alt Hacker NewsThe Sling: Humanity's Forgotten Power
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A naive estimate of accuracy is that, at a rotation speed of 5/sec (1800 degrees/sec) a 1 ms error in release time causes a 1.8 degrees aim error, or 3 yards at 100 yards. You could hit the broad side of a barn, but not a buffalo.
But humans can’t reliably time things to 1 ms, and good slingers aim better than that, so there’s more to the technique than the naive version.
Recently came across this website after watching this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpxSaOiT2LE. Seems like a cool hobby to try for when I'm finally replaced by AI. I knew about the sling from movies but I didn't know this is actually a thing to do. Very impressed how far you can sling something with it (477m/1564feet). Sharing this in case someone is on the hunt for a new cool hobby.
I made a couple slings when I was a kid… I put a lot of effort into researching the right form of the thing, carefully braided it… and then couldn’t figure out how to use the thing even one bit. Couldn’t even figure out when to release the cord. I had poor hand eye coordination in the first place, but I could throw the rocks farther and more accurately by hand.
Still think they are very cool though.
I learned by making a paracord sling and flinging marshmallows.
I like to believe it’s so fun because I’m tapping into some primordial fascination with spinning objects, like a dog chasing a wheel.
Oof FYI site is being hugged to death.
The culture of my home island of Mallorca has a pretty deep link to slings, the ancient Greeks and Carthaginians both named us after our slingers, and later on we became a key Roman foothold in the punic wars partly because of the slingers, who became part of an elite unit of shock troops in the Roman Empire
It was our weapon of choice for defence, protecting us from pirates and would-be conquerors as well as farming, as shepherds used both slings and dogs to herd and protect their animals.
I find it pretty fascinating, I'm also a terrible shot with a sling, you have to try it to really understand how hard it is to aim when swinging a rock at something.