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Potato Bazookas

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the in-times-of-desperation dept.

Zog The Undeniable writes "The latest craze in Germany is "Kartoffelkanone" or potato bazookas. These use hairspray ignited by a spark to fire potatoes at colossal speeds. The authorities are not amused." Everyone needs a hobby I guess.

2 of 623 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Behind the times... by Black+Copter+Control · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The issue here is not that potatoe guns exist. It's that they're becoming popular.

    A couple dozen kids playing with the things is simply annoying. When you get thousands, the statistics start to catch up with you.

    When they start being 'in', the nature of the problem also shifts. You start to leave the domain of 'geeks playing with tech' and get into the realm of 'jocks playing with weapons'. It's a completly different mindset -- one with far less interest in (or even knowledge of) safety.issues.

    A geek firing a cement-filled cannister at a brick wall is one thing. A jock firing a cement-filled cannister at his favorite geek target is another. The first death from one of these things is not going to be pretty.

    --
    OS Software is like love: The best way to make it grow is to give it away.
  2. Re:Behind the times... by gorgon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nice use of stereotypes. Your basic point about the popularity of spud guns being the problem is valid, but the whole "geeks" and "jocks" thing is irrelevant. There are plenty of examples of kids who could be classified as jocks playing with tech toys, and as Columbine showed there are plenty of examples of those sometimes labelled as "geeks" playing with conventional weapons.

    --

    And I'd be a Libertarian, if they weren't all a bunch of tax-dodging professional whiners.
    Berke Breathed