Caption: What would happen if all of the female astronauts in the future were clones? Wearing red would mean they’re expendable in the Star Trek universe. Or maybe we just send twins into space? Somebody call Elon for a second opinion. The concept was pioneered by the Cylons. It’s not unique here on VM.
SpaceX is gearing up for Starship Flight-12, featuring the debut of Ship39 (the first Version 3 Starship) and Booster 19 (the initial Version 3 Super Heavy), both powered by new Raptor v3 engines! This launch from Pad B will be its first operational use, and neither vehicle will be caught during this flight.
Even though the war in the Middle East (US vs Iran) is grabbing all the headlines, the contest for dominance in the high ground of space continues at a fever pitch.
Old Film Review
Taras Bulba (1962) is a feature film based on a novella of the same name by Nikolai Gogol. The entire film is available on YouTube.
In the 17th century, Ukraine, Russia, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and other parts of eastern Europe were divided into small principalities and territories that fought one another or against a single enemy: the Ottoman Empire. A battle rages between the Turks and the Poles. The Poles are losing until the Cossacks arrive to save the day. However, it turns out that the Poles are merely holding back in order to treacherously attack the Cossacks after they win the battle for them. As a result, the Poles become masters of Ukraine, and the Cossacks are subjugated. Taras Bulba, one of the Cossack colonels, returns home to raise his family, but his homeland is now under Polish dominion. Taras and the other Cossacks of the Cossack Brotherhood burn their farms and take to the hills and forests rather than submit to the Poles.
Two decades later, Taras sends his two sons, Andriy and Ostap, to the academy in Kiev to obtain a Polish education. There, the elder son, Andriy, falls in love with a Polish princess, Natalia Dubrov, to the ire of the locals, who treat the Cossack brothers like scum of the earth. Ultimately, the brothers are forced to flee Kiev, returning to their father’s house on the Ukrainian steppes.
There, word comes that the Poles want the Cossacks to raise an army to help them in a new war. When Andriy objects to fighting for the Poles, he is accused of being a coward. This is a serious offense that can only be resolved by a test of courage. Andriy and his accuser ride and jump their horses over a chasm until God chooses which one is right by having the accuser fall to his death. Taras embraces Andriy’s lead. He plans to betray the Poles and take back Ukraine…. (Sometimes the old films bring a historical framework that brings 2026 to mind.)
The Way We Were
Please don’t forget.
Bullet Points:
** Jules is on the prowl in the British dales with her wolves – do you see the whole picture? I don’t think you do – not yet.
** (Naval News) (h/t Claudio) Discussions between Japan and the Philippines are expected to focus on the Abukuma-class destroyer escort, a six-ship class commissioned between 1989 and 1993. With a standard displacement of around 2,000 tons, the vessels are designed for coastal defense and anti-submarine warfare. While lacking area air-defense missiles, the class features a balanced weapons suite, including a 76mm main gun, Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), Harpoon anti-ship missiles, ASROC anti-submarine rockets, and lightweight torpedoes. These capabilities make the ships well-suited for littoral operations and maritime security missions in archipelagic environments such as the Philippines. Japanese officials are reportedly considering a grant-based transfer, although this would require additional legal arrangements. Delivery could take place as early as 2027, depending on the pace of negotiations. The ships could challenge the Chinese Coast Guard at sea.
** What would happen if you junked the tech and flew with MRSBRM in a cardboard airplane? How would it work – if you flew it in the rain?
** (Radio Liberty/Free Europe) WASHINGTON — The deepening military partnership between Moscow and Tehran has moved beyond simple arms deals and into a sophisticated cross-continental defense ecosystem, according to a former Pentagon analyst. VM Editorial has some big problems with the article, but it’s still worth reading. As discussed with my friend Claudio, neither USGOV nor the Kremlin has been an honest broker in the past, and they’re not likely to be in the future. However, Russia is in decline (different than the UK but not that different), and everybody knows it. The US is on the way to having big control over most of the oil (domestic, Venezuela & Alberta, Canada) in the Western Hemisphere, in addition to having built allies in the Middle East. That control will extend to some degree over Iraq and Iran as OPEC becomes irrelevant.
** Forecasting Putin’s demise.
** Ammo.com – Using data from national databases, our latest report examined trends in homicides by weapon type in the U.S. This enlightening report covers the most recent state-level homicide mechanisms and national trends by year. If you’re in a hurry, here are our report highlights: (1) On average, firearms accounted for 78% of all mechanisms used in homicides between 2018 and 2025. (2) Knives accounted for 8% of all homicide mechanisms in the U.S. between 2018 and 2024. (3) Wyoming and Maine were the only two states in 2024 where firearms were used in fewer than 50% of homicides. Although firearms are the most common weapon used in homicides, there is no correlation between firearm access and murder.
Robotic Systems
(The Conversation on April 17, 2026) Ukraine’s increasing use of drones in its defense has received a great deal of attention as Russia’s invasion has dragged on. While most of this has focused on aerial and maritime drones, the army’s use of ground robotics has been a quieter story—but one with growing significance. Military ground robotics is rapidly transforming battlefield tasks. However, for the foreseeable future, their greatest impact will be in supporting roles rather than directly replacing infantry soldiers. So, while this capture of the enemy position by robots is a milestone moment, it shouldn’t be over-interpreted.
When it comes to ground robots taking on infantry combat, there is a set of serious obstacles. The first is, quite literally, obstacles. Anyone who has watched increasingly sophisticated robotics demonstrations online will have seen machines navigating complex and difficult terrain. However, operating in a controlled environment in front of a camera is a world away from crossing broken ground under fire. Most ground robots continue to rely either on wheels or tracks for a variety of very good reasons: mechanical simplicity, availability of spare parts, and cost.
