military
Taking up arms for a foreign country in exchange for hard cash has been called “the second-oldest profession in the world.” Then again, being a spy, politician, lawyer, teacher, hotel manager, pawnbroker or gambling tip-sheet publisher have also been called the second-oldest professions in the world. But as author Peter Tickler said in the introduction to “The Modern Mercenary,” mercenary work has been considered by some to be “a peculiarly male version of prostitution,” with a maybe more literal definition of selling one’s body. During eras where many armies were made up of ...
The Department of Defense is the driving force behind much of American research. We owe the military for a number of amazing and essential inventions, but for every time they create the Internet there are ten examples of them tying a confused animal to a bomb and hoping for the best. Here are ten examples of (understandably) cancelled military projects... INNOVATIVE WAYS TO DIE As the US Army was first experimenting with helicopters and the airmobility concept, a number of inventors and design firms were presenting the Pentagon with ideas for personal flying platforms designed for swift, versatile reconnaissance. ...
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Like something out of every science fiction movie ever made, in the not-so-distant future, soldiers in the U.S. military could have mutant powers. Before your mind starts going all X-Men on you, it's not quite that extreme. We're not talking teleportation and the ability to grow retractable claws made of adamantium unfortunately, but we are talking what is being referred to as "military human enhancements." Basically, the "mutant powers" will be increased strength and endurance that come in the form of drugs, specified nutrition, various robotic implants, and gene therapy. These adjustments to the human body could have an incredibly dramatic affect in future combat. According to ...
by Geoffrey Ingersoll Right at the end of 2012, we reported on a laser beam missile defense system Lockheed developed that would make Israel's Iron Dome look wimpy. It turns out, German company Rheinmetall concurrently produced a system quite like Lockheed's ADAM - one which can accurately target an 85 centimeter-thick ball bearing, traveling 50 meters per second, and sear it out of the sky. Perhaps the most terrifyingly cool bit of information out of the company's press brief (released in mid-December and largely unreported in American media) is this tidbit: Several experts gathered to witness as "a massive, 15 mm-thick [.6 inches] steel girder was cut through at a distance of 1,000 ...
History class fills us in on the big ones like the World Wars, the Civil War, etc. But for every major war in world history, there are a dozen smaller ones that don’t make the textbooks. Some are hilarious and some are terrifying, but they’re all worth learning about. Impress the water-cooler crowd with these wars they probably don't know anything about. The Pig War This little-known conflict in 1859 could have changed the course of American history forever, and it all started with just one swine. On the tiny island of San Juan off the coast of Washington state, both America and the British Empire claimed ...
