“We are Forerunners. Guardians of all that exists. The roots of the Galaxy have grown deep under our careful tending. Where there is life, the wisdom of our countless generations has saturated the soil. Our strength is a luminous sun, towards which all intelligence blossoms… And the impervious shelter, beneath which it has prospered.”

Big Brother doesn’t need to watch you

In China, at least, all he has to do is to look at your mobile phone’s data. And, yes, in case you are wondering – yes, the ChiComs are a particularly impressive kind of high-tech evil: I am in the middle of re-reading 1984, for the first time since high...

Reality is not racist

For those of you who are not familiar with the current (appalling) state of television over in PommieBastardLand, one of the highest-rated and most-watched TV shows – if not the most-watched – is a rather sordid train-smash of a show called Love...

Hand up if you’re surprised

The F-35 Joint Strike Flying Piano is sort of like a slow-motion car crash: utterly horrifying as a whole, oddly fascinating in its little details, and you cannot stop yourself from staring at the awful spectacle of its self-inflicted demise, even though you know...

Myth, busted

There is this old joke about the American space program, which people usually bring up around (!@#$%^&*) Tax Day, that goes something like this: When NASA started sending astronauts into space, they quickly discovered that ball-point pens would not work in zero...

It could always be worse

No matter how much your day sucks, just remember – you might be going on a caravan holiday with these guys: Of course, if you are actually a caravan… well, sorry dude, you’re boned. I mean, I don’t know how you’re reading this if...

The jaws of Hell

June 6th, 1944. It’s hard to believe that it has been 75 years since over a million men landed on the shores of Normandy to begin an all-out Western assault on Nazi Germany. I remember quite vividly the pictures and videos being shown on CNN –...

Because they aren’t idiots, that’s why

Here is a rather interesting video asking why it is that the Russians don’t use aircraft that take off and land vertically – and it’s not because they didn’t try the concept: People who like the idea of V/STOL (Vertical/Short Take Off and...

Thus spake Clarksonius

The great philospoher and wise man Jeremy Clarkson has often stated, and written, that cyclists and bikers should simply work harder and buy a car. Judging by what bicycles have done to China – and Vietnam, and Indonesia, and the inner cities of London and New...

Electile dysfunction

All of that nonsense about “MUH RUSSIA!!!” really was a lot of hooey. And, by the way, if you really want to startle a beautiful Russian girl on a date, tell her that something is in fact a bunch of hooey. The reason for this is that...

Maximal suckage

The final episode of Game of Thrones was, if anything, even more of a disaster than any of us could have imagined: A quick recap: Daenerys took her turn to tyranny to its natural conclusion, announcing a world-wide campaign against, well, tyranny. Tyrion mourned...