I've gotta say, 2015 has been one heck of a ride. A heck of a lot has happened, and has perhaps been the most eventful year of my life. I became independently published, got my first taste of love, my first taste of tears resulting from heartbreak, purchased and played Fallout 4 and finally got a copy of Tombstone on DVD. Pretty darned eventful!
There has been plenty of stress and strife too, but that comes with the territory. I aim to make 2016 even better! I'm not doing New Years Resolutions, since I tend to forget about them, and instead just keep on with the plans I've already set and do all I can to accomplish them. Y'know, things like moving out, writing more books, making enough to live off of, finding my One True Love, taking over the world, getting someone with half a brain into office, that sort of stuff!
I have noticed however that this year really took a toll on the entertainment industry, as we lost some absolute titans. Leonard Nemoy, Christopher Lee and Akira Toriyama are now sadly laid to rest, but left behind massive legacies that will continue on.
Let us all be thankful for all that we have, all that we have accomplished and look forward to what we can do in the upcoming year! Things have been mighty dark in 2015 at home and abroad, but we can always do something, even something small, to improve ourselves and those around us. So let's hop to it! Happy New Years Eve everyone!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Thursday, December 24, 2015
Merry Christmas!
Here I sit upon my chair, clacking away when I should be spending time with my family, but I did my good deed for the day so I should be okay.
Today is a plain old jolly day, and I hope it is for all of you too! Merry Christmas everyone! Or whatever winter-time holiday it is that you participate in! :D
Today is a plain old jolly day, and I hope it is for all of you too! Merry Christmas everyone! Or whatever winter-time holiday it is that you participate in! :D
Thursday, December 17, 2015
Weird Weapons of the Wild West
The Winchester, Sharps, Remington, Colt, Smith and Wesson and Ballard guns are all almost synonymous with the weapons they produced in excess throughout the 1860's on. Thousands of reliable rifles and revolvers were produced by all, producing robust and effective designs that won the hearts of countless explorers, hunters, lawman and criminals alike. But few people realize that behind these firearm behemoths was a plethora of guns that run the gamut from strange to just bizarre. Dozens of inventors began cranking out creations that would have caused any mad scientist to salivate. Most of these inventors were crushed under the heel of Oliver Winchester who wanted to corner the market on lever action rifles, an onslaught that only Marlin would survive. Others were just too strange to truly thrive, but are more than worthy of mentioning.
Here I'm going to cover some of the most unique guns ever produced by the eccentric brains of the American inventors.
At first glance the Bullard repeating rifle doesn't seem that unusual. Not to be confused with the Ballard rifle company, the Bullard rifle company produced a series of single shots and one of the most unique repeaters ever designed. Unlike the Winchester 1873 cousin which operated on the toggle-link action, the Bullard used a rack and pinion design which was infinitely smoother and very advanced for the time. According to many owners it is one of the fastest and smoothest actions out there, and perhaps the smoothest of all lever actions. It was produced in both a frame for pistol cartridges and full sized rifle cartridges, both being of very high quality. The design was also wonderfully strong for its time, and wouldn't be surpassed until the invention of the 1886 by Browning. Another feature that makes this rifle completely unique among leverguns is that it is loaded through a loading gate on the bottom of the receiver, much like modern day shotguns. All Winchesters and Marlins are fed through a loading gate on the side of the receiver.
If one takes a look at the Bullards assembled by collectors you'll quickly notice that no are exactly alike. Each has some variation that makes it different from its brothers. A different barrel, different magazine tube, lengths, stocks, sights, all vary slightly. This indicates that these were produced as high quality custom guns for highly discerning customers. While an admirable and certainly appreciated business model, it may have helped lead to its downfall, as the high prices would have put it beyond the means of most frontiersmen.
Unlike the Winchesters, the Bullard never gained major popularity, with only a few thousand made. Another factor against it was the lack of chambering in more common and popular cartridges such as the 45-70 Government. Oddly it was chambered almost exclusively in privately patented cartridges. This would have made it far less appealing from a logistics angle. As an interesting note, the 50-115-300 Bullard was the very first rimless cartridge ever developed in the United States, and most likely the entire world! Even with these factors against it, one model made its way into the hands of Teddy Roosevelt, although little is known about it.
Although its chamberings were uncommon and made little logistic sense, they were by no means weak. The 50-115-300 would have been one of the largest cartridges ever able to be stuffed into a repeater, putting even the 1876 Centennial to shame. A fifty caliber three hundred grain bullet pushed by one hundred and fifteen grains of black powder would have been capable of slaying anything on the continent. It would have been able to take down the largest brown bear, moose or bison with ample authority. It's a testament to the versatility of the design that it was able to handle such long, fat cartridges while still being so compact and handy.
Perhaps the most important factor in the fall of the company was the designer himself, James Bullard. He appeared to be an impulsive, artistic type in that he would focus on one project obsessively for several years and then move onto something completely different. His firearm designs were nothing short of brilliant, and had he stayed on with the company he developed and continued making designs the company may very well have been one of the major competitors to Winchester and Marlin. But in just a few years he abandoned the company and began working on a steam powered car, among other things. He was extremely prolific in his designing, but never stuck with one thing.
Overall the Bullard was a weapon ahead of its time. It was elegant, powerful, and one of the most gorgeous rifles produced during the era.
One would think that with the introduction of guns like the Spencer repeater or the Henry that the US military would be licking their chops. On the contrary, the head honchos showed suspicion and fear towards the fast firing weapons. They worried that soldiers would waste ammunition uselessly in rapid fire. Seven or sixteen shots available at the same time? Heaven forbid! I can only imagine these gentlemen suffering multiple simultaneous heart attacks when in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War a most ambitious inventor presented them with the Meigs rifle in 1866 which somehow boasted a fifty round tube magazine!
While the Spencer and the Henry were undoubtedly the first true combat rifles invented, the Meigs here was perhaps the first assault rifle ever invented. Utilizing a sliding trigger assembly that worked back and forth and a butt-stock magazine, the rear tube was stuffed to the gills with potent 50 caliber cartridges, very hot stuff for the time. A soldier had the potential to unravel all fifty in only nineteen seconds. This was light years ahead of the three shot per minute muskets that had been employed by the tens of thousands of troops just the year before. Even more impressive, once the gun had run dry a soldier could simply replace the spent tube with another, not unlike the Spencer, but on steroids.
