The end of an aria? The Fat Lady sings as the curtain comes down on TAR (at least as we know it, ladies and gentlemen)

It's ta ra to TAR

It's been a good run. Nine months, I think. But the time has come, dear friends, to put away childish things. Which means, sadly, that tar is unlikely to be coming out again for a while. I have a new job which will keep me busier, so it may be that TAR has had its day. But we'll see... it might be possible to do.

So I've prepared a right proper throbber for you this week, to make it up to you, to kind of smooth the way, pour oil on troubled whatever, and show you all how much I love you. Enjoy, and adieu.

World Wide Weird

Police honor poodle that can walk
on two legs for road safety

Mainichi Daily News

Police have honored a 4-year-old male toy poodle that can walk on its hind legs for promoting road safety, it has been learned.


Pluto the poodle crosses a pedestrian crossing on his hind legs in Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, in this June 2005 file photo.

The poodle, Pluto, was honored for walking around on its hind legs bearing a road safety advertisement during the national autumn road safety campaign. The dog's owner, Kimio Koyama, 53, a resident of Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture, was handed a certificate of appreciation and some dog food as part of the award.

On Sept. 21, the first day of the campaign, Pluto walked 20 meters on his hind legs over a pedestrian crossing, wearing a sash bearing the words, "traffic safety."

Passersby contacted police afterwards, saying the dog had given them renewed recognition of the importance of road safety.

Pluto walked on his hind legs into an office at Ise Police Station to receive the honor. Station head Etsujiro Kurachi addressed the canine saying, "Thank you, Pluto," and handed over the dog food prize.

"I'm happy that we were able to be of use," Koyama said. "In the future we want to keep working to enlighten the public." (:/)

Mower ramming leads to arrest

St Petersburg Times (Florida)

Ralph L. Padgett told deputies he's had his differences with David Ervin before.

But he says he climbed aboard his red Snapper lawn mower Friday night to ride out to his mailbox, not to ram Ervin's lawn mower or to knock him off the mower.

A deputy says the latter is exactly what happened in the street in front of Padgett's home that night.

Padgett, 73, was arrested at 9:49 p.m. on charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and criminal mischief between $200 to $1,000, according to a Citrus County Sheriff's Office report.

Ervin of 6858 W Hans Court told deputies he was mowing along S Bob White Drive, when he saw Padgett driving toward him on a mower. The impact sent Ervin flying off the mower. He told deputies he hit his head and injured his left arm and elbow.

A deputy who interviewed Ervin noticed his elbow was bleeding and his clothing and hair were dusted with grass clippings, according to the report.

Ervin told deputies that he stood up and began to walk toward his house, but he noticed Padgett dragging away his, Ervin's, mower. Ervin grabbed the mower and called the Sheriff's Office.

Padgett told a deputy he thought Ervin was going to hit him. He said he "was not going to allow him to hit me, so I got him," according to the report. (:/)

Demon Ducks of Doom?
The Giant Ducks of Central Australia

Washington State Uni

The skeleton of one of the largest birds that ever lived has been installed at the Burke Museum. The museum is acquiring a cast of the fossil bird, known as Dromornis stirtoni, and it will be the first one ever displayed in the United States.



Dr. Vickers-Rich, director, Monash Science Center, Melbourne, Australia, will present a talk about Dromornis stirtoni—the giant prehistoric duck of Central Australia—and introduce visitors to the study of these fascinating flightless birds.

Over nine feet tall, Dromornis stirtoni roamed Central Australia more than 8 million years ago. Mihirungs, the common name for this group of extinct birds, is an Aboriginal word meaning giant emu. Mihirungs were a unique group of Australian flightless birds also known as “thunderbirds” and were derived from early waterfowl (ducks, geese, and swans). The last of their kind became extinct about 30,000 years ago. This Dromornis cast, mounted in a dramatic running posture, is a gift to the Burke Museum from Hugh Ferguson. (:/)

Cambodian Couple Suck Daughter's Blood

AP

Black magic may have driven a Cambodian couple to bite off their daughter's thumb nails and suck her blood, officials said Sunday.

Chheng Chhorn, 46, and Srun Yoeung, 37, attacked their 12-year-old child before dawn on Thursday while she was still asleep, biting off her thumb nails and a small part of her nose to drink her blood, said Keo Norea Phy, a police official in Kampong Cham province where the incident occurred.

