(Roughly) Daily

Japan Probe reports that the innovators at the Japan Rubber Band Gun Shooting Association have developed a rubber band machine gun that can fire over 200 elastic ovals a minute.  The Association’s Mr. Nakamura demonstrates:

Mr. Nakamura has kindly provided step-by-step photo instructions for making one’s own rapid repeater.

As we stretch ourselves, we might wish a happy birthday to late-bloomer Samuel Richardson, who was born on this date in 1689.  A successful printer and publisher for most of his adult life, Richardson wrote and published his first novel, Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded when he was 51.  He followed it with  Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady and Sir Charles Grandison — and became one of the most popular and admired authors of his time.

Highmore’s portrait of Richardson