The generals of the time recoiled in horror at the idea of men armed with these, which would have put even the impressive Gatling to shame. Unlike the Gatling, the Meigs wouldn't have required a crew and extra gear to set up the weapon. But the idea of spray and pray apparently haunted their dreams, and the Meigs swiftly fell into obscurity. Only three were ever made which now reside in museums. Although it never saw the face of war it is an extraordinarily potent and fascinating piece of engineering, certainly not something one would have expected during the time it was made.
Although only in prototypes, they supposedly discharged 38,000 rounds for tests without malfunction. If so, then this was a remarkably reliable design that would have been a terror to face down at close range.
The Burgess shotgun, developed much later in the late 1800's, is one of the most fascinating and innovative shotgun designs ever made. Aside from the 1887 Winchester lever action shotgun, the pump actions reigned supreme in the hands of law enforcement and hunters in the 1890's. Then the Burgess arrived. At first glance it appears to be nothing unusual, with perhaps a slightly stubby frame and an odd grip. But these details are deceptive, for the Burgess is perhaps the fastest shooting shotgun besides the semi and full autos. Like the Meigs it used a slide action in the grip. When rolling with the recoil one naturally pulled the slide back, and once they were on target again slid the action up and were ready for a follow up shot. An experienced shooter could unleash five or six rounds of twelve gauge fury in the time it took for his hat to fall to the ground.
The designer, Andrew Burgess, was, like many other inventors on this listing, a prolific inventor. His method of making a sale with this gun however was certainly unorthodox. His salesman, Charlie Dammon, did an exhibition for a notable New York Police big wig who boasted a pair of glasses and an unmistakable walrus mustache. Haven't guessed who it is yet? Well, it was Teddy Roosevelt, one of the overall most hard core and awesome gentlemen to have ever set foot on this dirt ball. Now, most salesmen would have shown some schematics or perhaps shown his new fancy gun in a well-manicured case. This gent went a little further than that. While talking with one of the coolest men ever he pulled the weapon free from under his coat and rattled off an entire magazine of blanks. Somehow avoiding getting perforated for his shocking enthusiasm, he was instead rewarded with a bulk purchase. Teddy loved his guns and was thoroughly impressed with the capabilities of this shotgun.
But what made this weapon even stranger was that it could be folded in half, like something out of a cartoon. Even coming with a special holster, a New York officer could walk around with a full length twelve gauge riot gun under his coat and have it ready to go in no time at all. The images below, borrowed from Forgotten Weapons, show just how elegant and compact this design is.
Sadly it didn't get as much traction as its competition, but it made a distinct imprint on history and will never be completely forgotten.
Yet another queer repeater that will certainly leave a few people scratching their heads is the Evans repeater.
Developed in Maine in 1873, the same year as The Gun That Won The WEst, by a dentist by the name of Warren Evans and his brother, they, like so many other weapon designers of the time, sought the coveted military contract. And like so many others, didn't get it and switched to giving it to sportsmen and frontiersmen. Like the odd Meigs it had a hollow tube magazine sandwiched between two pieces of wood for the stock. With a barber-pole screw mechanism the lever would twist the cartridges up and into the receiver. Depending on the model, it could hold between 24 or 36 rounds, an astonishing capacity for the time, surpassed only by the Meigs. Firing stumpy .44 Evans rounds it was a decent short range fighting gun.
Around 15,000 were produced in different models, which wasn't a bad number at all at the time, but not enough to keep it afloat.
Although not one of the strangest guns, the Merwin Hulbert revolvers were innovative but were also some of the most finely crafted and fitted guns of the entire 19th century.
Unlike its contemporaries, the Merwin Hulbert didn't have an ejection system like the brake open or SAA models. Intead the barrel was twisted to the side and pulled forward along with the cylinder, popping all of the spent cases free. It was a very swift way to get rid of shells, although after unloading them with the rapid double action it might have been a royal pain to grab that barrel for unloading.
What truly sets them apart though wasn't just the design, but the almost unmatched quality. The machining and metal fitting were extraordinarily precise. The metal fitting was so close in fact that when trying to unload a vacuum was formed and would pull the gun part way closed by itself! I've never heard of this happening with any other gun. The Merwin Hulbert company it seems wanted to not just produce pretty guns, but some of the best working-man guns out there. Most were shorter barreled .38 and .32 caliber pocket guns, meant more for being in the pockets of city folk rather than trading fire on the prairie. Some models even had a hammer spur that folded forward to avoid getting caught on clothing when being drawn. Mighty clever!
A fair number of these were produced and made a decent dent in the market considering their competition with companies such as Smith and Wesson, Colt, Remington and others, but never earned the same respect or love.
I hope to find more such oddballs and bring them to your attention. The Europeans especially came up with some queer designs during this period which differed drastically in concept and design, illustrating the different thinking and priorities from their Western neighbors.
Here I'm going to cover some of the most unique guns ever produced by the eccentric brains of the American inventors.
At first glance the Bullard repeating rifle doesn't seem that unusual. Not to be confused with the Ballard rifle company, the Bullard rifle company produced a series of single shots and one of the most unique repeaters ever designed. Unlike the Winchester 1873 cousin which operated on the toggle-link action, the Bullard used a rack and pinion design which was infinitely smoother and very advanced for the time. According to many owners it is one of the fastest and smoothest actions out there, and perhaps the smoothest of all lever actions. It was produced in both a frame for pistol cartridges and full sized rifle cartridges, both being of very high quality. The design was also wonderfully strong for its time, and wouldn't be surpassed until the invention of the 1886 by Browning. Another feature that makes this rifle completely unique among leverguns is that it is loaded through a loading gate on the bottom of the receiver, much like modern day shotguns. All Winchesters and Marlins are fed through a loading gate on the side of the receiver.
If one takes a look at the Bullards assembled by collectors you'll quickly notice that no are exactly alike. Each has some variation that makes it different from its brothers. A different barrel, different magazine tube, lengths, stocks, sights, all vary slightly. This indicates that these were produced as high quality custom guns for highly discerning customers. While an admirable and certainly appreciated business model, it may have helped lead to its downfall, as the high prices would have put it beyond the means of most frontiersmen.
 |
| The inner workings of the Bullard |
Although its chamberings were uncommon and made little logistic sense, they were by no means weak. The 50-115-300 would have been one of the largest cartridges ever able to be stuffed into a repeater, putting even the 1876 Centennial to shame. A fifty caliber three hundred grain bullet pushed by one hundred and fifteen grains of black powder would have been capable of slaying anything on the continent. It would have been able to take down the largest brown bear, moose or bison with ample authority. It's a testament to the versatility of the design that it was able to handle such long, fat cartridges while still being so compact and handy.
