Sometime I find it just a tad depressing how easy it seems to be to trick journalists into writing about your viral as if it was the real deal. Take Bullet Proof Baby shows a woman shooting at a kevlar-dressed pram with her own baby in it. The site not only claims to sell everything from toddler tazers to baby riot gear, but also that "Stella decided to establish 'bullet proof baby' when her first son, Randy, was nearly killed in a drive by shooting in 2004."
Naturally the press just ate this up, a mother who shoots with an automatic rifle at her own baby? Who wouldn't love that story? Looks like everyone who got the pressrelease wrote about it, Metro.uk, bounty.uk, slashgear and many more. A few have updated their stories now that it's been revealed that the viral is for a film, so aftonbladet.se published a correction, as did Raising Kids, Nine MSN and the Daily Telegraph Australia. Even the presurfer fell for it.
Course, it's fake, and clearly marked "All rights reserved © Shoot ‘Em Up Holdings Copyright 2007" at the bottom of each bullet proof baby page - I do wonder how on earth the journalists missed that at first. None of the products can be bought, they are all "sold out", which would be rather odd right as you've press released to the entire world that your shop exists.
Instead it's an ad for Shoot ' em Up, the new movie which will probably have the highest body count of 2007. There's trailers on their site and you can see the Quicktime trailer here, the movie promises a lot of shooting, at one point Clive Owen even shoots the umbilical cord off a newborn. The movie is not yet rated yet but I think it's safe to assume that recent mothers may want to avoid it since the babies keep getting in the line of fire, yikes!
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Mainstream media just gets dumber and dumber. Great viral!
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PermalinkI know... I honestly don't see how they fell for that one when the movies name was on the page (perhaps it wasn't that day?). But this also means that there's no follow-up on press releases? I mean, nobody calls the company or anything? That's a little scary.
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PermalinkHow could they have possibly believed that footage was real?
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PermalinkThey don't know how Kevlar works, clearly.
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PermalinkMainstream media has gotten far too lazy lately.
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PermalinkNor firearms.
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PermalinkDumber.
Lazy.
Gullible.
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PermalinkThat's just embarrasing that they fell for that. Fine, so perhaps non-army/secret service/police people might not know how kevlar works but how hard can it be to just use their heads?
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PermalinkKevlar only slows down bullets. Everyone who's ever watched an action movie knows this. That baby would be dead if that was for real.
Call me when they make a titanium stroller.
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PermalinkActually, Kevlar will stop bullets.
You need the right number of layers (usually at least 7). Also, armor-piercing shells will obviously go right through the Kevlar.
The problem is that all* of the momentum of the bullet(s) will be transfered to the objects being shot. In the case of a baby in a buggy/stroller (or pram for UK and India, etc), the baby will likely die from internal injuries, without breaking the skin or having a bullet in them. [If you shoot directly at someone who's wearing a Kevlar vest, you can knock them to the ground. If they are lightweight, you can knock them into a wall].
For reality, see this link: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/13860078/detail.html#
Two fathers have created a bulletproof backpack.
From the article:
"If the kid has a backpack next to them, or under the desk, they can pick it up, the straps act as a handle and it becomes a shield," Curran said.
It's much lighter than a 15-pound police vest. After three years of experimenting, the backpacks that were tested by an outside lab ranked threat level two. It stops an assortment of bullets, including 9-millimeter hollow point bullets. The fathers researched school shootings from 1900 to this year.
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* "all" really means the vast majority of the energy - but there are always losses and dissipation of the energy and momemetum. You never have 100% transference. 75-80% seems more likely.
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PermalinkAllan1 just stole my resident geek title. *sob*
(secretly impressed by kevlar-knowledge)
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PermalinkAw, Åsk, I'm not always resident... :-)
It's true though, few people can keep up with my geek credentials - B.S. Physics, Computer Consultant (nearly 30 years - as a consultant!), Dinosaur expert (check out the DML (Dinosaur Mailing List)), music maven [playing guitar since 1960 - boy, are my fingers sore!; radio DJ (college)], writers' workshop organizer (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror), and fairly voracious reader.
I also have a pocket protector of sorts - it's a (black) leather glasses case for a shirt pocket, that manages to keep your glasses from being crushed, holds 2 pens/pencils, and room for a few credit cards.
(It's from Levenger, and cost me 40.00 USD. They don't make the exact thing any more, but here's something similar:
http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Categor...|Level=2-3|pageid=5287|Link=Txt
)
On top of these, and because of these, I know top paleontologists around the world; many, many SF, Fantasy and Horror writers and artists (North America, mostly); and at least one former billionaire (who is still VERY VERY VERY rich) who shares at least 2 of these interests with me....
