› added 12 years ago

97

TIL the next generation of tank armour will consist of an outer and inner metal shell and a capacitor. the incoming round will connect a circuit as it impacts the inner shell, causing a massive charge to be dumped into it. this will turn it into a cloud of plasma, eliminating the kinetic energy.

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wLKZ8 TIL in 2006, Pvt. Channing Moss was on patrol when his squad was ambushed and an RPG round got lodged in his abdomen. He was evacuated operated on by two surgeons and an explosive expert who had been watching a Grey's Anatomy episode on removing a live grenade. The round was removed and he survived.
lVRV TIL there’s video of Saddam Hussein becoming dictator of Iraq in 1979 at a Baath party leadership meeting, where he named some members as traitors – and then ordered the rest to go outside and execute them
8axjV TIL of Red Flag Laws almost enacted in Pennsylvania in 1896 which would require all motorists upon chance encounters with cattle or livestock to immediately stop the vehicle, disassemble it, and conceal the components out of sight behind nearby bushes until equestrian or livestock is pacified.
l7KJ7 TIL that Qatar has sequenced the genes of around 10% of its citizens, as part of a genetic screening program as 26.7% of Qatari marriages are with first cousins.
VMREG TIL that clowns copyright their makeup by painting their faces on eggs. There is a clown egg registry in London.