The Sisters of Mercy released Floodland in 1987, a record of industrial choirs and end-of-empire glamour. On Lucretia, My Reflection, Andrew Eldritch croons about dum-dum bullets and shoot to kill, not as moral protest but as soundtrack for dying empires. The reference wasn’t metaphorical. “Dum-Dum” was a real place: a British arsenal outside Calcutta whereContinue reading “Dum Dum Bullets and Shoot to Kill”
Category Archives: Opinions
Herbert Hoover and Moral Engineering
Yesterday (October 3, 2025), Heidi and I visited the Hoover–Minthorn House in Newberg, Oregon. The house, built in 1881 by Jesse Edwards, the Quaker founder of Newberg, stands behind a white picket fence, its clapboard walls repainted in pale yellow. Murray Rothbard had already set my prejudice against Hoover, so the visit was a sardonicContinue reading “Herbert Hoover and Moral Engineering”
Gholas and the Eternal Golden Braid
On September 30, 2025, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University announced they had developed functional eggs from human skin cells. Immediately, I thought of Frank Herbert’s gholas.[1] Duncan Idaho is the most-reborn man in Dune. From his first appearance on Arrakis, he is marked as archetype: Swordmaster of Ginaz, sensual, loyal, utterly alive. (JasonContinue reading “Gholas and the Eternal Golden Braid”
Protective Arts 