Tyler Durden (
tyler_gone) wrote in
fandomhigh2009-11-30 09:20 am
Entry tags:
Applied Science, Monday, 11/30
Class met in the Danger Shop today, and there was an array of logs stripped of their bark, gunpowder, and woodworking equipment set up at one end, with blast shields lined up near the middle of the room. Tyler glanced up from his notes as the class assembled.
"Morning," he said. "This is a things-that-go-boom week. There's an old Hungarian legend that a city called Paks defended itself during a siege by chopping down a cherry tree and making a cannon overnight. The cannon worked until it blew up and took the town with it. Now, I'm not a carpenter, but I see a couple problems with that story." A beat. "Which is why we're retesting it. We did this over the summer; a couple of people got working cannons out of it."
"You should just have time to make and test a cannon in class if you work in small groups; the wood and woodworking tools are over there. I'm handing out a sheet of specific directions, but basically you want to drill a hole through the log, add a metal tube with gunpowder in it and a fuse, load a cannonball, light the rope, stand back behind the blast shields, and -- in theory -- boom." He spread his fingers to demonstrate the "boom."
"Please wear safety gear, please don't be stupid. This is Danger Shop so you can't get hurt, but that doesn't make it playtime."
"Questions?"
"Morning," he said. "This is a things-that-go-boom week. There's an old Hungarian legend that a city called Paks defended itself during a siege by chopping down a cherry tree and making a cannon overnight. The cannon worked until it blew up and took the town with it. Now, I'm not a carpenter, but I see a couple problems with that story." A beat. "Which is why we're retesting it. We did this over the summer; a couple of people got working cannons out of it."
"You should just have time to make and test a cannon in class if you work in small groups; the wood and woodworking tools are over there. I'm handing out a sheet of specific directions, but basically you want to drill a hole through the log, add a metal tube with gunpowder in it and a fuse, load a cannonball, light the rope, stand back behind the blast shields, and -- in theory -- boom." He spread his fingers to demonstrate the "boom."
"Please wear safety gear, please don't be stupid. This is Danger Shop so you can't get hurt, but that doesn't make it playtime."
"Questions?"

Re: Talk to the TAs [11/30]
Oh, Jono didn't have experience with this subject matter at all.