Endtown by Aaron Neathery for February 26, 2016

Even then, Holly Hollister was big on getting her way about things.

I’m gonna have to agree with Lyn, here. Everyone in this future has gone completely mad!

It seems that Holly was always a tad on edge…

Also…is this the first time in the flashback Lyn referred to her as “Holly?”

“Safe bombs.” So that’s a thing. .I wonder if the “Intelligent Threat Assessment” is similar to the peril sensitivity of Joo Jantra 200 Peril Sensitive Sunglasses, which turn complete dark at the first sign or danger, thus preventing you from seeing anything that might alarm you. I’d like to know how either really works.

no future for the human race until we get rid of the irrational instinct of putting the safety of our children above all. The good old cliché of the spartans throwing babies down a cliff to see which will survive comes to mind.

Been a long time since I heard that termUnilateral Disarmament I remember those days of that word being tossed around and saw it this way….You get rid of one and I get rid of one….never mind we have thousands and most are better than what we get rid of.Multi war head missiles. MIRVS but the discussion was only about removing one warhead from the inventory. That left at least 11 in just one missile of which we (both sides) had thousands. Most MIRVs carried up to 12 warheads.We had a few of those warheads in Alaska on tests. Laying on the tundra, partially buried…..they were considered “safe” as the trigger was supposedly pulled but they were still very unsettling when we worked about them.The engineer mentioned we would never feel the blast as we would be vaporized in milliseconds but we would probably see the flash.

I find it interesting that they refer to the child as “the baby” or “it.” It seems remarkably unattached for a parent to call their child “it.” Even if Hillside to blindly military that they don’t have the medical technology to determine the sex of the infant, most parents to be would give the baby a pet name and choose a sex they think it will be. “Bump” or even “junior”

“child-friendly bombs,” Virtually harmless! Safe but effective… Brilliant!

Yeah, just what the world needs, civilian hunter-seeker explosive devices. Because why should you have to pull a trigger and shoot something, when you can have a computer do it for you.

Ah…. just a few questions:1. Who gets to define what is a “real” threat? 2. What are the yield on these babies? and3. How is collateral damage controlled/avoided? ;-)

As an engineer I find some lay people’s faith in technology amusing. I am not involved with advanced computer programming or artificial intelligence but I can’t help but wonder how this so called “Intelligent Threat Assessment” actually works or how it was tested. I would also be ill inclined to trust any claim that they can’t be triggered unless the threat is “real”. Is this kind of thinking an engineer thing or would a more normal person have the same questions.

“MOST child-friendly bombs ever made” does not fill me with great confidence. Just how “friendly/unfriendly” were the previous versions?

Not to worry, Holly. There is absolutely no risk of you ever being “too damn sane.”

Child-friendly bombs… Child-friendly bombs……If anyone needs me, I’ll be hiding under my bed. Mainly because I just feel like it for some reason…

@Veteran To me this is just the end game of a society that thinks it can cure all of it’s ills with “BIg Brother”. More complex surveillance & weapons, but the only true deadly weapon isn’t hardware- it’s deadly people. All Holly is doing is inviting the devil to the dance.

Oooh, I see where these “threat assesment bombs” are going … the second any of them mutate they will be “assesed” a “threat”.

“These are, bar none, the most child-friendly bombs ever made!”

Seems to me that this is setting the bar rather low… Exactly how many “child-friendly” bombs have been made in that universe???

@DADOF3 (reply function does not seem to be working…).I agree! I submitted my comment before I saw yours, so I think I repeated your thoughts…

Lyn better be careful. He’s going to be identified as a “real” threat for questioning Holly and/or the Buddibombs.

I really cannot envision a scenario where placing explosives around the house is an acceptable idea! Yeah. Holly couldn’t find them because Apex only wants them to be distributed to people who have seen too much. And Holly’s friends? Not so much friends. If Lyn is normal sized, those bombs seem to be a little fatter, but shorter, than an old pineapple style hand grenade. One hand grenade can really mess up a nursery. Twelve hand grenades can really mess up the house. Holly: “We must have had a threat! Thank goodness the Buddibombs were there to protect us! Where’s Lyn?” Fireman: “Over there. And there. And I think a piece of him is over there.” I am really hoping everything is an illusion. Maybe everybody is dead, and they have to purge the memories of the past, and confront the thoughts that bind them to material existence. If this were similar to No Exit , Marx would be the Devil. None of the mutants wear shoes. Li’l Marx mentioned that someone was stealing the shoes and keeping them from moving on. Is their inability to forgive themselves preventing them from moving to the next existence? This scenario is playing out for Wally, Kirbee, Chic and Irving. Curious. Links in profile

Woah, so these are basically actual bombs? I was joking when I said they run at hostile at high speeds and explode in their face like some kind of crazy koala!

