Why Do 16th-Century Manuscripts Show Cats With Flaming Backpacks?

nationalgeographic. ^ | March 10, 2014 | Brad Scriber

[Sacajaweau]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_fire

[JoeProBono]

[Paradox]

Hah! Reminds me of the WWII Bat Bomb.

[Sacajaweau]

Joe....awesome....Wonder what else is in the book.

I was just thinking about the Muzzies....weren't they going to use a balloon or something to carry some kind of WMD?

[JoeProBono]

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes,

Not to mention that any man who can, in a short period of time, catch 300 foxes by himself is NOT someone you want to mess with.

[JoeProBono]

[Sacajaweau]

So cool....Love ya Joe.

[Spartan302]

Reminds me of a scene from “Wanted” where they use thousands of rats all carrying nuggets of HE and timers.

Then I imagine a police state gone bad and individuals down in secret sewer passageways under police stations opening cages after cages of “bomber-rats” into the HVAC systems.

[varon]

Why Do 16th-Century Manuscripts Show Cats With Flaming Backpacks?

Perhaps they were part of their postal system of carrier pigeons for first class mail and rocket boosted cats for the heavier parcel post. Both being the precursor to our pony express and finally to snail mail?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

I’ve read that the US did the same thing using bats with small incendiary packs in WWII, against the Japanese.. It didn’t work.

[JoeProBono]

[golux]

Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with numerous compartments, each containing a Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb

[Gefn]

One day when my kitty was sleeping, I could see her eyelids moving like she was dreaming, then her nose twitched. I went to her ear and whispered “ birdie”. She started salivating, moved her little paws, flicked her tail, and looked like she was trying to run and pounce.

I repeated the same thing over the next week with the same results. Then one night she was sleeping next to me, I dreamed I was a cat along with her, and she said, “all kitties are Pegasus cats when we sleep”

I treasure that image.

[UCANSEE2]

[MeshugeMikey]

oh no.....old skoo CURSIVE...

[Last Dakotan]

I for one, welcome my robot jetpack animal overlords.

My mother is in the hospital, but you made me laugh. Thanks.

[Procyon]

Firefox?

[CrazyIvan]

CATalytic converter?

[TheOldLady]

That looks incredibly cruel and painful.

If the fire truly is aimed at the cat’s rump and tail, I can’t imagine its doing anything but run away screaming to die.

It’s barbaric, and not a whit amusing.