But you're ALWAYS HERE!!! And you run the place, and you rebuild the servers (it's been a few years since I rebuilt my PCs), and, and, and..... (trails off, whimpering, hoping not to have offended DABITCH).....
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PermalinkYou single?
;P
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PermalinkNope - 10th wedding anniversity this year. Same lady for nearly 30 years. (She took some persuading - not the domestic type, but I don't need that much).
(Besides, aren't you very attached????)
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PermalinkHell yeah, I've even bred! I was just yanking your (ball and) chain!
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PermalinkScary thought. I didn't know they let people like us breed. ;~)
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PermalinkThey only let us if we dress them right to alert the public.
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PermalinkShe's a cutey. (A bit young for my tastes :-)).
I notice that you have her in a t-shirt with the proper labelling ("Geek in training").
For other t-shirts, and other geeky things, check out this:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/
(No, I don't work for them. Wish I did, so I could get some of their cool things for dirt-cheap. They probably couldn't pay me enough to survive though....).
[Gotta go do some real work before I leave early today].
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PermalinkTa, maybe you can go home and woo the missus (yeay to ten years going on thirty btw) and she'll date your spawn twenty years from now? ;)
Also, geeky shirts is a must, and since I outshopped thinkgeek already me and the offspring are in a serious habit of making our own these days. Should start my own shop come to think of it.
Good derail, now, I must work too.
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PermalinkJust a strange aside about Kevlar -
In 1973 the U.S. Army researchers at the Edgewood Arsenal responsible for designing the bullet-proof vest had developed a seven-layer vest for field trials. They discovered that water, ultraviolet radiation from sunlight or other sources, dry-cleaning chemicals, chlorine bleach, and repeated washings reduced its penetration resistance. To protect against these problems, the Kevlar bullet-proof vest was water-proofed and covered with sun- and chemical-resistant fabric.
What's strange about this, is an episode of "The Jetsons" from 1962, featured a special "Indestructible" suit, that George Jetson tested. It survived all sorts of tests, with George inside it, and his company decided to release it. Jane (his wife) decided to wash the suit before the launch party. The suit fell apart!
These quotes are from IMDB.com:
Mr. Spacely: [the life jacket, once put in the wash, is destroyed] It was hit by lightning. Missiles. It was indestructable!
George Jetson: But it isn't washable. We should've put a label on it, "Dry clean only".
Sort of a Badland - except it's a cartoon almost predicting a real product of ten years in the real future.
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The Jetsons was a space cartoon, about a family in the late 21st Century (HEY, that's this century!). It initially ran in the 1962-1963 season [it was off the air before Doctor Who ever started]. It returned for the 1985 season, and the 1987 season. There was a series of made for TV cartoon movies: The Jetsons Christmas Carol (1985); and The Jetsons: Father & Son Day (2001).
And 3 actual cartoon movies: The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones (1987); Rockin' with Judy Jetson (1988); and Jetsons: The Movie (1990).
A live action version has been proposed for 2009 (Warner Bros) [Someone posted a suggestion that Avril Lavigne should play Judy Jetson].
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Some quotes from the series (from IMDB.com):
Jane: Our home food dispenser broke and I had to wait 20 seconds at the check out counter, such inefficiency.
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George: We wouldn't last on unemployment checks, a 1000 a week doesn't strech very far these days.
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George Jetson: Nobody could dial a breakfast like mother.
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George Jetson: I've got a wife, two kids and 10 finance companies to support. How am I supposed to pay my bills?
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Co-Worker: Did you hear Mr. Spacely's latest plan?
George Jetson: Yeah, the slave driver. Imagine putting you back on a four day week. What does he think this is? The 20th century?
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P.S. It's really interesting to see who some of the voices in the series were, besides the main cast.
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PermalinkI even remember that episode of the Jetsons (a show I clearly watched far too much of.)
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PermalinkVery interesting Kevlar information!
The things that told me the footage was fake were:
1. The guy 'cocks' the firearm before handing it to the woman (safety violation).
2. She aims the firearm at the pram while the father? is in the line of fire (major safety violation).
3. No casings are ejected from the firearm as she fires.
4. The firearm kickback is intentionally being exaggerated.
5. The muzzle flash is 'Hollywood'.
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PermalinkYeah that cocking action was a dead giveaway. Pardon the pun.
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PermalinkI knew a guy who was going through the safety testing for acquiring a handgun for a position with the Armoured car company Securicor. He did everything right, until the very last: he placed his unloaded handgun down on the table with the barrel pointing toward him at the completion of the test. He failed. It was a mistake he kicked himself for immediately after he made it, but he was able to retest and passed.
I can't understand how that footage was believed to be genuine by so many news media. One story said she came up with the idea for the 'bullet-proof pram' after an near fatal hunting accident. What? A baby in a pram, and a hunting accident? That made no sense. Hook, line, and sinker.
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