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gwern
So that is what those are called!
steerj92
Made these a few years ago, so much fun. Great physical hack!
Jxnathan
Why is this on HN? Somebody help me out here.
TeMPOraL
Because it's a nice physical hack. I personally haven't seen it before.

Also, because some people (myself included) upvoted it.

danielweber
I have never seen these before. It is nice to see things other hackers consider perfectly normal part of growing up that I completely missed.
Xylakant
Because somebody posted it and others found it curious and interesting - among them me. I didn't upvote it, but I found the potential explosion velocity surprising. It may not be of interest to you, but hey, I usually ignore like 50% of the HN homepage right away since I don't care about them. However, I don't go run around and post "why is this on HN?" in those threads.
fit2rule
The stickbomb is an interesting device, because it is entirely mathematical, and is thus a great hack because normally, you're using a tongue depressor to .. do depressor'y things ...

And by the way .. You are reading Hacker News.

maxmcd
Never thought I'd be sharing an A-Trak video on HN, but there's a nice implementation of these in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GbYR5Aud4Y
deletes
I saw some good places where cuts might be made, I doubt the entire video in one pure take. A behind the scenes video would be great.
brianzelip
Here is the behind the scenes video of that cool ass A-Trak video for 'Tuna Melt': http://youtu.be/fwTOxGKlHvo
deletes
Creators confirmed in the comments that is was stitched together from many takes. When I watched it again, cuts became pretty obvious.
laumars
Personally I wish they used multiple cameras because I found the running up and down stairs bits to be a little awkward to follow. However this is only a minor criticism as it was a really cool video and far better than anything I could have done.
jonalmeida
Upvoted because I liked the song more.
qwerta
Great, now TSA will take away my sticks.
freshyill
My toddler's favorite toy is a huge box of craft sticks. Now it will be my favorite toy as well.
awj
When I was a kid I would make something similar out of a (partially) unfolded paperclip. Seeing it on youtube makes it seem much less amusing than I remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKaR8cxS4Y4

dasil003
I used to do those as well, but without making the ends parallel, just hooking the tips together. To set it off I'd drop it parallel to the plane of the clip instead of on the edge. The goal was to hit the ceiling. One time I actually got it to stick into the fibrous ceiling tile. The challenge of maximizing the force was what made it fun.
cyanbane
Is there a nomenclature around the patterns used? Anyone got a good site?
ceejayoz
Great, now popsicle sticks will get you in trouble at TSA checkpoints.
jgrahamc
Now I know what I'm doing tonight.
JoeAltmaier
When the kids were into crafts, I made one of these for fun - never saw it before, just tried to weave them together with the minimum of sticks. There is a 4-stick 'airplane' possible; the article shows the easier 5-stick version.

So I think its useless to try to find the 'inventor'; endless people have independently discovered this novelty.

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Moulde
How the hell did i never know about these? So cool! :) Just stumbled upon the SUBARU radio controlled car video an hour ago.
larkinrichards
The pitch is easy:

"Xyloexplosives -- like dominos, but made with tongue depressors."

mehmedrecip
Before you know it, the TSA will ban popsicle sticks.
fit2rule
One of the most pleasant web pages I've read on the Internet in a long time:

http://lunatim.com/kinart/stickhistory.htm

I even get an earworm from some of the videos .. ;)

eps
That's PhD-grade dedication, right there.
err4nt
That's was like a step back in time! I wish more web content was awesome and provoking like that
dec0dedab0de
It was so gradual that I didnt notice when this style of webpage disappeared.
InclinedPlane
It's still out there, it's just drowning in a sea of linkbait, lazy reportage, even lazier "curation", and other bullshit.
mvanvoorden
I just spent way over an hour reading the website and watching videos about stick bombs :o
mholt
A common variation is Cobra Chains or Cobra Weaves. Actually made one today for a college class (go figure?) ...