Back to School Bash...or the Books of Truth...pics

[hillbilly]

Book publishers send college faculty many, many copies of books that the faculty members did not request and do not want.

That's how book publishers sell books......they get books into the hands of the folks who might be able to use them.

To prevent folks from selling these "free" books to book buyers, the book companies either send outdated copies or mark their free desk copies with special serial numbers and other markings that make them useless for resale.

So, what we wind up with every year is a whole pile of unrequested, un-asked-for, essentially useless textbooks that not even textbook buyers want.

I got these three from a big pile of such books in a campus hallway under a hand-lettered sign that said, "FREE BOOKS. TAKE THEM ALL IF YOU WANT THEM" and found a good use for them.

I shot them all from about seven yards with various firearms.

From left to right, you will see results caused by a 10/22 with a 25 round magazine, a combination of .45 1911 and 9mm Highpower, and finally a single blast of 00 buckshot out of a three-inch magnum 12 gauge shotgun.

First pic is of the Entry holes.

Second pic is of the exit holes.

Very interesting on the shotgun. The blast knocked the book off the log I propped it up on. It knocked the back cover off the book. But the pellets failed to exit the book. The deformed pellets were either stuck inside the book, or littering the ground around where the book flipped.

The combo .45 and 9mm book flipped over, too, on about the third shot, and as such took some rounds to the sides and edges.

The .22 group is not very small, but that's because I sort of got a little happy with the 25 round magazine and just kind of sprayed it good.

 

[4v50 Gary]

At least you've found a very good use for them.

That's all college textbooks are good for. The publishers keep updating them to keep them out-of-date so the students can't resell them and recover some of their college costs. Newer students fork out big bucks ($125) for a textbook that's good for only one year at the most. :banghead: I hate college bookstores that have the socialist slogan, "All profits to the students." I've been out of school for over ten years now and don't have to buy books except by choice (and I've now got 17 bookcases at home).

 

[Gifted]

Not very big pictures. And I know what you mean with the 25 rounder on the 10/22

 

[Vitamin G]

If you want to see some fun, give a 10/22 to a tournament paintballer and say "Shoot this as fast as you possibly can..."

Most tournament paintballers can get their paintball "markers" up to around 15shots per second.

 

[ctdonath]

COBOL manual + CorBon 9mm "+P" = great addition to office desk.

(Special request by co-worker. Hollowpoints expanded very nicely with impressive results.)

 

[Black Majik]

They're great for bonfires too

 

[Justin]

My college experience left me with the distinct impression that the cost of a textbook was inversly proportional to the knowledge it contained.

A $100+ text book isn't anything more than a really expensive doorstop.

 

[Balog]

First magazine fed weapon I ever shot was a 10/22 w/ a 50 round magazine. I was one happy 12 year old.

 

[c_yeager]

That's all college textbooks are good for. The publishers keep updating them to keep them out-of-date so the students can't resell them and recover some of their college costs.

Your not kidding. For the last two years i have started simply bringing my "outdated" editions to classes. I have used books that are as many as 3 editions out of date without missing out on ANY information. The difference between editions is usually found in the captions of the pictures, and *rarely* some updated information in an apendix. I have actually seen more than one book that didnt even bother making that many changes, instead they included a web address in the inner cover for the publisher, and that much alone accounted for the new edition.

I dont mind publishers trying to squeeze every penny they can out of students. They are in the business of making money, and they have every right to do so. What bothers me is when the schools become complicit in this effort. I have had instructors who *demanded* that i purchase the current edition despite the fact that it was internally identical to the outdated one.

Of course i have also had teachers that charged $50 for a "book" that amounts to a manila envelope filled with photocopies. I love that my tax dollars pay to support a school and that i still have to pay an absurd amount of cash for books and tuition. The best part is that because i actually HAVE A JOB, i do not qualify for any amount of financial aid. (I barely make a living wage too, so that tells you who actually gets financial aid, it comes in the mail along with all your other assistance checks).

 

[chris in va]

Most tournament paintballers can get their paintball "markers" up to around 15shots per second

Eh, that's if they have an electronic marker. Firearms are more like pump markers than anything else.

 

[Gifted]

With a .22, I'm pretty sure it would work. Just don't let it jam.

I've wondered how a reactive trigger would work on a real firearm, and how the BATFE would classify it.

 

[Trebor]

Anyone got any slightly out of date Criminology textbooks? There was a great one titled "Organized Crime" one of my roommates who was a CJ major had in '98. I can't remember the author or I'd look it up and get a copy myself. (There's LOTS of CJ textbooks with that title, it turns out)

 

[Peet]

Holy bit-swabbing Batman!

ctdonath:

COBOL manual...

Wow! Yer an old fart! .AND. (what language was that?) capitalized it correctly to boot.

I remember some prof type (I used to sysadmin in academentia) saying in the late 80s or early 90s

if you're a typical college student today, there is COBOL older than you in production.

Peet (who wishes he'd kept his manuals at retirement, now)

 

[jefnvk]

Best advice I got was to not buy the book until you actually needed it.

 

[Ian]

Best advice I got was to not buy the book until you actually needed it.

Yup. After about 4 semesters of college I caught on, and waited a week or two (or three) before buying any books. It turned out that half of my classes usually didn't use the books at all, or little enough that I could just use the school library's copy when I needed it. By my last semester, I think I only actually bought two books of the seven or eight that were "required."

Beyond that, I also got into the habit of buying books online (where they're usually significantly cheaper) and buying books with a couple friends in my classes (since we studied and did homework together, sharing a single copy of the book worked fine and saved us a bunch of money).

 

[Thrash1982]

Yep, college textbooks are one of the biggest ripoffs I've ever seen. I a week I'll be starting my final semester of college, and my sister will be starting her first. Not buying the books until you know you need them has saved me a bunch of money. Several times I just never bought the book and I'm convinced I couldn't have done any better with it. About two thirds of the books I've tried to sell back I couldn't because of the publisher updating the content. Which usually consists of moving stuff around and changing the page numbers so that they are unusable. (fortunately some professors have realized this and will accomodate people that may have the old edition). To make this somewhat gun related we took one of my friends text books to the range and had some fun with a couple .22s, various handguns and a couple FALs.

 

[Jenrick]

The books from my recently completed college career will be ballistically tested this week. I'll be sure to post some pics when I'm done

-Jenrick

 

[captlid]

free speech

I am waiting for the nytimes to write an article how guns nuts dont believe in free speech because we like using textbooks as ballistics targets.

 

[fisherman66]

""""""""Most tournament paintballers can get their paintball "markers" up to around 15shots per second.""""""""""""

Electronic markers (guns) have a trigger like a computer's mouse (in both semi and auto), but most have a trigger like a conventional handgun/rifle with creep and much more weight (than a mouse) - no way to get more than 6-8 rps. The auto ones need a special hopper that feeds the balls and doesn't push too fast and chop them. They can get trigger jobs or lighening springs. Many players stone their groups. They are at least as complicated as most pistols. Fun stuff, but I'm too old to hump the fields and go to work with whelps.