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Post by captbart on Feb 3, 2011 15:11:37 GMT -5
OK, there are some great things in the movies and series. We've mostly put them in the movie/episode where they show up but I thought a central spot might be useful. As Tyler tells Burt, "you have more toys!" What got this started was thinking about the wrist Seismo. All the way back in T2 we have seismo monitors in the vehicles but in the series we have wrist seismos. The location is computed by the seismo based on "the work of Rhonda LaBeck". If you have enough geo-phones/seismographs you can figure distance via arrival time of the S and P waves or simply the arrival time at each site provided the speed of sound is consistent in the local soil. Since the area is relatively small, I assume it is a timing thing. The same geophones can pinpoint the vehicles as well. For the wrist seismo, things are a little more difficult. I assume the wrist seismo has a GPS receiver to locate the individual. That would be good enough for withing 15 to 20 feet which would do the trick. It still begs the question of who is actually doing the computing on graboid location. I ASSUME a computer in Burt's place takes in the geophone data and transmits the worm position to the wrist seismo. Remember the bugs in "sound of silence" didn't trip the wrist seismo. What do you guys think? Could a wrist seismo actually work as a seismograph or does it have to just display signals from somewhere else?
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Post by BarrettM82 on Feb 9, 2011 21:07:34 GMT -5
From my memory, only ones I can remember these: Wrist Seismo, GPS sometimes, Burt's stun grenades, and that's about it of what I can remember that is.... Been a while since I've watched anything Tremors. Gonna have to get back into it more often.
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Post by captbart on Feb 10, 2011 14:33:56 GMT -5
The stun grenades were standard military issue back in Viet Nam. Quite useful for dropping over the side of ships to 'discourage' unwanted swimming among other things. I figure Burt picked them up on one of his 'sponsored events since owning them requires an 'explosives' license which I can't see him filling out the forms for.
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Post by captbart on Feb 10, 2011 14:37:02 GMT -5
His watch in T3 was a little over the top. The WWVW signal is in the 40 to 50 KHz range - a tad high for a dog but maybe not too high for El Blanco. The update rate is not quite continuous as radio propagation at those frequencies can be erratic.
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Post by BarrettM82 on Feb 12, 2011 19:58:11 GMT -5
I don't think that his watch in T3 was too loud for El Blanco, then again, its impossible to be too loud for a graboid, any noise is too loud.
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Post by captbart on Feb 18, 2011 20:22:50 GMT -5
A missing toy - I can't image Burt not having a range finder but one is never used. I know he 'knows his terrain" but a nice laser rangefinder would seem to have been appropriate ... I mean I have one and I'm not nearly as well equipped as Burt.
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Post by BarrettM82 on Feb 18, 2011 20:32:39 GMT -5
Burt has lived in Perfection for thirty years at the tv series mark, that means he's been there since 1973. As of 2011, he would have been there thirty-eight years. Its not a surprise that Burt knows his terrain, I would know my way around Indiana if I lived here for thirty-eight years.
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Post by tabasco on Feb 27, 2011 0:50:16 GMT -5
My personal favorites are the improvised gizmos. From Burt's financially challenged, but well made, periscope to a hastily cobbled flame thrower. It's the characters ability to improvise and draw ideas from their current environment and situation that I find refreshing. To use the most mundane item and repurpose it. It is what one might expect from a isolated desert community.
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Post by captbart on Feb 28, 2011 22:17:57 GMT -5
Tabasco (LOVE the name - I learned in Viet Nam that anything is editable if you put ENOUGH Tabasco on it!) Yes, indeed. I have forgotten the flame thrower. That was indeed cool! There is also his USGDS (Ultra Sonic Grabiod Defense Shield) around his place. Burt does improvise well but I did wonder, since his place was blown up with the silver, wouldn't a metal detector have been a good investment. Oh, one more - the line throwing fire extinguisher in Flora or Fauna. A .50 AE is a little 'extreme' as an ignition system but heck, it is so Burt!
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Post by tabasco on Mar 1, 2011 0:41:59 GMT -5
CaptBart, thanks, truth be told, I cover alot of my grub with the Avery Island sauce! Drives my wife nuts , I carry a mini bottle on my keyring. Gets used and it's a great conversation starter at times.
Burt may be a "para-military paranoid" but the character obviously has more than just a passing knowledge of chemistry, physics and electronics. The Geophones are too neat. I agree with you concerning Burt's lack of a rangefinder. Must admit I grinned when I spotted the Kenwood UHF 2-way in the Gummer abode in T3.
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Post by Mr.ELBlanco on Mar 2, 2011 15:50:26 GMT -5
I don't know if its necessarily a gadget, but Burt mentions in Graboid Rights he has bags of rock salt for his water purification system.
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Post by captbart on Mar 3, 2011 8:59:59 GMT -5
You're right. I was surprised that he was the only one. Having lived in the desert(Phoenix) water purification and softening was about the only way you could get good drinking and washing water. I didn't notice it as a gadget and I would have expected everyone to have had some type of water system. Funny how our expectations of what is 'normal' color our view of things.
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Post by captbart on Mar 18, 2011 13:06:02 GMT -5
In the series, he uses one of the 'headlamp' lights in the mine. In T1 he and Heather are buying what looks like one of the early 500,000 lumen flashlights.
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Post by captbart on Apr 8, 2011 11:24:43 GMT -5
Tabasco, Are you a ham? The Kenwood was there and a bit of a surprise. I thought they were using GMRS or CB. I have an old Kenwood TS-520 for HF work. Good catch.
I am WB5JWI by the way.
Tyler did OK using the fencing to trap the big shrimp (is that an oxymoron?) as well.
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Post by captbart on Apr 26, 2011 11:15:13 GMT -5
Almost forgot, the security system around Burt's place. That is extremely cool. I would love to see what his 'level 3 security protocol' is - how big a bang would that make?
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