all this stuff came to fruition during the World War II era, it just makes me wonder what is being researched now...

1 comment:

Justin said...

Did you see the dolphins story after Katrina? http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1577753,00.html

Also, a "spin" off the cat-guided-missile theory, is also an infinite source of energy, or a perpetual motion device: strap a slice of buttered toast to the back of a cat, and it will hover in midair as the bread tries to land butter-down but the cat refuses to let that happen.

Random comment for a random post. :-P