Zinedine Zidane

The DU penetrator of a 30 mm round from the GAU-8 Avenger

A map of Belgic Gaul in the first century BC, showing the relative position of the Nervii

01The Nervii reportedly forbade wine and merchants among themselves to keep their warriors undiluted by Roman goods or influence.
02Caesar describes grabbing a shield from an anonymous soldier and entering the front rank personally — he did not know the man's name.
03The Nervii, once 60,000 warriors strong by Caesar's count, were reduced to 500 fighting men and three chieftains after the battle at the Sabis.

A tulip, known as "the Viceroy" ( viseroij ), displayed in the 1637 Dutch catalogue Verzameling van een Meenigte Tulipaanen ("Collection of a Crowd of Tulips"). Its bulb was offered for sale for between 3,000 and 4,200 guilders (florins)…

Illustration of a Hungarian Hajduk, from an 1703 book from Bavaria.

A thermite mixture using iron(III) oxide

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.

Depleted uranium

The US Army fired roughly 300 tons of depleted uranium rounds into Iraq and Kuwait, then left the radioactive debris in the sand. Birth defect rates in Basra spiked in the years that followed.

St Nazaire Raid

Commandos drank and fought ashore for hours not knowing the HMS Campbeltown packed five tons of delayed explosive beneath their feet. When it detonated, 40 German officers were inspecting the hull.

Nervii

The Nervii attacked so fast that Roman soldiers were still tying their helmet straps when the spears hit. Caesar snatched a shield from a passing soldier and stood in the front line himself — without a helmet.

Djamolidine Abdoujaparov

Abdoujaparov was metres from a Paris stage win, green jersey on his back, when he hit a Coca-Cola advertising barrier on the Champs-Élysées and somersaulted into the tarmac. He still finished — and kept the jersey.

Mary Celeste

The brigantine Mary Celeste was found in November 1872 sailing itself across the Atlantic — lifeboat gone, cargo of 1,701 barrels of industrial alcohol intact, captain's log open to ten days prior.

Tulip mania

In 1637 Amsterdam, a single Semper Augustus tulip bulb sold for 10,000 guilders — enough to buy a canal house. Within three months the market collapsed; bulbs sold for the price of onions.

Hajduk

Hajduks were hunted outlaws turned folk saints — men who fled Ottoman tax collectors into the mountains and were later immortalized in epic verse. The same raid that burned a village made a ballad by spring.

Thermite

Once ignited, thermite burns at 2,500 °C — hot enough to melt through an engine block — and pouring water on it accelerates the reaction. The military uses it to destroy their own equipment.