Odd dreams

[unixronin]

I had an odd but interesting dream last night.

It started out with me someplace in the desert Southwest, maybe Arizona or New Mexico, dinking around with a bunch of salvaged/surplus hardware and stuff I'd built myself, and, well, basically I built an energy cannon.  I don't know how it worked, but it was hot enough that it fused sand under the

Comments

[mr_spock]

I think my reply would have been, "There's unwelcome company already here! Now, please leave. I'm a private citizen and you have no right to be here against my wishes."

[unixronin]

A valid viewpoint, and a sound argument. But in this case, as the dream went, I was pretty happy to be evac'd by a protection detail, considering that the alternative was to most likely have been still asleep in my bed when the cruise missile flattened the house twenty minutes later. There were several players involved, at least one of them apparently taking the attitude of "If we can't get our hands on him, let's make sure nobody else does either." There are downsides to becoming a strategic resource overnight.

If police in riot gear knock down my door in the middle of the night wanting to arrest me, I'm going to be pretty displeased. But if a Secret Service protection detail shows up, throws a defensive perimeter around me, and politely says, "I'm sorry, sir, we have to move you NOW", I'm likely to assume for the moment that they have a pretty good reason.

(Oh, I should make it clear: The M16s were not pointed in my direction. They were pointed outward.)

[johnkzin]

On the other hand, a sophisticated police state would/could use that against you. Especially now that you've stated this "vulnerability*" in public ;-)

(* the vulnerability being "if you act as though you're protecting him, he'll come quietly, and be unprepared for the fact that you've actually just taken him into custody")

[unixronin]

True, there is that risk.

On the other hand, I think the odds are pretty small of me ever actually inventing anything that would suddenly make me a plausible subject for Secret Service protection :) So I think the risk is minimal.

(Besides, the Secret Service are different. Those guys have their own culture. They have integrity. They are trustworthy.)

[perspicuity]

you melted a mesa? was it black?

also, mesas are protected by law, don't go melting them ;)

amusingly, protecting yourself from the cruise missle and all comers would have been amusing...

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[unixronin]

I imagine the melted bits were probably pretty black after they cooled. ;)

[fatcook]

Oh, man! I really hope you didn't toast any of the Hopi mesas. USSS won't be able to protect you from bunch of pissed off Kachina.

[unixronin]

*chuckle* :)