In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes, and brocade...

Quoth Iain Thomson in El Reg:

But the Sandia system is unusual in that it relies on a smooth bore barrel to fire the projectile, rather than the rifled guns used for the last few hundred years

Er... last few hundred?  This from a Brit?  (A Brit reporting from San Francisco, but still.)  History, man, history!