🚀 go-pugleaf

Now is your chance!  For years you have been working in your basement on a
mass driver system for space applications, and haven't been able to get the
public interested.  Your problem is that you haven't had the proper forum to
demonstrate your device and get international publicity.  The following
excerpt from the weekend magazine of the Washington Post details the ideal
way to show that your space-related mass driver actually has earthborne
relevance:

(begin quote)

Autumn.  The leaves have turned brown, the air cold.  Political Washington
has worked itself into a fever pitch.  Perfect time to head for the beach.
And don't forget to pack your pumpkin.

On the first Saturday after Halloween [Nov 7], the first town (Lewes) in the
first state (Delaware) engages in a proud tradition:  They call it Punkin'
Chunkin'.

Last year, about 7,000 people gathered for the annual competition, the object
of which is to hurl your pumpkin farther than anyone else's, using a
contraption of whatever design - catapult, slingshot, centrifuge, crossbow -
you think will do the job.

In 1986, the event's first year, the winning team lobbed its gourd 60 feet.
The current record, 775 feet, was set in 1990.  The rules are simple:

1) Pumpkins shall weigh between 8 and 10 pounds.
2) Pumpkins shall leave intact.
3) No part of the machine shall cross the starting line.
4) No explosives are allowed.

What's the use of trying to propel a pumpkin without explosives, you ask?
Well, for starters, it demands a certain amount of ingenuity.  Past
competitions have seen devices that relied on, amoung other things, 40 steel
railroad car springs, a 1949 Model A John Deere tractor, a tree trunk and an
airplane.

This year, several engineering schools have expressed interest, so it's
anyone's guess how far the pumpkins will fly.

Which raises the question:  Are we safe here in metropolitan Washington?

"Oh, I don't think they'll fly that far," says a Lewes Chamber of Commerce
spokesman, pausing a beat and adding, "Give us anouther couple of years."

(end quote)

     Here is your chance.  Just think of the papers which could be written.

"The optomiziation of a linear propulsion device for vegetable matter"
"The subsonic and suspersonic aerodynamics of pumpkins"
"Investigation of maximal G forces sustainable by living tissue, using a
novel inexpensive surrogate for the human head"

        Seriously, if anyone goes and watches the contest, a posting
describing the event would be interesting.



--
Bruce Dunn    Vancouver, Canada   Bruce_Dunn@mindlink.bc.ca