I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

  • GoatLordMessiah

    How is this Kickstarter “oversubscribed” exactly? I’d say its equally subscribed to the people who wish to subscribe/back to the project. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/dpease Dave Pease

      in this usage, “oversubscribed” probably means the guy made multiples of his funding goal.

      also, you probably knew that already.

      • GoatLordMessiah

         It was just an odd choice of a word, popular would have sufficed.

        • Antinous / Moderator

          But ‘popular’ doesn’t give the same information that ‘oversubscribed’ does.  He’s gotten more than $20K on a $5K goal, thus oversubscribed.

  • Mister44

    “I see you have constructed a rubber band shot gun. Your skills are complete.”

    • noah django

      “an elegant weapon, from a more *civilized* era”

  • Vanwall Green

    A pal used to get into rubber-band gun fights at work, with the industrial-strength variety. One day a guy showed up with long stick with multiple notches, and a string he laid down along the length of the stick.He loaded up about twenty bands, aimed, and pulled the string up. The noise of all the bands flying through the air was almost as much fun as the target strike.  

  • bolamig

    Someone’s going to lose an eye.

    • http://www.tumbleweed.net/ tyger11

       Then it becomes a scavenger hunt, and those are fun, too!

    • tacochuck

       I wish I could remember who said this:

      “Just remember: It is all fun and games until someone loses an eye.”

      “Then it’s F’ing hilarious!”

      • ImmutableMichael

        “… And then it’s STILL all fun and games, but you have no depth perception.”

  • Jake0748

     Rubber-band shotgun Kickstarter. 

    Damn… it makes me so happy, that no matter how old I get, there can still be new combinations of words I’d never imagined. 

    Kudos.

  • Sigmund_Jung

    And who is going to free your kid from the TSA prison?

  • 5onthe5

    When I was growing up my parents wouldn’t let me have any toy guns, even water pistols. They didn’t think guns were a suitable theme for children’s play.

    Now when I watch the children in that video grinning as they pump their shotguns, I get a twinge of guilt and unease.

    • CSBD

      My parents would not let us have toy guns or BB guns either.  They felt it would be dangerous for us to think of guns as toys seeing as my parents had real guns that they kept around the house (loaded).  We all turned out ok…

    • http://www.nathanhornby.com/ Nathan Hornby

      I have a slightly different experience, but similar.

      I wasn’t allowed toy weapons as a kid (and I get why), and now whenever I see a a youngen with a plastic gun pretending to kill everyone at a bus stop it makes me really uncomfortable, and worry about their psychology.  I’m not sure if that’s just due to my upbringing though – especially as I’ll happily do the same in a video game and not think anything of it.

      In summary I don’t know what I think about toy weapons.

    • TheOven

      I was actually encouraged to play with guns as a kid. We had lots of rifles. My first was given to me at 12 I think. Maybe 10. 

      We had rifles in the house and Dad taught us mostly about safety. We knew where the guns were kept locked up, where the bullets were and that we were never, ever allowed to touch them unless he was with us and we where at a range or in the woods – they were for hunting only. We were taught respect for the power and danger of guns but also not to be afraid of them so that we could handle them knowledge and awareness.

      We also played Cowboys and Indians (I had to learn what racism was later) and occasionally the school or some concerned parent would take our toy guns away. We played with a piece of wood or whatever was around – like a finger. (“Bang bang, I got you! You’re totally dead, so lie down and count to ten.”) So, kids will probably always find a way to play guns so long as there are real guns. 

      There was never any confusion about toys vs. real guns though, and as an adult I too cringe a little when I see kids with any kind of gun. But for us, it really was a reflection of my father’s outlook that you might need to use a gun someday so you needed to know what it was and how to use it to get food. Not a skill I’ve grown to need – as a vegetarian, carrots are easy to catch and kill.

      The lesson I take from it all is that while I don’t feel comfortable seeing kids and guns together, I think education is important and kids can learn to be respectful of firearms. The real problem as I see it, is that guns remind us all of mankind’s propensity for violence. And even though the human animal is smart enough to rise above violence in all it’s forms, we don’t seem to be willing to.

      /rant

  • http://twitter.com/WikiTruths Wiki-Truths

    20 thousand dollars spent on rubber band guns. I’m ashamed to be human. 

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000255796971 Nic Garth

      and zynga got millions to make farmville, you’re going to have a tough life if thousands spread across a lot of people make you uneasy

    • bzishi

      Think of all the workers in the rubber band factory or the eye surgeons who will now have the money to adopt the stray puppy or kitten from the animal shelter. Do you hate puppies and kittens?

      • http://lemoutan.blogspot.com/ Lemoutan

        Yes but how many rubber plants had to die?

        Oh. None, I suppose.

        As you were.

    • puppybeard

       I think you should just be ashamed in general.

      Play is part of how the rest of us interact, it’s actually fundamental to being human.

  • nemonomen

    looks a lot like the “P6 elastic” and “P8 elastic” rubber band guns they had here in Italy back in the ’80s. I say “they had” ’cause my parents never bought me one… :(

    • puppybeard

       Teach your parents a lesson by shooting them with a rubber-band shotgun.

    • TheOven

       I question it’s firstness as well.

  • puppybeard

    I for one, can’t wait to face-off with my colleagues, furiously pumping as we spray each other.

    • oasisob1

      We’re still talking about rubber band guns, right?

      • puppybeard

         You can get rubber-band guns? Cool!

    • CSBD

      Do you work for a Republican congressman?

  • Guest

    Ahum. Working rubber-band rotary cannon. Youtube. Plywood. Sorry.