Neighbors rushed to the couple's house and rescued the girl after hearing her screams, he said.

After treatment at a hospital in Kampong Cham, about 50 miles east of Phom Penh, the girl was placed in the custody of other villagers. Relatives had taken her parents to a black magic healer to chase away the evil spirit that was believed to have possessed them, the police official said.

"We, the police, just have no idea what offense to charge them with," Keo Norea Phy said.

Preap Nhim, a local official, said the couple sold noodles in their village and had never before acted in a strange manner. He said they may have been driven by the spirit guarding the altar they kept inside their house.

Cambodia is a Buddhist country, but many people in the countryside are deeply superstitious. Some claim the ability to communicate with the dead and cure the sick by exorcising evil spirits from their bodies. (:/)

Morning Show Hosts Suspended Over Kitten Humor

WAVE3 TV

Radio One, Louisville today [13 Oct] announced that WXMA Morning team "Lambert and Lindsey" consisting of George Lindsey, Lynda Lambert, and Aaron Miller was suspended indefinitely without pay for a radio prank gone sour.

The three radio personalities performed a “bit” on the morning of Thursday October 13th detailing the search for a kitten named “Skittles” that had supposedly been lost in a basket tied to helium balloons.

The morning team began the prank at 7:10 AM with a "science fair experiment" involving a GPS cell phone that was to be lifted into the air and tracked via computer. The kitten, they claimed, jumped into the basket with the GPS phone and lifted off into the skies of eastern Louisville.

None of this ever happened. There was no experiment and there was no lost kitten.

Upset listeners have jammed the phone lines at Radio One resulting in the suspension. Most felt that humor about a kitten in peril was not funny. Many were late for work as they drove around the eastern part of the county searching for the kitten.

A decision about the morning team’s return to the airwaves will be made by station management. (:/)

Mom delivers 16th child, thinking of more

AP

Michelle Duggar just delivered her 16th child, and she's already thinking about doing it again.



Johannah Faith Duggar was born at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday and weighed 7 pounds, 6.5 ounces.

The baby's father, Jim Bob Duggar, a former state representative, said Wednesday that mother and child were doing well. Johannah's birth was especially exciting because it was the first time in eight years the family has had a girl, he said.

Jim Bob Duggar, 40, said he and Michelle, 39, want more children.

"We both just love children and we consider each a blessing from the Lord. I have asked Michelle if she wants more and she said yes, if the Lord wants to give us some she will accept them," he said in a telephone interview.

The Discovery Health Channel filmed Johannah's birth and plans to air a show about the family in May.

The Learning Channel is doing another show about the family's construction project, a 7,000-square foot house that should be finished before Christmas. The home, which the family from the northwest Arkansas town of Rogers has been building for two years, will have nine bathrooms, dormitory-style bedrooms for the girls and boys, a commercial kitchen, four washing machines and four dryers.

Jim Bob Duggar, who sells real estate, previously lost his bid for the U.S. Senate. He said he expects to run for the state Senate next year but isn't ready to make a formal announcement.

Michelle Duggar, 39, had her first child at age 21, four years after the couple married.

Their children include two sets of twins, and each child has a name beginning with the letter "J": Joshua, 17; John David, 15; Janna, 15; Jill, 14; Jessa, 12; Jinger, 11; Joseph, 10; Josiah, 9; Joy-Anna, 8; Jeremiah, 6; Jedidiah, 6; Jason, 5; James, 4; Justin, 2; Jackson Levi, 1; and now Johannah. (:/)

Some guys just think women should be chained to the sink, you know? Erm, like this guy it seems:

DOO WEEP!

Seemingly scary sexist nutball? (:/)

Animal Magic

X-rays to show if hungry python devoured a Siamese cat

AFP

A Burmese python with a suspicious bulge in its belly will be x-rayed to confirm if it swallowed a family's Siamese cat, local authorities in the US state of Florida said on Monday.

The python, three-a-half meters (12 feet) long, was found on Sunday with a large protusion in its digestive tract near the Rodriguez family's home outside of Miami.



Puzzled by the disappearance of its one-year old pet feline, Frances, the family feared the worst.

"I am sure there's a cat in there," Andres, one of the family's sons, told local media.

His mother, Elidia, was worried but wanted proof about the fate of Frances. "I still would like to know for sure that it's him in the snake's stomach," she said.

