Using as fodder experience garnered from the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of five JLab ERLs (FET recirculation, IR Demo FEL Driver, CEBAF-ER, IR Upgrade FEL Driver, and kW UV FEL Driver), we ruminate on the perversity of Nature in general as well as that of specific measures She appears to have supplied specifically for the humiliation of accelerator artisans as they attempt to coerce free electrons into the production of light across a spectrum ranging from THz to x-ray.

Support provided by the Office of Naval Research, the Joint Technology Office, the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and by DOE Contract DE-AC05-84ER40150.

In memory of Hunter S. Thompson


Talk Slides: (slides)