Chinese Siege Warfare - Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity

Too often, when we talk about siege engines - catapults, trebuchets, ballistae, and so forth - we focus on European technology. But it's in the far east where the story begins, at least for gravity powered siege weaponry.

I recently purchased Chinese Siege Warfare, Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity by Liang Jieming. A somewhat difficult book to get a hold of (not available on Amazon as far as I can tell), this 150 page book did much to plug gaps in my knowledge. Although much of the book deals with Chinese pre-gunpowder siege weaponry, there are smaller sections on western designs and some early gunpowder devices.

Incredibly, much of the book has been placed on the web for free, and this book an is absolutely wonderful resource for students of siege engines and model makers.

The book is well illustrated, using a combination of line drawings from old texts and colored pictures of the author's recreations of many of the machines discussed in the text. I noticed that Liang uses rope lashing to connect the wooden members of his machines, which is something I discussed in the Viking Catapult chapter of my book The Art of the Catapult. I've often suspected that the ancient builders, world over, made extensive use of lashed joints as they are strong, rigid, and relatively easy to master.

Overall, a good book filled with hard to find information. I recommend it.

Too Much Clutter in America's Nuclear Attic?

<-- Mark 12 "Brock" atomic weapon

Several newspapers had this or a similar story in it yesterday:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military mistakenly shipped four nuclear-missile detonators to Taiwan in 2006, then failed to detect the error for more than a year, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

Pentagon officials said they didn't know how the detonators had been sent when Taiwan had ordered helicopter batteries or who was responsible. Michael Wynne, the secretary of the Air Force, said the cone-shaped fuses didn't resemble the power batteries that Taiwan had requested.

Wynne said that the misdirected detonators, used to ignite the trigger of a Mark-12 nuclear weapon, didn't pose a security threat. The triggers couldn't be used to detonate other weapons, officials said.

That's strange. Did someone at the airbase from which they were shipped, look at a packing list that said "helicopter battery" and accidentally pack 4 nuclear bomb triggers? I imagine they have a label on the box that reads "WARNING! NUCLEAR BOMB TRIGGER INSIDE. DO NOT USE HOOKS" or something like that. Still I guess mistakes happen.

But here's what I really don't understand. The triggers were for Mark -12 nuclear weapons. The Mark 12, nicknamed "Brock" by those who have pet names for atomic bombs, hasn't been part of the nuclear arsenal since 1962. These things have been outdated for 46 years. I think (this is no joke) that a Mark-12 trigger uses vacuum tubes.

So, my question is, why are we keeping so much junk in our nuclear attics? Even my mom finally cleared out her basement (throwing away my collection of vintage Archie comics, but that's another issue.)

No doubt there are still a thousand crates of horse liniment for the cavalry or a million sticks of slowmatch for flintlock rifles piled next to the Mark-12 triggers as well.

TV-B-Gone? A good first step

In this month's Wired Magazine, number 16-04 (I have absolutely no idea what Wired's magazine numbering scheme means) there is an article on the rivalry between gadget blogs Engadget and Gizmodo. In it there's a anecdote about one of the blogger's taking a device called a TV-B-Gone to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and wrecking havoc on the many, many TV's there.

A TV-B-Gone is a small battery operated device invented by Mitch Altman who I met a number of times at various Make Magazine events. Push the button on a TV B Gone and every TV in the area turns off. Kinda cool.

More power to ya, Mitch. There's too much tv and other noise in the world. Why do restaurants, noisy enough anyway, feel they have to pump in extra music, enough to make conversation with more than one other person impossible? Why do supermarkets and Home Depots feel that I can't shop unless there's music constantly playing. There's music, usually bad music cluttering up nearly every lobby, waiting area, and vestibule in existence.

Note to world: I do love music but I do not need to be bathed in it every second of the day or in every public place I go. I don't think it makes the world a more pleasant place. Please, turn it off.

Mitch: Please invent a Music - B - Muted device. I will buy several. Thanks.

Making Black Powder

Make 13, themed around the concept of magic is on the newsstands!

It's another excellent issue and includes a PVC air cannon modification (by a different author) that is pretty interesting. It's called the boom-stick and is designed to maximize the noise.

I wrote three articles for this issue. The first is describes the DARPA urban challenge and the uber-makers that attended. While most of the competitors were big money corporate and academic types, there were a few entrants that really exemplified the ardent amatuer, and the skillful maker.

