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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?
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"
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
Also, why is this only for women? Do they think that men don't get jacked up by criminals too?
It would probably involve readinging the instruction manual that comes with the jacket, as skill similar to reading the article.
The jacket has a switch in the sleeve you have to hit to turn it on. The idea is to only turn it on when you feel threatened, not to leave it running 24/7.
I read the internet for the articles.
You use the "power switch" to "turn it off".
...that's like saying about a fire: it's not the flame that kills you, it's the heat.
Reading instructions? Do you know what website you're posting on right now?
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...
did i sense a spark between us? ;)
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.
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.
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.
What if Rogue were wrapped in a full-body skintight latex suit? ..Nah. It'd never happen. That's far too ridiculous for a comic book character.
It's both.
There's enough amperage in a AA battery to stop your heart, but not enough voltage potential for it to travel from one fingertip to another.
By the same token, 50 amps at a couple picovolts wouldnt do anything either.
That 300mA at 80,000 volts could kill you, because the current could then reach your heart or cause your diaphragm to convulse.
People with weak hearts or other conditions could easily be killed by one of these. Thats why Tasers are illegal in many places.
I see nothing but trouble the first time some helpless little old lady brushes against one of these chicks in the subway and winds up dead.
I dont know if a prosecuter would look like walking around with a garment on thats potentially lethal to anyone who touches it would count as "reckless disregard for human life" or "negligence".
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
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.
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.
"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.
Dilbert already invented Shock Pants almost 3 years ago.
---
"I can't complain, but sometimes still do..." Joe Walsh
Come on, admit it. You pictured that too...
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.
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
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.
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.
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.'"
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.
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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
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
Ok, woman turns on jacket and walks through dark carpark to her car...
She can't allow any of the electrified material to contact her bag whilst taking out her keys, and has to discharge it before sitting down in her car.
Shoulder bags and scarves are probably out anyway, and you don't want to be wearing it while walking your dog, or small child, in case they leap up and touch the jacket. Take care when holding metal railings in carpark staircases. Do not brush against elevator walls.
This is going to need a very good disclaimer.
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.
Muggers start wearing gloves
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...
Yes, stun guns are illegal because there is no distinction in their use; they can be used just as effectively as an offensive weapon as they can as a defensive weapon. Ditto with handguns. A jacket, however, designed to be worn, designed to be powered on and used only when worn, designed too small to be worn by (more aggressive as implied by the article) men. It's not the same as either a handgun or stun gun in that the design has clearly defensive in nature.
Could it be used as an offensive weapon? Yes, sure. Baseball bats can be used as offensive weapons. So can tire irons. Neither are illegal to carry... in context. If you have a baseball bat over your shoulder- on a sunday afternoon with a bunch of other guys carrying helmets, dusty uniforms, duffels, then it's in context and no problem. Lurking around a closed grocery at 5am with a baseball bat is a different story. Most women wearing the jacket aren't going to be a problem, like most guys and girls on sunny sunday afternoons with baseball bats. However the guy with this jacket baled in his hands is just like the thug with a bat. Out of context. And there are already laws for that type of thing.
-- If god wanted me to have a sig, he'd have given me a sense of humor.
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 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.
(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.
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?
.. 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.
"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?
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.
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
The first time I get shocked by one of these, I'm going to _sue_ her pants off...
;p
After that, who knows
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 ***
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.
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. --