Captain Al Cruz, of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue antivenin unit, told AFP that the reptile would be taken to a state park, where it will be x-rayed to determine if the Siamese cat had met an unfortunate end.

Another python made headlines last week. That snake, which was four meters (12.5-foot) in length, burst after trying to ingest an alligator in the Everglades National Park.

The presence of the large snakes, which can reach seven meters (24 feet) in length, has alarmed biologists in the Everglades because they pose a threat to native alligators, which are the principal predators in the regional ecosystem.

Many Florida residents adopt pythons as pets but abandon them later when they grow too big. Seven or eight pythons are found annually in the county, Cruz said. (:/)

Cat Born With 2 Tongues

Local6

A cat in Dobson, N.C., is believed to be the only cat in the world with two tongues, according to a Local 6 News report.



The cat, named Five Toes, was born with two tongues and five toes on each paw.

Owner Bill Whittington told a North Carolina TV station that he noticed the cat's second tongue in December. He said he yelled when he saw the tongues flicker.

He also said people laugh when he tells them about the cat -- until they see the tongues.

Whittington said Ripley's Believe It Or Not will feature Five Toes in its 2006 guide. (:/)

Crazy Canadians

Sunken cheddar defeats divers

Globe and Mail, Toronto

Luc Boivin's lost cheddar is passing into local legend as the Titanic of the cheese world.

The Quebec cheese maker dropped a 2,000-pound cargo of cheese to the bottom of the Saguenay fjord last year in a ripening experiment. Then he spent this summer searching for it. And now, after deploying a team of divers and an arsenal of high-tech tracking equipment, Mr. Boivin has given up the quest.

The sunken treasure of cheddar is nowhere to be found.

"It got too expensive to continue. At some point, you can't be crazy," he said recently from his factory in La Baie, Que.

No one can accuse Mr. Boivin, a fourth-generation cheese maker, of giving up easily. Searchers used state-of-the-art sonar equipment and underwater cameras to look for the bounty. Divers returned to the waters of the Baie des Ha! Ha! eight times. And the Development Centre in Ocean Mapping sailed to his aid with a $1-million, multi-beam sonar device, one of the most sophisticated marine mapping systems in Canada.

No luck.

"It's a mystery. All we know is that the cheese is no longer where it was left," said Pierre Dufour, a master diver who assisted La Fromagerie Boivin in the hunt. Whether it was eaten by cheddar-loving fish or stolen by cheese smugglers is anyone's guess.

"Where is it? We don't know," Mr. Dufour said.

According to a company estimate, $50,000 was spent to look for the cheese. The most popular theory is that its anchoring cables got caught up in the winter ice and that the cheese was carried downriver. Still, Mr. Dufour is not discouraged.

"The Titanic sank in 1912, but it was only found in 1985," he said.

The story has captured the public's imagination. The Saguenay cheese hunt made headlines around the globe. Mr. Boivin received random reports of sightings of the errant cheese barrels miles from where they were placed.

Last month, a commander of the HMCS Chicoutimi, on a local visit, said perhaps the Canadian Forces submarine could locate the cheese. "He said he had systems that could help," Mr. Boivin said.

"It's become like a treasure hunt. It has intrigued a lot of people," Mr. Boivin said, adamantly refuting suggestions the sunken cheese story was a fish tale, although he can't deny its priceless marketing value.

Mr. Boivin dropped 10 barrels of cheese into the Saguenay last fall after a fisherman reported reeling in a piece of Boivin cheese from a lake bottom and trying it. It was pronounced the best cheese he'd ever tasted.

Undeterred by the apparent failure of this year's underwater cheese experiment, Mr. Boivin is trying again. He still believes that underwater pressure will enhance the taste of an aged cheddar. So within the next few weeks, he will drop another charge of cheese in a stainless steel, submarine-type vessel into the Baie des Ha! Ha! But this time, he's taking no chances. The cheddar will be outfitted with a tracking device. (:/)

I checked to make sure it wasn't April 1st when I read that. But it’s true.

Sport

Lucky fan is twice in the right spot

Houston Chronicle

"I never caught one in a game before."
— SHAUN DEAN, Lucky fan who caught 2 balls in history-making game

Chris Burke's homer might not have been the only history-maker in Sunday's 18-inning victory over the Atlanta Braves. The fan who caught it — Shaun Dean of Porter — also caught Lance Berkman's grand slam shot in the eighth.

