I found this photo in a book and thought it was interesting for us "techies". They're testing a disk brake to destruction - and it appears they are doing a good job of it!! It really doesn't belong here, but thought it would brighten up the page and add some interest. Enormous forces are at work.

One time at the Camp Perry 'High Power' Nationals (1980s) , I saw a demonstration of the German H-K system of automatic rifles. First they fired off several belts of ammo, and then touched the barrel with a wadded up newspaper. The paper smoked pretty good, but didn't catch fire. Then they dunked the barrel into a bucket of water and cooled it off. Some sod was overturned and the rifle laid into the pit. Five gallons of water was poured over it, and the sod was returned. Then someone marched back and forth over it a few times. The rifle was dug out and cleaned by scraping the sloppy mud off with a hand. An ammo belt was fed into it, and it almost functioned perfectly. There were a couple of jams in the next two belts (500 rnds. each), but I was still impressed. This is pretty close to what is called "real world testing". The ONLY kind that really proves anything.