May Day Strike and Mayhem. Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest and eight hours for what you will.. --A slogan of the Eight-hour Day movement. May 1, 1886, was the deadline that unions and other worker organizations set for a national general strike.
On January 31, 2008 the US Navy tested a railgun that fired a shell at 10.64 MJ with a muzzle velocity of 2,520 m/s (8,270 ft/s). Its expected performance is a muzzle velocity over 5,800 m/s (19,000 ft/s), accurate enough to hit a 5-metre (16 ft) target over 200 nmi (370 km) away while firing at 10 shots per minute.
Todayâs bullet trains can top 300 mph. When Englishman Richard Trevithick launched the first practical steam locomotive in 1804, it averaged less than 10 mph. Today, several high-speed rail lines are regularly travelling 30 times as fast. When Japanâs first Shinkansen or âbullet trains,â opened to coincide with the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, they were capable of running at speeds in excess of 130 mph.