from the just-when-you-thought-that-things-couldn't-get-worse dept.
The Economist has a short blurb on a crowd dispersal used against stone throwers in Israel.
It smells like raw sewage mixed with putrefying cow's carcass, and it might soon be Israel's latest high-tech export. Skunk, as it is appositely called, has been used by Israeli soldiers since 2008 to disperse Palestinian protesters. Now it has attracted the interest of law-enforcement agencies in America which, after riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, crave better ways to scatter rioters without killing or injuring them.
The good news is it is entirely non-toxic, and allegedly drinkable, and serves to clear the area with no injuries. There are reports of its use go back several years
Palestinians call it simply "shit."
"How can you describe this stuff?" said Muad Tamimi, whose gas station on the front line of Nabi Saleh's standoffs is often bathed in it. "It's beyond foul water, like a dead body and rotting food together, which no soap or perfume can take off - I'm hit with it and nobody goes near me for days."
The bad news, is there is some indication that US Police departments are starting to order the Feculent fragrance for their own crowd control situations.
A report this week that Skunk is now being sold to American local police departments was initially confirmed by a Maryland-based company claiming to be the vendor; but then swiftly retracted.
It remains to be seen how this "collective environmental punishment" will go over in the streets of the US where people call the police on dog walkers that fail to pick up after their pet.
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:04AM
Friends and family will disown you and your boss will fire you, not just because you smell bad, but because you dared to disobey authority.
OBEY OR you will have NO FRIENDS and NO FAMILY and NO FUTURE.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:37AM
You sound like one of those "independent libertarians" who, well, just happens to depend heavily on your employer, your family, your friends, and especially the government.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:42AM
As opposed to you, small business owner with a shop on the corner. Uh-oh, Walmart's coming to town. No more customers for you. Whatever will you do, successful businessman dependent on no one?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:22AM
Anti-authoritarianism is not indicative of libertarian sentiment, in fact the later is very compatible with authoritarian governance since it only insists on economic freedom. An oligarchic corporocracy is the wet dream of right-wing libertarians.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Sunday June 07 2015, @08:44AM
So, you are saying there is no downside for me to disobey authority...
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:05AM
Having ethics to try preventing and the integrity to arrest police officers after they murder unarmed people would do the trick.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:08AM
Speaking of ethnics, this kind of thing won't have any negative effect on American ethnics because they smoke the skunk (weed*, that is) on a daily basis and not only raw but in flavored blunt-wraps. If anything this new formula would have the same effect as catnip on a cat.
* Slang for Marihuana
(Score: 2) by kurenai.tsubasa on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:12AM
I prefer purple haze myself. Then there's chronic. ymmv
Wait… isn't TFS actually talking about jenkem [wikipedia.org]?
*ducks*
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:14AM
If your weed smells like shit, your dealer is taking you for a ride, cat.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:49AM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:55AM
But wait, isn't Ethanol-Fueled a unemployed drunken loser? How can you be sure I even know it is Friday?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:03AM
I'm plenty gay! You square peg hole.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:02AM
I agree, get rid of the bastard, so nobody here will be offended, ever. [google.com] Ban him for life.
Things will be happy that way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:24AM
The link in parent comment is NSFW.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @05:42AM
With a tiny winky like that, I wouldn't put a pic on the internet.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday June 06 2015, @05:58AM
It may not be remarkable but it's thick enough for your mama.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:00PM
Fart spray makes you more ethical:
http://scienceblogs.com/mixingmemory/2008/07/09/fart-spray-and-disgust-more-ge/ [scienceblogs.com]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:12AM
Seems like if you are sprayed with this stuff that is just the cops' way of inviting you to come down to the station and sit politely in their lobby.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:19AM
Stinking up the lobby is disorderly conduct. Into the cells with you, criminal.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:31PM
Unless the cells are on a separate A/C system that doesn't seem like a good option. Wonder if that stuff transfers easily while the prisoner is being assaulted/arrested/booked?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:13AM
I can see the point of this if one is not peaceable.
If this is ever used on peaceable protestors it will be a case for the Supreme Court.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:17AM
You think you have rights? You don't have any rights. Your fellow Americans forfeited your rights when they elected Bush Jr. Try to keep up with the times please.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:25AM
Consider their recent decision that the police can't make you wait around for a drug sniffing dog to arrive.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:33AM
but everything else is the worst injustice in history!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:51AM
Bush? Really? The Constitution was pretty much null and void by the time President Wilson put it out its misery. Tis been dead long before anyone posting here was born, before most of our parents.
It is just since the 'return to normalcy' backlash after Wilson they all went to a lot of trouble to pretend we still followed it, lately the pretending got old and/or they figured everyone who got all riled up back then was now dead so they could drop the pretense again. Expect a rinse and repeat.... of the lying part.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:59AM
Wilson, really? Have you forgotten how Lincoln trampled states' rights, declared martial law, suspended habeas corpus, declared war on fellow citizens?
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:16AM
No I didn't. Somebody has reading difficulties but it ain't me. Wilson 'put it out of its misery' kinda implies (remember, Reading Is Fundamental) that it was mostly dead already. It is just that bringing up the crimes of Lincoln almost always diverts the discussion into yells of RACIST and nothing useful comes of the rest of the thread. But if you want to remind everyone Lincoln pretty much did the whole Vader "I have changed the bargain, pray I do not change it further." bit then I certainly won't argue the point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:21AM
Lincoln was worse than Hitler.
(Score: 1) by _1156277 on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:42AM
What of Abradolf Linkler?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday June 08 2015, @10:32PM
the constitution allows it to be suspended during insurrections.
