Here is a sentence you don’t see every day: The University of Nebraska–Omaha’s new Baxter Arena is about to deliver a cannon that fires foil-wrapped taco missiles from locally famous taqueria Voodoo Taco. Eric Newton, Voodoo’s owner, has been hard at work perfecting this device ever since news of its existence broke last April, and now Yahoo says fans at the hockey team’s home series against Air Force will get to see it in action this weekend, though it’s probably best if they don’t blink while it’s operating.
Seriously — watch as UNO’s goalie gamely volunteers to have the goods fired at him:
Newton realizes “some people were worried” after seeing this demonstration, so he promises he’s dialed the pressure down. Ideally, he hopes to launch 3 to 12 tacos every game. They’ll be wrapped up “pretty good,” but they’ll also be including a disclaimer about how “They did get fired out of a taco cannon, so here’s a little gift card to come over to the restaurant and eat.” As proof of their hardiness, Newton has also launched a bunch into a busy street before to show they can somehow emerge from their firing still intact:
While Voodoo’s gun has been hailed as the “world’s first” taco cannon, it’s actually not. A taco launcher that was less “simple cannon” and more “Gatling gun” debuted at an Austin music fest in 2012, and somebody who cares very much about this whole argument created TheTacoCannon on Twitter to empower taco truthers. Voodoo Taco has since said it has “mad respect” for the creators of that earlier taco hurler and adds they’re working on a “taco turret,” which actually does sound somewhat dangerous. Even Newton admits that idea currently gives UNO’s people “lots of concerns,” but where would we be in this world if people didn’t push past those concerns to create true innovation?
