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In 2019, scholars at Cambridge University Library discovered an extremely rare 750-year-old text on the legends of King Arthur hiding in plain sight. A fragment of the fragile manuscript had been repurposed in the binding of a 16th-century property record, making it almost impossible to study the medieval text without dismantling and certainly damaging the record’s cover. Almost impossible—but not completely. An interdisciplinary team of scholars from the University of Cambridge used various advanced imaging techniques to create a virtual copy of the binding, allowing them to digitally unfold the rare text without having to damage it or the property...

When last we heard from the USS Zumwalt, the Navy had admitted that the brand-new stealth destroyer couldn't fire because its custom ammo was too expensive. Now, the service may have settled on a replacement to get the vessel and its brethren back in business. The U.S. Navy says its Zumwalt-class destroyers, state-of-the-art ships designed to bombard targets on land, could be equipped with the Excalibur precision-guided artillery round originally developed for land forces. The three Zumwalt-class land attack destroyers were designed around the Advanced Gun System (AGS). The 155-millimeter AGS gun, paired with the brand-new Long Range Land Attack...

An ancient French sword has mysteriously vanished after 1,300 years wedged inside a rock 32ft off the ground. The Durandal, which is France’s version of King Arthur’s legendary Excalibur, was reported missing from the clifftop village of Rocamadour on Monday. It belonged to Roland, a famous knight in French literature who was said to own the ‘indestructible’ sword, which had become an iconic part of the area.

The Department of Defense is getting ready to overhaul its air and missile defenses on Guam, perhaps the most critical U.S. military hub in striking distance of China. DOD plans to invest $1.5 billion in a new missile and air shield for Guam in fiscal 2024, part of a long-awaited effort to better defend the territory. “Current forces are capable of defending Guam against today’s North Korean ballistic missile threats,” Michelle C. Atkinson, the director of operations for the Missile Defense Agency, told reporters March 13. “However, the regional threat to Guam, including those from [the People’s Republic of China]...

Canada will be handing over the M777 howitzers and ammunition to Ukraine, including the newest Excalibur extended-range GPS-guided shells. Militarnyi informs about this with reference to CBS. The media obtained confirmations from three sources saying that four of the 155-mm howitzers were sent to Ukraine. For reference, Canada has 37 of these howitzers. Ukraine will be receiving these weapons from the 1st Regiment of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery inventory. Anita Anand, Defence Minister noted that “a number of M-777 howitzers were shipped to Ukraine in cooperation with our American allies.” The shipment included an unspecified amount of 155-mm...

923. Camelot Richard Harris “King Arthur” prop “Excalibur” sword. (Warner Bros., 1967) In Camelot, the romantic Lerner and Lowe musical telling of “King Arthur” (Richard Harris) and his beloved “Guenevere” (Vanessa Redgrave), the most important prop must be the Excalibur sword. This 40 in. long sword was made in Spain for production. Consisting of steel blade with an ornate 8.25 x 10.25 in. brass handle, grip and pommel. One side of the blade is engraved with, “Whoso Pulleth Out This Sword Of This Stone Is Rightwise King Born Of All England”. Excalibur is visible in three pivotal scenes in the...

Judging by a real artifact, the sword in the stone legend may be partially based on true events. No one pulled a sword from a stone and went on to become a king, as far as we know. In fact, the sword that exists in reality rather than legend is still stuck in its stone. However, there is no denying that such a sword exists. The stone and sword in question are located at Monte Siepi Chapel in the San Galgano Abbey in Tuscany. The abbey is in Italy and the history of it has naught to do with England....

You saw the Disney movie as a kid. You may have read the book. But did you know some of it was based on real history? While the story of King Arthur, Merlin, and all the rest may not be true, there really is a centuries-old sword stuck in a stone. In the small Italian town of Chiusdino, there’s a small chapel near Saint Galgano Abbey known as Montesiepi chapel. And inside you’ll find a big slab of stone in the floor with the handle of a sword sticking out of it.

The British actor Nigel Terry has reportedly died aged 69. The theater, TV and movie veteran died from emphysema on Thursday, The Guardian reported. Terry, 69, who may be best remembered for playing King Arthur in the 1981 epic film “Excalibur,” performed alongside legends like Laurence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole over the course of a career that spanned five decades, according to IMDb. The Bristol native, who grew up in Cornwall, first appeared on the silver screen opposite Hepburn, O’Toole, Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in the 1968 classic “The Lion in Winter,” the story of three sons’...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Madrid health authorities have put down Ebola patient Teresa Romero Ramos' dog, Excalibur, despite protests. The animal was sedated prior to euthanasia to avoid its suffering, the Health Ministry of Madrid said in a statement. More than 330,000 people had signed a petition on Change.org to save Excalibur. Ramos, a nurse's assistant, is in isolation after testing positive for the deadly Ebola virus earlier this week. Health authorities worried her dog may have also become infected. Which warrants the questions: Can dogs really get Ebola and spread it to humans? What about other animals? In Africa, Ebola infection "has been...

