Angry in the Great White North

Arctic UAVs and the Arrow

The Canadian military is considering the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to patrol the Arctic. Getting our hands on some, though, might be a bit tricky. Maybe we should consider designing and building our own.

A new Avro Arrow for the 21st century? Why not?

And hopefully a happier ending this time around.

E3 AWACS overflying my house

It's not something you see every day. The kids got all excited and told me to look up. You're right, I said, that is a weird looking airplane.

The distinctive shape of an E3 AWACS, flying relatively low, the radome clearly visible, tracking from west to east over Cambridge, Ontario. And directly over my house.

Questions about the JFK fuel line terror plot

Law enforcement officials in the US have foiled a plot to ignited the fuel supply to John F Kennedy Airport in New York. But I have to say that I'm confused by just what the alleged terrorists thought they could accomplish.

Missile defence works (despite what David Suzuki says)

Missile defence passed a major milestone (despite the learned predictions of naysayers).

The threat from nuclear terrorists

Drudge links to an article in the Wahington Times, warning about the vulnerability of the US to an electromagnetic pulse attack:

A single nuclear weapon carried by a ballistic missile and detonated a few hundred miles over the United States would cause "catastrophe for the nation" by damaging electricity-based networks and infrastructure, including computers and telecommunications, according to "War Footing: 10 Steps America Must Take to Prevail in the War for the Free World."

The EMP danger was highlighted recently by a special congressional commission that has received little public attention and is considered a unique way for rogue states such as North Korea and Iran, or other enemies such as al Qaeda, to use nuclear weapons in the future.

Well, the devil is in the details. While North Korea or Iran might be able to manage something like that, I'm not so sure about a terrorist group. Frankly, a proper EMP is a hard thing to pull off.

The Hiroshima Bomb: First or Second?

It seems like the media figures that it is of critical importance to make the Hiroshima bombing a "first" (the 60th anniversary of the dropping of the Little Boy bomb passed this weeked on August 6). It was a "first" in many ways, and it was horrific for the people who suffered from it, and it did do much to break Japanese resistance and bring an end to the war without invading the home islands.

But it was also a historic event, meaning that its place in history cannot simply be moved around for the sake of a story headline.