Perhaps the most important factor in the fall of the company was the designer himself, James Bullard. He appeared to be an impulsive, artistic type in that he would focus on one project obsessively for several years and then move onto something completely different. His firearm designs were nothing short of brilliant, and had he stayed on with the company he developed and continued making designs the company may very well have been one of the major competitors to Winchester and Marlin. But in just a few years he abandoned the company and began working on a steam powered car, among other things. He was extremely prolific in his designing, but never stuck with one thing.
Overall the Bullard was a weapon ahead of its time. It was elegant, powerful, and one of the most gorgeous rifles produced during the era.
One would think that with the introduction of guns like the Spencer repeater or the Henry that the US military would be licking their chops. On the contrary, the head honchos showed suspicion and fear towards the fast firing weapons. They worried that soldiers would waste ammunition uselessly in rapid fire. Seven or sixteen shots available at the same time? Heaven forbid! I can only imagine these gentlemen suffering multiple simultaneous heart attacks when in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War a most ambitious inventor presented them with the Meigs rifle in 1866 which somehow boasted a fifty round tube magazine!
 |
| The darned Western gun they load on Sunday and shoot all month! |
The generals of the time recoiled in horror at the idea of men armed with these, which would have put even the impressive Gatling to shame. Unlike the Gatling, the Meigs wouldn't have required a crew and extra gear to set up the weapon. But the idea of spray and pray apparently haunted their dreams, and the Meigs swiftly fell into obscurity. Only three were ever made which now reside in museums. Although it never saw the face of war it is an extraordinarily potent and fascinating piece of engineering, certainly not something one would have expected during the time it was made.
Although only in prototypes, they supposedly discharged 38,000 rounds for tests without malfunction. If so, then this was a remarkably reliable design that would have been a terror to face down at close range.
The Burgess shotgun, developed much later in the late 1800's, is one of the most fascinating and innovative shotgun designs ever made. Aside from the 1887 Winchester lever action shotgun, the pump actions reigned supreme in the hands of law enforcement and hunters in the 1890's. Then the Burgess arrived. At first glance it appears to be nothing unusual, with perhaps a slightly stubby frame and an odd grip. But these details are deceptive, for the Burgess is perhaps the fastest shooting shotgun besides the semi and full autos. Like the Meigs it used a slide action in the grip. When rolling with the recoil one naturally pulled the slide back, and once they were on target again slid the action up and were ready for a follow up shot. An experienced shooter could unleash five or six rounds of twelve gauge fury in the time it took for his hat to fall to the ground.
The designer, Andrew Burgess, was, like many other inventors on this listing, a prolific inventor. His method of making a sale with this gun however was certainly unorthodox. His salesman, Charlie Dammon, did an exhibition for a notable New York Police big wig who boasted a pair of glasses and an unmistakable walrus mustache. Haven't guessed who it is yet? Well, it was Teddy Roosevelt, one of the overall most hard core and awesome gentlemen to have ever set foot on this dirt ball. Now, most salesmen would have shown some schematics or perhaps shown his new fancy gun in a well-manicured case. This gent went a little further than that. While talking with one of the coolest men ever he pulled the weapon free from under his coat and rattled off an entire magazine of blanks. Somehow avoiding getting perforated for his shocking enthusiasm, he was instead rewarded with a bulk purchase. Teddy loved his guns and was thoroughly impressed with the capabilities of this shotgun.
But what made this weapon even stranger was that it could be folded in half, like something out of a cartoon. Even coming with a special holster, a New York officer could walk around with a full length twelve gauge riot gun under his coat and have it ready to go in no time at all. The images below, borrowed from Forgotten Weapons, show just how elegant and compact this design is.
Sadly it didn't get as much traction as its competition, but it made a distinct imprint on history and will never be completely forgotten.
Yet another queer repeater that will certainly leave a few people scratching their heads is the Evans repeater.
Developed in Maine in 1873, the same year as The Gun That Won The WEst, by a dentist by the name of Warren Evans and his brother, they, like so many other weapon designers of the time, sought the coveted military contract. And like so many others, didn't get it and switched to giving it to sportsmen and frontiersmen. Like the odd Meigs it had a hollow tube magazine sandwiched between two pieces of wood for the stock. With a barber-pole screw mechanism the lever would twist the cartridges up and into the receiver. Depending on the model, it could hold between 24 or 36 rounds, an astonishing capacity for the time, surpassed only by the Meigs. Firing stumpy .44 Evans rounds it was a decent short range fighting gun.
Around 15,000 were produced in different models, which wasn't a bad number at all at the time, but not enough to keep it afloat.
 |
| An Apache with an Evans. Note the decorative brass tacks driven into the fore-stock, a common feature among guns owned by Native Americans of the time. |
Although not one of the strangest guns, the Merwin Hulbert revolvers were innovative but were also some of the most finely crafted and fitted guns of the entire 19th century.
Unlike its contemporaries, the Merwin Hulbert didn't have an ejection system like the brake open or SAA models. Intead the barrel was twisted to the side and pulled forward along with the cylinder, popping all of the spent cases free. It was a very swift way to get rid of shells, although after unloading them with the rapid double action it might have been a royal pain to grab that barrel for unloading.
 |
| Mechanism for unloading |
What truly sets them apart though wasn't just the design, but the almost unmatched quality. The machining and metal fitting were extraordinarily precise. The metal fitting was so close in fact that when trying to unload a vacuum was formed and would pull the gun part way closed by itself! I've never heard of this happening with any other gun. The Merwin Hulbert company it seems wanted to not just produce pretty guns, but some of the best working-man guns out there. Most were shorter barreled .38 and .32 caliber pocket guns, meant more for being in the pockets of city folk rather than trading fire on the prairie. Some models even had a hammer spur that folded forward to avoid getting caught on clothing when being drawn. Mighty clever!
A fair number of these were produced and made a decent dent in the market considering their competition with companies such as Smith and Wesson, Colt, Remington and others, but never earned the same respect or love.
I hope to find more such oddballs and bring them to your attention. The Europeans especially came up with some queer designs during this period which differed drastically in concept and design, illustrating the different thinking and priorities from their Western neighbors.
