h a l f b a k e r yFutility is persistent.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
A howitzer cannon is vaguely aimed, and a smoke generating shell is fired 7-15 miles into an untracked wilderness. The shell releases a moderate amount of smoke for an hour or three.
As the launch is also the starting gun, the participants then race to the impact site, where the shell photographs
the winner as proof of their victory.
Various levels of competition will include running, human powered only, anything goes, night-time, naval artillery/jetski, etc.
Probably forest fire teams will consistently win at the 'anything goes' version. Possibly unintentionally.
Why get the army involved: Do YOU have a howitzer?
Anosmia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anosmia
[normzone, Sep 07 2007]
Please log in.
If you're not logged in,
you can see what this page
looks like, but you will
not be able to add anything.
Annotation:
|
| |
I don't have a howitzer, but every avalanche abatement team probably does. |
|
| |
Does this have to be into wilderness? Why not launch the marker into the urban jungle? |
|
| |
Because you will hit someone. |
|
| |
Just add a parachute so it lands softly. |
|
| |
It could cause a car accident. Or break a window. Or fall through the sunroof of a deaf, anosmic man sleeping in his car, suffocating him. |
|
| |
Yes, but what if you fire it into the wilderness and it hits two hikers having sex? |
|
| |
You will get some great photos. |
|
| |
Oh, so only men can be deaf, anosmic and really tired? And own a car with a sunroof? |
|
| |
Actually, even if there is one massive orgy covering 100 square feet located in each square mile of this specially selected untracked wilderness (It is possible the actual number will be lower), the odds of hitting it with a shell are 1:278,784. Happy hunting. |
|
| |
<pedant>Is it still a howitzer if it's doing direct fire from above?</pedant> |
|
| |
//Well, how many women do you know who fit that description, eh? eh? // |
|
| |
As many elephants as I have seen hiding in cherry trees |
|
| |
My point (which is not serious) is just that if you're firing direct, then the aim might not be as //vague// as stipulated in the idea. ...and I thought that a howitzer was, by definition, a weapon mounted to fire along a high trajectory at a target with no line of sight; if you re-mounted the barrel horizontally you would just have, say, a normal field gun. But maybe I've got that wrong. Ah, yes; reading your wiki link, I see that my quibble has been obsolete since about 1918. Sorry. |
|
| |
Hand-placing the target does sort of remove most of the point of the idea. It will also probably decrease the challenge, as the plane will be visible and audible when it drops the target. |
|
| |