Dean, 25, was sitting in the second row of the Crawford boxes. A client had given tickets to Joslin Construction, where he is comptroller.

"I never caught one in a game before," he said.

But with one out in the eighth, with the bases loaded and the Astros down 6-1, Berkman hit his line drive. Fortunately, Dean was wearing a glove.

"It came right at me," he said, "I just reached over and caught it."

Later — about three hours — Burke came to the plate with two out in the 18th. When he connected, the drive was not on as direct a line as Berkman's but Dean said "it was all just a blur ... (it) came more toward my father-in-law, and he just leaned over and I reached down and caught it."

Soon afterward, "an usher came down and talked to me." He told Dean that the Astros normally offer cash and other considerations to fans who return special home-run balls to the players who hit them.

He said he probably would give the ball to Burke, since the homer made history, for the club and for Major League Baseball, since it ended the longest playoff game ever.

On the way out of the park, Dean was an instant celebrity.

"Everyone was congratulating me, patting me on the back," he said. "I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas." (:/)

Cuban claims new football head juggling record

AFP

A former Cuban football player set a new football head juggling record, making 146 consecutive touches in 30 seconds, according to event organizers.

Erich Hernandez, 39, broke the mark set in 2003 by Ferdie Adoboe, an American of Ghanaian origin who made 141 consecutive touches with his head in 30 seconds. Adoboe's mark is in the Guinness World Records book.

"I was very confident of my ability to beat the record since I had made 161 touches in a previous attempt," Hernandez told about 100 people at the exclusive Havana Club, whose guests included British Ambassador John Dew.

Dew handed Hernandez a Guinness certificate recognizing his record for juggling a football 319 times in one minute in December 2004 in Havana. Hernandez is the only Cuban athlete in the records book.

"I will get back to training in January to try to claim all the ball control world records," he said. (:/)

Reality vs. Virtual Reality

InsideLine

I'm approaching the blind crest of Laguna Seca's front straight in the 550-horsepower Ford GT. The speedo has swung past 100 mph, but the car continues to accelerate through its meaty torque band like a low-altitude cruise missile. Yet despite the blind hill I already know exactly what resides on the other side, because I've just completed four laps at this same circuit on Sony's PlayStation2 driving simulator, Gran Turismo 4.



In fact, the level of accuracy and detail conveyed by Gran Turismo 4 is downright eerie. By setting up a 43-inch LCD monitor, Sparco Racing Cockpit Pro seat and GT4 force feedback steering wheel, and driving the circuit in Laguna Seca's infield just before sliding into a real Ford GT, I truly feel like I'm already familiar with the track's layout before ever leaving pit row. The placement of the "Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca" pedestrian bridge as I rush under it on the front straight; the location and design of the tower just off Turn 1 — they're all spot-on representations of the real deal (OK, the grass surrounding the real track, in August, wasn't nearly as green and lush as it's portrayed on Gran Turismo 4).

And if I just pulled a 1-minute, 38-second lap time on Grand Turismo 4, driving a Ford GT around Laguna Seca, obviously my lap time in the real world, driving the same car on the same track, should be the same, right?




Wrong. I can't manage better than 1 minute, 52 seconds in the harsh reality of…well, reality. Where did those 14 seconds go? Most of them disappeared on the front straight I just described. Sure, the track's layout and visual cues are all the same as in Gran Turisimo 4. But careening over a blind crest at 100-plus mph is somehow different when seated in Ford's $150,000 exotic press car than it is when seated on a Sparco race seat, staring at a widescreen LCD. Very different.

Watching the practice session replay on Gran Tursimo 4 makes it painfully obvious where — and why — I lost time. In virtual land I keep the throttle mashed all the way over that crest and halfway down the hill before braking for Turn 2. My terminal velocity in the game is around 140 mph. In reality, I'm braking just before I crest the hill, topping out at a meager 105 mph. On a track like Laguna Seca, where your terminal velocity on the front straight is crucial, I'm throwing away any chance of matching my virtual time by refusing to stay on the gas over that crest.

Which brings up the single biggest difference between reality and virtual reality — consequences. A mistake on Gran Turismo 4 costs me nothing more than a bad lap time. A mistake with a real exotic car on a real racetrack is…a bit more costly.