Thursday, December 10, 2015
Krampus movie
 |
| Either that's one small house or Krampus is huge |
This movie is basically National Lampoons Christmas Vacation Horror Edition. It starts out similarly, abrasive and conflicting family all bottled into one home during the holidays and emotions are brought to a boil. But instead of ending with a kidnapped boss resulting in a huge bonus and a pool for the whole family, they get Krampus, and he doesn't pull any punches just because there are children present. They are fair game in this movie.
I want to avoid spoilers for this movie, so if you think it's worth checking out, go for it. It has one of the most jarring slap to the groin endings I've ever seen, and makes this movie darker than I thought it could be, which is saying a lot. It also has a bit of a Gremlins vibe. I swear they used some of the voices for some of the minions.
I have to give points because this isn't an idiot plot. I mean, there are idiotic moves, but they make sense and isn't purely a case of 'well, need to keep the plot moving, gotta off someone.' Most of the time anyway. They actually do have weapons in this story and use them to good effect, but at the same time it doesn't relieve the tension at all. It's rare when you're well armed in a story but it's still scary. They pull that off. Instead of feeling confidence when they investigate a noise with a shotgun at the ready, you want them to pull back and stay within safety. Sure, the shotty might work, but you don't know what's around the corner. Krampus isn't afraid to unleash a horde of minions on you. He doesn't just want to kill you either. He wants you to be terrified to even breathe. He wants to watch you squirm and watch as everyone you care about is picked off one by one before he moves in for you. That should give some understanding of the horror-craft at work here.
Before I move beyond guns, I would like to give them points for shooting a revolver six times and then ending on an empty chamber. Most movies usually let you get off with nine or twelve, depending on who's directing. Then again later on someone gets off around eight or nine shots with a shotgun that has a six round tube magazine. But hey, they tried. Tried harder than most others.
I think that the characters all come through pretty well. They start off of course as mean-spirited, abrasive, annoying and at points really do go too far and push other characters over the edge. But as the movie progresses and things get bad they do ease up and actually show the better parts they have to offer. I like it when a movie puts characters under pressure and it reveals the best in them, not the worst, although I'm not against that. It's very humanizing and makes them feel more real, apologizing and showing affection even though things aren't peachy. That just sucks you in more since everyone is at risk of dying. I really didn't know how far this movie was going to go. As far as I knew, everyone was fair game, and knew killing everyone, including the kid main character wasn't off the table. That really built up the tension.
Jump scares? There's a few. But I don't think they were abused. Except at the very end. I haaaaaaate it when a horror movie just has things catapulted at your face with a loud burst of music. That's not scary. That's jumping out of a closet and slapping you across the face. Here? They build up the tension nice and slow. They seem to take Alfred Hitchcock's advice to heart: Tension is when there's a bomb under the table and it doesn't go off. Here's it's like there's a bunch of bombs hidden throughout the house, except they go off silently and scurry around cackling as they get ready to mutilate you.
One of the scares actually made me feel physically ill. It was actually pretty disturbing imagery and I flashed back to The Thing when it first tries absorbing the dogs. Brrrrr! I sort of have an issue with clowns, or things that are clowned theme, and this movie didn't help with that. All I can say is if you are a professional clown and you're in my midst, please keep your distance and your hands where I can see them. I can't promise that I won't inflict harm by reflex. Clown stuff just naturally triggers the animal part of my brain that kicks in when my life is in immediate danger.
The imagery, lighting and mood are fantastic. Well, most of the lighting anyway. At points you get strobe lights that make you feel like you're at a rave and I was worried someone was going to get an epileptic seizure. But at points the lighting is amazing. I especially love when it's early in the morning but in only a matter of seconds the light dims and goes dark. It really feels like some onyx cloud moves across the sun and blots it out, rather than just set lighting being turned low.
Only real complaint I can think of is that we see Krampus's face. Chances are he'll come after me for that crack, so if I vanish this Christmas then you'll know what happened. His face isn't bad so much as it is just obviously a mask. It's creepy at first, but it never changes expression and gets a tad silly at certain moments. If it had been a Jim Henson animatronic with shifts in expression it would have been terrifying. However a friend of mine suggested that it might be adhering more to the German tradition of Krampus masks at festivals. If true, then that's actually another point in its favor for getting more of the real lore and tradition down.
I should also mention that they actually try to get real German spoken for the grandmother. They call her Omi which is German for grandmother, although my colleague tells me its Oma, but hey, again, they tried. The flashback scene is also frigging fantastic. They actually have a stop-motion flashback scene explaining how the grandmother knows about Krampus and crap is it good. If it isn't stop-motion but actually animation then holy crap, give those animators some awards cuz I couldn't tell.
It also felt frigging cold in that movie. I really could believe that the actors were freezing their faces off. There are a lot of outside shots and the snowfall and wind effects make it feel like you've really stepped into the middle of a blizzard. It's like frigging John Carpenter's The Thing where you could only see a few feet in any direction because of the snow fall.
Overall, this thing really did get to me. I won't have nightmares, but I actually had to force myself to relax at points because my muscles began tensing in the theater. This whole thing is really solid in my opinion and I'd absolutely go see it again. It may have ruined Christmas for me a bit though. I'll get over it. Nothing cheers the spirit like watching It's A Wonderful Life!
Happy Holidays and Spooky Salutations! Have fun watching the best Christmas horror movie since The Nightmare Before Christmas!
Monday, November 23, 2015
Fallout 4: My new full time job
Hello everyone. My name is Eccentric Cowboy, and I have an addiction. It has been about twelve hours since I last played a Fallout game, but I don't know how much longer I can last. I've tried pills, counseling, group therapy, even a camp, but nothing seems to work.
What can I say? Fallout is hands down my favorite game franchise ever. Nothing else comes close. I've dumped so much time across Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas and now Fallout 4, that I could have probably made millions in high frequency stocks trading. I can't help it though! The writing is fantastic, the worlds are huge and have an insane amount of depth, and there is an almost endless variety of things to do. This won't necessarily be an objective super informative review, and more of my personal thoughts and a shameless love letter to the game, so if you like hearing someone gush for a few pages, then you'll probably want to keep reading.