The second was the Maker Calendar and lists upcoming events of interest to those who make things.

The third article is about my foray into the world of gunpowder manufacture. I've received some great feedback from readers already -- it's something that a lot of people find interesting. In this article, I describe what I did to make home made black powder. I don't go into step by step directions for making the powder, but there is a good explanation of how to prepare your charcoal which is the really critical step in making the stuff. Everything else is less important.

Visit makezine.com or better yet, subscribe via the link below. TIP: if you select Make's autorenew option, you get digital access to the entire library, back to Make Vol 1!

Slouch or no slouch?

The AP published a story, available here, exploring the growing number of people who are building and making things in their garages and basements. It's an article worth reading, for several reasons.

First, it provides several good examples of the type of projects peope are are undertaking.

Second, it lists severa websites and magazines that provide ideas and inspirations for many interesting and instructional projects.

Finally, and not least, I think it's a good article because it contains these words:

"William Gurstelle is no slouch."

I've been telling people this for years. Now maybe they'll believe me. After all, the Associated Press is never wrong

Which leads to a new game show concept: Slouch or No Slouch. This was first suggested to me by Dale Dougherty, publisher of Make Magazine. It could work like this:

Each week a person who believes they are pretty good at doing one particular thing, does something they haven't tried before and get judged on how well they do it. For instance, a football player learns ballet, a scientist makes beer, a beekeeper trains a dog. Then at the end, the judges evaluate the outcome and declare the contestant a slouch or no slouch.

Huh?

Gunpowder Artist Cai Guo-Qiang

He experimented with various painting techniques that could
harness natural forces: blowing a fan over thinly applied paint on canvas; blistering a thick paint surface with heat; coaxing a dove to walk through green paint and onto a picture. More fruitfully, in 1984 he began to use the ancient Chinese invention of gunpowder — beginning by shooting fireworks at a canvas and then, for more control, developing a method of unrolling firecrackers, sprinkling the powder on canvas and igniting it. -- Arthur Lubow in the New York Times

There is an interesting article in today's New York Times about Cai Guo-Qiang, a New York based Chinese artist who uses gunpowder as an artistic medium. He is very successful, having won numerous awards and selling his paintings at auction for millions of dollars.

You can see how he makes his art by viewing the video here. Like the work of some other modern visual artists, the symbolism and meaning that makes it so valuable is lost on me. Like a work by Jackson Pollock, Cai's work is interesting but .... To me, using gunpowder to create an artistic vision is a fascinating idea. But is it anything more than simply clever?

Catapult and Trebuchet Triggers

[Looking for more catapult building info? There is much information in this blog on how to build a catapult. Type "catapult" into the search bar above for more catapult building posts]

More in my series of posts on How to Build a Catapult

In this post, I discuss Catapults, Ballistas, Trebuchets and the Triggers, Releases, and Latches that operate them.

I receive quite a few inquiries about making catapults and trebuchets. And among the most frequent questions is: how do I build the trigger? It's an important question.

Catapults are fun and educational to build and operate. They would make a very good entry in a science fair or science contest. For ideas on catapult related science fair projects, check out "The Art of the Catapult" and "Backyard Ballistics," available at book stores everywhere. (Click on the Amazon link to the books above for more info) Believe me, there is plenty of physics and math behind the machine for cerebral types.

When building a catapult, trebuchet, ballista, mangonel, or any of the hundred names by which such hurling machines are known, you'll find out that the mechanism that releases the throwing arm is often the most complicated part of the machine.

You may build your own release, which is tricky because you need to design the latch so that it will release reliably under full load. Actually, you can get pretty creative about triggers.

But considering how cheap and easy it is to buy one, it might make more sense to use one of the commercial solutions below, and spend your time working on the other aspects of the machine.I've spent time researching the best triggers and releases for small catapults. You can follow the links below to obtain high quality, inexpensive catapult release trigger mechanisms that should work well for most small experimental catapults. There are three good, off-the-shelf solutions: The archer's arrow release, the sailor's pelican hook, and the horse trainer's panic snap.

Archer’s Arrow Release:

This is the premier solution. Works dependably, quickly and very smoothly. It costs a bit more, but of all the catapult releases I've tried, I like this one the best.

Sailor's Pelican Hook:


This is another excellent hurling machine trigger. Its normal use is in sailing, where it is used to securely hold and release lines and ropes. Basically a pelican hook is a hinged hook that can be quickly secured or released by a sliding ring. It is quite a bit less expensive than an arrow release, but it holds securely under load. The downside is that they can be awkward to release sometimes.

