Monthly Archives: September 2008

Any sufficiently advanced entertainment technology has a military application. Any sufficiently deadly technology has an entertainment application. The computer on the bottom right was used to determine altitude for early aerial photographic flash detonation, the subject of a future post.

From: Silken Colors, Guidons, and Standards. Washington Government Printing Office, 1914.

NYT: Georgia has released intercepted telephone calls purporting to show that part of a Russian armored regiment crossed into the separatist enclave of South Ossetia nearly a full day before Georgia’s attack on the capital, Tskhinvali, late on Aug. 7. … Continue reading →

I was at the Obninsk State University for Nuclear Power Engineering, in the faculty lounge. Two professors approached me with a simple message: “Daniel, I am so sorry for you and your country on this terrible day.”. I was shocked, … Continue reading →

Anyone who has lived abroad eventually encounters the cultural caricature of their own motherland. Most stereotypes, though grown from a kernel of truth, fall apart in the face of evidence, experience, and investigation. Still, once in a while that same … Continue reading →