Spock to U.S. Air Force: 'Set PHaSR to stun'

We generally avoid the sci-fi related posts around here despite the fact that we're run by the SCI FI Channel, but we can't pass up on two super-nerdy Star Trek-themed posts in one week. It may have taken 40 years, but the U.S. Air Force finally has developed what the crew of the Starship Enterprise had in their arsenal decades ago: a working stun gun. The Personal Halting and Stimulation Response or PHaSR stops people in their tracks when they fall down laughing at the name… er, I mean they get blasted by a dazzling nonlethal beam of laser light, creating an effect similar to walking out from a dark movie theater into the bright sunshine. The idea is that you could use the PHaSR to control hostile crowds and for perimeter defense at checkpoints and the like. No word as to whether a nice pair of Ray Bans or Oakleys might prove to be an effective countermeasure against this menacing new weapons system, and who knows what kind of havoc you could wreak with a pair of mirror shades.