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Tuesday 16 August 2016

Things That Go BANG! In The Night

Or, Why Hypergolic Will Give You Colic
Ah yes, "Hypergolic" from the Greek for "beyond" and "work".  Referring to rocket fuel, principally, it means fuel agents that are stored separately but which spontaneously combust when brought together.
     Sounds like FUN!
     Except not quite, as typically these things are not only highly, highly explosive, which is perfectly logical and credible, they also happen to be extremely toxic and corrosive, too.  Today, if you work with hypergolics, you wear a Level 1 Hazmat suit with bottled oxygen.  Or die.  Your choice.

     Let us examine 2 hypergolic agents:  Dinitrogen tetroxide and Hydrazine.  Boy, do these babies give you boundless bangs for your buck.  ICBM fuel, you see, as used in that Cold War deliverer of WHAM! the Titan missile.  Both molecules are hotching with nitrogen molecules, always a sign that whatever they're part of is simply itching to explode.  Both are unstable, desperately so.  
     "Why, Conrad, why?" I can hear you plead.  "Why work with what sounds like the Devil's very own cocktails?"
"Pop"
     Good point!  Reliability is one reason.  This stuff is guaranteed to explode when you want it to, no worries about ignition temperatures or needing pre-mix agitation or any nonsense like that, it will pop when so desired.  Simplicity is another point; no ignition source is needed, so that's one less thing to worry about.
     There are disadvantages, too.  Ready to pop when entirely undesired, too.  I say "pop" as a mild poetic understatement since a Titan exploding in it's own silo threw the 750 ton silo cover hundreds of feet away.
     We shall come back to this, O Yes Indeed!
Image result for titan missile explosion
That silo cover

A Silver Lining In Every Cloud
Actually I don't think I want my rain to be contaminated with poisonous heavy metals.  Let's line that cloud with <thinks> plutonium instead!  Yes, it's bad for you but it makes no bones about it, and it also retails for substantially more per kilo.
     Back to the matter at hand:  Sophie is off to Germany shortly and she's getting rid of clutter, which includes books.  Conrad, who has few or no scruples when it comes to getting his hands on more books, is happy to provide a resting place.  

In fact we could come to an arrangement - Conrad shows up at her house with a wheelbarrow ...

I'm Not Sure What Brought This On -
Although fair play to the Foobs for posting a suggestion of some merit and worth.  Art?
"Pavel" - Slavic for "Paul"
     There you go, a heartwarming little post to bring a little allegorical sunshine into your dreary, barren, wasted lives.
     No, no; no need to thank me, BOOJUM! has a didactic role to fulfill.

Film Reviews, BOOJUM! Style
Which is to say, arbitrary, generalising and bad-tempered, all my best qualities.  Let us not delay and put the boot in straight away.
"Mike And Dave Need Wedding Dates":  Do they?  Do they indeed!  Firstly, though, just going by the poster, they'd first need a brain transplant.  Take these idiots and put them out of the airlock, although I doubt they'd notice, and have the studio suits who gave the greenlight to this farrago join them.
Image result for chas and dave
Infinitely superior
"War Dogs":  There is a profound tale to be told of man's bigotry, intolerance and inhumanity to man, viewed from the perspective of our four-legged friends.
     This film is not it.
This, however, is it.
"Nerve":  How do these incredibly dull films about neurology ever get the go-ahead?  Low budgets and tax breaks the culprits, I suspect.  Is Uwe Boll involved in this, perhaps?
Image result for the verve
Close enough.  And a lot more interesting
"Pete's Dragon": Ah, in a world where there are so many, many dragons, all young Pete wanted was one to call his very own.
     Pete, do what they do with tortoises - paint your name and address on your dragon.  Job done (but make sure you use radiator paint).

I am going to finish here as I've not had my tea yet - the sacrifices I make for you! - and I'm also going to bake a cake for Sophie as it's her last day tomorrow.  She nearly caught me buying ingredients in Tesco but my Special Forces training enabled me to successfully sneak silently away.







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