I couldn't say I actually know what a dead man's trigger is, but I don't think it usually matters in context?
Thinking for a second, is it something where it detonates if the person falls down or something?
Giles: I'm sure we're all perfectly safe. Dawn: We're safe. Right. And Spike built a robot Buffy to play checkers with. Tara: It sounded convincing when I thought it.
'Dirty Girls'
Natter 69: Practically names itself.
Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.
Jesse - Oct 23, 2011 11:17:20 am PDT #2871 of 30001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Steph L. - Oct 23, 2011 11:18:07 am PDT #2872 of 30001
I look more rad than Lutheranism
Does anyone still need a dead man's trigger on a suicide bomber's vest explained to them anymore?
Is that -- if the suicide bomber is killed before he can detonate his bomb, it detonates anyway? (I hadn't heard the term before, but it seems self-explanatory.)
Beverly - Oct 23, 2011 11:26:21 am PDT #2873 of 30001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
It's usually a spring-loaded, hand-held detonator--like a grenade after you pull the pin--that has to be held, or pressure maintained on the trigger, to prevent detonation. The bomber dies, the pressure is released, and boom.
Ginger - Oct 23, 2011 11:31:35 am PDT #2874 of 30001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
It's designed to discourage people from shooting the bomber.
§ ita § - Oct 23, 2011 11:54:03 am PDT #2875 of 30001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It's precisely what it appears to sound like, but it hadn't occurred to me that people wouldn't know, and would be deducing it from the sentence.
It's derived from the railway, where the trains were designed to stop if the engineer controlling them died, IIRC.
Beverly - Oct 23, 2011 11:58:36 am PDT #2876 of 30001
Days shrink and grow cold, sunlight through leaves is my song. Winter is long.
They have them for boats, too. There's a ring that slips over the ignition on one end of a cord, the other end clips onto the driver's clothing or life vest. If the driver goes overboard, the cord pulls the ignition. It acts as a kill-switch. There's one on my treadmill. I never use it, though. Perhaps I should?
Amy - Oct 23, 2011 12:02:52 pm PDT #2877 of 30001
Because books.
It's derived from the railway, where the trains were designed to stop if the engineer controlling them died, IIRC.
Oh yeah! The dead man's brake, I think it was called.
Burrell - Oct 23, 2011 12:23:04 pm PDT #2878 of 30001
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
Oh Theo, much ~ma to your family.
Lee - Oct 23, 2011 12:53:24 pm PDT #2879 of 30001
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
I'm so sorry, Theodosia. I hope it all works out and telling your mom goes well.
erikaj - Oct 23, 2011 1:04:32 pm PDT #2880 of 30001
Always Anti-fascist!
smonster, I'm going to start season 5 next week--the funny part is that mom likes it now.