Slashdot Mirror

During the spring I saw a documentary about a team building a Trebuchet with medieval tools.
It was on the Swedish science program, Vetenskapens värld.

In the NOVA/WGBH Trebuchet Project (October-November 1998),
the Timber Framers Guild helped to build two Trebuchets,
supervised by Mr Renaud Beffeyte.
A 300 pound stone ball was used to smash a a 7 foot-thick granite wall
more than 160 yards away.
No modern tools were used in the construction.

There are several types of Trebuchets and other war-mashines.
Schematic overviews and more information can be found at Medieval Mechanical Artillery

It does, indeed. You wouldn't believe the amount of trouble the fact that our default object happens to be a nude girl has caused. In January, we did a thing with Swedish national television (SVT) at the NATPE expo in Vegas. For that, we had to dress her up in a nice business suit, since otherwise (we were told) the American television people would die out of shock or something. Of course, at the actual expo floor, various rather adult shows were being sold with some rather explicit imagery. Not to mention the live models in some booths. ;^)

I guess one of the actual reasons for the object being what it is is that human models, in general and female such in particular, are excellent for showing off our nifty subdivision surface technology. The renderer in the shot you link to is very simple and doesn't do subdivs, but we have one that does. It's very, very, impressive stuff, and can actually compete with present (and future) game engines. No joke.

Given the vast international audience of this site, I think it needs to be pointed out that most media and industry in Sweden is indeed private. The internet made no difference in this regard except increase accessibility to non mainstream media.

BTW, you imply that Swedish state controlled media -- I assume you are referring to SVT has been modifiying the truth. This definitely is not my perception -- I think they are every bit as "impartial" as the private media. How the state media is run is controlled in detail in laws and I don't see a way for the government to step in and control news reporting as is done in dictatorships and other repressive regimes.

SVT has some of the best mud diggers available anywhere. They have made public a lot of the most uncomfortable information about the government resulting in political scandals and numerous resignations. I think they in fact are much more efficient than the private media.

Welcome to the hompage for the original, Swedish version.