Since Fallout 4 got released on the 11th, I've racked up 79 hours total. That's just in two weeks. That's pretty much a full time job worth of game play. I confess, the first three days were a bit slow as I tried to adapt to the new setup, but after awhile it gained momentum and I began having an insane amount of fun. No, Fallout 4 isn't perfect. There are a few kinks that get in the way, but dangit, what's good is really good.
One of my issues with Fallout 3 and New Vegas was the aiming. It always felt stiff and clunky, not what you want when a deathclaw is trying to pull your spine out through your anus. The best way to describe it is if you have a broom tucked under your arm, and have both arms extended until your elbows are locks and aim by swiveling your torso at the hips. But here the aiming is just plain smooth and reflexive. I can swing on target quickly and start de-braining Gunners with surgical precision. Now we're talking!
One of the biggest changes that took me by surprise was that I didn't need to repair my weapons. Say wha-? I've been so used to lugging around extra weapons to cannibalize or weapon repair kits that it's almost impossible for me to not grab every weapon I see lying around. I've been programmed to grab everything not bolted down, so weight can be a big problem fast. At least for me anyway. If you just want swag and a few weapons, you should be fine. Me though? I instinctively grab enough weapons, armor and ammo to outfit my own army company. And wouldn't you know it? In this game I can finally do that!
There have been a lot more games with construction parts to them, thanks Minecraft. I was a bit worried about how that would work out here since I mostly play Fallout to level up and shoot mutants in the face, but thankfully it's not a huge hassle. It doesn't handcuff you to the building part and punish you if you don't want to do it. I mostly engage because I like the idea of building my own mini-empire in the Wasteland, and have fortified the Castle to the point where I can handle most invasion attempts and outfitted a good number of my settlers to the balls with combat armor and decent weapons. Bring it on Wasteland!
Oh, and you have some extra goodies here. You can call in sodding artillery strikes. Artillery! Throw a smoke beacon and your guys will rain fiery death down upon your enemies. Frigging. Awesome. The primary limit to what they can do is their range is limited, so you'll often want multiple settlements with an artillery piece and someone to use it. I haven't used it much, just because I'm conservative to a fault when it comes to gear. The artillery beacons are pretty much unlimited if you grab them, but they weigh me down and I only wanna use them for heavy targets. 30 ghouls coming at me? I've got that.
Oh, and the gear modding? It's awesome. You have a LOT of options on what you can do. My favorite weapon right now is a highly customized bolt action rifle that I've renamed Slayer. A 50 cal bolt action with a large magazine, bayonet, marskman stock and reflex sight, I have a killer short to medium range combat gun and can butcher most things that come my way. 50 cal is great medicine for deathclaws and just about anything else you can come across, although it's not as good for large numbers of enemies, although it still works for them too. I have an obscene amount of fun with the bayonets in this game. Firing a volley of shots and then rushing them like a World War 1 bayonet charge, then stabbing and shooting at close quarters really gets the blood pumping.
I just hope they bring in a lever action with DLC. For some reason there are no leverguns in the game at the moment, which makes me sad. But I'm praying to the Fallout deities that they'll have one later on that I can pimp out. Just think of it! A 50 cal lever action with a bayonet and scope? I'll be unstoppable! I'll be the ravager of the Commonwealth, slaying all in my path! None shall stand before the general of the Minute Men!
Oh, and for once I really like the power armor. In New Vegas I almost never used power armor, finding it to be too cumbersome and not worth the repair bill, so I'd always go with medium armor, my favorite being Elite Riot Gear. Looked frigging awesome too. Here? You're a walking tank. You can actually pic and choose how to model your armor for once, and my gosh is it glorious. Just last night I was laying waste to a raider stronghold while their pathetic 38 caliber bullets bounced off of my armor and was playing The Terminator police station music, slowly and methodically clearing the building while spraying them with bursts of SMG fire, cutting them down like mannequins. It felt pretty darned awesome. You still have to repair it, but it's not as much a hassle as before. Unlike New Vegas or Fallout 3, you don't have to pull out your gold fillings to pay someone to repair your armor half-way, nor do you have to cannibalize every suit you get. You just have to find a repair station and use some steel and other components. Yay! You still need fusion cores to keep them powered, which are rare and expensive, but are worth it. I've been stockpiling them, so it's not as much an issue for me at the moment.
Mirelurks are still a monumental pain to deal with. And are creepier than ever. I don't know what it is about crustaceans, but they make my skin crawl. So seeing ones the size of football players rushing at me, joints crackling and seeing their lifeless doll eyes roll at me as they try to rip me apart is less than pleasant. So of course, they are pretty awesome. Also, the Mirelurk Kings now appear to have gone from the Gillman to Deep Ones from Lovecraft. Is Innsmouth near the Commonwealth? That'd explain a bit!
Oh, and Mirelurk Hunters are now giant prawns instead of horseshoe crabs, and they suck to deal with. Mirelurk Queens though? Holy crap. I hit one of those xeno-queen wannabes twice with a Fat Man. She just got mad. That one was pretty intense.
I really like how most of the creatures now have different looks based on what type they are, even within the same enemy hierarchy. So now there's a lot more variety to the terror you experience as well as blow up! Oh, the ghouls? If they didn't scare you before, they might now. Their skin is clammy, shrunken and pulled tight, with lips that look like the Flukeman from The X-Files, and will keep coming even after you've shot their arms off. Those ones aren't very fun. Oh, and they hit way harder now. The combat in this game is WAY harder than in previous ones. I've gotten absolutely wrecked here. In the two before, death was usually due to me being stupid or just bad luck. With having lots of stimpacks, I was generally pretty safe.
The Commonwealth doesn't screw around though. The raiders pack some serious heat, and aren't afraid to sacrifice themselves to take you out with them. Oh, and because the super mutants aren't tough enough already, they have suicide bombers that lug a mini-nuke on a timer while bum-rushing you at full speed. They WILL make sure that you're blasted into radioactive dust within fifteen seconds unless you put them down.
I recall one particular incident with the raiders that was extremely difficult. I exit a building, having run through the gauntlet, and see a mere two raiders up in a bombed out building. Well, I still had some space left and could always use the loot. So I start shooting at them, kill the weaker one not in power armor, then try to move to where I can get up to them at close range. Then I evaporated in a world-shattering explosion from seemingly nowhere. Huh. Odd.
So I start again, sniping the weaker raider and then shooting the one in power armor right in the face. It's then I notice a large weapon on his shoulder and something about the size of a football flying towards me, followed again by an explosion. Oh! He has a Fat Man! Huh. Not used to that. Okay, fair enough. I'll snipe him from farther now!
