GoFlash

If the chameleon circuit was functioning, you probably wouldn't need a pocket TARDIS ("But that's not all! You'll also get the POCKET TARDIS! By Whoco.") - a regular one would probably crunch down if you asked nice.

Your point about Daisy's injury in "Consequences" not being due to Static showboating is correct, and logical. That said, I still think his reaction feels right. He got called on showboating by an adult, then was showing off while fighting Puff & Onyx. Even though the events leading to Daisy being hurt weren't a direct result of showboating, I think that a 15 year old would still blame himself in this situation. His reaction doesn't have to be logical, after all, and this feels like what a 15 year old would do (at least from my advanced years). Mike, I thought yu also were dead on abut Static's style being more like Spiderman in terms of joking, talking trash, etc. I didn't get the sense that this was about stopping him from being who he is so much as helping him find the right balance point. Of course, I usually try to justify and rationalize what we see. So, for "Toys In The Hood" , I'm going to roll up my sleeves, flex my argument muscles...turn around, and run away. That is just sick and wrong. As to "Parent Trap" you can leave a footprint in wood. Hit a 2x4 with a hammer, and it won't splinter, it will make an indentation. As to their focus on that vs. concrete...hey, "He left a footprint in wood" is nowhere near as bad as "It's a fire that burns through everything...even ice."

Oops, one thing I forgot until I saw one of my co-workers who had mentioned this. OK, so Virgil goes to Africa, and feels like "just a regular kid" rather than "a black kid" for the first time in his life. I think a lot of people who are minorities in this country might feel that way in preparation for a trip like this. The thing is, I know several people who have gone back to their ancestral country feeling that way (given that I live in Hawaii, most of them are of Japanese descent... and frankly, that doesn't exactly make you look different in Hawaii. Technically everyone's a minority here, but people of Japanese descent are probably one of the if not the largest group). Anyways, what they all said on returning? "I felt like an American the whole time." So I wonder if Virgil really would have felt so "regular kid" - his skin color might have been the same as everyone else's (if not a bit lighter), but his cultural background and upbringing would have been very different, and based on what most of my friends in this situation have told me, that makes you feel as foreign as skin color. It's hard for me (another "big potato") to test - I'm sure I'd feel like an American in Ireland, but I wouldn't notice a difference for skin color - growing up in Minnesota does not exactly make you feel like you stand out being white (although living in Hawaii certainly can). Chris

Gents, I actually had a couple things I wanted to throw out... Mike, I have to say, I like the same thing that bugs you about Kangor. Building on the "one big potato" comment, why is it that so many heroes who didn't come from the US are typecast as only part of their home culture? Sure, there are national champions, Captain Britain, Sabra, etc. Fine, they don't count. There are certainly exceptions, like Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler...but then there were Banshee (cause he's Irish), Thunderbird (cause he's Native American...and I don't even know if the Thunderbird is specific to Apache culture, which would make it even worse), and Sunfire. Look at it from this perspective - if he's Jamaican, what superpowered identity would you wrap around that? Why shouldn't a guy at the big bang, who happens to be Jamaican, get strong legs and superhuman leaping? He tries to think of a nickname, and a kangaroo is the most obvious. I think it's kind of refreshing that they didn't go with the national-origin-dictates-your-powers-and-identity cliche. Instead, they made a poignant statement that we are all more than just our origins, but are complex, three-dimensional people...who do nothing but jump around and talk in a bad Jamaican accent. Same argument for Superman not being there for Brainiac (except for my BS about poignancy). Why WOULD he necessarily be right there during a freak incident? Why shouldn't he be on a mission somewhere? (Just Murphy's Law, really). Again, it's kind of nice to have a bit more real-life randomness written into the stories (if that makes sense). As to science questions, James, Mars does have an atmosphere. It's thin and poisonous (to us, that is. I assume J'onn can breathe it fine. Funny how he never complained about OUR air). I know that J'onn wore a pressure suit in "In Blackest Night". I assume he's in a similar situation to Superman. He can survive without one, but it's more comfortable for longer use (If I'm back on the mainland visiting in winter, I can run out in an aloha shirt to get the mail, but if I'll be out for a while, I want a thick coat). He was going into combat, so wore the suit for increased protection, but ditched it as he got through the wall so that it wouldn't slow him down. As to batarangs in space, the free-fall (not zero-gravity, dammit!) would mean that they wouldn't drop when thrown. A bigger effect would be the lack of air - no slowing due to friction, and the aerodynamic effects of a batarang wouldn't be there. Plus, trying to throw it with thick space gloves. Still - Batman is taking part in outer space missions. He has access to areas of vacuum and free-fall. Given how they've handled Batman to this point, I think we can safely assume that the day the Watchtower was built, he put on a pressure suit, went outside, and start throwing Batarangs until he had it mastered. FInally, about why Brainiac kept Ritchie alive. He's probably noticing some limitation due to having to limit himself to use Earth tech. He recognizes Ritchie's intelligence, and decides that he can use Ritchie's brain to increase his processing speed. It's easier to keep the brain in the body designed to keep it alive than take the time to build a support device for it. No emotion involved - just sees a component that can be useful and takes advantage of having it. Chris

