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Shocking Clothing
harmonics writes "This is absolutely hysterical, it seems a "No-Contact Jacket" has been developed for women by MIT. This thing carries enough voltage to knock you on your duff (80,000 volts), and is decently stylish too. Now to find out how I can get my wife one. Just don't wear it in the rain!" The real question is whether the submitter knew the origin and full meaning of the word "hysterical".
Maybe this will help remove people from the gene-pool who insist on wearing clothes inside out.
What, you're tired of touching her?
it'll take care of those pesky RFIDs in clothing these days.
Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
How the fuck do you put it on/take it off?!
I can just imagine women having way too much fun with this sort of thing.
Buy a designer Shock-Blouse(tm) and hit the clubs. Have a contest with friends to see how many guys you can knock unconcious in a single night.
"Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
It's not the volts that kills you .. It's the amps.
Before we geek geeks trying to reverse engineer this jacket to help them attract members of the opposite sex ?
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
This sort of thing weren't illegal in many states (like tazers). I doubt you'll be seeing one at Sears and Roebuck anytime soon.
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
The jacket is designed for women only. Its small size and narrow armholes are intended to prevent men from using it as an offensive weapon ;)
What about cross dressers ? I am not one, but not that there is anything wrong with it
for the last time people, I am "frodo from middle eaRTH", not "middle eaST".
No one can touch her very much. So sad, poor Rogue.
Also, why is this only for women? Do they think that men don't get jacked up by criminals too?
Or anywhere people are packed like sardines. Everyone would be dancing!!!
...that's like saying about a fire: it's not the flame that kills you, it's the heat.
Then there's this little tidbit from the second page.
I can't say that I don't give a fuck. I've just run out of fuck to give.
The story has three icons next to it.
Technology. OK. I get that.
Toys. OK. Maybe.
Entertainment. That's twisted...
An attacker could probably sue you for using one of these on him, I bet...
I don't know the meaning of the word 'don't' - J
did i sense a spark between us? ;)
Sure to get a charge out of any would-be assailant! Ok .. bad puns aside, who's going to take the lead and develop the dentata? (if you've no clue what that is read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.)
A.M.
Pimpin' all the Karma Hoes!
It sure seems both the attacker and the attackee are enjoying this (taken from the article) a bit too much.
Trolls lurk everywhere. Mod them down.
...enough said
You will have to pry my proprietary software $$$ from my cold dead hands!
This sounds like a wonderful device and well worth the money. Let's hope the assailant hasn't thought to wear rubber soled shoes and gloves.
What's even more impressive is that they managed to create such a hot looking robot...cause we all know there are no women that hot in the MIT test labs. ;p
umm... duh... he *conceded* that criminals could use it as an "offensive" weapon, he made a difference between male criminals and female criminals. It's a weapon for cripes sake it shocks people who touch you. Now, let me see... ask for a ride home, get frisky, charge jacket, shock victim, steal car. Now how that really matters what gender you are when it takes place, i don't know.
Also, it'd be interesting what kinda singatures this thing makes when it charges up. I bet it's not even compatible with bluetooth...
Brings a whole new meaning to "Wired News."
~~~~~~~
"You are not remembered for doing what is expected of you." - Atul Chitnis
I live in Manhattan. What would stop some sociopath from donning one of these jackets and getting on the subway at rush hour? I could imagine the East Village punks getting a real charge out of this (pun intended).
A taser at least resembles a weapon and give an aggressor some cue that you are wielding a weapon, this thing looks like a jacket (although it apparently doesn't sound like one). I think that's crossing a line and as such requires more thought. Maybe a warning label or something.
One cannot legally rig up a shotgun or some other dangerous device to automatically discharge upon the violation of a perimeter, how is this different? What happens to mens rea (malicious intent)? How does one assert that merely touching someone is an act for which you can cause physical harm?
It's sort of like invading and occupying a country just because they could be a threat in the future, we don't do tha...oh, wait.
The best way to do is to be.
Fezzini: Inconceivable!
Inigo: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Norris/Palin 2012
Fact: We deserve leaders who can kick your ass and field dress your carcass.
why let attackers get so close. just get yourself a snubby .357, ah hell, just get yourself a .45.
My problem? I was perfectly gruntled, until some numbnuts came by and dissed me.
Now women finally have a defense against GEEKS, like they really need it! haha! fuck you, cowboyneal!
It'd probably be quite interesting to put some 9V batteries in serial, lean back onto something metallic, press the detonator button and watch the effect on the other passengers on the subway/bus. If they get upset and tries something involving grabbing the jacket, just hit the button again.
Or maybe not.
Sure electric clothes could be fun for knocking assholes unconscious or scaring small children ("I dare you to go hug Aunt Wanda!"), but everyone knows there's only one Shocker!
science is a religion
Continuing the state of infantilism for women, and the demonization of men. "We NEED tazers and pepper spray, cos all those men just want to rip our clothes off and rape us!"
Next up from MIT: the portable castration device, certain to be cheered by the NOW and all p-whipped men across the globe.
OT but wotthehell . . . The Queen and Prince Philip were hosting a dinner for the palace staff, Queen at one end of the table, Philip at the other. During the meal, the Queen noticed a wee chambermiad sitting next to Philip and giggling uncontrollably. "Are you feeling hysterical?" Her Majesty asked. "No, Ma'am, he's feeling mine!" came the reply.
The future is here. It's just not evenly distributed yet. -- William Gibson
This addresses some important issues in self-defense, like the possibility of being grabbed from behind. More importantly, it overcomes the resistance that many many women have against taking direct action, especially against someone who hasn't actually harmed them (yet).
I remember that the first thing that we did in self-defense class was practice yelling "NO" loudly in a strong tone of voice --- just this was extremely difficult for about half the women in the class. This is why a gun is a poor defensive weapon for most women, you have to be willing to shoot someone who has not laid a hand on you, who is more than an arm's length away. All this device requires is that it be turned on, a clearly defensive action.
foldplay your photos won't know what hit them.
This product is yet another thing to encourage women to be fearful of the night and men in general. Sure there are bad dudes out there, but the fact is that if a woman is halfway careful the odds of being attacked are very small.
One thing that rarely gets pointed out is that men are much more likely to be victims of random assaults than women. So, why do men never get encouraged to buy whistles, or to take self-defense classes?
There isn't much new here. The guys at amazing1.com could hook you up with all the pieces you need to build something comparable..
..don't panic
From the Article:
"To prevent accidental discharges, the wearer must arm the jacket before it can deliver a shock. A lock on the sleeve must first be opened with a key, and then the charge is built up by holding down a button inside one of the sleeves."