So I reload and begin firing on him first instead of his puny friend to take advantage of the sneak attack double damage on the headshot. I try to take cover to where he can't hit me, but his shot goes over my head and behind me, leaving me to get caught in the concussion blast. Oops.
By now I'm gritting my teeth. Okay, fine jerk. I decide that since he's using a doomsday long range weapon, I should get up close and deny him the ability to shoot. Surely he's not stupid enough to put ground zero of his mini-nuke six inches from himself. So I pull out my machete and race up the stairs, ignoring the puny raider and attacking the boss, slashing at him like Freddy, backing him into a corner and denying him the ability to flee. I had him! Then he fired anyway, reducing me to radioactive ash on the breeze while he was just a little worse for wear.
... Okay, bullcrap. He was close enough to see his fingerprints on the mini-nuke when it went off, and he didn't take enough damage to die? Agh!
I finally managed to just snipe the bugger by being cheap, but wow it took a lot of effort to get that one guy. Yes, I could have simply left and moved on, but I took that fight personally. How can I see a raider in power armor with a Fat Man and not fight him? That's absurd!
And yes, the questing is fun. I just tend to get distracted by the intense desire to destroy anything that looks red. So much good combat going on! <3
The people in your settlements are kind of moronic though. Although I'm the general of the Minute Men, it seems like I'm also the elite special forces, fire department, police commissioner, secretary of business management, agricultural executive and babysitter. I get the feeling that I'm not exactly breeding self-sufficient warriors here. Anytime so much as someone steps on a thumbtack I get called in for help. Granted, I am the most qualified for kicking in the Gunners' front door to rescue hostages or wipe out a horde of feral ghouls, but come on, not one other soldier in my settlement of over a hundred is doing anything but defense. Come on people! We've got the Institute to fight! I can't do it all by myself! I mean, I can, but it'd be nice to have some help now and then.
It would be nice to know which settlers have an assignment and which don't. There's a lot of them and its hard to tell which of them are working jobs already and which aren't. They look a like half the time. Hoping that'll get patched.
I still haven't beaten the game yet. Lot's of killing to do, but I'll get around to it! This has slowed my writing business down a LOT lately. It's hard to focus on writing when a siren is singing to you about Fallout 4 and you're tired. Dangit, this game is too good in some ways! It's too much fun!
What can I say? Fallout is hands down my favorite game franchise ever. Nothing else comes close. I've dumped so much time across Fallout 1, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas and now Fallout 4, that I could have probably made millions in high frequency stocks trading. I can't help it though! The writing is fantastic, the worlds are huge and have an insane amount of depth, and there is an almost endless variety of things to do. This won't necessarily be an objective super informative review, and more of my personal thoughts and a shameless love letter to the game, so if you like hearing someone gush for a few pages, then you'll probably want to keep reading.
Since Fallout 4 got released on the 11th, I've racked up 79 hours total. That's just in two weeks. That's pretty much a full time job worth of game play. I confess, the first three days were a bit slow as I tried to adapt to the new setup, but after awhile it gained momentum and I began having an insane amount of fun. No, Fallout 4 isn't perfect. There are a few kinks that get in the way, but dangit, what's good is really good.
One of my issues with Fallout 3 and New Vegas was the aiming. It always felt stiff and clunky, not what you want when a deathclaw is trying to pull your spine out through your anus. The best way to describe it is if you have a broom tucked under your arm, and have both arms extended until your elbows are locks and aim by swiveling your torso at the hips. But here the aiming is just plain smooth and reflexive. I can swing on target quickly and start de-braining Gunners with surgical precision. Now we're talking!
One of the biggest changes that took me by surprise was that I didn't need to repair my weapons. Say wha-? I've been so used to lugging around extra weapons to cannibalize or weapon repair kits that it's almost impossible for me to not grab every weapon I see lying around. I've been programmed to grab everything not bolted down, so weight can be a big problem fast. At least for me anyway. If you just want swag and a few weapons, you should be fine. Me though? I instinctively grab enough weapons, armor and ammo to outfit my own army company. And wouldn't you know it? In this game I can finally do that!
There have been a lot more games with construction parts to them, thanks Minecraft. I was a bit worried about how that would work out here since I mostly play Fallout to level up and shoot mutants in the face, but thankfully it's not a huge hassle. It doesn't handcuff you to the building part and punish you if you don't want to do it. I mostly engage because I like the idea of building my own mini-empire in the Wasteland, and have fortified the Castle to the point where I can handle most invasion attempts and outfitted a good number of my settlers to the balls with combat armor and decent weapons. Bring it on Wasteland!
Oh, and you have some extra goodies here. You can call in sodding artillery strikes. Artillery! Throw a smoke beacon and your guys will rain fiery death down upon your enemies. Frigging. Awesome. The primary limit to what they can do is their range is limited, so you'll often want multiple settlements with an artillery piece and someone to use it. I haven't used it much, just because I'm conservative to a fault when it comes to gear. The artillery beacons are pretty much unlimited if you grab them, but they weigh me down and I only wanna use them for heavy targets. 30 ghouls coming at me? I've got that.
Oh, and the gear modding? It's awesome. You have a LOT of options on what you can do. My favorite weapon right now is a highly customized bolt action rifle that I've renamed Slayer. A 50 cal bolt action with a large magazine, bayonet, marskman stock and reflex sight, I have a killer short to medium range combat gun and can butcher most things that come my way. 50 cal is great medicine for deathclaws and just about anything else you can come across, although it's not as good for large numbers of enemies, although it still works for them too. I have an obscene amount of fun with the bayonets in this game. Firing a volley of shots and then rushing them like a World War 1 bayonet charge, then stabbing and shooting at close quarters really gets the blood pumping.
I just hope they bring in a lever action with DLC. For some reason there are no leverguns in the game at the moment, which makes me sad. But I'm praying to the Fallout deities that they'll have one later on that I can pimp out. Just think of it! A 50 cal lever action with a bayonet and scope? I'll be unstoppable! I'll be the ravager of the Commonwealth, slaying all in my path! None shall stand before the general of the Minute Men!
