Yeah it must be so terrible, such torture to have a partner and responsibilities in life.

Sorry for the snark, but 5 minutes rubbing feet and 10 minutes cleaning a cat box? That's not exactly a long time away from your WoW auctions, is it?

Not to jump on the GTD bandwagon, but if it takes 10 minutes or less, just do it right now, you'd be amazed at how much easier your life becomes :-)

(oh, and use lotion on those feet, peppermint body shop foot lotion work wonders on sore female feet)

well, I'm guessing that, depending on where you are in the world, Rap music might be substituted.

I hate to burst your bubble, but the vehicle mounted version of these weapons are already in heavy use by Gangstas across the US! Just visit Chicago sometime and I guarantee you'll end up in a drive-by LRAD at least once!

The most shocking part is that these dangerous weapons are reaching the hands of our kids! Think of the children! Won't someone, please think of the children?!

It's a freaking cruise ship, not a destroyer. Do Ma and Pa really want to spend their 50th wedding anniversary watching people getting slaughtered? Why does everyone on slashdot think life is just one big FPS?

Why bother with a non-lethal weapon? These folks doing the pirate stuff are not nice people. Why not mount a couple of .50 caliber machine guns on the cruise ship fore and aft and let the cruise ship crew have some target practice on the guys in the pirate zodiacs so that they will be less of a threat to the next boat or ship that comes by?

Anyone who uses Mythbusters as a real source of proof of something working versus not working either don't watch the show, or don't understand the things they're testing.

Its entertainment, not science. The fact that it could be used as a source to declare something an urban legend is a sign of the risk using Wikipedia as an authoritative source.

A 150 decibel noise seems like a pretty minor convenience compared to blowing yourself up.

So does putting them in jail but it's still effective if you can manage it. Just because someone is willing to die doesn't mean that they are willing or able to endure pain.

A smuggler isn't a pirate--he's a smuggler. Pirates attack opther ships, board them and steal from them (generally also killing passengers & crew). And we need to revoke the treaty which forbids commercial ships from carrying heavy weapons. A rocket into the pirate boat would do a lot better good than a little smoke-alarm noise.

it is even more funny how most of the reports of piracy involve them looting cruise ships (cause those are the most damaging fishing ships right?)

hopefully they ditch the nonlethal and just start killing the pirates

Smugglers smuggling food, medicine and health equipment... there's something wrong when there's a market for smuggling such things.

Element of surprise and a sharp/blunt object would thoroughly put the balance of power in the hands of the civilians. Well, ideally. I keep forgetting we're a culture of fear now.

Anyone without body armor and their own heavy weaponry should be afraid of a bunch of cutthroats with AKs and RPGs. Those guys shot an RPG right into someone's cabin. The passengers might have strength in numbers, but three guys with 40-round magazines would be able to kill over 100 of them more or less immediately. I don't think the remaining couple hundred would so willing to join the frey.

No, the solution is aggressive defenses manned by the ship's crew, and proper weapons training, at least for the officers.

The primary complaint is that due to the nature of their format, they are forced to reduce the myth until it is no longer meaningful. Just because they 'did' a myth doesn't mean they satisfied all possibilities. They have more than once 'disproved' myths that are known true, by rephrasing the myth until they were testing something with no meaning at all.

An example of this is the episode on the five second rule. They tested whether bacteria transfers in five seconds. What they should have tested, is whether there was harmful bacteria present. Yes, it transfers. Yes, the food is still most likely safe to eat, due to the lack of harmful bacteria.

what's the 'heavy weapons' cut off at the moment?
A 9mm pistol?
A P90?
An AK47?
A BREN gun?
An M2 Heavy machine gun (or equivalent)?
An M61 Vulcan Autocannon?
BOFORS gun?
4.5 Inch artillery?
18 Inch artillery?