Technically, "Krypto The Superdog" premiered towards the end of JL's run, in about 2005. I don't think Mike and James have suggested that that is in continuity (but maybe they're saving it. If they get enough complaints about TT being in continuity, they can start talking about Krypto being in continuity, figuring that everyone will get rabid about that and forget about TT. They can be devious like that). Chris

I don't think the creators of Static Shock ever said that the Big Bang corrupted those characters. If Static ever said it's because he is unsure why that person is committing crimes. He also may have been lying when he said that. Because he said that to Mirage about her older brother. I mean what could he say to her? "The truth is your older brother is sort of a psychopath that has a sick and evil criminal mind, and he has used you, because of your powers, to help him commit these injustice acts. In other words he has made you team up with him to steal money because he is a bad guy."? The guy is Mirage's older brother, I bet she still loves him, and so Static just said he is doing this because the Big Bang gas messed with his head. By the way this all happened in the episode "Brother-Sister Act". See, I like that interpretation much better.

I have to say, I don't really like the "reveal" that the Big Bang is what's corrupting everyone. The problem with this theory is that you then have to come up with another theory to explain the great gaping hole in the first - why are Static, Gear, the girl who travels through time later in the series, etc...immune? I wish they just went with the obvious. Why are so many Bang Babies criminal? Hmm. Let's see. Maybe the fact that the Big Bang happened in the middle of a gang war has a bit to do with it. If most of the people exposed were already engaged in criminal activity, then maybe most of them would continue to act in a criminal fashion. Nice. Simple. As to reinforcing the door in "Shaq" and the cage he made to contain Woofer Boy, I've pointed out before that the scope of his powers are similar to Magneto's, and using his powers to reinforce metal far past its normal strength is a trick that the Master Of Magnetism has done several times before. As to the studio wall - I'm falling back on my "evil is dumb" defense. James is right, that the stepfather didn't want Maureen. Even if he had, though, stepparents don't have a lot of rights. If a stepparent brings a child to the doctor, for example, there's not a lot that the doctor can do outside of emergency care, because a parent or guardian has to consent to treatment, and marrying a child's parent does not make you a guardian. Stepdad was a jerk, though, so he apparently didn't fight for her. In defense of Pop's girlfriend, who knows how much detail they got of the suspects. As soon as they approached Virgil, he started acting like he had something to hide, and ran away...if I was a cop, I'd be suspiscious, too. I'm not saying there wasn't any racial profiling, but it turned into a big issue because he was giving off "I'm hiding something vibes", too. I'll be honest, though, I can buy the throwing into space thing, especially since Trina had already said it was going to vaporize - much of that explosion may have been the gas and not Virgil. What I can't believe you guys didn't call out was this: I'm a courier transporting hazardous material. I will a) take a car, or b) take it on the subway. Well, and who wouldn't? All of the discussion about suspension of disbelief did make me thing of something Larry Niven once said - in a sci-fi story, people will accept time-travel. They'll accept a dragon. A time-traveling dragon? - that's pushing it (I wonder if that was a dig at Anne McCaffrey?) Chris

