Project for 2010

As 2010 is my third year at university and catapults have proved to be somethign of a diversion I’ll only be working on one thing outside my academic work next year. There will be no exhibitions, events, talks, WMD Weekend, powerpoint presentations, audio scripts, breakfast radio interviews or new plans made avaiable. Nothing, zip zlitch nada.

The one project I will be undertaking is of course possibly a bit larger than previous ones. If I was NASA we’d be at about the Saturn V point in development.

I started with Tiny: (A free plan is here)

Followed by Katie: (Yeah like I’m going to give up this plan for free)

About Christmas 2010 Big Tim will operational. A 6.6 metre throwing arm swinging counterweight trebuchet. Thats 26′ 7″ for those of you stuck in Imperial measurement time.

Yeah its a little on the largish side. Actually with the arm vertical its about 10.5 metres in the air with the release point of the ball being at about 14 metres HAG (46 feet). Since the ammo is 16lb bowling balls I would recommend not standing in the impact area (Note to self: Add that to the risk management plan, avoid being hit by 16lb bowling ball doing 160k/h. Important safety tip.) The local mill is donating the timber and in fact he’s custom milling it for me. There will of course be other expenses for the fittings. So if you do feel inclined to help out you can donate to the 22AD Research Fund via paypal. If you would like a copy of the tennis ball ballista plan for you donation let me know.

In late 2009 news I’m now past 10,000 words of the 20,000 word book on catapults as detailed in the post two below from this one. Hopefully I’ll be done before Christmas… this year. If you are interested in getting a copy let me know in the comments.

See how long you’re allowed to wear one of these…

If anyone is feeling particularly generous this year…

As both my regular readers know I’m a poor student living on noodles and mouldy bread and I have to walk 8 miles through the snow to get to school (which is damned hard in mid summer I can assure you!) My catapulting is entirely funded by what I can find down the back of the cushions and several very generous donations from military types who shamelessly encourage my violent tendencies which I then pass on to the local youth disguised as “history”. So once again I’m holding my hand out as I have a pressing need for two particular books:

Greek And Roman Artillery, Technical Treaties
E. W. Marsden
And
Greek and Roman Artillery. Historical Development
E. W. Marsden

For those in the business Marsden is the bible for ancient catapults and you’re either a disciple or a heretic, but Marsdens is The Word you’re fighting over.

These books are of course quite expensive so if you feel inclined to help out with the cause but don’t have the loose change to go about buying books for strangers you can donate through paypal to the 22AD Research Fund. The research fund goes towards building new machines and research material which can include research into the effects of alcohol at post event bbq’s.

“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Albert Einstein

I believe beer helps this research process at the “what the hell am I doing” end of the scale. While I don’t believe in the something for nothing principle I’m happy to give anyone who donates anything a copy of my tennis ball ballista plan. which you can view here and here.

Just out of interest if everyone who had downloaded my trebuchet plan had donated $1 I could have bought both these books, all the text books (23) for my next year at university… and a car.

In catapult related news I’m working on two books at the moment based on my research and this may well be related to the two books mentioned above. I’m writing a boring academic one and I’m editing a kids version of it written by a friend of mine who is much better at getting to the point and not waffling a load of verbose bollocks. they should be available mid next year. Email me if you’re interested in a copy and I’ll put you on a notification list.  22adartillery AT gmail DOT com

Update on those pesky Marines in New Zealand

Some of you may recall that a while back the Marines at the Embasy in Wellington very kindly presented Joan Ellis with a string of pearls in recognition of her self published book A String Of Pearls wich is a compilation of letters and stories from New Zealand woman and US marines who tell how it was to grow up in a world at war and what it was like for them in New Zealand during WWII. Joan is a resident of Paraparaumu where the Marines was based during the Second World War and they deployed to Pacific theatre from Wellington.

I posted it a while back and as you can Joan has commented on the post letting us know that she has both revised A String of Pearls and published her second book, Follow Me Back in Time which tells of Joans growing up during the depression years. From the blurp its looks like some very interesting stuff.

