I worked in Russia in the ’90s, so I have some experiences there which inform my writing about recent events. In case you’re wondering, I wasn’t in the military — and I wasn’t a spy! Here’s an index to the stories — Ukraine: No Treaty of Versailles Will Resolve the War The 1920 Treaty punished Germany, infuriated Hitler and caused the Second World War. What does it mean for Russia and…medium.com Ukraine: GLSDB on the Way in US Package? But what are these ground launched small diameter bombs — and should Russian forces be worried?medium.com

US Secretary of State cancels Beijing visit as the balloon goes up — but what could have come down? — I read today that China has more cameras monitoring its people than any other country. It came about as a result of the Covid crisis when the whole country was locked down and cameras were installed outside many people’s homes. As if that isn’t enough they now want keep an…

It’s a remote controlled gun turret and it may be tracking you now…if you live on the West Bank — Israeli fortifications in the West Bank area are becoming rather faceless as the military has set up robotic turrets capable of firing stun grenades, less-than-lethal bullets, and tear gas at Palestinians protesting the Israeli presence. The remote-controlled automatic guns were recently [October 2022] observed at the Al-Aroub refugee camp in…

Here’s how routers, cellphones, a satellite phone and a Garmin gadget keep me connected — most of the time — I live on an old boat and spend many days — weeks even — at sea. At the last count it was well over 400 nights that I have spent under the stars or storms in the open sea, with a few thousand other nights at anchor, and a few…

The “super I-mode” for plasma confinement was discovered during a record-breaking 17-minute operation — The only way to solve the world’s power problems I’m a great supporter of the proposition that nuclear fusion energy should be a critical component of the world’s future power generation strategy. Recent advances bring the realisation closer. There are several technical approaches to solving the huge problem of safely creating a plasma hotter than the core of the…

Seriously, my followers may know about my struggles with AI (Jasper and Rytr) to write a story about fake orgasms, but now ChatGPT might have cracked it… — A few months ago I became very frustrated. Fake news was in the news and I’d been writing a series of tongue-in-cheek stories about fake news. Fake News — Fake Art Special Edition This week’s updates from the world of the fake, the imaginary and plain loony.medium.com

An innovative design and heavy armament was not enough to save the Graf Spee from the British pursuers — Why this story? I’ve had an interest in this battle for many years as I knew Jack Lewis, a humble stoker, who had served on HMS Exeter during the battle. Jack was a larger-than-life character whose later careers included being a farmer, a milkman, a scrap merchant and pig-breeder. He always wore wellington…

It’s almost 70 years since the design first flew on the edge of space and she’ still flying— how’s that for ‘right first time’? — The U-2 Dragon Lady is a high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft that was developed by Lockheed Martin in the 1950s. It was designed to fly at altitudes of up to 70,000 feet, making it difficult to detect by radar and air defenses. The U-2 has played a vital role in the U.S…

A resilient Linux-based OS (and computer) which makes a lot of sense — Endless has just announced that testing of Version 5 of their Endless OS distro has just commenced. The story grabbed me because living on a boat as I do, I got heartily peed off with MS Windows. My bandwidth is often severely restricted and the endless bloatware updates were hammering…