h a l f b a k e r yMay contain nuts.
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A boar spear is a somewhat specialized variant of an ordinary
spear (wood shaft and steel point). See the link. In the woods,
should a boar charge at you, you could place but butt-end of a
spear into the dirt, and lower the spear to a quite-shallow
angle,
and let the boar impale himself upon
it.
The problem with an ordinary spear is that the boar is a quite-
massive animal, and can often traverse the full length of the
spear and reach you with his tusks, despite being mortally
wounded. That's not so good for you. A boar spear has a
special
cross-piece to prevent the boar from traversing the length of
the
spear-shaft.
Since a spear is mostly equivalent to a spear in other
circumstances, it would be easy to imagine throwing a boar
spear
at an enemy. But the weapon is rather outdated in today's
world,
full of guns as it is. So, let's update the weapon!
Adding a few steel rings at various points along the shaft would
let
us use an electromagnetic launching system for a boar spear; it
could probably be made to travel for a mile, or even a couple of
kilometers. As mentioned in the subtitle, the explosive
acceleration of bullet-propellants would likely be too damaging
to
the spear, so a slower but longer-lasting acceleration can be
used
instead. This may also increase the chance that the spear can
be
re-used (especially if it hits a soft-ish target, like the body of
an
enemy). We could even add a twist to the cross-piece, making
it
a bit propeller-shaped, to encourage the spear to spin in flight.
Now let's truly Half-Bake this, and imagine a large array of
electromagnetic boar-spear launchers. In the old days large
groups of archers
would loose "flocks" of arrows; here we want to launch large
numbers of boar spears at once. Any enemy in the area where
the
spears arrive will be less able to dodge getting hit.
Sun Tzu wrote a significant amount about how psychology can
be
used to influence warfare. This Idea was inspired by something
stated by a recent terrorist in France, "We want to die like
martyrs." Well, suppose we made every effort to ensure they
died
like pigs, instead? That might take some of the zest out of the
desires of others to be terrorists!
Some boar spears
https://www.google....&sqi=2&ved=0CCoQsAQ As mentioned in the main text. [Vernon, Jan 10 2015]
An old old variation on this Idea
http://www.nukees.com/d/20020614.html I often think of notions independently of others. Recently I started reading my way through a webcomic's archives, and lo and behold, here is something very similar to my Idea here, only posted more than a decade earlier. Wow! [Vernon, May 16 2018]
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Annotation:
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//increase the chance that the spear can be re-used// by your opponent. |
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Might it not be simpler to use the old-fashioned
spear-in-the-ground technique, and simply launch the
enemy at it? Most soldiers will have a fair amount of
ferromagnetic metal on their persons, so they should
be accelerable. |
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Electromagnetically Launched Britney Spears |
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might allow a new bed of sniper for spearfishing with sonar. |
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How about reactive boar spears, to mostly . . .err. . .disrupt (yes, that's the word) the boar before it contacts the spear? |
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laser spear: by the time the boar gets to you it's bacon. |
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I suppose that if there is such a thing as
Electromagnetically Launched Boars, then always having a
suitable spear nearby to deal with the menace would only
be prudent. |
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If you ran Brian Cox along a maglev track, he would be an Electromagnetically Launched Bore, shirley ? |
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Erm, I think boars are dangerous enough without giving
them spears. |
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{wanders away singing "I talk the trees...." that's why they
put me away....} |
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I suspect his lordship would agree that spears are only sporting when used from horseback in the veldt. |
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Thank goodness this is not the invention of
Electromagnetically Launched Bear Spores. |
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Yes, you'd have ursines springing up like mushrooms ... |
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Electromagnetically Launched Spare Beers, a sort of ultra-fast ballistic beverage delivery, would be well worthy of many croissants. |
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