Flickr user Nevada Tumbleweed has been posting dozens of pics from the 1953 nuclear cannon test, and they're as notable for the beautifully clunky 1950s hardware as for the actual devastation of the nuclear shell, detonated just 500 feet above the ground. And I feel really bad for the soldiers crouching in the trench nearby — I don't think that trench turned out to be all that helpful. More at the link. [Nevada Test Site - Operation Upshot-Knothole - 1953 on Flickr]

The cannon itself
That fireball
Soldier standing guard to make sure nobody wanders into the blast zone
More security
The weather service tracks the toxic clouds to see where they go
A pilot-less "drone" aircraft
Soldiers "duck and cover" in a trench
A WB29 aircraft being checked for radioactivity. Planes that had radioactive contamination were washed with a solution of "gunk," plus grease solvent and water, then returned to duty 24 hours later.
A B45 tornado.

shi jinsong gun shape baby carriage [designboom via Geekologie]

Gun Shape Baby Cradle
Gun Shape Baby Cradle
Gun Shape Stroller
Gun Shape Stroller
Gun Shape Baby Walker
Gun Shape Baby Walker

Man-Made Disasters is currently on display at the San Francisco arm of Gallery 1988 as part of the Paper Pushers show.

Paper Pushers 2009 [via NOTCOT]

Whiplash is in good company. Here are a few more counter-intuitive weapons from pop culture history.

If you aren't a fan already of the hardware hackers at Adafruit, this educational video will win you over. They've done a little research, and turned the DHS's million-dollar weapon into a $250 home electronics project called the Bedazzler.

This has got to be the greatest mad science project ever. If you build one of these, I fully expect you to shine it on your frenemies, take video, and post it here.

via Adafruit Industries (Thanks, Phil Torrone!)

There were a lot of splattered humans and aliens in this movie. It reminded me a lot of early Peter Jackson. Was it your idea or his to make the victim just explode when they get hit by the alien guns?

No, that was definitely me. But I think that he appreciates it. I think that he likes that stuff. And it's not surprising that I was hired to do Halo, [since] we may have the same sensibilities, in a lot of ways. So it's not a surprise that, that splatter exists in a film with both of our names on it.

Why did you decide to make the people or aliens explode into bits in the film, as opposed to chunks? It's quite violent.

Yeah, it is violent. Usually, it's that energy weapon that's making that happen. It has that electric Tesla arc, that was hitting the people. Even though there's a lot more fantasy in the film than I like to believe — it's less science fiction and more fantasy really — but when we were designing the weapons, we did try to apply some kind of scientific thought to it. So the idea of those Tesla coils hitting the guy, what would happen would just be some sort of violent almost like molecular level of shredding, where everything just gets pulled apart. If that's what it is on a conceptual level, then the visual way to achieve that would be just obliterating whatever the target was.

Was it always going to be rated R?

Yeah there was no discussion about anything else. I think within a day or two of us deciding to do District 9, I said to Pete that I wanted it to be rated R. And then he just totally agreed.

Was there anything you thought up that you decided was too violent?

[Pauses, thinks] No. If anything, I always think that there isn't enough.

See the coil action here:

According to a UPI report on Space War:

The IRAM is . . . in essence . . . a flying IED. It consists of a canister — either a propane tank or cylinder — packed with explosives attached to a rocket tube (body) and powered by a 107mm rocket motor. Each IRAM carries more than 100 pounds of high explosive. In contrast, a conventional 107mm rocket carries only 3 pounds.

The device is placed on rocket rails, which can be angled for distance, and fired at its target by a timing device, military officers said.

The rails are placed on the back of a low-sided flatbed cargo truck, usually a Bongo, which is ever-present in Baghdad. The truck is parked and angled toward the target, and the devices (usually four or more in succession) are launched using delayed timers.

Aiming is directional, a sort of line-of-sight lob over the cab of the truck or over the side. Distance is about 300 to 500 meters, according to Maj. Geoff Greene, executive officer of the 1st (combined Arms) Battalion of the 68 Armor Regiment.

In a June incident, an IRAM accidentally went off in a civilian area, killing 16 and injuring 29 others. So far, no US military have been killed by IRAMs.

I said earlier the IRAM is a weapon of the future because it's looking like the terrorist model of warfare is going to be with us for a long time to come. That means you'll have organized state forces going up against people who are fighting with little formal training using whatever devices they can. It probably won't be long before we see guided IRAMs — just attach the whole thing to a remote-controlled plane that can carry the weight and you're set.