As I recall, in a later episode (at least season 3, because Gear is present), it's stated that Mrs. Hawkins (Jean, I believe) had died 5 years prior to the events of the series. It definitely felt like more of a city event, rather than a family one. It may be that this was the 5 year anniversary of the riots, and since the community center was involved heavily, they took the opportunity to put her in the spotlight, but that doesn't sound like the Hawkins family. Sometimes one person does end up taking center stage - think about that shot of the Marines raising the flag on Iwo Jima. She may have been representativve of all those who lost their lives. Of course, it's possible that there were a lot of injuries and property damage, but she was the only person who lost her life (or at least, the only one not in the gangs causing the riots). I reference to the e-mail, I'm to lazy to check, but I'm pretty sure that Ryder made a comment in his reporting in "Beware the Creeper" about how the Joker had many aliases. I had taken taht to mean that Jack Napier was one alias, but true name unknown. Maybe the casino owner only had one of the multiple choice answers, and that's why his file said Napier. Also, with the discussion of Tim in ROTJ, I had just noticed something. When Tim (in flashback) swings into action, there's a great Robin theme - bold and kind of cocky, it fits. So I finally got around to finishing the last season of Teen Titans. In "Go", the one that shows the origin of the Titans, when we first see Robin, the same theme plays. (And if you're wondering, I'm firmly on the side of the argument that involves more WFP 'cause I don't really care about most of the rest of the arguments). Chris

I can't help it. There's things that I think are stupid. Mike and James point out that they're stupid. Yet my stupid brain immediately comes up with an explanation for how it could happen. I try to beat it down, but I just can't. I can't believe I'm justifying this, but yes, hot dogs can explode. You superheat the water content, and it will explode outwards into very hot steam, explode the solid parts out (this is an extension of what happens with popcorn). Of course, to do this is going to raise the temperature of the organic parts of the hot dog (no jokes, please) well past their combustion temperature, so as they're thrown apart, they'll burst into flame. No argument, though, on the fact that actually DOING this means you have even less "street cred" than the geek who thinks up the way to EXPLAIN it. As to the microorganisms in "Grounded", the square-cube law is going to hit (this actually was first used in comics back when Henry Pym first figured out how to grow, rather than shrink). It would collapse under it's weight as one cell. Maybe what they thought was one cell was actually a synctium - multiple cells merged together with connected cell membranes. This is seen in some diseases in humans, but could both explain how this grew so fast and why there aren't billions of them - there are, but they're all clumped together. Again, I can't believe my brain is wasting my time coming up with these explanations instead of something more useful, like planning for the next big blizzard to hit here in Hawaii. As to what Static can or can't do, the first thing I would say is that Aperture Boy (F-Stop) probably is not a great authority on the limits of Static's powers. When Terry McGinnis (spoiler warning) refers to him as "one of our greatest heroes, with the power to change the world" in season 4, I can believe it, because he's definitely building to the DCAU's equivalent in power (if not temperment) of Magneto, just more electrically oriented. I think a lot of his limitations are going to be relative rather than absolute - some things are easier to work with than others, but he can work with quite a broad range of things as he learns how. Another not quite comic book reference that I definitely see with the big bang - I don't know if anyone else here ever read the Wild Cards series of books, where an alien virus is dropped on New York after WWII and kills most, disfigures some, and gives powers to a few, but the big bang, especially early on, seems very similar to Wild Card Day in the books. One final note - this actually was CC Pounder's second appearance in the DCAU, but the first was brief. She was credited in "Rebirth" as on of the talking heads (literally) giving the news in the subway. Chris

When James made the comment about anti-technology folks, the first thing that came into my head was "INFORMATION OVERLOAD, MAN!!!" In 1989 or 1990, there was an issue of X-Men (around the 230s) set in the Savage Land. It started with a research station in Antarctica. They were talking about the new shipment of movies, and someone complained that they couldn't get (Mike, put a cushion on the table, quick) "Batman" (See, the cushion is much easier on your forehead). If Marvel can reference a movie about a DC character in their universe, DC/Warner Brothers could certainly claim that an actor dressed as Squirrel Girl was at a comic convention in their universe. I also liked the part in "Cabin Pressure" after the main ship accidentally hit Zo, Reta, and Bucky's escape pod with the "shot across their bows". Look and listen to Bennett. He seems genuinely concerned and dismayed that they hit the pod (presumably, because that should have killed Ro and Becky). It was another nice 1-2 second character development - he may be a hard-ass and the antagonist, but he's not evil, and clearly identifies himself as one of the good guys. There hasn't been as much of that aspect since Lee left - it was good to see it again. I have to say, though, I was surprised during the review of the episode with Ro's brother (these episode names just don't stick in my head). I can't believe that you guys didn't comment on the huge plot hole. I'm Agent Bennett (huh. Just caught that. Maybe he should trade in his goggles for a pair of horn-rimmed glasses). I'm involved with a top-secret espionage program, which uses robots to masquerade as people and get information. We have a rogue robot. To capture him, and maintain this TOP-SECRET operation, I'll accept help from a news organization in exchange for an exclusive on the capture. Ya-what? Isn't it hard to have a secret operation without the secret part? Sure, there have been leaks, but going live at 11? And you think West should be fired. Chris

