[TML] Martial Arts

[shadow at shadowgard.com]

On 1 Mar 2008 at 18:25, Michael Jenkins wrote:

> On 01/03/2008, shadow at shadowgard.com <shadow at shadowgard.com> wrote:
> > On 28 Feb 2008 at 17:39, Michael Jenkins wrote:
> >
> >  > On 28/02/2008, Richard Aiken <raikenclw at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  > > On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 8:48 AM, Mark Urbin <eclipse at urbin.net> wrote:
> >  > >
> >  > > > Very much a style thing.  The big magnum autoloader are loud and make
> >  > >  > big holes in things.  Good to start off with.  A bit of shock and awe
> >  > >  > and all that jazz.
> >  > >
> >  > > There's a couple of novels by Barney Cohen starring a noir-ish
> >  > >  detective named Bockhorn.  There's a line in one of them ("Blood On
> >  > >  The Moon" IIRC) that goes something like: "I pointed the magnum
> >  > >  between his eyes and held it steady.  The needler actually does more
> >  > >  damage, but the sheer size of the magnum has a delightful effect on
> >  > >  the attitude of most people."
> >  >
> >  > Reminds me of Douglas Adams' Kill-O-Zap gun, a gun which clearly has a
> >  > right end and a wrong end to be on, with the person on the wrong end
> >  > being made to feel particularly unhappy at that fact ...
> >
> > Sargeant Schlock's favorite hand weapons. The ones with the "ominous
> >  hum" sound effect.
> >
> >  Anybody who *isn't* worried by a weapon with a muzzle you could stick
> >  your *fist* in and that can blow holes thru powered armor isn't
> >  really paying attention.
> 
> Yes, always a good one. Schlock has a strong preference for a gun with
> an ominous hum.

One of Christopher Anvil's short stories has some "Scout" type 
testing new equipment. And the great, wonderful weapon  darn near 
gets him killed by natives on a primitive planet.

Y'see, there's no muzzle flash, no visible beam and it's silent. So 
they don't connect the small thing in the Scout's hand with their 
friends dying...


--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com