Patriot Mars Concept

The famous Christmas icy Delaware crossing by George Washington and the attack on Trenton was one of the most famous victories during the Revolutionary War, where enemy mercenary Hessian (German) troops were caught by surprise and were obliterated during their celebration. This famous raid could not have happened if the mercenaries actually translated a warning note.

You see, as Washington and his troops marched toward Trenton, a farmer spotted them and quickly rushed off to warn the Hessian commander, Colonel Johann Rall. Guards prevented him from seeing Rall because the colonel was not in the mood and all he wanted to do was celebrate his past victories. Thus, the farmer was forced to write a note to the commander instead. Rall was handed the note, but it was written in English, so the German mercenaries couldn't decipher its message. Rather than hired a human translator (remember, this was before Google Translate) he assumed it was probably some unimportant gibberish and threw the note away.

The next morning, Washington marched into Trenton and achieved a spectacular victory against the probably hungover Hessian army, providing the crucial morale boost that planted the seeds for America.

So the moral of the story goes, when you get those emails written in some strange language, copy and paste on Google Translate. It probably might just be the one warning humanity gets about an impending terrorist attack.

Reference: www.cracked.com/article_22044_…