Couple of things I've noticed - some from this batch, some in general: About Zeta's weight, I buy that he's only a bit heavier than say a 6 foot man. Put him 200-250. If he's supposed to be infiltrating, he needs to be unobtrusive. If he was 5, 6,, 700 lbs, every time he got in a car, sat in a chair, got on an elevator, people would notice that he weighed much more than he should. In that case, I can maybe buy a 15 year old half carrying, half dragging someone that size for short bursts in desperation. In the Hub episode, I ddin't think that locking out Zeta's credits was the worst plan ever. It raised a question, though - and this is one of those things that always piss me off in futuristic shows. It's the assumption, that people in the future are stupid, and won't be able to do things we do. Zeta has this code embedded that lets him draw unlimited credits. Snce it's the future, that code would authorize his transactions. If the cops can trace your credit card now, why can't they do it in 35 years? Or, hey - freeze the damn account! Give the infiltration units under your control an updated code, and lock Zeta out from money! Oy! As to Agent West still having a job, believe me - there is a LOT of work, paper trail, etc to fire a government employee. Granted, West is a sworn agent, so the rules are different than civil service, but it's not like canning the kid working the counter at McD. Mike, I definitely got the Dorothy Gale reference - either it's not just you, or you and I suffer from whatever that cool word Huntress threw at Question, too (the tendency to see connections where none exist). As to the Brain Trust, they did name the albino "Edgar" which let them tie it in with JLU "Double Date" a bit more (once, that is, they concieved of a series called JLU and wrote an episode called Double Date". As to their motivation, though, I think they said something about it would give some children abilities, and others, well, you can't make an omelette... (That was the sense, at least). That would make it easy to grab the enhanced children and raise them - after all, that is their usual mode of operation. I guess I look at their reason much the same as the Lords Cardinal recruited young mutant, through the Massachusetts Academy, as the Hellions to...just have more firepower on their side for whatever nefarious plot they needed. Hey, it worked for the Hellfire Club - it seems like enough of a motivation for most supervillains. As a final note, while I hate to say this about the DCAU - does anyone else get the feeling that we're putting more thought into analyzing some of these episodes than was put into making them? Chris

Lobo was just a pain to watch. Although, once again, Mike brought some enjoyment to them - when he referred to the Lobo For President episode as "breaking up the flow", I burst out laughing - I think he felt the same way about that comment. I did think the discussion about one s two Rogues in Nolan was odd. You were both speaking as though 1 is the default for Nolan films, with Two Face not quite counting according to Mike. Am I misremembering here? Batman Begins: Falcone (granted, not a Rogue, but definitely part of the Batman fabric), Scarecrow, Ra's, and a brief appearance by Zsasz. The Dark Knight: Joker, Two-Face You can argue that Two Face is an anti-hero; you can point out Scarecrow was working for Ra's, but the fact remains, he's never done a movie with only one rogue in it. As far as Talia, I agree - introducing her as the daughter of Ra's, out to get revenge for her dead father, would cripple the character. Been there, done that. "Love triangle" is probably the best way to describe that relationship, and that's the only way you can really get into the character. I'd love it if they did bring back Ra's, but a) I think you would need that Lazarus Pits to do that, and that would be a bit too sci-fi for the Nolanverse, and b) that would probably be viewed as too much focus on Ra's. You could do multiple episodes in a TV show, but for 3-4 movies with the same cast (which is about the most you can hope for), especially given how many possibilities there are to choose from, I don't see them devoting another episode to a Bruce-Ra's-Talia movie, no matter how dramatic that might be. Riddler or comics Bane would be a possibility. Scarface might be interesting to see as well. I wouldn't mind a short appearance by Catwoman, but she's a thief. She doesn't operate on the scale of "city in peril" that fits with the other movies. Something along the lines of Day Of The Samurai or Night of the Ninja might work, given the time spent on Bruce's early travels in the first movie, but they already had Ra's come back from Bruce's past. Nolan ruled out Penguin - I think we can also rule out Roxy Rocket, the team up between Baby Doll and Killer Croc, and the Sewer King.

