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That doesn't mean the power source is integral to the unit. The tentacle could easily incorporate a power conduit linking the external projection unit to an internal power source. That's the way our laser weapons will/do work. Absolutely. There's no reasonable argument against that; its a...

These are very good points and well-presented. I agree on the Tripods having a hefty power source on board although it is quite possible they were pulling out to refuel/recharge at varying points. I agree also that they are probably much lighter than they seem due to their vulnerability to...

If you go to the Gutenberg Library version of War of the Worlds, there's some illustrations there. I've been reading that carefully and I can find almost no hard data in it. It does state there were ten cylinders only in the attack wave. The list of cities that were not attacked includes a...

One of the problems we have is that there is very little hard data at all in the original source material Looking around on the web, one thing I did find was a "Martian Technology Report" but its unclear how authoritative this is. It does mention "Witnesses in London recall seeing this vast...

Surprisingly, the foundations for air defense on the 1890s fleet were in place. All the British battleships and armored cruisers were equipped with 12-pounder guns intended to fight off destroyers and torpedo boats. All that was necessary was to put those guns on high-angle mountings so they...

Oh dear. Still. I'm quite sure we can do better than that. The really interesting thing, though, is the impact the fighting would have on history throughout the 20th century. I very much doubt that WW1 would have happened and that would probably take out WW2 as well, at least in the form that...

\ I found it as well. https://eyeofmidas.com/scifi/Turtledove_RoadNotTaken.pdf. You're quite right, sorry about the inaccuracy; its been years since I'd read it. I always thought this was one of Turtledove's better stories. It drives home just how lethal modern weaponry is compared with kit...

I think it comes from a general assumption that "having 'powers' equals invincible". that's subverted in J.K. Rowling's books (I think) where somebody says "a muggle with a shotgun beats a wizard with a wand". It's certainly and quite deliberately subverted in The Salvation War where 'powers'...

It was a dreadful job, but somebody had to do it . . . . .

Antony Preston identified the Thunder Child as HM Torpedo-Ram Polyphemus, more on the basis that she was the only ship of the type the RN possessed than anything else. He also described Polyphemus as one of the world's worst warships. Polyphemus was in service from 1885 to 1903 so the dates...