Asking an attacker to hold on a moment while you charge up is not likely to work.
What if an attacker through a bucket of water on a chick wearing one of these jackets?
Anyway, could this be where the MIT students got this idea?
Why is this only for women?
I Guess the students at MIT never heard of rubber gloves.
-Ignorance is your understudy.
The real question is whether the submitter knew the origin and full meaning of the word "hysterical".
Ripped from dictionary.com My best bet is number 2.What I want to know is... can you jump-start a car with this? :)
Davak
Seems to me that a pair of rubber gloves would be sufficient to prevent a shock to an attacker. Household rubber gloves may not be thick enough, but I'm sure something exists at the consumer level which would protect an attacker without being too cumbersome.
What do you mean they cut the power? How can they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Shamelessly snaked from a book review at:
...The author states, "a safe assumption is that this notion was proclaimed and promoted, in the main, by men. From this anatomic designation comes the term hysteria."
http://www.bestbookdeal.com/book/0943126568
"Hysterectomy, literally "cutting the uterus," leads to a discussion of Plato's belief that the uterus was an animal roaming freely within the female body and causing moodiness...
>>
That's 19th century "science" for you. A moody (i.e. trapped in the 19th century) woman is "hysterical", best remedy: remove her uterus.
21st century science has an analog in chemical (or even physical) castration. If someone is mentally unstable enough to be a sexual predator then off go the man parts. It's not spot on the same kind of thing, because I don't think there's any institutional sexism woven into the chemical/physical castration debate.
For and against links for chemical castration:
http://www.csun.edu/~psy453/crimes_y.htm
http://www.csun.edu/~psy453/crimes_n.htm
All this jacket is going to do is make the rapist jerk his hand back for a second... it won't knock anyone out.
Stun guns in general are a poor weapon... people that advocate them instead of more-effective weapons, typically have another agenda. You really need to hold a conventional stun gun on a major muscle group for a prolonged period of time (multiple seconds, sometimes 8-10 seconds) before you can even hope to incapacitate someone. Now, tasers are a very different animal, and slightly more effective, but they are a projectile-firing weapon (darts with wires trailing behind), and are designed to deliver a prolonged shock, at the discretion of the wielder.
Some will even shake off a taser... Rodney King was still game after getting hit twice (not to open up THAT can of worms... just making a statement on the effectiveness of the taser).
Some people push electrical weapons like they are some kind of panacea. Look, folks... there's a reason why cops still carry guns, and it's not because they refuse to use a more-effective alternative... it's because there's NO substitute.
I have to admit though... the jacket is sexy... mmmm....
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
...whether the editter [sic] knows the origin and full meaning of the word "arrogant".
The best defense against rape by someone in a dark alley is yelling "fire" real loud. A small pistol is also effective. Just learn to use it first. For the price of one of these shirts, you can get a small pistol and lessons.
Hoist Number One and Number Six.
that some Slashdotters will become intimately familiar with this device.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
"We initially thought the idea was a little extreme," said Whiton. "But we got a lot of positive feedback.
No shit sherlock!
"Its small size and narrow armholes are intended to prevent men from using it as an offensive weapon."
um... Guess chubby women dont need protecting?
I write sig's like I know what I'm talking about.
Unlike weapons and sprays, the jacket can't be grabbed from a woman and used against her.
Two words: "Super Soaker"
I'm picturing a scene where a bunch of street toughs notice a woman wearing this jacket (it will be undetectable, suuuure), they corner her and frighten her into activating it, then out come the squirt guns. The scene ends with these guys running away, laughing their asses off while this frightened girl flops around on the ground like.......well....like a woman being electrocuted by her own coat.
Even ignoring this admittedly unprobable scenerio, would you wear one of these if there was even a remote chance of rain?
Finkployd
Linux?
Achille Talon
Hop!
.. would be 80k voltage panties.
Girls are strange. They don't come with a man page.
-- Michael Mattsson
Dilbert already invented Shock Pants almost 3 years ago.
---
"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
From the article:
"We initially thought the idea was a little extreme," said Whiton. "But we got a lot of positive feedback. It defends, it protects and it gives confidence to women. By encasing the whole body in this electric fence, it forms a barrier that people just shouldn't enter into.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but there probably isn't a guy in the world who, after encountering the business-end of this device, would still consider raping the female wearing it. Imagine what his thought process is going to be once he regains some semblance of lucid thought.
"Yeah, I'm not putting my hands on her, nevermind my **** in her..."
Guys expect guns, guys expect mace. What they don't expect is 80,000 volts. I think the first reaction is probably to get the hell away from the person wearing it.
My apologies for being vulgar but an obvious application of this is rape prevention. Kind of hard to dance around such a harsh subject.
On another note, you can bet your ass you will see criminals suing women who use this in the not-too-distant-future if this catches on. The assailant's intent may not be clear by the point that he grabs the girl and if we assume he doesn't get much further with his plans, he can always claim that he just grabbed her arm. I'm guessing that being hit with 80,000 volts could easily be contrued as excessive force if the jury can be convinced the grab was not the opening salvo of a more threatening attack.
My
Limekiller
enough said!
Did you notice that the current price is $1000? That's kind of pricey considering that a woman will need five of these jackets (one for each day of the week). Add an evening jacket along with an electrified jogging suit and suddenly she's spending $7000.
And the damn things will need to be dry cleaned as well!
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
Good luck getting through airport security with one of these jackets. I can't even wear a pair of shoes with a steel shank in them.
What about if it rains, would that provide enough to short it out?
If it isn't warmed up, it won't help.
A short piece of metal should be able to give a nice path for the electricity, then it wouldn't run through the attacker.
What if the attacker wears a normal jacket and leather gloves? This probaly won't penetrate.
This will probaly just give the user a false sense of security.
Come on, admit it. You pictured that too...
This jacket is really just an elaborate stungun. An armed stungun would scare the bejesus out of anyone not expecting it with the loud electrical crackling noise it makes and the visible blue electrical arches.
So I guess this really is the current fashion, huh?
(And it will probably make guys resist women.)
Sorry, but you knew these were coming anyway.
and for the really rubenesque, water balloons...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
You're walking down a dark alley at 3am. Suddenly the HUD in your glasses displays PROXIMITY WARNING!! You whisper "Hull plating to maximum. Legs... evasive maneuvers". You take a hit to your hind quarter but your assailant loses his impulse manifold giving you the opportunity to make your escape. You emerge from the alley unscathed. Condition Green.
