Archive Category: Weapons & War
What Supersonic Looks Like
It’s been over six decades since Chuck Yaeger broke the sound barrier, but photos of fighter jets hitting Mach 1 has always fascinated us. Here’s a new photo of an Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft breaking the sound barrier while performing aerial maneuvers in the Gulf of Alaska:
The phenomenon is not well studied. Scientists refer to it as a vapor cone, shock collar, or shock egg, and it’s thought to be created by what’s called a Prandtl-Glauert singularity.
Here’s what scientists think happens:
A layer of water droplets gets trapped between two high-pressure surfaces of air. In humid conditions, condensation can gather in the trough between two crests of the sound waves produced by the jet. This effect does not necessarily coincide with the breaking of the sound barrier, although it can.
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Potato Gatling Gun
As Kip "Kipkay" Kedersha of Make Magazine said in the clip, everyone has seen a potato gun … but what about a potato gatling gun? The DeRose family decided to build a rapid-fire revolving potato cannon for a weekend project.
The Zeray Gazette has the video clip of the potato gatling gun in action (spuds away!): Link [embedded YouTube clip] | The Potato Gatling Gun Official Website
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Hitler’s Stealth Plane Re-Created
The Nazi Horten 2-29 fighter plane looked like something from a Star Wars prequel: an all-wing jet capable of speeds up to 600 mph, made mostly of wood.
Designer Walter Horten had lost hundreds of Luftwaffe colleagues during the Battle of Britain in 1940, and he was keen to avenge their deaths by developing a plane that would be pretty much invisible to Britain’s radar system.
He and his brother built and flew the prototype Ho 2-29 just before Christmas 1944, but the war ended before the plane could enter mass production.
The only remaining Horten 2-29 is kept hidden from public view at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration and Storage Facility outside Washington, DC.
Did the plane truly have stealth capability against WWII radar? A team from Northrup Grumman built and tested a full-scale replica to find out.
Photo by Linda Reynolds/Flying Wing Films
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Luxury Russian Cruise Hunts Somali Pirates
Perhaps this is the way to deal with Somali pirates, and get a little R&R at the same time: a Russian luxury cruise line is offering wealthy customers the chance to hunt pirates!
Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders.
When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.
Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops.
Update 6/26/09 - It’s a hoax, though I think the proposed (morbid and not to mention unethical) solution is still a matter of interesting debate - Thanks rb!
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Was Custer Outgunned at Little Bighorn?
The Battle of Little Bighorn happened 133 years ago today. George Custer and his men were certainly outnumbered, but their defeat may have also been assured by the Lakota and Cheyenne warriors’ superior weaponry.
If the Indians were, in fact, better armed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Custer may have contributed to the situation by declining to include Gatling guns in his van. Because he was setting off on what amounted to a search-and-destroy mission, he argued that the Gatlings were too cumbersome and would only slow him down.
At the point where he was surrounded and outnumbered by a ratio as high as 9-to-1, he probably regretted making that choice. In such a dire situation, the Gatling gun would have considerably reduced the enemy’s numerical advantage and may have even proven decisive in turning the tide.
The Lakota and Cheyenne warriors did join the battle with a number of Henry and Spencer repeating rifles, which provided a higher rate of fire than the single-shot Springfield Model 1873 carbines carried by the cavalry troopers.
In the end, several factors led to the deaths of the 197 men under Custer, each stemming from his underestimation of his adversaries. Link
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7 Infamous Offices That Decided The Fate Of Millions
You might like to think that the decisions made in stately offices are in your benefit, but a quick look back through 20th century history reveals numerous offices of government used to plan, organize and ultimately commit untold atrocities.
In fact, throughout history men and women of power have decided the fate of millions from behind their desks.
The infamous offices in this list are all well known for the notoriously shady activities that occurred within them, that is except for one shining example, The Cabinet War Rooms. The remaining offices have a dark and sinister history having served as headquarters for some of the most brutal regimes and criminal empires the world has ever seen.
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Military Uniforms of World War II
Captain’s uniforms of every military branch of the various countries that served in World War II, modeled by the same guy!
“My hobby deals strictly with World War II militaria & insignia.
However, rather than collecting the actual items, I collect and use high resolution photos of them to create Photoshop images that show myself in the uniform of a Captain (or equivalent rank) in whichever armed force and branch of service those insignia were worn by.
Link -via Metafilter
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Robotic Ferret Sniffs Out Drugs, Weapons and Illegal Immigrants
Coming soon to a seaport near you: a robot dubbed the "cargo-screening ferret" that will detect drugs, weapons, explosives and even illegal immigrants hidden in cargo containers.
Recent advances in both laser and fibre optic technology now make it possible to detect tiny particles of different substances. The EPSRC-funded project team is developing sensors which incorporate these technologies and that are small enough to be carried on the 30cm-long robot, in order to detect the specific ‘fingerprint’ of illegal substances at much lower concentrations than is now possible.