They have sharp limits on the types of terrain they can traverse, and not all enemy strongpoints are built at the end of paved driveways. Even accounting for combat loads and the nature of the battlefield, human infantry can climb, jump, wade, and otherwise traverse a large variety of obstacles unassisted, in ways that robots still cannot match.
The second major obstacle is the electromagnetic environment. While the term robot is often used to describe uncrewed ground vehicles, most are still remotely operated, meaning the operator must maintain a constant control link with the vehicle. This can be done via radio link. However, these links can be interrupted by enemy jamming, or by unfavorable weather or terrain.
The operator can also control the robot by a fiber-optic cable (tethered systems), which cannot be jammed but limits how far the robot can travel from its operator. A cable can also be severed by a blast, shrapnel, or just adverse terrain. The alternative is autonomy, and these ground robots do increasingly have some autonomous capabilities. But so far, this tends to be for specific tasks such as highlighting identified enemy positions, rather than being autonomous in the sense of driving and controlling themselves.
Autonomous driving is a massive challenge. You may have seen Waymo autonomous cabs in recent weeks, moving through the city’s streets ahead of their public rollout. But following traffic laws and (more or less) consistent road markings is still a huge and complex task. They’re all over Phoenix. Navigating a battlefield in a complex 3D environment is at least as complex, requiring a huge amount of processing power. That power can either be put aboard the robot itself, which significantly increases its cost and complexity, or be done remotely and transmitted, which brings us back to the issue of control link vulnerability.
For Ukraine, the strategic imperative to rapidly roll out ground robots is enormous. Four years of war against a numerically superior opponent have posed significant challenges to its ability to continue recruiting and deploying a large enough force to safeguard its sovereignty. On a battlefield where the enemy can see and hit almost anything moving within 20 kilometers of the front line, swapping irreplaceable humans for cheap, replaceable robots is a necessary condition for staying in the fight long enough to win.
Identify the Ship
1
Still in commission but long in the tooth.
2
3
4
End
1 – INS Rana Rajput-class destroyer
2 – JDS Abukuma lead shipof her class
3 – Chinese PLA Huangshi a Jiangdao-class Type 056A corvette
4 – HMS Bristol guided missile destroyer
Outstanding
Identify the Ship:
1. INS Rana, modified Kashin-class destroyer
2. JS Abukuma. Class is being considered for sale to the Philippines.
3. Chinese Type 056 corvette Huangshi
4. HMS Bristol, sole Type 82 destroyer.
Excellent
Of more importance, I think, is the who is committing the killings rather that what weapon they used. Illegal aliens commit an large share. One report stated that 64% of murders in 2024 were committed by illegal aliens.
I think that number is high. The bulk of the homicides are committed by inner city negro males.
What advantage would a bunch of cloned astronauts have over individuals? If they’re human beings, they still need all the same things that anyone does: food, water, places to sleep, toilets – everything. Like every option, they need energy sources and maintenance. Plus, remember that (at least so far) it takes about 25 years to get clones to the same level as any other person fresh out of college and they can’t really work 24/7 for long periods.
~~
I can’t imagine why anyone would want to crew a ship with clones. Robots are better suited to long term travel. If they can be plugged into the ship to recharge or come with their own nuclear power source (like the Voyagers).
It was my attempt to be funny. Maybe cyborgs would work, but I think we’re talking AI robots.
Ooops. My apologies for missing the point.
**Japanese officials are reportedly considering a grant-based transfer,**
Reminds me of the pre WWII Lend-Lease with England.
Yes, like that.
Most any movie with Yul Brynner as lead is gonna be good and Taras Bulba is certainly no exception. Thank you for the reminder.
The Aussies actually did a cardboard, fabric, and tiny bit of light wood (ultralight) airplane a couple decades back that flies well – unlike this slapdash affair. I remember the shipping tube for the struts became the tailboom, which looked mighty odd but aerodynamically worked fine.
They added a light shellac coat, but the answer to rain was “Don’t.”
And leaving it out in the heavy fog…
Cloned Astronauts: Keep in mind they could also look like Rosie O’Donnell…a space-nav tactic to clear the Romulans from the Nebula.
***
The Way THEY Were! (hearing Babs singing in my mind): Beyond corrupt , if that’s possible. Rassmussen Reports back in April quoted an engineer in the Colorado elections office saying they never touched blue counties, but skimmed 10% red counties until Biden was over 50%. This criminal was proud, not embarrassed, which says a lot about our modern society; cheating is okay in order to win. I knew but couldn’t prove that the entire State election apparatus was corrupt. When doing our ColoExit, this tidbit from MrsPaulM’s very Danish grandmother came to mind, in her thick accent she would say to people in a hurry, “Ya vell, ya shudda left a little sooner!”
***
Cardboard Airplane: Pretty sure a bunch of our generation made one of those out of the new fridge cardboard box, some tape, and markers…and had we’d been able to dismantle the engine from the pushmower it might have flown.
Cloned astronauts: The brain cringes at the magnitude of the problem. I mean, normally it’d be fine… until once a month, as all their cycles sync… Danger, Will Robinson!
They’d be a terrifying army.
Merely a lurker, not smart as y’all, but please allow me to add (compliment): Ol Remus would’ve loved this place. I remember him often during visits here. Thank you.
Yep ,I miss old Remus
putin is not the hardliner in russia. people should be careful what they wish for. some in russia want to nuke ukraine and anybody helping them.
To be fair about it, Russia has been responsible controlling their nuclear weapons. Even when they were starving. Attacking Ukraine with nuclear weapons wouldn’t accomplish much for them other than expressing frustration that they haven’t been able to accomplish what they wanted to accomplish. I realize that some people are not rational.