Horse Trainer’s Panic Snap:

A panic snap is a mechanism often used between a lead and a horse's harness. They are decent catapult triggers because they can be disconnected under load. A panic snap is specially built so that the latching mechanism is separate from the load bearing structure. Just pull back on the latch and the load releases. Very inexpensive, but not as smooth or dependable as the arrow release.

Best of DIY Science and Technology Blog Projects Feb 12

I am going to attempt to monitor several of the most active DIY science and technology sites for the next several weeks to get an understanding on which sites provide the best ideas for projects. Some of them post new stuff constantly, but the projects are mostly "unfiltered".

Some, like the Make blog have so much good stuff, it's an overwhelming task to sort the interesting from the pedestrian projects. So what I want to do is pick and choose and post about the few that regularly have excellent, doable projects.

Today, I found these on my newsreader:

On the Hacked Gadgets blog, there's a project that uses balloons to take pictures from the sky. It's very reminiscent of the Kite Cam found in Make Magazine issue #1. Video of the red balloon project is available here. Separate but related information on making balloon mounted cameras is available here.

On Etsy's site, my friend Bre Pettis (he of imakethings.com) returns to the video world with a short video on how he's making his new business cards. It's not really a science or technology project, but it's good to see he's back.

On Street Use, Kevin Kelly shows just how far people can go, using the materials around them to meet their mechanical needs. I like this because I've done some research on the abilities of Aborigines, Cubans, and Eastern Europeans to scrounge parts and keep things moving out of baling wire, hose clamps, and bungie cords.

On Windell Oskay's Evil Mad Scientist laboratories, there's a very good post about making a pegboard LED display that makes it simple to paint with LEDs, maybe not as simple as light-brites, but sorta simple. By the way, the VD in the "Happy V.D." picture refers to Valentines Day.

If you know of good DIY science and technology blogs that at least occasionally post good projects, please let me know.

Why Science Education is Boring

This is excerpted from my recent article in Make Magazine. Is there a problem with the way science is taught? Are schools overprotective? What do experiences like these mean for science education?

When my son Andy was 12 years old, he entered his junior high school science fair. His challenge was to invent something new and useful. To Andy, the science contest was big deal. There was a great deal of schoolyard prestige attached to the event. He badly wanted to win, but inventing is hard work. Inventing something useful is even harder. And inventing something new and useful when you’re 12 is really, really hard.

He thought about it for a while and, after various aborted attempts and blind alleys, came up with the idea of a self-buttering toaster. What a brilliant idea from such a young person! (I readily admit my fatherly bias.) The device Andy designed was intricate yet simple: a wood and steel construction that held a slice of bread at an angle in front of a carefully wound matrix of nichrome wire heating elements. While the bread toasted, the heat from the wires melted a glop of butter on a perforated metal holder positioned over the bread. The butter dripped through the holes and on to the toasting bread. Voila! There was a slice of automatically buttered toast. By my lights, this was a pretty terrific invention for a sixth grader.

The evening of the fair approached, and Andy and I looked forward with anticipation and excitement to a night of glory. The judges, a collection of teachers and parent volunteers, methodically walked up and down each aisle. They asked questions, measured things with rulers, made notes on clipboards, and generally maintained a judgelike demeanor. When the judges came to Andy’s table, the toaster worked perfectly. With self-assurance and a smile, he handed each judge a slice of warm, buttery Wonder Bread for a snack.

The Self Buttering Toaster ---->

But when the winners were announced, Andy’s name wasn’t called. Crestfallen, he approached the judges and asked, “Why didn’t I get a ribbon?”

“Well, Andy,” said a judge, “we thought your machine was dangerous. After all, it uses electricity and it gets very hot.”

“Of course it does. It’s a toaster,” he protested. “It’s supposed to get hot and use electricity. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a toaster.” Unswayed by logic, the judges would not reconsider.

So who won? First place went to a girl who made a cap and vest for her hamster. Second place went to a boy who “made” radar.

“Hamster clothes? That’s so lame,” Andy whispered to me during the award ceremony. “And that the second place kid didn’t invent radar. He just cut out some pictures of radar antennas and glued them to a poster board.”

[Life imitates art: In the 4th season episode of the Simpsons called "Duffless, " Nibbles the hamster plays a significant role in the outcome of the Springfield Elementary science fair]

<--- Bart Simpson science project: Can Hamster Fly Planes?