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
Perhaps he meant that not even this extreme measure would prevent him from groping his classmates during band practice.
It seems in character.
Just don't wear it in the rain!
No.
It wouldn't matter if you wore it in the rain, as long as the water didn't form a complete circuit with the ground (literally and figuratively).
The surface of the jacket may be at 80,000V, but that isn't going to be affected by rain drops; just like if someone threw a tennis ball at it - it would just bounce and fall off. The ball isn't going to be shocked, and neither would the rain.
Imagine a Beofulf cluster of THOSE. Ouch...
If only my friend had had one of these on a few weeks ago when she was assaulted by a stranger. She ended up in the ER.
I find the jacket interesting. I've thought a lot about the issues people have been raising and I don't find a problem with the jacket. It doesn't have the same power as a taser/stun-gun (to the point that it renders the other person immobile). A woman might get to an environment where she feels threatened, so that being touched would make her uncomfortable. We have jurisdiction over our own bodies and should have the right to decide the who/where/when about being touched. If the woman feels uncomfortable about being touched by ANYONE in a certain situation, she can take control and make anyone who might grab her very uncomfortable right back. If you watch the videos, the "attacker" gets no more than enough of a jolt to cause him to let go and shake his hands. He doesn't collapse onto the floor, unable to move. I find that appropriate, and can't equate the jacket to a concealed gun that fires automatically.
"Words for nerds" was a class at Florida State that the pre med people had to take. I helped my friend study for it.
Hysteria was thought to be caused by the woman's uterus moving further up the body, seriously. and so when a woman became hysterical they would put bad smelling stuff by her nose and good smelling stuff near her groin to get the uterus to come back down. That's how hysteria hysterical and hysterectomy are related
500 dollar reward for tip(s) leading to the arrest of the person(s) who stole my sig.
One cannot legally rig up a shotgun or some other dangerous device to automatically discharge upon the violation of a perimeter, how is this different?
Shotgun: Deadly force.
Stun Jacket: Non-deadly force.
It's sort of like invading and occupying a country just because they could be a threat in the future, we don't do tha...oh, wait.
No, it's like guarding the border to your country and pushing back anyone that tries to come in unauthorized.
Do not read this sig.
From the No Contact web site...
So, essentially, men are style-challenged brutes who can't be trusted with defensive technology, lest they turn it into a weapon. Way to strike a blow in the name of equality!
Error: PANTS NOT FOUND. Press <F1> to continue.
http://merriamwebster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book= Dictionary&va=hysterical
/-'ter-ik/ noun /-'ter-i-k&l/ also hysteric adjective /-i-k(&-)lE/ adverb
One entry found for hysteria.
Main Entry: hysteria
Pronunciation: his-'ter-E-&, -'tir-
Function: noun
Etymology: New Latin, from English hysteric, adjective, from Latin hystericus, from Greek hysterikos, from hystera womb; from the Greek notion that hysteria was peculiar to women and caused by disturbances of the uterus
Date: 1801
1 : a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions
2 : behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess
- hysteric
- hysterical
- hysterically
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
... who found the model distractingly hot?
"Stop throwing the Constitution in my face, it's just a goddamned piece of paper!" - George W. Bush Nov. 2005
... and I become, Zapman.
Maybe the MIT boys shoulda thought of the fact that they're now in posession of an illegal item. From a self-defense-widgets store's "where you can legally have the stuff we sell" page:
Massachusetts State Law. Ann. Laws of Massachusetts. Chapter 140. Sale of Firearms. Section 131J: Sale or possession of electrical weapons; penalties. Section 131J. No person shall sell, offer for sale or possess a portable device or weapon from which an electric current, impulse, wave or beam may be directed, which current, impulse, wave or beam is designed to incapacitate temporarily, injure or kill. Whoever violates this provision of this section shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred nor more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than two years in a jail or house of correction, or both.
Please help metamoderate.
Why blow $1k on an ineffective toy for "self-defense"? Stun guns require 30+ seconds of contact to actually disable someone, and a little pain will hardly stop someone from knifing you or disabling the jacket, or just simply shooting you. The "female only" bit is inane. Buy a Glock, problem solved.
But does it play mp3s and dvds?
"You might run into some problems if it shocked the person wearing it" (...attorney Margot Barg, a product liability specialist...)
Spoken like a lawyer... If there are inherent preventable flaws in this jacket there will be solid grounds, legally and ethically, for taking the manufacturer/designer to court. I am certain it would happen. I am equally certain that if someone chooses to encase herself in an electrical field she should be prepared for the occassional accidental discharge.
But alas, the jacket will be dropped in the mud, thrown in the washer, dryed in the dryer, its protective rubber cracked, and someone who gets shocked will sue the makers without having truly contemplated the potential dangers of owning the device in the first place.
A man with a bad heart is walking along a busy sidewalk, brushes his arm against a woman's jacket, falls over in cardiac arrest.
How much do you think the lawsuit will be for?
Yes, the low amperage charge won't hurt a healthy person... but get a person with a bad ticker (maybe a few defect AV nodes to boot), and it can be *really* bad.
Shoot, you don't even have to have a heart attack. Pretty much *any* accidental touch that resulted in a shock would be grounds for a lawsuit. The actual damage that occurred would only increase the amount.
steve
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
The jacket is designed for women only. Its small size and narrow armholes are intended to prevent men from using it as an offensive weapon.
Or to prevent larger, taller women from wearing it. What, only size 2 women need defensive clothing?
If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention.
hmm.. I claim rights on the electro-carseat (or door lining) .. take the same material and build it into your carseats... if the keys are out of the ignition (so it won't arm while driving) and you arm the car-alarm, no one can get in the car without "difficulties" ... just have it line every surface in the car (seat, headliner, floormat)...
Or, for the evil world domination types.. a nice pair of "gauntlets" with this same capability to add a little "spice" to a fistfight.
meh
As a geek spots a babe wearing this crackling jacket. Hmm...
1. I wonder if she would mind a probe with my pocket volt meter?
2. Is she running Nicads or NiMH?
3. What would happen if I "accidentally" spit on her?
4. I bet I can impress her if I shuffled my feet real fast and shorted her with my super charged static shock.
Huh? She looked like Britney Spear? I didn't notice.
--- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
I am discarding the rest of your troll.
Go away now or I shall taunt you a second time.
Okay, so a lady leaves her office at night, walking out into the parking lot after a heavy rainstorm. She's nervous, it's downtown and all, so she charges the jacket up.
