Is That a Gun in Your Pocket or Am I Just Happy To See You?

Ray Gun Makes Targets Feel As If They Are on Fire

from The Associated Press

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia - The military's new weapon is a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they will catch fire.

The technology is supposed to be harmless - a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.

Military officials say it could save the lives of civilians and service members in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010, but all branches of the military have expressed interest in it, officials said.

During the first media demonstration of the weapon Wednesday, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios U.S. troops might encounter.

The crew fired beams from more than 500 yards away, nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.

While the sudden, 130-degree Fahrenheit heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make participants think their clothes were about to ignite.

"This is one of the key technologies for the future," said Marine Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the non-lethal weapons program that helped develop the weapon. "Non-lethal weapons are important for the escalation of force, especially in the environments our forces are operating in."

The system uses millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, common kitchen microwaves penetrate several inches of skin.

The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the waves can go through glass.

Two airmen and 10 reporters volunteered to be zapped with the beams, which easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.

The system was developed by the military, but the two devices being evaluated were built by defense contractor Raytheon.

Airman Blaine Pernell, 22, said he could have used the system during his four tours in Iraq, where he manned watchtowers around a base near Kirkuk. He said Iraqis often pulled up and faked car problems so they could scout U.S. forces.

"All we could do is watch them," he said. But if they had the ray gun, troops "could have dispersed them."

The Fantastic Two

Jingle Bells: The Fantastic Four sequel's Silver Surfer dangles some junk? Apparently so, as glimpsed in the trailer and discussed here.

R.I.P. Lily

Actress Yvonne De Carlo, Star of TV's The Munsters, Dies at 84

from The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Yvonne De Carlo, the beautiful star who played Moses' wife in The Ten Commandments but achieved her greatest popularity on TV's slapstick comedy The Munsters, has died. She was 84.

De Carlo died of natural causes Monday at the Motion Picture & Television facility in suburban Woodland Hills, longtime friend and television producer Kevin Burns said Wednesday.

De Carlo, whose shapely figure helped launch her career in B-movie desert adventures and Westerns, rose to more important roles in the 1950s. Later, she had a key role in a landmark Broadway musical, Stephen Sondheim's Follies.

But for TV viewers, she will always be known as Lily Munster in the 1964-1966 horror movie spoof The Munsters. The series (the name allegedly derived from "fun-monsters") offered a gallery of Universal Pictures grotesques, including Dracula and Frankenstein's monster, in a cobwebbed gothic setting.

Dear Santa...

Former professional Swiss military pilot Yves Rossy, the 'jet-man', flies in the sky like a rocketeer in the southern Swiss Alps near Nyon in November, 2006. Rossy is the first man ever to successfully fly with wings, full-powered by four engines in his back. Picture taken in November 2006. REUTERS/Rolf Kuratli (SWITZERLAND)

Cerebro Mutant Profile 220022: Moo-2

A calf with two faces is photographed Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2007, at Kirk Heldreth's dairy farm in Rural Retreat, Va. The calf, which was born Dec. 27, 2006, breathes out of two noses and has two tongues, which move independently, according to Heldreth. There appears to be a single socket containing two eyes where the heads split. (AP Photo/Wytheville Enterprise Via Bristol Herald Courier, Jean Farley)

Winner: Immortalization in Sidebar!
added to: The Real Mutant Menace!
New mutant, codename Moo-2
Mutant Abilities: Superbovine cud-chewing, moos in stereo, triclops.

'Query: Where's My Bleeping Epidural?!'

Medical students practice parturition treatment with a baby-delivery robot at an obstetrician class of Kyung Hee university medical center in Seoul in this December 27, 2006 file photo. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon