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"In WWII, they had a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. I think the modern equivalent of that is that there are no jaded, bored people in the high-tech industry, in the land of really good hardcore geeks."
- Neal Stephenson
 |
| Talking Bomb | ||
| A psychological warfare weapon that talks to the enemy. |
In his 1959 novel Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein refers to talking bombs that speak an alien language (to creatures called "skinny's").
| This was a special bomb, one issued to each of us for this mission with instructions to use them if we found ways to make them effective. The squawking I heard as I threw it was the bomb shouting in skinny talk (free translation): "I'm a thirty second bomb! I'm a thirty second bomb! Twenty-nine! Twenty-eight! Twenty-seven!..." |
| Technovelgy from Starship Troopers,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons in 1959 Additional resources -
|
The closest thing to a talking grenade is the flashbang grenade, created for Britain's Special Air Service for use in anti-terrorist actions. Flashbangs emit a piercing 175 decibel sound along with an actinic flash that blinds victims for about five seconds. Flashbangs were developed in the mid-1970's.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Starship Troopers
More Ideas
and Technology by Robert Heinlein
Tech news articles related to Starship Troopers
Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein
Talking Bomb-related
news articles:
- Sonic Grenade Homebrew
| China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun |
| Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade? |
| Man Builds 200 Foot Basement Firing Range |
| Russians Create Robot Tank Platoons |
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'...each of them is a neural mapping of the mind of a Tibetan monk who actually lived.'
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.'
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...'
'He wore spectacles with thick wavy lenses. The spectacles were intended to make him not only half blind, but to give him whanging headaches besides.'
