A question I've been posing to people recently: if you were undergoing Chinese water torture, would it be worse if the drops came relentlessly at regular intervals, or if they always kept you guessing?
About 2 out of 3 people think the first is better because you could possibly tune it out. The other 1 out of 3, myself included, think the irregularity would at least keep things interesting, and that the sheer inevitability of a regular beat would drive one insane.
Well, this is by no means an exhaustive study, but I tried it out in the bathtub tonight. I was definitely wrong about the irregularity keeping things interesting. Although the beat was fairly regular, every once in a while the faucet would machine-gun me with 10 drops in rapid fire; not knowing when this would happen was awful. If the drops come at small, even intervals you could tune it out I found. Still, if the interval is like 30 seconds, you're not going to be able to time them anyway, and in this case forcing the victim to watch the drop form and anticipate its fall will probably drive them crazy on a longer time scale. I also found out it's still pretty bad with your eyes closed...when the drop suddenly detonates on your forehead it scares the crap out of you. This too would drive you nuts though in a jittery sort of way. So I guess it's all about your intended psychological effect.
I hope this information will be of use in your future endeavors in the field of torture.
Posted by Alan at February 1, 2004 09:05 PMalan is a pimp
Posted by: anonymous at February 1, 2004 09:36 PMNext time I'm in the nefarious clutches of a bunch of really sick bastards with the patience to tie me up under a semi-steady drip instead of just busting out the rubber hose and the battery cables, I'll be thinking of you in your bathtub. I'm not sure what that's going to do to the quality of the experience.
Posted by: Brennen at February 2, 2004 03:43 PMI owe all my pimping ability to my pimp sensae: http://blogs.thegotonerd.com/twht/archives/000272.html.
On the other hand I have no idea what one would do with a rubber hose & battery cables. I mean by themselves, I get it, but is there some synergy that I'm missing here?
Posted by: Alan at February 2, 2004 11:48 PMThe best part of this is the fact that you tried it in your bathtub! Why have I never thought of that?
It might be a nice challenge to see who can take it the longest...
Posted by: Matt at February 3, 2004 04:13 PMNo synergy I'm actually aware of; just the first two relatively low-maintenance instruments of pain-infliction that came to mind.
Of course, now that I think about it, the battery cables are more or less useless without a source of power, and depending on the situation that could be almost as elaborate and time consuming as the dripping water thing. Probably a hell of a lot more effective, though.
Posted by: Brennen at February 4, 2004 02:32 PM