Quote 1541

Eitan Hirsch, a ballistics expert with the Israeli Defense Forces, recently did a series of calculations showing that a typical-size stone hurled by an expert slinger at a distance of thirty-five meters would have hit Goalith's head with a velocity of thirty-four meters per second -- more than enough to penetrate his skull and render him unconscious.
Malcolm Gladwell
David and Goalith, 11

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Malcolm Gladwell 1 Samuel Weapons

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Slinging took an extraordinary amount of skill and practice. But in experienced hands, the sling was a devastating weapon. Paintings from medieval times show slingers hitting birds in midflight. Irish slingers were said to be able to hit a coin form as far away as they could see it, and in the Old Testament Book of Judges, slingers are described as being accurate within a "hair's breadth." An experienced slinger could kill or seriously injure a target at a distance of up to two hundred yards. The Romans even had a special set of tongs made just to remove stones that had been embedded in some poor soldier's body by a sling.David and Goalith, 9

Malcolm Gladwell 1 Samuel Weapons

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Quote 1541

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