Slings 'n Things

There is going to be a shorter post today - I've homework to get though, and a laser-quest game! Yes, laser-quest; I am a Scouter (well, scouter-in-training) with a scout troop (good for the community hours, and having a few outtings isn't so bad either!), and I'm there supervising tonight. But I get to play too, so I'm not complaining! I'll post some pics of this later... its sure to be fun. Ahead of time, I would like to apologize for my poor pictures - my Sony DSC just doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

On friday, my friend and I built some mini-crossbows out of rubber bands and rulers in math class - it was a free period - and perforated apples with 'em. This gave me an idea: what other 'weapons' can I fashion from things lying around my house (or school room)? The result: the humble sling, made from cotton twine and a strip of an orphaned sock for the basket.



My homemade sling. Can you believe Goliath got toasted by one of these?
 
Slings work by multiplying the working force upon the stone, by effectively acting as an extension to your arm. One end of the string has a finger loop, the other, knots. You swing the sling to build up momentum, and then release the knotted end, thus throwing the rock. This homemade sling does the trick – it does indeed fling stones a good distance, to about 100 meters. Unfortunately, due to the sock pouch, rock tend to slip out, and also the thin strings always get tangled.
I tested this sling in a park nearby, and got there by biking. It was snowing today, and since I always am looking for an excuse to snow cycle, this testing was one excuse that couldn't be passed up. Too bad it was a little windy – otherwise, it wasn't too cold. About -7C by my estimates.


Ignore the purpleness - it was actually quite nice with a white covering of snow everywhere. I had to beware of ice, though. 

Right now, I'm running my 'winter' set-up: I've switched into some 41mm Chen Shin 'Dual Sport' tyres, which really have quite a bit of traction even when at the max. 75 psi. Still like skates on ice, I found out. I'm thinking of ghetto-winterizing the tyres by shoving some tacks through them - anybody out there with advice on this?
Back to the story: Found some rocks and tested it. Knocked a tree ~30m away hard enough to knock down snow from the braches.

Rock in the sling.
 So, for anyone wondering, Yes!... David probably wouldn't have had a hard time taking down Goliath, especially since he had years of training and I was still able to whack a tree with 5 minutes practice. 
Camera, taking picture from sling. Note: No cameras
were harmed in the taking of this pciture

That's about it for today, I'm off to do math.

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