06.02.10

Cult of EMP Crazy: UMC entitlement program

Posted in Crazy Weapons, Extremism at 9:16 am by George Smith

Good news, lads! Good news! We can stop a computer a yard away with the electromagnetic pulse suitcase of death! Gulf Oil spill, though, not so much.

And DD can total a PC with a ballpeen hammer made in China for a couple bucks.

Anyway, the Cult of Electromagnetic Pulse Crazy has been populated with small businesses promising revolutionary weapons for as long as I can remember.

From today’s Austin-American Statesmen, the equivalent of an upper middle class entitlement workfare program implemented through small business contract:

Two members of Texas’ congressional delegation on Tuesday toured a technology company that is developing a system that could be used for border security.

U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo , and Michael McCaul, R-Austin , said the technology in development at Applied Physical Electronics could stop smugglers in their tracks by shutting down vehicles’ electrical systems. Some workers likened the device to an electronic weapon.

The equipment is being developed in several sizes. Engineers are working on a handheld device that would be used at a very close range. There are also more powerful versions that could be mounted trains plains automobiles on boats, automobiles and aircraft and be used from a hundred or more yards away.

The Department of Defense already has been testing the Spicewood company’s gear, which works by sending crippling electromagnetic pulses that disable electrical systems, the company said.

For the last fifteen years, electromagnetic pulse ray technology has always been cutting edge, always desired by the military, always promised soon, always a Swiss army knife full of security applications.

And then another years go by and the world is not transformed.

The illegals keep coming across the border, their feet not impressed by an electromagnetic suitcase or raygun said to be in the offing. High speed chases stay on the evening news in California. Wall Street, sadly, is not attacked by electromagnetic pulsing briefcases.

“[The Texas politicians lobbying directly for money] — both of whom serve on the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism — said the system could be an effective tool for border agents to stop the boats, cars and other vehicles used by drug smugglers and human traffickers,” added the newspaper.

Plus, the electromagnetic pulse suitcase is a hedge against potential EMP suitcase gap.

“Located on a nondescript lot off Texas 71, Applied Physical Electronics was founded in 1998 and has 16 employees,” continues the news article. “Its annual revenue is about $3 million a year, the company said. In addition to developing security devices, the company also is working on countermeasures against similar electronic weapons that other countries are developing.”

News flash: The small company tinkerer isn’t going to change the world of weapons technology by any order of magnitude.

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Years and years and years of electromagnetic pulse crazies and promises — from the archives.

One notes that if electromagnetic pulse crazy funding had to be justified by some actual test of usefulness to society, some people would just be plum s— outta luck.

Paul Fussell on BAD ideas, from the book – BAD: “Bad ideas are those that are palpably unsound, like constructing a building from the top down or like trying to run a car on water with a pill in it. Some people can always be persuaded to accept such notions but most would argue that except as material for jokes, they are a waste of time.”

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