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Archaeologists have uncovered a 2,000–year–old sling bullet with a taunting message for its target – 'Learn your lesson'.The small, almond–shaped weapon, which would have been shot out of a handheld projectile pocket, was found in the remains of the ancient city of Hippos in Israel.It measures 3.2 x 1.95cm (3.2 x 0.76 inches), weighs 38 grams and was likely used by the Greek defenders of the city.While dozens of lead sling bullets have been found at the site, this one stands out – as it is the first one to bear this specific inscription...And it joins similar bullets inscribed with...

Italian archaeologists working in the city of Ugento uncovered sections of an extensive ancient defensive network intended to protect the city and its inhabitants from an advancing Roman army, The Kansas City Star reports. The wall was originally built in the fourth century b.c. but was significantly enhanced a century later, when its thickness grew to 20 feet wide. Near one of the corner bastions, the team encountered a destruction layer that contained 450 lead sling bullets and nine iron bolts fired from Roman scorpio machines, weapons that resembled large stationary crossbows. Researchers believe these are evidence of a Roman...

Some 1,800 years ago, Roman troops used "whistling" sling bullets as a "terror weapon" against their barbarian foes, according to archaeologists who found the cast lead bullets at a site in Scotland. Weighing about 1 ounce (30 grams), each of the bullets had been drilled with a 0.2-inch (5 millimeters) hole that the researchers think was designed to give the soaring bullets a sharp buzzing or whistling noise in flight. The bullets were found recently at Burnswark Hill in southwestern Scotland, where a massive Roman attack against native defenders in a hilltop fort took place in the second century A.D......

https://youtu.be/bMbX_SH7Cf4?si=iVptE1iqI9Ne7mTg The Chosen Sleuth breaks the news that Angel Studios has lost a $64,000,000 deal to distribute the “David” movie !

China pulls off a stunning space rescue, using a gravity slingshot to save its stranded moon satellites from certain destruction. A render of the navigation system. Image credit: CSU | The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel In March 2024, China launched two satellites, DRO-A and DRO-B, as part of an ambitious mission aimed at positioning them in a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) around the moon. Their task was to provide critical navigation and tracking support for spacecraft within Earth-moon space. However, due to a malfunction with the Yuanzheng-1S upper stage of the launch vehicle, the satellites were stranded in an...

A Russian satellite believed to be part of Moscow’s nuclear anti-satellite weapon program appears to be malfunctioning, with erratic movements suggesting it may no longer be operational. The development could be a major blow to Russia’s military space ambitions, US analysts said. Cosmos 2553 was launched just weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. Over the past year, it has shown signs of uncontrolled tumbling, according to radar data from LeoLabs and optical tracking shared by Slingshot Aerospace with Reuters. The satellite is believed to serve as both a radar tool for intelligence gathering and a platform for radiation testing....

If you could choose just three types of firearms that are essential for a well armed citizen to own, which would you recommend?

A Michigan teen’s quick thinking saved his little sister from a kidnapping attempt. A kidnapping suspect reportedly targeted an eight-year-old while she was foraging mushrooms in the backyard of her rural home in Alpena Township. Michigan State Police said that the alleged attacker, a 17-year-old male, came out of the woods and ambushed the little girl, placing his hand on her mouth to muffle her screams for help. The victim’s 13-year-old brother was inside the home as the attack unfolded but heard the commotion. While inside his room, the youngest teen used a slingshot to fire two shots at the...

When scientists send their spacecraft across the universe, they save fuel by performing “slingshot fly-bys”. This is where, rather than firing up the thrusters, the craft changes its trajectory by harnessing the enormous gravitational pull of a planet. However, this trick has had an unexpected side-effect: it seems to produce a change in speed that no one, since it was first discovered in the early 1990's, can account for. Experts are intrigued by the fact that while the acceleration is tiny and has no significant effect on NASA missions, it holds great interest because no explanation based on conventional physics...

U.S. startup SpinLaunch — the company that aims to disrupt the rapidly-growing satellite launch industry by catapulting payloads into space with minimal rocket fuel — has just passed a massive test.

