• ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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    2 hours ago

    People sleep on how deadly a sling can be:

    On a fortified hill in Scotland some 1,900 years ago, a Roman army attacked local warriors by hurling lead bullets from slings that had nearly the stopping power of a modern .44 magnum handgun, according to recent experiments.

    www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/ancient-slingshot-lethal-44-magnum-scotland

    Even with simple ammunition, the sling was surprisingly effective. Slingers could achieve faster “muzzle” velocities than archers, and their projectiles suffered less air resistance during flight than arrows, conserving more kinetic energy until impact. An experienced slinger could throw projectiles at speeds over 90m/s, while the longbow could fire arrows upwards of 60m/s (Gabriel, 1991; Richardson, 1998a). When projectile masses were equal, the 50% speed advantage of the sling equates to a 125% increase in kinetic energy (because the velocity value is squared). Despite this, the penetration of an arrow was still greater because the tip is roughly 24 times smaller than the side of a typical, spherical sling projectile. The impact force of a sling projectile was applied to a larger area during contact, making it unlikely to penetrate flesh, though the collision could cause internal bleeding and even crush bones (Ferrill, 1985; Grunfeld, 1996). Historical demonstrations of this power have crept into literature, providing unique, first-hand accounts of professional slingers in action. For example, during the Spanish conquest of the Incan empire in the 15th century, an observer recorded that Andean slingers could shatter Spanish swords or kill a horse in a single hit (Kormann, 1973; Wise, 1980). Vegetius, a Roman writer in the late 4th century, observed in his famous Epitoma Rei Militaris:

    Soldiers, despite their defensive armor, are often more aggravated by the round stones from the sling than by all the arrows of the enemy. Stones kill without mangling the body, and the contusion is mortal without loss of blood.

    https://www.chrisharrison.net/index.php/Research/Sling

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Except this time, the stone bounced off Goliath’s forehead and he shot back with a sniper rifle and wiped out David and his entire family, and his dog, and his cat, and his entire neighbourhood all the way to the coast.

      • Sundial@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Boy oh boy did they screw up on this topic. I guess the DNC got their cheque and left laughing as the rest of the world continues to get fucked.

        • Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee
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          2 days ago

          More like consciously made an awful decision whilst gaslighting the public about their desire for a two-state solution and active war crimes they’re sponsoring and supplying:

          While clarifying that President Joe Biden has worked vigorously to support “Palestinian aspirations for statehood” within the context “of a comprehensive peace that would resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” a diplomatic cable dated April 12 details U.S. talking points against a U.N. vote for Palestinian statehood. The cable says that Security Council members must be persuaded to reject any proposal for Palestinian statehood — and thereby its recognition as a sovereign nation — before the council’s open debate on the Middle East, scheduled for April 18.

      • Taniwha420@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I’m not seeing it here, but the other ironic subtext is that Goliath was a Philistine, now known as a Palestinian (same root word).

        • demesisx@infosec.pubOP
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          2 days ago

          I’ll explain: Israel is evoking an image OF David to defend against people that are (as you just said) descendants of the Philistine. If that’s not cruel irony, I don’t know what is.

  • Gork@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    I wouldn’t mind learning how to use a sling, but I’m afraid I’d break some windows.

    • Flax
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      2 days ago

      Go outside into a field. Touch grass.