Operation Jericho

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A block of silica aerogel in a hand.

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Spanish bullfight in Las Ventas in Madrid

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RAF Mosquitoes flew at rooftop height and bombed three precise gaps in Amiens prison walls, timed to let prisoners sprint through. Twelve pilots aimed for walls without killing the men pressed against them inside.

Wilkie Collins drank laudanum by the tumbler — eventually enough to kill several men — and dictated two complete novels in states he later had no memory of. His housekeeper measured the doses. The manuscripts survived him.

Therizinosaurus carried three-foot claws — longer than any animal's, ever recorded — and used them to rake leaves. The most terrifying hand on the planet belonged to a herbivore.

Zidane headbutted Marco Materazzi in the chest in extra time of the 2006 World Cup final, received a red card, and France lost on penalties — his last professional act ever.

Apartheid law banned gambling and interracial sex in South Africa proper — so the government built Sun City inside the 'independent' bantustan of Bophuthatswana, where neither law applied. Frank Sinatra played there in 1981.

Steve Schwarzman spent $3 million on his 60th birthday party — a Rod Stewart performance, a portrait of himself unveiled mid-room — then wrote a memoir advising readers to 'never do anything small.' The portrait still hangs at Blackstone.

Aerogel is 99.8% air by volume, yet a thumbnail-sized block supports a 2.5 kg brick. NASA's Mars Pathfinder used it as insulation; the same material can be made from silica, carbon, or even frozen fruit juice.

Minoan frescoes show unarmed athletes vaulting over charging bulls in rituals that predate the Spanish corrida by 3,000 years. The matador's suit of lights is Bronze Age costume with a modern tailor.

After 13 years orbiting Saturn, the $3.9 billion Cassini was steered into the planet's atmosphere on purpose — a controlled suicide to avoid contaminating moons that might harbor life.