Surely to fight off a speedboat you don't need 'heavy' weapons per se, you just need a lot of lighter weapons

Has the UN thought about passing a security council resolution providing for military escort for aid freighters? I don't suppose pirates are likely to try anything whilst staring down a fully equipped modern destroyer or frigate - a perfect trial mission for new ships.

In any event, we're told to just do whatever the pirates say, and don't try to act like a hero.

Screw that. That just encourages them to continue attacking. If people would fight back, maybe this would end.

I mean, look: These [bbc.co.uk] are the pirates - and their pirate "ship" - that attacked the cruise ship. The news is calling this a "speedboat". It looks like the ratty, $500 fishing boat the poor people down the street from me own.

Don't tell me you couldn't fend off these rascals with the appropriate weapons. I know I could. Sure, they've got machine guns and rocket fired grenandes. Big whoop. The ships they're attacking are huge. I mean, I'd sit on top of the ship and pick these twerps off with a high powered rifle before they even got close enough to launch their attacks. Or toss a few grenandes back at them. Get one in that boat and - poof - no more pirates.

Do this a few times and watch how fast the pirate problem disappears.

Perhaps you and your cousins should spend less time raiding and more time establishing law, order and democracy in Somalia.

Easy for you to say from the comfort of your chair. What do you know of the anarchic reality of a failed nation? In a similar situation you would probably be loading up on brown pants. So don't be such an ass.

I don't know about your parents, but my Ma and Pa would be activly participating in the pirate shoot, and my Grandparents would be cheering.

Consider what the parent said. These are known pirates. They are known to commit such crimes as murder, torture, rape(if there's any females on the boat), kidnapping, etc...

Marine movement being what it is, it's mostly impossible for the authorities to track the pirates down after the fact, especially if they're based out of a consenting harbor. Which is a big part of the problem, as these people are often part of small, tight-knit towns/villages, thus the whole village will help cover up their activities.

Which would you rather have? A half hour of gunfire, or a three day run huddled in the middle of the boat? A group of pirates, dead, unable to pirate anymore, or a group that have learned some of what doesn't work, ready to try again next month?

If I'm on a cruise through any of these areas(and I include the caribbean), I know that I'd be far more able to relax if I know that the crew has some heavy weapons and know how to use them. Pirates are known to be at work in many areas of the world, and many people recommend having at least small arms available in yachts. It's like a mugging/kidnapping, if you submit to your attacker, rather than lessoning the damage you'll sustain, you simply make it easier for the evil men to do whatever they want to do to you.

Excuse me, but I believe the barbarians are the pirates attacking the cruise ship in the first place! It would be pathetic if you took the ramblings of a 14 year old Slashdotter who played too much Counter Strike to use as a stereotype for all Americans.

Sir Peter Blakes problem was that he was on a yacht and he fought back at the wrong time. He had already lost before he began fighting. Being on a cruise ship with the pirates at a safe distance...totally different tactical situation.

Right. He engaged in hand to hand combat. Good way to get killed unless you're well trained.

When you're perched on a large ship, watching this dinky little "pirate ship" approach - for crying out loud, it was barely big enough to hold the four pirates - you totally have the tactical advantage. Unless you're not paying attention to your radar, you should see these fools coming a good long time before they're close enough to launch their attack, let alone board your ship.

If they've boarded your ship, everything changes, of course.

No wonder you USians screw everything you touch. You are fucking barbarians

I know - barbarians, we are. The whole lot of us. When intruders break into our homes, instead of standing by while they rape our wives - "It's OK, honey. Let him finish up and he will leave." - we actually defend ourselves.

It's tragic, really. The world would be a lot better place if Americans were a bunch of pussies, just like you.

You have no sympathy from me. Your fellow countrymen paraded around a couple of dead bodies from my country's military. We were there trying to help you and that is how you treat us... laughing, partying it up, and defiling honorable men. If it would have been up to me, I would have carpet bombed all of Mogadishu. You are not a civilized people and do not deserve any help.

strike