Airborne IED Gets Attention [Space War]

XM-25 (pictured) - This grenade launcher has two things going for it: a laser range finder and shrapnel grenades with computer chips in them. What does this mean for soldiers? Imagine a bunch of aliens taking cover around a corner. Measure and set the range for just past the corner, fire a grenade, and watch as it completely negates their cover. This is basically a weapon you can't hide from.

Corner Shot Launcher - This Israeli/German weapon is also intended to eliminate the advantage of cover by allowing a soldier to peer around a corner with a video camera and then fire a grenade or smaller round using the collapsible firing post that can bend up to 90 degrees.

SCAR-Light - This rifle could be the replacement for the M-16, which was first introduced in 1964. It's basically a light, accurate, reliable gun with quick change barrels for different environments and easily replaceable parts. Sometimes simpler is better, although what's with the super creepy name?

FMG9 Folding Machine Gun - I'm not sure the world really needs a submachine gun that folds into a brick small enough to fit in a large pocket, and switches instantly from "brick" to "blazing instrument of death" with the push of a button. Can we uninvent this, please?

SAR 21 - This weapon is distinguished by the fact that the Singapore military has been using it for years. It's powerful and accurate, has integrated laser sights, is compact for fighting in tight quarters and is designed with a limited "straight back" recoil that doesn't affect accuracy. You have to wonder if the main reason the U.S. isn't using it is because it's made in Singapore.

So, no ray guns, which is kind of disappointing, and a lot of money and brainpower is being spent on developing efficient killing tools, which is also pretty disappointing, since we all know none of these will probably ever be used against alien invaders or zombies. Image by ATK.

Top 5 High-Tech Guns for Next-Gen Infantry. [Popular Mechanics]

[Shock Till You Drop]

Irony aside, the new compounds — dubbed HBT and G2ZT — reportedly only produce ammonia as their byproduct when they go boom. This is a good thing because many long-term health problems related to air pollution come from the formation of nitrogen oxides.

Of course if you make lots of super-powerful bombs out of HBT or G2ZT, many people probably won't be around to enjoy the cleaner air. But the researchers say another application would be cleaner rocket fuels, which we're going to need as flights into space become more and more common.

Source: American Chemical Society via EurekAlert

In Transformers, the Megatron toy can transform into a Walther P38 gun, a model popular with the Nazis in World War II. This transformation gives him a giant trigger in his crotch (you can see here in the toy). It allows him to deliver focused energy beam blasts. But if we look at the actual capabilities of the Walther P38, we can see it's a semi-automatic but not really any more powerful than the typical hand gun. Obviously a giant-sized one would deliver more oomph. However, I think we can safely say this isn't the biggest or hardest of the crotch weapons.

Astro Boy deploys a machine gun from his butt. This is his main weapon, aside from super-strength and jet-powered flight. He can gun down bad guys, but the fact that these guns sprout from his ass makes them unwieldy.

The infamous cock and ball gun featured in the psycho-vampire flick from Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino, From Dusk Til Dawn, is a gooder. It can slay a vampire from yards away, and it just looks plain cool. It's hard; it has those semi-automatic testicles attached; and it's really everything a good crotch weapon should be. But is it really big enough?

Kekko Kamen uses her pussy as her finishing weapon in the eponymously-titled manga by hentai auteur Go Nagai. She uses the notorious headscissors takedown to mash her crotch into the bad guy's face and get him good. Nobody survives this ninja lady's crotch. Great weapon for close-range combat.

The main character in recent film Teeth is a mutant who has razor-sharp teeth embedded in her vagina. She uses her super-crotch to defeat a rapist and mangle two guys who have treated her horribly but nevertheless want to stick their junk in the toothy place. This is a great surprise weapon, because our heroine looks like a sweet little teenager who goes to church and eats oatmeal. Points on this one for viciousness and power of surprise.

The Codpiece is a character from occasionally bizarre comic Doom Patrol who basically has a cock-shaped crotch weapon that does everything: it shoots fire, it drills, it slaps people around, and it even grows a weird plunger-looking apparatus. Plus, it looks as spiffy as it could possibly be (see image up top). In terms of versatility and firepower, plus sheer audacity, I'd say the Codpiece is a standout.