I looked around the random past and did find shoes, mainly on the one with long feet. And the rats in boots of course. Oh well.

I have to wonder if the western Amazon basin is relatively remote in this existence.Maybe it’s time to join Kirbee and ask if she could use help with her baking. “Hey Kirbee, I’ve got a great recipe for oregano pizza.”

We all know the outline for this story is a number of years old, but it does seem to fit with some attitudes we see in the media today.

In reality, things are much better overall than in the past. Realize the reason we hear about the unfortunate death of someone halfway across the country is because nothing similar is happening closer. During prohibition and the depression there were many crimes happening across the nation but they didn’t make the papers across the country because another crime or other critical situation was occurring closer to home. It was only the outlandish events that really made headlines on a national scale (the St’ Valentine’s Day Massacre for example).

There is also a trend for the news sources to exaggerate events. I remember hearing about a young couple who stole a few cars and robbed some convenience stores being called modern day Bonnie and Clyde’s. GET REAL! Yes, those who were robbed certainly were threatened at the time, but to compare them to murderous bank robbers is overdoing it.

It doesn’t help that present presidential politicians, primarily GOP exaggerate the facts to make things seem worse. There are enough real problems to address without exaggeration or sugarcoating.

Today’s Endown is a good example of what happens when we stop thinking and start reacting. I recently saw a good animated film produced in Canada where the protagonist, a ship’s captain taught his young protégé the lesson of “Listen. Think. Respond.” That isn’t happening among those who want to be our national leaders.

Just in case you think the ‘crazies’ are in this fictional future with their “BuddiBombs” how about our real world “Peacekeeper Missles”?…

Entirely new meaning for Child Protective Service. Jeez, I didn’t think they were actual BOMBS. Maybe they expel some kind of adhesive mass instead of shrapnel. Judging from Lyn’s reaction, probably not.

First, regarding atomics, I suspect that the “trigger” would be the implosion physics core of a multi-stage weapon, both the functional base and most secret-y part of a modern nuke. Pulling it would leave the rest of the thing seriously un-functional. (still full of subsequent stage fuel though) Stockpiled weapons keep the cores separate. In the early days, the core was installed in flight just before dropping for safety sake. Only ready weapons nowadays are fully assembled.As for the buddy bomb, I’d WAG that it is designed to detect mutantcy, as I still contend that APEX was the source to begin with. An any case, robot bombs for the home is several layers of crazy

Definitely calling it, Holly and Lyn’s child mutates while at home, and the Buddibombs….well, do their intended job….shudders

The ultimate in MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), keep the bombs in your house, they all go off when a real threat is detected and kill you so you don’t have to suffer from fallout and radiation sickness. Bringing back childhood memories of the beautiful Cold War age that everyone’s working so hard to reinstitute.

Happy Days are Here Again, Lets make America/Russia Great Again!

What I keep wondering is, what exactly IS the threat that these bombs are supposed to respond to? Home invasion? Kidnapping? By whom? To what ends?

I think maybe the baby mutated while napping, and a buddybomb took him/her out. The very thing SHE insisted on having for her baby. That could break almost anyone.

even then …the fear tactics……use your brains people!!!!!

Suddenly I’m getting simultaneous flashbacks from Deus Ex and Fallout about government certified IFF weapons for civilians.

And how the masses eat them up happily willing to disbelieve they’re killing themselves with what they thought would protect them. Because it was designed to act that way specifically.

and yet he has a robot capable of ripping off his head with its bare appendages roaming about the house,…..

I certainly hope this isn’t some sort of attempt at commentary about the right to bear arms… it’s weak sauce if it is.

Anybody else notice the i in i.t.a. is dotted with an eye?

Quibbling about weapons nomenclature- the system that aircraft engineer (how do I get to ref/highlight others?) described might be better described as part of the fusing circuits. The thing that decides to go boom is actually a processor that commands the detonation sequence, including the neutron initiator and Tritium injection when appropriate, as well as any variations on the sequence to change the weapon’s performance (dial a yield). Most modern systems have any number of inputs intended to have the device detonate only when and where it is suppose to, and simple impact fuses are the least of them.

I was tired of Holly when they were wandering in the desert, now that I see how crazy she was, I’m totally done with her.

Somehow, I suspect that Aaron has been waiting a long time to spring: “These are, bar none, the most child-friendly bombs ever made!” on us.I, too, thought that the ‘bomb’ part of their catchy name wasn’t literal. So much for that idea. Also, being a military contractor, with attendant corporate mindset, I’d suspect that lethal is what these do. And watch, and especially for mutants. just my .02, but…Eep. Good ole Holly’s looking like crazy ain’t a recent development, either..

can “child friendly” and “bombs” be used in the same sentence?And her last “reasoning” point is surely insane in itself!