Link.

Upshot: A project for non-lethal force is getting criticized. The Pulsed Energy Projectile (PEP) system creates a microscopic burst of plasma on contact with skin, which results in incapacitating levels of pain without permanent injury. Critics claim this could be used for torture (it could, yes) and doubt that there is an ethical basis for continued study. Andrew Rice, a consultant in pain medicine at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London, said: “Even if the use of temporary severe pain can be justified as a restraining measure, which I do not believe it can, the long-term physical and psychological effects are unknown.”

My take: Okay, fine. It’s unethical to study how to hurt people without killing them. I guess we’ll just resort to doing things the old fashioned way, and KILLING THEM.

The project, which I read about over a year ago, is to create a weapon that can be deployed on a battlefield, and that will induce excruciating pain in anyone who insists on remaining in the line of fire. Need to clear a street? Sweep the street with this, and it’s clear. Obviously the technology could be abused or misused, just like rubber bullets, tear gas, and that foam stuff they’ve been playing with. Let’s face it, though… there are only three alternatives to providing soldiers with non-lethal force:

1. Provide them with lethal force, and let them go “weapons free.” The body count will be pretty high, and collateral damage unconscionably so.
2. Provide them with lethal force, and then saddle them with very restrictive “rules of engagement.” We do this today. Collateral damage is still high, and our soldiers still let themselves get killed by enemy units masquerading as non-combatants. Anybody who thinks this is the best way to do it, raise your hand (just don’t have a gun in it… rules of engagement being what they are, you’re now a hostile target.)
3. Don’t deploy soldiers at all. War is bad, killing is worse, and it’s all just a Big Lie anyway. Give Peace A Chance.

For obvious reasons, #3 isn’t being seriously considered by anybody in power today (and not just in the US). Some NOT in power shout about it a lot, but the moment they take office, they’ll resort to violence the moment the worm turns.

That leaves us with options #1 and #2. Neither of these are attractive. Barring a sociological solution to organized violence (and that’s what #3 really seeks), we need a technological solution we can live with. The PEP is one such solution. Let the research continue. Soldiers or regimes who choose to use the technology as a torture device will be dealt with the way we deal with torturers today — courts martial, and that nice prison in The Hague. Besides, the research has gone far enough already that industrialized nations seeking to exploit the research for their private torture chambers know enough to do it. The cat, as they say, is already out of the bag. Let’s go ahead and find out if it’s rabid by TESTING it, not by waiting to see who it bites.

–Howard

Open Letter, March 1st, 2005

Yes, yes, I know. There is a competition running now in which a few webtoonists plunk down $20 each, and the last one to NOT miss an update (Mon-Fri only) takes the pot.

Yes, yes, I know. The pot stands at $640 as of this writing*, and that’s almost two months of groceries for my family.

Yes, yes, I know. It sounds like easy money for me, since I haven’t missed an update in 58 months. It would also be easy money for Bill Holbrook, Jeff Darlington, and Chris Crosby (among others). This is why, to my knowledge, those of us who do NOT have problems updating on a daily basis aren’t planning to participate. Can you imagine how tedious and non-eventful it would be if (for instance) Bill Holbrook and Jeff Darlington were playing? Those two would just keep plugging away at their strips for years while the money gathered dust. And for what? Bragging rights? They already HAVE bragging rights.

I’m not belittling the event, mind you. A little “money-where-your-mouth-is” may be just what folks like my buddy Scott need to firm up their schedules. If it works out that way, hey, we ALL win.

As for me, I feel no need to put any more money where my mouth is — I told you people four years ago that you’ll be getting fresh Schlock Mercenary right here, every day, forever (or until I die.) If I should fail to deliver that, well, my word means a lot more to me than a twenty-smacker entrance fee would.

In ironically related news, the buffer has dropped to its lowest in over a year… FOUR. Yes, I know. That’s four more than most webcartoonists have in the can. It’s also about fourteen LESS than I’m remotely comfortable with. I wouldn’t have let it drop this far, but I had to put food on the table with a commercial project whose deadline got nudged forward a bit. Well, I completed said project Monday morning.

By Saturday of this week I hope to at least triple the current buffer. But I’m not asking anyone to place bets.

I saw Elektra today, courtesy of some movie passes from The Original Schlocker (he was the first one to pay me for original Schlock artwork back in 2000, so he gets the title). The movie was okay. The best part of the film was the tatooed guy. But the best part of going to see the movie was the “Esuvee” spot.

This quicktime version doesn’t do the 60-second cinema version justice.

We could argue all day over whether or not this is an appropriate use of the 27 million dollar settlement from Ford Motor Company. Me, I think it’s just cool to watch. And I’ll keep driving my Beetle, thank you.

–Howard

There are a couple of billboards along Interstate 15 in Orem that drive me nuts. Most billboards are simply eyesores or distractions. These, however, are insulting.

The newer one of the two is from Qwest, the telecom most folks are stuck with. It talks about DSL, and other internet-ish stuff, and says “shop for services from the neighbor you already know.”

Okay, first of all, you’re not my neighbor no matter how you stretch the word.

Secondly, I don’t think of my neighbors as sources for these “services.” Not even the neighbors I already know.

This billboard makes me happy that my internet connection is provided by Comcast. At least they don’t pretend that they live next door and want to borrow sugar.

The second one REALLY bugs me. It’s got a picture of Heather Beers, the actress in the popular LDS movie-from-a-book “Charly,” holding a couple of wedding-related items. It’s an ad for a bridal shop, or maybe shoppe. I’m not sure.

This is a really pretty picture of Heather. It’s the same EXACT pose — same photograph — used on a much nicer billboard that has since been replaced. See, I think she only agreed to provide them with a single photograph, and they re-used the photograph and changed the props she was holding. The result is that you have this very attractive person standing very naturally, holding things that would not be naturally held in this pose.

But that’s not the part that really bugs me. The part that bugs me is the tagline… “Icing on the cake, and everything in between.”

There are two ways to interpret this: First, Icing is only ONE ITEM ON THE LIST for brides-to-be, so there can’t be anything “between” it and the missing next item.
The other interpretation is that both icing and cake are mentioned… but the way they’re listed, they’re ADJACENT. The icing, as they’ve said themselves, is ON THE CAKE. THERE IS NOTHING BETWEEN THE ICING AND THE CAKE, UNLESS YOU ARE TRYING TO POISON THE GUESTS.

Oh I know what they’re TRYING to say. “We have lots of stuff that you wouldn’t think of buying at a bridal shop/shoppe/minimart.” This got said much better in an ad I saw for a bridal show — “everything but the groom.” Were I a potential groom, that would actually turn me on a little bit, and maybe, in some alternate universe where I’m single, desperate, and yet very confident, I’d go to the bridal show and try to pick up on women who don’t yet have a groom. That ad didn’t have a recycled picture of Heather Beers, though.

I hope Heather is as bugged by this as I am. Especially since a little Googling for biographical information shows that she has worked in the advertising business.