Slashdot Mirror
DataStorm V1.0, a Full-Auto Floppy Disk Cannon
Bob Loblaw writes "I ran across a huge stash of floppies at our office, and after some discussion, it became clear that rather than throw them away, we should build a gun that fires floppies. I had just bought a welder so this was a challenging first project. After about a month of work in my garage at night the DataStorm was born. It was constructed of scrap metal, a kid's bike, a weed-eater motor, and an electric screwdriver. The most difficult task ended up being how to add spin to the disk without significantly reducing its velocity. After a week and a half of trying different options, a stack of zip ties was found to work best. Since we had so much time in it we elected to shoot an infomercial showcasing the device, and had to learn to shoot & edit video as we went. It was basically an office joke that spiraled out of control. My wife is not amused. At all. I hope you like it."
Lock and load those Windows 95 floppies!
...this could form really fun mash-up.
Hmm...at the end of shortened old video, sequence of somebody walking in "Terminator 2 flower box"-style and shooting at the kids/Mac?
One that hath name thou can not otter
Whenever I come across large amounts of anything, my first thought is "I should build a gun to shoot x." This has led me to my pencil gun, paper gun, paperclip gun, staple gun (turns out this already existed), trash gun, concrete gun, and co-worker gun. I'm currently working on a car gun.
Good - Floppy warfare and all around destruction.
Bad - Sure, you can buffer those floppies into a pile at 2.88MB/s, but can your drive read the data that fast? Methinks not.
Ugly - Damn those evil girl scouts and their cookies. The spawn of satan they be! FIRE AT WILL!
what to do with the box of floppy disks I found when cleaning the garage this weekend... hmmmmm
:-)
There seems to be no video evidence of it's efficacy against marauding home invading Homeland Security driven police.. but it looks like it might be some sort of deterrent to unwanted guests who are unarmed.... hmmmm
That long forgotten subscription to PC World and all the free disks will come in handy after all
Seriously, does anyone know of a website with plans for a gun like this that shoots tennis balls? My pit bull is waiting tirelessly for a machine to play fetch with. It seems the basic parts are similar here.
Shame they offered no officially sanctioned Hasbro scoring method!
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Don't lose hope. I'm sure you can find a way to amuse your wife with the second revision.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
...it became clear that the ultimate weapon would project dead AA batteries a few thousand feet per second. We were never in short supply.
But yeah, now that I work for a school district, it's quite clear that a microfloppy cannon is the way to go. For anti-armor purposes, maybee a zip-disk launcher.
THL phish sticks
I dunno, the little girl hoisting the shotgun over her head and saying "This is my boomstick!" was pretty awesome.
If you mod me Overrated, you are admitting that you have no penis.
I think we should offer that girl, credited as Raven, a complementary slashdot account.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
I never thought that a video about a weapon that fires floppies would start off talking about abortions.
Your kid won't be amused either.
Orbis terrarum est non altus satis