# Are scalar weapons for real? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 4, 2003, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879 "2003-08-04T12:50:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/221 "2003-08-20T02:10:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by paperbackwriter \* > \*\* > I never met any of Servo’s team myself. Well, that’s not exactly true. Forrester attended my talk on “the Role of Seven-League Boots in a Caring Society” at the World Domination Con in '98. She did a great talk on Sudden Opponent Death Syndrome \*\* While the Forresters worked with Dr. Servo’s teams, they played a minimal role (if any) with death ray research, although they were of high importance with force field studies (but that’s another story). Oh, BTW: **eunoia** , Dr. Servo shouldn’t be delayed by going to Oxford, as his role at Cornell is more along the lines of “give some lectures” than that of “day-to-day teacher”. However, seeing as how Golden still hasn’t completed her study after 24 years (at the least!) of work, it might take a while. Good thing Dr. Servo’s in good health. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/222 "2003-08-20T02:18:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Motog \* > \*\*I understand Franklin Mint is bringing out a full set of collectable miniature 1920s style death rays: 1:100 scale, perfect craftmanship and accurate down to the minutest detail. \*\* The Micro Machines versions are a lot less expensive, though smaller, but I’ve heard they’re recycling old Death Stars, which were, of course, pre-1920s death rays from a galaxy far, far away. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/223 "2003-08-20T02:59:30Z")
I’ve been to Franklin Mills, but didn’t see any underground scientific shop. :dubious: I did see a big ugly plaster head suspended over the North entrance. I’ve been to the Franklin Institute also, where I didn’t see any “Death Rays”, mislabeled or not. I did walk through the giant heart, however (Philly seems to have a thing for large, fake body parts 😛 ). Downstairs was not hidden a laboratory, but instead the Planetarium and Baldwin Compund Locomotive 60000 (which is cooler than any “death ray”). Also, if these so called “Death Rays” (yes, quote with your fingers just like Dr. Evil and “Lasers”) were so good at taking out large quantities of evil hencemen, why didn’t we use them against the Germans (the definitive history of WWII, Sgt Rock Comics, demonstrated that we used everything else…) Finally, remember that talkies didn’t come out until the late 20s, and radio wasn’t too popular until then too, so how did the Average person in the 1920s know what a “Death Ray” would sound like anyway - 78s? ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/224 "2003-08-20T03:30:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SirRay \* > \*\* > Also, if these so called “Death Rays” (yes, quote with your fingers just like Dr. Evil and “Lasers”) were so good at taking out large quantities of evil hencemen, why didn’t we use them against the Germans (the definitive history of WWII, Sgt Rock Comics, demonstrated that we used everything else…) > \*\* It’s against the Geneva Convention of 1911 to premptively use death rays. In fact, no actual government has ever used death rays in combat. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/225 "2003-08-20T05:41:26Z")
Whilst excavating Troy in the late 19th century, H Schliemann discovered the fabled 1920s BC death rays. These are alas amongst his lesser known findings. But they did prove his thesis that the earlier versions of the \i{Iliad} mention that the Trojan Horse was fitted out with them…those wily Greeks… ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/226 "2003-08-20T08:26:30Z")
Er, **Governor Quinn** , to be more precise, no government that was at the time of conflict a signatory to the Geneva Convention has preemptively used death rays in a formally-declared war. That leaves a _lot_ of wiggle room: undeclared wars, police actions, internal insurgencies, pogroms… not to mention simple inability to monitor during the general chaos of the World Wars period. For example, consider the Stalinist period in the then-Soviet Union. Total casualty figures from internal police actions have never been fully established, and the NKVD/KGB records from then, even if they are reliable, have never been released by Russia’s modern Federal Security Bureau. Consider that Transylvania was a Warsaw Pact country during this period. Also consider where Tesla came from. (Granted, Tito later walked a tightrope between east and west, but that surely did not impede technical communications and espionage by the KGB…) Given the general technical conservatism of postwar Soviet techniques, IMHO there’s no way we can rule out use of 1920s-style death rays across a wide swath of central Asia. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/227 "2003-08-20T09:49:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SirRay \* > \*\*I’ve been to Franklin Mills, but didn’t see any underground scientific shop. :dubious: \*\* That would be because, as my post said, the shop was never built. > [@](#): > > \*\* > I’ve been to the Franklin Institute also, where I didn’t see any “Death Rays”, mislabeled or not. I did walk through the giant heart, however (Philly seems to have a thing for large, fake body parts 😛 ). Downstairs was not hidden a laboratory, but instead the Planetarium and Baldwin Compund Locomotive 60000 (which is cooler than any “death ray”). \*\* Obviously, you lack proper qualifications. Without them, not only will you not be admitted to the classified wing, you will be told that it does not exist. I do agree, however, that the locomotive is quite cool. Actually, on our last visit several colleagues and myself devised a method to power the Baldwin using a death ray. We’re currently studying the praticality of this method in automoboiles. The Forresters- I find their work with interoccitors far more interesting. Most scientists have ignored these devices as being too common. Dr Forrester was able to convincingly demonstrate that an interoccitor could be modified for use a commnunications array or even, a death ray. ---
