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"The technology underground is a thriving, humming, and often literally scintillating subculture of amateur inventors and scientific envelope-pushers who dream up, design, and build machines that whoosh, rumble, fly—and occasionally hurl pumpkins across enormous distances".

Adventures from the Technology Underground, William Gurstelle, author.

http://williamgurstelle.com/books4.php

I haven't read it yet, but it sounds entertaining.

Jon Rosenstiel

I've read parts of it, and its more of a story then a how-to.

I've seen bowling balls lofted with FG black powder from 10", buried steel mortars over 3,000-4,000 feet in similar whacko amusing styles. I think the discovery channel showed anvil firing with black powder where 50 lb anvils are pushed skyward, much as in the bowling ball lofting.

Amusingly, as the bowling ball comes back down you get a periodic "wheep.....wheep.....wheep.....wheep........CHUNK... as the finger holes go normal to the air stream making a flute like note as the ball rotates on its way down.

Masculine amusements, to be sure, and perhaps not long for this world as things manly or that smack of being not in line with a unisex society are eschewed as dangerous, contain lead or are just plain bad for future children to observe and absorb as being a gender driven activity.

Phooey. I don't know if would want to come back in two hundred years and see where man is then or what remains of manhood or experimental amateur science.

Richard Hull