Deartháir, on June 6th, 2011
 Not exactly a precision instrument. Techie stumbled across this great find a few days ago, which in and of itself is remarkable. Generally, Techie will spend countless hours on YouTube, searching for videos of kittens waking up, or lengthy monologues from comedians who aren’t really funny, which he will bookmark and force us to watch for two or three hours before we finally get to watch whatever it is we wanted to watch on his enormous big-screen. At first, we thought he actually found these videos entertaining. Then we realized that he did it to test and see how long we would put up with it before we punched him in the coin purse, and tracked the results in an Excel spreadsheet. For science!
So when he presented me with this video, and it turned out to be frickin’ cool, you can imagine my bewilderment. I still don’t completely understand it, but I’ll overlook that little detail, and content myself with the knowledge that it involves zombies blowing up.
Continue reading Startup: Where Does He Get Those Toys?
Deartháir, on March 30th, 2011
 If your neighbour has one of these on his front lawn, don't complain about his dog. Today marks the 197th anniversary of the Allies capture of Paris in the Napoleonic Wars, which led to Napoleon’s exile to the island of Elba. His return a year later would lead to the Battle of Waterloo and his ultimate defeat. It also marked a period of drastic change in the tactics and technology utilised in warfare up to that point.
Continue reading Startup: Great Power, Questionable Merit
Deartháir, on January 20th, 2011
 In the First World War, the Allies were desperately searching for ways to counteract the effectiveness of the German U-Boat fleet. This was an entirely new form of warfare, and as such, there were no experts they could turn to for assistance, and no veterans with any experience. As such, unlike most other arenas of combat in WWI, the Admiralty was willing to turn to more innovative and creative solutions. One such tactic was the use of dazzle camouflage.
Continue reading Startup: Dazzle Your Enemies
Deartháir, on January 18th, 2011
 The U-Boat, stealth technology that changed the face of warfare. There can be little doubt that the U-Boat goes down in history as one of the greatest Stealth weapons ever developed. By utilizing tactics and technologies geared towards avoiding detection and disabling their opponents’ abilities to counterattack or effectively defend themselves, the U-Boat served as an impressive equalizer against the might of the British Royal Navy. It could easily be argued that the tactics employed by the Germans in neutralizing a far superior naval power led to the dramatic rise of guerrilla warfare in the 20th Century.
What the average person may not realize, however, is that the rise of submarine warfare, and possibly the First World War, where U-Boats first figured prominently, was a direct result of a birth defect. Indeed, the entire history of warfare in the 20th Century can, in a way, be traced to a single physician.
Continue reading Startup: The Silent Menace
Deartháir, on December 3rd, 2010
Insert obligatory "Scotty" joke here.
Submarines are cramped, claustrophobic spaces. Since the earliest days of submariners, designers of these undersea craft have been faced with the daunting challenge of finding the appropriate balance between having enough space to fit all the men and equipment required to make a functioning warship, and making the [...]
Deartháir, on November 12th, 2010
Hot air balloons are some of the simplest tech out there. I did have the opportunity to go for a brief ride in one many years ago, and they may be the most peaceful way to travel… provided you don’t particularly care where you’re going. During the First World War, hot air [...]
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