RS Ophiuchi (RS Oph) is one of only four known nova-producing systems embedded within the dense wind nebula of a red-giant companion; it is the only one of these systems to have erupted during the current era of modern X-ray instruments. I will use observations of the recent outburst of RS Oph as a framework for a discussion of novae, the progenitors of type Ia supernovae, and stellar jets. As the RS Oph nova ejecta plowed through the surrounding nebula, the resulting blast wave shock-heating this gas to temperatures of ~100 million degrees K and accelerated particles to relativistic speeds, producing the strongest hard X-ray emission ever seen from a white dwarf and copious radio synchrotron emission. The blast wave began decelerating very soon after the eruption, indicating that the ejecta did not contain much mass. To generate a thermonuclear runaway with so little fuel, the white dwarf mass must be very close to the Chandrasekhar limit. As has been found in other stellar explosions, the ejecta were also not perfectly spherical. Radio observations revealed an expanding shell plus a bi-polar jet. Some of the phenomena observed in RS Oph have bearing on the study of supernova remnants and other jet-producing sources such as proto-stars and microquasars.