Love the reframing here. The catapult progression is genuinely clever as a through line showing how military needs drove iteration after iteration. What gets me is how quickly dual use becomes the excuse once something's been weaponized first, like we retroactivley figure out peacetime applications after.
I can't be certain about anywhere else, but here in the US, we have rocks of all sizing laying around everywhere. I think it has something to do with an amendment to our Constitution. In neighborhoods where you can't just find a rock lying around, you can usually buy one in a little baggie from someone for about $20. This "several rocks for every person" ratio makes rock control a crack pipe dream.
And you are correct, I left off all the advancements we made in carrying rocks to other places on the planet and supplying rocks to our many lines of contact, oops, I mean borders. I think advances in transportation and logistics deserves their own post. I mean, covering everything from the horse drawn wagon (apparently horses are more artistic than I'd previously given them credit for being), to the flying fortresses, to trains, to supercarriers. down to submarines, and the ubiquitous Toyota pickup truck, would have made this post way too long.
Love the reframing here. The catapult progression is genuinely clever as a through line showing how military needs drove iteration after iteration. What gets me is how quickly dual use becomes the excuse once something's been weaponized first, like we retroactivley figure out peacetime applications after.
he he he... but all we need to do is ban rocks and institute comprehensive rock control. That'll fix it!
Funny post, but maybe you left out chucking rocks from under the water? xD
I can't be certain about anywhere else, but here in the US, we have rocks of all sizing laying around everywhere. I think it has something to do with an amendment to our Constitution. In neighborhoods where you can't just find a rock lying around, you can usually buy one in a little baggie from someone for about $20. This "several rocks for every person" ratio makes rock control a crack pipe dream.
And you are correct, I left off all the advancements we made in carrying rocks to other places on the planet and supplying rocks to our many lines of contact, oops, I mean borders. I think advances in transportation and logistics deserves their own post. I mean, covering everything from the horse drawn wagon (apparently horses are more artistic than I'd previously given them credit for being), to the flying fortresses, to trains, to supercarriers. down to submarines, and the ubiquitous Toyota pickup truck, would have made this post way too long.