Both books are self published by Joan and frankly I think its a travesty that no publisher was willing to run with a A String of Pearls at the very least, but thats the political climate we live in.

You can take a look at them and purchase from Publishme.

A String of Pears

Follow me back in time.

 

Goff gets one 100% right.

Labour Party leader Phil Goff is demanding stern punishment for under-fire MP Hone Harawira.

The attitudes behind his statements, not simply the language, have no place in New Zealand politics, he says.

He’s got to be held accountable for what he did, no excuses.

Phil Goff seems to be the only politician to have gone for the throat with the simple reality that the problem is not how Harawira said something but the essence of WHAT he said. It is racist and reflects an attitude incompatable with being an MP in this country.

Harawira probably picked a bad time to piss Goff off considering the aniversary.

Good work Phil.

Every 30 seconds….

someone joins Hone Harawira is a knob on Facebook.

Fascinating and true statistic.

Two years ago today.

Captain Matthew Charles Ferrara Silver Star
14 October 1983 – 9 November 2007

For exceptionally valorous conduct during Operation Enduring Freedom on 22 August 2007 at the “Ranch House” near Aranas, Afghanistan. While assigned as a platoon leader in Chosen Company, 2D Battalion (Airborne), 503D Infantry, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 1LT Ferrara’s courageous leadership and calm demeanor under fire were instrumental in repelling an overwhelming attack by an enemy force three times larger than his own. During three hours of intense combat 1LT Ferrara expertly led his men in the defence of the Aranas Outpost until he was able to call for air strikes Danger Close to his own position to neutralize the enemy threat. His actions reflect great credit upon himself, the Rock Battalion, the Bayonet Combat Team, and the United States Army.

Results are in from the World Championship* Pumpkin Chucking

Trebuchet
1st Yankee Siege                  ** 2034.21’      620.03m
2nd Merlin                                   1535.31’       467.96m
3rd American Chucker           1427.28’      435.04m

Torsion
1^st Roman Revenge II             1734.85’      528.78m
2^nd Onager                                   1431.87’      436.43m

That was a new world record by Yankee Siege by the way.

Ok so who has got about $500,000 so I can go next year and make a spalsh?

*This would be one of those world championships that seems to only be held in the US.

FBI rules out terrorism…

Hitting Metal With A Hammer rules: Terrorism, radical Islam is the culprit.Shooter: Major Malik Nadal Hasan a convert to Islam in the Medical Corps.

Make racial profiling mandatory!

Discuss.

And in the mail today…

The following is genuine and came to me from a news agency.

From: Prerna Lal <prerna@change.org>
Date: 2009/11/5
Subject: Deporting Dr. Lal is Deplorable
To: info@fiji.gov.fj
Cc:Various news agencies.

Dear Illegal PM of my Country,

I hope this email gets to you or gets published in a medium that can reach you. Unfortunately, you seem to have isolated yourself from the press instead of using it to gain leverage over your opposition.

I supported your coup in 2006 because I really did believe that you did the right thing by getting rid of the racist and homophobic Qarase.  But what you have done since then has been atrocious: cracking down on the media, detaining and deporting journalists, breaking diplomatic ties with countries and acting like ‘the law.’ Deporting Dr. Brij Lal is the last straw.

How do you expect your ‘best and brightest’ academics, journalists, solicitors and entrepreneurs to come back home and contribute to Fiji when you keep infringing on freedom of speech by throwing us in jail and deporting us anytime we cast doubt on your (false) promises?

How do you expect us to put our minds together and work on pressing issues of concern to Fijian society when you censor and eliminate our voices?

This goes beyond a diplomatic attack on our colonial cousins in Australia. Dr. Brij Lal is an exemplary Indian scholar on the Girmit and Indenture system with profound knowledge Fijian history and the current political situation in Fiji. In fact, he is probably one of the minds to tap in order to lead the country. And now I really hope Dr. Lal publishes a bunch of work against your illegal regime.

I love Fiji. But your military regime saddens and shames me,

-Prerna
–
Law School Candidate
Masters in International Relations
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