Big Stick Physics

Star Fleet Academy probably won’t last.

January 16, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy should lean into that premise.

Star Trek technology was always based on dilithium crystals as a power source. The Burn, was a catastrophic event in which all the dilithium crystals became inert. All star ships that were deployed lost power, resulting in the deaths of a vast number of Star Fleet personnel.

Star Fleet personnel were always the best of the best, because in a post-scarcity society, people could pursue any career or endeavor that appealed to them. After The Burn, the best of the best were gone, and their courageous and competent genes were gone too.

A hundred years after The Burn, when Star Fleet is ready to reestablish Star Fleet Academy, all they have left are these theater kids.

Sparky is a snow beast.

January 16, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 1 Comment

Sparky observed that it’s been a while since he’s been in a music video.

“I like that one where Thor and those two girls beat up the skelertons. Can we do that?”

Congress makes life a little better.

January 14, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

NBC News: House passes bill to codify Trump order to rinse away showerhead regulations

The US is not even one of the top 20 happiest countries in the world. Trump, Biden, ICE and Woke Hollywood pisses off some people, but they like being vexed. It’s the little things that people use every day, but that just don’t work very well. Dishwashers and washing machines that do a poor job, toilets that don’t ‘move the mail’, and low-flow showers irritate people every day, and wear them down.

How to start a fire.

January 14, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

You won’t believe what Sparky did when he found this Cheeto!

Everybody knows that Cheetos burn. I had a cold firebox and cold wood, and 2 gallons of Costco Cheetos that my sausage beagle wouldn’t even eat.

Are you dead?

January 13, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

BBC: Are You Dead?: The viral Chinese app for young people living alone

A new bleak-sounding app has taken China by storm.

Named Are You Dead? the concept is simple. You need to check in with it every two days – clicking a large button – to confirm that you are alive. If not, it will get in touch with your appointed emergency contact and inform them that you may be in trouble.

That doesn’t sound bleak to me. Every two days, you affirm that you live. At least Sparky and other pets would have a decent chance of being rescued, and that’s a comfort to anxious people.

Don’t require clicking on a large button. If the phone hasn’t moved in two days, it’s either lost or there’s a man down.

What do blue states want?

January 13, 2026 / Richard Nestoff / 1 Comment

ICE arrests in Minnesota surge include numerous convicted child rapists, killers

Governor Walz needs to explain why he is fighting so hard to keep violent foreign criminals walking free in Minnesota. ICE released a list of some of the worst criminals that have been picked up in Minnesota.

Of these 18 people, a dozen are killers, while 5 have raped, sodomized or sexually assaulted children. They have all been tried, convicted and have deportation orders.

If Governor Walz worked with ICE, foreign criminals could be picked up in a safer and more orderly manner. Instead, blue states and cities actively oppose federal immigration enforcement, resulting in these chaotic confrontations in order to keep citizens in danger.

It makes no sense.