Oh, and for once I really like the power armor. In New Vegas I almost never used power armor, finding it to be too cumbersome and not worth the repair bill, so I'd always go with medium armor, my favorite being Elite Riot Gear. Looked frigging awesome too. Here? You're a walking tank. You can actually pic and choose how to model your armor for once, and my gosh is it glorious. Just last night I was laying waste to a raider stronghold while their pathetic 38 caliber bullets bounced off of my armor and was playing The Terminator police station music, slowly and methodically clearing the building while spraying them with bursts of SMG fire, cutting them down like mannequins. It felt pretty darned awesome. You still have to repair it, but it's not as much a hassle as before. Unlike New Vegas or Fallout 3, you don't have to pull out your gold fillings to pay someone to repair your armor half-way, nor do you have to cannibalize every suit you get. You just have to find a repair station and use some steel and other components. Yay! You still need fusion cores to keep them powered, which are rare and expensive, but are worth it. I've been stockpiling them, so it's not as much an issue for me at the moment.
Mirelurks are still a monumental pain to deal with. And are creepier than ever. I don't know what it is about crustaceans, but they make my skin crawl. So seeing ones the size of football players rushing at me, joints crackling and seeing their lifeless doll eyes roll at me as they try to rip me apart is less than pleasant. So of course, they are pretty awesome. Also, the Mirelurk Kings now appear to have gone from the Gillman to Deep Ones from Lovecraft. Is Innsmouth near the Commonwealth? That'd explain a bit!
Oh, and Mirelurk Hunters are now giant prawns instead of horseshoe crabs, and they suck to deal with. Mirelurk Queens though? Holy crap. I hit one of those xeno-queen wannabes twice with a Fat Man. She just got mad. That one was pretty intense.
I really like how most of the creatures now have different looks based on what type they are, even within the same enemy hierarchy. So now there's a lot more variety to the terror you experience as well as blow up! Oh, the ghouls? If they didn't scare you before, they might now. Their skin is clammy, shrunken and pulled tight, with lips that look like the Flukeman from The X-Files, and will keep coming even after you've shot their arms off. Those ones aren't very fun. Oh, and they hit way harder now. The combat in this game is WAY harder than in previous ones. I've gotten absolutely wrecked here. In the two before, death was usually due to me being stupid or just bad luck. With having lots of stimpacks, I was generally pretty safe.
The Commonwealth doesn't screw around though. The raiders pack some serious heat, and aren't afraid to sacrifice themselves to take you out with them. Oh, and because the super mutants aren't tough enough already, they have suicide bombers that lug a mini-nuke on a timer while bum-rushing you at full speed. They WILL make sure that you're blasted into radioactive dust within fifteen seconds unless you put them down.
I recall one particular incident with the raiders that was extremely difficult. I exit a building, having run through the gauntlet, and see a mere two raiders up in a bombed out building. Well, I still had some space left and could always use the loot. So I start shooting at them, kill the weaker one not in power armor, then try to move to where I can get up to them at close range. Then I evaporated in a world-shattering explosion from seemingly nowhere. Huh. Odd.
So I start again, sniping the weaker raider and then shooting the one in power armor right in the face. It's then I notice a large weapon on his shoulder and something about the size of a football flying towards me, followed again by an explosion. Oh! He has a Fat Man! Huh. Not used to that. Okay, fair enough. I'll snipe him from farther now!
So I reload and begin firing on him first instead of his puny friend to take advantage of the sneak attack double damage on the headshot. I try to take cover to where he can't hit me, but his shot goes over my head and behind me, leaving me to get caught in the concussion blast. Oops.
By now I'm gritting my teeth. Okay, fine jerk. I decide that since he's using a doomsday long range weapon, I should get up close and deny him the ability to shoot. Surely he's not stupid enough to put ground zero of his mini-nuke six inches from himself. So I pull out my machete and race up the stairs, ignoring the puny raider and attacking the boss, slashing at him like Freddy, backing him into a corner and denying him the ability to flee. I had him! Then he fired anyway, reducing me to radioactive ash on the breeze while he was just a little worse for wear.
... Okay, bullcrap. He was close enough to see his fingerprints on the mini-nuke when it went off, and he didn't take enough damage to die? Agh!
I finally managed to just snipe the bugger by being cheap, but wow it took a lot of effort to get that one guy. Yes, I could have simply left and moved on, but I took that fight personally. How can I see a raider in power armor with a Fat Man and not fight him? That's absurd!
And yes, the questing is fun. I just tend to get distracted by the intense desire to destroy anything that looks red. So much good combat going on! <3
The people in your settlements are kind of moronic though. Although I'm the general of the Minute Men, it seems like I'm also the elite special forces, fire department, police commissioner, secretary of business management, agricultural executive and babysitter. I get the feeling that I'm not exactly breeding self-sufficient warriors here. Anytime so much as someone steps on a thumbtack I get called in for help. Granted, I am the most qualified for kicking in the Gunners' front door to rescue hostages or wipe out a horde of feral ghouls, but come on, not one other soldier in my settlement of over a hundred is doing anything but defense. Come on people! We've got the Institute to fight! I can't do it all by myself! I mean, I can, but it'd be nice to have some help now and then.
It would be nice to know which settlers have an assignment and which don't. There's a lot of them and its hard to tell which of them are working jobs already and which aren't. They look a like half the time. Hoping that'll get patched.
I still haven't beaten the game yet. Lot's of killing to do, but I'll get around to it! This has slowed my writing business down a LOT lately. It's hard to focus on writing when a siren is singing to you about Fallout 4 and you're tired. Dangit, this game is too good in some ways! It's too much fun!
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Black Friday Book Discount!
Howdy all! Just in time for Black Friday I'm going to be putting all of my books out on sale for one dollar each! This will last for three days, so even if you get caught up in the borderline apocalyptic rampages that take place during the mall sales you'll still have a chance to get in on the deal. Oh, and for those of you wondering why I didn't schedule it for Cyber Monday, that's because I entirely forgot of its existence and wasn't reminded until I'd already set up the discount time frame. Kind of a hilarious fail on my part. Ah well, live and learn, right? :)
So get ready to buy Primal Frontier: Hunter From the Red Hills, Stalkers in the Storm, and The Mines of Madness together for just three dollars! :)
Any reviews would be much appreciated as well. A single opinion might help swing sales into favor, which I could really use. I only want honesty though, no sycophant behavior here!
But more importantly, be sure to enjoy Thanksgiving! This is a time to remember all that we are thankful for, especially with all this crap going on in the world today. Prepare for the Christmas season and share all the love you can spare. This is certainly the time to do so!
