Thursday, January 15, 2009

the annals of misplaced human ingenuity

From a National Park Service history of OSS operations in the Washington, DC area:
The OSS also developed "Aunt Jemima," an explosive powder disguised as flour that could be baked into biscuits without exploding (although poisonous if eaten), but when ignited by a timed or contact fuse was powerful enough to blow up a bridge.
The whole study is online if anyone is really curious.

1 comment:

Bundle Brent said...

That. Is a totally awesome crazypants idea that only our government could devise.
It combines racism, refined carbohydrates, and explosions. It's practically a metaphor for what it means to be American. Aunt Jemima's Exploding Biscuits of Death.