weapon

London’s Olympic “Missile Defence”

I gather that we’re going to be deploying surface-to-air missiles in London during the Olympic Games this year. I can’t help but feel that this could be a really bad idea.

The CAA chart for VFR restricted airspace during the Olympic Games. Basically: don't fly over London without IFR.

Do we really want to shoot down an aircraft over one of the areas of highest population density in the country? Even if you know that AirBus is exclusively filled with evil, nasty terrorists, I’m not sure that raining burning aircraft onto the city is necessarily an improvement.

Furthermore, is the solution to terrorism in Britain really to put even more dangerous weapons into the affected area? Isn’t there a risk that these powerful rocket-propelled explosives could be turned against our own targets?

I’m sure that somebody must know what they’re doing. I’m just not convinced that it’s the people making the decisions.

The Tampon Gun

This picture’s been floating around the Internet lately. I’m sure that the guy in the picture thinks he’s original, but we totally beat him to it. Back in about 2003.

The difference is, though, that when some friends and I were messing around with about a thousand applicator tampons that had reached their use-by date, we went one step further. We sellotaped laser pointers to the barrels of our guns, and had a laser-guided tampon battle in the car park.

It turns out that laser sights don’t actually improve the accuracy of tampon blowguns. As a weapon, they’re worse than useless, of course – tampons have actually been used to save people from blood loss after a bullet wound. But still, it made for a more fun – if sillier – afternoon than would have been had by just throwing the damn things away, even if we did then have to spend quite a lot of time picking them all up and binning them anyway.

Dan Arrested; Carrying Offensive Weapon

Dan gets stopped by two police officers while carrying a battle-axe through the streets of Aberystwyth. Original content on AvAngel.com appeared, as follows:

Andy’s account –

I wonder how many police officers, when asked by the guy they’ve just stopped on the street for carrying a battle-axe, will actually go to the URL he tells them. Well; here’s hoping at least one, given that that’s what just happened to me! Take a look at this picture on Dan’s Picture Page for an overview of the events. The picture is taken by Rory, with his brand-spanking new digital camera. Thanks, Rory!

Dan’s account –

“Well, what do we do with you now?” asked the police officer, after the search (which had revealed nothing more than lots of keys, a phallic-looking torch, a pack of cards, and a tampon) was complete.

“I expect that’s mainly up to you,” replied Dan, “You being the police officer, and all.”

“Well, we could take you and your axe up the hill and escort you home,” he said.

“Mm-hmm,” Dan said, “Could my friends come along for the ride?” He gestured across the street, where Rory and De were waiting, looking bored. The police officer shook his head disdainfully. “What’re the other options, then?”

“We could take you back to the police station under arrest for carrying an offensive weapon.”

“I don’t like that idea, either. What’s the third option?”

“There isn’t a third option.”

“Guess I’ll be riding with you then.” Dan turned and spoke to Rory and De. “I’ll catch you two back on campus,” he said, “You can pay for your taxi!”

As the police car pulled away, Dan had one more question for the confused officers:

“Have you ever visited AvAngel.com?”

Crosslink: the axe can be seen in photos taken at Christmas.