How to Kill a War Elephant

Last weekend, I had a debate tournament. While we were sitting around waiting for the awards ceremony to start, several of my teammates and I got into a rather fascinating conversation. Don't ask exactly how we got on this topic - it is far too complex to try and explain. Sufficed it say, we started talking about the best way to kill a war elephant.

Here are the circumstances that were eventually agreed upon. (Yes, I realize that they aren't exactly logical or coherent. We are ok with that )

The war elephant is an Asian elephant, in a field in India. There is a mature sequoia forest about two miles from the elephant. The field is flat and empty. You have your choice of one weapon to defeat the elephant, but it can't be a technological weapon. For the purposes of this discussion, "technological" is defined as mechanically moving parts.

What would you use?

Aaron decided that he wanted a longbow with arrows that had been poisoned with some sort of a neurological agent to paralyze the elephant.

Nick decided that he wanted a longbow with arrows that were made of potassium or sulphate (I think) because they explode when they come into contact with liquid.

I decided that I wanted a grown Komodo Dragon. Their saliva is one of the deadlier natural poisons.

Friday, October 31, 2008