Browsing: September 24

A Brief History On September 24, 2009, the first use of a long range acoustic device (LRAD) for crowd control in the United States took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania during the G-20 summit that was being held there.  The first use had been in Georgia (the country, not the state) in 2007.  Digging Deeper Although it is also known as a sound cannon, its manufacturer, the LRAD Corporation, does not call it a weapon but rather a “directed sound communications system.”  It is a device that looks like a loudspeaker, however instead of projecting beautiful music, it generates deterring sounds that are pain inducing, and it can send those sounds…

A Brief History On September 24, we, well, or rather at least somebody somewhere, celebrate(s) the Festival of Latest Novelties! Digging Deeper As we continue our countdown toward this website’s official launch on 1 October 2013, we want to wish everyone a Happy Festival of Latest Novelties! The giving of novelty gifts goes as far back as the early modern period (1500s and 1600s).  During this time period, a French mathematician and astronomer named Pierre Hérigone (1580-1643) described an unusual goblet constructed in such a way that someone drinking it could in effect spy on others while taking a drink. …