I Have Questions...

[dr_phil_physics]

... About TV Commercials

You know those commercials for the Off clip-on thingie for repelling insects? They came out last year or so, at least up here. But I don't know anybody who has actually used one. So I don't know if they work or whether they're so powerful or aromatic that they're worse than just slathering yourself in Cutters or DEET or whatever.



But...

The commercials make it look like those belt mounted personal shield generators they use in Dune. You know, project a hemisphere of shield protection. My problem with this? What if the mosquitoes are armed with knives and move in very slowly, so they can penetrate the shield? What good are those shields gonna do now?

See, this is why you need to be up on your genre literature. Because if you don't understand these SF/F references, why then you might make some terrible consumer choices. Unleash forces you don't want unleashed.

I'm just sayin'.

Dr. Phil

Comments

[selfavowedgeek.livejournal.com]

Oh, this entry hit all my big geeky buttons! Most excellent, sir. Most. Excellent.

(erm, I also have a replica crysknife from the miniseries which ran on SyFy when it was SciFi)

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Ex-cellent! In case we ever meet in battle, "May you knife chip and shatter."

Dr. Phil

So true.

[charyvna.livejournal.com]

:)
You crack me up.

Re: So true.

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

We try.

Dr. Phil

Nothing to fear

[eric vannewkirk (from livejournal.com)]

What if the mosquitoes are armed with knives and move in very slowly...?

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Hunter-Skeeters were banned by the Landsraad and not even the Emperor himself would violate the terms of the Great Convention.

:D

[wendyb-09.livejournal.com]

I'm still laughing from the mental image of teh very slow mosquitoes I got when we were chatting yesterday.

Re: Nothing to fear

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Do you REALLY think that Harkonnen scum would abide by such restrictions? Hell, on their day off they practice breaking Imperial conditioning of Suk doctors! Then there's the very real possibility of the Bene Geserit coming up with little teeny tiny living flying gom jabbars...

Dr. Phil

[steve-buchheit.livejournal.com]

Greater intelligence means you can tell better jokes. Of course, now I have an image in my head of the giant bees from Futurama struggling with Fry riffing on the weapons training scene from the beginning of Dune.

Also, as I'm sure you're aware, a sent based repellent will only work well if there's little or no breeze, and you're pretty much stationary.

On the plus side, the NIH just proved a mosquito repellent made from orange squeezins. And it's twice as effective as DEET.

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

So now you're telling me that Off should make a fan blade device that shreds oranges and shoots the bits at the attacking giant bees, er, mosquitoes?

Dr. Phil

[steve-buchheit.livejournal.com]

Well, micro-grater would be more like it. And you'll need the supersized bucket of oranges.

[eric vannewkirk (from livejournal.com)]

We have just folded space from Ix. Many kitchen gadgets on Ix; new kitchen gadgets.

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking big magazine clips of oranges. Banana clips? No... shudder. Oh, the humanity of mixed fruits.

Dr. Phil

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

Watch out for rogue Ixian kitchen gadget sellers who are really Tleilaxu Face Dancers.

Dr. Phil

[steve-buchheit.livejournal.com]

I think they already make such a device. It's called a Salad Shooter.

[wendyb-09.livejournal.com]

They still make those?

[dr-phil-physics.livejournal.com]

There's a warehouse with a 20-year supply of the things.

Dr. Phil