Attention, Trekkies.

Transparent Aluminum is a reality! Actually, it's an ceramic made from aluminum, but it's still cool. Soon, they may be armoring vehicles with it. One of the benefits of this, even more important than the lighter weight, is that the Alon panels only have three layers, and not multiple laminated plates. Regular ballistic glass has an unfortunate tendency to delaminate in extreme heat (hmmm, that phrase "extreme heat" sounds vaguely familiar...). This doesn't effect the protective value of the glass, but it destroys visability, which sucks. With the new material, this problem should disappear. Gee, too bad I'll be long gone from the Army by the time this ever gets fielded. :-P

While we're on the subject of geekery...

The best filksong ever written (lyrics available here). Listening to Leslie Fish's CDs always leaves me with mixed feelings; Her lyrics are brilliant and inspiring, her voice... less so. Fortunately, this version is sung by Julia Ecklar. Incidentally, I got filkertom to sing his own cover of the song last DragonCon. If people nag him enough, maybe he'll record it on a CD of his own someday.