When placed inside a steel freight container, the ferret will attach itself magnetically to the top, then automatically move around and seek out contraband, sending a steady stream of information back to its controller.
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High School Course in … Domestic Security
Remember our post about boy scouts trained in anti-terrorism? In one high school in Maryland, you can even take courses in domestic security - but before you cry foul, consider this: it may simply be a good career move for the kids.
Meade High School, where Edler teaches, made its own history this year. The long-troubled public high school become one of the first in the nation to offer a four-year course in domestic security. The goal: to help graduates build careers in one of America’s few growth industries.
"This course will help me get a top-secret security clearance," said Darryl Bagley, an eager 15-year-old. "That way I can always get a job."
Meade offers its 2,150 students a standard high school curriculum, including electives like advanced calculus and carpentry. But the 90 ninth-graders who chose the new homeland security program this last school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like.
New themes even were added to their science, social studies and English classes.
"There’s a lot of homeland security issues in ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ " said Bill Sheppard, the program coordinator. "Like, how do you deal with infiltration in your own family?"
Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times has the story of agents in the making: Link (Photo: Chris Usher / LA Times)
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Cutting Edge Weapons: 10 Unusual Knives, Swords and Blades
Whether we like it or not, weapons play a pivotal role in human history. Most of them are simple and ruthlessly practical, whereas others evolved to become highly ornate, to the point that they could no longer be used as actual weapons but as ceremonial pieces instead.
Socyberty has an interesting post about the 10 most unusual blades (including knives and swords) from around the world. Take, for example, the katar shown to the left:
The Katar, shown in the introduction, is a short punching sword from India. The hand fitted into the grip so that the blade was above the knuckles. It was a weapon used by the Rajput, referred to as “the most valiant warriors of the Indian sub continent.”
Used in close combat the blades were said to be able to punch through armour.
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Designer Gas Mask by Diddo Velema
Just because the apocalyptic scenario of a bioterror attack is (always) around the corner, it doesn’t mean that you have to sacrifice fashion for safety. Behold the designer gas masks by Diddo Velema:
Deep down, we are afraid we may never be satisfied. An expanding archive of branded myths and icons feeds this fear. Designer Gas Masks is an attempt to visualize this state of mind. Because it is only by first acknowledging and then challenging fear that we will all be able to breathe a little easier.
Link (Don’t miss his shark attack wetsuit!) - via why not?
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Secret Weapon in the War on Terror: Boy Scout SWAT Team
Photo: Todd Krainin/NY Times
Boy Scouts’s motto "Be Prepared" apparently extends all the way to modern day’s terrorism. In this post 9/11 world, you can’t be too careful, so the Border Patrol in Imperial County, California, has a - shall we say, unique - program for the Scouts:
The Explorers program, a coeducational affiliate of the Boy Scouts of America that began 60 years ago, is training thousands of young people in skills used to confront terrorism, illegal immigration and escalating border violence — an intense ratcheting up of one of the group’s longtime missions to prepare youths for more traditional jobs as police officers and firefighters.
“This is about being a true-blooded American guy and girl,” said A. J. Lowenthal, a sheriff’s deputy here in Imperial County, whose life clock, he says, is set around the Explorers events he helps run. “It fits right in with the honor and bravery of the Boy Scouts.”
The training, which leaders say is not intended to be applied outside the simulated Explorer setting, can involve chasing down illegal border crossers as well as more dangerous situations that include facing down terrorists and taking out “active shooters,” like those who bring gunfire and death to college campuses. In a simulation here of a raid on a marijuana field, several Explorers were instructed on how to quiet an obstreperous lookout.
Jennifer Steinhauer of The New York Times has more: Link
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Unseen Photographs Shed New Light on World War I
The Independent newspaper in the UK has released some newly discovered portraits of British soldiers from World War I.
Hidden in a French barn for ninety years, these pictures are a telling record of soldiers in preparation for the Battle of the Somme.
Over 400 glass plates have been discovered and collected by photography enthusiasts Bernard Gardin and Dominique Zanardi, in hopes of identifying the soldiers:
A treasure trove of First World War photographs was discovered recently in France. Published here for the first time, they show British soldiers on their way to the Somme. But who took them? And who were these Tommies marching off to die?
Link - via webphemera
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Would-Be Gangster Shot Off Own Manhood
Here’s a lesson for all you tough guys: don’t stick a gun in your pants to impress friends, lest you shoot off your manhood!
Lukas Neuhardt, 27, had forgotten to put the safety catch on when he stuffed the gun into his trouser pocket to impress pals in Saarbruecken, Germany.
He told paramedics that a masked mugger had blasted him in the crutch in a bungled robbery.