So nervous is our damsel that she continues to scan the parking lot as she approaches her car, the only car in view. Unfortunately, not looking where she is going, she trips and falls face first into a puddle of water.
Now, I don't claim to know electrical applications very well, but wouldn't this potentially discharge the jacket and nail her as a result? And unlike the guy in the demo videos, she wouldn't be in any position to pull away.
What would the likely effect be?
I watched the demo quicktime movie. The guy grabs the model and he jerks his hand away. Big deal. It's not useful unless it puts people on the ground, shaking and twitching. You can still punch the shit out of someone wearing one; If you're willing to rape someone you're probably willing to beat them up.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Sometimes when we touch
The amperage's too much
Then I have to close my eyes and convulse
I'm gonna hold you till I die
No one with a 2x4 to pry (us apart)
I'm gonna hold you til the charge in you subsides
it seems a "No-Contact Jacket" has been developed for women by MIT
Only at a college where the women are outnumbered by the men about ten-to-one would something like this even be conceived.
Obviously, the first model of this jacket should be called "Rogue".....
It's been getting expensive to feed the electric eel I've been wearing.
Yes, this is great and all, but when will we get Liquid Knuckles(TM)?
Now all a woman needs to go along with this is a Lum costume.
--
"Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
"Open source is evil." - Microsoft
There goes my sex life :/
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
New on slashdot - Flamebait Fridays! Post all the flamebait you want, all Friday long. No negative karma! Why? Because it's Friday!
Offer void where prohibited, see CmdrTaco for details.
Karma: Ran over your dogma.
Who else thinks this was mostly done as an excuse for MIT nerds to touch women a lot under controlled circumstances? :P
... a no-touch jacket that can be repelled by a squirt-gun filled with salty water?
My other Beowulf cluster is... er...
the jacket is intended to be an alternative to handguns, pepper sprays and rape whistles.
What IS the breakdown voltage of a latex condom, anyway?
Caveat Emptor is not a business model.
I'm not sure how 'stylish' a lame would be (they do look similar to this jacket), but you could get a nice womans saber jacket for just over $200 (or a foil vest for $100). I'm sure this is cheaper than whatever this no-contact jacket would sell for...
The 'evil' crackling sound wastes that charge you're carrying - why bother with the arcing?
I bet law enforcement officers are going to just LOVE this. Now, when they go to nab somebody they're going to get a jolt that knocks them on their unsuspecting ass, while the person they're trying to get runs off grateful to his/her electric jacket for their escape...
End of lesson. You may press the button.
I could go on. But you get the idea. This is a clever hack. But it is not the sort of self defense tool I would feel comfortable recommending to most women.
The man who never alters his opinion is like the stagnant water and breeds Reptiles of the Mind -- William Blake
Though parent might not have R'dTFA, his analogy is still sound - there's a reason stun guns aren't legal. Now if we can only get real guns out of the hands of morons...
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned. What will happen when someone wears a jacket internally wired with batteries and switches into airport securiy checks? Do you really think they'll be happy to let you through?
Okay, so you put in a key to unlock it and press a button to charge it, and you will only do it in a situation where you feel unsafe, fine.
What happens if you charge it and don't actually have to USE it? Now you're stuck wearing a charged jacket! What do you have to do, wait until the charge slowly leaks out? Shock the next passerby? Take it off and shock yourself?
Seems like those MIT people aren't quite so smart after all!
It looks like a whole new era of female super-heros is about to dawn.
Miranda is enjoying a quiet morning at the local bagel bistro, reading the paper, when she hears a disturbance and looks up to see....
Miranda: Oh Oh! That punk just took that little old lady's purse! This looks like a job for (flips switch) Miranda Electra!
Miranda Electra: STOP punk, or prepare to be "touched!"
Punk: You don't scare me lady.
~~~~ Zapppp!!
Punk: Aieeeeee! ( Faints )
Bystander: Wow! Miranda Electra gave that punk the Touch of Justice!
Once again dear readers, Truth, Justice, and the Scientific Way prevail! Don't forget to check your newstands for the next episode of Miranda Electra! and her Touch of Justice!!
Amaze your friends! Abuse your enemies! Earn respect. Profit!! How? Sea Monkeys!!
Wouldn't this cause a magnetic flux up/down the person's body, causing all the iron to migrate to the head/toes? Criminals will start using it by turning it on to rip watches and jewelry off people as they run by.
Are not the only thing a potential wearer of this jacket has to worry about.
Ever heard of being mugged for your wallet? Men and women are equally likely to have this problem.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
always check w/ snopes
http://www.snopes.com/legal/lawsuits.asp
"The jacket is designed for women only. Its small size and narrow armholes are intended to prevent men from using it as an offensive weapon."
Are they saying a larger woman wouldn't need to wear such a thing?
Would be a perfect way to allow me to walk down the street without having 10,000 people bump into me. Damm thing is only for women and small women at that...
This pic is a riot! Look at the dude.
"Yea, mang! Iz is get'sin' the booty!"
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
Re the comment on usage and full meaning of "hysterical":
The story cannot possibly be hysterical; the submitter, however, may be, which would explain his or her misuse of the word. Perhaps the word being sought in this case is "hilarious". It's pathetic what's happening to the English language these days...
wear gloves. then you can assault all the women you want!
that's probably the most sexists thing i've ever across. what about for the thousands of men who get assaulted by women every year? it happened to me several times as well as to several of my male friends.
besides, just the fact that some sick people come up with such an idea(and even get funding!) shows how disfunctional our society is. time for gender equality, sexual liberation, and development of interpersonal and social skills. in those aspects our country is probably the worst on earth. thanks puritans. welcome psychotherapists and psychiatrists.
OK, so now instead of just grabbing and mugging/groping/raping, the criminal will want to be sure to have a hunk of pipe to crack your skull first so you can't activate your shock system.
It's unlikely that this thing will actually incapacitate in any way, since it isn't a taser. I really suspect that if a rapist gets shocked by one of these things, it's just going to piss him off, and he'll just body-slam the victim to the ground and start kicking the shit out of her. THEN do whatever he was going to do in the first place.
Like most every other thing the fear-mongers are peddling, this thing will almost certainly wind up being a feel-good measure, nothing more.
I'd say he hardly understands it at all. It doesn't mean "extremely funny," except in the loosest way. To use it as such cheapens the language.
Muggers start wearing gloves
my super soaker water pistol. Spray wearer with water gun, and zap them with their own defence, shorting out the system long enough to remove the jacket without getting zapped yourself. I know for a fact that those systems take several seconds to charge back up, probably as much as 10-20 seconds. That is more then enough time...
wonder how long before adverse reaction caused by chemical combination of war paint and quiff-freshner gets one of the whores fried by own jacket
The size of this thing is designed to limit it's use to women. What about women that actually have arms, shoulders and (gasp) breasts?
