h a l f b a k e r yMake mine a double.
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Ceremonial burial of the dead is one of the oldest features
of humanity. In fact, it likely pre-dates the emergence of
modern humans and was certainly performed by
Neanderthals. Possibly the central concept connecting
burial through the ages is that of peace or rest. If one
extrapolates from
the fact that the sleeping enjoy
undisturbed rest, then dead uncle Ug might prefer it if a
Hyena doesn't run off with his femur.
Through human history the basic concept of burial has
developed to remarkable levels of sophistication. For
millennia the tallest, probably largest and most
sophisticated human structure was the Great Pyramid.
Ultimately, this is nothing but a great big artificial hill
designed to give Khufu (assumed deceased) & his shinier
belongings some long term peace & quiet.
To achieve this, the great pyramid, and other ancient
tombs employed a variety of tactics. The great pyramid has
real entrances, false entrances - all hidden, many passages
& chambers. It was also sealed up with several
sophisticated sliding blocks. On top of it all, it was
generally made of massive blocks of stone which are
difficult to move in general, and impossible to move
stealthily. All that and it still didn't work*. What we need is
some new thinking.
The M18 Claymore mine <link> is a simple device. It's
essentially a tough back plate, a layer of plastic explosive
then a layer of encased ball bearings. The whole thing is
constructed as to form a shaped-charge, when triggered,
the explosive drives the ball bearings forwards in a ~60
degree arc. It's in that 60 degree arc that you do not want
to be standing. For this reason, and because simplicity is
always best when dealing with grunts, the mine is clearly
marked with the text "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY". It's this I'll
be copying for the Anti-Tamper Coffin.
So, we have a shaped, sturdy steel bottom to the coffin,
either stainless, or treated to prevent corrosion. On top of
this is our high explosive layer. Then, we lay to rest the
honored individual who will be carefully prepared with
great dignity by a trained undertaker/munitions expert.
This preparation will involve one last posthumous meal, of
1/8"** steel balls. An infusion of preserving fluid, complete
with 1/8" steel balls. A last breath, of 1/8" steel balls,
before being dressed in their finest clothes with a full
complement of 1/8" steel balls sewn strategically wherever
they fit. Once laid on the explosive coated back plate, the
sides & ends are added. Then any remaining volume is
filled with epoxy resin and a few 1000 extra 1/8" steel
balls. The lid is added onto the wet resin ensuring that
once cured, the coffin will constitute a bonded & sturdy
coffin.
For the burial, the departed will be lowered carefully***
into the bottom of the grave before the device is armed
and a series of pressure triggers connected. The hole is
filled, and appropriate warnings posted on the grave.
Now, if anyone is unwise enough to attempt disturbance of
the departed, they will dig down. As they uncover the
coffin, pressure release switches will activate a simple
mechanical delay. This will leave enough time for the
robber to read the iconic "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY" on the
coffin lid before they are ejected from the grave as a fine
red mist. The tagline will be drawn from none other than
Churchill: "You can always take one with you" <link>.
*possibly, we have some empty chambers and an empty
sarcophagus that looks very much pre-robbed. Is that real?
or a decoy? Multiple reports suggest additional hidden
chambers, but they're just weight-relieving chambers...
maybe.
**3.175mm balls are available with a small surcharge for
European customers.
***and possibly hydraulically, given the mass of 1/8" steel
balls we added.
M18 Claymore
https://en.wikipedi...i/M18_Claymore_mine
[bs0u0155, Mar 16 2021]
You can always take one with you
https://winstonchur...ith%20you.%E2%80%9D
[bs0u0155, Mar 16 2021]
Mine Effects
https://www.gichd.o..._study_chapter5.pdf
[bs0u0155, Mar 22 2021]
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Annotation:
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Finally, a burial regimen fit for a borg. |
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Have you considered the possibilities inherent in reusing an abandoned mineshaft?
At the very least, rifling. |
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If you wanted to have capacity for the entire family, this would be the way to go.
In operation Plumbbob, an underground nuclear test, the shaft was sealed with a 900-
kilogram (2,000 lb) steel plate cap. In the explosion, this was observed in a single
frame of a high-speed (frame per millisecond) camera, indicating that it achieved
escape velocity.