Andy graduated from college last year with a major in archeology and a minor in African languages. Is his technology-light choice of major a result of his science contest experience? Perhaps not, but I sometimes wonder how losing to a hamster hat influenced his future.

Dinosaurs and Robots - Cover Boys

Two of my good friends have their own blogs which I find very enjoyable. So I was certainly pleased to find that these two have decided to collaborate to form a digital media conglomerate. It's called Dinosaurs and Robots.

<---Mr. Jalopy on Cover of Make Magazine

To be honest, I can't figure out where Make Magazine cover boys Mark Frauenfelder (of BoingBoing) and Mr. Jalopy (of HooptyRides) find time to turn out such a good looking magazine. I guess they figured that since they were both on the cover of Make Magazine, it was time to move on to something bigger. Reminds me of when Wayne Rogers left MASH and Patrick Duffy decided he was too big for Dallas.

The first issue of D&R is available here. (I sometimes call Mr. Jalopy "J-Lop" (like J-Lo, get it?) for short but he really seems to dislike that. )

The new magazine is currently available as a downloaded pdf, but I understand plans are underway for a website. I checked it out and loved the articles but it's the photos that really clicked with me. There's a recurring theme dealing with the intrinsic beauty or at least pleasing geometry of tools and metal objects.

----> Mark Frauenfelder on cover of Make Magazine

Visit hooptyrides.com and read the blog for more info.

“You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”

This post is about the air whistle, (similar to a steam whistle) I designed and wrote about in the last Make Magazine.

This PVC whistle is based on a calliope design that provides a lot of noise at relatively low air pressures. I called it the Super Tritone after a train whistle my friend Steve Cox owns, which is called a Leslie Super Tyfon, (although technically, the Super Tyfon is a horn, not a whistle.)

There are several good articles in Make Magazine #12, the latest issue. I’ve contributed three, including a major project called the Super TriTone Shop Whistle. I’ve written and photographed step-by-step directions showing how to make a really neat whistle from PVC pipe and fittings. If you don’t subscribe to Make Magazine, try to locate a copy. You can subscribe online to this wonderful magazine here.

If you sign up using their autorenew feature (no big deal, you can always cancel) you will get online access to all of Make’s voluminous archives of projects including this one. That's a good deal, believe me. There's a lot in there.

Adjusting the Super Tritone Shop Whistle

The Super Tritone is easy enough to make, see the Make Magazine article for details. But be forewarned -- it takes a while to adjust. There are a number of critical dimensions and if any of them are off, the whistle doesn’t sound, it mostly just hisses. However, adjusting the Super Tritone isn’t that hard, mostly consisting of turning the adjusting nuts on the main shaft, thereby making the whistle throat larger or smaller. At some critical dimension, it will provide a loud shrill tritone.

If you’re still having trouble, first make sure there are no leaks where holes have been machined through the PVC. Those leaks are sound killers so all holes and joints MUST be air tight.

Next, look at the alignment of the bells (the larger PVC pipe with the edge filed into the bottom) with the opening through which the air passes. The air opening is an annular slit, formed by the PVC bowl and a slightly smaller plastic disk called the languid. The placement of the languid is critical.

In connection with that, you’ll need to turn the horizontal adjusting screws on the bell and the bowl to make sure the air escaping the languid goes straight up into the edge on the bottom of the bell.

Finally, use enough air pressure. You’ll likely need 50 psi on up to get a really good sound.

Whistle physics is tricky and therefore, so is making your own whistle. But with enough adjustment and experimentation, your whistle will sound great. Be sure to read read all disclaimers and warnings in the magazine before you start.

Things Blowing Up! - Fun and Not So Fun

Exploding dump trucks and exploding whales... what could be better than that?

It's blogging time again. I'm going to do my best to update Notes from the Technology Underground fairly regularly after being on hiatus for several months. My goal is to update twice a week with more of the types of posts that readers have found interesting in the past

Here's a story that received a fair amount of attention in the local (Minneapolis, MN, USA) press. It concerns one Brian Childs, a 30 year old man who lives in rural Welch township south and east of Minneapolis, MN.