Monday, November 16, 2015
The return of airships?
Hoping to lighten things up a bit, and thought I'd speak on a much more interesting and uplifting subject. It's uplifting in more ways than one! Back in the day dirigibles were intriguing novelties with some practical purposes, but soon became eclipsed in the wake of faster and safer modes of transportation. The Hindenburg was the railroad spike in the coffin for most directed lighter than air craft.
Interest for them has lingered, but for the most part there hasn't been much practicality for dirigibles. After all, planes and jets are faster, smaller, and overall seem vastly superior. But once again the climes are changing and with advances in technology it seems as though dirigibles might indeed make a return. The setup that sticks out to me the most is a fairly new group, Solar Ship. Take a look!
https://www.solarship.com/
What strikes me most about this company is the utter practicality of not just the ship design itself, but it's intended use. Old dirigibles and airships had torpedo shapes and relied primarily on the lifting force of hydrogen or helium with ballast to keep it under control. This is a fascinating hybrid system in which the balloon itself not only holds the light gases, but also functions as a wing so that when speed it built up in can ascend, meaning that it has no need for ballast and thus frees up a great deal of space for valuable cargo.You can also take off and land on much shorter landing strips than are required for plains or jets. Even in the event of losing propulsion, the descent should be slow enough that the passengers shouldn't be pulverized into jelly. Brilliant!
It's power is also a hybrid system, using the tried and true gasoline engine but also utilizing the large surface area on top of the gas bag to incorporate solar cells, giving these models two different types of power to utilize. Now that is robust, efficient and clever!
All of these help aim towards their goal of having an efficient and reliable means of transporting people and goods throughout Africa. For those of you who aren't bush savvy, there are many isolated territories in the veldt that are hard to reach. Scrub, trees, rough landscapes and the like are extremely hostile to land cruisers and trains. It can be done, certainly, but it's brutal work. So the folks behind Solar Ship decided that utilizing the easy take off and landing capabilities of a dirigible would be a godsend to the folks of Africa, and they seem to think so. I recall reading in this company that people who get injured often die because they can't reach help in time. Transport is of course difficult and slow. Planes are sometimes utilized, but you require a big runway, something not always available in the scrub.
But these airships can land on much shorter runways, and with lower fuel requirements it could lead to saving hundreds of lives, being able to evacuate them with ease in even some of the harshest spots. They also aim to deliver disaster relief supplies to those who are hard to reach in the wake of problems, something Africa is never short of.
I'm very impressed by the wise and practical application of these features into real world scenarios, and hope that they continue to build and become more mainstream.
Dirigibles of this type are actually becoming more attractive to airlines. With fuel shortages growing and the cost of materials involved in making aircraft, they are becoming far more costly to maintain. A dirigible though such as these require far less materials and offer backups for actually moving. They are slower, sure, but these models can do everything from pleasure cruising to large scale cargo transport. They'll have a bit of trouble in a hailstorm, true, but with the advent of carbon fiber nano-tube technology I think even that can be solved.
Modern airships are far safer than their ancestors. Building techniques and advancements in technology have armed engineers with an impressive array of assets that they can use to make craft we never imagined before.
Solar Ship in particular I hope gets further support and becomes successful. I would relish the return of airships, being able to float through the sky and have an affordable way to connect with our foreign neighbors. With prices of things increasing, these might very well be an excellent and cost effective alternative to other forms of transportation. Who knows what the future holds?
Interest for them has lingered, but for the most part there hasn't been much practicality for dirigibles. After all, planes and jets are faster, smaller, and overall seem vastly superior. But once again the climes are changing and with advances in technology it seems as though dirigibles might indeed make a return. The setup that sticks out to me the most is a fairly new group, Solar Ship. Take a look!
https://www.solarship.com/
What strikes me most about this company is the utter practicality of not just the ship design itself, but it's intended use. Old dirigibles and airships had torpedo shapes and relied primarily on the lifting force of hydrogen or helium with ballast to keep it under control. This is a fascinating hybrid system in which the balloon itself not only holds the light gases, but also functions as a wing so that when speed it built up in can ascend, meaning that it has no need for ballast and thus frees up a great deal of space for valuable cargo.You can also take off and land on much shorter landing strips than are required for plains or jets. Even in the event of losing propulsion, the descent should be slow enough that the passengers shouldn't be pulverized into jelly. Brilliant!
It's power is also a hybrid system, using the tried and true gasoline engine but also utilizing the large surface area on top of the gas bag to incorporate solar cells, giving these models two different types of power to utilize. Now that is robust, efficient and clever!
All of these help aim towards their goal of having an efficient and reliable means of transporting people and goods throughout Africa. For those of you who aren't bush savvy, there are many isolated territories in the veldt that are hard to reach. Scrub, trees, rough landscapes and the like are extremely hostile to land cruisers and trains. It can be done, certainly, but it's brutal work. So the folks behind Solar Ship decided that utilizing the easy take off and landing capabilities of a dirigible would be a godsend to the folks of Africa, and they seem to think so. I recall reading in this company that people who get injured often die because they can't reach help in time. Transport is of course difficult and slow. Planes are sometimes utilized, but you require a big runway, something not always available in the scrub.
But these airships can land on much shorter runways, and with lower fuel requirements it could lead to saving hundreds of lives, being able to evacuate them with ease in even some of the harshest spots. They also aim to deliver disaster relief supplies to those who are hard to reach in the wake of problems, something Africa is never short of.
I'm very impressed by the wise and practical application of these features into real world scenarios, and hope that they continue to build and become more mainstream.
Dirigibles of this type are actually becoming more attractive to airlines. With fuel shortages growing and the cost of materials involved in making aircraft, they are becoming far more costly to maintain. A dirigible though such as these require far less materials and offer backups for actually moving. They are slower, sure, but these models can do everything from pleasure cruising to large scale cargo transport. They'll have a bit of trouble in a hailstorm, true, but with the advent of carbon fiber nano-tube technology I think even that can be solved.
Modern airships are far safer than their ancestors. Building techniques and advancements in technology have armed engineers with an impressive array of assets that they can use to make craft we never imagined before.
Solar Ship in particular I hope gets further support and becomes successful. I would relish the return of airships, being able to float through the sky and have an affordable way to connect with our foreign neighbors. With prices of things increasing, these might very well be an excellent and cost effective alternative to other forms of transportation. Who knows what the future holds?
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