But police found a hole in his statement when they saw that the gunshot had miraculously left his trousers intact.
"Instead there was a charred hole in his pocket so either it was the shot of the century or he did it himself," said a police source.
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Tear Gas and Tasers: Kids Get in on the … Fun?
It is hard to resist a Florida joke here but really, it is a wonderful state … for the most part. What is truly amazing is not that dozens of children were tazered in the same state, nor that it was all on the same day, nor that some of them were also tear gassed. No, what is amazing is that this was done almost entirely with parental consent - and on take-your-child-to-work day no less.
Children held hands so that 50,000 volts could pass through their fingers. Other children were exposed to tear gas.
A total of 43 children were directly and indirectly shocked by electric stun guns during simultaneous Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day events gone wrong at three state prisons last month. One was a warden’s daughter.
None of the children required medical attention or were notably harmed, McNeil said. He said the victims, who ranged in age from 5 to 17, were all children of prison officials. In nearly every case, the guards who administered the “electronic immobilization devices” had permission from parents or grandparents.
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Omo Valley Tribespeople Live as Their Ancestors Did (Except with Lots of AK-47s)
Photo: Brent Stirton
In 2007, photojournalist Brent Stirton went to the Omo River Valley in Ethiopia to document the life of people of remote tribal groups that continue to live as their ancestors did hundreds of years ago. Except that they have AK-47. Plenty of AK-47s:
In the sprawling, desolate Southern Omo River Valley region of Ethiopia are several tribes living as they have for centuries, in voluntary isolation from the modern world. Recently, however, the tribes — Dassanech, Mursi, Hamar, Karo, Bume, Beshadar and others — are under increasing pressure from the outside world. Most recent is the Omo River dam project to provide hydroelectric power to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. This will reduce the river to one-fifth its size and eliminate the flood plain so valuable to Omo Valley tribal farmers. The geographically distant government in Addis Ababa appears to place little importance on the threat to these unique Omo Valley cultures, and the days of their existence as intact cultures are numbered. [...]
Outsiders are regarded as a source of money, AK47s are everywhere and people are aggressive in their pursuit of cash for photographs. It’s sad really, for the people of the region have a limited idea of what money can buy but already have a taste for it. As money acquires more value in their society, it will eat away all that makes their society unique.
Brent’s photo gallery make for a very interesting visit: Link (warning: some indigenous tribes nudity) - via CreativeRoots | Brent’s blog Photo Journeys at Discovery Channel
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The Sap Cap
It looks like an ordinary baseball cap. But slip steel inserts into the Sap Cap, and you have a weapon. “Beat on muggers like you are The Skipper and they are Gilligan.”
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OMG, Greatest Show Concept Ever…
[YouTube - Link]
If you could create your perfect TV show, what would it be? Apparently, whoever greenlighted this show understands that there is a huge untapped market of people like me.
Here it comes, Weaponizers, the flaming hellspawn of BattleBots and Junkyard Wars. I…am…so…happy…
Please God - I dont ask for much - don’t let the pilot be a hoax.
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The Hummingbird Pistol
In 1914, Austrian watchmaker Georg Grabner created the Kolibri — the “Hummingbird” pistol. The smallest autoloading pistol ever made, it fires a .11 caliber bullet. He marketed it as a self-defense firearm for women to carry in their purses. More pictures and history at the link.
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The Apache — A 19th Century Personal Protection Gadget
The Apache was a combination dagger, pepperbox, and knuckle duster manufactured and sold in the United States from 1870 through 1900. More pictures and history of this unique pocket weapon at the link.
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Samurai Isao Machii Probably Can Circumcise a Fly in Mid-Air
Whatever you do, don’t get into a fight with Japanese samurai Isao Machii! If he can cut a rubber bullet fired straight at him in two, then chopping off your noggin is trivial. Yup, you read that right: he can cut a bullet in two.
Link [embedded YouTube clip]
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Bulletproof Fashion
Colombian designer Miguel Caballero makes what is probably the world’s safest haute couture: his clothings are bullet-proof! To keep his customers safe, Miguel has made bulletproof jackets, polo shirts, and yes, even underwears …
Miguel Caballero slides open a box of 9mm bullets. “Choose one,” he says to his employee Lizeth Castaneda. He points his revolver at Castaneda’s abdomen and fires. Seconds later, his victim giggles with relief…
Caballero, 41, dresses presidents, government officials and their bodyguards, as well as businesspeople and celebrities, in discrete and stylish blazers, leather jackets and tuxedo shirts that can stop bullets shot from pistols and Mini Uzis
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Scooter-Mounted Cannon
After World War II, the French could not afford the most sophisticated military equipment, and so improvised with what they had on hand. Hence their production of scooter-mounted 75mm recoilless rifles. Blogger James R. Rummel offers more information and photographs of this vehicle.
