Knives in the Net

It’s been an interesting couple of days for knives. I started searching online for news about knives, mostly in preparation for attending the Blade Show and found a link in the New York Times to a South American knife maker. http://www.artisanalknives.com/index.html


He specializes in Damascus steel with a traditional look that results in folding different steels onto themselves over and over…Did I mention you need to fold it over again?

I wish the website showed better images of his knives. The New York time suggest Damascus knives run about $150 an inch but Artisanal Knives charges significantly less. From the few images I saw at the website, I liked the simple, clean lines that give his knives elegance.

The UK is in the grip of weapon frenzy. Crime and violence continues to skyrocket. A recent news report recounts the tragic death of a youngster at the hands of a gang. The gang or mob (as they should be called) attacked him with baseball bats and knives. This adds to the growing tally of violence and death from crime in the UK. Of course pocket knives are a great bone of contention and are viewed by the English justice system as offensive weapons with no redeeming purpose. That little Case canoe the boys of your Scout troop gave you as Scout Master could get you hard time in England.

Concerned about UK’s problem of offensive weapons British scientists have warned the population about knife wielding robots. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7692660/Danger-robots-with-knives-could-attack-humans-accidentally.html

It seems that these tools could be armed with other tools that could be used in an offensive manner injuring humans.

Somebody, please anchored them to ground before these bubble-headed ideas make them float away. It appears the scientists were not talking about autonomous Cylons bent on destroying their human masters in an orgy of knife fighting.

No, this is more of if robots-were-using-knives-to-cut-something-and-you got-in-the-way, or if they ran into you, you might be stabbed. There wasn’t any discussion of what could happen if a 250-pound robot runs into you at 45 mph, or if a metal arm weighing 30 pound whips into you at 100 ft per sec. If you are wondering, just a few words to help: bones break, metal bends.

I must kill-kill-kill...and vacuum the floor!

I don’t know. Maybe we should be worried. My robotic floor cleaner, Rhoomba, has been hanging around the kitchen knife drawer a too much for my comfort.