• cmhe@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        I guess being a mother is considered an important life achievement, while being a father is not.

        • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
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          2 months ago

          I think it’s more that, for some, becoming a parent is their only life accomplishment, so “reader engagement” is literally, “hey, overlap these two circles, or the middle won’t buy our crap.”

    • mouserat@discuss.tchncs.de
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      2 months ago

      I guess it’s bait for people who like to judge. The idea could be: it’s not responsible to quit science for this and being a mother makes irresponsible choices even worse. That’s not my point of view, but I know people whose life seems to be so empty that they feel a constant need to look down on others and the “mother” information gives them at least 5 more minutes of talking shit about how this is a terrible decision.

      • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        I see it the other way around. Older people eat up clickbait news, and older people tend to be parents, so identifying the woman as a mother makes them go “she’s someone like me” while identifying her as a scientist is less likely to resonate. It helps some people imagine themselves in her shoes.

    • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s been this way since the inception of the news paper. To sell papers they needed to get people invested in the subjects of the paper. That included giving information about the subject of the articles that other people might relate to. If you’re a mother you’re more likely to be inspired by a mom of 3 who went for a degree in science and ended up becoming a “Trebuchet Master”.

  • Jolteon@lemmy.zip
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    2 months ago

    Since they specified female, there is presumably also at least one male trebuchet master as well, meaning that the UK considers trebuchets important enough to have multiple trebuchet Masters.

    • NoForwardslashS@sopuli.xyz
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      2 months ago

      The new alternative to Trident. It’s cheaper to have trebuchets posted around the coastline than nukes scooting around on submarines and offers about the same amount of protection from the country being nuked.

      • dch82@lemmy.zip
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        2 months ago

        offers about the same amount of protection from the country being nuked.

        Sadly true lol

    • 𝓔𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓮@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      It’s the cheapest means of getting fresh beef from point A to point B. I am surprised burgericanos haven’t discovered it yet

  • neonred@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Being “trebuchet master” without “Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics”… doubt

  • ArgentRaven@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I would, too. Which is the more exciting job? Unfortunately there probably isn’t much call for a trebuchet bombardment these days.

    • Ð Greıt Þu̇mpkin@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Fun fact, only one trebuchet has ever been deployed for combat in the new world.

      The conquistadors and coalition forces built one during the siege of Tenochitlan, they tried to fire it but the sling snapped, rock went up, rock came back down.

      Thus ended the storied military record of trebuchets in the new world.

    • tomatolung@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Perhaps this should be decreed in a new Geneva convention as the only allowed long range missile system? That would make wars less deadly and more useful.

      • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        But I still love the Ballista.

        I’ve made several over the years for demonstrations using a couple 2x4s, 2 oak dowels, a steel rod, and nylon rope that’ll hurl a “bolt” (tube used to separate clubs in a golf bag with a tennis ball on one end) 400 yards.

        They’re just fun.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Depends on the mass of the projectile, and how the throwing arm is tuned.

      If its release is tuned for distance and they’re flinging period-accurate projectiles, tuned firmly distance a typical period tree could throw stones about 300 meters.

      Depending on the kind of fortifications they were against (and if they had siege engines of their own, or other artillery- bow and arrows, whatever) they might set up a little closer and tune instead for more forward velocity rather than range.

      The typical mass was about 200-300 kilograms, or a small sedan. You could go heavier, but that typically reduced range.

      • scutiger@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        200-300 kilograms, or a small sedan

        A small sedan weighs about four times as much as that

          • autriyo@feddit.org
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            2 months ago

            You sent me down a little rabbit hole, depending on how one defines sedan, the lightest I could find is the Peel P50 at roughly 60 kg. A better fit weight wise could be the Isetta at roughly 350 kg.

            But neither option, including the robin feels like a proper sedan to me, and only the robin really checks the basic requirements.

            Afaik the term “sedan” doesn’t really define the amount of wheels, but I don’t tend to think of a three wheeled vehicle.

            So the first four wheeled sedan style car that came to mind was the Trabant, but that’s still 600kg.

            Idk what the point of this text is…

            Have a nice day, I guess?

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              AFICT, sedan is basically anything that’s not specifically something else.

              Mostly, I used the robin because it has a very loyal fan base, for being such… an interesting little car. I was half expecting someone to jump on me being like “don’t you dare”.

              In any case, the biggest issue is think timing the release. Like. With boulders or rocks or whatever, it’s really just a matter of geometry.

              The CoG of a boulder in a sling (or gummy bear or dot, or whatever, really,) is pretty predictable.

              For a car, though, it kinda pivots in a wonky way because of how they’re usually attached by the tow hooks, with a tether that gets released at the end of the throwing arm. It makes it hard to predict where the CoG actually is. (In the video I posted- and most of them, they botch the release, leading to it flying more up. I’m not sure how much more range they can get, but it was released fairly early. Maybe on purpose.)

  • cRazi_man@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Scientist in the UK wear surgical caps and carry stethoscopes? I guess doctors are a subcategory of scientists.

  • bluewing@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    As a retired toolmaker, I see your trebuchet and raise you the artillery piece I made for myself - a small Coehorn mortar of about 50mm/2" bore.

    I’ve known 2 toolmakers that have built their own full scale full functional Gatling guns from scratch also.

  • rekabis@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    The military will need skills like that once modern civ collapses later this century.