Word: mortaring
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...then, though, the Rangers had suffered a shocking toll: 14 dead, plus one who died four days later, and 77 wounded, including Rodriguez. Known to be taken prisoner: one. A mortar attack by Aidid's men on Ranger forces at the Mogadishu airport Wednesday night killed another American and wounded 12 more. The four-day death toll of at least 16 exceeded the 15 Americans killed in the previous 10 months of U.S. involvement in Somalia. The International Committee of the Red Cross estimated 200 Somalis had died in the battle, and hundreds of wounded piled into hospitals that...
Fifty-two foreign soldiers have died since Aidid started targeting them in June. U.S. officials admit his forces have the capacity to conduct hit-and-run attacks indefinitely. U.N. positions take mortar fire most nights as Aidid tries to wear down the staying power of the 30 countries contributing troops. His subordinates vow to fight on even if he is captured...
...sighs has seen more to lament than the Stari Most spanning the Neretva River in historic Mostar. Last week, as a precarious cease-fire held in central Bosnia, the bridge, festooned with old automobile tires in a gallant attempt to protect it from the ravages of shell and mortar fire, stood in testimony to the most fervent hope of the trapped citizens of this shattered town -- that somehow the yawning gap between war and peace can be bridged and life allowed to resume again...
...trench. Down below the ridge, plum orchards in spring bloom conceal the Muslim lines. Exploding artillery shells trigger small avalanches along the rain-loosened earth walls. A young Serb slides into the trench, out of breath from his dash across a meadow of buttercups pocked by mortar craters. He has a question to ask that is important enough to risk his life. "Why does the world want to destroy us?" he wants to know. "We are victims...
Biological wizardry of a different sort is responsible for the ruggedness of abalone shells, which under high-powered microscopes resemble elaborately constructed stone walls. In this case, crystals of calcium carbonate, siphoned from seawater, serve as the stones, while a slurry of protein and complex sugars acts as the mortar between them. "The ingredients themselves are not at all impressive," marvels Princeton University materials scientist Ilhan Aksay. "Yet the shell is as strong as the most advanced man-made ceramics." And if a simple stone-and-mortar design can turn an intrinsically chalky substance into a tough coat of armor...