In the aptly-named Cannon Crotch flash game, you are Cannoncrotch, a hero who fights the Nazis with your crazy firepowering crotch. Not only is this game one of the most intensely-satisfying flash game experiences you'll ever have, it also wins points for not making any bones (heh) about what it's really about. You play this naked xkcd-looking guy who is basically jizzing bullets. Nice. Get your crotch on with this game here.

Robot Jox has a lovely giant robot transformation scene which is clearly a tip of the hat to our pal Megatron's trigger crotch. When one of the big robots is injured, it fights back by opening up its enormous crotchal region, and releasing a massive chainsaw that slowly and hilariously extends into many-toothed, killer erection. See the scene here if you don't believe me. All those spammers should put that clip into their emails if they really want to sell us their expando-pills.

I'm going to have to go with Codpiece as the winner here, since his weapon is so versatile. But the girl in Teeth makes a close second. I hereby declare Codpiece the WINNER OF THE CROTCHIES.

Here are five orgasm weapons you'll want to stick in your holster.

The orgasm gun from Orgazmo delivers orgasm from a distance via a cheesy "raygun" special effect and can be used to stop bad guys (or give unsuspecting girls a zap). Orgazmo, made by South Park guys Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is a scifi comedy about Mormons, pornography, and this strange device. Can a nice Mormon boy who accidentally becomes a porn star save the world with his orgasm gun? You'll have to rent this flick to find out.

In Larry Niven's "known space" books, he introduces the Tasp — a weapon that delivers intense zaps of pleasure right to your brain. It can be used to incapacitate enemies, who are left writhing on the ground in ecstasy. Or it can be used to slowly train somebody you want to enslave, by giving them pleasurable rewards each time they obey you. Eventually, they'll get addicted to your Tasp and do anything to get another jolt. This is a major plot point in Niven's Ringworld, where the Puppeteer alien has a Tasp installed in one of his heads and uses it to control the other creatures who venture to the Dyson Ring with him.

Ming's ring in the 1980 Flash Gordon movie seems to have some kind of orgasm-inducing, mind-controlling power. As you can see in this video we posted of Ming controlling Dale with the ring, falling under its glowing ray results in writhing and solo dirty dancing moves. Could be good at parties. Or in the throne rooms of Emperors who make speeches about "pathetic Earthlings." Either way.

And although sex ninjas aren't exactly scifi, there is simply no cause to leave out the importance of orgasm weapons in the anime miniseries La Blue Girl. It's the simple tale of rival ninja clans who fight with sex instead of swords. The first person to have an orgasm loses, and often becomes enslaved to the ninja who gives the orgasm. Plus monsters can play too, which makes it even harder to resist those orgasms. After all, a monster can have an infinite number of pleasure-inducing tentacles as you can see here.

There's a really messed-up orgasm electrode in Robin Cook's cheesy medical thriller Brain, about some scurrilous doctors who create a brain-based computer by using the brains of hapless co-eds. In one scene, our hero finds out about the brain experiments, and discovers the secret of using women's brains. The bad guys have their unlucky vicitms half-dissected but still alive, suspended in cerebro-spinal fluid, their brains exposed and their bodies (inexplicably) still attached. (Also, unexplained is why they need only ladies, other than that it's way sexier.) They've implanted electrodes in the women's pleasure centers to get them to perform computer work in their heads. "When we stimulate her, she has the sensation of 100 orgasms," the evil doctor tells our hero. "It must be sensational because she wants it constantly." I love that this doctor knows exactly what 100 orgasms would feel like, as if "orgasm" is a unit of pleasure measurement.

And just to remind you that the reality of these devices is closer than you might think, don't forget that surgeon Stuart Meloy invented a spinal implant several years ago that gives women orgasms. He's patented it, and is in the process of doing tests to turn it into a consumer device.

According to Strategy Page, a defense tech site:

LRAD is basically a focused beam of sound. Originally, it was designed to emit a very loud sound. Anyone whose head was touched by this beam, heard a painfully loud sound . . . LRAD can also broadcast speech for up to 300 meters. The navy planned to use LRAD to warn ships to get out of the way . . . This apparently gave the army guys some ideas, for there are now rumors in Iraq of a devilish American weapon that makes people believe they are hearing voices in their heads . . . Islamic terrorists tend to be superstitious and, of course, very religious. LRAD can put the "word of God" into their heads. If God, in the form of a voice that only you can hear, tells you to surrender, or run away, what are you gonna do?

No word on where Strategy Page got this information, but what they're describing is technically possible — as long as you're able to get within 300 meters of the enemy.

Death Ray Replaced by Voice of God [via Futurismic]