More War Porn

Item #1 Rail Guns

It looks like rail-guns may finally have come of age… which will come in handy when we’re attacked by Mars etc.

(from : via)

This one’s been on the cards since WWII – but has taken a hell of a long time to get this far. Apparently this version is rated at 32 megajoules and can place a 10kg(?) projectile within 5 metres from about 300km away – at 5 times the speed of sound, the kinetic energy obviating the need for explosives.

Alternatively, for the cost of this thing, you could just buy whatever it is that you’re shooting at – but where’s the fun in that? And besides, at least part of the point of grotesque-asymmetry is theatre. The nukes weren’t dropped on Japan to bring the war to an end, despite what you were told. Japan was nuked for the same reason that Edward Longshanks refused the Scottish surrender at the siege of Stirling Castle in 1301. He had a terror weapon. Warwolf.

Item #2 Unmanned Sniper-Copters

This one is much more useful for using on your own population – should they get all fiesty and disagreeable about spending 50% of their taxes on military-related stuff.

Apparently you can fly it using a laptop and an xbox controller. It’s great! You can kill people without suffering any personal risk or consequences! – except for those times when people out of their minds with rage and grief and with nothing left to lose get jacked up on crack and hijack a school, then kill loads of kids when someone, somewhere (a long way away) decides that force is the best way of dealing with the situation.

Remember kids: Upon formation, the first priority of any institution quickly falls to second place behind self-perpetuation… and spending on weapons, though it may have civilian spin-offs, is actually a net loss. No net value is being created – and I’m not a pacifist. It’s just that violence is the most powerful form of communication there is – and it almost always has the opposite effect to that intended.

Still, as toys, weapons are great – but then again, so is playing with power-tools on acid.