I just realized something.

Was reading New Scientist earlier, when I read the following article:  they now have not merely thermo-electric devices, but radiation-electric devices.

That pinged in the back of my head for a bit, but it wasn’t until a moment ago when it clicked.

Oh, shit.  This gives us the solar system.

How does it do that?  Ion engines.  A radiation-electric ion drive system lets you leave your cruising fuel on the ground… the sun, in all its deadly radioactive glory, will give you everything you need… and you’ve solved, in that same stroke, one of the biggest problems to long-term habitability.

Golevka, here I come.

That glow over the horizon ain’t just fusion at a few hundred million miles away, folks.

I hate doing taxes.  The wife will put the data in front of me, and then go hide until it’s done…

software helps.  But every April, one night in the month, I turn into a creature of Cthulhoid menace… watch for sunrise in the west, or sunset in the east.

The embed code didn’t work, so I’ll have to provide a link instead…

Longsuffering Wife and I  are both mildly allergic to wasps and bees.  So, while I personally like them, and always have, I’ve been keeping them off the garage where they might make a larger than normal nest.  If you want to take out a hornet nest, or a wasp nest, I now have one absolute recommendation:

1 Squirt bottle

1 pint undiluted orange oil

They can’t retaliate if they can’t track you, and, for creatures for whom smell is more “real” than vision, they can’t do that if they’ve just had the equivalent of a sulfuric acid bath sprayed all over them.

If you’re familiar with the concept… I have recently been to Ft. Sill, where the first Bolo lives.  Pure to form, it’s a prototype that didn’t get put into production.

Professionals and folks who keep up on military affairs will recognize it.  It’s otherwise known as the Crusader, and it can fire so fast that it can put 16 shells time-on-target.

Plus, it’s HUGE.  These pictures really don’t manage to bring out how big that gun is, to actually be mounted on something self-propelled.  Are there bigger guns?  Oh yes.  But bigger guns that are rapid-fire, self-propelled, heavily-armored, and ridiculously automated?

Nuh-uh.  We rock.

You know why else Americans rock?  Atomic cannon.  Yeah, that’s right… it’s the beginning of the nuclear age, and one of our geeky squirrels, you know, the kind who knows precisely how to vaporize your ass from orbit, but looks like he teaches 2nd grade music appreciation, gets this bright idea….

Let’s shoot nukes out of cannons!

And we did.   Here’s  Eason and his officially no-longer-a-figment charming girlfriend, in front of “Atomic Annie.”  I’d say she’s really hot stuff, but Eason might think I meant his girlfriend, and decide to get me vaporized from orbit…

Oh, while we’re at it, southwest Oklahoma is real pretty, as is the barnacle I seem to have picked up…

“Those who opposed the proggressive (sic) movement were those in power. These included, but not limited to (sic), the papal order who sought to control the people through social repression. Monopolist (sic) also opposed reform movements that challenged their status quo, such as safety regulations, and regulatory pay minimums. The (sic) were those who were also just afraid of change, such as the conservitives (sic).”

What makes this extra spiffy, is that it’s plagiarized.

It’s not like this is a really new problem… we’ve been dealing with it since the Philippine War.

But, when mothers are teaching their kids to be suicide bombers… are the mothers fair game?

And, for those who haven’t done a lot of thinking on this issue, although I don’t read him regularly, I would really suggest that the following essay by Bill Whittle, Sanctuary, should be required reading.