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Pirate vs Ninja Mobile
It’s the age-old question: are pirates tougher than ninjas? Here’s a mobile you can hang up and watch as the slightest breeze gets the action started.
The combatants go mano a mano with cutlass vs sword, leap vs lunge. You have to provide your own sound effects.
Photo: Etsy SweetandSalty
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Swords + Umbrellas = Swordbrellas!
Umbrellas for the Civil but Discontent Man (2008), by Bruce and Stephanie Tharp,
manufactured by Kikkerland
Just because it’s rainy season it doesn’t mean that you have to go without your swords. Here are three such combination of weapon and umbrellas by Bruce and Stephanie Tharp of Materious:
"Sigmund Freud contends that aggressiveness is a fundamental human instinct whose inhibition is a necessary obligation of social life. These umbrellas combine a symbol of gentlemanly refinement–the full-sized, black umbrella–with an element from more manly sword-bearing times. The umbrellas offer brief psychological respite from the dictates of social amiability.
Core 77 has the write up of the couple’s art display in Milan Design Week 09: Link - via oobject
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Don’t Worry Folks: That Flash Over Virginia Was Just … Russian Rockets?!
To be fair, the Russians aren’t attacking. In fact, the US military knew this was coming and expected it. Debris from launched spacecraft and rocketry regularly fall back into the atmosphere. Stilll, residents who didn’t know that might well have thought that the Russians were invading when they dialed 911. Things might have gone rather differently a few decades ago.
The mysterious boom and flash of light seen over parts of Virginia Sunday night was not a meteor, but actually exploding space junk from the second stage of a Russian Soyuz rocket falling back to Earth, according to an official with the U.S. Naval Observatory.
The Russian-built Soyuz rocket lifted off Thursday from the Central Asian spaceport of Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to launch a new crew and American billionaire Charles Simonyi — the world’s first two-time space tourist — to the International Space Station. The spaceflyers arrived at the space station on Saturday.
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The Boneyard: Where Military Aircraft Go to Die
AMARC, photo via Artificial Owl
Our pal WebEcoist has a very neat post about the graveyards of "stuff" after they’re no longer wanted. This one above is the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center or AMARC ("The Boneyard") in Tucson, Arizona, where military airplanes go to die:
When U.S. military airplanes need to be repaired or are just too old to fly, many of them end up in the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center, or AMARC, in Tucson, Arizona. Some of these planes are restored to operational status while others are broken down for parts. Seen from above, the planes make beautiful patterns in blue and white against the earthy brown backdrop.
Link | The AMARC Experience website
Previously on Neatorama: Shipbreaking Yard: Where Ships Go to Die
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World War II POWs Used Escape Maps Hidden In Monopoly Pieces
Last year, an archive of World War II maps was donated to the British Library Map Library. Some of these maps are now on display to the public, and they have fascinating story behind them!
Waddington PLC, the printing company best known for its games including Monopoly, was involved in a most unusual venture during the Second World War: printing maps on silk, rayon and tissue paper for military use and smuggling some of them to prisoners of war.
[...]
During WWII hundreds of thousands of maps were produced by the British on thin cloth and tissue paper. The idea was that a serviceman captured or shot down behind enemy lines should have a map to help him find his way to safety if he escaped or, better still, evade capture in the first place. A map like this could be concealed in a small place (a cigarette packet or the hollow heel of a flying boot), did not rustle suspiciously if the captive was searched and, in the case of maps on cloth or mulberry leaf paper, could survive wear and tear and even immersion in water. The scheme was soon extended to cover those who had already been captured, although a certain amount of ingenuity was required to get the maps into the POW camps.
Link - via holeinthedonut
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If Your City Were Nuked
CarlosLabs, a design firm based in Sydney, created a Google Maps mashup of cities around the world and what they would look like if hit by various nuclear devices. You can choose your city and then a weapon (Fat Man, Little Boy, Tsar Bomba, Asteroid) and press "Nuke it!" and then see the extent of thermal damage.
The concentric circles of different colors mean different physical effects. The center of the circle is conflagration, where most people would die within 24 hours. The purple circle means 3rd degree burns, requiring medical care. The pink circle means 2nd degree burns, like burns from boiling water. And the yellow outermost circle means 1st degree burns, like a sunburn.
The map here shows the extent of damage if a nuclear device was dropped on Los Angeles.
Link - via carloslabs
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The Horned Helmet
Dark Roasted Blend has a really neat post about some of the strangest medieval suit of armors ever made. This one is the the Armet of Henry VIII or better known as the Horned Helmet, made by Austrian goldsmith Konrad Seusenhofer as part of armor presented by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to King of England Henry VIII in 1514 - via Royal Armouries
If you’re wondering why the glasses, it’s because Henry VIII was near-sighted.
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