A Dixie Carpetbagger

All of the science fiction authors of the past looked forward and saw a rosy future– man expanding to the Moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, the Outer Planets… then outward still.  (“Out ride the sons of Terra / Far drives the thundering jet, / Up leaps a race of Earthmen, / Out, far, and onward yet —”)

Instead, we’re perpetually “a decade” from the Moon.  Returning to the Moon, not going there in the first place!  Our second Space Station is behind schedule– and when we do finish it, it’ll be a mere five years from the scrapheap!  (Next year, the last Shuttle lifts the last component, and retirement is looking like a 2016 timeframe.)  By the Nine Divines, we were supposed to have spinning wheels in orbit that would make von Braun envious from beyond the grave!

Instead, we have a billion-dollar showcar that’s cross-dressing as a truck, kills a high percentage of its passengers, and can’t live up to any of its original performance specs– turnaround time, cost per pound to orbit, man-hours of maintenance per flight…

Instead, the last NASA Director who knew his rectum from a mine shaft lies in a hospital because he was flying in an aircraft as old as he was.  Where’s “No Sparrow Shall Fall” when you need it?

Instead, our space agency has been told that their new focus is outreach to the Islamic world.

Help us private industry, you’re our only hope…

One of the most promising things I’ve seen recently is the uptick in sales of historical and political books.  Ayn Rand, Judge Napolitano, American history… all booming.  13,000 copies of Road to Serfdom sold in less than a day, and my local bookstores can’t keep Atlas Shrugged on the shelves.  (But then again, maybe there’s a lot of insomniacs around here…)

Comic book version of Road to Serfdom here.

(Both link one and link two H/T Instapundit)

(Please note: this review is really, really, really late.  As in, I just found a note from August reminding myself to do it.  As in, the sequel will be coming out soon.  Hey, good, fast, cheap… choose any two.)

Books have two main attributes: depth and readability.  Some books have tremendous depth, but are homeopathic cures for insomnia (*cough* Atlas Shrugged *cough*).  Some are great reads, but have all the depth of a puddle (fiction by Tom Clancy, Joe Buff, or Dale Brown).  Rarely, you get a book with both good information and a page turning plot.  Monster Hunter International is one of those books.

Allow me to emphasize a point here– there are exactly two fiction books I’ve read cover-to-cover more than once in a row.  Those books are Starship Troopers by Bob Heinlein, and MHI.

The books is a romp, from the first kill to the last.  Although I must admit that having a big geek throw his boss out the window did make me smile.  (Hey, I had been funemployed less than two weeks, and I’m pretty sure my former employer is a vampire… )

Plus, the guns.  Oh great googly moogly… the guns.  From custom 1911s to mortars, everything’s here, and the details are right.  There’s even Glock and H&K hate (be still my beating heart)… but that’s not surprising, seeing as Larry wrote this little essay.

There’s a love interest, two messed up families, and enough psycho co-workers to make this book feel real.  (A stripper, an accountant, and a school teacher walk into a bar…)  The best part is the humor.  The government gets mocked less than 50 pages in, and Tolkien only survives 150 or so.  The locations rock– the book is set mostly in the Southeast– and I actually purchased the book in a town mentioned in the novel.

All in all, very worth it.  Two thumbs up.

FTC disclaimer:  I have received no payment or merchandise for this post.

AR Guns and Hunting. Looks pretty good to me, some nice articles, and the writers have a sense of humor (two of the many rejected slogans were “Back in Black” and “Blow Sh*t Up! It’s Fun!”). Nice ads, too– and the majority are at the very back of the “magazine.” (Don’t call it a website.) Only downside is the fact they don’t offer a PDF download. But, it’s free, so it balances out.

The best part is that the model on the front isn’t some ditzy airhead; she’s a zoology major. She knows her stuff, and she actually hunts.

I’m glad that the Evil Black Rifle AR platform is so common now that it has its own magazine. Maybe commonality will remove some of the stigma surrounding it. Either that, or “shoulder thing that goes up” jokes will become more common.

(H/T Uncle)

Uncle points out that Congress wants to regulate the volume of TV commercials.

AdNix, anyone?

Via Tam, a post at The Survival Blog about his new book– it’s currently #4 at Amazon.  Not #4 in its own category(it’s #1 in Survival) , #4 overall, beaten only by Arguing With Idiots, Going Rogue, and Dan Brown’s new book.  (Dan Brown: proof that a sucker is born every minute.)  What’s worse is that Amazon is selling a package of the three books… because people have been buying them that way.  Don’t know where Obama’s books are… I think people might have realized who actually wrote them.

Curse that Vast Right Wing Conspiracy!  I mean, it’s not like this happened bef… okay, so it has.