Tag Archives: gun geek

The Man of Steel picks a new Arch-Enemy: Sir Isaac Newton!

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“Stronger than a locomotive, Faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…. Look, in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane!  IT’S SUPERMAN!!!!”

We should all remember those immortal words announcing the arrival of one of the world’s most beloved superheroes.  Like him or not, his books have been selling well for D.C, for over the last 80 years.  Following the trend of other super hero franchises of the past few years, Superman is getting another reboot movie coming out next year.  Titled The Man of Steel and directed by Zack Snyder it promises to be a good time at the movies.  The teaser trailer was recently released, and although I’m very much looking to this movie, there was one error of physics that just confused me, and let me down.

Let’s all take a break and watch the clip, and then come back and discuss it.  Let’s pay careful attention to about the 1:12 mark, where we see him flying through the clouds.

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A Sensible Guide to Preparing for the Zombie Appocalypse

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Zombies approach the Channel 7 building in Chicago, by Eric Ingrum

World War Z.  Z-Day.  The Zombie Plague.  The Horde.  There are countless names to describe this horrifying scenario.  The dead coming back to life to feast upon the remains of the living.  One bite, and you’ll become one of them?  What hope do we have?  We fight back, of course!

Realistically, the threat of a zombie apocalypse is minor to non-existent, but it does make for an interesting mental exercise (and great marketing. I’ll get to that later).  How would one prepare to survive against a horde of creatures immune to pain, cold, fear and rational tactics?  The steps used in preparing against such an onslaught are similar to what the ‘preppers’ plan for every day… a major catastrophe that destroys the political, social and even physical world around us.  Surviving in this nightmare will be tricky, but let’s plot this out logically.

To begin, let’s set some ground rules.  The Zombie horde is coming.  We find ourselves in an urban environment, with all of the modern amenities to choose from.  In this guide I’ll deal with equipping only ourselves, with a concentration (Of course) on weaponry.  If you’re looking for a serious preppers guide to surviving any apocalypse, I’d check out my brother in law’s blog at ponderingsbyian.blogspot.ca for some no-nonsense advice.  The zombies we face are of the standard, shambling, mindless type.  I’ll discuss faster types, but we’ll stick with them being unintelligent for now.  Plain Ol’ shoot-em-in-the-head Zombies.  Before we talk about what we SHOULD carry, let’s talk about what we definitely SHOULD NOT. Continue reading →

Part 3 of A Ballistics Guide for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Stability and Recoil

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Welcome back all!  In last week’s episode we talked about external ballistics, and the forces that affect a projectile in flight.  We also talked about those same projectiles flying around on Mars, in outer space, and on planets made of bubblegum.  This week we’ll discuss stability of a projectile, and the things we can do to limit the effect those forces have on the projectile’s flight.

So what can we do to help them out? obviously we want to hit our target and Mother Nature (or other resident natural deity on whatever sci-fi world you’re writing) is doing her damnedest to make sure we miss.  We have to find some way stabilizing our projectile, to make it less susceptible to outside forces.  Here’s what would happen if we fired a projectile with no means of improving stability, as it flies, minute disturbances and inequalities in forces applied cause it to tumble.  This video comes from YouTube user vidaday, and is awesome.

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An Introduction to Ballistics for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Part 1 of Many

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To the point

Photo by BWJones (Bryan Jones) on flickr

So what is ballistics, and why should I care, right? What could this possibly have to do with me, you ask?  It is an interesting science, and one that I have devoted many hours to studying. My goal in writing this down is simple: To keep learning as I write, and to share what I’ve learned with you all. I’m not trying to turn you all into ballisticians or long-range shooters, merely to give you nuggets of knowledge to tuck away in the back of your brain. I’m also not claiming to be the be all and end all expert on all matters related to physics, guns and ballistics.  I’m merely your guide on this journey, through a topic I happen to study passionately.  I’ve spent years studying and working in this field, and have learned a lot, with decades of learning still ahead of me.  As a teacher of mine once said after a long, hard course, “Congratulations, you now know enough to be dangerous.”

Plus, you never know when in your next story/book/audio drama one character might pick up a gun, and one of these little nuggets of knowledge will shove their way to the front of your brain and help complete a scene in a believable way. Or at the very least, maybe your next game of trivial pursuit will ask you some physics question and you win! Let’s dive into it then, and see where we end up.

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The Clockwork Doctor: An introduction.

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Greetings Nutcases, this is the Clockwork Doctor.  Nuchtchas has been kind enough to grant me some space on her blog, so this will act as my quaint little home, nestled in between the tubes of the Internet; My little oasis in the digital aether.

A brief introduction then, yes?  I’ve been known on the internet as Tek for over a decade now.  I’m happily married to the Mighty Nuchtchas herself, and live in New Brunswick Canada in my geeky paradise of a house.  Computers, models, NERF guns, real guns, more computers, a ~lot~ of video games, and a growing collection of steampunk accessories fill the house and threaten to take over more than a few rooms.  Honestly, who knew a mechanical Italian doctor would come with so much luggage?

I am a Sergeant (E6 for the Americans in the audience) Weapons Technician with the Canadian Armed Forces.  I’ve served for 14 years, had 2 tours to Afghanistan, and have worked on everything from pistols to tanks to gatling guns, and almost everything in between.  Deep in my heart though, I’ll always be a geek.  I love machines, I love guns, and I love talking about machines and guns.  This is what I hope to share with you all in these little posts: My passion.

So what am I going to talk about exactly? I don’t know yet, I haven’t thought that far ahead.  My first thought is to write a bit of a beginner ballistics guide.  I’ll discuss some terms, some myths, and show you all some neat math, I hope.  I certainly don’t expect this to be everyone’s cup of tea.  Discussing ballistics, or physics or engineering is a dry topic at the best of times, so I’ll try to keep it light, and fun.

Hopefully you’ll stick around and watch what happens, Stay tuned!