(snip) a cryptic startup called SpinLaunch starts suborbital test flights of a rocket that is launched using an enormous centrifuge. Here's the gist: A centrifuge the size of a football field will spin a rocket around in circles for about an hour until its speed eventually exceeds 5,000 miles per hour. At that point, the rocket and its payload will feel forces 10,000 times stronger than gravity. When the centrifuge finally releases the rocket at launch speed, it should, practically speaking, fly through the stratosphere until it fires its engines at the periphery of our atmosphere. (snip) SpinLaunch hopes its...

What is The Pocket Shot? Well, it is what I call a modern-day sling shot, but a little cooler, has an interesting design and is quite portable – but make no mistake, this is not a toy! Let's get the statistics out of the way first: The Pocket Shot is a closed pouch made of latex with a base and locking ring that compresses the latex ends. This design allows for a solid grip on the front end and a clear line of projection for your ammunition – in this case a steel slug. Pocket Shot claims that it has...

Heh heh heh....Let me show you it's features...

Rufus Hessey is D Man with the sling shot back in the day. He's also known as the "D One – Bean Shooter", which translates to modern day "bad ass" with a sling shot. Watch what he can do with a sling shot. Accuracy is a big thing with sling shots, be amaze of where he can pinpoint better than most with a .22 rifle. It's a fact that he's been a bean shooter since the age of 10 years old. What funny is that he was the youngest from a poor family of 13, his oldest brother was allowed...

An Arab who fired a slingshot at Jews marching in Jerusalem's Old City and caused blindness in the eye of one of his victims will not sit a single day in prison, according to the verdict of Judge Avital Molad of the Juvenile Magistrates Court in Jerusalem. The incident took place five years ago....the Arabs had returned to the same place and began shooting marbles at the Jews with slingshots. One of the boys was hit by a marble in his eye, was sent to Hadassah Medical Center where he stayed for a few days and underwent surgery, almost completely...

The Pocket Shot is an amazing little gadget and when you add exploding arrows to the mix it definitely heightens the excitement. Slingshot hunting is a great method of survival training and can be traced back to post cave man days. Even in modern day this can come in quite useful, whether you’re surviving or just out plinking around. The Pocket Shot has definitely step up the slingshot hunting game, and when you add exploding arrows to the mix, obviously it can cause quite an impact on a target. See it in action here.

What is The Pocket Shot? Well, it is what I call a modern-day sling shot, but a little cooler, has an interesting design and is quite portable – but make no mistake, this is not a toy! Let's get the statistics out of the way first: The Pocket Shot is a closed pouch made of latex with a base and locking ring that compresses the latex ends. This design allows for a solid grip on the front end and a clear line of projection for your ammunition – in this case a steel slug. Loading is easy and while the...

A massive gate unearthed in Israel may have marked the entrance to a biblical city that, at its heyday, was the biggest metropolis in the region. The town, called Gath, was occupied until the ninth century B.C. In biblical accounts, the Philistines — the mortal enemies of the Israelites — ruled the city. The Old Testament also describes Gath as the home of Goliath, the giant warrior whom the Israelite King David felled with a slingshot. The new findings reveal just how impressive the ancient Philistine city once was, said lead archaeologist of the current excavation, Aren Maeir, of Bar-Ilan...

With the recent announcement by NASA that the 36 year-old spacecraft Voyager 1 has officially entered interstellar space at a distance from the Sun about four times further than Neptune's orbit, and with Voyager 2 not far behind, it seems worthwhile to explore how humans managed to fling objects so far into space. Interplanetary spacecraft often use a maneuver called a gravity assist in order to reach their targets. Voyager 2 famously used gravity assists to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the late 1970s and 1980s. Cassini used two assists at Venus and one each at Earth and...

I am considering picking up a slingshot, or wrist rocket for plinking and possibly hunting small game. I thought I would solicit the advice and commentary of my esteemed fellow FReepers on the subject. I am especially interested in your thoughts on the type of device to purchase and on ammo. I am thinking of something a bit more sophisticated than a forked stick, old bike inner tube and rocks.