Just a couple of thoughts - As to Mike's question about whether James might have preferred certain episodes (Rats, the computer one) had more established characters been the villains, I can hear you two now. "I can't believe they made (name of villain) appear in this piece of crap episode! I think that's worth a point off right there! If they're going to do such a crappy plot, at least don't wast a good villain!" About the favorite villains, I still think that Spellbinder had some of the most intelligent plans in the DCAU (and when I say "intelligent", I mean "could actually work and may even make you back your investment" - not so much in the first episode, but certainly in "Eyewitness" and "Hooked Up". His episodes are often kind of lackluster, but I did appreciate the fact that his plots were better than average. Chris

La La Land Records, who finally gave us a BTAS soundtrack, are re-releasing the Mask of the Phantasm soundtrack. It's currently available on iTunes, but is only about 35 minutes of music. The new release is 62 minutes, so almost twice as much music, plus a 20 page booklet that I'll never read because the only way I use CDs is as fodder for my iPod, but someone else might like it. Still no JL soundtrack, but the fact that they're releasing more DCAU music is encouraging.

What about Iceman?!? And Flash Thompson?!? Gasp. (My daughter was home with stomach flu this week and wanted to watch Spider-man and his Amazing Friends.) I'd bring up Freddie Jones, too, but Mike, given his HUGE love for Scooby Doo, would probably comment... In response to the first e-mail, "Spider-Man The Musical" is by no means the first. In the 70s, there was "It's a Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman!" which had a run on Broadway and actually aired on ABC. I think that http://www.supermanhomepage.com has one of the songs available for download. I also remember in the late 80s seeing ads in Marvel Comics featuring Captain America with a cane and top hat doing a tap routine, advertising for a female partner to sing and dance for a proposed Captain America musical. In 2002, Jim Steinman, who has worked with Meatloaf, and Tim Burton had ben working on a Batman musical. He actually posted some of the demo versions of the songs at the memorial website - http://www.freewebs.com/batman_themusical I'll warn you, though, none of them are as good as "A Superstitious Cowardly Lot". I like to think that they started, then someone showed them "Out Of The Past" and they realized that this just wouldn't work.

Welcome back, guys! I think that before the Other George W kept talking, he summed it up - gay for Ra's, not so much for Bruce. In "King's Ransom", I think that Mike's attitude can be summed up by Storm's line to Wolverine after he stabbed Rachel Summers to save Selene in X-Men 209 (or maybe 208 - this was 20+ years ago) "I understand your action, Logan. That does not mean I condone it." The thing is, as much as you see it from King's perspective, you also see it from Queen's. Everything King does just gets them in worse and worse trouble. This was certainly not an epic episode, but it was a good, solid one - you really see and understand where both characters are coming from, and their response to the situation worsens the situation - hey, that's real life. About the comment in "Betrayal", where Bruce tells Terry to leave it for the cops, while in a first season episode, he had laid down that "Batman always comes first. Every night makes a difference." I can interpret that as a sign of the growing relationship between Bruce and Terry. At first, he's trying to drill the seriousness of this into this punk kid, and takes as hard-line of an approach as possible. Now, though, Terry has proved himself much more, so Bruce can start exposing him to the gray areas. Sure, Batman needs to have a deep commitment - but a simple rule with no exceptions doesn't keep you live for 80 years. There has to be some judgment in the loop, and that's what Bruce is addressing. Terry knows the rules. Now he needs to know when to bend them. Again, good to have you guys back! Chris

Actually, it was TIME TV. I think I read that there was some comment that he was a couple of hundred years old when he got the TARDIS at some point in the series, so the First Doctor was probably only travelling for 200-250 years before regenerating. Still, he seemed to get a lot more mileage out of that one... Of course, the other thing is that each regeneration seems to make him younger - I think Matt Smith, who will play the 11th Doctor in 2010, is 26. Maybe this is where they got the idea for Mork's people getting younger - when Mork & Mindy aired, theyed already gone from Hartnell to Tom Baker, so it could have been... Chris