From what I can surmise from news reports, the guy obtained 100 pounds of a compound called Tannerite which is an explosive that you mix up on site from two non-explosive chemicals. According to wikipedia, the ingredients are ammonium nitrate and ammonium perchlorate with a bit of aluminum powder and zirconium hydride to get things cookin'.

click here to see the video of the exploding dump truck

Typically, tannerite is detonated by shooting it. Basically, you take your long range rifle and put a bullet through the bottle holding the mixed up ingredients. Kaboom!

Mr. Childs appears to be in a lot of trouble because the explosion he made was large enough to trigger alarms at a nuclear power plant several miles away. The police were called and locked him up, I suppose because they thought he might be a terrorist.

Bill Gurstelle's comment: I'm not sure how I feel about this. As one who loves to watch high energy, high velocity examples of science and chemistry, I must say it's a pretty darn good explosion.

On the other hand, firework makers and more serious thinkers may likely disagree. I wonder can't tell if he put his neighbors and friends in harm's way. But assuming that the exploded dump truck was sited in such in way to as to pose no danger, than I'd have to say it's nobody's business but his own. Just because some alarm went off doesn't make him a criminal.

Thar She Blows! (Bonus Post)
While searching the web for pictures of exploding dump trucks for this post, I came across this story about a whale that exploded while being trucked through a city in Taiwan. Here are the unbelievable pictures of the whale (sperm whale, I think) pre and post explosion:













Evidently, gases from the rotting whale carcass built up inside the thing and all of a sudden, this happened:

Summer Vacation

On Vacation for the Summer. . .

Welcome to Notes from the Technology Underground. The Tech Underground is a world of edgy, highly kinetic, physical science. If there's news on stuff goes whoosh, boom, or splat, then, this is the place to read about it.

During the summer, it's hard for me to update the blog regularly, but check back from time to time to see what's new. I plan to start posting more regularly in a few months.

While you're hear use the search bar and try a few terms - catapult, explosion, "Orlando Bloom", whatever. . . see what you come up with.

Here are links to some of my favorite posts:

1000 Dead Men:
A description of the Gerry Report, perhaps the most grotesque bureaucratic report in all of American history.

The 10 Best North American Geek Fests
A link to a recent article I wrote for Wired Magazine

The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Robotic Combat
Remember Robot Wars? Many are still at it.

Hollywood's Catapult Warrior
Orlando Bloom's catapult fetish.

Celebratory Gun Firing: Good Idea or Not?
What goes up, must come down. A lot of comments on this one.

Nitric Acid Acts Upon Trousers
Ira Remsen, a chemist with a great sense of humor.

Fun With Jet Engines
Cool video.

Dippy Bird Power
My idea to end the energy crisis.

Navy Swimmer Nullification Program
A bizarre government defense program comes to light

My Name is Bond; Covalent Bond
Chemistry sets ain't what they used to be.

Water Bears - The World's Toughest Animal
Fun with tartigrades.

Bullets and Hammers - A Bad Combination

Yes, the following seems like a terribly dumb idea. But is it possible that this kid was not stupid but simply so unaware of the danger involved?

LAKE LUZERNE, N.Y. - A teenager who put bullets in a vise and whacked them with a hammer to empty the brass shell casings was wounded in the abdomen by approximately the 100th bullet he hit, according to Warren County deputies.

Damion M. Mosher, 18, had been discharging .223-caliber rounds, placing them in a steel vise, putting a screwdriver on the primer, and striking the screwdriver with the hammer, deputies said.

Deputies were called to his home in Lake Luzerne shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday when one bullet went about a half-inch into his abdomen. He was treated at Glens Falls Hospital and was released. No charges were filed.

Mosher told authorities he was trying to empty the rounds to collect the brass casings for scrap.

Sheriff Larry Cleveland said about 100 other rounds that Mosher hit had "fizzled," but one was somehow sent with more force. It was unclear if the bullet ricocheted or hit him directly.

An employee of Capitol Scrap Co. in Albany said Monday the business pays $1.70 a pound for scrap brass shell casings.

Cleveland said Mosher's shells amounted to just a few pounds.

Lake Luzerne, at the southeastern edge of the Adirondacks, is 45 miles north of Albany.

___

Information from: The Post-Star, http://www.poststar.com

Turning Down the Noise

I work at home and I like that, a lot.

But my neighbor has a little barky dog that makes a lot of noise. It reminded me of an article about sound masking, noise cancellation, and acoustical engineering that I recently wrote for Minnesota Technology Magazine (www.minnesotatechnology.org). Noise control is pretty interesting technology. (At Minnesota Technology, I write a column called Ask Mr Technology. The whole magazine is online and makes for very good reading.)