Stay alert and sidestep suspicious situations.
Wai until the first criminal sues the wearer on account that "the jacket made her look damn good and it was like a sting/honeypot situation"
Let's put this argument to rest. How many people have actually been killed by their own weapon when it was wrested from their own hands while attempting to defend themselves? The number is relatively small. So small, I wouldn't even care to mention it beside the biggies: Suicide by firearm, and gang-related homocide by firearm.
But, if you are not convinced, here is a challenge for you. I will take my S&W
I figure I probably won't convince anybody, but that won't matter because they'll be dead, and I'll never have to hear that stupid argument again.
Damn I want this as a mod for GTA3.
"Derp de derp."
What I always wonder is how they test the effectiveness of these things. How do they know that it's going to knock people out?
Bob: Uuughh.. what day is it?..
Tester: Grab her again Bob.
Bob: What? Who?
Tester: The lady in front of you.
Bob: Uh, ok like here... ZZZZZZZ AAAAARGH!!
person crumples to the floor
Tester: Wake up Bob.
kicks person lying unconcious on the floor
Tester: We pay by the hour here.
Outdoor digital photography, mostly in New Engl
I have been hit by a stun gun. I even tried one out on myself to see if it would be effective; I wasn't impressed. Please note: I'm not any sort of badass... the stun gun just was not effective (note: I've tried more than one model).
Empirical observation on the street bears this out... stun guns are not a great choice.
However, something else occurred to me after reading some of the responses, particularly the one that preceded yours... these might be useful for corrections officers. They cannot carry guns in jail anyway... and it might keep them from getting swarmed by a bunch of inmates (build in some protection against shivs/shanks and you'd have yourself a truly useful product).
Hmmm... I'd better go patent that...
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
However:
1. The attacker in the demo, while put off, doesn't seem to be that disabled. One would think this could to a swift blow to the head. Or
2. When hearing the crackle or viewing the arc, a determined attacker could simply kick her in the shins.
Point being, it may be a good way to say "hey, I really meant it when I said no," but it definitely wouldn't prevent the determined mugger/rapist, IMO.
I pulled a jack move to cop this sig
sexual harassment issues...
"Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
I could almost imagine sysadmins looking for the seat-cover version to increase productivity and deter stupid questions within sales/management.
Somehow, I keep thinking: network connectivity for these things and a cron job that runs every 5 mins.
Meeting her was quite a shock.
I always get a charge when she is around.
I get a tingly feeling all over when I am with her.
It was quite a jolt when we were introduced.
I met this girl tonight, and there was electricity between us right from the start.
My friend introduced to to this girl and it was like a bolt of lightning hitting me.
Is that girl high voltage or what?
She really lights up my life.
(Boy, am I wasting my time writing software....)
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
gee, this only hit every other news site 2-3 days ago...
The real question is whether the submitter knew the origin and full meaning of the word "hysterical"
I suppose so. Not 5 minutes after I finished the article, my uterus shot up through my mid-section and started floating around in my armpit. Thankfully, my internal masseur is around to work it back into place.
Ahem, Hey OHHHH!
For extra dangerous neighborhoods-Lightning Strike Capacitor Add-on:
Stylish and highly visible "lightning sticker" capacitors are the perfect add-on to this jacket; they really let those would-be assilants know who's boss. (please specify size when ordering: 1,2,5,10,20 farad)
For extremely cold climates-Winter heat pack!
Purchase this low voltage high capacity heat option. Projected to be all the rage in the northern regions this winter.
Women most definitely are sexual preditors. They just get lighter sentences if they get sentenced at all. Take the famouse recent case of the female teacher who had sex with one of her students. She got off scott free. Just imagine if a male teacher had sex with a female student?
Three female volunteers currently are testing prototypes in the field.
So how do they do that? Walk around with a "rape me" sign? =)
Another question: If someone with a cardiac pacemaker accidently touches this thing, wouldn't he die?
I guess 80,000 volts really isn't that much considering that the poor guy in the video is shown grabbing the jacketed girl - who looks like she's definitely enjoying herself - multiple times in a row and hardly even pulling a face.
Granted, he's forced to let go, but it's not like it does anything but give him hot hands (no pun, etc) for more than a fraction of a second.
Is the goal here to incapacitate an attacker, or just make the would-be rapist even more out of control, and probably more violent?
Seems like they need to up the voltage.
-----
"Cogito Eggo Sum: I think, therefore, waffle."
I was having breakfast with my wife one morning, and while I has intended to say, "Honey, could you pass me the butter", it came out as, "YOU RUINED MY LIFE, YOU FUCKING BITCH!"
where's the version for guys, as most of the victums of assault and murder are men?
.. our eyes met.
We spent the evening circling each other, tension building.
At last! We are alone!
Our hands touch. There is a spark.
I wake up the next day in the hospital.
Whoa. What a rush.
I pointed this out in another thread...this jacket seems to take advantage of such lies that "1 in 4 women will be raped" etc, while men are just as likely to be the victums of domestic violence as women, and are more likely to be murdered than women.
Wait until the first time this fries some chicks laptop computer... then there'll be Hell to pay...
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
You let someone shoot you while wearing a vest?
As an ex-instructor in that discipline, I've also been hit with everything you mentioned, but there's no way in HELL I'd let someone put rounds in my direction, vest or not. Heh.. don't let any risk-management folks where you trained know that you did that... unless you want to see a simultaneous stroke/seizure/heart attack.
I'm familiar with the "trust your equipment" philosophy as far as parachutes, gas masks, etc go... but I draw the line at consciously letting someone put a round into my chest, with only a measly 1/2 inch of kevlar/spectra to stop it...
Besides, even that little "pop" as rounds goes by gives me the creepy crawlies, even in situations where I know I can't be hit (eg. down behind the butts on a rifle range).
You, sir, are hardcore.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
You have a gun, I have a gun. I am behind you. You look to be affluent. Boom.
You have a gun, I have a gun. I am much youger than you, am very confident I can get my gun out faster. Boom.
You have a gun, in its usual place (holster, inside pocket). I have a gun, in its usual place (concealed in my inner sleeve). Boom.
... Need I go on? Honestly, you "Arm the masses!!! It will cut down on violent crime!!!"... Americans confuse the hell out of me.
.. it also doesn't work.
