You know that “Great Stuff” that they sell at Home Depot? I just went through a bottle of it. You know how it expands? (As pictured here)?

Totally reminds me of a science-fiction weapon I read about as a kid; one that completely creeped me out and kind of frightened me to think about a bit.

The story was about a society that basically had two sides, the “suppressionists” and the “freedom lovers” (for lack of better description). The free people were basically trying to escape society. There was telepathy involved, I think. Eventually, “the man” came in the form of helicopters. The fired their weapons upon the people trying to escape. The weapon was basically like “spider web goo”. It was possibly a bioweapon based on actual spider DNA; I don’t remember.

The point was, it stuck to you and there was no getting off. In the space of 60 seconds it expanded. A LOT. Basically, as it stuck to your skin and expanded, it ripped your skin and such right off you, essentially killing you in a very painful way.

Plus it had the added benefit that it could be deployed like naplam and just thrown all over everybody without aiming, thus making it that much scarier. (By comparison, guns are almost humane — You know who you’re killing, you have a good chance of missing, you need to be really sure of what you’re doing and trained to do it right, and if done right you kill someone instantly in a way where the family can still have an open-casket funeral.)

ANYWAY, the Home Depot “Great Stuff” also sticks to your skin and expands. It’s hurting me. Right now. As I type this. And reminding me of this sci-fi weapon I read about as a child.

I’m glad this stuff takes an hour to expand.

P.S. I don’t even remember who the story is by, or what it was called. (Can somebody please tell me if this rings a bell?) It was from a hardback anthology of science fiction stories that my Dad owned, which I read through. Could have been Asimov; who knows.

UPDATE: A better foam gun to use “Great Stuff”-like foam without having the gun self-seal after periods of non-use:

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004096.php

Mood: victorious over evil raccoons
Music: Gwar – Bloody Mary

http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004096.php