posted by
girlwhowaspluggedout
on Friday March 07 2014, @01:00PM
from the try-to-tase-me-now-bro dept.
from the try-to-tase-me-now-bro dept.
Angry Jesus writes:
"A recent article on Hackaday shows how to make your clothing taser-proof by adding cheap carbon-fiber tape to the lining. It works by shorting the connection between the taser's electrodes so that even if the electrodes pierce your skin, the current will flow through the carbon fiber layer instead.
Thorshield has been selling something like this since 2006 using an undisclosed polyester fabric."
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Taser-Proof Your Clothes with Carbon Fiber Lining
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(Score: 5, Funny) by Khyber on Friday March 07 2014, @01:04PM
Have fun trying to beat physics, cops!
Destroying Semiconductors With Style Since 2008, and scaring you ill-educated fools since 2013.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Bob the Super Hamste on Friday March 07 2014, @01:24PM
Don't worry when the Taser fails to stop you they will, as one of our presidents said, go kenetic.
Learn to take care of your vehicle [blogspot.com]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Friday March 07 2014, @09:03PM
Simply wearing one of these jackets will come to be seen as premeditated intent to interfere with police, raising a rowdy disturbance to the level of an indecent justifying deadly force.
When Tasers fail, Resisting arrest is immediately in play and the guns come out.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Dunbal on Friday March 07 2014, @02:12PM
They'll just increase the voltage on the devices :) Of course it will suck if you're not wearing protective conductive clothing when they do. "How come they're all dying all of a sudden?"
(Score: 2, Funny) by middlemen on Friday March 07 2014, @02:31PM
They may also taser(sic) you in the nuts ! you better be wearing protection ;)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @03:44PM
Um, higher voltage isn't going to change anything. If you short out two electrodes, it doesn't matter what the voltage is, the current will flow through the path of least resistance. You need to go back and study basic electricity.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Dunbal on Friday March 07 2014, @04:32PM
No you do, because basically you have a parallel circuit with two different resistances. The BULK of the current will flow through the path of least resistance, but I guarantee that if you up the voltage indefinitely there is a point where you won't want to be on the "non conductive" end... 1/R(T) = 1/R(1) + 1/R(2) ...
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @04:47PM
Yes, but there's real limits to just how high you can boost voltage in a battery-powered device that fits into a cop's hand. Tasers probably aren't too far from that limit. Finally, even if you could boost the voltage an order of magnitude or two, there's real limits to how much current a hand-held device can supply at that voltage. For the current through the human tissue (probably at least 1000 ohms if I'm remembering my EE coursework correctly) to be anything significant, the current through the carbon-fiber would have to be huge (or else the supply voltage will fall greatly). A battery-powered device can't do that.
(Score: 1) by hamsterdan on Friday March 07 2014, @05:40PM
1000 wet, 100,000 dry. But yes, even at really high voltages its doubtful a device that size could generate enough power. (otherwise that battery technology would be in smartphones that last a week, or electric cars that run for 1,000 miles between charges)
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @06:46PM
Yep, I was going for the wet resistance, since taser probes are supposed to (IIRC) penetrate the skin.
(Score: 2) by RobotMonster on Friday March 07 2014, @03:29PM
Not going to help when they taser you in an eye. [abc.net.au]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @04:37PM
I'm fairly certain the police would just beat you while yelling "stop resisting!"
(Score: 1) by Ryuugami on Friday March 07 2014, @07:05PM
And once you and up dead, an investigator will appear and say:
Seems he was...
* puts on sunglasses *
...resisting arrest.
If a shit storm's on the horizon, it's good to know far enough ahead you can at least bring along an umbrella. - D.Weber
(Score: 1) by mrkaos on Friday March 07 2014, @11:50PM
They could just shoot you instead, that physics would be a lot harder to beat.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @01:09PM
Puts on tin foil hat AND suit.
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Friday March 07 2014, @01:56PM
And you are telling only now?