When stun guns first came out I was in high school, I bought one and we had great fun zapping each other with it, for kicks. The advertisements where they show 280lbs thugs in body armor falling to the ground like little sissies are just that, advertisements. I was a scrawny 115lbs 16-year-old and repeated shocks didn't prevent me manhandling my friend who had 20lbs on me. If I'd been a mugger it would have pissed me off enough to beat him within an inch of his life rather than just take his money. It's startling, but not debilitating. And it would probably give someone a false sense of security.
80,000 volts sounds impressive, but remember it's the amperage that gets you. Oh, and you're really screwed if they guy has a scrap of tinfoil in his hand.
The U.S. Department of Justice reports that men are three times more likely to be murdered and the primary victims of all violent crimes except rape.
I'm not making this up.
This is a tired myth. In fact 41% of all undergraduates and 29% of all graduate students at MIT are female. The situation is admittedly less equitable in the faculty ranks, where only 16% are female.
Look at the pretty lights.
"Hi honey, I'm home!! Oh, you look great today. So warm and inviting, here let me give you a hu...ZzZzZzZzZzZzZzZ..........!"
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
To prevent accidental discharges, the wearer must arm the jacket before it can deliver a shock. A lock on the sleeve must first be opened with a key, and then the charge is built up by holding down a button inside one of the sleeves.
It reminds me of the research into "smart guns" that decide whether they want to fire or not, and "smart bullets" that are designed to cause less damage.
What is the point of giving a woman a weapon with the claim she can use it in unexpected situations without being disarmed and then put on so many safeties it becomes useless? If the attacker can take a gun out of her hand, he certainly can grab the key from her, or stop her pressing the button that causes the shock... criminey!
So how would you wash this thing? Is it even dry cleanable?
That statistic that is spouted is not true. It is NOT for the same job. If you average all full time men's salaries and women's salaries you get that number. It does into take into account:
-Men work longer hours (more pay)
-Men work 90% of the overtime in America (more pay)
-Men do almost all the dangerous jobs (danger pay)
-Women take more time off for childbearing and other things (missed experience)
-Women CHOOSE jobs with flexible schedules etc. so they can have outside lives (less opportunity)
The stat you quote does not compare apples to apples, not even close.
Men are subject to random assaults much more often than women.
It's the volts what jolts, but it's the mils what kills, as they say.
.....
It's easy enough to make the controller; it's just a step-up inverter. Probably two-stage; 9V up to about 400V DC, use it to charge a capacitor, about 1uF; then discharge it through the primary of a ferrite-cored pulse transformer. The awkward bit is the final secondary, which needs to be wound on a bobbin with insulating discs between segments, otherwise it'll arc between the windings. It also helps to encapsulate the whole lot in resin. Having worked for a company manufacturing ignition sequence controllers for gas boilers, I have learned a few things about high voltages
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
They way the pushed this jacket is offensive. It's only available in small sizes for women so that men can't use it in an aggressive manner.
Excuse the fuck out of me!? Only men are aggressive? Bullshit. These idiot yuppie college chickies (term used purposely to offend) have obviously never had a run-in with a female gang banger.
If this device is ever made available I guarantee you some bitch will purposely activate it in a crowd of men just for the fun of it.
Any company that would market this device would be wide open for a serious suing.
-- Will program for bandwidth
The jacket is designed for women only. Its small size and narrow armholes are intended to prevent men from using it as an offensive weapon.
:-)
I'm sorry, but how can anyone defend this assumption? The jacket _clearly_ discriminates against fat women!
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
- How long does it take to charge? Unless this girl is charging it up every time she is in a potentially threatening place (and isn't that everywhere), would she have enough time to charge it if a person comes out of an alley with a menacing look on their face?
- How long between discharges? I've been shocked by full current from an outlet before, and it hurts, but unless it is going to be applying that same current to me I could probably get through a second or two of that pain if I really wanted this girl's purse. Not to mention those that aren't sober (I'm not just talking about alcohol).
- How easy is this to defeat? Someone already mentioned throwing water on the victim, in which case it would short the jacket or shock her. But what about throwing something metal at her to discharge it, or wearing gloves? If it's cold enough to be wearing a jacket like that, it wouldn't be out of place to have gloves on. Now that I'm getting creative, couldn't an attacker just spray some flamable gas at those sparks? Now she's got to worry about the attacker and burning alive.
- Who is going to buy/use this? It would seem the plain leather version of this jacket would be at least $100 USD. Add in the fancy first-generation electric mesh sub-layers and that's got to be quite a bit more, even at volume. So, (maybe I'm a bit short-sighted here) if you're paranoid enough to be spending this amount of money on a jacket, are you also dumb enough to think that this will make you invincible?
- How do you safely discharge it? Phew, you've now made it to your car, but you don't want to get burn marks on your seat. (Oh, I thought I'd mention that a lot of car jackings occur after people have opened the door to their own car, but haven't sat down yet) Where does that charge go? Now, it'd be cool if you could recycle that charge to your car battery, but rather impractacle.
I'm guessing this will be the tech-clothes equivalent of vaporware - cool idea and proof of concept, but I can't see it going anywhere.Kurdt
I'm not anti-social. Just pro-technology.
suspicious-looking people armed with water bottles...
...a slim and tight bodysuit version for dominatixes. Would be very popular with certain clients.
"I must touch you mistress---AAAGGGGHHHHAAAAAA!!"
Am I the only one who burst out laughing at that line? :-) What a great euphemism for "go walking in the most dangerous areas they can possibly find trying to get people to assault them."
[TMB]
was invented by another MIT student couple of decades ago - I forget his name, but he taught me neurology when I was a med student. He's a pediatric neurologist at Harvard now. Donahue apparently demo's it on his show and it threw him across the room. It was based on the fact that the fat content in women is higher, so the impedence in the skin is different between men and women - it only shocked women.
This guy was a pretty interesting gut, by the way, he grew up with Jerry Seinfeld, his father worked ont he Manhattan project, he tapped into the direct phone line between MIT and the Pentagon when he was at MIT and almost got hauled off to jail by the CIA for that, and is also an acoustic engineer who owns a very high end custom speaker design company - he told me he put in a system for William Hurt when he was dating the deaf acttress from Children of a Lesser God.
I have a Master's student friend in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He says that there are almost no girls in his department - that the ones that are there are treated like royalty because they're so few.
I've heard the same from an Electrical Engineering friend of mine.
Maybe it's because MIT is attempting to branch out in to other fields? They have a business department and a history department now, for instance.