Noise,” said the brooding German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer,“is the most impertinent of all forms of interruption. It is not only an interruption, but is also a disruption of thought.”

Workers in noisy environments like yours must contend with frequent thought disruptions. But don’t give up hope, as there are techniques for dealing with disruptive noise in the workplace. According to acoustical expert Steve Orfield, president of Minneapolis-based Orfield Laboratories, sound-masking can be an effective way to provide speech privacy and minimize distractions from noisy environments.

Sound masking consists of an electronically generated noise distributed throughout a workspace. This increases the ambient noise, thereby “masking” other sounds and reducing the intelligibility of speech.“ Sound masking makes use of a specially tuned random noise generator. The noise is used as a base which is shaped by an equalizer to make it unobtrusive and most effective to speech intelligibility,” explains Orfield.

But even with sound masking, your cubicle neighbors can still hear you talking with your bookie on company time. “During our research in the 1970s, we found that a normal speaker in an office environment could be heard 20 feet away” says Orfield. “When we put in sound masking, that dropped to 12 feet.“

The original work spaces we designed measured 12 feet,” he adds.“But now work spaces have shrunk as small as 6 by 6 feet.So even with masking, the person next door can hear what’s going on in your cube.”

Is there anything better? A technique called noise cancellation goes beyond mere sound masking. In noise-cancellation systems, undesired sounds are cancelled out by computer-generated soundwaves that are exactly 180 degrees out of phase to the offending sound. But, says Orfield, sound cancellation is only effective in contained areas and on constant noise problems such as hums and vibrations. For example, if you’ve got a noisy air duct running throughout a hotel, you can build speakers into the duct to completely cancel out the annoying duct-related sounds.

Noise cancellation doesn’t work on random or higher-pitched sounds such as traffic noise or human speech. But research into other types of devices is ongoing. Perhaps sometime soon, a noise cancellation technology will arrive that won’t just mask the shouting next door, but eliminate it completely.

Book Publishing and the First Amendment

The editors and writers of Make Magazine (of which I am one) had a lively conversation regarding what news is fit to print. Specifically, the question debated regards the limits on which stories are too dangerous to print. Here's a link to the discussion.

I'm thinking about this because I purchase liability insurance to help protect me from lawsuits. I think it's unfortunate that I need to do this. If information is written and published in good faith, and the writers carefully vet the facts, and let people know the risks, then the writers job is done. What people do with it is up to them. That's what the first amendment protects and it's what makes America great.

The First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Writers should not have to worry that somebody will misconstrue information or use information unwisely and wind up suing them. The only thing that does is stem the flow of ideas. It stifles creativity and ultimately makes the world less interesting.

On the other hand, anybody can sue anybody for anything. Seemingly, there's always a lawyer willing to take specious cases and I hear of a lot of crazy cases. I do think that responsible writers won't provide information that's crazy or wrong, but doesn't the first amendment protect crazy or wrong speech as long as it's not hate speech?

All About Book Promotion

<-- James Joyce, a man whose books need little promotion.

Book promotion is hard, believe me.

Whoosh Boom Splat - the Garage Warriors Guide to Projectile Shooters has been on sale since Tuesday and I'm happy to say, so far so good. The promotional video has, as they say, "gone viral" with about 24000 views on youtube since Tuesday. As I write this, it is ranked number 1873 of the 2 million plus books on Amazon, down from a ranking of 490 but still very good. If things stay on course, WBS will be a very successful book. If it does as well as Backyard Ballistics, I'd be very pleased.

Today, I'm in high dudgeon, up on my high horse, or as James Joyce wrote, I'm "all wind and piss like a tanyard cat." Here's my take, for writers and others interested in book marketing. Boy, do I have opinions.

To date, WBS has had very little radio, magazine, or television promotion. Normally, this would have been very disappointing, but after five books, I've figured out not to rely on my publisher for directing the promotion effort. It's got to come from the author.

I don't think book publishers have figured out what works in the online age yet.

Think about it. Hundreds of thousands of books come out every year. Publishers hire too few publicists for too many books. While this is drastically oversimplified, the publicists send thousands of promotional copies to the same set of book critics and producers at traditional media outlets like newspapers, radio stations, and television. These people get thousands of books and don't even look at most of them. They just trash them or give them to Todd, Boris, or Wilma in the mail room. Virtually none get mentioned except for a few high profile picks. And even those that do get reviewed -- well, big deal (This may sound like heresy, but it's true). A mention of a book on local radio or in a newspaper column has little effect on sales. Full time authors need to sell thousands of books, not five or ten or even 25, which is about all you'll get from a local mention.