I think 8th of 7 would have liked that, because then his final resting place could be the
sky. |
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8th is still alive! He hacked into bs0's account! [+] |
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But seriously, I too vow to do my best to suggest more fun
explosivy things in 8th's honor. |
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Problem with this is that it is single use. |
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More sustainable long-term to have an automated turret-mounted machine gun on the top. Then it can continue to snipe at passers by for quite a while. |
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Well if maximizing death is your goal you could instead be buried in prions. |
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Do they kill much? Remember when we were all going to get CJD from British beef, then not much happened? If you had a load of prions buried underground, various forms of microbiology would literally have a feast and you'd have no prions left. |
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Would the metabolising of each prion by a slightly more
complex entity count as a death? |
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Only if you think prions are alive, which they aren't. |
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I can see this would be good for {8th of 7] but personally I would like this idea reversed. A way of making a cone of fertilizer out of my left body when someone has the emotional energy to dance on the grave*. Correct explosive included. |
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*a grave, so common place. Have to rethink. |
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That's fine - in which case, we just need to identify the smallest,
simplest life form which we will allow as being alive and
susceptible to death, and then use a vast number of those for
our funerary hecatomb. |
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//cone of fertilizer out of my left body// |
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"Fertilizer" and "bomb" are, to an extent, synonyms. An awful lot of explosives contain oxidized nitrogen, nitrates of some form. Adding a human simply helps. Plants are typically limited by NPK, that is nitrogen (in oxidized form, preferably) phosphorus and potassium. The human body is a perfectly serviceable source of the phosphorous and potassium. It all works out very nicely. |
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Oh look.... clear away some more dirt. I think I can
see a number and some letters 8....t....h |
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Might I suggest something other than steel? |
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Otherwise, your fantastic explosion might end up being a
gigantic puffball of ferrous oxide, after no more than a few
years. |
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//something other than steel?// |
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For the balls? It's interesting they use steel rather than lead.
My guess would be because high explosives detonate and
expand at MUCH higher velocities, 8500 m/s for the RDX in
C4. Lead in a bullet is pushed by a relatively gentle ~1500
m/s. My guess is that lead would deform. Plus, the whole
Claymore is sealed/potted in some plastic compound, I'm
not sure exactly what, but epoxy resin is a good bet. That's
why I went for an epoxy fill for the coffin, everything will be
sealed as a big, oxygen/water proof plastic block,
essentially corrosion proof just like the Claymore. |
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why not copper for a million little shaped charges? |
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//why not copper for a million little shaped charges?// |
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In the absence of a proper explosives
expert/enthusiast/obsessive, I did a little reading on
shaped charges. The Claymore Coffin is a shaped charge,
it has a specific shape and is directional. But, what it
isn't, or doesn't feature, is an explosively-formed
penetrator. Those are often copper and what I think
you're getting at. It's difficult to get that to work in a
coffin shaped form factor. To form a penetrator, you need
the sort of dual cone arrangement with a void, with the
explosive formed around/behind it. I'm not sure you could
miniaturize and multiplex a lot of those to work well in
parallel without interfering with each other. There are
double shaped charges in Hellfire missiles, but it seems
getting just two to work together was quite tricky. |
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Well, if it's any comfort, you can turn a gently dished copper
sheet into an explosively formed penetrator. With a little bit
of care, one could convert a coffin lid into a MEFP. |
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//With a little bit of care, one could convert a coffin lid
into a MEFP.// |
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That's all well and good, but you need MEFP as a specific
attack against armor. How many tanks are expected to go
grave robbing? |
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Anyhow, in terms of anti-vehicle effectiveness, I think
we're covered. Here's my thinking: a standard anti-tank
mine, something like a Soviet TM-46 has 6.3 kg of TNT
inside as the main charge. Let's say that is satisfactory for
mid 20th century purposes. How does the Anti-Tamper
Coffin compare? Well, I consider it essentially scaled up
regular Claymore. These are 8" x 3", with 1.5lb of C4. So,
we scale that to 80" x 30" we will have 150lb of C4 which
is 1.4 x as powerful as TNT. So compared to that anti tank
mine the Anti-Tamper Coffin is 95 FOLD more powerful.
Now, I know things have moved on in terms of tank armor,
but have they moved on 95 fold? |
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OTOH, the energy of the proposed device is shared out between
thousands of very small steel balls which, between them, might
leave the tank's bottom impressively dimpled rather than
actually destroyed. I'll grant you the tracks and wheels will
probably need replacing. |
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When my grandmother's grave was dug next to my
grandfather, his coffin was disturbed enough to open
and his skeleton partially fell out and had to be
pushed back in. A bit disturbing to my father to see
his dad's skull to say the least. |
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I'd have hated to have the cemetery plot blow up in
the process. |
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//the energy of the proposed device is shared out
between thousands of very small steel balls which,
between them, might leave the tank's bottom
impressively dimpled rather than actually destroyed.// |
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The balls won't really influence the explosion with
reference to an armored target. Having read through a
few things like <link> it seems that a few things are in
play. If we want to form a armor-penetrating slug, it can
be done, a dished plate in the middle might be the way to
go, but buried mines often feature a smaller charge on
top to move the soil out of the way. If we don't bother
with explosively formed penetrators, I think we will still
get a very good probability of a mobility kill simply as a
function of the amount of explosive. Similarly, an
armored hull might survive, but 150lb C4 will accelerate
the hull upward and likely bulge the lower surface. This
leads to damage to anything not firmly anchored, e.g.
engine mounts, humans. |
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If the body has to make it back into the full cycle for the egress of the mind's ineffable parts, a coffin would be purgatory. O, like anything involving fire, ashing would be nature cut short. |
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But then again, time scale probably won't count. |
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If the body has to make it back into the full cycle for the egress of the mind's ineffable parts, a coffin would be purgatory. On the other hand, like anything involving fire, ashing would be nature cut short. |
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But then again, time scale probably won't count. Well, I hope not. |
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