Taking the 41% and 29% statistic at face value is stupid. Just because there are women at MIT doesn't mean that the guys who made the vest ever get to see them.
I personally go to a "well balanced" University myself (Purdue), and I know that my department, Electrical and Computer Engineers, has less than 10 female grad students, because they take all 500 of us grad/phd students and put us in the same room every now and again.
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!
What kind of an incompetent idiot is going to try to attack a woman with other witnesses around?
Ask Kitty Genovese. She might have something to say about the frequency with which incompetent idiots attack a woman with 38 witnesses around.
I wa a little offended by that, as the artical mentioned, men are more likely to be victims of violent crime anyway.
And not only that, apperantly they don't think fat women should be allowed to use this type of technology either. How stupid.
ReadThe ReflectionEngine, a cyberpunk style n
nocontact_video1_qt_hi.mov
Hey! That's my sig you're smoking there!
This vest reminds me of something that an X-men character would wear - like storm or such. It's just that damned cool. It's style is even reminiscent of the stuff the characters wore in the 2 X-Men films. Crackling, blue arcs of lightning?
I don't suppose it'll be too long until they actually have this little gig in a film - amateur or professional. Female vigilante, anyone?
Additionally, did anyone notice how many amps this thing has? 20k volts is cool, but pretty useless if the ampage isn't enough to hurt.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
I re-read recently Snow Crash and..
WARNING: SPOILER!
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I re-read actually the part where YT has a dentata. She forgets about it, and, when she is going to have sex with the Aleut, it works. Instead of the mythical version that chews penises , this one had a microsyringe injecting a narcotic into the (dilated) blood vessels of the penis. Now that's a 21st century chastity belt.
Actually a chastity belt blocks the man from having sex but also the woman. William Gibson's version in "Blue Max"(?) was a mind conditioning so that the teen girl would feel panic at the idea of having sex. The result was that, when she is raped, she fainted.
Yes, cyberpunk was today's news.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
there's a reason why cops still carry guns, and it's not because they refuse to use a more-effective alternative... it's because there's NO substitute.
There must be a reason whiy British cops usually don't carry guns. What's their substitute?
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
The average person is also not prepared to shoot another person dead, which is of course the threat behind a gun. A huge percentage of cops that are shot are shot with their own guns, even more for homeowners in home invasions.
I noted you said usually... just getting that acknowlegement out of the way from the beginning.
Although I should point out that the british cops face a different criminal element than US cops, even the british bobbies arm up when think they are going to face some serious opposition (anti-terrorist units)... and when I say "arm up," they go armed to the teeth... sub guns and all. They also put armed police on the streets in some of their regular units (usually supervisors, and as I recall they keep some pretty heavy artillery in their vehicles... though I must admit I haven't kept up on the current status of british law enforcement)
You are correct, however, that british cops don't usually carry firearms.
Even if a man chops off your hand with a sword, you still have two nice, sharp bones to stick in his eyes.
Speed news, all the news that's fit to blit for
Monday April 2, 2025.
"Personal Protection with an edge, Don't Touch Me (tm) to protect wearer from any phyiscal contact."
"Touch me and puke you puke", proclaims Veronica of Oakland Ca. a test subject for the new product.
Pegasus protection products (DJnet: P^3) today announced a new personal protection product.....
Only a person authorized, temporarily or permanently by the wearer may touch....
"Genetically enhanced the wearer is protected by an excreted non-lethal toxin. The toxin is inactive if not in contact with the protected person." states Dever Monrose of Pegasus Protection Products.....
FDA approval is pending last stage human testing...
I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
Yeah, but there are two potential problems with the safety of any given device: the potential to intentionally cause intentional harm in the hands of a sufficiently skilled user (which you address) and the potential to accidentally cause harm in the hands of an unskilled user (which you don't). So, in the case of the jacket, I'm not greatly worried about the "charge 'er up and run at me" potential (as you say, a gun, knife, or most anything would be easier).
What I'm worried about is the potential for some paranoid or twitchy chick to get worried that someone's following her...in a crowd. Or she reflexively charges it when some asshole starts shit with her...on a bus. Or whatever. Admittedly, it would be tons worse if the thing were always charged, but I'm still not very comforted.
Basically, I'd imagine that the potential for collateral damage is high. Not to mention the chance of accidental self-shocking.
-Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat
It's a totally stereotypical shop teacher thing to say, but he really said it: "It's the volts that give you the shock. It's the amps that give you the burn."
Your favorite
So this jacket is charged? What if my jacket has the opposite charge, or I carry a big magnet around with me?
Magnetically controlled females....hmm.
Talk about Vonnegutianesque barbecues...
Goodness !
In fact, the ancient Greeks believed that hysteria was caused by the uterus wandering around into different parts of the body. This was their effort to explain otherwise causeless sympotoms all over the body. How's that for creativity?
I can just imagine the first use of this on a Japanese subway, the land where groping/fondling is rampant and people are shoved in so tight they're touching each other all the time. Even an accidental discharge would rocket through the entire car, filling the air with smell of ozone and burning hair, punctuated by the piquant aroma of overheated hair gel, and cries of "Yamate! Yamate kudasai!"
O~ Him that studies revenge keeps his own wounds green. -- Francis Bacon
-- HG Pennypacker, wealthy industrialist and philanthropist
Are those jackets FCC compliant ?
;l
:)
:>
Could another jacket (or trenchcoat) act as an antenna and use the electrostatic or EM energy to power something ? A PDA, perhaps ? Or a small laptop ?
Will car computers and alarms go on the fritz, if this thing goes by them, throwing off sparks ?
What happens to PDAs, cell phones, credit/bank cards and other microelectronic minutiae? How do they fare, within this electric HV maelstrom ? Or near it ?
What if the sleeve switch snags on a doorknob while the wearer is carrying or holding a child, or small animal ? Or a can of lighter fluid ?
Does it wear well with nylon ? Or other easily flammable synthetics ? Is there any danger, if in contact with very heavily laquered hair ?
What if the switch snags on an umbrella handle, or something sticking out of a shopping bag, while in a subway, for example ?
Regarding that famous Japanese gourmet course - "something eaten off woman"... Would this vest pop popcorn ?!
How soon before one of these kills an inquisitive house pet ?
What happens if a bunch of gals, all wearing these, decides to Beowulf ?
If activated in the car, will the airbags deploy ?
What do you figure the wavelengths are, for the conductive strips ? Could a "radar" be built to id or locate women wearing these things, even if they weren't on ?
Why isn't there any GPS in it ? *Everything* has GPS in it these days. Everything !