To my author friends, I say: Your own personal efforts based on 'guerrilla' Internet marketing is the best method promoting your book. Any help you get from the publisher is gravy.

Here's what I did. First, I hooked up with some incredibly talented people to make a short video about the book. It's called "Bagel Boy." Then I told influential people about Bagel Boy .

Over time, it's been my great pleasure to get to know some great Internet insiders: bloggers, podcasters, and so forth. Bagel Boy, and therefore Whoosh Boom Splat has been featured on the very top blogs in the world, Mark Frauenfelder's Boing Boing, Phil Torrone's Make: Blog, Noah Schactman's Danger Room, Kirsten Sandford's podcast This Week in Science, Popular Science's How 2.0, and a host of smaller but no less excellent ones such as Gareth Branwyn's Street Tech, the Daily DIY, Dick's Rocket Dungeon, and several others just as good but not named here.

Many authors can benefit from a well designed marketing plan that centers on the Internet. I'm should write an article this subject. Someday, maybe.

Whoosh Boom Splat - On Sale!

Hey there readers:

On Tuesday March 27, my new book Whoosh Boom Splat -- The Garage Warrior's Guide to Projectile Shooters goes on sale.

Check out Whoosh Boom Splat in action:

Jeff Corwin meets Stampy

Jeff Corwin, my favorite TV naturalist since the recent demise of Steve Irwin, got crosswise with an elephant. The video is quite graphic, but luckily for him, the beast wasn't real serious about doing him harm.

The video of Corwin getting the raw end of the elephant encounter is here

In the course of researching sections of Whoosh Boom Splat - the Garage Warrior's Guide to Projectile Shooters, which is my new book, I came across several rather bizarre tales of human - elephant interaction. Two incidents in the USA particularly stand out. Both incidents culminate in the public execution of two elephants -- one by hanging and one by electrocution. Both tales are fascinating in a Chuck Shepard News of the Weird kind of way.

What the public, legal execution of the elephants Topsy and Mary has to do with projectile shooters is hard to explain, so, I won't try. Google "hanging elephant" or "electrocuted elephant" and you'll get the morbid details.

Corwin's pachyderm nemesis apparently doesn't have a name already, so I'm going to call him "Stampy."

My new book Whoosh Boom Splat - The Garage Warrior's Guide to Projectile Devices comes out next Tuesday (March 27). I plan to describe it fully in the days to come. It's a neat book and is similar to Backyard Ballistics (my first book) but with all new projects - including how to make and use your own blowgun.

That projects is roughly based on the yagua blowgun. After researching and building numerous such devices I can tell you that blowguns are amazing devices with an interesting history. As much as I like them, building them and especially using them is not for everybody, but those who enjoy a challenge will find it engaging.

Simple blowguns were used by prehistoric hunters to bring down small game. There are many references to breath-powered shooters by classical Roman and Greek historians. In fact, they were used all over the ancient world. There is a long and quite rich history of blowgun use, especially in places such as Japan, pre-Columbian America, the Pacific islands and of course, the Amazon rainforest,.

The hunter in the picture above is a Brazilian Indian and comes from a nineteenth century woodcut. He is holding a blowgun called a zarabatana. Here's info on the blowgun:

A short passage on Amazon blowgun construction from a travel diary-like book by a college professor from Ohio ("Don't Drink The Water," by Ida May Sonntag - 1980). She details her experiences during vacations and sabbatical leaves:

"The people along the river are largely of Indian descent. I was able to barter for a Zarabatana (blowgun) with a member of the Maku tribe. This weapon is a simple yet precise hunting instrument. Only small game is hunted and contrary to popular belief is not used for warfare. The shaft is made of pachuiba (palmwood) while the mouthpiece is made of Brazilwood attached with a tree resin. Dart cases are made of woven palm strips and the darts are made of palmwood with wild kapok cotton stabilizers. With practice the Indians can hit small birds at 100 ft."

For more info on Whoosh Boom Splat and blowpipes, zarabantana, fukiya, yagua, and other blowguns click on the Amazon link for located to the side of this blog. It provides information and does not obligate you to buy anything.