BEST FIGHTER FOR CANADA

This is an axe. It is simple tool, dating back thousands of years.  It consists of a wooden handle with a sharpened stone fixed to one end.  While this axe is primitive in its origins, it is an ingenious design.  By placing the sharpened stone at the end of long handle, early humans were able to increase the  moment-of-force , allowing the stone to make a much deeper cut than if the stone were held in the hand directly.  This made it great for cutting and bashing things. The stone axe provided early man with an invaluable tool.  Useful as a both a building tool and a weapon, it helped catapult man into the most dominant life-form on the planet. This is also an axe. This  SOG "Fast Hawk" tactical tomahawk  utilizes a 420 stainless steel blade with high tech ballistic polymer handle.  It is sharper, harder, lighter, better-balanced, and comes with a nylon sheath.  It is better than the stone axe in every conceivable way. Bu...

Kakistocracy noun ,  plural   kakistocracies. 1. government   by   the   worst   persons;   a   form   of   government   in   which   the worst   persons   are   in   power. Well...  Here we are. The largest, most powerful, most technological advanced military in the world has a new Commander-in-Chief. This Commander-in-Chief campaigned on a premise of  American nationalism ,  isolationism , and  military build up .  He has promised to  ban immigration of an entire religion while forming a registry of those whom are already citizens .  He is a  climate-change denier .  He is a  racist .  He is an unabashed  misogynist  whose advances toward woman may be  sexual assault .   One would have hoped that Trump would have tempered his controversial ascension by surrounding himself with a less-controversial staff. ...

One of the prevailing thought regarding military equipment procurement is to simply "let the troops choose".  This is a great idea...  In theory. As the end user, they are no doubt the MOST IMPORTANT stakeholder in procurement selection, as their very lives may depend on that equipment.  Unfortunately, they do not have the final say in such matters.  New equipment is often foisted upon them, with little regard to their desires.  Not only that, but their voice is often the quietest, assuming it is heard at all. In reality, it is not the soldier that picks out his or her rifle, the sailer that picks his or her ship, nor the pilot who picks his or her aircraft.  That decision is not even carried out by the upper-echelon brass like generals or admirals.  Instead, the decision is ultimately made by those holding the purse strings: Politicians. Notice the look on the SAR Tech's face?   While the thought of a greasy politician having the fi...

United States President-Elect Donald Trump  has made no secret of his disdain for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II.  In his late night Twitter rants, he has gone so far as to suggest that the Pentagon's JSF purchase be curtailed in favor of more Super Hornets.  This, of course has had serious repercussions toward Lockheed Martin's stock price. [Let's get this out of the way:  The fact that the future American president is willing and able to negatively effect the value of people's investments through a single tweet is bone-chilling.  The value of the JSF program is estimated to well over a TRILLION dollars throughout its lifetime.  Any decision regarding its future should be carefully planned, thought out, and communicated...  NOT summed up in 140 characters or less.] Ugh. Can Trump "fire" the F-35? In a word:  No. The F-35 has already entered initial operating capability (IOC) with both the USAF and the USMC.  Desp...

I was initially hesitant to allow advertising on this blog.   I did not want the appearance of "shilling", nor did I wish to add to the clickbait-culture of the internet. Since their implementation, the ads have provided a very modest income.  Google Adsense is set up to pay out only if the earnings are above $100.  For this humble website, that means months between payouts.  I certainly will not be quitting my "day job" any time soon. I would like to put this money to good use, however. This year, I decided to take the most recent payout and donate the majority of it to the Wounded Warriors of Canada.  Some of you may remember this non-profit group from this past summer's "22 Push-Up Challenge".  WWC's goal is to help veterans and first responders suffering from PTSD and other mental illnesses, as well as their families. Their website can be found here . This holiday season, I encourage all my readers to consider donating or vol...

What?  You thought it might be something else? While science fiction has many examples of what could be described as a starfighter, there really is nothing more iconic than the Incom T-65 X-Wing starfighter from the Star Wars universe. Instantly recognizable by both young and old, the X-Wing has not only taken a prominent role in film, but in countless video games, comics, novels, toy chests, and model shelves.  The X-Wing ranks up there with pop-culture icons like the starship Enterprise, Batman, Barbie, or Mickey Mouse. In universe, the X-Wing is just as legendary.  As the ship that blew up the Death Star, it became an everlasting symbol of the Rebel Alliance and their fight against the Galactic Empire. What was it about the X-Wing that made it so special? Oddly enough, the X-Wing does not really stand out when compared to other starfighters in the Star Wars universe.  In relation to other starfighters, the X-Wing is decidedly average. The TIE fighter...

(Clockwise from upper-left) Viper, Thunderfighter, X-Wing, Starfury Science fiction is filled with examples of small, deadly spacecraft able to engage in dogfights as well as conduct attack missions on enemy capital ships and space stations.  Usually, these are flown by the story's heroes against overwhelming odds. What is the best starfighter in all the galaxy, or universe for that matter? For this article, I will focus on starfighters that occur in franchises (i.e. properties that consist of multiple mediums:  TV, movies, games, etc.)  I will disregard most of the star fighters that occur in science fiction novels , as there is simply no way to account for the overwhelming number of designs.  Most of these designs fall into several archetypes, anyway.  We will also ignore star fighters that occur strictly in video games , as these fighters have to worry about game-balance issues and the like. There is, of course, the Wing Commander franchise...