Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Venus Cat Trap

Get rid of those pesky pets with no effort.
  (+14, -10)
(+14, -10)
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It's about time those clever GM guys stopped messing about with Soya and did some real good. What we mean is weaponized vegetables. Like the Venus Cat Trap, or in its larger incarnation, the Venus Kid Trap. The Claymore Sunflower (fires hundreds of hard little seeds). The Carrot Mine, or the anti-tank turnip. Explosive lawn moss. Nuclear mushrooms - they do exactly what it says on the tin .....

The possibilities are endless !

8th of 7, Jun 11 2002

Little Shop of Horrors... http://www.ram.org/...hop_of_horrors.html
notice the review, "Like a Harlan Ellison creation..." [runforrestrun, Jun 11 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

The M-18A1 Claymore Antipersonnel Mine http://www.diddybop...on.co.uk/them11.htm
What'er the Brits doing with it?!?! [phoenix, Jun 11 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham http://www.amazon.c...103-4679854-4645429
Now available in e-book format. [DrBob, Jun 14 2002, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Clay Kitten Shooting http://www.richsalter.btinternet.co.uk/
[Macromedia Flash Req'd] [bristolz, Oct 21 2004]

Illustration of the idea http://forums.azbil...?attachmentid=44636
Here's what it might look like in practice. [Wrongfellow, May 02 2010]

The Reluctant Orchid http://www.kovarstv...l/files/orchid.html
This sounds a bit like the story [DesertFox] is thinking of [Wrongfellow, May 02 2010]


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Annotation:







       The difference between genius and stupidity is, genius has its limits.   

       ¯8th of 7: nothing personal. I'd give you a croissant just because a gm vegetable that eats cats sounds better than what I had for breakfast.
reensure, Jun 11 2002
  

       Baked. "Little Shop of Horrors". GM. Magic. WIBNI. Common theme in sci-fi.
runforrestrun, Jun 11 2002
  

       A Claymore is a sword. I don't know about yuo, 8th of 7, but i've never seen a sword shoot out a barrage of projectiles, have you?   

       Welcome to the 'bakery, 8th-dave.
[ sctld ], Jun 11 2002
  

       Ok, Ok, weaponised plants (and fungi). We stand corrected, blissmiss. Sorry.   

       And Audrey Two ate mostly adults, not children. We know all about Little Shop Of Horrors...... No, seriously, surely there's someone out there who can breed us a Triffid to keep the kids off our front yard ?
8th of 7, Jun 11 2002
  

       minor clarification: claymore mines are an ordnance device consisting of a boxy-conical enclosure, partially filled with shrapnel, and containing explosives. Normally electrically initiated, the claymore is placed so the open side of the boxy-conical enclosure is facing the direction from which foot soldiers of the enemy are expected to approach. Further description of the lethality of such a device, including not only the percussive force of the explosion itself, but also the shotgun-like effect of the shrapnel, is best left to the imagination.
quarterbaker, Jun 11 2002
  

       Ah, so its the namer of the mines thats wrong. Call the manufacturer, come on...
[ sctld ], Jun 11 2002
  

       Congratulations, Quarterbaker, on a concise and accurate technical description of a pad mine in action. Having observed the behaviour of such devices at close quarters (mercifully, only as a test) we can testify to their effectiveness.   

       Our opinion on the Invisible fence paradox is that it is quite possible to have an invisible fence with added visible signs. The fence itself would still be invisible, but its location would be discernable by the signs - which technically are an add-on option and not an intrinsic part of the fence.   

       Visible or invisible, if it keeps kids out, we'll buy one.
8th of 7, Jun 11 2002
  

       blissmiss, how long have the little flags been up? My understanding is that you're supposed to put up something visible for a while to help train the pet as to where the boundaries are. After a while, I think you're supposed to remove the flags.
beauxeault, Jun 11 2002
  

       //And Audrey Two ate mostly adults, not children. //   

       That's only b/c Seymour didn't think to bring a troop of Brownies over to see the plant.... shame....   

       //I know all about Little Shop Of Horrors - I stage managed a production once//   

       and I've starred in a couple of productions of this...where did you say you were from?
runforrestrun, Jun 11 2002
  

       [bliss] How is the invisible fence supposed to keep kids out? Invisible fence works by setting up an electrical field that is detected by a collar worn by the pet that is to be constrained within the "fence". When the pet gets close to the boundry, the collar gives fido a jolt to the neck.   

