I think it’s pretty clear from reading this that erroneously programming your remote could accidentally turn people into stone.
Now, if only we could get that Midas touch thing working…
I have the Midas touch – everything I touch turns into a muffler.
RR
According to the story, Perseus polished the surface of his shield, then hid behind it in order to avoid the “Medusa rays,” which must have reflected off the metal surface and turned the Medusa herself to stone. So there.
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Yeah, I caught that one, too. I was always of the impression that medusa rays were made from visible light. Key to the story is that Perseus cannot see Medusa, and is therefore unaffected. If she were simply transmitting turn-to-stone rays (especially non-reflecting ones, Karen!), the shield itself would be turned to stone.
There’s a few variations of the Medusa legend. In both major versions, Perseus polished his shield (or maybe it was someone else’s shield, but it’s the one he was using) to act like a mirror. In one version, Medusa, upon seeing her reflection in the shield, was turned to stone. This indicates that turn-to-stone rays do, in fact, reflect off a mirror. In other versions, though, Perseus himself was looking in the shield, so as to keep track of Medusa while fighting her, but without having to look directly at her (in these versions, he killed her by the good old “chop off head with sword” method, which I understand works independently of mirrors or petrific ability). This clearly indicates that turn-to-stone rays do not reflect off of a mirror, at least not in the same way as visible light. Obviously, more research is called for.
Interestingly, in some versions, while Perseus escaped unscathed, the shield was left with the image of Medusa permanently burned in. I’ve never heard that this burned-in image had any petrific ability, although it must surely have boosted the shield’s coolness factor, and been great for intimidation.
I was once baffled for a day or two by the failure of my cable box to respond to commands from the remote. The same remote worked fine on an identical cable box in another room. But neither remote worked on the box in the bedroom.
A day or so later, I made a startling discovery. The remote would work if I was standing beside the bed, but not if I was lying down in bed. Huh?? This was an improvement as it started off not working at all, no matter where I was in the room.
I was baffled. Stand up. Works. Lay down. Doesn’t work.
What could be made different by my posture?
OK, cut to the end. Here’s what it was.
I had all the other remotes (you know how it goes when you’ve got a VCR, DVD, TV, etc) on a table by my side of the bed. Something had shifted and one of the remotes had enough pressure on it to press a button. At first, the signal was strong and it REFLECTED all over the room, and apparently was enough to interfere with the cable remote without actually causing an effect on the cable box.
As time went by, the batteries got weaker, and so did the signal from the remote. When I stood by the bed, I eclipsed the interfering remote, and the proper one worked fine. When I layed down, the signal would once again interfere with the proper remote.
A logical explanation for what seemed to be a supernatural strangeness.
FWIW…
on the related question of clear metals, I recall Scotty using a formula for transparent aluminum to construct a tank for whales on a Klingon ship in Star Trek whatever the heck number it was.
According to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, turn-to-stone rays do reflect off of mirrored surfaces but have diminished effects. Also, effects are diminished when seen through other objects (cameras, ghosts, cheesecloth?)
Hey wait! In that case, if you wanted to avoid death by basilisk (if not petrification) all you’d need to do is wear glasses everywhere.
Of course Perseus used the shield as a mirror and chopped off Medusa’s head, because he brings the chopped-off Medusa head with him to his next adventure, and uses it to turn his enemies to stone. (Dead Medusa heads apparently work as well as live heads.) A stone Medusa head clearly wouldn’t work as well.
-k-
Thank you, Karen Too, that was the version I learned…
On petrification by gorgon’s head, see my book.
But since the mirror inverts the signal, why does the receiver still correctly interpret the command?
Science fiction was using transparent metals by the 20’s.
The frequency does not matter if it is inverted, as opposed to the image processing that eyes (and the brain) do.
The mirror inverts the sense of left/right, but the remote signals operate based on time, which remains unchanged when reflected by a mirror.
No, no, no… Those were kill-rays. I mean, really, when they’re taking the girl’s body away, did it look like they were hauling a lump of stone around? Admittedly, the diminished effect is referred to as petrification, but the term is clearly used differently than the Muggle understanding of the phenomenon.
As to why a camera would be more effective than a pair of glasses at mitigating the effect, I have a few ideas, but it would depend on the model of the camera.
For years I have put my remote on the table next to my machines & facing me. My machines are under it or to the side but when I push the buttons with the remote still on the table, they all work as long as Im right in front of it. This leads me to think that the signal bounces off my clothing, which, not surprisingly, is not made of glass…so umm, what’s happening?
Try it yourself.
I’m willing to bet that car alarm remotes use radio waves, since mine works through the concrete floor of a parking garage.