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Drug Catapult Found At US-Mexico Border
suraj.sun writes "According to a Fox News report: 'Drug smugglers trying to get marijuana across the Arizona-Mexico border apparently are trying a new approach — a medieval catapult, capable of launching 4.4 pounds of marijuana at a time. National Guard troops operating a remote video surveillance system at the Naco Border Patrol Station say they observed several people preparing a catapult and launching packages over the International Border fence last Friday evening. The 3-yard tall catapult was found about 20 yards from the US border on a flatbed towed by a sports utility vehicle, according to a Mexican army officer with the 45th military zone in the border state of Sonora.'"
This is an iPhone game waiting to happen.
people being launched using this.. Just wait.
If the video for the story is correct, then that's not a catapult, it's a trebuchet! (Albeit it replaced the counterweight with some sort of elastic cabling.)
My postings are informational and does not constitute legal advice. Act on it at your risk.
Not to mention that catapults are all but medieval.
My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.
I'd just keep a bunch of officers near where you expect all these packages to land.
I mean surely i'm not the only engineer who's joked that all they really need to do is catapult and parachute to get over the border, with no need for a parachute if they're launching hard projectiles. I mean the range on old catapults and trebuchets was quite well, and could be scaled as a simple matter of physics.
So I suppose next we might find a tunnel that is one mile down and 40 miles under the border to breach the "castle walls" of the united states?
You never realize how much manually made unmanaged "linked" lists suck, till you have src.link.link.link.link...
Tossing drug packages over prison walls and into the yard has been around for years with hit and miss success. (intended)
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
The national started looking for the device when they found a giant baseball glove mounted in the Arizona desert
....and I've been down to visit a couple of times.
When we go hiking in the Coronado National Forest, it's staggering the number of Border Patrol officers/vehicles/activity we see along 92 between Bisbee and Sierra Vista.
I don't know how you could get away with anything on that stretch of the border, but given the close proximity of Naco, MX and Naco, AZ, maybe just getting over the fence is all that matters, since the fence is pretty much the width of the border there.
Normally I'm pro-legalization, but I'm much more pro-catapult. So if anti-drug legislation can bring us the catapults of our dreams, then may it is the answer. Then again, we could legalize and then just require all distribution to be done via catapult. It's a win/win.
I say "trebuchet"
Let's call the whole siege off...
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
A yard is a perfectly cromunlent extension to the Furlong-Firkin-Fortnight system (the One True Sytem of measurement). While a "link" (or millifurlong) is the preferred unit for formal surveying and land measuement, a "yard" (or 1/220th of a furlong) is fine for casual use.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Am I the only one who pictured this being expanded upon in a Simpsons episode to include an immigrant launcher as well?
I believe the role of responding to artillery falls to the MRLS, so the Army should just return fire with a couple rockets of cluster bomb submunitions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MLRS
While I appreciate the conversion for those of us north of said border, this is marijuana we're talking about, so "2 kilos" works just fine.
Air cannons are a Canadian thing. I wouldn't be surprised if that got built north of the border.
This wasn't the original intention of this device. There was some confusion because the word "high" wasn't translated properly from English to Spanish
The Internet has given stupid people the resources of intelligent people.
No broken giant wooden rabbits were found on the US side of the border.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
Man, there is so much unprotected border with Canada they don't need anything crazy to cross. They can just pack it onto ATV's and drive it across at night.
I grew up in Maine and we used to joke that getting drugs across the border was the easy part. The only problem is that once you get into Maine it's still hundreds of miles to get the drugs to anybody that wants it and isn't already growing their own.
I always wondered why the cartels haven't invested in UAVs. It must be pretty simple now days to build a GPS guided device with enough payload to make the more expensive drugs worthwhile to ship
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
DEA infiltrates annual "Pun'kin Chunk'in" event claiming they traffic in drug paraphernalia Video crew jailed on suspicion of not respecting their authoritay
What's important is the counter measure. Here is something for the US border patrol to bear in mind:
When faced with enemy trebuchets, cavalry work best due to their high speed and good damage. A small group of Knights make short work of a group of trebuchets. Cavalry archers also work well, especially the Mongol Mangudai due to its bonus damage vs. siege units. Infantry and foot archers are also acceptable but are less desirable due to their lack of speed; this weakness allows the user to spot them early and respond to the situation by unpacking the trebuchets and/or retaliating with an army of his/her own.
Not Stoners!
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
...if I'm the only one that originally pictured this is how illegals would get in to this country as well. =P
What do I know, I'm just an idiot, right?
To thank them for all these free drugs, we should catapult them some weapons... preferably catapults!
life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think
I see they haven't figured out our advanced potato cannon technology yet.
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
Pot via railgun, that's the next upgrade....
a pipe for moonshine under the Estonian-Latvian border.
FCKGW 09F9 42
How do they know it's drug smugglers? Looks like Mexico's bombing us.
No no, those are _chicken_ cannons! We have chicken cannons up here, not air cannons.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
In the near future Adam and Jamie will test the validity of catapulting a kilo of actual coke across the border.
Your use of the word "cromulent" embiggens my heart!
Extra medication for all!
Naw, this is about getting high.... Higher than the fence anyway.
on their way to Burning Man?
Tell me again why it was a bad idea to legalize weed?
... to shoot up drugs.
Have gnu, will travel.
Even in Europe, marijuana is always bought by the ounce, and cocaine by the gram.
Fetchez la vache!
Why do you need to land it? just crashing it in a specific spot should work.
Well, only about 5000 crossed. 200+ died, that is the ones we know about.
I would say the wall worked damn well. How many mexicans are in the US illegally? More then 5000? Somehow I don't think there would be such an issue of just a few thousand Mexicans. Then again, we are talking Republicans... 1 would set them howling.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
pure win.
http://archeleus.com/blog
This raises questions about the safety of such an operation. A bystander being accidentally hit by the package has a small chance of being knocked down and hitting their head on a rock. This could bring the worldwide death toll of this killer drug from 0 to 1, a massive increase, making the drug almost 1/10,000th as dangerous as aspirin. This is an unacceptable risk. We need to make this drug legal so it can be transported more safely, mitigating these risks.
You might want to revise that to "even in the UK". I live in Germany and we buy it by the gram. Germans don't even know what an ounce is.
as evidenced by this story from the end of last year which unfortunately hasn't gotten much time:
http://www.pittsreport.com/2010/11/don-alejo-garza-tamez-true-grit/
(anyone know of an English language version of it from a major news source?)
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
This reminds me of an old Saturday Night Live commercial called Yardapult. Cant seem to find it online though
Ok, so the border patrol creates a catapult, that launches balls of wood engulfed in oil then lit....then sent to the exact x y position of the first said catapult, if history has taught us anything, is that you must retaliate in kind, in this case, with a catapult, but better ammo.
Watch them burn baby!
Interesting. Too bad he didn't get all of them, or survive. He might have been better off leaving the gas on in the house and watching the hilarity ensue from nearby (preferably in range in case there were any left) since the house was going to be lost anyway.
are taking pot-shots at the U.S.????
(thank you - I'll be here all week... :-)
Calderon WILL do what the US tells him.
NO SIG
4.4 pounds
Is it really that hard to use the Metric system? Are Fox News consumers not savvy enough?
Wow; congratulations to that guy for his guts, even though he paid for it.
Don't see the practical point of the "I'll be waiting for you" announcement, though.
Granted, he had the skill and equipment for it, I can see the less-skilled less-equipped trying and being even less sucessful
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
We have incoming! Human wave tactics being supplemented with light artillery...
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.