Oxford Student Shooting Death

[Keith]

Two Charged After Human Catapult Death
Tue Jul 15, 7:10 AM ET Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo!



LONDON (Reuters) - British police charged two men with manslaughter Tuesday following the death of an Oxford University student who was flung from a giant catapult.



Bulgarian Konstadin Yankov, 19, died last November when the stunt near the West Country town of Bridgewater went wrong.


"He had been thrown by a replica medieval catapult and failed to reach the landing net," said a police spokeswoman.


Yankov was on an outing with the Oxford Stunt Factory, an unofficial club at Oxford University where he was studying biochemistry. He had been the sixth person that day to be launched from the "trebuchet" catapult.


Organizers said at the time Yankov had been properly weighed and that the machine had been correctly calibrated before he was fired in a 30-yard arc. They did not know what had gone wrong.

 

[El Tejon]

Guesses as to BAC levels?

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I seem to recall that this was the generally accepted (and desired) result of hurling a human via trebuchet. I know of one account where at least one diplomat was returned to his mission inside a besieged city that way.

He reportedly made a splendid stain on the wall of said city.

http://www.trebuchet.com

I still plan to build one as a fall project.

Now they'll make safety restraints, airbags, and impact bumpers mandatory on all trebuchets. They should instead install emission controls on English and Bulgarians who breed such idjit kids.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[Kharn]

There's (usually) quite a difference of size and design between a trebuchet and a catapult, which one was it?

Kharn

 

[Mostly Harmless]

A hurling death, rather than a shooting one

Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

It was a trebuchet. They are totally different mechanisms and "people tossing" by trebuchet has become something of a sport.

Me I'd rather hurl pumpkins with one than be hurled myself...

J.

 

[Keith]

I suspect that Bulgarians just aren't very aerodynamic.

Regardless, such weapons have no purpose other than to launch rocks, burning debris, cows, pianos (and Bulgarians) at targets for the express purpose of creating havoc!
They should be banned; or heavily taxed, regulated and licensed so that only rich people and celebrities can own them - people who have a legitimate reason to launch Bulgarians!

Keith

 

[Dave P]

How do -you- spell stupid???

 

[pax]

Already a thread on this at http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31371 , so I'm closing this as a duplicate.

pax

You can fool too many of the people too much of the time. -- James Thurber