Monday, November 14, 2005

Unusual Link of the Day

Want to learn to throw a spear at 80 MPH? You might start by consulting the World Atlatl Association. If you don't already know, an atlatl is basically a lever that helps you throw a short spear or javelin farther and faster than you could by hand alone. I imagine it would take a lot of practice to be good with one, but there are apparently people who hunt with them.

1 comment:

IAMB said...

My Anthropology department has a guy who is breaking spear points for his Master's thesis (I won't go into detail on the project as it would take quite some time). So far data shows about 40 times more impact energy than with a hand-thrown spear.

We brought some other students over to try their hand at throwing with an atlatl at some ballistic gel. Hilarious to see the girls out-throw the baseball players.

Lesson learned: throw with a limp wrist when using an atlatl.