The other major difference between virtual racing and the real thing is feedback from the car — or an almost total lack thereof. Yes, the force feedback steering wheel does its best to let you know when you're veering off the track, or sliding the rear end, but none of this comes close to the kind of information you get while driving a real vehicle. And in a car like the Ford GT, that's vital information. Because of the GT's midengine layout and powerful brake system you can use trail braking to rotate the car and set up your entry angle on any given turn. You can also sense how much traction you've got left in the front and rear tires when getting on the throttle, which greatly aids cornering speed.

So while the consequences of real life work against your lap times in reality, the complete immersion in vehicle feedback that you get while driving an actual Ford GT makes it easier to push the envelope on the real Laguna Seca racetrack than on the virtual version. It's these two factors that battled it out as I drove not only a Ford GT, but also a Dodge Neon SRT-4, Ford Mustang GT, a Mazda RX-8 and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo through the corkscrew and around the 11 turns that make up Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

And just to keep this story interesting we dragged along Justin Kaehler, gaming editor extraordinaire from IGN.com, and Champ Car driver AJ Allmendinger, to see which background provided the best training for virtual-versus-reality gaming. Who would pull the best times? Would it be the hard-core gamer, the professional racer, or the deluded automotive journalist who thinks he's both? (:/)

Bastard. I always stuffed Laguna Seca up royally. For the rest of this (to me) fascinating tale, see InsideLine's website .

Cops on the Rocks

Vice Unit's "Hands On" Tactics for Catching
Prostitutes is Rubbing People the Wrong Way

Seattle Times/CrimProf Blog

(Seattle) Lynnwood police concede they engaged in "rarely used" tactics during an undercover investigation into a suspected prostitution ring. Those tactics, which included officers allowing prostitutes to masturbate them in exchange for cash, have raised questions among law-enforcement officials, legal experts and the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office.

Lynnwood police Cmdr. Paul Watkins said he spent a great deal of time justifying the officers' actions to prosecutors to prove that the officers themselves weren't breaking the law...The officers didn't cross that line of engaging in intercourse or oral sex," Watkins said. "I advised them no oral sex, no intercourse, that's not going to happen. That's the understood policy. There's no written policy regarding this."

But other law-enforcement officials who weren't involved in the investigation say allowing officers to engage in such acts, even in an undercover investigation, goes too far. The usual tactic, they say, calls for an arrest once someone agrees to perform a sexual act in exchange for money. Seattle and King County police, for example, do not allow undercover officers to have sexual contact with prostitutes...

Mark Roe, Snohomish County's chief criminal deputy prosecutor...plans to meet with the officers and their supervisors and said if he finds the actions were questionable, the criminal charges could be amended or dismissed...

[CrimProf John Strait of Seattle University], said what the Lynnwood officers did is not illegal in an undercover investigation, but he calls it "very bad policy." "This is the equivalent of [undercover] cops doing drugs," Strait said. "I think very few narcotics officers toot crack, shoot heroin, do coke and marijuana. Here they are doing the same thing they are busting for." (:/)

Criminal Negligence

Australian caught smuggling
bird eggs in underpants

AFP

An Australian man who attempted to smuggle cockatoo eggs out of the country in his underpants was jailed for two years.



Customs officials said Keith Miller, 51, was arrested at Sydney airport in November last year trying to board a flight to Zurich with 23 eggs concealed in his underwear.

The eggs included protected native Australian species such as gang gang cockatoos, Major Mitchell cockatoos and red collared lorikeets.

Sending a message that bird smuggling would not be tolerated, the New South Wales District Court jailed Miller for two years with a 14-month non-parole period. (:/)

Tech Support for Stolen Laptop

Fox News

It had to be the dumbest customer-service call ever.

Lancaster County, Neb., sheriff's deputies say a man couldn't get a stolen laptop computer to work — so he called the manufacturer's toll-free tech-support number for help.

The IBM ThinkPad was reported missing after a rural home burglary Sept. 13, but there were few leads until IBM called, reports the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal-Star.

It turned out someone who wasn't the registered owner had failed in booting up the machine and called IBM's customer-service line, which still handles the calls although IBM sold its personal-computer division to China's Lenovo earlier this year.

When the caller gave the machine's serial number, support personnel realized it had been stolen and notified the authorities.

On Sept. 29, deputies executing a search warrant on a Lincoln home found both the ThinkPad and a pistol that had been stolen in Omaha in 1989.

They arrested Darrell Brown, 48, on suspicion of possessing stolen property. (:/)

Scitech

Robotic fish to cause a splash at London aquarium

AFP

The world's first self-controlled robotic fish were due to be unveiled at the London Aquarium, officials said.