Besides, it's already obsolete tech. The really neat ones use induced atmospheric lasers. Brilliant !
But, then, what would be compatible with *it* ?
:>
Would it ressonate easily to some simple packet of relatively low intensity wavelengths ?
Hmmm....
This is supposed to be a forum for the creative and original, not to mention technically inclined.
:)
Besides, unless you nearly miss, there's hardly any screaming.
Much better, and spiffier idea : grok something using one or more sprinklers, maybe a mini compressor, and a quart of mace.
Or, if you're into Dark Knight (or Casino Royale, for that matter) just consider H2SO4.
It's much more... Sensurround !
Why do women get all the tasers, pepper spray, and rape whistles, while the men get bubkis?
Best Buy can have you arrested
Hysteria would be a bad side effect of this device. Most women will not be willing to use this device for safety if it makes their uteri wander away.
The first time I get shocked by one of these, I'm going to _sue_ her pants off...
;p
After that, who knows
and i'm allowed to say that because i'm jewish ;P
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
a) Please excuse me Mr. Attacker while I charge up my 9 volt battery b) Wait, no, don't touch me there, the jacket, the jacket! c) Hard for police to arrest someone wearing one? Ma'am, take the jacket off or we will shoot you d) Cmon, a crackling sparkly sound....I thought this was supposed to repel attackers, not attract onlookers for a firework show?
I'm pretty sure this has already been done.... About 10yrs ago I was looking at the 'stun guns' and other "non-lethal" stuff in a catalog that had a leather stun jacket, it had copper wire embedded into the surface of the leather and a switch that came out the sleeve into the hand... if anyone touches you (on the coat)... you turn on the switch and ZAP. Also they had a leather glove built the same way... switch and battery on belt opposite to the glove hand. This was geared towards bodyguards and bouncers. I searched the Pat office briefly tonight, but couldn't find the jacket, although I did find a 'Electric Glove" that might have been the prototype for the one I saw.
T O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,370,696.WKU.&OS=PN/4,370,696&RS =PN/4,370,696
T O1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm &r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=6,272,781.WKU.&OS=PN/6,272,781&RS =PN/6,272,781
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P
I did find a cool 'Counter-measure' jacket/garment.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=P
Hope MIT dosen't have probs with patenting theirs.
*** I Know Everything, But Can't Remember It All At Once ***
Don't be silly. Keeping this thing 'live' without any apparent threat would never work: one person brushes against you, gets 50kV for it, and sues you into the ground. Or dies, leaving you with some very difficult questions to answer (and probably a long jail sentence) about why you electrocuted the person. Very useful. Whatever your chosen weapon, you need to be aware of a threat in order to react to it; only a defensive system (some kind of armor) could help there.
Haven't you watched the video on this? The guy touching her isn't incapacitated or anything, he just can't keep his hands on her. You'll see he tries several times with no ill effect. Though wearing gloves might prevent the effects of the jacket.
Also, I'd imagine firearms are used more offensively than defensively; the advantages don't outweigh the disadvantages, at least in my opinion.
I can see this being good for a child's safety.
But nothing beats a parent's watchful eye or a child knowing how to deal with a crisis.
Of course, mom and dad could end up in court, if little Johnny runs around the playground with one of these.
Ahh.... Simple way around this lame jacket
WEAR LEATHER OR RUBBER GLOVES
Why do people come up with these stupid ideas ?!?
Remember a lightning bolt has enough power to jump across five miles of air, a fairly good insulator. With a reach of 25,000 feet, a conductor or insulator in the last few feet isn't going to stop it, although a conductor might tend to guide the bolt. A weak electric field won't matter unless the bolt leader happens to pass very close -- and as standing within ten feet of the strike point of a bolt is double-plus ungood, such a minor influence does not matter.
It won't work Stun guns have a poor record in police work. Even the manufacturers say that you should hold the stun gun against the eyes, throat or genitals for 4-5 seconds. I maintain that if you can hold a shocker against someone's goolies for the count of four you aren't in a fight. Look at the video on the home site. It doesn't incapacitate. It just gives a little spark.
Your telling me that the manuals for stun guns tell people to aim for the eyes? Call me crazy but I'd almost rather someone shoot me than zap my eyes.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
I'm thankful I live in a country where a product like this is not needed.
Personally I would rather see this as a security feature in the fabric of my driver's side car seat.
A version of this jacket where the sparks and sounds are for show only would make for some swank club attire. You've probably seen those bottles in the stores where you can make the multi-colored-lightning bolts dance around where your finger touch the bottle. A jacket of this type would illuminate bike riders and be fashionable and fun to wear.
I sampled the bottle in front of me and the lobotomy and I recommend the latter.
-- Each tock of the Planck clock is a new world and here we are still life. --
The key difference is that, in Britain, crims cannot walk into a supermarket and tool-up, although the hardcore do use guns.
Not only the US. I think almost everywhere in Europe, police patrols carry guns. And certainly, Britain has more crime that some European places.
On the other hand, the British cops I saw were so tall and strong that they didn't seem to need guns. Short sleeves in a cold night? Brr.
I think it's a kind of arms race. If European and US cops carry guns, European and US criminals will carry guns, and vice versa.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
It wasn't always like that. Jesus got away with it.
John 2:1-4 And he's talking to his mother !
1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
Electric jackets? Nawww.
Pistols? Nawww.
Hmmmm... a tactical nuke in a briefcase!
Now that's a real personal protection device for geek girls and boys. You'd get the respect you so desperately seek. No one in their right mind is gonna knock your glasses off or steal your pocket protector if they know you got one of those sub-kiloton babies under your arm. If MAD (mutually assured destruction) was a good enough strategy to prevent WWIII, it ought to work at MIT.
Play nice kids...
best regards,
buck
Criminality is immensily lower than in the US, specially of the violent kind involving guns.
Oh sorry, I forgot to say that guns are banned.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
The problem with this, and one the police recognize, is that there are people that have absolutely no qualms with hurting, or even killing, you in order to reach their goal. Some people have no respect for human life other than their own. If I believe the criminal assailing me is one of those, if his intentions are clear, I'm not going to place myself in additional danger by interposing myself. That's foolish. Police are justified in shooting another if they believe they are in imminent danger. I have the same right they do - you just said so. If I believe my rights (life, liberty, property) are in imminent danger, I will act appropriately, including using force if necessary, to protect those rights. I believe I am completely justified in doing so, and also believe that the Anglo-American common law heritage backs me up.
What the criminal is doing is illegal and wrong. Defending myself is my right, and it is right.
Constitutionally Correct