This story from the Washington Times seems more ridiculous than ridiculously awesome, but the base of it is that some official in the Department of Homeland Security has "expressed great interest" in a wrist bracelet that can be remotely activated to stun the wearer. It works by taking the place of a boarding pass, which you then wear on your wrist so the flight attendants can know who you are, where you are, and even shock you if you're misbehaving. What makes this thing completely absurd is the diagram after the jump. A man threatens a crew member with a knife. The crew member shocks the man into submission, then SHOCKS EVERYONE ELSE as punishment for sitting passively by while he was being threatened.

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Remember that camera modded to shock anyone who used it? Some genius thought it would be absolutely hilarious to use it at school. (Okay, it would be.) Anyway! The mischievous little bastard didn't even get the chance to zap the schoolyard bully before the cops swooped in and busted his arse, though they deprived us of ironic hilarity by not tasing him. Instead, they slapped him with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, attempted assault and breach of peace. So try this at home, not at school, kids. [WCBS via Geekologie]

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A man who allegedly received an electric shock from his Zune headphones has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft. Joel Geddis received the shock in November of 2006, and since then he has suffered "blood and fluid leakage from (his) ear canal" and "incessant ringing and discomfort". This news comes days after iPod classic owners reported similar incidents since a new firmware update. Update: Joel has written us to clarify his claim.

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I found the skull-poundingly monotonous drum beat combined with a complete lack of voiceover and "oh my, you're dumb, home viewer" finger-pointing a teensy bit annoying. But! It's super easy to follow and it looks simple enough to build your own ghetto stun gun, so much so that I might whip my own up to put my four-year-old cousin in place when she's bothering me by acting like a small child. [Metacafe]

Geltec Corporation has been working on its shock-absorbing gel, and now has improved upon its Alpha Gel with this Beta Gel, shown here protecting an egg from its untimely demise as it plummets from a dizzying height of just over 72 feet. Remarkable. It just seems to defy the laws of physics. We want some of this stuff installed in our walking shoes for the next trade show. We also got quite a kick out of the frantic enthusiasm of these Japanese TV personalities. [Japan Probe]

Middle school student Jessyratfink (not her real name) came up with an innovative &mdash and utterly brazilliant &mdash project for her science fair: an electric chair for Barbie. You can find out just how she did it on the Instructables website, but there's a small gallery below of her handiwork.

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The lasses over at Shiny Shiny took the shocking taser gun and brought them out for a little fun—at each other's expense. Not to spoil the fun, but Zara and Katie throw out their usually composed British demeanors and zap out all their latent workplace aggression in the span of 30 seconds. Susi from Shiny Shiny says this is their best video ever, which we'd definitely agree with if Susi herself had been in it and it were a three-way shockfest. [Shiny Shiny via I Want One of Those]

This stun gun, dubbed the small fry, could easily pass for a wallet in a dark alley. I'd imagine it could be used in a mugging where instead of handing over your wallet, you hand over 1,000,000 volts.

It manages both its tiny size (its the smallest on the market) with its powerful punch (the company claims the highest volts of any comparable system) by losing the 9v batteries that most tasers use for what I'd guess is a nicad or lithium battery. That also means you can recharge the little bugger. Not bad for $80. I wonder if there's a way to turn an old iPod's lipoly battery into something like this with a capacitor? [PersonalSecurity via Red Ferret]

A version of Pac-Man that administers electric shocks to gamers has been shedding light on how the human brain reacts to danger. Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at UCL found that the closer the gamers got to danger, the more impulsive was their response. "In effect, the less free will you will have," explained the study leader, Dean Mobbs.

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A Russian weapons company is hot on the trail of the ultimate super-soaker: a portable water cannon that has enough force to lift you off your feet. Special Materials Ltd, a St Petersburg company, is researching the idea of a "non-lethal weapon based on electro-hydrodynamical effect," which is basically a short, sharp electric shock hidden in a jet of water. The resulting blow, however, is more sack of rice than baseball bat, meaning that the chance of serious injury is more remote. Well, that's what they say.

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