what is this world coming to???

[SEAKING9006]

I must have gotten lucky, the CA3 only cost $60 to make.

The only reason I'd buy a cannon is if it were outside my skill level to build (the Eclipse, Caselman, and a few BBMGs come to mind), like those blue manned guns at Schlitterbahn. They appear to have some sort of captive bolt in order to launch what is nearly a coherent ball of water, like a water baloon, minus baloon. Sadly I didn't save any markings from it, so I may never know.


Oww, my thumbs... (Blackberry post from my grandparents lake house.)

[Ragnarok]

I have a feeling that's faked, like half the other 'fail' videos.

It's certainly conceivable that it's fake, but I'm not sure it is.
It doesn't much matter about this specific case, as I've seen similarly stupid things in person, it just happened this one was convenient and amusing.

Like my chemistry teacher (who was a very intelligent, but equally silly man) said, the average scientific knowledge in the UK would be equivalent to a fail at GCSE level.
For those that don't know, GCSEs are essentially the lowest qualification offered in the UK school system, short of being expelled. They're had at the end of Year 11 (essentially 10th grade in US terms, if I remember how the US system works.)
After GCSEs, education is no longer compulsory (although some didn't treat it as such anyway), but there are the options of A-levels, which usually take 2 years, and are worth significantly more.

I agree with what Sticky Tape says - people like to think they know everything about science. And if something jars with that, they generally think "the government did it", and it's the primary reason any conspiracy theories can work. (This gets a whole run on the AirgunBBS forums, usually whenever fuel prices are mentioned.)
This is what I occasionally call "n00b syndrome" - the refusal to accept the fact that you could be wrong. (This is somewhat different to newbism, which is simply not knowing that you're wrong.)

People can be idiots. If you're used to the brains, intelligence and respectable scientific knowledge of Spudfiles, this may not always be apparent, but damn, there are some stupid people out there.
The important difference between us and them is that although we here know a lot of science, we don't believe our knowledge infallible.

[jrrdw]

Could this thread be getting multi-highjacked?

Possibly.

[Sticky_Tape]

I think it did but really there isn't much of a topic anymore (there is no link to look at the cannons being sold) and there have been enough posts about that so let the hijacking resume jk.

[psycix]

Plenty of people nowadays would rather buy something than build it.

I have this, but then in reverse:
I very often look at a product (can be just about anything) and think: if I built one of those myself, it would be better. (Not counting how it looks if you do not like the look of naked technology)
If I had all the time in the world, I would build everything myself (if I can).
I more like build something instead of buying it.

[PCGUY]

</threadjack> for you HTML fans.