       Unless someone went around and collared all the kids in the neighborhood I don't think this will have any effect on them.
mwburden, Jun 11 2002
  

       I agree with [runforrestrun] -- only opportunity limited Twoey's diet to adults. If the doomed Mr. Mushnik knew of her dietary needs, things may have turned out differently for him...   

       (Definitely wasn't the nicest way to leave the stage, either... I got stuck between the legs of the puppeteer one night, and needed stage hands to pull me the rest of the way out. To the audience it likely just looked like an extra-gory death spasm, luckily.)
MrWrong, Jun 11 2002
  

       Would it be able to get rid of all those horrible breeds of dogs smaller that a labrador.
English Pete, Jun 11 2002
  

       //Would it be able to get rid of all those horrible breeds of dogs smaller that a labrador.//   

       Watch it Pete, them's fighting words....
runforrestrun, Jun 11 2002
  

       Boned for yet another magic answer to a question nobody asked.
StarChaser, Jun 12 2002
  

       Little Shop of Horrors RULES. As for the "invisible fence" signs, I think they're designed to let people know that the dog isn't really running around unrestrained. Finally, claymores are those things that say "FRONT TOWARD ENEMY", right? As though anyone who couldn't figure that out would bother to read.
supercat, Jun 12 2002
  

       ah...an editor. Just what we need, another pedant with a red pen...at least this one *has* credentials <grin>
runforrestrun, Jun 12 2002
  

       Awk .......   

       Runforrestrun: We throughly approve of the troop of brownies idea. Indeed, herding small children in at random would be entirely satisfactory. And we were sorry to see the demise of Orin Scrivello; he was such a wonderful character. We always wondered what he and Audrey got up to with those handcuffs ... :-)   

       MWburden: Electric shock collars on children. "Oh Lawdy Lawdy, ah have died and gone to heaven ..."   

       MrWrong: Yes, we don't think Audrey II was very discriminating diet-wise.   

       English Pete: Come over here and say that to our Shih Tzu. He'll lick your toes off .....   

       Supercat: Sorry to disappoint you but knowledge of reading and writing (especially joined up writing) is a bit beyond most line infantry ... particularly the officers.   

       Whew !
8th of 7, Jun 12 2002
  

       Blissmiss: What's wrong with Eighth of Seven ? Just call me Eighth, all my friends do ....   

       "Resistance is Futile. You will be Assimilated."   

       (Yes, another sad Trekkie)
8th of 7, Jun 12 2002
  

       Yes, fine - binary is cool. When you get to know us better you can call us by our first nibble.   

       But don't try to Hex us...
8th of 7, Jun 13 2002
  

       Ah another trekkie. Great series, particularly the episodes This Side of Paradise (spore firing flowers) and The Way to Eden (acid grass).
DrBob, Jun 13 2002
  

       Were those from the original series?   

       MM... those were great, those and Next Generation. The other ones went downhill.   

       As for this plant, I like the idea! Triffids too! (by the way, if you could tell me the title of the book, that would be great! I forgot what it was...)
Crazy Bastard, Jun 13 2002
  

       Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham
yamahito, Jun 14 2002
  

       CrazyB, yes. Original series.

And just to add to yama's info. Day of the Triffids can now be downloaded from Amazon at a gratifyingly low price (see link).
DrBob, Jun 14 2002
  

       UnaBubba: We love cats too. Let's swap recipies.   

       Congratulations on your Scots Gaelic. It means "great sword" and was usually carried by a swordbearer who attended the king or clan chief in case he wanted to dispense honours or summary justice. (c.f. Macbeth). Being a swordbearer was and remains a great honour.   

       The word was of course Anglicsed so that it could be spoken in the civilised lands to the South without everyone having to go for tongue-knotting lessons and carrying a little bag of gravel with them.
8th of 7, Jun 14 2002
  

       "Stepping into Eden.... yea, brother..."   

       Boned for anti-feline sentiments.
waugsqueke, Jun 14 2002
  

       [English Pete] no need for the plants, [Unabubba] will do the trick!
stilgar, May 15 2004
  

       Hahaha, killer vegetables, +
MikeOxbig, Feb 21 2006
  

       Read a short story once about a guy who experimented with plants, mutating a venus flytrap until it grew to huge size, eating 10 lbs of steak a day; he also had a horrible old woman living in his house, it was his mother. He tried to kill her by tripping her into the plant, but it was too scared of her to eat her. Horrible woman.
DesertFox, Feb 22 2006
  

       [Wrongfellow], have an honourary gold-plated bun for that illustration.   

       Yay, new wallpaper !
8th of 7, May 02 2010
  


 

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