Tuscany's Excalibur is the real thing, say scientists Rory Carroll in Rome Sunday September 16, 2001 The Observer The sword of St Galgano, said to have been plunged into a rock by a medieval Tuscan knight, has been authenticated, bolstering Italy's version of the Excalibur legend. Galgano Guidotti, a noble from Chiusdano, near Siena, allegedly split the stone with his sword in 1180 after renouncing war to become a hermit. For centuries the sword was assumed to be a fake. but research revealed last week has dated its metal to the twelfth century. Only the hilt, wooden grip and ...

Author Adam Ardrey claims that instead of the romantic English king of legend who lived at Camelot – which is often said to be Tintagel in Cornwall or in Wales – Arthur was actually Arthur Mac Aedan, the sixth-century son of an ancient King of Scotland, whose Camelot was a marsh in Argyll. He also suggests that Arthur pulled the sword Excalibur from a stone at Dunadd near Kilmartin, died near Falkirk and was buried on the Hebridean island of Iona, which he declares to be Avalon. Ardrey, an amateur historian who works as an advocate in Edinburgh and previously...

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A man shot and fatally wounded a woman, then killed himself Friday at the Excalibur hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, sending many patrons fleeing in fear. It happened at about 8:30 p.m. near the high-rise hotel's front entrance, Las Vegas Metro Police Lt. Ray Steiber said. The man died at the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting the woman, who was a vendor at Excalibur's concierge desk, Steiber said. The woman was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.

Good morning and happy Friday (the 13th) to all of my FRiends and fellow gardeners! My special thanks go to Ellendra for posting the thread while I took a week to go to the mountains. I was hoping to find relief from the heat, only to find that it was in the 90's in SE Montana, not much cooler than here in Louisiana.I began the long process of becoming a fly fisherman, and I am hooked, so to speak. Just what I needed ... another hobby to compete for my limited time!Today is the first time I've seen the...

The U.S. Marine Corps successfully fired two Raytheon Company (RTN) Excalibur 155mm precision-guided artillery projectiles from a range of 36 kilometers (22.3 statute miles) in theater. These shots mark the longest distance the Excalibur round has been fired in combat since its fielding in 2007. Successfully fielded in 2007, the Excalibur 155mm precision-guided, extended-range projectile is the revolutionary artillery round used in theater today by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. Using GPS precision guidance technology, Excalibur provides accurate, first round, fire-for-effect capability in an urban setting. Excalibur is considered a true precision weapon, impacting at a radial miss distance...

'Nicol Williamson, the star of Excalibur, who was described as 'the greatest actor since Marlon Brando', has died at the age of 73. Barely three months after Inadmissible Evidence, the John Osborne play that made his name, was revived in London, Nicol Williamson has died, aged 73, in Holland. The colourful Scot – who was described by Osborne as the greatest actor since Marlon Brando, and, by Samuel Beckett, as “touched by genius” – had not made a film since 1997’s superhero picture Spawn. He had, in recent years, been concentrating on music. His son, Luke, by his former wife...

Since the GPS-guided Excalibur artillery round first made it to Iraq and Afghanistan, roughly 200 rounds have been fired. In the last week or so, use of that round has pulsed. Army artillerymen have fired 20 rounds or 10 percent of the total in Afghanistan, according to James Riley, Raytheon Missile System’s vice president for land systems. We don’t have similar numbers for the Marines, who have been using the shell as well. Excalibur has been at the center of debate in the Army as the service grapples with the tradeoffs of cost, capability and logistics. Army Vice Chief of...

Apropos of our earlier post on precision guided indirect fire and the Army’s decision to cut its buy of Excalibur precision 155mm rounds, our own Christian Lowe checks in from his embed out near the Afghanistan-Pakistan border: I spoke with an artillery forward observer with Angel Company, 3–187, at FOB Sharana the other day who told me about the few times he’s employed the Excalibur precision 155 round. He said despite the infrequent use and the Army’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for the weapon, it sure makes a heck of an impression on the Taliban – so much so that...

Raytheon fired nine Excalibur Ia-1 precision-guided projectiles from a Paladin gun system. The test validates the increased reliability of the projectile's new Atlantic Inertial Systems inertial measurement unit (AIS IMU). Using the new IMU, Raytheon achieved a 100 percent success rate. "Excalibur Ia-1 is an extraordinarily capable weapon," said Steve Bennett, Raytheon's Excalibur program director. "In an effort to provide ever-increasing performance and to meet changing operational requirements, we needed an IMU that met Excalibur's stringent standards." Excalibur Ia-1 tests using the new AIS IMU began 10 months ago and have consistently demonstrated increased precision with an average impact distance...

American and Canadian troops have begun using the Excalibur shell in Afghanistan earlier this year. A year ago, American troops began using Excalibur in Iraq. This was just timely, because Islamic warriors tend to use civilians as human shields, and that means you have to be precise when you go after the bad guys with artillery. A typical situation has enemy gunmen holding out in one building of a walled compound or village. In nearby buildings, there are women and children. While killing the enemy is good, killing the civilians can be a very bad thing. Smart bombs should be...