Smithsonian magazine made a good case of the civil war not being about states' rights as is commonly claimed these days, but about slavery.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:26AM
Yeah. Remember all those race riots while W was in office? Me neither.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by khallow on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:35AM
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:16AM
Commonly used for elevator pranks and clearing out coffee shops [liquidass.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:11AM
Waste of money. It's easily made with Baking Soda, Sulfur, and water.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @05:26AM
[Citation needed], unless you're joking that such a mixture is a worthy substitute for skatole.
Just googling around, true skatole synthesis requires precursors that aren't sitting around
in your kitchen... unless you count your own ability to produce the stuff.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:06PM
I learned this in high school chemistry. It smells like fishy poop. That skatole website looks like a ripoff and the OP is probably connected to it in some way to boost sales for something that can be made at 1/10th the cost. The sulfur in the recipe can be found in some fertilizers.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:22AM
Why not simply use post-treatment sewage instead? Fucking morons.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday June 06 2015, @04:40AM
In case the question is serious -- post-treatment sewage is not necessarily free of pathogens, and is loaded with bacteria that can cause serious illness or even death should they enter a wound or get into your eyes or lungs.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:28AM
Which is apt because the biblical Hell referred to a flaming garbage dump outside Jerusalem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @08:45AM
Gehenna? I don't want to go to Gehenna!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by penguinoid on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:48AM
After the police inevitably use this to disperse a peaceful protest, you can spray other people to automatically mark them as having participated in the protest.
RIP Slashdot. Killed by greedy bastards.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:51AM
Guilt by association doesn't work in our enlightened society, surely.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @06:04AM
Guilt by association doesn't work in our enlightened society, surely.
Unfortunately, it's a useful way of destroying reputations.
And don't call me "Shirley".
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:26AM
If they have not already they will eventually add some dye that won't wash out for days or one that glows under black-light (or similar). "We can see here that you attended the unlawful protest that turned into a riot and looting ..."
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:34AM
Send your personal telepresence robot to attend the protest instead.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheLink on Saturday June 06 2015, @11:32AM
I'd thought that some of the car-happy bunch would be doing stuff like driving around the target's home or something - the cops could tell you to drive off, or find some reason to stop you and arrest you for some made up crime (make sure you have car cams), but if there are a lot of you, the whole place would be gridlocked whether they like it or not :).
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Sunday June 07 2015, @09:56AM
I figure if we get a million cars, not people, and have them all try to park as close to the White House as they can, at the exact same time (GPS is good for this), and then all of us just sit in our cars and not move them then we *should* at least get a little attention. It would probably be best to just prepare to pay the towing/storage costs and exit the vehicles peacefully, leave them there, amd then go camp on the mall or something.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 08 2015, @09:33PM
Sounds like a good way to get shot, to me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Capitol_shooting_incident_%282013%29 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by KGIII on Tuesday June 09 2015, @02:23AM
We should stop at designated areas and depart our vehicles peacefully. All of us. A million of us in our own cars. As the person who proposed this, I will risk my life and get out of the vehicle first. However, I will not be running into/over security personnel and I will not be going past clearly marked signage that warns me about proceeding further. I am not sure that they needed to do what they did to the person in your linked article but I can understand why they did it.
I also do not know why they took the injured security worker to the hospital via helicopter when the injuries were not life-threatening. I suppose it made better theatrics at the time.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2, Insightful) by rigrig on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:42AM
It remains to be seen how this "collective environmental punishment" will go over in the streets of the US where people call the police on dog walkers that fail to pick up after their pet.
Are there crowds of dog walkers that refuse to pick up after their dogs, or am I missing some other way this is relevant?
Completely unrelated: (disclaimer: I don't know how it works in the US, and I don't have a pet myself) If your society decided it doesn't want excrement all over the place, and created laws that say you can't let your pet crap all over the place and leave it there, calling the police seems the civilized reaction to someone leaving shit in your neighbourhood. (especially if you're paid to look after said pet)
No one remembers the singer.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @02:51AM
Well, no. The civilized reaction is to raise the topic at the next town council meeting and suggest signs be posted reminding folks to "please pick up after your pet." The uncivilized reaction is to carry a gun around the neighborhood to shoot pets and their owners. Calling the police lies somewhere in between.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:44AM
The civilized solution could be to spray it with this stuff. That might doubly get the point across.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:30PM
There's usually signs already posted. The dog owners are simply assholes who don't feel like picking up after their pets. So calling the police seems to be the only realistic answer; when people are assholes like that, the only thing which will make them change their ways is the threat of force.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 06 2015, @01:34PM
Are there crowds of dog walkers that refuse to pick up after their dogs,
Yes. This is America, where a large portion of the population is composed of self-centered assholes who don't feel like doing anything they aren't literally forced to (like by armed policepeople), because they think it's "beneath them" and someone else should do it. These people tend to be upper-middle-class white people.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:18AM
Civil War II is necessary.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @03:20AM
Why don't you blog about it?
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Saturday June 06 2015, @06:17AM
If police used this in the USA they'd probably get hit with lawsuits from business owners claiming lost business due to the lingering stench.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 07 2015, @03:24PM
Police using anything seems to generate lawsuits.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @06:24AM
So, just like DDT then...
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday June 06 2015, @08:49AM
Sea Shepard has been using this stuff against fish pirates all around the world for quite a while. If it's good enough for criminals on the high seas, it's good enough for criminals on the high seats.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 06 2015, @09:22AM
American pigs already smell like shit, except when they smell like Krispy Kreme donuts.
(Score: 3, Funny) by maxwell demon on Saturday June 06 2015, @12:30PM
I'm sure things get interesting if the wind turns …
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Informative) by rickatech on Saturday June 06 2015, @10:26PM
Sci-Fi storiy uses permanent stink as form of criminal punishment to convict's body.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counting_Heads [wikipedia.org]