# Death Ray Killed!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [August 1, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930 "2006-08-01T20:40:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/1 "2006-08-01T20:40:25Z")
What’s wrong with the folks at New York Times?
They can’t come up with a decent headline if it’s staring them in the face.
[U.S. and Israel Shelved Laser as a Defense](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/world/middleeast/30laser.html) \<- Pathetic, just pathetic!
> [@](#):
>
> last September, after spending more than $300 million, the United States and Israel quietly shelved the experimental weapon, mainly because of its bulkiness, high costs and poor anticipated results on the battlefield.
>
> “Frankly, its performance was not great,” said Penrose C. Albright, a former Pentagon official who helped initiate the project…
[MTHEL](http://www.israeli-weapons.com/weapons/missile_systems/systems/THEL.html) (with pics of shiny red laser mirrors).
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### Author:  [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/2 "2006-08-01T20:43:51Z")
Yes, but could it be mounted on a shark?
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2006, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/3 "2006-08-01T22:58:27Z")
Too modern looking. Do they have something more retro looking? Maybe in a 1920’s style?
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/4 "2006-08-02T00:09:06Z")
I had a thread about this when they first started testing it. [So, they shot down artillery with a laser](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=142970). This recent story seems to confirm my idea that the test was rigged to not fail.
I would have to say that when Hezbollah recently started launching rockets at Israel, the first thing that came into my mind was why aren’t they using the lasers to shoot them down? Now we know.
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### Author:  [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/5 "2006-08-02T06:14:15Z")
> [@Lord Il Palazzo](#):
>
> Too modern looking. Do they have something more retro looking? Maybe in a 1920’s style?
Yeah. Needs some vacuum tubes, and rectifiers. Maybe some art deco fins.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/6 "2006-08-02T06:23:49Z")
> [@Squink](#):
>
> What’s wrong with the folks at New York Times?
> They can’t come up with a decent headline if it’s staring them in the face.
Yeah, but they did include this line:
> [@](#):
>
> As often happens in the federal development of death rays, parts failed and costs soared.
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/7 "2006-08-02T08:33:16Z")
Well, look at it this way: the project didn’t really _fail_, we just proved that that _wasn’t_ how to build a workable death ray.
Now we know… [cue next line]
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/8 "2006-08-02T16:32:22Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> Now we know… [cue next line]
And knowing is a significant part of the conflict.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/9 "2006-08-02T16:48:39Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#):
>
> Now we know… [cue next line]
And knowing is a significant part of the conflict.
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/10 "2006-08-02T16:55:17Z")
Stupid hamsters. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
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### Author:  [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2006, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-ray-killed/366930/11 "2006-08-02T16:58:27Z")
> [@adam yax](#):
>
> And knowing is a significant part of the conflict.
I don’t get it. What does GI JOOOOOOOOE have to do with this? 😃