I hate not getting references, and it seems that you young’uns are beating me to the game.
I’ve noticed that people around the SDMB are referring to 1920s-style death rays. (As opposed to 1940s-style death rays (Now with Plutonium)?) I don’t understand it, and I would like a clarification.
I’m feeling like Og now: Old and slow. Excuse me while I write some 4004 assembly.
There was a thread, that made thread spotting in General Questions about some sort of weapon and someone replied with something like
Oh 1920’s-style death rays
and then multiposted about four times.
This is where the current trend started.
Go to GQ and look for Scalar Weapons.
We got a little enthusiastic. 
“A little enthusiastic”. Yup. And the sun is warm. 
Derleth, brace yourself – you’ll discover that the death rays have miscegenated with pie and burning dogs into forms too dreadful to contemplate.
Eddy: I’m used to miscegenations from beyond history that wait until the stars are right.
I’ll be careful.
And I was going to click into that thread. It dovetails nicely with a conversation a paranoid delusional and I had once.