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Full Version: Cyborg cat!
| QUOTE (Article) |
After several surgeries and intensive training, the cyborg cat was ready for its first field test. The CIA drove the cat to a Soviet compound on Wisconsin Avenue in Washington, D.C., and let him out of a parked van across the street. The cat ambled into the road, and was struck by a taxi almost immediately. Five years of effort and over $15 million in spending were reduced to roadkill in an instant. Shorty after its demise a CIA operative returned to the accident site and put the cat's remains into a container to prevent the Soviets from getting their paws on the sensitive and expensive listening devices. |
Real life has the best plot ideas.
This is not true! They spend $15 millon dollar and didn't let the cat out of their at the other side of the road? The CIA is great!
Think that's funny? There are plent other cost-saving animal-based weapons.
The Bat-Bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb
The Bat-Bomb
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb
| QUOTE |
| The Chief Chemist’s report stated that on a weight basis X-Ray was more effective than the standard incendiary bombs in use at the time. “Expressed in another way, the regular bombs would give probably 167 to 400 fires per bomb[er] load where X-Ray would give 3625 to 4748 fires.” |
| QUOTE |
| In one incident the Auxiliary Army Air Base in Carlsbad, New Mexico was set on fire when armed bats were accidentally released. |
The Pigeon Missle Guidence System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon
The Anti-Tank Dog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-tank_dog
| QUOTE |
| However, in 1942 one use of the Anti-tank dogs went seriously awry when a large contingent of anti-tank dogs ran amok, endangering everyone in the battle and forcing the retreat of an entire Soviet division. Soon afterward the Anti-tank dogs were withdrawn from service. |
OK, that's got to be some sort of Urban Myth. There may be a grain of truth in there, but the level of sophistication hinted at for the surgical implants, "wiring" the cat so it wouldn't get hungry, and then testing it an an uncontrolled environment with civilians present!? No way.
Now if it were an ATF project, and they ran over it themselves? That I'd believe
Now if it were an ATF project, and they ran over it themselves? That I'd believe
The Bat-Bomb & Pigeon missile-guidance system I've heard of, but the Anti-Tank Dog & Cyborg Cat seem a little far fetched to me (no pun meant).
Considering how much was spent on psychic powers, I'm not surprised.
| QUOTE (LilithTaveril) |
| Considering how much was spent on psychic powers, I'm not surprised. |
Sometimes you just have to up and spend some money. I mean, I'm sure less could have been spent, but the potential is sufficiently vast to make it worth throwing some money at demonstrating that there's nothing going on there.
~J
And, sometimes, you have excess budget leftover that you have to spend, so you decide to spend it on something totally stupid.
My high school got a mural of a dart board that way.
My high school got a mural of a dart board that way.
Hey, if students have guns you may as well give them targets.
It was in the teacher's lounge. They used to put up pictures of the principal or other administrators they hated and shoot them with dart guns. Occasionally, students would be "accidentally" allowed to get ahold of keys.
Someone needs to tell Phil Phoglio. Scientifically enhanced cats designed for espionage happens to be a minor plot point out of his steampunk comic, Girl Genius.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
| The Bat-Bomb http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb |
Wow. High-tech Genghis Khan solution. He attached burning wicks to the tails of cats and pigeons, then let them run into the city, where they naturally went to their nests (because they were stressed). Burned down half a city that way.
| QUOTE (BookWyrm) |
| The Bat-Bomb & Pigeon missile-guidance system I've heard of, but the Anti-Tank Dog & Cyborg Cat seem a little far fetched to me (no pun meant). |
I've heard of the anti-tank dog before and it seems plausible enough. Train the dogs to run toward tanks ("you'll find food under the tanks, boys! good boys, go find your food!"), then deploy them with bombs on their back.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_Dogs#Anti-Tank_Dogs
It doesn't seem to have worked well.
Well, it sort of worked -- the dogs blew up tanks, yessirree. IIRC, they were just blowing up the wrong ones (and that may very well be what the wiki says, but for some reason my work PC won't let me open wiki pages).
They blew up a lot of the right ones, too, but they were blowing up the wrong ones at too great a rate to continue the program.
~J
~J
I heard that the military was training dolphins to detect/disarm? sea-mines.
funny, wired cats aren't the first thing that comes to mind when i hear the phrase "accoustic kitty". first thing that occurs to me involves hotdogs and hallways...
my drone rigger uses a version of the kitty-cat drones from SSG as spies. they lack the robot brain, retaining only a few basic "act like a cat" behaviors; in exchange, they've got remote control adaption, the ability to deliver a 10S shock when they arch their backs and hiss, and hidden speakers for scaring the bejesus out of the squares.
my drone rigger uses a version of the kitty-cat drones from SSG as spies. they lack the robot brain, retaining only a few basic "act like a cat" behaviors; in exchange, they've got remote control adaption, the ability to deliver a 10S shock when they arch their backs and hiss, and hidden speakers for scaring the bejesus out of the squares.
| QUOTE (LilithTaveril) |
| And, sometimes, you have excess budget leftover that you have to spend, so you decide to spend it on something totally stupid. |
Yeah, if you don't spend your budget you'll get less next year.