As an update, I was just checking the La La Land Records site on the off chance that they're announcing the release of something similar for another DCAU project. (That's right. I'm on tenterhooks awaiting the release of "The Zeta Project" score. Well, that and trying to figure out what "tenterhooks" means). Anyways, the BTAS score was a limited edition of 3000 copies. Suprise, suprise - all sold out. Bad news - if you haven't gotten it yet, you have to wait for a rerelease (unless you're...shall we say...suave). Good news - hopefully this will convince whoever makes these decisions that if you sell out in a month, maybe there possibly could be a bit of a market here, and we'll get some more releases. Chris

So here's a thought from a non-expert. I'm on Tennant's first season, and have hardly watched any of the classic shows yet, so I'm just a rank tyro here, but, boy, this is addicting. I have read a bit about the different Doctors. Mike brought up that the first Doctor seemed more fearful than his successors (although the ninth Doctor cheerfully admitted to being a coward in "The Parting of the Ways".). Mike and Dan talked about this as an example of the differences between regenerations. Another way to look at it, though, is this: I think that the first Doctor at one point says he's 450 years old. In the revised series, the ninth Doctor talked about being in a phone booth for 900 years. Look at it this way: The first regeneration lasted 450 years. The next 8 combined didn't last much longer. Dude, you only get 12 regenerations. You need to make them last a bit longer. Maybe that fearfulness is a good thing. Chris

Yes, you are. Signed, the actual oldest member

Of course, our volcanoes are pretty laid back about it - we've had a pretty much continuous eruption since 1983 on the big island, so I'll take the lava over ash and pyroclastic activity (Pyroclastic is just a neat word - as long as you're not underneath it). Chris

Mike, I just chipped in as well. I suppose that if we raise more money than you need (right, like there's such a thing), you could always apply the balance to kicking off that "WFP - - - LIVE!!!" fundraising drive... Are we getting you closer to where you need to be? Oh and as far as the apology for the direct appeal - maybe we all needed a bit of a reminder of how much you invest in running this for us. Thanks, man. Chris

Ooooohhhhh! That tabloid argument is a good one! Hell, I'd almost concede the point if it weren't for the fact that Bruce had very recently made the news regarding the direction of the company. His (elderly) face is out there. "Aha! You're using Bonetti's defense against me, eh?"

I see your point, Mike, but I would argue that there are a lot of people who are huge in business - when I lived in Omaha, I shared the city with Warren Buffett, who's the second richest man in the country. No idea what he looks like. Maybe some of this is that I don't follow business, so I'm vaguely aware of some of these names, but really have never felt the need to commit them to memory. As far as the playboy argument - how many 40 year old tabloids from the late 60's have you read? (In case you missed the high points, Liz and Richard Burton are fighting, Judy Garland missed a concert date because she was getting her stomach pumped for drugs, and you can print stories about Elvis, but no-one will believe a word you say). We can both make points that the other will agree with, and it comes down to which have more weight - I have a feeling that this is just going to be one of those where we shake hands, smile, and agree that we're going to disagree on how recognizable Bruce Wayne is in his late 70s. Chris

I agree, and I've certainly seen pictures of both men. I'll be honest, though - if I was at work and saw Bill Gates walking around, I'm not sure that I'd immediately twig to the fact that this was Bill Gates and not some other average looking middle-aged guy. Granted, I did bump into Dog the Bounty Hunter at Ala Moana while finishing my Christmas shopping, and, I'm embarrassed to say, recognized him instantly (I've never watched the show! I swear!), but how many CEO's do you think you'd recognize immediately if they were walking around in your workplace? I'm not sure if I'd even recognize the head of our hospital - I know that I wouldn't recognize Richard Branson, Michael Bloomberg, Steve Jobs. I might recognize Bill Gates. I'd stand a fair chance of recognizing Donald Trump, but he spends enough time on TV to cross the line from straight CEO to media personality. Failing that argument, if they used the "fans believe the world is real" stereotype, I could always plead the "scientist so wrapped up in his work that he has no idea what's going on around him" stereotype. Hey, it's at least as realistic as the "computers explode more easily than Ford Pintos filled with C-4" image. Seriously, aren't calculators about 4 bucks now? That's gotta be cheaper than custom built exploding batarangs - and possibly of higher yield. Of course, throwing calculators at people probably will not strike fear into the hearts of criminals, but... OK, stopping rant now... Chris