Battle of Cassinga

Airborne forces committed to the battle

01South African paratroopers from 1 Parachute Battalion dropped directly into the camp; the initial bombardment from Buccaneers and Canberras preceded the assault.
02SWAPO's figure of 612 dead — predominantly women, children, and elderly — was later corroborated by independent researchers and partial exhumations.
03The raid was conducted 250 kilometres inside Angolan sovereign territory, without Angolan permission, making it an internationally recognized act of aggression.

North American F-100 Super Sabre dropping napalm in a training exercise

Skydiver Bill Booth 's second rule states that "The safer skydiving gear becomes, the more chances skydivers will take, in order to keep the fatality rate constant."

1920 advertisement for the Thor electric washing machine.

Battle of Cassinga

On May 4, 1978, South African paratroopers dropped into a Namibian refugee camp at Cassinga, Angola, killing over six hundred people. SWAPO called it a massacre of civilians; South Africa called it a PLAN headquarters strike. The dead were mostly women and children.

Jean-Bédel Bokassa

Bokassa fed political prisoners to his private crocodiles and lions, then had himself crowned emperor in a ceremony copying Napoleon's — in a country where per-capita income was under $400 a year.

Napalm

Korea was the proving ground where napalm became a mass-casualty weapon. The U.S. dropped 32,357 tons on the peninsula. Villages burned at 1,000 °C. The formula perfected there was still in use in Vietnam.

Jiayuguan City

Jiayuguan fort — the Great Wall's westernmost gate, built in 1372 — was called the 'mouth of China.' Exiles who passed through received no return road; one legend says a single leftover brick still sits unused inside the gate.

Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold — wounded twice in American service, the hero of Saratoga — negotiated the surrender of West Point to the British for £20,000 and a military commission. His handler, Major John André, was caught with the plans in his boot.

Howard Hughes

Hughes ran TWA, RKO, and the Nevada casino strip while injecting codeine every four hours — needles administered by aides under standing orders. By 1966 he had not left a hotel room in years. The empire ran anyway.

Risk compensation

After seatbelt laws passed, Sam Peltzman measured the data: drivers sped up and followed closer, killing roughly the same number of car occupants — but significantly more pedestrians and cyclists.

Thor washing machine

The 1908 Thor washing machine married bare copper wiring to a full tub of water and called it progress. Its inventor, Alva Fisher, left the ground wire out entirely. It sold briskly.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus conquered Lydia, Babylon, and Media within 20 years, freed 40,000 Jewish captives from Babylon by decree, and died fighting nomads — whose queen, Tomyris, allegedly dunked his severed head in blood.