Pretty much every "shooting camp" I ever went to in the army, before we went home we loaded up all the remaining ammo in belts and ran it through the LMGs. Once when everything was all rain and mud the LMGs pretty much gave up and jammed at every shot. Fortunately I was inside cleaning gear, but the ones out in the terrain had to lie there in the rain and reload for each shot. Took them forever to get through the ammo, they were pretty pissed when they got back. Complete waste of money and time.
What? Cats can talk. Haven't you seen Sabrina, the Teenage Witch?
| QUOTE (SL James) |
| What? Cats can talk. Haven't you seen Sabrina, the Teenage Witch? |
Why do cats need to talk when "meow" says it all?
"Meow" doesn't say it all. Clawing the face of their human says it all.
So is leaving 'surprises' outside of the litter box.
Now you're thinking of drop bears again.
| QUOTE (Chrome Shadow) |
| I heard that the military was training dolphins to detect/disarm? sea-mines. |
Some were being trained for anti-personel work. There was some uproar about it because several of these dolphins escape into the wild during Hurricane Katrina. The dolphins were equiped with a harness that contained a dart gun. They were being trained to shoot tranquilizer darts at enemy divers. The concern was that some of these dolphins could still be armed and the knockout darts could cause some people to drown.
Wow, hyz. Perpetuate the myths much?
That's a lie, it was a complete and total falsehood. The navy dolphin program was never intended for antipersonelle - how can a dolphin tell the difference between a frogman with a bomb, and a scuba diver investigating a wreck? How can it tell the difference between insurgents in the water and swimmers?
It can't. Hell, it's not that easy for trained divers to tell. So no, they never did something like that, and they certainly didn't have salt-water dolphins in freshwater lake Pontachtrain, or however the hell it's spelled.
The only dolphins that got free were from an oceanographic institute, and they were quickly rounded up because they wanted to go back.
That's a lie, it was a complete and total falsehood. The navy dolphin program was never intended for antipersonelle - how can a dolphin tell the difference between a frogman with a bomb, and a scuba diver investigating a wreck? How can it tell the difference between insurgents in the water and swimmers?
It can't. Hell, it's not that easy for trained divers to tell. So no, they never did something like that, and they certainly didn't have salt-water dolphins in freshwater lake Pontachtrain, or however the hell it's spelled.
The only dolphins that got free were from an oceanographic institute, and they were quickly rounded up because they wanted to go back.
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) |
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?show...92;.co\.uk |
| QUOTE |
| From time to time, stories have surfaced in the media claiming that military dolphins trained for attack missions, or even equipped with weaponry, have escaped and pose a danger to the public, but the Navy has stated that its dolphins have never been trained for any kind of attack mission against ships or people. During Hurricane Katrina in 2005, there were media reports that some of the Navy's dolphins, equipped with poison dart guns and trained to attack hostile swimmers in the water, escaped when their containment area in Lake Pontchartrain was breached, posing a threat to swimmers.[9] However, the Navy reported that all of its dolphins were accounted for, and that its only dolphin training centre is in San Diego, far from the area affected by Katrina. During the hurricane, some dolphins did escape from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Mississippi, and were subsequently recaptured. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Navy_Mar..._Mammal_Program
Your one source dosen't stack up against Wikipedia. Try again. Not like it would be the first time a 'real' news agency got all hyped and misreported something, especially in the aftermath of Katrina.
Dig up some corrorberating evidence, pal. Such as news stories where the bodies of divers or swimmers shot by poisoned darts released by wayard dolphins washed ashore, perhaps?
| QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685) | ||||
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Navy_Mar..._Mammal_Program Your one source dosen't stack up against Wikipedia. Try again. Not like it would be the first time a 'real' news agency got all hyped and misreported something, especially in the aftermath of Katrina. Dig up some corrorberating evidence, pal. Such as news stories where the bodies of divers or swimmers shot by poisoned darts released by wayard dolphins washed ashore, perhaps? |
Yes, but notice that my one source is you.
| QUOTE (ShadowDragon8685) |
| Your one source dosen't stack up against Wikipedia. |
*Kaspluttercoughchoke*
See that little "edit" button? That's why Wikipedia, as useful as it can be, doesn't "stack up" against anything more than the contents of the supermarket checkout line.
~J
| QUOTE (Kagetenshi) | ||
*Kaspluttercoughchoke* See that little "edit" button? That's why Wikipedia, as useful as it can be, doesn't "stack up" against anything more than the contents of the supermarket checkout line. |
Bah. The intarwebs are teh win!!
| QUOTE (hyzmarca) | ||
Yes, but notice that my one source is you. |
hahaha
that is hilarious.
I heard that story, but it was sharks with lasers on their heads.
CIA project and other such stories. Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag on animal projects these days. I'm reminded of the animals in Starcraft that if you click on so many times, they would explode. Made things interesting in multiplayer games sometimes, with animals blowing up everywhere.
I'm reminded of the animals in Starcraft that if you click on so many times, they would explode. Made things interesting in multiplayer games sometimes, with animals blowing up everywhere.
@Dog: Frickin' lasers!
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