**Author:** ![smam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@smam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smam)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/228 "2003-08-20T11:53:55Z")
The Times newspaper this morning has an article on how internet archiologists have uncovered a web page thought to have been set up in the early 1920’s, it was called - [death-raysRus.com](http://death-raysRus.com) ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/229 "2003-08-20T12:17:38Z")
death rays can be rather [expensive](http://www.reallifecomics.com/daily.php?strip_id=613). ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/230 "2003-08-20T13:29:11Z")
[Garrett Morris]\* Gonna get me a 1920’s style death ray ‘n’ kill all the whities I see, Gonna get me a 1920’s style death ray ‘n’ kill all the whities I see, When I kill all the whities I see then Whitey he won’t bother me. Gonna get me a 1920’s style death ray ‘n’ kill all the whities I see. \*[/Garrett Morris] ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/231 "2003-08-20T16:28:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tramp \* > \*\*I believe the first literary mention of a 1920’s style death ray came in Stenbeck’s classic “The Grapes of Wrath”. \*\* I don’t know about that. What about this passage from Genesis: > [@](#): > > 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. > 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and **a flaming sword which turned every way** , to keep the way of the tree of life. Sounds like a 1920’s style death ray to me. Maybe you got the Garden of Eden mixed up with _East of Eden_. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/232 "2003-08-20T16:34:00Z")
Smam, Please, some of us are trying to have a serious discussion. Smam-I’m sure that all the nonScientists reading this thread are having a difficult enough time as it is. They have to seperate our factual statements from our opinions and our inside jokes. Posts like that last one don’t help. While the TransEuclidean Psychogenetic network of the Subtle Ones was in place in the 1920’s, it bore no resemblance to the web until it was combined with the revolutionary work of Turing. That, of course, did not begin until the 1940’s. ---
**Author:** ![smam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@smam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smam)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/233 "2003-08-20T16:40:58Z")
Did you just say that the Turin shroud depicts Jesus brandishing a 1920’s style " Death-Ray " ? shite please. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/234 "2003-08-20T19:42:40Z")
As it happens, I own a scalar weapon. I use it to clean fish. \ \ Sorry – that’s a _scaler_ weapon. Never mind. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/235 "2003-08-20T22:56:06Z")
I keep my 1920’s style Death Ray in the spice rack, behind the paprika. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/236 "2003-08-21T00:09:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I understand Franklin Mint is bringing out a full set of collectable miniature 1920s style death rays: 1:100 scale, perfect craftmanship and accurate down to the minutest detail. Will they be chocolate mint, or fully functional 1920s style death rays ? ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/237 "2003-08-21T02:34:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ms Boods \* > **Whilst excavating Troy in the late 19th century, H Schliemann discovered the fabled 1920s BC death rays.** “Death Rays of the Gods?” Could “ancient austronauts” have brought ca. 1920 AD death rays back in time to ancient civilzations? Where’s Erich Van Daniken when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/238 "2003-08-21T02:39:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ms Boods \* > **Whilst excavating Troy in the late 19th century, H Schliemann discovered the fabled 1920s BC death rays.** “Death Rays of the Gods?” Could “ancient austronauts” have brought ca. 1920 AD death rays back in time to ancient civilzations? Where’s Erich Van Daniken when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/239 "2003-08-21T03:20:54Z")
**VernWinterbottom** How do you think all those mysterious line drawings were made on the plains of Peru? Not to mention Stonehenge – all that stuff about stones lining up along the sun’s solstice… Line up all the pyramids from Egypt and South America…and what do you think you get? Don’t you see? We are compelled in our very molecules…1920s death rays…the culmination of human development over the millenia… ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879/240 "2003-08-21T03:53:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by VernWinterbottom \* > \*\*“Death Rays of the Gods?” > > Could “ancient austronauts” have brought ca. 1920 AD death rays back in time to ancient civilzations? Where’s Erich Van Daniken when you need him? \*\* Oh, please please please not this again. **Vern** , I notice that you are in Massachusetts. Please get yourself to Miskatonic U’s library and do some reading on this. Bloch (1934) conclusively proved the origin of 1920’s-style death rays is not extraterrestrial, long before Von Danniken was writing. For a more modern look, I know that MU keeps several copies of the historical works the **Governor Quinn** referred to above. I would also suggest a look at Joshi (1997). **Ms Boods** is only hinting at it, but if it wasn’t for the elder gods, we wouldn’t have had 1920’s-style death rays. Wherever you are, a drive to Cape Ann is wonderful this time of year. Don’t forget to go to the boardwalk in Rockport. You can get lobster out of the lobster pots. Literally can’t get any fresher. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-scalar-weapons-for-real/192879.md?page=13)