The following is a rubber band shooting
technique I developed
while I was hosted in some
suburban hotel for a few
months during a
course I was taking.
Slaying mosquitoes using a rubber band
First, a small introduction. We had these huge mosquitoes,
about 4cm wide, which crippled the ceilings, bathrooms,
and hallways. There was a certain need to get rid of them,
especially before going to sleep. You don't want to imagine
what will land and bite you while you are way through some
midnight dreaming. After some time people got used to them
and didn't even bother to throw a pillow at them. At nights
before going to bed I'd lie down and stare at the threat
posed from above.
All of this changed one night. While my roommate was talking
with his girlfriend over the phone, I picked up a rubber band
that I found between my stuff. I aimed toward the mosquite
that was attached to one of the upper corners of my room
Splash! It flew, the nasty insect got hit, smash! The rubber band
fell from above, bringing pieces of the mosquito along with it. Some
of the mosquito was still stuck to the cieling. My roommate, seeing
this, started laughing like crazy, "Man, you're nut! This was the
funniest I've seen in a while!". I came across the others' rooms and
taught the technique to the other people. I slayed like 20 of
them that night.
Slaying with a rubber band works because the insect is slower than
the rubber band, considering that you stretch enough before firing
the band, giving it enough potential energy. The insect doesn't
know what's coming. All it sees is a tiny thing coming closer to
it in a split of a second, and then it goes to meet its creator.
I am not a marksman. I think it is rather easy to do what I've
did. I'll describe what is need for this.
The rubber band: Take a circular strip of a rubber band.
It needs to be at least 1mm thick at one side and 6mm think in
the other. The diameter of the circle should be at least 7cm in
the not-stretched mode, and the rubber band should span at least
30cm when stretched.
The distance: About 3 meters is the maximum, it is very
hard to hit exactly if you position yourself much further. Of course,
closer means better luck in a hit, plus a more powerful blow.
Holding the rubber band: You have to use both of your hands
for this. Each hand needs to hold one edge of the stretched rubber band.
I'll use the terms 'far hand' and 'close hand' for this. The rubber band
should form a line to the direction of the target. The far hand should
have one side of the rubber band wrapped in half circle at the tip of
of the pointing finger. Let me illustrate:
/~~~~~~\
#\\~~~~~\##
##\\ \##
## \\ ##
## \\___## \
## \\ ## \
## \## \
## ## \
## ##\ \
## ## \ \
## ## \ \
rubber band finger
So if you stretch the rubber band, the finger will be pulled back,
still holding it but not letting it go toward you. The other hand
should hold the other side of the band tightly with two fingers, the
pointing finger and the thumb. I'll illustrate:
/~~~~~/~~~~~~~~~~~
/-----/
| pointing finger
\
######################\____________/\__
####/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#################### / thumb
| _________
\/ \
\_________\______
The longer you stretch, the more
precise the hit will be, the
smaller changes the insect will get away, but remember that it will
be harder to hold the band with the close hand.
Aiming: Be careful when you aim. If the band releases from
the far hand, the band will fly right at you, and may hit your eye.
Think scorched earth. Take into account air friction (the rubber
band slows down), gravity (the rubber band falls down). Try aiming a
little higher (1-2 centimeters) than the target if the distance is
more than 2 meters.
Fire!: You carefully release the band from the close hand. There
it flies. The mosquito, who looks more or less like this:
\ /
\ /
\_*_/
---| |---
/~~~\
/ \
After a roughly 50 miliseconds now looks like this:
\ /
--- *
----
/
/