After all these years I wore chain-maille underwear, you are telling me a tin suit would suffice?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Informative) by Thexalon on Friday March 07 2014, @02:34PM
The real problem is that most people who try to make tin foil attire actually screw up and make it with aluminum foil instead!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by dx3bydt3 on Friday March 07 2014, @01:12PM
It would be the perfect attire for working on electronics, just clip a ground lead on anywhere and you're static free!
(Score: 5, Informative) by Urlax on Friday March 07 2014, @03:13PM
Neverdirectly connect yourself to ground.
normally, the wrist straps are connected over a 1MOhm resistor, because if you grab a live conducter by accident, you don't want to be the best conductor around.
also, you don't want sudden static discharges, you want to minimise the current.
(Score: 2, Informative) by dx3bydt3 on Friday March 07 2014, @03:28PM
Good safety tip. In this case you probably wouldn't be electrocuted, as the carbon lined clothes would be the better conductor, but with enough current your shirt might catch on fire, which is probably not fun either.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @03:47PM
Taser guns don't put out any significant amount of current.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Friday March 07 2014, @06:52PM
Context. It's a wonderful thing.
Read GP and GGP.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by aliks on Friday March 07 2014, @01:22PM
SO you think to yourself, I am regularly engaged in activity that attracts taser wielding cops - better suit up with some protection?
To err is human, to comment divine
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @01:29PM
No.. not quite.. how about for ordinary citizens living in an undeclared police state?
Where taking a picture can result in being arrested?
(Score: 4, Funny) by BradleyAndersen on Friday March 07 2014, @01:33PM
I can't think of any large country wedged between Mexico and Canada that you could possibly be talking about here ...
(Score: 1) by quacking duck on Friday March 07 2014, @06:55PM
Don't worry, according to different studies 15-25% of Americans can't find this wedge anywhere on an unmarked map anyway... :)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by kebes on Friday March 07 2014, @02:36PM
Let me be clear that I think tasers are over-used by law enforcement. They were originally intended as a last-resort to stop a serious threat (i.e. someone who will imminently harm another); whereas they are now treated by some as a generic way to manage a suspect (no different from handcuffs). Let me also be clear that not all police are like this: some have the utmost respect for the tools at their disposal, and are professional in the execution of their duties (and there are times when tasering may be justified).
My point, however, is that if an interaction with the police has escalated to the point where the police feel justified in tasering you (whether legitimately or not), then immunity to said taser is unlikely to buy you much relief. (I suppose you could pretend to be tasered: i.e. the clothing at least saves you from the actual pain of being tasered, though it doesn't prevent the police from detaining you as they desired.)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 08 2014, @04:52AM
(Score: 2, Insightful) by moozh on Friday March 07 2014, @01:39PM
More like keeping a roll or two of the tape, "Just in case police go crazy around here..."
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday March 07 2014, @01:50PM
Don't get me wrong, but ... what are the chances?
...
...
...
...
Did I ask you not to get me wrong? Yes, I did.
I mean, chances are those one or two rolls of tape will be useless.
Make it a dozen and we'll talk again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by moozh on Friday March 07 2014, @08:07PM
a dozen then =)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @01:49PM
It's not just cops who have tasers.
But whatever it is, you might want a bulletproof vest underneath it. Otherwise if you were tased by a US cop, might be a good idea to drop down as expected or you might get shot multiple times with bullets.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday March 07 2014, @03:50PM
Dropping down isn't going to help you. US cops will happily shoot while you're on the ground, already being detained by another cop. Remember the case in the Bay Area a few years ago.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by etherscythe on Friday March 07 2014, @05:25PM
Interestingly, layers of epoxied fiberglass are used as hard armor. If you're willing to shell out the money, carbon fiber is even stronger (although you will have to do some custom molding to your body - beware the biological sensitivity to uncured resin). It doesn't have the elongation properties of Kevlar or Spectra, but it weighs next to nothing.
I could see how, under a pursuit scenario, a perp so armored might actually get away if the cop is wasting time trying to zap or shoot them. Not that I recommend trying it - stray bullets are bad for everybody, and you can't cover everything.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Friday March 07 2014, @03:37PM
No, I think, "The way this country is going, something I'm already doing--that's legal--will sooner or later be reclassified as illegal."
