Science Friction

News to me: U.S. tax dollars spent on foreign psychological warfare is increasingly finding its way into U.S. media. Whoops!

"...information intended for foreign audiences, including public diplomacy and PSYOP (psychological operations) increasingly is consumed by our domestic audience, and vice-versa..."

"PSYOP messages disseminated to any audience except individual decision-makers — and perhaps even then — will often be replayed by the news media for much larger audiences, including the American public."

Science Fact

This article on new technology being deployed in Iraq -- Pain Ray, Sonic Blaster, Laser Dazzler - All in On reminded me of those Godzilla movies from back-in-the-day.

Thing is, instead of blasting gigantic reptiles with lasers, the military's Active Denial System (mounted on the vehicle pictured above) repels large crowds of people by microwaving them:

Traveling at the speed of light, the energy reaches the subject and penetrates less than 1/64 of an inch into the skin, quickly heating up the skin's surface. The 95-GHz energy penetrates 1/64 inch into the skin and produces an intense burning sensation that stops when the transmitter is switched off or when the individual moves out of the beam. Within seconds, an individual feels an intense heating sensation...

Yowsa! Set your phasers for stun, Scotty!

And...um....this is totally real, kids! The Air Force Research Laboratory is working on projects like this and others, including force field technology.

So...we have wire taps, psychological warfare "accidentally" informing the American public, microwave crowd zappers and...um...I'm supposed to feel safe?

Gimme a fire-breathing lizard any day.