This just came over freecycle:

[freecycle] WANTED: 300lbs of steel or lead.

What on earth would you DO with 300 lbs of steel or lead? Drop it on your enemy's head?

Sell it to Wile E. Coyote?

When I had mono, the docter told me that I could have been carrying it for a while and only got sick because I was under a lot of stress at the time.

Get up, make tea, have a bowl of cereal. Lie down and sleep for 3 hours because THAT was so exhausting.

This was me, except it was more like, pour bowl of cereal, rest for 30 minutes, eat cereal, sleep for 3 more hours. Most often, I jjust ate dry cereal because I was too tired to get out of bed.

Also, I was in a foreign country at the time and my roommates' very helpful response to my illness was "be sure not to use our silverware because we don't want to get sick."

Java, what possessed you to eat that chocolate all by yourself?

I would have shared with you!

What on earth would you DO with 300 lbs of steel or lead? Drop it on your enemy's head

Hmm, it would be a good start to be sufficient weight to give a trebuchet a decent kick. But only a start. You need about 800 lbs for a good snap.

It depends on what size trebuchet you're talking about, and what payload. I think we should adopt a standard trebuchet size, which other trebuchets could be compared to.

The standard trebuchet could be one that can fling a standard toilet 500 yards.

The standard trebuchet could be one that can fling a standard toilet 500 yards

That could work. However, your typical urban trebuchet needs to be effective but not of such a size as to scare the shit out of the neighbors when stored in the backyard.

We're generally content with a duffle bag full of soccer balls flung into an approaching army at 100 yards.

Nonian, egad, your roommates response is so.... so... isolating. I can understand it, but still.

Sparky1, sadly, it seemed like a good idea at the time; well, really, it just tasted SO darn good, I couldn't stop myself.

If/when you fling 800#s, do you attempt to recover it, so it can be flung again?

Naw, the 800 lbs is the counterweight. It pulls the "arm" up and over, which is what does the flinging....

If/when you fling 800#s, do you attempt to recover it, so it can be flung again?

I don't have the formulas handy, but the 800lbs is the weight at the end of the arm that provides the force. I'm not sure what weight of missile you could throw most effectively with 800 lbs.

I think a flung toilet can stay where it's flung. There's a guy in Scotland who flings grand pianos and dead cars. Considering his sheep live in the target field, I'm sure he cleans up regularly. The sheep, however, have been observed to run like hell when a cloud's shadow passes over them.