Klegg Now Extinct!

Yes Indeed Valentina
This is howlingly ironic, actually, since at one point the Klegg were not only triumphant, everywehere and enabled, but were the major prop for an evil dictatorship.  Things change, however, and now - how have the mighty fallen.
     What's that?  How can BOOJUM! be commenting on both Current Affairs and Politics?  Two of our blog's no-go areas?
     I think you misunderstand me.  Conrad - that's me, by the way - is not speaking of the hideous political farrago unfolding in the Allotment of Eden even as we type, but of - well, if Art can stop unpeeling his bandages and DO SOME WORK -

Kleggs.  Just so we're clear

     As you may be able to tell from the caption, these evillll alien reptiles were the hired muscle that backed up Judge Cal.  You remember Judge Cal?  The lunatic despot who ruled Mega City One, until deposed by Judge Dredd*?

I cannot comment for fear of sounding contemporary

     The Klegg vanished from Mega City One and indeed 2000AD, only to return much later as - an endangered species.  You can't just kill them on sight any longer, as that would be needlessly cruel.
     Which is where we came in ...

Where I Was
Earlier this week your humble scribe went all the way from home to Media City, which is kind of like a Mega City except not as violent.  This was to attend an interview, which turned out to be a presentation, an interview, a roleplay, a team exercise and an accuracy test, so rather a Phew!
     None of which has to do with the following.  Art?

Auntie Beeb

      That's the BBC's base in Media City, Salford, which is where a lot of broadcasters and presenters had to relocate to, in an attempt to render The Speaker Unto Nations rather less London-centric.
     It was a dismal day at the Quays.  To further explain, Media City is on the banks of the Manchester Ship Canal, in a redeveloped area known as "Salford Quays".  Lest you think this either romantic or appealing, I can prove otherwise.  Art?

Yeah, soak in the Salford sun storm!

     That's the Canal yonder, and if you feel like a dip in those turbid waters then you are a braver Hom. Sap. than I am.  What you can't see in this picture is the driving wind and lashing rain.  Here's another view.  Art?

Somewhat grim in prospect

     Further to the 2000AD theme, I'd say that canal could double for the Black Atlantic, which is fatal to swimmers.  Possibly not indigenous Salfordians, though; they're made of pretty tough stuff.

Another Coincidence
Yes indeed.  Whilst I was banging on about "The Day Of The Triffids" earlier this week, I brought up an image from BOOJUM! a year earlier.

The very one

     This came under the heading of "Steve, You're Naive" and I think that had to do with my memory -  we call him Stephen if we're being formal - and what he'd omitted to do.
     "I see," I hear you quaver.  "But - the picture?"
     Yes.  It's from a radio production of "The Kraken Wakes" - by John Wyndham, who also wrote TDOTT.

Goldfinger, Goldtoe And Goldbody
There is a medical condition associated with the ingestion of gold as there is with the ingestion of silver ("Argyria" - see yesterday's blog), known as "Chrysiasis", where an ingestion of gold turns the skin purple.  Art?

     This process won't kill you, although I should qualify that with "pure gold", because the metal itself, in isolation, is pretty inert and doesn't react with any kind of metabolic process in the human body.  So - King Midas could have carried on eating his gold fruit and veg and been none the worse for them -

 - if a little deficient in vitamins and roughage

     - if he didn't mind going purple.  Although that was the colour of ancient royalty ...
     When it comes to soluble gold in various solutions, resulting in the formation of differing compounds - that's a different matter.  Gold chloride, for example, is very bad for you; it goes for your liver and kidneys the way a terrier goes for rats, and it will cause your skin to fall off if there's any contact.  Gold potassium cyanide is even worse for you, as it will kill you dead on the spot; no chance to build up a toleration over time for this stuff.  Sorry!

A no-brainer

*  Not very democratic, I admit, but dramatic and violent and entertaining.