Engineers, journalists, modern warfare

Posted on Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Written by Tristan Thackray

Event: Engineering Trebuchet Competition, Profs vs. Students

Circumstances: On “assignement” with the Eyeopener

Fun Rating: 8.4 / 10

Highlights: The school’s attempts to develop the Ryerson School of Warfare led engineers to build trebuchets, Frenchified versions of the catapult.

To sensationalyze the event, journalists began gambling on which team would win each of the three competitive categories: distance, accuracy, and overall design. Having lost $2 over the course of the three events, my gambling instinct kicked in.

I immediately made a $5 bet that one of the trebuchets could hit me from 20 feet away. Seeing as these were machines built with the purpose of waging war, an engineering prof did not hesitate in permitting his weapons to unleash their fury upon human flesh.

Depending on how you look at it, the gamble was a success and now John Mather, Editor-in-Chief, owes me $5.

Lesson of Fun: Be creative. Figure out ways to gamble recklessly. Try to out crazy an engineer.