The 30 Second Mystery 52 - Where?
 

There are four categories: Who, What, Where and Why. Some will be easy, some not. I have as many as six clues to help you along, which I'll supply as needed.

Please limit yourself to one guess, and another guess for each clue I supply. No questions asking for help or hints are allowed. Partially correct answers won't be acknowledged.

Wild guesses and comments are fine. In fact, they can add to the mystery and are fun to read. Be precise when guessing.

The Case:
After years of a bloody war on a scale greater than anything in recorded history, one side unveils a secret weapon - and uses it. Many lives are lost and the other side quickly surrenders.

The Mystery:
Where was the weapon unleashed and what was the weapon?

Oooh, I think I know the what of this one, but I don't know the where. Gotta think...

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Atomic Bomb.

*snaps*

Ripsaw- It's tough to join this game with all of you quick, smart folks around. I guess I'll have to try harder!

son of a... I missed it yet again... one of these days, I'm gonna catch one of these threads first....

Clue: The weapon was unleashed on a major city.

Troy and the trojan horse.

Points to BonesCPA. Very good.

Stay tuned...

I was thinking the longbow, but couldn't find a good location to put with it.

Don't ever assume someone is right simply because they posted faster than you. Play on. :)

My other almost choices were elephants, and the gatling gun.

About freakin' time. I haven't had a quality post in Knowledge since 'dax left. (Boy I miss those crosswords - you could seem intelligent by knowing the word "gnu".)

the thing is, there are many many wars where the unleashing of technology has caused one side to trample the other--the invention of--artillery, bombers, catapaults, juggernauts, cavalry. and over history the body count of wars has increased generally, since the population has increased and the world has become more global.

i'm sorry for being such a spoilsport. actually, i like most of these riddles peetster. it's a shame most of these are getting answered before we can ask interesting questions about them.

Re: The 30 Second Mystery 52 - Where?
 

You are correct. That's why the puzzle starts broadly and gets more narrow with each clue. We don't see many clues because some smart person usually figures it out first. Clues in this case would have narrowed the timeframe, the geography and the technology.

You're not being a spoilsport. These type of puzzles take some "getting used to". Stick with it and you'll find you enjoy them even more.

That rule is there for a good reason. Remember that a lot of riddles are linguistic. You might be the only person that looks at the key word the right way, and your question would give away the hidden meaning to everyone else.

not so fast...

mystery started 02-11-2004 11:04 AM

Session Start: Wed Feb 11 11:26:34 2004
Session Ident: peetster
[11:26] Hanxter> the trojan horse
[11:26] peetster> Nice!
[11:26] Hanxter> heh
[11:27] peetster> Don't post it. ok?
[11:27] Hanxter> i won't
[11:27] peetster> Let the kids muddle it through.
[11:27] peetster> Man, you ARE good.
[11:27] Hanxter> but you heard it here first

It's just the Man trying to keep a brother down. I know that admins had power, but I didn't realize they had the ability to adjust time logs. Damn, it starts to make you think you got a target on your back. :lol:

FWIW, I'm not sure I would call the Trojan Horse a weapon. It was more of a covert vehicle.

I'll defer to the military historians here (if any), but to me a weapon is something that causes damage, not something that delivers things that cause damage.

Aw, I'm just being grumpy b/c I jumped on the atom bomb bandwagon

By your definition, a gun is not a weapon.

I will most certainly stand by the assertion that a weapon can be a delivery system, in which case, the Trojan Horse certainly performed it's duties.


-Ripsaw, bandwagon starter.

[argumentative]

fair point, though I would say that the projectile fired by a gun is, like the arrow fired by a bow, is integral to the gun itself.

if the trojan horse is a weapon, are the jumbo jets used to transport troops to war zones weapons?

[/argumentative]

Meriam Webster is quite useful in this regard.

1 : something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy
2 : a means of contending against another

A post I was intending to pen involved the escalation of weapons, but it basically boiled down to the fact that weapons were used to settle disagreements. The Trojan Horse was used to deliver Greek soldiers past the Trojan defenses, much like a metal spike would be used to defeat plate armor. A jumbo jet dropping soldiers behind enemy lines delivers the injurious, damaging and/or victorious soldiers to the point where they can do more damage than charging into forward facing gun emplacements.