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Minbari fighting pike

GKarsEye

Regular
You can find plenty of pikes...

<brace yourself, horrible joke coming up>

...in the ocean!

Ha-ha, I'm going to go shoot myself now.

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"You do not make history. You can only hope to survive it."
 
Considering that both the Technology and the Metalurgy involved in making a Pike are a thousand years in our future, I doubt anyone has a working model available yet.

OTOH, if you are willing to settle for "almost, but no cigar", any good Plumbing Supply Shop will probably sell you a six foot length of One/inch stainless water pipe.

Don't count on most conventions letting you carry it around, though.
tongue.gif





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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
There actually are telescoping billy clubs that are somewhat similar to the basic fighting pike idea. (Collapsed they are even about the size of a Minbari pike, and extend to between two and three feet - but out of one side only.
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)

Unfortunately they are also illegal in most jurisdictions in the U.S., barred by concealed weapons laws.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> telescoping billy clubs <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

For some reason I like the sound of that.
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How exactly do they work?

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Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up. It's depressing.
Ivanova: So in that case we're all going to die horrible, painful, lingering deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>How exactly do they work?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They're a series of hollow cylinders, each slightly smaller in diameter than the one before it. You hit a release button and snap the thing towards the ground and they all extend then lock in place. Hold it straight up and hit the button again and they all collapse into the "handle." Pretty clever design and heavier and more solid than one might think. I'm not aware of any that actually have a spring-release mechanism, but I suppose that's possible. (Bit of a pain collapsing it, though, since you'd have to push against the spring. Better to let gravity do the work both ways.) I've only seen two of these things in real life, but it does look like a wicked little item, certainly capable of doing a great deal of damage.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
I want one.
laugh.gif


Seriously though, that's the way I thought the pikes would work, but you can't see the succession of hollow cylindars anywhere; it's just one big pipe. I guess that's why it seems to violate most of the laws of physics.
tongue.gif


------------------
Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up. It's depressing.
Ivanova: So in that case we're all going to die horrible, painful, lingering deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.
 
The collapsing Billy clubs are sold mostly to cops. And I understand they are illegal for cops im most jurisdictions.

The couple I've seen were pretty heavy. They work a lot like a telescoping radio antenna, except they are a Lot heavier. The smalles section is still a fairly respectable piece of pipe. And it has a steel knob on the end that is heavy enough to break bones.

That's the reason they are banned in most places. It's very easy to do Lethal damage by mistake with one.



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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>That's the reason they are banned in most places. It's very easy to do Lethal damage by mistake with one.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Exactly. You could easily cause a skull-fracture with one of those things without half trying. Of course, the same is true of a monkey wrench or a baseball bat, and you can buy those anywhere.
smile.gif
They do tend to be harder to conceal, however.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>I want a working one<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You can get one from Valen industries, conveniently based on Minbar. They have long traditions and the last time a pike was brought in for service was 900 years ago.
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A working fighting pike is simply beyond our technology for now. Extending and compressing the pikes was done as CGI. A Minbari denn'bok has most interesting qualities:

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While compressed, it seems to be very light. We can see Marcus handling a compressed pike with ease - as if it weighed no more than a few hundred grams.

Yet we can see Minbari warriors use it as if it were very heavy - and you wouldn't even try to hit a Minbari warrior with something that weighs 500 grams. They would prefer to hit an opponent with something no lighter than 20 kilos.

Also, we see the force of an extending pike shatter a door on a White Star - a door which Sheridan could not scratch when hitting it with a pike in an ordinary way.

This suggests that the pike extends *extremely* fast and has a great mass, as it simply shattered the door and came through it - without being thrown back from resistance.

Getting something made of metal to compress and extend like this is improbable by today's standards... but getting it to seemingly change mass (or acquire new mass from seemingly nowhere and lose it again promply afterwards) seems for now
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simply impossible.

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Canned flarn is a sacrilege.

[This message has been edited by Lennier (edited July 28, 2001).]
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Of course, the same is true of a monkey wrench or a baseball bat, and you can buy those anywhere.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, but wrenches and Bats have Other uses besides bashing heads. Billy clubs have no "redeeming social values".



------------------
Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Yes, but wrenches and Bats have Other uses besides bashing heads. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

They DO ????
wink.gif


Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division

joseph-demartino@att.net
 
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Yes, but wrenches and Bats have Other uses besides bashing heads.

They DO ???? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Of course. Both are useful if you need to drive a screw into a 2 by 4.
laugh.gif


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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?
 
there probibly based
on a combination of
nanotechnology,crystal
mettulurgy and vibrational
physics to extend, contract and
adjust weight.
smile.gif


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no surrender, no retreat
 
Actually nanotechnology could account for them easily, but by today's standards I can't see how anything that expands on both ends could be built.

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-Is that a 7" Whitestar Limited Edition Collectible in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?
 
Was reading through old threads and was thinking. Couldn't you increase the weight by greatly compressing air in a hollow tube? That would explain the sudden gain in mass.

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"No, they never end as tales," said Frodo. "But the people in them come, and go when their part's ended. Our part will end later - or sooner." - Frodo to Sam in "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" The Two Towers, The Lord of The Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
 
Well somebody actually made a couple of the Minbari fighting pikes for use during the series. After all, we have seen Marcus using one and snapping it in and out. So all you need to do is get in touch with JMS through rec.arts. and ask him where they were made.
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The ones on the program do not actually expand. When Marcus presses the button the camera is stopped. A props man replaces the little pike with a big pike and the restart filming. A special effect covers the size change.

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Andrew Swallow
 
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