There’s only so much you can do with a baby screaming in your ear. Reading becomes difficult. Writing becomes damn near impossible. Physical coordination is impaired. There’s something in the shrill, primal wail that short-circuits your synapses and jams your neural pathways. So is it any wonder that the US military is using this noise as a new weapon in Iraq? (via Making Light)
US troops are to be armed with a stun gun that uses a baby’s high-pitched scream to bring the enemy to its knees.
The gun, which will be issued to marines in Iraq this month, fires “sonic bullets” that can be targeted like a torch beam.
Anyone hit with a full blast would suffer excruciating pain, permanent deafness and some form of cellular damage. A prolonged blast could kill.
The “Secret Scream” gun as it is called, could revolutionise the way US troops deal with snipers, suicide bombers and riots in the turmoil of post-war Iraq.
The actual sound used is a recording of a baby’s scream played backwards.
“For most people, even if they plug their ears, it will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine,” said Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corporation, the Californian company that has produced the weapon.
“It will knock some people to their knees.”
No shit. Prolonged exposure to babies’ crying has been known to make even men yank out their breasts in the vain hope of appeasing the boundless appetites and unplumbable desires of a howling infant.
According to the height and weight charts, our wee Fiona, ten weeks old today, is the size of a healthy five-month old. She’s not fat, she’s just huge. Most five-month olds are eating some solid food to bulk out their diet. But because Fiona is too young for solids, she gets a breastful of milk at three-hour intervals…and then is hungry again an hour later. You can imagine how happy that makes her.