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2, Insightful) by bob_super on Friday March 07 2014, @04:53PM
You are going to die poor, because you can't see an obvious business opportunity.
0) Patent the use of an electric conductor for personal defense
1) Google around for people mugged with tasers or traditional eletric shock devices. You'll find a few hits.
2) Choose a slow news day to present your revolutionary product to defend yourself against this MAJOR EPIDEMIC of THUGS WITH LIGHTNING GUNS! (point out that the cops have real guns, so this is no threat to them)
3) Craft press releases every few days highlighting any incident of the sort. We do not recommend creating your own, even when you realize that tasing a major media figure would get the point across overnight.
4) Sell
5) profit!!!!!!!!!!!
(Score: 2, Interesting) by irick on Friday March 07 2014, @01:38PM
Tasers are stupidly broken, I now have a totally legitimate reason for them not to work some of the time. Thanks Hackaday!
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ellis D. Tripp on Friday March 07 2014, @02:22PM
your sneaky Faraday cage garment defeats their Taser, the next thing that Porky is going to reach for is a gun. Conductive clothing won't stop a bullet.
"Society is like stew. If you don't keep it stirred up, you end up with a lot of scum on the top!"--Edward Abbey
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 07 2014, @07:46PM
If they didn't already reached for the gun, mistaking it for a taser.
(Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Friday March 07 2014, @02:23PM
Don't wear this in a thunderstorm, however.
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 1) by egcagrac0 on Friday March 07 2014, @05:15PM
Why not?
Wouldn't the majority of current still follow the path of least resistance; outside the body?
I know conductive clothing is used as protection in other high voltage scenarios [youtube.com]...
(Score: 1) by Buck Feta on Friday March 07 2014, @05:26PM
Try standing next to a tree as it is struck by lightning.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning_injuries [wikipedia.org]
- fractious political commentary goes here -
(Score: 4, Insightful) by TrumpetPower! on Friday March 07 2014, @03:41PM
There's only one sensible reason for taser-proof garments, and that's if you reasonably expect to defend yourself against being tasered in an hostile situation.
Since, as others have pointed out, the obvious reaction from a cop to a suspect who doesn't respond to tasering is to escalate, probably to lethal force, the only reasonable tactical response for somebody who's just shrugged off a tasering is to remove the threat of whoever fired the taser -- and the only way you're going to do that with a cop is with deadly force of your own.
And good luck surviving the ensuing manhunt. Chances are slim you'd live long enough to see the inside of a courthouse.
So, if you're planning on engaging in guerrilla warfare against the local police, this could be a very effective tactic to use in your initial covert strike, and possibly in subsequent assassination attempts. But once the enemy police know their tasers are useless, they're going to swap them for military gear.
For almost any other situation, most especially including random civilians and especially especially random civilians engaging in unruly civil disobedience, it's really only useful for suicide by cop.
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.
(Score: 1) by moozh on Friday March 07 2014, @08:09PM
This is uncomfortably true.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by coolgopher on Saturday March 08 2014, @01:14AM
Since, as others have pointed out, the obvious reaction from a cop to a suspect who doesn't respond to tasering is to escalate, probably to lethal force, the only reasonable tactical response for somebody who's just shrugged off a tasering is to remove the threat of whoever fired the taser -- and the only way you're going to do that with a cop is with deadly force of your own.
Not necessarily. The seconds you gain from the ah-dammit-the-taser-didn't-get-through-let's-try-t hat-again or the ah-dammit-the-taser-is-broken-let-me-get-my-gun-ou t could be enough to let you disappear - into a house, crowd, car, what-have-you. Or if you're more the aggressive type, return taser fire, pepper spray them, flashbang them, straight-punch-on-the-nose them, whatever. Incapacitating can work just as well as eliminating (which is why tasers are used in the first place, after all).
Also, I disagree with the assumption that only police have tasers, so read the above with that in mind.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by guises on Saturday March 08 2014, @02:58AM
Or, you know, you could just run away. No need to go all psycho.
(Score: 1) by sjames on Saturday March 08 2014, @01:27AM
Perfect for school kids in Florida!