burnin' down the house

Good lord, it's a baaaaaby nuke! Perhaps the scariest thing about this weapon - if nukes need to be any scarier - is that we had deployed thousands of them along the border with East Germany during the Cold War. Nearly as scary is that they could be detonated at ranges that would kill their operators.

But, no, the scariest Cold-War nuke (to my mind) has to be the Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile, or SLAM: "The weapon's design called for a complement of hydrogen bombs inside, which could be peppered upon targets while the missile zig-zagged over the general area. As an added bonus, any enemies which were not killed by the nukes were likely to die from the passing missile's shockwave, or by exposure to the gamma and neutron radiation belched out by its unshielded nuclear reactor."

People designed these things. To be used against other people. And Bush wants to build these again, perhaps to use against Iran. Sometimes I feel downright mysanthropic.

Thanks once again to jaylake for adding to my nightmares with really cool tech.

Chris

burnin' down the house

Good lord, it's a baaaaaby nuke! Perhaps the scariest thing about this weapon - if nukes need to be any scarier - is that we had deployed thousands of them along the border with East Germany during the Cold War. Nearly as scary is that they could be detonated at ranges that would kill their operators.

But, no, the scariest Cold-War nuke (to my mind) has to be the Supersonic Low-Altitude Missile, or SLAM: "The weapon's design called for a complement of hydrogen bombs inside, which could be peppered upon targets while the missile zig-zagged over the general area. As an added bonus, any enemies which were not killed by the nukes were likely to die from the passing missile's shockwave, or by exposure to the gamma and neutron radiation belched out by its unshielded nuclear reactor."

People designed these things. To be used against other people. And Bush wants to build these again, perhaps to use against Iran. Sometimes I feel downright mysanthropic.

Thanks once again to jaylake for adding to my nightmares with really cool tech.

Chris

The Diamond Age goes mainstream

The SciFi Channel is going to do a 6-hour version of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age! And a member of SFRA says the budget is slated for - get this - $300 million. They could actually do a fine job of it!

Wow!
Chris

The Diamond Age goes mainstream

The SciFi Channel is going to do a 6-hour version of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age! And a member of SFRA says the budget is slated for - get this - $300 million. They could actually do a fine job of it!

Wow!
Chris

questions, questions...

...but never any answers. Perhaps you can help.

Today I was doing my sit-ups in the upstairs bedroom where I can look out the window onto leafless branches. A squirrel was grooming in the sunshine; it's a lovely day today. I wondered what life was to that little animal, and even if he was aware of life and time and so forth; he seemed content and full of purpose. He ceased grooming after a while and closed his eyes, simply enjoying the sunshine. This got me thinking, wondering what it is I want from life, which got me wondering what is this thing called life and why do we need to find or infuse meaning into it.

I find myself discontented. I want to know what I should do with my life. We are only allotted so much time, and we don't know how long that will be. Certainly we can hasten the end, but what to do with the time we are given? But to answer this, I at least need to understand what is the meaning of life.

Yes, a tiny little question that no one has asked before. But, seriously, this is important to me right now. Thanks for your time:

EDIT: PS - you can answer this using the question, "What is YOUR meaning of life" if that helps clarify things. Clearly, none of us can impose our meaning upon others, and the only true answers we give to this are from our own points of view.

[Poll #933106]

Best,
Chris

questions, questions...

...but never any answers. Perhaps you can help.

Today I was doing my sit-ups in the upstairs bedroom where I can look out the window onto leafless branches. A squirrel was grooming in the sunshine; it's a lovely day today. I wondered what life was to that little animal, and even if he was aware of life and time and so forth; he seemed content and full of purpose. He ceased grooming after a while and closed his eyes, simply enjoying the sunshine. This got me thinking, wondering what it is I want from life, which got me wondering what is this thing called life and why do we need to find or infuse meaning into it.

I find myself discontented. I want to know what I should do with my life. We are only allotted so much time, and we don't know how long that will be. Certainly we can hasten the end, but what to do with the time we are given? But to answer this, I at least need to understand what is the meaning of life.

Yes, a tiny little question that no one has asked before. But, seriously, this is important to me right now. Thanks for your time:

EDIT: PS - you can answer this using the question, "What is YOUR meaning of life" if that helps clarify things. Clearly, none of us can impose our meaning upon others, and the only true answers we give to this are from our own points of view.

[Poll #933106]

Best,
Chris