The three aquatic robots were developed by a team at the University of Essex, in southeast England, to teach the public more about robotic technology.

Built to look like the real thing, the fish can swim around a specially designed tank, avoiding obstacles and reacting to the environment.

They have sensor-based controls to navigate autonomously.

Project leader Huosheng Hu and his robotics team worked with the aquarium for three years, studying the behavior and movement of a variety of fish before creating the robots.

"This work has many real-world applications including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil pipelines, mine countermeasures and improving the performance of underwater vehicles," Hu said.

The fish feature jewel-bright scales and can swim as fast as a tuna, accelerate like a pike and navigate like an eel.

"Our robotic fish are really wonderful to look at and very entertaining. It's amazing how beautiful and graceful their movements are -- they're going to be incredibly popular with our visitors," said aquarium director Foster Archer. (:/)

And finally

Pitching Pumpkins

Skagit Valley Herald

Like a barbarian at the gates, Wes Frank, leader of team TreBarbaric, stood in his blue-gray kilt and silver hard hat and gave the order.

“Mount up,” Frank said.

Three members of TreBarbaric climbed astride their trusty steeds — sorrel stick ponies — and took a lap around “The Machine.”

Standing 58 1/2 feet tall, The Machine is a trebuchet, a siege engine similar to a catapult. But TreBarbaric’s trebuchet flings pumpkins, rather than stones.


Photos by Frank Varga / Skagit Valley Herald
((From left) Steve Kramer, Brandon Krauch, Scott Wakeman and Trevor Blue of TreBarbaric with The Machine in the background celebrate their world record-breaking pumpkin pitch Saturday)

On Saturday, TreBarbaric’s seven men, who hail from their castles in Lyman and Sedro-Woolley, were just one pumpkin pitch away from their mission: Take back the world record.

After their stick pony sally, the men got down to the serious business of pitching pumpkins. After the words “fire in the hole” and the warning blast of a handheld air siren, Frank pulled the pin holding his wooden war engine in check.

With a whoosh of wind and whorl of wood, The Machine flung a white pumpkin high above the grass field of Skagit River Park in southeast Burlington.

For a moment, the burly men of TreBarbaric watched as the pumpkin flew across the sky. It smashed down, almost out of sight behind a truck and near foliage at the north end of the park. The men waited as the crew of volunteers measured their fifth and final toss.

“They are way up by the trees,” one of them said.

The announcement — 1,676 feet — was almost drowned out by their victory shouts.

“That’s 300 feet better, baby,” yelled Scott Wakeman of TreBarbaric.

Last year the team’s throw of 1,269 feet held the world record for 13 days. Then the mark was broken at the world championship pumpkin chucking contest in Delaware when Yankee Siege flung a gourd 1,399 feet. This time, TreBarbaric smashed the record by 277 feet.

About 5,000 people, who likely saw TreBarbaric’s final toss, attended Saturday’s Burlington Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Pitch, said Christi Kinney, city parks and recreation coordinator.

Attendees tasted pie, built scarecrows, ate salmon and pancakes, raced zucchinis, and watched five teams pitch pumpkins.

During a practice run Friday, TreBarbaric inadvertently demonstrated the devastation that could be wrought by a trebuchet. One of the team’s practice shots damaged the roof of a business near the park.

Each machine can be adjusted to change the trajectory of the throws. Weight can be added to the counterweight and the sling shortened or lengthened, which will affect the altitude of the pitches.

The lower the altitude the less likely the wind will steal the pumpkin’s forward momentum, Frank said. TreBarbaric’s first four tosses went high into the sky above the field and landed about 1,200 feet from the trebuchet. The team made some adjustments, which helped them break the record.

“We increased our counterweight, which caused it to throw flatter,” Frank said.

Event results
TreBarbaric of Sedro-Woolley (world record): 1,676 feet (formerly 1,399 feet)
Gourdinator of Sedro-Woolley: 566.3 feet
NERDS of Everett: 363.3 feet
Launch and Cover of Burlington:302.9 feet
Unidentified Flinging Objects of Burlington: 284.1 feet

Learn more
For more information about trebuchets log onto “NOVA Builds a Trebuchet”
(:/)

Indeed. I'd say the now traditional "Until next time...", but perhaps it's better just to say:

Au revoir, mes amis.